Driver installation dates

Question

How do I find the date a particular driver was installed ? I am running Windows Vista Home premium sp 2. I can find the driver version number and date  of the revision in device manager - properties,  but not the date it was installed on the pc.  I also tried

event viewer but could not identify installation dates there either. I am trying to diagnose and fix

blue screen problems that may be related to drivers and would like to determine if a driver update from HP could be causing the problem. I don't want to do a roll back until I determine the date it was installed.

Answer 1

I've looked for quite a while and gone completely through Device Manager and it seems that the date of the installation is not something the system retains.  I can see where such information might come in handy and I'm frankly surprised to discover this (I never looked before though it never occured to me it wouldn't be available if I wanted it) - I think it's a bug in the system (it SHOULD keep that date and display it in the device driver properties along with the 40 other items it displays most of which have no meaning to me).  It looks like it doesn't save the rollback date either (or the date that driver was installed) - more info that might be of use at times like this.

What device is it?  If you do the rollback and it no longer functions, you can always re-install the newer version to regain the functionality (or download a fresh copy from the computer manufacturer or the device manufacturer's sites).  Of course, you don't want to do that with some devices because you may then lose your ability to boot successfully and even need to re-install to get it back (e.g., I wouldn't do it with the motherboard or the processor chip but I'd have no problem with the CD/DVD device or even the video card {though that last can be tricky and make you have to boot into safe mode to use obsolete drivers to get basic functionality until you fix the problem}).  Are you sure the HP update you installed is compatible with Vista and is the most recent available - it might be worth a check on the HP site just to be sure.  Downloading and installing a fresh copy also couldn't hurt in case the original driver file was somehow corrupted.

The blue screen has lots of  information on it (mostly hard to read because it's in code) but from it you can usually identify the device causing it (or at least someone can).  The following software http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html can help with that identification process (by at least freezing the screen so it doesn't flash by and perhaps in other ways as well).  Then you can use Bing or Google (I personally prefer Bing but that's just me) to search out the error code (e.g., 080070f04) or even the error message (though that's not as good but worth a shot if the code doesn't help) and it will pull up a bunch of links referencing that error code.  Often you can find the answer you seek there - it's how I do it when I get a question here about an error code problem.  It can save a lot of time if you know in advance which device is causing the blue screen and this is one way of finding out (rather than testing each and every driver).  It may not even be a driver.  it may be a real hardware problem and checking drivers will do nothing to resolve that.

There are't many devices you can check on a PC without special equipment or the ability to swap out the part with a known good part, but I have ways to check the hard drive and RAM.

To test your hard drive, check the manufacturer and then get the diagnostic utility from: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/hard-drive-support/302602-hard-drive-diagnostic-utilities.html.  If it fails the test, replace it.  If it passes the test, then there's probably nothing wrong with it.

You can also test your RAM at http://www.memtest.org/.  If it fails, test each chip individually to find those that are bad and replace them.  If it passes, RAM is probably OK.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to answer your question to your satisfaction (I didn't show you how to get the dates), but I just don't think that information is saved - unless it's buried somewhere in the registry in which case I honestly don't know how to find it (but I doubt it or they'd display it in Device Manager because it serves no purpose hidden).

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

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Lorien - MCSE/MCSA/Network+/A+ --- If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.

Answer 2

Thanks Lorien

I agree with you, with all the info logged and saved, it seems like installation dates for software and drivers would be retained somewhere. I couldn't find the dates in event viewer logs either although it may have been there, difficult to look through all that.  

 I think my blue screen problem may be resolved, at least so far so good. I chatted with HP support last night , sent them blue screen error data. I assume they must have been able to decipher all those error codes. We went into system properties, reset virtual memory on the hard drive, increasing it to 7GB, it was set much lower, maybe 2 or 3 GB. Also popped the hood, pulled out and re-installed all 4 RAM cards. Rebooted and so far so good. 

I really appreciate the troubleshooting info and link you sent. Getting a hit through Goggle or Bing seems like a faster approach compared to running through disabling software and drivers to find the bad one, if any.  If, or more likely when,  I have another problem I will give it a try.

Thanks again

Answer 3

It was my pleasure.  Glad I could help.

Now that you know where we are, feel free anytime to come back with more questions or problems and we'll do our best to help you out.

Thanks for the feedback - I appreciate it.  I have no idea why your system virutal memory was set so low - it should have defaulted to the higher setting when setup (but I guess it didn't).  Frankly, it would have been a long time before I came up with virtual memory as a solution (even if I knew the error code - though that might have given me the direction I needed to find the answer).

I'm glad to hear that things are working better for you.  Let's hope that's the end of the BSoD screens for the time being.

Good luck!

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Lorien - MCSE/MCSA/Network+/A+ --- If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.