AngieW

I installed a new hard drive in my Dell Dimension 2400 computer because the old one crashed. I reinstalled Windows XP, but none of the drivers under "Other Devices" installed. That's the ethernet controller, multimedia audio controller, SM bus controller, and video controller (VGA compatible).

I have all the original disks that came with the computer, and I've tried everything....why won't these drivers install? (BTW, the ethernet controller did not come with the Dell. I installed that a couple of years ago. It's an Inexq NF100 10/100 Mbps fast ethernet PCI adapter. I downloaded the driver from the internet, but it won't install either.)

I appreciate your help. I'm not a techie by a long shot. I just can't stand paying people to do what I usually can figure out on my own. But I'm stumped now.

Angie

simpswr

and welcome to the Forum

go to the

Dell support site, enter your Service Tag Number and download the drivers

See this for the order they should be installed:

http://support.dell.com/support/topi...=en&l=en&s=dhs

AngieW

Thank you for the response. I tried downloading drivers from Dell...didn't work. Nothing will install. I have the disks that came with the computer too....these drivers won't install from that either.

So I thought I'd uninstall Windows XP and start all over. But when I go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Windows XP isn't listed.

I am so frustrated with this. I thought I did everything right, and now I can't seem to undo whatever I did do wrong. What now??? I just want my computer to work again!

I appreciate any help.

Angie

BCCOMP

Hi Angie,

You can't remove XP from ADD/REMOVE Programs, it is your Operating System and not a usual program.

How did you install XP to begin with?
Did you format he Hard drive and do a complete reinstall?

As far as the drivers can you do this:
Open the Device Manager
Post ALL errors you may have (yellow!)

Right click on the error>Properties>Details Tab
Post the info you find under Device Instance ID

Do this for each error you have

Thanks,
Bill

simpswr

What exactly happened when you tried to install the drivers? . . Did you install the Chipset first?

AngieW

To answer Rich's question, nothing happens when I try to install the drivers. I put in the Dell disk, go to Device Manager, try installing each driver, and it doesn't work. It goes through the steps, but acts like it can't find the drivers.

Here's what I see on Properties for the drivers that have a big yellow question mark. All of these are under "Other Devices." They all have the same error message: "The drivers for this device are not installed (code 28)."

I don't know if this is important, but here are the locations listed for each device:
Ethernet Controller: PCI slot 1 (PCI bus 1, device 4, function 0)
Ethernet Controller: PCI bus 1, device 9, function 0
Multimedia Audio Controller: PCI bus 1, device 31, function 5
SM Bus Controller: PCI bus 0, device 31, function 3
Video Controller (VGA compatible): PCI bus 0, device 2, function 0

I installed a brand new hard drive, then used the disks that came with the Dell computer to reinstall Windows XP and everything else. I don't remember which disk I put in after the operating system disk (the brown one that must be used first), but it probably was the drivers disk.

I appreciate your help. I'm clueless, as you can tell. But I'm not stupid, so surely I can fix this if I can just get the right answer. This computer was working great until the hard drive crashed. All I did was replace the hard drive....who knew this would be so difficult.

Angie

simpswr

You can go to the Dell support site, enter your Service Tag Number and downlod the drivers and save them to a flash drive or burn to CD

On the 2400, Double click on the .exe file for each driver and it should self extract and start the installation process. Ne sure you Install the chipset driver first . .

You appear to have two network cards . . is there a reason for that?

AngieW

I don't know why it shows two network cards. I installed one almost two years ago when we switched to DSL internet. If I remember correctly, the one in my computer didn't work.

I'll try again to install drivers from the Dell website. But here's where I'm confused. Since I have already installed everything except these few drivers that I can't get to work, don't I need to uninstall something? Uninstall the drivers? Or Windows XP? I hear you saying I need to install the chipset first (by the way, I don't know what a chipset is, but I'll take your word for it), but how can I do it first if it's already there?

Please let me know if I need to undo something before I proceed any further.

Thank you for your patience and help,

Angie

simpswr

Just install the new ones . . they will overwrite the old ones

GrTech2009

Angie Dell usually provides drivers in the form of executable files. You need to download each driver that is listed when it pulls up the drivers for your service tag/model number.

Once you have downloaded these files you need to double click each one of them and an install wizard will guide you through the process of installing them. Once you have installed all of your drivers you will need to restart your computer do not restart it after each install. If the driver utility asks you to restart click no and continue installing the drivers.

GrTech2009

if you don't have your ethernet driver then you will not be able to get on the internet and go to the dell site to download the drivers. You will need to either go to another computer and download it onto a flash and insert the flash drive into a usb port of your computer and run the installers or you can burn them to a cd on the other computer then run the cd and click on the installer files on your cd.

AngieW

OK, I'm making progress. I was able to install all of the drivers except the Inexq NF100 Ethernet Controller.

I downloaded the NF100.zip file from driverguide.com and saved it to a flash drive, then tried installing it on my Dell. Nothing happens. I tell it to look on the flash drive, it doesn't find anything.

Here's the thing, it appears that there isn't really an executable driver file in that nf100.zip file anyway (yes, I did extract the files first in case you're wondering). It says in the Installation Readme file that if you have Windows XP, it should automatically detect the device and find the driver on the hard drive. But it isn't doing that!

Is my problem that other ethernet controller that's on my PC? It's a Broadcom device that came with the computer and apparently doesn't work. That's why I bought a new ethernet card a couple of years ago (the Inexq--and I know the Inexq works because it's what I was using before my hard drive crashed). I disabled the Broadcom card, but do I need to uninstall it instead?

You have all been so good and patient. Please help me just a little more.

Many thanks,

Angie

simpswr

Right click on the Inexq NF100 Ethernet Controller in Device Manager, select update driver . . point the wizard to the folder you extracted the driver to.

AngieW

That's what I did, but it doesn't find anything to install.

simpswr

What files were extracted?

You don't have the installation cd that came with the card?

BCCOMP

Can you post the DEV_&VEN_ numbers on this Nic Card

Right click on the error>Properties>Details Tab
Post the info you find under Device Instance ID

Do this for each error you have

You may not have the correct driver.

Thanks,
Bill

AngieW

OK, I'm getting soooo close to a fix! I was looking for the installation CD that came with this ethernet card and couldn't find it....I looked again and found a FLOPPY! It came with a floppy, not a CD, even though the box lists the contents as a CD.

I was so excited and popped it into the floppy drive on my Dell, and nothing. My computer isn't recognizing my floppy drive! It always has in the past. This is the only computer I have with a floppy, so I either need to get it to recognize the drive so I can install this driver, or find a neighbor with a floppy drive and USB connector so I can put it on a flash drive.

Any idea why it won't recognize the floppy drive? I didn't do anything at all to it when I installed the new hard drive. All the cables are still connected.

This is driving me really crazy.....

Thanks, Angie

simpswr

Look in BIOS to be sure the floppy is not disabled. They are so cheap that they often fail.

GrTech2009

if you are not getting a response when you put the floppy diskette in then something must have gotten disconnected or your floppy drive has failed. you can check this in your bios.

Riskyone101

Just wanted to mention here: You need to restart the computer after each driver installation.