Trying to UPDATE DRIVERS: how do I find out what drivers I have?

Where do I find out drivers I may need to update?

Hello,

You are able to view your devices driver version within Device Manager (To access this right click on my computer and go to "Manage" and then select "Device Manager")
Here you can view your devices and if you right click on one then go to “properties” Followed by the “driver” tab you will be able to see the driver date and version.

Regarding updating these drivers, it is a good idea to either enable Windows Update or to run it manually as and when you wish to look for updated drivers.
When Windows XP was released in 2001 Microsoft introduced Windows update at the same time. Windows update does not only search and download the latest updates for windows but it also has a huge collection of drivers from all of the hardware manufacturers.

Chances are if there is an updated driver for your installed hardware then it will be available via Windows update.

The reason I'm trying to update my drivers is because I've been getting a BSOD. I was told not to use device manager but rather go to the website and download the drivers. When I go to device manager which "drivers" should I download..disk drivers, system devices or what? I think windows updates are 1 reason that I'm getting blue screens.

Hello,

I agree using device manager directly to update drivers will not always find the most up to date driver, Hence why I only pointed out steps to view the driver date and version via device manager.

If you are receiving a BSOD then I would take note of the error and search google for a possible cause and fix.

If you think the BSOD is due to drivers, then one thing you can do is the following:
1) Type MSCONFIG into the start area
2) Run it
3) Select the Startup Tab
4) Uncheck ALL the items
5) Reboot

If the BSOD doesn't return, then it was one of the things loaded at startup time.

You can find out which one by repeating the steps above, and re-enabling one item at a time and rebooting. When you reboot and the BSOD returns, it was the last item you re-enabled.

When I go into my SYSTEM 32 file, there is no hal.dll file, could that be the reason for my BSOD?

Dump File : Mini101811-01.dmp
Crash Time : 10/18/2011 10:15:37 PM
Bug Check String : IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Bug Check Code : 0x0000000a
Parameter 1 : 0x0000001c
Parameter 2 : 0x000000ff
Parameter 3 : 0x00000000
Parameter 4 : 0x820107c9
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+37c9
File Description : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 6.0.6001.18000 (longhorn_rtm.080118-1840)
Processor : 32-bit
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+5acd4
Stack Address 1 : hal.dll+37c9
Stack Address 2 : intelppm.sys+1406
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini101811-01.dmp
Processors Count : 2
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 6001
Dump File Size : 138,024
==================================================

Don't think you can run without a hal.dll file -- so you probably are not seeing HIDDEN files or SYSTEM files in your file manager.