Its normal to loose your hardware drivers or you just throw it off as the CD was just not working. However the problem comes only when you reinstall OS  once again and you have no idea where to get the driver. Specially it becomes a problem when something pops ups in your hardware profile telling UNKNOW devices.

However there is way to find it only if you have Vendor ID and Driver ID with you. Before I tell you how to do that lets get to know the service which I wanted to introduce to you all.

PCI Database is an online service which has huge record of hardware based exactly on their Vendor Id and hardware id. When you search with either of the information it not only gives you which vendor it belongs to but also how to get in touch with them either though phone number or email. Here is how it looks like when you search

PCI vendor Search

PCI Vendor Search Result

Thus giving you enough information get back your drivers all you need is to be lucky enough that the vendors still have and can ask you to download the drivers.

How to find Hardware ID and Vendor ID

Every hardware that is detected has a unique feature called as hardware id ( As I see in Vista ) which contains information about hardware and the vendor associated with it. Here is a snapshot to make you feel comnfortable

How to find Hardware id in vista

You should be able to find in the hardware profile of Advanced System information. If you take a closer look at the string in the image it tells you VEN_VENDORNUMBER and DEV_DEVICEID. Now you have it and use PCI database to find your drivers.

Tags: hardware id, hardware profile, unknown devices, vendor search