DELL 7040 USB and Ethernet problem

Question

Hello all,

I've picked up a DELL Optiplex 7040 and am currently having a few problems with USB and network.

The lights on the front and rear I/O device work if I plug in a USB stick / USB WiFi dongle, but the USB stick doesn't display in the File Manager. In the BIOS all USB ports are clicked on, front and back panel.

Again when I plug the Ethernet cable into the network port, the light comes on green but the signal isn't recognised. There are no options for wired internet connection in Windows.

A USB keyboard and mouse works fine: I can type and click stuff.

I've got some drivers on a USB for my WiFi dongle, but the PC can't read them! It can read from the DVD drive fine.

I appreciate I might have missed some info off here. I'm running Windows 7. If anybody is able to help that would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Ben

cheekybeef · Accepted Answer

Thanks, Chino de Oro - since posting the original problem I managed to fix the issue.

I really don't know a lot about PCs, but at my brother's suggestion, I installed Linux and all the I/O ports worked fine. I then created a Windows 10 boot USB in Linux and tried to install, but kept running into problems proceeding past the drive selection screen.

I had an idea to completely wipe the drive, so plugged this into my Mac with a USB SATA adapter. After that, the install let me proceed. So there must have been some residual system information on the drive [or something] that was causing problems.

I think that you're completely right about Windows 7 and the 7040! It certainly didn't work well and rendered most of the machine useless.

Thanks again for your help,
Ben

speedstep · Answer

Use ports on the back. No mention of windows version. All the drivers for this model can be downloaded in a cab file. Then move to my documents folder and extract with 7zip.

cheekybeef · Answer

Thanks speedstep - I'm using Windows 7 32 bit. Both front and back USB don't work unfortunately.

I'm not able to get on the internet to download anything as the internet options tell me there is no network adapter available even when I have Ethernet plugged in and USB WiFi dongle.

cheekybeef · Answer

This is what is displayed in the device manger. It looks as though drivers have failed for the onboard USB and network adapters. There are also IRQ conflicts for both network and PCI.

I've tried running Dell updated drivers from a CD, but now I am getting kernel32.dll errors when I try and update.

This is all quite tricky as I need USB or internet to download drivers. Catch 22!

Many thanks in advance,
Ben

Tesla1856 · Answer

Well, the Device Manager screen-shot makes it look like the motherboard is missing it's chipset drivers. They should be installed FIRST.

Second, you don't want Windows-7 32bit as:

1. it is limited to 3.5gb ram
2. I don't think Dell has any 32bit drivers for Windows-7. Most machines came with Windows-7 64bit (starting in 2010).

Finally, why not install Windows-10 64bit? It's only 5 years old.

Chino de Oro · Answer

@cheekybeef , check on your 7040 to see if it has a windows 7 sticker, if it does, you may be able to use the product key to upgrade to windows 10. To do this, using a good machine and download the tool to create windows 10 installation media, run it and create a USB drive to install on your 7040. If product key not accept during installation, choose I don't have product key, windows may find a win 8 key in BIOS.

Don't focus on repairing the current windows, it is at end of life and receive no support. Most of all, it does not work very well with your 7040.

optiplex22 · Answer

@cheekybeef​ yes dell wifi onboard only detects with linux windows is useless

optiplex22 · Answer

@cheekybeef​ i noted front are 2x usb 3  on lh and 2x usb2 on rh the usb 3 refuses usb3 and usb2 refuses usb3 items, so must be plugged into corresponding port eg mose rh usb3  late wifi modem lh usb3 wont work in other type port

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DELL 7040 USB and Ethernet problem

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