Drivers and Utilities CD

Question

I am (Hopefully) about to reformat my hard drive on my Dell Dimension 4500, running Windows XP Home Ed.

I have read the Dell article about how to do this thoroughly and realise that i need the Drivers and Utilities CD with the drivers for the Chipset, Display and USB controllers. In my box of CDs there i found a Drivers and Utilities CD but this is labelled

"For reinstalling v.92/56k Telephony Data/Fax/Voice Modem Software"

which contains:

"Drivers for 6F794,
Diagnostics and Utilities,
Online Documentation,
Phone tools Fax Software,
Modem-on-Hold"

Is this the CD i am looking for?

Should there be another cd?

It maked me think that it might contain the drivers i need because of the contents market "Drivers for 6F794" and the fact that it is the only CD i can find.

If it is not the CD i need, what do you suggest i do?

Where can i get a list of all of the drivers my system need or do i have to compile one myself?

Can i store the drivers on a network computer with all of my other backup files or do i need to put them on a CD? Ie, will the Ethernet card work without loads of drivers.

Any information would be greatly appreciated, i know i have asked a lot of questions, i do not ask anyone to answer every one of them, unless of course they want to, any help is good.

Thanks v much,
Milukaz

volcano11 · Answer

The disk you refer to is not the Drivers and Utilities CD, it is the drivers for your modem. If you can't find the Drivers and Utilities CD, You will first need to determine which devices you have and then you will have to download the drivers from the Dell Support Site.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=DIM_PNT_P4_4500&category=0&os=WW1&osl=EN

You can then burn them to a CD. The ethernet card will not work until you have loaded the chipset drivers and the drivers for the ethernet network adapter.

Steve

msgale · Answer

Minor point.  I have four Dell PCs of various ages.  Three run XP Pro and the other Windows 2003 Enterprise server.   All four PCs were loaded using the retail version of the respective operating systems.  I never had to load any drivers from Dell.  I did load the latest video drivers.  All machines were fully functionallity without any additional drivers, except for the Linksys 802.11G on my laptop,  which required a Linksys driver.  The point I am driving at in most cases full fuctionallity will be available after the Microsoft Software, with the possible exception of modem and NIC drivers.  There is a standard call, I believe PC99, which all PC manufacures adhere to, so no two or more PC can be totally dissimular.

mpvhockey · Answer

yeah, umm i have tried that, but i couldn't figure out what driver i need for my specific lcd monitor on the laptop, how do i know which mine is? thanks, jon

mpvhockey · Answer

Hi
Umm i recently had to reinstall windows xp home edition on my dell inspiron 1100 notebook, but when i did this the screen resloution is only 640 by 480 and it won't let me change it,i think it's because i don't have the correct drivers, but i may be wrong, and my ethernet doesn't work either, and by the way, i can't seem to find my driver cd, is there any possible way i can order one with proof that the computer is mine?
Jon

Message Edited by mpvhockey on 03-07-2005 08:36 PM

msgale · Answer

I believe that everything on the drivers, at least all the driver, can be downloaded from either Dell on the specific products manufacture.  What is on the drivers disk is a picture in time.  Months or years later you would propbably want the current drivers not the old ones.  Try Dell's download site.

volcano11 · Answer

Major point - if the computer was released after the intiail release of Windows XP, then the chipset drivers are not native to
XP and any intgegrated devices on the motherboard will not be native to Windows XP. Therefore any integrated devices (network, video, sound on many Dell computers) will not work and will not even be able to install the device drives until the chipset drivers are installed and then the drivers for the integrated devices.

Steve

msgale · Answer

I don't know, and I could be wrong, but - if I had a Dell 3000, which has on board video and is post Windows XP, how could I reinstall the OS since the chipset drivers are loaded after the OS is installed, and the video can not work without the chipset drvers - that I believe is called 'Catch 22'.

volcano11 · Answer

msgale,

Windows will load its native standard VGA drivers which will only allow 640 x 480 resoultion. This is sufficient to install Windows. If you wanted to run the video at higher resolutions you would need to install the chipset drivers and then video drivers for the integrated video on the Dimension 3000. There is no "catch 22".

Steve

Message Edited by volcano11 on 03-07-2005 09:00 PM

volcano11 · Answer

mpvhockey,

You don't need monitor drivers, you need graphics (video) adapter drivers. There is only one video adapter shipped with the Inspiron 1100. The drivers can be found at:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/type.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=INS_PNT_CEL_1100&category=6&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=3526&devlib=6

Steve

Milukaz · Answer

Well, it turns out, after extensive pulling out of hair and thumping the floor, that the CD was in the box, however Dell, had put it into the same envelope as one of the other CDs, so it was completely obscured from vision, and my big clumsy fingers were aunable to feel that there was 2 cds inside.

Thanks for all of your replies, i am now a much wiser person about drivers!!!!

Milukaz

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hi there, We want to make sure your system is working fine and hence following up. Having said that, we do not want to disturb you with numerous messages. We will wait to hear from you to continue the conversation.

Windows General

Drivers and Utilities CD

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