I'm trying to fix my laptop now (Gateway I got for my birthday when I was 13) and it needed a full reformat. Did that, with a different copy of windows because the system disc is absolute balls. As a result, I don't have any of the drivers I need. This includes networking drivers, so no internet for me.

I went to gateway.com's support to try and get the drivers I need, only to discover that they had tons of drivers for everything. This is the page I'm on now, trying to find the drivers I need. I attempted to use their 'Hardware Vendor Detection Utility', only to find out that it's completely useless: it only tells me what the driver is for and the maker. You would think that that would be helpful, but Gateway has over 9000 different drivers, all named the same thing, all by the same company. :facepalm

Anyone have any advice on what to do here? I'm more then slightly confused, and flipping a coin to pick doesn't seem the best solution.

 

You may be able to track down the specific model and build based upon the system serial number (works for Dells). Alternately, the BIOS might give some indication what NIC is attached, so that you can get that far, at least.

In truth, the end strategy may involve downloading a bunch of possible drivers and installing them to see which ones actually work for you. If you have to go that route, use the System Restore options to revert after bad loads, and make new restore points after you get through some good drivers.

 

Alright, thanks. I'll give the BIOS a shot.

EDIT: Nope, nothing. The bios for this thing is nearly empty, completely different from the PC I was working on a month ago. I can enable and disable some things, and it gave ma a code with the motherboard, but that was it.

 

I assume...

You loaded XP Home Edition, 32 bit
The model as listed on your link says MX6430, so that's the model
You probably want to use the Wireless NIC

Looks like the site includes a Serial Number based product registration. If you dig out the number and enter it there, you may be able to get system build info that would direct you to which model of specific hardware was put in. You can then download those drivers and see how they fly.

Or just download the Broadcom drivers for the WNIC as posted here:
http://global-download.gateway.com/...Step3=MX6430&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=GATEWAY&SC=PA_6G

For any system, the key drivers are for the NIC, Video card and chipset. Everything after that is just enabling better operation (sound, touchpad enhancements, drive controllers are all about improving the experience).

 

Alright, I'll give that a try. Thanks!

 

I'd suggest a combination of SlimDrivers Driver Update and Unknown Driver Identifier (x86/x64 compatible). UDI is a silent install. I'd suggest opening it with winRar and pulling the programs exe out and install with it if you use it.

 

You can also use the device manager to find the model numbers for your hardware. The just google the drivers.