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Article Number: 000140940

Identifying and installing drivers for Windows 8.1 on your Inspiron 17/7746 laptop

Summary: This article provides information on identifying and installing drivers for Windows 8.1 on your Inspiron 17/7746 laptop.

This article may have been automatically translated. If you have any feedback regarding its quality, please let us know using the form at the bottom of this page.

Article Content

Symptoms

SLN296313_en_US__1Windows 8_1 logo(1)

After a clean installation of the Microsoft Windows 8.1 operating system, you must install the following drivers/software packages in the following sequence.

NOTE: Some components may not be present on your system depending on the original build and specification of the system. You may check your system's specific hardware configuration by following the steps listed in Dell Knowledge Base Article sln128938: Checking Hardware Configuration (Driver Install). Several of the drivers listed below may be automatically pre-installed during the Windows 8.1 installation. Be sure to check the Device Manager to ensure proper installation of each driver.

The list below indicates the recommended order to install the drivers for your system and provides links to additional information about each driver. Drivers are available for download on the Dell Support Website for your system. Before choosing your drivers, ensure the correct Operating System version is selected from the drop down list (ie Windows 8.1 64 bit).

  1. Chipset (System Devices) -  Intel Chipset and System Devices
  2. Display adapters -  Intel HD Graphics or NVIDIA Geforce 845M
  3. Sound, video and game controllers -  Realtek ALC3234 Audio
  4. IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers -  Intel Rapid Storage Technology
  5. Network adapters -  Intel 7265/7260 wireless/bluetooth and Realtek PCIe GBE network adapters
  6. Card reader -  Realtek RTS5176 Card Reader Driver
NOTE: This page is only intended as a guide, illustrating how Device Manager will look during driver install. Drivers can be downloaded from https://www.dell.com/support

Intel Chipset and System Devices

After the Windows 8.1 installation, download and install the following components of the Intel chipset and system devices. Click each item in the list to take you to the specific driver location at Dell's support website:

Check under the System devices category in Device Manager to ensure the drivers installed correctly:

SLN296313_en_US__2Inspiron 7746 Intel chipset install(1)

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Intel HD Graphics or NVIDIA Geforce 845M

The Inspiron 17/7746 uses either the Intel HD Graphics or the optional nVidia Geforce 845M for the display adapter. Download and install the corresponding display adapter driver from the Dell support website using the links below:

After installation, ensure the adapter shows correctly under the Display adapters category in Device Manager, as shown with the Intel HD Graphics below:

SLN296313_en_US__3Inspiron 7746 display adapter install

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Realtek ALC3234 Audio

Download and install the Realtek ALC3234 Audio driver from the following link at Dell's support website: Realtek ALC3234 Audio Driver.

Once installed correctly, the Realtek audio adapter will show under the Sound, video and game controllers category in Device Manager:

SLN296313_en_US__4Inspiron 7746 Realtek audio adapter install

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Intel Rapid Storage Technology

The storage controller driver can be installed from the following link at Dell's support website: Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver. Once installed correctly, the Intel Rapid Storage driver should appear under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers category in Device Manager:

SLN296313_en_US__5Inspiron 7746 IDE controller install

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Intel 7265/7260 wireless/bluetooth and Realtek PCIe GBE network adapters

The following network adapter drivers should be downloaded and installed from Dell's support website:

Ensure the devices installed correctly by verifying the entries under the Network adapters category in Device Manager, as shown below:

SLN296313_en_US__6Inspiron 7746 network adapters install

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Realtek RTS5176 Card Reader Driver

The driver for the Realtek card reader can be downloaded and installed from the following link at Dell's support website: Realtek RTS5176 Card Reader Driver. Once installed correctly, the Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader will show under the Universal Serial Bus controllers category in Device Manager:

SLN296313_en_US__7Inspiron 7746 Realtek card reader install

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Cause

 

Resolution

 

Additional Information

 

Videos

 

Article Properties

Affected Product

Inspiron 7746

Last Published Date

19 Mar 2021

Version

3

Article Type

Solution

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