Dimension 5100- Lost system restore, missing drivers.

Question

I recently installed Linux on my PC, and unthinkingly wiped all the partitions on my hard drive (and so I've lost Dell's system restore stuff). I ordered the recovery disks from dell, and used them to reinstall Windows. Everything works fine, except that it has absolutely no connectivity. The Ethernet card and various other devices are lacking drivers, and windows can't locate them on any of the disks I have. I'm pretty certain this is a software issue, because everything is running fine under Linux. I've tried a bunch of stuff, searched a number of places, but I can't seem to find the drivers or come up with any other possible fixes. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks a bunch.

Mary G · Answer

Check your download list at Dell Downloads and Drivers to see if you have Desktop System Software that needs to be installed first with the chipset drivers before all the other drivers can be installed. (I checked and it is listed under System Utilities) You will also find the other missing drivers you need there, but you will also find drivers for hardware you don't have, so check your hardware device manager. There is an order to reinstalling drivers: Chipset, Desktop System Software first, then Video drivers....and then the rest. Go to Support Tools at the bottom of the left column on this page to find Downloads and Drivers here: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&ServiceTag=&SystemID=DIMENSION%205100&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

Message Edited by Mary G on 01-31-2008 12:59 PM

Tremulance · Answer

Thanks so much! I'm going to give that a try and see how it works out.

Rebel9 · Answer

Further to Mary's post, the driver order of installation can be found here.

Windows General

Dimension 5100- Lost system restore, missing drivers.

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