Problems after clean install of XP

Question

Dear All

Having waited in Dell Uk's call queuing system for 30 minutes in vain, I wonder if anyone here can help me ?

I have just bought an Inspiron 510M and, after a few days of it running without problems but not quite as fast as I'd hoped, I decided to do a clean install of XP Home Edition from a genuine CD I had bought separately (for my old desktop).

I deleted all the partitions shown by the Windows XP set up routine, and I also used Active! Killdisk to completely erase the entire hard disk.

I then installed XP and everything seemed to go fine until after the final reboot, when it turned out I could only get the screen in 640x480 resolution and 16 bit colour and my internet connection wasn't recognised (and there are probably lots of other problems I haven't found yet). Any ideas ?

Thanks in advance.

UK Newby · Answer

PS: I wish I hadn't deleted the system restore partition. Repenting at leisure !

UK Newby · Answer

Thanks for the quick reply. I didn't get any CDs with those things on from Dell: I guess I need to download them to my other machine with internet access, then transfer them across on a CD ? I think I can find the chipset driver on the Dell site, but what is the "notebook system software" I'm looking for. All links much appreciated.

Thanks again

ejn63 · Answer

Look up by service tag number - you will find all your downloads at support.dell.com.

ejn63 · Answer

You need to install the chipset drivers, notebook system software and video drivers.

quietpc · Answer

Correct!  No need to beat yourself up.  You can download them and you don't even need to put them on a CD.  You can simply install them from your desktop or a specific folder you give to them or whatever.  You'll be fine.   Another trick would be to go into the 'Device Manager' in Windows and find only those things that are given a yellow asterisk.  You can then click on the properties for each of those and utilize the 'update drive' button and point it toward wherever you downloaded what you needed.  Otherwise, just download all and install them separately.  Either way, have faith.  You'll be up & running in no time!

Ambers · Answer

If you contact dell in the uk they will be able to send you out the cds free of charge.  Call on 08709080800.  I know it can be busy at times but thats usually around 9 in the morning or late evening.  Either try 1st thing at 8 in the morning or during the day.  it will save you time in the long run!

UK Newby · Answer

Thanks for all your help. Once I'd typed my service tag correctly, the support site gave me all the drivers I needed. Once I was up and running I took an image of the hard drive using Acronis Trueimage (to a USB2 hard drive), in case I screw up again later !

Machine is now running faster than when it left the factory and I've got more hard disk space, so all's well that ends well.

Storage, Drives & Media

Problems after clean install of XP

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