Reference number: CH000632

Identifying a unknown PCI card.

Question:

Identifying a unknown PCI card.

Additional information:

This document contains information on how a user can identify a unknown PCI card. If you are a Microsoft Windows user and have a "Unknown PCI device"

If you are looking for information on determining the PCI bus version on the motherboard please see document CH000308. 

Answer:

Microsoft Windows 95, 98, and ME users

Microsoft Windows 95, 98, and ME users can look at their registry to determine the manufacturer and/or model of a PCI device installed in their computer. To do this follow the below steps, if you do not with to edit the registry and want to use a different program skip to the next section.

1. Open the registry by clicking start, run, and typing regedit.
2. In the Registry Editor go into the below registry keys
   
   Windows 95, 98, and ME users
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
   Enum\
   PCI\
   
   Windows 2000 users
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
   SYSTEM\
   ControlSet0001\
   Enum\
   
   
3. Within the above key you should be other folders similar to the below example.
   
   VEN_5333&DEV_8901&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_16
   
   
4. As can be seen in the above example you have a lot of useful information that can be used to identify the card. In this example the VEN aka Vendor is 5333. Doing a search for this Vendor on the PCI database shows that this particular PCI device is a "S3 Graphics Co. product." You can find a link to the PCI database on our Motherboard links. 

Other software solutions

If you visit the PCI database page they also contain several third-party solutions and links that enable users to run a program that will help identify a PCI device in the computer. You can find a link to the PCI database on our Motherboard links.

Hardware solution

If you are unable to determine the type of PCI card using software the next best solution is to examine the card. It is common that the card will have the manufacturer and model listed on it. If no model or manufacturer is listed, look for other identification on the card such as a FCC identification number. Additional information about FCC numbers and how to search for information about a FCC number can be found on our FCC dictionary definition page.