[Guide] How to Find And Install Motherboard Drivers?
Installing the motherboard drivers is one of the most critical steps in setting up your new computer. It can be hard to find and install all of these drivers on your own, but luckily we have a few tips to make it easy for you!
- Check your motherboard for the latest drivers on their support website. They are usually listed under the “drivers” section, so just type it into Google and see what you find!
- If those don’t work, take a look at your PC manufacturer’s site to make sure they have any updates available. You can also call them if you need help finding driver updates or information about installing them correctly.
- You may want to wait until Windows asks you where to locate these specific system files before installing anything from another source like websites or discs that come with the computer.
It will ensure that all of this is up to date and that there aren’t any conflicts in trying to download multiple versions of these drivers.
What is a Driver?
The driver is a very widely used term, yet many individuals are unaware of what it is all about.
A driver is an essential piece of software that enables an operating system, in this case, Windows 10, to communicate and use an internal or external peripheral device most efficiently and effectively.
In other words, a driver is what allows your computer to understand how these devices operate so that it can take advantage of their capabilities to perform the specific tasks they were designed for.
Drivers are typically updated over time as new features become available on more recent products, often resulting in increased computer performance.
Important Drives List:
When you know which drivers are required to be installed and for what purpose, installing a motherboard driver becomes a more straightforward process.
VGA/Graphics Driver: The Graphics (Visual) on your personal computer or laptop will not work correctly if this driver is not installed.
Audio/Sound Driver: The driver enables the audio system of your computer or laptop, and without it, you can not use your speaker or microphone.
Network(LAN) Driver: This driver enables your Operating System to establish a network connection.
Chipset Driver: This software is an instruction set that enables the operating system to operate and communicate with a motherboard properly.
How to Find Your Motherboard Drivers?
First, you will need to identify the model of your motherboard and the chipset it has. It will look something like this:
For example, if you have a Gigabyte GA-Z77X UD45 (an Intel Z77 chipset), your motherboard drivers can be on the manufacturer’s website.
Never download drivers from a third-party website or program, and only utilize the official drivers directly from the manufacturer if available. Untrusted websites or third-party software drivers are often a haven for malware, spyware, and bloatware and may not always keep accurate drivers.
Once you find the appropriate model of your motherboard in that list, download the driver installer package and follow the steps.
How to Install Motherboard Drivers?
Once all of your drivers have been downloaded, the next step is to install the motherboard drivers.
In our recommendation, you should install the drivers one at a time and restart your PC after completing each installation process.
It will allow you to monitor the installation process, encounter any errors, and verify that each driver is installed correctly.
Generally speaking, when installing drivers for your motherboard, the best approach would be to follow this order:
Update BIOS/UEFI
- Install Chipset Driver (such as Intel Management Engine Interface) (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!)
- Install LAN Driver or Network Card Drivers (If using a wired connection)
- Reboot the computer once more before continuing with other drivers such – Audio/Video Cards, Drivers, and so on). Do not skip this step! It’s crucial because some faulty audio cards can cause severe damage to speakers. If you’re sure about your sound.
How to Verify Driver Installation
Neither of these steps is strictly necessary, but checking that your drivers are correctly installed is still a good idea.
You can verify your drivers in two ways: using either the Command Prompt to display all your drivers or by inspecting your Device Manager for each one.
Using the Command Prompt method is faster but can be confusing to beginners.
Since the graphical interface is more familiar to most users, we will explain the Device Manager method instead.
Open the Device Manager by typing the name into the search box on the taskbar. You can also do this by right-clicking on the Windows icon on the taskbar and selecting Device Manager from the options.
The following screen appears once Device Manager is opened:
Device Manager will display all internal and external hardware components and peripherals, along with the drivers associated with those components.
You can check the compatibility of your drivers by selecting the drop-down menu of each device, right-clicking on the desired driver, and then selecting the “Properties” option to ensure that the one installed matches the one installed.
The example below shows that the driver is a Windows driver, but your PC should detect the drive you just installed.
Navigate to the driver you wish to verify, right-click on the driver, and select “Properties.”
For this example, we will examine the Intel network adapter. The adapter on your system may differ from the one pictured.
A window will open with several different options related to the device.
Our interest is limited to the General and Driver tabs.
On the General tab, we can see that Intel manufactures the hardware and that the driver is functioning correctly.
The Status tab will list if there are known conflicts with the driver. Navigate to the Driver tab to see more information on the driver.
On the Driver tab, we can see that Microsoft provided the driver. If the driver were installed correctly in your instance, it would likely list the manufacturer.
If you need more information about a specific driver, you are welcome to click “Driver Details.”
You can now verify that your drivers were installed correctly by reviewing the drivers in Device Manager.
If you see a different driver listed from the one you were expecting, installing the driver again and re-set your computer might be worthwhile.
Windows 10 may, at times, default to a generic driver if there is a conflict with the new driver or it determines that the generic driver is better.
There are several ways to force the installation of a driver, but this is for advanced users only.
If a generic driver keeps getting loaded on your computer, it is likely to be OK to leave it be.
If you encounter performance issues using the generic driver, you would only need to troubleshoot it further.
How to Install Motherboard Drivers from USB
Installing Motherboard Drivers from USB is very simple, and it only takes a small amount of brainpower to do it.
Those without an optical drive or an Internet connection will find this method extremely helpful if they do not have an optical drive or an Internet connection.
Here we will look at the steps you can follow to bring those drivers into your USB drive, and there are only two ways to accomplish that.
Copy the Installation files from CD/DVD ROM Drive
Additionally, you may also use any other laptop or computer with an optical drive (Friend’s/ Cyber-Cafe) attached.
All you have to do is insert the CD that came with your motherboard and copy all the drivers in the USB Flash Drive.
Install the required drivers on your computer or laptop by connecting the USB drive to it.
Conclusion
We have covered everything from downloading and installing the drivers. If you follow it step by step, you will successfully install the drivers on your computer and update them as frequently as needed.
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Steve is MoboNinja’s Editor in chief. He was raised with a quest for the gaming craze. That’s why he describes himself as a dedicated programmer and gamer.
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