Bought Studio Desktop 540 - need XP drivers

WolfganP,

Possible XP drivers -

Intel GMA X4500
http://www.vga.pe.kr/xe/?mid=eng_driver&category=123343&document_srl=175367

Realtek ALC888S
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/SOUND-CARD/REALTEK/Realtek-HD-Audio-Driver-R161.shtml

I absolutely do not understand why Dell does not support XP for this PC.
* Because we did not want to pay Microsoft for that XP license nor did we want to spend money on validating XP on the hardware. Both of those would have raised the cost of the PC.

Christ, I very appreciate this. Thanks for your help. I will test it and let you know. Will take some time.

Realtek ALC888S is working well, but no chance to install Intel chipset.

If I try your driver or win2k_xp14363.exe or from Intel website 14324 or 1437, error message:

"This system does not fulfill the minimum requirements for the installation of this software."

When I try Intel ChipUtil to identify the chipset it says:

"Failed to identify your chipset, failed to identify your ICH."

I really don't know what to do. I spend now perhaps 50 hours trying to solve this. With no result. Definitely I will not use Windows Vista. Never ever.

Can you please help me?

My DELL Studio Desktop 540:

Studio (D105409)
Intel® Core™2 Quad-Core Q9450 Prozessor (2,66 GHz, 12 MB Cache, 1.333 MHz FSB)

SiSoftware Sandra says:
Mainboard: Dell Inc. 0M017G
System BIOS Dell Inc. 1.0.4
Chipset: Dell P45/P43/G45/G43 DRAM Controller
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
etc.

Because we did not want to pay Microsoft for that XP license nor did we want to spend money on validating XP on the hardware. Both of those would have raised the cost of the PC.

This comment and the written tone of it typifies the current state of Dell service, and their attitude towards the people who have kept them in business for all these years...their customers.

I also recently purchased the Dell Studio 540 desktop, and I have no issues with Vista. I do however take issue with Dell's attitude towards the satisfaction of their customers, and your apparent unprofessionalism You didn't want to spend money on validating drivers for an operating system that the majority of Windows users still use, and is not going away anytime soon? Other vendors have no problems doing what you seem to feel is a burden on your company. I had all intentions of running a dual boot with Vista and XP on this system, and there was no mention in ANY of the advertisements of this pc that stated it couldn't run Windows XP. This is unbelievable, and only underscores just how far Dell has fallen in the eyes of the consumer. There are plenty of people out in the real world who have retail editions of Windows XP, so please explain to me how you would have to pay Microsoft for any additional licenses. We already have them! All you would have had to do is provide current drivers which would give us the ability to install what we already have. Windows XP is still being supported for crying out loud, and you act like it's Windows 98, and you have no obligation to provide the capability to run it on your current models. Your excuse is a major cop out.

Since I have your attention, and because all of the Dell service personnel seem to be avoiding any issues related to the Dell Studio 540 desktop...when are you going to explain to us why our computers make multiple beeps during system POST. A normal computer is supposed to give you a single beep when the POST has completed successfully.  All the of Dell Studio 540 users I have encountered here in the forums, and on YouTube are experiencing issues with this. Through my own extensive testing I have narrowed the cause down to how the PC see the USB ports at power on. Depending on what and how many USB hubs or devices I have plugged in at power on this will determine how many beeps, and tones I have. The devices seem to all work when fully booted, but this is not normal. Does Dell have a problem spending our money on solutions to problems like these? Also, the Q8200 does not support VT, but if I upgraded to say the Q9550 which does, how do I know if the motherboard with all it's glorious locked out BIOS will support it. I have a feeling that is also something Dell didn't consider important. After all we...the consumers apparently can't even be trusted to tweak our memory timings or other mundane things of that nature.

There are A LOT of unhappy Dell Studio 540 users out there right now, and I've spoken with a lot of them personally. If simple drivers for XP are not developed you will be seeing a lot of holiday returns on this machine....mine included. If Dell doesn't start providing answers to peoples concerns in the forum posts regarding the BIOS issues etc, then I know plenty of consumers who will be willing to turn the national spotlight on Dell. I work for an international company myself, and I know how it works. For every single dissatified customer you stand to lose many more current and potential customers expotentially based on word of mouth. Dell was once a great company, but today they are a shadow of their former self. This is not the words on one person...I speak for many.

Skimping on features and support to reduce the cost of any product will never ensure higher sales. Quite the opposite becaue people know what they want, and are willing to pay for it if it's done right. Dell's current strategy for this line of computers is corrupt, and needs a reboot...yesterday.

Perfectly written. I purchased a Dell Studio 540 caused by my expierences with Dell in 2003 and before.

Today the German support of Dell is lazy and every question you ask will be declared as question regarding software and directed to software support Presto with 0900 phone number or credit card phone support solution. Hardware support is free, but if nothing is declared as hardware support nothing is free. If you have problems with drivers, it's of course software support... This is really crazy and disappointing.

This is not Dell. It seems to be that Dell died some years ago. I talked to three companies. All of them told me very bad things about Dell. They stopped purchasing at Dell some years ago and bought since then HP PCs and servers.

XP IS NO DOWNGRADE. VISTA IS THE BIGGEST DOWNGRADE EVER DEVELOPED. VISTA IS THE MOST BLOODCURDLING OS. VISTA HAS ALSO TODAY SO MANY ERRORS, CRASHES AND PROBLEMS THAT NOBODY CAN USE VISTA SERIOUSLY.

However. I asked Intel for support. And if I must pay for it, I will pay Intel. But not Dell. Dell got too much of my money for a PC solution that is NO DELL. I hate REALTEK and was wondering why Dell is using those bad technology in such a high-budget PC.

Hi,

I have successfully installed XP on this machine got the drivers from the following locations:

Graphics: ATI website (ATI RADEON HD3450)

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/radeonx-xp

Sound: Realtek HD Audio ver 212

http://www.realtek.com.tw

Network Card: Realtek RTL8168

http://www.realtek.com.tw

Intel Chip Set ICH10 Family:

I used the chipset driver on the Dell Site for Vista (worked fine on XP).

Were you successful finding a driver for the ethernet card.  I down loaded PCI_Install_5707_1119.zip (trhe installer and drivers for what I though was the driver for the ethernet network card).  I was not succesful. Can you help me.

I searched the sites that Kaleems recommended for the drivers.  The ATI Video driver seemed to work OK.  I still do not know if my problem with the network driver for the ethernet card is the drive or my process for installing it.  I downloaded the installation file named PCI_Install_5707_1119.zip.  I executed that file and still got no connectivity on the internet.

Any suggestions for me

Were you successful finding a driver for the ethernet card.  I down loaded PCI_Install_5707_1119.zip (trhe installer and drivers for what I though was the driver for the ethernet network card).  I was not succesful. Can you help me.

Hello,

If you can get the system online somehow, try the Microsoft Windows update site.

I have had very good luck there with systems that had unknown hardware, or drivers that could not be found. :emotion-55:

Try PCIE_Install_5708_1222. Worked for me yesterday (found it on the Realtek website by doing a search for RTL8168 and ended up with a generic driver (I think) for RTL81XX series) Good luck! I now have to find all the other missing drivers for my own machine.

I have all the XP drivers I need for my System configuration, not sure if everyone elses pc's are different configurations.

If you are struggling to find the driver, will be happy to email you the ones I have.

Please contact me directly if need help.

Can you please say more about how to use the Windows update site to locate missing drivers? Thanks in advance :)

Can you please say more about how to use the Windows update site to locate missing drivers? Thanks in advance :)

Sure,

Use Internet Explorer and go to the Windows update site.

Click on the "Custom" button link, and let it search your system. Any updates for hardware found will be listed under "Hardware, Optional".

The site has helped me many times when working on a customers system that I have no information on.

Thanks very much for this, Darrell. Worked a treat. So nice to see no yellow question marks in Device Manager at last! (and it also told me about a few other possible updates). Great to know about it.

John