BleepingComputer.com: Need to reformat and reinstall - need help

To find out what drivers are still needed go to the Control Panel > System > Hardware tab > Device Manager.

The devices drivers that are not native to XP will have a ? or ! by them. Take note and those are the ones you will need to d\l.

I downloaded a dell network driver for an integrated controller. I burnt it on a disk and then put it on my Dell PC. I ran it and virtually nothing happened. A command prompt screen with no writing came up for a second and that was it.

What should I do.

ThunderZ, on 23 October 2010 - 10:53 PM, said:

By the way I do have quite a few with yellow !? on them including an Ethernet controller. It won't let me burn the Dell driver as an iso so I made a data disk but it's not doing anything on my computer when I then run it.

Is it possible to just install the ethernel controller without any extra programs? or whats the solution

Elusival,

it looks like you're at the stage where drivers need to be installed. if there's anything else, please post.

it's generally a good practice to install chipset drivers first. after that, i don't think there is any set order.
only the devices that have an exclamation point need addressing. everything else should be ok.

i think it would be to your benefit if you could post a screenshot of your device manager. do you know how to post a screenshot?

there's a procedure for installing drivers that i always follow. it starts with right-clicking the device in device manager with the yellow exclamation point and selecting 'update driver'. i wish i could remember window-for-window what is said, but in general, you point the wizard at the drivers (you DON'T let the wizard search the internet, it can't anyway). if the drivers are on cd, you need to know how to point the wizard at the drivers on the cd (use BROWSE). once the wizard sees the driver, everything else is automatic.

I've basically managed to set up everything now Thankyou all who have helped.

Still inevitably I'm having some problems.

1) I've installed all windows updates and restarted several times and the computer is now very slow. Well espeically the internet. When scrolling down a page it like skips. It doesn't go smoothly and pages don't load as fast. And I do have IE8. I wonder if drivewipe caused some problem.

2) I've downloaded media player 11 which I used before and it won't play any music. It says one or more codecs required to play the file could not be found. Where would I look for codecs? Its odd because movies play fine with Media player it's just the music I'm having trouble with.

When I tried playing them before I installed Media player 11 there was a message. I think it was a warning I just clicked okay and tried to play it anyway.

This post has been edited by Elusival: 24 October 2010 - 10:43 AM

did you clear up all exclamation points in device manager?

SMbus and video controller. One won't work and the other will just say it's searching even after 15minutes.

SMBus is the chipset driver. is that the one with the exclamation point?

Yes that one plus 'Video controller (VGA compatible)'

Ohhh wait I see. I downloaded the amd chipset driver from Dell (Since it says AMD on the front of my dell PC) But I believe I need the nvidia one too. Thanks you helped.

i'll stick around and make sure you're out of the woods.

Good work guys

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&ServiceTag=&SystemID=DIM_P4_C521&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

Maybe a little out of order?

Elusival, on 24 October 2010 - 10:40 AM, said:

That is a graphics driver issue. You will need to install the one from the OEM site.

Elusival, on 24 October 2010 - 10:40 AM, said:

That is not uncommon with WMP. It has to do with legal issues, copy rights, protected media etc. that I do`t even pretend to understand. I have not used WMP in years. I prefer VLC