newly reinstalled XP but no connectivity

John in Houston

After installing XP, did you load all the drivers, including the NIC [network] driver.

Were the drivers install in the correct order?

See HERE

Bev.

Ps. Edited for content.

Bev,

I'm not sure.  I have a CD labeled, in part:

Dell Dimension ResourceCD    This soft ware is already on your computer. (of course it isn't now.)

Contents: Device Drivers,  Diagnostics and utilities, Computer documentation

When I start it, I see:  "testing device drivers"  then "Now loading device drivers" 

Loading takes a less than 10 seconds- too little for actually loading  drivers, I think.

The next screen says:

1, Run Graphics Adapter Advanced Diagnostics (You have to specify the type of adapter and I don't know what's in there)

2. Run the 32 bit Dell Diagnostics  (I did this and the computer passed)

3. Run the ATI E-Home Wonder TV... (don't have Wonder TV)

4. Exit to DOS

5. Reboot the system

I see nothing else about drivers.  Of course I can't download them because I can't get on-line.  Could I download the drivers to a thumb drive with my Win7 PC, then install them on the XP PC from the thumb  drive?   Without screwing up my Win7 computer, of course.

John in Houston

The drivers should be on the Dell Resource CD, you may need to use Search Criteria of the Dell Resource CD, to find the Dimension 4700 drivers, but they can be downloaded from HERE to your W7 system [without harming it] and transfered to a thumb drive.

Download the drivers to a folder, you need to create on the PC you are using.  After all the drivers are downloaded, connect the thumb drive to a USB port and transfer the folder to the thumb drive, using the 'Sent To' Menu.  

Note. Don't use Dell's download Manager, choose 'Download Using My Browser' when selecting the file to download.

Connect the USB drive to the PC you wish to install the drivers on, go to My Computer, click the USB drive to locate the folder, open the folder and install the drivers.

A hint: Restart the 4700 after installing each driver.

Bev.

Bev,

Thanks-  a project for this afternoon.  I don 't remember seeing Search Criteria on the CD's menus.

John

Maybe the menu is the Search Criteria, it's been some time since I used a Dell Resource disc, have always downloaded the drivers from Dell's website and used a USB thumb drive, or CD/DVD to install.

Bev.

Bev,

OK  Got this done, I hought.  Some from the CD and some downloaded.  I printed out the How to Download and Install Drivers in the Correct Order and checked items off as I installed.  The reason I was not finding the drivers on the CD is because I was opening the CD in BIOS.

But I have a problem.  After going through the checklist I noticed that the Resource CD has a program sensor that says, if I highlight IntelChipset Software Installation Utility, for instance, "A hardware scan has detected the presence of this device."  But when I highlight the Desktop System Soft ware, it doesn't detect it.  All the other items are detected.  Since DSS needs to be the first one installed, do I need to uninstall all the others and start from the beginning?   I still can't connect with the internet.

John

Yep, I know that feeling.

Ain't computers fun.     :emotion-42:

Is this your first time reinstalling windows and loading the drivers?

Bev.

I am having such a good time with this.

John

The DSS must be installed first, followed by the Chipset driver next, [otherwise the remainder of the drivers will not install correctly], then all the other drivers,

You may need to start over and reinstall XP, then load all the drivers in the correct order as listed in the link I posted. 

Bev.

Bev,

No luck I reinstalled XP, loaded up The Resources CD, and found the Chipset and some of the others on the list are already installed.  Does the CD install them when I start it, but not install DSS?   Maybe I need to reinstall again and load drivers entirely from downloads and thumb drive.  Is there a way to look at the drivers already installed immediately after XP installation before I do anything else?

John

The Dell Resource CD should not install any drivers automatically, as all the drivers must be installed, by you one at a time and the system restarted after each installation.

Maybe it's best to download the all drivers needed from Dell's Download site.

Do you have a Dell Drivers and Utilities CD?

Bev.

John

Good luck.   :emotion-21:

Bev.

If you've loaded all the drivers, including chipset, but didn't load the desktop system software, you could try rebooting in Safe Mode (F8 before Windows starts to load). Install the DSS and then reboot normally. That usually works...

Ron

Bev,

I had no time today, but maybe tomorrow.   I want to make sure I do this right.  So I reinstall XP by booting from the CD and reformatting the hard drive.  45 minutes later I have a hard drive with just XP and lots of empty space on it.  Next  I install DSS using a downloaded copy from my thumbdrive.  Then I should have XP, DSS and slightly less empty space on the hard drive.

How do I know that the installation of DSS worked?  How to I know that I have only XP and DSS on the drive before going any further?  This will be the 4th time in the past week I have attempted the reinstallation of XP.