Updating the hardware information database is not working at all.

chris121red · 7th August 2009

Greeting my fellow members, I'm a new member whom currently has problems with a Dell Dimension 2100 celeron computer, it's running on ME and is driving me crazy.

Firstly, when I try to add a: PCI, USB, or anything else it comes up with "Please wait while Windows updates the hardware information database" then it just hangs, when I press CTLR+ALT+Delete to access my close programes window it just says it's not responding and I have to end the task.

If I also right click my computer then access properties and then device manager and try to enable any of my devices I get the same message, so I'm unable to use any of them. When I click on performance it states my system is configured for optimal performance.

I can start my computer in: normal, and safe mode, however it just crashs everytime I try to enable new hardware or plug it in or anything in at all, the first mentioned hardware database message shows up and my computer fails to respond.

Can anyone please please help me with this?
I've already brought a mother board reader, I'm waiting for delivery of this item to perform some tests however I think it's more of a driver error, or hardware problem.

Thanks

Chris121red

chris121red · 7th August 2009

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody could possibly help me with my Dell Dimension 2100 celeron computer which is currently running on ME?

When ever I try to update my Information Hardware Database it freezes and stops responding, this means I'm unable to use esstial hardware to connect my computer to the net.

When I try to enable any of my devices in the device manager I get the same problem, it tries to update but then fails to respond and I end up having to end my task.

My computer will boot up fine in both: safe, and normal mode, but will freeze and give me the same message if I try connecting anything to it like: usb device, pci wireless device.

Some time ago when things were working fine the computer would automatically recognise this thing and install them, now I am just stuck at this silly point with nothing responding.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated, cheers.

chris121red

**Christer** · 7th August 2009

Hi chris121red,
you posted two new threads that were similar but not identical. To avoid splitting the topic, rather than deleting one of the threads, I choose to merge the two into one.

chris121red · 8th August 2009

Thanks for putting the two together, I wrote another one as I made a few school boy errors in my spelling and punctuation, even then I did the same thing again in my next one.

I was just trying to make it clearer for the reader to understand and trying to obey the rules for posting, I'll improver, just a litller nervous as it's my first time on this site.

Thanks a lot for doing this for me.

I hope I'll find a solution to my ongoing computer problems on this site, if so I'll recommend this to others.

Thanks.

chris121red

**markp62** · 9th August 2009

From this page, may be a help here.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/275499

NOTE: Before you perform the following steps, ensure that you have the original installation media (diskettes or CD-ROM) for the devices that you want to remove because you may be prompted for the installation media when Windows restarts.

Before you rebuild the Driver Information or Hardware Information database:

1. Start Windows in Safe mode.
2. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.
3. Click the Device Manager tab, remove all of the instances of the device in question from the device tree, and then click Close. If you are prompted to restart your computer, click No.

To rebuild the Driver Information or Hardware Information database:

1. Rename the Drvdata.bin and Drvidx.bin files.
1. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files Or Folders.
2. In the Named box, type drvdata.bin, and then click Find Now.
3. Right-click the Drvdata.bin file, click Rename, type a new name for the Drvdata.bin file (for example, Drvdata.xxx), and then press the ENTER key.
4. Repeat steps a through c for the Drvidx.bin file, and then quit the Find tool.
2. Restart your computer normally.

Lukeno1 · 14th August 2009

There seem to be a few people with that PC playing up... hmm...