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I recently acquired an HP Z420 without a hard drive, and so I have to do a fresh install of it. It came with the Windows 7 (64 bit Professional) install CD, which ran fine. But, quite a few of the drivers are missing, including the driver(s) required for network access, making this a real headache. I went to HP's site for drivers on this machine and tried all 4 of the 7 drivers that were listed for my system under the "Driver - Network" category (the other 2 are wireless and the 3rd "Broadcom NetXtreme..." didn't seem appropriate) to no avail. I then noticed under Device Manager that the Ethernet Controller driver was missing. As an aside, I can't figure out if this is the same thing as a network driver. Returning to HP's driver site, the only thing I could find was this one under the "Firmware" category, but that also failed.
I'm now at a loss as to how to proceed. My impression is that maybe there's some other driver that I need to install before I can even get to the network adapter, but that's just a guess. Here's a screenshot of Device Manager, showing what's missing:
For reference, I've built a computer before and would call myself a well-versed amateur at these sorts of things, though I don't know much when it comes to BIOS-level and hardware driver-level matters.
1We have the model of desktop computer at work. Unfortunately, the vendor's web site isn't always the most accommodating source when it comes to device drivers. If at all possible, try to find another HP Z420 that is up and running with Windows 7 x64. Copy the
%SystemDrive%\Windows\System32\DriverStore
folder to a DVD-R or and external USB drive. Once you have it, you can temporarily attach it to your computer, right-click each problematic device and selectUpdate driver software...
. Browse to that DriverStore folder, and each device will be installed successfully. – Run5k – 2016-12-30T14:02:12.533@Run5k I found a similar system and that worked, thanks. If you turn this into an answer, I'll accept it. – TTT – 2017-01-03T20:31:58.003
Glad to hear it! That method has saved our I.T. staff countless hours of work. – Run5k – 2017-01-03T20:40:54.023
1You can check the PCI ID (or USB ID) for most devices in the properties window. Just Google them and you'll find the device make and model. – Daniel B – 2017-03-05T01:03:13.483