2 Intern

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28K Posts

January 10th, 2008 16:00

You need to load the Notebook System Software and the chipset drivers before even attempting to install othe device drivers.  See the following:
 
 
All drivers for  your system are found at:
 
 
You will have to know which video adapter you have (ATI or NVidia), and which wireless network adapter you have before you can download the correct dirvers.
 
Steve

552 Posts

January 10th, 2008 19:00

You may not be aware of the reload option on your E1505. If not, immediately when you boot the system, start pressing the ctrl and F11 keys at the same time and a screen will appear that will allow you to reformat and reinstall the system to the point it was when you first received it from Dell. It usually takes 6-8 minutes. Works great but, you just have to then remove all the Dell junk that comes with the system and that includes all the drivers. If you have added any programs or files you may want to back them up before the reinstall since you will loose them all. Hope this helps.


Message Edited by Boyd B on 01-10-2008 03:32 PM

8 Posts

January 12th, 2008 15:00

Steve,
            Thanks for the response.  I downloaded the drivers and installed per the dell sequence but still no luck.  I also tried loading them from the dell resource cd.  Does it make a difference that I loaded other software after I reloaded windows xp, (ie MS office/Norton) but before I resolved the unknown devices?  I also tried the ctrl F11 trick up on boot up that another person recommended, but could not get that to work as well.   I don't want to have to reload windows again and start all over.
 
Appreciate any other insight.
 
Tom
 

552 Posts

January 12th, 2008 16:00

Hello, You mentioned you installed Windows earlier. Did you install it by inserting the disc in the drive and booting from the disc or how did you install Windows? If you did it that way, you may have repartitioned the hard drive and lost the reload option since it would merge the C: and D: partitions, thus deleting the F11 option. You also have 2 more partitions on the hard drive that may be hidden. The first partition is for booting option and the last partition is the F11 partition. The D: partition is the Ghost partition. Since you already have Windows installed, I would advise going to the Dell site, open MY Account, and enter the service tag number and choose Downloads for my system. Then choose Windows XP and click Find. You then should be able to see all the available downloads for your particular system. Again, you need to determine the exact hardware on your system. This can be done by going into the control panel, device manager and viewing the hardware devices. Write this information down and only download and install the drivers for these devices. I've done this several times in the past month while trying different operating sysyems on my E1505. I finally installed Windows XP from a bootable disk, copied all my drivers from my main desktop to a USB thumb drive and then installed them to the laptop. Worked every time. Hope this helps.

2 Intern

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28K Posts

January 12th, 2008 21:00

As soon as you re-formatted the drive you lost the ability to use the PC - Restore function (Cntrl-F11) because you deleted the Master Boot record.  The restore partition is probably still there, but is no longer usable. 
 
In most cases I have seen where someone reintalled Windows and did no initially reinstall the dirvers in the correct order, the easiest solution was to reformat, reinstall Windows and then install the drivers in the correct order.
 
Steve

552 Posts

January 12th, 2008 22:00

Volcano11 wrote:
 
"In most cases I have seen where someone reintalled Windows and did not initially reinstall the drivers in the correct order, the easiest solution was to reformat, reinstall Windows and then install the drivers in the correct order."
 
That really is the best solution. Since the restore partition is probably no longer available, you may have already merged the partitions when you installed Windows. I would gather all my drivers and start a Windows install and repartition the drive to the maximum, do a quick format, and continue untill Windows finishes the install. Then immediately install all the drivers with the chipset drivers first. This should not take more than an hour or so. Do not install any programs until there are no Yellow Question marks or Red X  next to the device manager devices. When everything in the Device Manager looks ok, then you can start to install your programs. Hope this helps.

2 Intern

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28K Posts

January 17th, 2008 05:00

When you run the Windows installation from the the CD you have an option to remove the existing partition, creat a new one, and format that partition.  If you do this, you will remove everything on that partition.
 
Steve

8 Posts

January 17th, 2008 05:00

Appreciate the advice.  One more question - what is the easiest way to clean the drive before the reinstall?  I have backed up everything I need.

8 Posts

February 2nd, 2008 08:00

I have reloaded windows xp and followed the order of reloading drivers.  I now have the following ?s left

 

PCI device 

Video Controller

Video Controller (VGA Compatible)

 

Regarding the video controller, I have no idea what driver to use.  When I look at the DELL resource CD, there are no checkmarks next to any of the drivers.  The dell website lists many drivers

 

 

552 Posts

February 2nd, 2008 13:00

Go to the Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager and on the left side list you will see Display Adapters. Click on the Plus Box at the very left of the listing and your display adapter will be shown. Write this down and go to the below link and locate the driver for you adapter, download and install the driver, reboot and go back through the above procedure to see if this has corrected the errors, Question Mark or Red X. My adapter is a Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family but yours could be different.

Hope this helps.

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?spf=Inspiron&ssysid=InspironI6400%2FE1505&ssysn=I6400%2FE1505&s=bsd&c=us&l=en&cs=04&ec=&ira=False&cat=sup&subcat=dyd%2F1004%2F6&rf=all&evl=&nk=f&k=E1505+drivers&p=1&nf=19019%7E7%7E141294&qmp=12&sort=K&snpsd=A&%7Esrd=False&ipsys=False&advsrch=False&p=1

8 Posts

February 2nd, 2008 17:00

Hmm.  Could not find any display adaptors, could be the problem.  I know that my system is MM061.  What now?

552 Posts

February 2nd, 2008 18:00

That seems to be really unusual since you know it has one or you would not have an image on the screen. My system is an MM061 also. I would download the Intel 945GM Chipset Family because many of the systems comes with that as default. The others would have had to be added at the time of purchase. If you download the driver and it is not for your adapter, it want install. You may have to do all of them one at a time to see if the drivers are the right one for your adater. You may also go into the control panel, system, hardware, Device manager and search for new hardwar and see if the operating system finds anything new. If it does see if it will auto install it. Try these and see if you have any luck and let us know. We might have to try a different approach.

2 Intern

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28K Posts

February 2nd, 2008 20:00

Did you install drivers for the modem?

 

Steve

8 Posts

February 2nd, 2008 20:00

Any advice regarding getting rid of one PCI device !? 

 

8 Posts

February 2nd, 2008 20:00

Good advice, now I am down to the one unknown PCI device sign and cannot get rid of it.

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