Device Manager

I'm new to this computer stuff, so please bear with me. A year ago, our desktop was 'fixed' by a local computer repair person. The hard drive was having major issues and he reformatted it and reinstalled the OS and Windows XP software...not from our original discs. A month ago the Windows Authentication locked up the computer. I reformatted and realized that I didn't have any discs. My husband is military and we move a lot and we can't locate the original discs. So, Dell sent me a reinstallation of the OS. Great....thanks, Dell, but, It didn't have any driver support discs. So, I have gone on the support area and downloaded every driver and support file that is listed for our computer (E-310). That being said, there is no Port tree in the device manager and I can't hook up my printer. I never realized how frequently I use my printer until I can't use it. Any suggestions on how to resolve the no "port' issue and/or how to get my printer to work?? Thanks for any help.