Device Manager - Other Devices - None are installed?

You can only find the drivers for your computer with the Dimension Resource CD that came with the computer, but if you don't have that CD at all then you might have to download all the drivers from our Drivers and Download link.

 

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&ServiceTag=&SystemID=DIM_PNT_P4_8400&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

Hi Lynx, thanks for your reply. I have a number of disks that came with the PC, but none called Dimension Resources. I have the OS reinstallation disk, Sound Blaster disk, Wordperfect, Color Monitor, Sonic and Record Now,Data Lifeguard Tools, PowerDVD, and one that says Drivers and Utilities but it appears to be only for the Dell Modem. I suppose I could have lost a disk with other drivers, but I've been pretty careful with them.

 

I have already been to the drivers download site you listed. I didn't see anything there that looked like it applied to the Ethernet Controller so I downloaded and ran the one for Chipset. It didn't seem to make any difference after I ran the downloaded Chipset Installation Utility. The Device Manager still shows the same status as what I said in the original post.

 

Any other ideas?

If you have installed the chipset, try to download the Network driver. Extract the file, try to write down the file name of the network driver and the location where you extracted the file. After extracting the network driver zip file, open the device manager, right click the Ethernet Controller and click on update driver. there will be a pop-up window. Choose no not at this time then click on next button. Choose install from a specific location (Advanced) then click on next. Check the check box include this location in the search and click on browse. After clicking browse locate the Network driver you extracted to your computer and click on ok then click next and follow the instructions. That should fix the problem with the ethernet controller. You have make sure that the Network driver you're looking for is compatible with your computer. Try to choose the drivers that has "integrated". I hope that could help you

Wish I had that drivers and utilities reinstallation disk. The one I have is only for reinstalling V9X 56K data fax modem software. I don't really need that...

 

I'm not sure I understand if you're saying to try a repair with the XP reinstallation disk in the drive? How would I do that? I tend to agree that XP SP2 should have what's needed for integrated devices on an Intel processor. Thanks.

That part about being sure it's the right network driver has me a little worried. All the drivers for the Dimension 8400 under Network are for Broadcom integrated 57XX gigabit controller. I am not sure what mine is because Device Manager lists the Ethernet Controller as unknown. I do have the packing slip that came with the PC and it has a line item saying Intel Pro 1000 Integrated PCI NIC Card. Do you think the Broadcom driver would work? I guess I could try it and see, and if it's not compatible I could restore to an earlier point.

You can try that, make a restore point first then try to install that if that will mess the operating system then restore it. If that's the only available driver given in that website then there's nothing to fear in trying that. Hope that could fix your issue.

Just wanted to post back and thank the kind folks who helped me out here. I did try deleting the questioned marked items in Device Manager and then rebooting with the XP reinstall disk in the CD drive. This didn't work for me though, the driver installation wizard couldn't find drivers on that disk. So I went ahead and downloaded and installed the Broadcom driver from the Dimension 8400 page and installed it even though my invoice indicated it's an Intel integrated NIC in my system. This installed with no problems but I still could not use the ethernet connection with my cable modem. It apparently had a problem yet with not getting a good IP address. So I mucked about with the internals and finally did something right because today it works nicely. Thanks again!:smileyhappy: