[Kiafi]

Hey all, I just formatted and reinstalled Windows XP on my girlfriend's laptop, I've got Kaspersky and Spybot and Ad Aware all set up and all the programs needed, everything is pretty much perfect, except that:

- The internet will not work, I dont know what card she has, but the laptop used to connect through a wireless network, or I could put the cable from my router into it and it would work, now neither work, and I think the drivers are old. In system information the adapter is listed as an 'RAS Async Adapter' if that helps, I cant get drivers online because everything links to the windows site, which wants to scan for what needs to be updated, which requires the internet on the laptop to work.

- Sound does not work, no idea what card she has.

- Haven't had an opportunity to try games yet, but I'm guessing the same thing will happen for her graphics card, and I also have no idea what card she has. (She doesn't know anything about any of the parts at all, she got it through her college)

- There are a bunch of things in the device manager that have yellow exclamations next to them:
-Network Controller
-Video Controller
-Multimedia Audio Controller
-PCI Modem
-Video Controller (VGA Compatible)
-Ethernet Controller
-PCI Simple Communications Controller

Not sure how I can correct any of these things, they all seem like driver stuff. I asked what she did last time she formatted, she said that Dell guided her through it with a CD that came with the computer. She doesn't know where the CD that came with the laptop is, so I'm basically screwed. They also apparently have to be installed in a specific order or Windows has to be reinstalled?!?

Finally, when we reinstalled XP, she lost her Windows CD and it's key, so she said she used some program she downloaded to find out what key her OS uses, and I used that when I reinstalled Windows. Today, when I flipped the laptop over, I found that there was a sticker with the CD key directly on it. (sigh) It's not the same key, and I'm worried that when I finally do connect this to the internet, Windows is going to detect it as an illegal key or deny service. Any way I can change the key to what's on the laptop sticker?

I can move files from this PC over to the laptop using an external drive.

If anyone can help, please do, this thing has been kicking my [bleep] forever, it seems like it will never be fixed.

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Look for drivers for the laptop on the manufactuters website. There you should be able to find the video, ethernet, modem, and other drivers. Be sure to look for your model of laptop. We probably could have found the right drivers if we knew the make and model of the laptop. With the correct ethernet drivers the network should be installed correctly.

Since the computer is messed up anyway i would reinstall windows with the correct key. At the same time you could make a CD with the drivers needed for the laptops hardware.

SRX660

[SRX660]

Look for drivers for the laptop on the manufactuters website. There you should be able to find the video, ethernet, modem, and other drivers. Be sure to look for your model of laptop. We probably could have found the right drivers if we knew the make and model of the laptop. With the correct ethernet drivers the network should be installed correctly.

Since the computer is messed up anyway i would reinstall windows with the correct key. At the same time you could make a CD with the drivers needed for the laptops hardware.

SRX660

[Kiafi]

How can I tell what all of the parts are? Dell has a lot of drivers, I dont know which ones to get. It's called a Latitude 610, I dont know any more specific than that.

[SRX660]

Dell laptops are limited in what parts are installed in them. Generally every laptop will have the same hardwarewith only minor differences between years.Heres the download page ofr the C610.

http://support.dell..../...=WW1&osl=EN

I see it has most of the drivers you will need. You need to download utilities to tell you what hardware you have. Sometimes you just need to try a driver and if it doesnt work delete and try another driver. i try to be famaliar enough with my computers that i know what software drivers each needs to make them useful. I will make a list of all drivers on the computer. I will also make a backup cd of all the drivers for each particular computer. That way when i sell the computer people are more likely to buy it because i do have thiose drivers.

SRX660

[Kiafi]

Yeah, that was the page I found. Is the only thing I can do really just installing and deleting every one of those for every category? Is there an order I have to install them in?

It says that there's a diagnostic tool, but it requires floppies, which the laptop does not have, is there no way I can make things easier by finding what drivers I need through some other method of checking the hardware configuration?

[SRX660]

Many times i have downloaded everything i can find and burn them to a CD so i can load them on the laptop hard drive and use them from there.

You might try everest to see if it can identify the hardware but i think it just uses the windows ID for hardware, so it may not be of much use. You can also try winaudit.

http://www.majorgeek...wnload4181.html

http://www.snapfiles...t/winaudit.html

heres the manuals for the laptop.

http://support.dell....10/en/index.htm

Read everything carefully as you may be able to figure out exactly what you have and install the right drivers. Sometimes you might just need to install a drivers set and see if they work. If they don't you delete them out of device manager and try the others.

SRX660