Manual Windows NT Driver Transfer

closers

Gawd
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Feb 6, 2010
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Wanted to see if anyone is familiar with manually moving a driver from one computer to another in Windows NT 4.0

Situation is that original computer needs to be replaced, but do not have driver for a proprietary ISA network controller card which is needed to control some industrial equipment and only runs on NT.

Aside from locating the files in the %/SYSTEM32 and %/SYSTEM32/DRIVERS directory and trying to copy all the registry entries is there anything else to do?

It's a Consensys ChiliPORTS/16 RAS for anyone who might have the driver...
 
Time to start upgrading your automation equipment ;)
Either keep Windows NT or replace hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in equipment. What do you think the way companies will go? :rolleyes:
 
Either keep Windows NT or replace hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in equipment. What do you think the way companies will go? :rolleyes:

The equipment must be real old already if it supports only NT so if you rely on antiquated tech I'd say your company is on downfall.
 
Love these threads; can always tell who doesn't work for large companies. :) You can't always just upgrade things that have very unique purposes... Sometimes you just have to do what you're told, advise the business, and make it work.


I've used Driver Magician Lite for years to pull drivers off and make my own installations of them. It should do exactly what you are looking for, problem being is that you're running on NT. You might want to look for an older version that is compatible with NT.

You can then run the program, find the driver you want (it's a list), and then back it up with a couple of clicks.
 
Either keep Windows NT or replace hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in equipment. What do you think the way companies will go? :rolleyes:

Is this system connected to the Internet? How long has it been since MS stopped releasing security patches for NT?

What will it cost the company if this equipment gets hacked? That's the real issue.
 
Love these threads; can always tell who doesn't work for large companies. :) You can't always just upgrade things that have very unique purposes... Sometimes you just have to do what you're told, advise the business, and make it work.

I used to work for a large company and we had to perform CPR to old XP laptops. But lo and behold now that I talk to these same companies as a consultant, they report that tech has moved forward and the automation is now reporting through lan, wifi or even bluetooth :)
 
Are you sure that is a network card? I'm pretty sure it's just a multi-port serial card. I remember replacing ChiliPort ISA cards with Cyclades PCI adapters in the 90s. If so, it's possible you can use another multi-port serial card that's compatible with NT (like Cyclades Cyclom cards.)

I found this site googling for drivers, but I couldn't download them because the captcha did not work on my computer. Use them at your own risk.

http://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=16305
 
Love these threads; can always tell who doesn't work for large companies. :) You can't always just upgrade things that have very unique purposes...
Exactly.

I used to work for a large company and we had to perform CPR to old XP laptops. But lo and behold now that I talk to these same companies as a consultant, they report that tech has moved forward and the automation is now reporting through lan, wifi or even bluetooth :)
There are computers used in systems other than playing Solitaire and using Microsoft Word, and there are systems out there that are more than just a laptop and a user insisting on staying with XP.

In my last job we had a client that ran a very large water treatment system that required old software and operating system. The entire system (the building) would of had to be replaced in order to upgrade the software. It would of been a multi-million dollar + project.

Is this system connected to the Internet? How long has it been since MS stopped releasing security patches for NT?

What will it cost the company if this equipment gets hacked? That's the real issue.
No, it wasn't connected to the Internet :rolleyes:
 
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Exactly.

There are computers used in systems other than playing Solitaire and using Microsoft Word, and there are systems out there that are more than just a laptop and a user insisting on staying with XP

It seems that you failed to understand that at least down here, 10+ year old technology is being phased out from process plants and factories.

Instrumentation that old is usually becoming difficult to work with, not only because of interface problems. Of course if you work with something like waste water purification your tech is not going to change much in a decade or two probably.
 
bdc - should be able to grab the drivers. You might also check the hidden inf directory for the drivers.

FYI - We used to use Digi boards for multi port 25 pin serial adapters. I might even have an ISA one laying around. Would probably be a 4 port, but possible 8 port model. If interested, let me know.

We've now moved from those types of systems/adapters to a product called Systech.
 
Appreciate the replies. I am going to leave the internet debate alone.

@D10000
Think I will try DML. Oldest online appears to be V3.5 though which does not support NT.
@dr.nut
You are right it's a multiport serial adapter with some sort of RJ conversion. The Cyclades PCI looks interesting but not sure where to get them or something like them through official channels.
Also not sure if the proprietary program software will recognize it and allow communication.
@misternatural
Might be interested but not sure if the software is locked to this ISA card or not.
 
There are quite a few other driver backup tools, and I'm sure there are still some floating around that work with NT. Of course, you don't want to go installing a bunch of shit on your server.

I'd p2v it with something like disk2vhd and then put your server into a VM. Then you can install whatever you want and try to get the driver off without installing crap on your actual server.
 
RocketFast321 said:
Originally Posted by RocketFast321 View Post
I would back up the drive with a program like acronis. Then put it in the new system.
That will not work with NT. The system will not boot with different hardware.

I remember NT being fairly portable. "Back in the day", we could just throw down an image with Ghost, generate a new SID (I think the program was actually called newsid) and get on with life. It's worth a shot.. most they'd be out is ~20-30min of their life.
 
Well the driver at the site worked, thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Frankly a little surprised because I am always weary of those sites that make you download installers. No matter though just took me a second to revert back a VM image. I guess I will not be spending $XM just for replacement sizing then.

Had it not worked I might have tried the driver grabber and then given the imaging a shot, though I highly doubt anything older than W2K was clever enough to reconfigure itself instead of blue screening.
 
NT is remarkably tolerant of moving to new motherboards. Ghost the hard drive entirely over to the new drive, adjust any drivers that need to be changed, and you should be in good shape. I remember doing a transfer from a Pentium Pro 200 system to a Pentium III 450 with only changing the display drivers, way back in the day.
 
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