It would seem that it is difficult to install drivers on a laptop, because the operating system itself, during the initial installation or when replacing it, in theory, performs the installation of the necessary software on its own? Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and on some specific laptop models, when replacing a preinstalled operating system, and even with formatting hidden partitions with original copies, the process of installing control software turns into a real nightmare. There are no drivers for the equipment (even on the manufacturer’s official website), then the downloaded drivers do not want to be installed. And what order to install drivers on the laptop in this situation? In general, for almost all devices of this type, a single universal solution is used. However, sometimes some additional steps are required.
The procedure for installing drivers on a laptop: using a software disc
Of course, in the case of the official acquisition of computer equipment in the store, a special driver disk is supplied with the laptop without fail.
Just it can be used in a working system even after reinstalling it, provided that the necessary software was not in the Microsoft database.
Usually, after the installer’s auto-start, a special window appears with a choice of this or that action, and in most cases, the drivers are installed according to a pre-programmed script without user intervention. But what if the laptop was bought by hand, and such a drive is not available?
In what order to install drivers on known laptop models
Most users immediately start feverishly searching for the right software on the manufacturer’s website, but it turns out that in case of reinstalling the OS there are no necessary drivers there. Sometimes it happens that there are drivers, you can download them, but they do not want to install. Why? Yes, just because you need to follow a special procedure for installing drivers on a laptop (ASUS, HP, Toshiba, Dell, Acer - in this case, there is no special value). Selectively control software is not installed due to the fact that you first need to install the driver for the chipset (motherboard), then install the software for the graphics accelerator, install the sound drivers, and only then all the others.
An approximate procedure for installing drivers on laptops for most manufacturers is shown in the image above. This, incidentally, applies to both automated and manual installation. But there are some exceptions to the rules.
The procedure for installing drivers on a Sony VAIO laptop as a special case
So, for example, even official drivers on these laptops are not always possible to install. Firstly, the management software itself for each device can be represented in the form of three types of files, and secondly, quite often all kinds of restrictive filters from the developer are “sewn into them”, which do not allow installing drivers for a particular laptop model with a different operating system , not the one that was preinstalled.
But there is a way. The procedure for installing drivers on a laptop from Sony is approximately as follows:
- Install all downloaded drivers in random order, but one at a time and rebooting the device after a successful or unsuccessful installation.
- Drivers that install successfully, put in a separate folder. Those that failed to install, leave in the original boot location.
- Unpack the installer of the problem SFEP driver (Sony Firmware Extension Parser does not install in manual mode almost never) using the Universal Extractor or Wise Unpacker programs (this will get rid of all kinds of checking filters).
- Find the unknown device (ACPI / SNY5001) in the “Device Manager” and, when updating the driver, tell the system the path to the INF file in the unpacked directory.
- In the same way, install everything that you failed to install initially.
Note: upon completion of the action for each driver, the system is required to reboot, and if you use the Sony Notebook Utilities set, you must install it three times (just using all three types of files in the unzipped directory for each type of driver).
Ability to use third-party programs
Finally, if you don’t have anything at hand, you can also use utilities like Driver Booster or DriverPack Solution, but they can also cause problems. The first program can work only if you have an Internet connection, so you need to install the network card driver initially. And the second one, although it contains a fairly extensive proprietary driver database, does not always correctly determine the equipment present in the system, installing (as in the case of Windows) some kind of the most suitable driver that may not work with this device. But this application can also be found in the form of bootable media, which allows you to install the necessary software without starting the operating system.