XP Reinstall Problems

Question

Just recieved my XPS Gen 5 with Media Center. I thought (falsely) that the remote control option came with a tvtuner (seeing as how the other option said dual tv tuner) so i had to choose Media Center. I have XP pro and would much rather use that. After running into a SATA install problem and fixing it i reformatted my harddrive and installed XP Pro into my computer. Unfortunately, it will not detect my ethernet card and consequently my internet connection.   I installed a possibly proprietary version of XP Pro licensed to my university which distrubutes it to interested students for a reduced price. My old XP Pro cd will not work at all; it gives me a BSOD after 'Starting Windows' in the install screen. Being a hardware idiot i don't know how to get my ethernet card to work. I can't find any drivers on any of the CDs provided by dell and i can't really download the drivers seeing as how i need them to get on the internet. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

bhishma · Answer

@rickmktg wrote:   Using the Advanced Forum Search on the bottom of this page, you can quite easily find the answer to this often asked question.   There is no difference in Pro vs. Pro vs. Pro.  All the same.   You can quite easily download the drivers - you're on the internet now, aren't you?  Burn them to CD, put the CD in the Gen 5.  You need Chipset driver followed by other drivers.  Sorry about not using the Search Function before hand; just a bit anxious to get this problem fixed as soon as i can.   I was thinking they were all the same but who knows what goes on these days. I wasn't knowledgeable on whether proprietary OSs existed so i just gave the benefit of the doubt. Thanks for the answer though.   I'm on the internet now, you're quite correct. Unfortunately i'm on at the library and these things don't have cd-burners. For me to find a computer with a cd burner i'd want to make sure i know what i need to do (seeing as how the trip to said computer is a good half hour) hence the question.   Where exactly would i find these 'Chipset' drivers. I already tried searching for a generic 'ethernet drivers' but am unsure as to what i need to download exactly. What 'other drivers' would i need to download? I hope you understand my anxiety; it's been a while since i've dealt with new hardware.

rickmktg · Answer

@bhishma wrote:

Just recieved my XPS Gen 5 with Media Center. I thought (falsely) that the remote control option came with a tvtuner (seeing as how the other option said dual tv tuner) so i had to choose Media Center. I have XP pro and would much rather use that. After running into a SATA install problem and fixing it i reformatted my harddrive and installed XP Pro into my computer. Unfortunately, it will not detect my ethernet card and consequently my internet connection.

I installed a possibly proprietary version of XP Pro licensed to my university which distrubutes it to interested students for a reduced price. My old XP Pro cd will not work at all; it gives me a BSOD after "Starting Windows" in the install screen. Being a hardware idiot i don't know how to get my ethernet card to work. I can't find any drivers on any of the CDs provided by dell and i can't really download the drivers seeing as how i need them to get on the internet. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Using the Advanced Forum Search on the bottom of this page, you can quite easily find the answer to this often asked question.

There is no difference in Pro vs. Pro vs. Pro. All the same.

You can quite easily download the drivers - you're on the internet now, aren't you? Burn them to CD, put the CD in the Gen 5. You need Chipset driver followed by other drivers.

rickmktg · Answer

@bhishma wrote:

Sorry about not using the Search Function before hand; just a bit anxious to get this problem fixed as soon as i can.

I was thinking they were all the same but who knows what goes on these days. I wasn't knowledgeable on whether proprietary OSs existed so i just gave the benefit of the doubt. Thanks for the answer though.

I'm on the internet now, you're quite correct. Unfortunately i'm on at the library and these things don't have cd-burners. For me to find a computer with a cd burner i'd want to make sure i know what i need to do (seeing as how the trip to said computer is a good half hour) hence the question.

Where exactly would i find these "Chipset" drivers. I already tried searching for a generic "ethernet drivers" but am unsure as to what i need to download exactly. What "other drivers" would i need to download? I hope you understand my anxiety; it's been a while since i've dealt with new hardware.

Click on Product Support tab, then Downloads, put in your system. You'll see the Chipset driver, you'll also see ethernet drivers. You need to determine by going into Device Manager which network card you have, then download the appropriate driver.

Then, you can log on and download the rest right on your computer.

Windows General

XP Reinstall Problems

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