Dumb question how to update monitor drivers

[Gabb]

so I lost the CD for my dell U2412M I figured this wasn't a big deal and I could just download the most recent drivers online at:

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

so I download the file and run the exe and it seems to just put it in my Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

and theres just an .cat and .xml file in there. How do I go about installing the drivers? Also in my device manager it still says generic PnP monitor... :-/

PS: I've never downloaded drivers for the monitor, I'm guessing its a lot different from updating oh say graphic cards where an exe file takes care of everything and actually does the installing

 

[ugoboom]

Those drivers are actually meant for large deployments of PCs to support them, they are meant to be used w/ deployment software or images. That is why they don't auto-install, you can still use them though it's just done manually.

Most of the time you do not really need monitor drivers, but this dell monitor is very advanced and has some cool features. In the event it actually installed some software known as PowerNap you should be able to see it in your all programs list. Go to device manager and double click on the the generic pnp monitor and choose update driver from the driver menu. Click browse button, then click let me choose... point the location to the folder you said had the cat file in it and click next or whatever... if it gives you a choice of a driver to install, go ahead and install it, but if a message appears saying this driver doesn't support your hardware, don't bother because your likely not to need it. let us know

BTW, not really a dumb question at all.

 

[Fat.Clown]

monitors don't need drivers because they're plug and play (PnP) compliant. just like how you do not need drivers for your USB flash drives.

exceptions would be if your monitor had a webcam or something.

 

[ugoboom]

monitors don't need drivers because they're plug and play (PnP) compliant. just like how you do not need drivers for your USB flash drives.

exceptions would be if your monitor had a webcam or something.

In this case they possibly need the drivers to explore all of the features, he'll only know after trying the driver. BTW to the OP, if you didn't plug in the USB cable to the computer and monitor before you ran the installer, most likely the software that goes with it won't install properly.

 

[Fat.Clown]

most configuration of the monitor is done on the OSD. and the OS most likely knows what monitor is connected, because it is PnP. mine does.

not sure what extra features his monitor could have.

 

[ugoboom]

most configuration of the monitor is done on the OSD. and the OS most likely knows what monitor is connected, because it is PnP. mine does.

not sure what extra features his monitor could have.

Right, most are, even this one you can make the normal monitor changes in the OSD.

Not all monitors are the same however, if your curious he posted the model and a link to the driver.

also, a lot of monitors do have drivers that you can install, even without any extra features. In most cases its just for graphic designers who need to have their designs print out as close to possible to the colors they see on their screen.

 

[Gabb]

Sigh...more computer problems, so I installed the Dell drivers at Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

but it didn't seem to install power nap so I stuck the CD in and selected install PowerNap/Entrech API by running the setup.exe and got this error message...

The following package files could not be found:
C:\Users\Gabb\AppData\Local\Temp\VSD6F55.tmp\EntechAPI\sm_client.exe


See the setup log file located at 'C:\Users\Gabb\AppData\Local\Temp\VSD84D8.tmp\install.log' for more information.

WTF is going on

 

[Gabb]

nevermind I got it working it was all located on the CD and the setup links weren't correctly giving me what I needed, thanks everyone!

 

[Fat.Clown]

also, a lot of monitors do have drivers that you can install, even without any extra features. In most cases its just for graphic designers who need to have their designs print out as close to possible to the colors they see on their screen.

lol.

 

[ugoboom]

lol.

Possibly a cheap way to explain it, but i'm not sure what the lol was for.