Windows 2003 Server: where be the drivers?

[FrozenLiquidity]

Okay, so I've been tasked with finding Windows 2003 Server drivers for a gaggle of dell Optiplex 330's. Only problem is, aside from a functional driver for the network cards, I have been unable to find any!

Dell conveniently has no drivers for this model that are said to work with Server 2003, but I got the network card working, which I suppose is the most important of the bunch.

However, it's also got an intel G31/33/35 integrated graphics chip, but alas no where on intel's craptacular driver website are any drivers that have anything to do with servers found. Sure, a plethora of Vista 32, 64, Windows XP 64, XP, Professional, Home, Home Basic, OEM Basic Premium, you get the idea. Even ones for operating systems as ancient as Windows 98 for hardware we're running. But of course, the one operating system I'm looking for is not there, and intel's driver search features are a joke.

Ranting aside, I'd really like to find some Windows 2003 Server drivers for Dell's Optiplex 330 systems. I'm just an intern and it's important I impress my boss by the completion of this dull task.

Thanks for any pointers!

[SpoonMaN-EQ]

most winXP drivers work fine in server 2k3 (x86 and x64 versions)

[FrozenLiquidity]

Ah, I knew I left something out of my story...

I've tried the Win 2000 and Windows XP drivers, trying to find a happy medium. The installation media closes when it recognizes the incompatibility with the operating system. I have extracted and installed them manually, but then Windows is unable to start the device driver and I get to stare at the familiar yellow exclamation mark in the device manager.

=\ Those would have been my saving grace, but they do not appear to work.

[Joe Average]

XP x64 = Windows Server 2003 x64, same OS for driver purposes. I've never found one instance of a driver not working, and I assure you, Intel is very serious about their x64 driver support and always have been. Everything that Intel makes has a proper x64 driver for 2K3 x64 and XP x64, and Vista x64 and even 2K8 x64 as well. Might not list it specifically, but if you go by:

XP x64 = 2K3 x64

and

Vista x64 = 2K8 x64

You'll get the drivers you need. You can't use a 32 bit driver with a 64 bit OS, but I'm sure you know that, right? :D And yes, sometimes a manual driver install is required because the setup program does an OS compliance check, easy enough to get around sometimes using the Compatibility tab for the .exe - if it's an .msi file it's a bit tougher but you can extract an .msi also into a folder, actually, with a simple command line argument.

[FrozenLiquidity]

Well Mr. Average Joe, I'll give your suggestion a spin and get back to you.

[Joe Average]

I'm Joe Average, you're confusing me with average Joe, the guy that just walked into a Best Buy somewhere and can't figure out what to spend his "good citizen bonus" on. :)

[Stoly]

XP x64 = Windows Server 2003 x64, same OS for driver purposes. I've never found one instance of a driver not working, and I assure you, Intel is very serious about their x64 driver support and always have been. Everything that Intel makes has a proper x64 driver for 2K3 x64 and XP x64, and Vista x64 and even 2K8 x64 as well. Might not list it specifically, but if you go by:

XP x64 = 2K3 x64

and

Vista x64 = 2K8 x64

You'll get the drivers you need. You can't use a 32 bit driver with a 64 bit OS, but I'm sure you know that, right? :D And yes, sometimes a manual driver install is required because the setup program does an OS compliance check, easy enough to get around sometimes using the Compatibility tab for the .exe - if it's an .msi file it's a bit tougher but you can extract an .msi also into a folder, actually, with a simple command line argument.

I've found instances where XP drivers won't work in 2k3. Specially with Dell pcs. However they are easily solved using the intel or the corresponding manufacturer driver instead of the driver provided by Dell.

[FrozenLiquidity]

Well, it sounded like a winner Joe, but even after extracting the driver from the driver installation package, and installing it manually, windows still persisted in displaying glaring yellow exclamation points next to the device.

It's not the 64 version of the OS though, but neither is the driver. Anyway, I suppose what matters most is already working (NIC) and aside from being able to smoothly scroll up and down webpages, the default device driver that Windows has chosen seems to do server tasks just fine.

Not the ideal solution, but it can do all it's servery functions. Just won't play Quake =(

[FrozenLiquidity]

I've found instances where XP drivers won't work in 2k3. Specially with Dell pcs. However they are easily solved using the intel or the corresponding manufacturer driver instead of the driver provided by Dell.

Well, I've tried both Dell and Intel drivers for this. So far it's a no go. Rather depressing.

[Joe Average]

I keep reading postings from various forums with people successfully installing the GMA3100 driver (which is what should be on that mobo, and not the X3100 which is the mobile version for laptops) under Server 2003, both 32 bit and 64 bit versions. Problem is, I can't find the damned driver they're talking about which seems to be on the CD provided with the mobo the person purchased - they never said anything about specific OEM-branded hardware.

In the recent past I've had experience with just this sort of thing:

The manufacturer of the computer, the OEM like Dell and in my specific case Gateway, will make a request to the actual hardware maker (in your case it's Intel for the video chip, in my case it was Sigmatel for an onboard audio chip) to have them create a non-standard PCI Device ID for that particular piece of hardware. In my example it was the Sigmatel onboard audio chip as I just said, which should have had a Device ID of 9220 (the most common product in that particular audio device lineup from Sigmatel). Gateway told them to create one that had a Device ID of 9229 for the one in a laptop I'd recently purchased from Gateway.

Why would they do this?

I'll tell you. Because they didn't want anyone running XP x64 on that laptop, that's why. Gateway never sold or supported XP x64 on any hardware they ever put together, and by modifying the Device ID of a standard piece of hardware the effect it had was that no "standard" Sigmatel HD audio driver would work, not even the ones that Sigmatel itself put out for it's own hardware, certainly not Gateway, and nobody else's either.

Took me a week to figure it out, reading thousands of postings on over 40 different forums, and I finally came to the conclusion that the practice was rather freakin' shitty of them so I threw it right back in their face and modified the damned driver myself to make it work. I edited the config files so the proper Device ID was matched and after several attempts, I finally got it working and was quite pleased with myself.

I've actually taught a bunch of people at the PlanetAMD64 forum how to do that for similar issues (Gateway isn't the only company to do such things, and Dell is right up there too locking down hardware to specific OSes). My thinking based on what you've reported is that Dell has done it yet again: the Device ID for that GMA3100 graphics chip won't match the specific Device IDs listed in the driver installation files for the "standard" GMA3100 chip driver installer. I'll bet with some effort there's a way to modify the config files, the .inf ones used to install the driver, so that the actual Device ID of your specific GMA3100 hardware is in there, and when the installer runs it'll find the hardware, check the configuration, realize it matches, install the driver correctly and then that's that.

The symptom of the driver being installed but not actually working - as noted by the yellow exclamation point - is precisely what you get when this sort of Device ID hacking has been done by the OEM.

I'm not saying it's easy, but I am saying it's possible to get that proper video driver installed with effort, if you're so inclined.

Good luck, regardless...