Inspiron 1505E freezes when installing 440x 10/100 ethernet controller driver

Question

After being told to wipe my hard drive and re-install the XP operating system using the op sys cd, installing the NNS, chipset and video with no problems, I try to install the 440x 10/100 NIC driver, but it freezes every time and will not install. Is the driver from the download site faulty or could I have a bad NIC in the laptop?

muggymach3 · Answer

i dont think its the NIC. try downloading the drivers again. also try a different version of the same driver from the support site

lorixmicros · Answer

For my service tag (6400/1505E), there is no other driver listed for the 440x 10/100 NIC, so where would I get another driver?

muggymach3 · Answer

i searched on the support site by the system model (which is the same as service tag search) and selected XP as the operating system and these are the drivers that i could find for Broadcom 440x 10/100

3/20/2007 http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R149798.EXE
5/5/2006 http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R113310.EXE

try both starting with the latest one

muggymach3 · Answer

at what point during the installation does the comp freeze? after you double-click the file? when the file is being extracted to some folder? or after the extraction is complete and the actual installation is about to start?   to be totally honest i haven't seen this happen before. the Broadcom drivers have been around for ages and are actually very reliable   if you are able to extract the files and the freeze-up is happening only when the installation begins then this is one more thing you can try:   note down where the files are being extracted. its usually C:\Dell\Drivers\ .   open up the device manager, right-click the Broadcom adapter and click Update Driver if it asks you if you want windows to connect to the internet and search for the drivers, select 'No, not this time' and click Next on the next screen select 'Install from a list or specific location' and click Next uncheck 'Search removable media' and check 'Include this location in the search' click Browse and point to the folder where the files were extracted and click Next

lorixmicros · Answer

Started from scratch twice, once to try the oldest driver, then a second time to try the newest. Both times Windows locked up when trying to install the driver. Once I reboot, the system is okay, but the 440x 10/100 NIC has the yellow exclamation mark and it doesn't work. Any other ideas?

lorixmicros · Answer

It happens during installation of driver. It is almost done, i.e. the blue bar is just a hair from completing. I did what you suggested and as soon as I click 'NEXT' when I point to the directory where the drivers are, it locks up. I then have to hold the ON/OFF button down long enough to shut down the laptop and re-boot. When it comes up, the 440x still has the yellow exclamation mark. Does the Broadcom.com site have drivers for this? I went there, but could not find them. Could there be something in my complete installation steps that is causing this?   1. Run Media Direct to partition drive. ( I also tried without even installing this and using the whole   drive just for the OS with the same results).    2. Run OS installation from Dell CD   3. Run Dell NSS utility   4. Run Chipset install   5. Run video install   6. Run NIC install   When it comes to all of the hardware drivers, I have tried numerous combinations of driver installs, i.e. NIC first....WLAN first.....Audio first, etc.   I also continued Media Direct at different times......right after OS install, after Chipset install, after some drivers installation, etc.......same result.    VERY FRUSTRATING!

PudgyOne · Answer

All the drivers were on the drivers disk. You just go right down the line and install them.   Dell says Please download the drivers and install in this order Desktop System Software or Notebook System Software Chipset or SMBus driver Processor Driver (if applicable) Video Audio (sound) Input Drivers (keyboard/mouse) Modem Network Card   You can also try Everest Home Edition. Click on Computer/click on summary. Any thing that's blue, you can left click on and get product information and Driver download. Maybe this will help you find the right driver. Alsi did you try Drivers and downloads under support tools?

muggymach3 · Answer

as Pudgy said, the NSS and the drivers need to be installed in that order for best performance.

also an exclamation mark indicates a driver conflict and not a missing driver. so it is possible that some other driver may be interfering with the Broadcom. have you installed any hardware on this comp other than what came with it?

try this:
--------
> go back to the device manager
> right-click the Broadcom and hit uninstall
> don't restart if you are prompted to
> go to the C:\Dell\Drivers folder (or wherever all the drivers were extracted) and delete the folders for the network drivers
> extract the files again (only extract not install)
> then go to device manager again and try to install by pointing to the new folder

Message Edited by muggymach3 on 01-24-2008 12:31 PM

lorixmicros · Answer

I have installed, from scratch, at least a dozen times now, following Dell's instructions to the letter.   This laptop has had no hardware upgrades since I received it, so if there is a driver conflict, it is on the machine since day one.   The order of installation I showed was the last install I did. I promise you, I have gone by their instructions over and over.   For a machine that is less than 2 years old, this SHOULDN'T happen.

lorixmicros · Answer

For Pudgy.......   I did not receive a drivers disk. Dell technical support told me to download everything from their site, using my service tag number. The download site has numerous drivers that they said does not apply to my laptop, so I only downloaded what they said. Here they are:   SIGMATEL - Driver Dell - BIOS Intel - Driver Ricoh - Driver Conexant - Driver Synaptics - Driver Broadcom - Driver Dell - Utility Intel - Driver

PudgyOne · Answer

Where's the chipset drivers? You need to download them to get things to work.

Besides the ones you got. make sure you do these.

system utilities - notebook system software
Chipset Drivers
Applications - Quickset
Network- Broadcom & Intel drivers

lorixmicros · Answer

Here is the breakdown of what I showed you. If you would have clicked on each one, you would have seen that all the ones that you are asking for are there.   SIGMATEL - Driver (AUDIO)  Dell - BIOS (BIOS) Intel - Driver  (INTEL CHIPSET) Ricoh - Driver (RICOH CHIPSET FOR MEMORY CARD) Conexant - Driver (MODEM) Synaptics - Driver (TOUCHPAD) Broadcom - Driver  (440x NIC) Dell - Utility  (DELL UTILITY SOFTWARE (NSS)) Intel - Driver (VIDEO)   I never got to the applications. The order above is NOT the order I installed in and I never did flash the BIOS. These are what tech support said I needed.

PudgyOne · Answer

Get the latest driver from here   http://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet_nic/downloaddrivers.php   If you installed Everest home edition   click on network   click on PCI /PnP Network and it will tell you which one you need.   Mine is a BCM4401-BO for my Dell Inspiron B130   Driver Version is 4.37.0.0

lorixmicros · Answer

Okay ....here's what happened this time trying to install the driver from Broadcom:   Un-installed the nic in device manager. Attempted to install new driver from Broadcom, but while trying to install, it locked up solid        The last thing it was trying to do was load bcm4sbxp.sys to C:\Windows\system32\drivers Shut down laptop by holding on/off button down Booted into SafeMode As soon as I got into safe mode, an install bubble appeared at the bottom that said the 440x driver was installed Went into the device manager and sure enough there it was Attempted to re-boot into Windows and it locked at the black screen with the blue bar.   Is there some kind of device conflict that I cannot see or even worse, the motherboard is fried at the NIC?   Now if I try and boot into Windows, An install bubble shows up saying 'Found new hardware Ethernet controller' and then it locks up solid. Now it looks like I will have to start from scratch again.   HELP!

lorixmicros · Answer

I appreciate the effort that some put into this problem, but I'm still at a loss and have an expensive 18 month old paper weight now.   I have spent alot of time on this with no resolution and have come out of this with one opinion: I have learned an expensive lesson and will never but another Dell product.   This thread is officially closed.

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Inspiron 1505E freezes when installing 440x 10/100 ethernet controller driver

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