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Compaq has a model Presario C707TU which ships with FreeDOS. Many people, like me, wish to purchase a computer without a pre-installed Windows. This help reduce cost. So far so good, but when you install a Windows XP, you need to install some drivers as well to get everything up and running. The manufacturer gives this laptop as Vista compatible system and does not guarantee proper functioning with Windows XP. But for many XP is a better choice than Vista.If you have come to this page through search, chances are you are looking for solving the sound device driver issue. The driver that HP customer centre suggests fails to install and so does the modem. You can keep trying different audio driver to function with your system, but the maximum chances are that you wont find one. Here I would like to share my own experience how I managed to get everything running, without any extra effort.

Please follow the following procedure. If you have already installed any of these move to the next one. If skipping any step doesn’t help adhere to the sequence from beginning.
1. Install Windows XP.

2. Identify your chipset (Optional. This information will help you in searching for appropiate drivers)

Chip Utility:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/13799/eng/ChipUtil.exe

3. Install the video driver (Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Windows* XP)

Video Driver:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/14388/a08/win2k_xp14311.exe

4. Install the chipset driver ( INF Update Utility - Primarily for Intel® 3, 900 Series Chipsets)

Chipset Driver:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/13499/a08/infinst_autol.exe

5. Ethernet Driver

Realtek RTL8100CL/RTL8110Sb NIC Driver:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp30001-30500/sp30156.exe

6. Wireless Driver

Intel Pro Wireless Driver:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp33001-33500/sp33404.exe

7. Wireless Driver

BroadCom Wireless Driver:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp32001-32500/sp32156.exe

8. Alps touchpad driver (Synaptic touchpad driver may not work)

Alps Touchpad Driver:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp25501-26000/sp25796.exe

Synaptics Touchpad Driver (Only if the first doesn’t work):
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp35001-35500/sp35444.exe

Now comes the most crucial part where most people have trouble. Installing audio driver and also the modem.

9. First install Microsoft Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) Bus Driver for High Definition Audio (Without this your audio driver won’t work)

Microsoft Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) Bus Driver for High Definition Audio Driver:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp32501-33000/sp32646.exe

10. Install the audio driver

Conexant CX20549-12 High Definition Audio Driver
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp36001-36500/sp36090.exe

When you install the driver it will give an error message [Media device not found]. Don’t get fooled by this. Now it’s your turn to take control of the system.

Open your “Device Manager”. Look for “High Definition Audio Device”. You will find a yellow mark beside it indicating that the devices is not working properly. Right click and choose to install driver. Don’t let installation wizard do any thing on its own. Don’t let Windows to search for drivers. Choose advanced option of insalling driver by choosing the location on your own. Then choose “Audio, Video, Games Controller” and then don’t choose any driver from the list given by Windows. Click “Have disk”. Now you need to look for a “swsetup” folder in your “C:” drive. This is the drive where HP drivers have been extracted automatically. Look for “sp36090″ [the number of the HP driver] folder in it. If you don’t find the folder in “swsetup” look for the folder in “C:” drive. You will find one “.inf” file in the folder [Don't go into the other folders within 'sp36090' folder]. This is the driver file for your audio device. Select it and proceed irrespective of any warning by Windows. You will have your correct driver installed.

11. Install the modem driver.

Conexant CX20548 Modem Driver:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp36001-36500/sp36089.exe

Follow the same procedure as for the audio driver. Just look for “sp36089″ folder this time and choose the driver “.inf” file in the folder. You will have your modem installed.

Now you can enjoy working on your laptop without having that sad look for not having your system configured properly.

If the information given on this page helps you fix your problem, do let me know by posting a comment on the page.

[This post first appeared in my personal blog.]