Motherboard manufacture and model information is required to perform some hardware and driver upgrades. But many manufacturers do not list model numbers on their motherboards, or the information is not easily accessible. Generally, there are two ways to identify the motherboard. You can reboot your computer. The boot screen will often (but not always) display the motherboard name and model. Or you can download freeware that will locate and display the information.
Instructions
Using BIOS information
1. In windows XP/Vista, click the "Start," button, then "Turn of Computer," then "Restart. The screen will go blank for a few seconds.
2. Text lines will appear when the computer restarts. When they do, immediately press the "Pause" button on your keyboard to freeze the screen.
3. Write down the information: The top line should be the motherboard model. You might also see the manufacture logo on the top (e.g., MSI on the image shown here).
4. Press any button on the keyboard to resume computer restart.
Using Hwinfo32 freeware
5. Navigate to the Hwinfo32 Web site at http://fileforum.betanews.com/download/HWiNFO32_Portable-ZIP/950009060/2. Click "Download Now" and a zip file will download to your computer.
6. Navigate to the zip file using Windows Explorer.
7. Right-click on the zip file. Select "Extract all," then "Extract." It should create a subdirectory and extract the content of the zip file there.
8. Navigate to the subdirectory, double-click on "hwinfo32.exe," then "Run." It takes 10 to 20 seconds to gather system information and open the program window.
9. Click on "Motherboard" on the left and read the motherboard information on the right panel.
Tags: screen will