Which driver?

[Metiao]

I recently reinstalled windows XP on my Dell laptop, and for some reason the internet driver wasn't installed.

I have a couple of disks that have drivers on them, the only problem is I don't know what driver it is that I need.

Can anyone help me out?

[anthson]

The Internet driver? Not sure what you mean. Could you be more specific. Like, is this the modem we're talking about?

[Rosuav]

Are you talking about modem (dialup) or ethernet (LAN, broadband, etc)? Also, what model laptop (C640, D800, etc) is it?

As you apparently have another computer with a working internet connection, probably the easiest way is to go to Dell's site, type in your service tag (the "What is a service tag" link says how to find it), pick Windows XP, and it'll tell you what drivers you need. The service tag uniquely identifies that laptop, and Dell know what it was originally configured with - sometimes the same model will be given one of several different network cards.

I don't know what the disks you have are, but at best they'll have the same driver that you could get from Dell's site. It's probably not worth using them unless you're on a slow connection - download anew and have the latest versions.

[Metiao]

I went to the Dell site, and they just gave me a list of drivers that I could download. I'm just not sure what the driver is that I need.

Maybe this will help:

I open up my Network Connections page, and it only has that 1394 Connection that everyone seems have...
When I try to add a new broadban connection, it says that my connection should already be up and running.

I called Charter, and they walked me through some stuff, and they ended up telling me that a driver wasn't installed and I needed to talk to Dell to find out which one it is.

I called Dell, and since it's 4 years old, they wouldn't fix it unless I bought a extended warrantee. And that's where that ended.

It's an ethernet connection, on a Dell Inspirion 5150.

[Rosuav]

According to Dell's site, the network drivers for the Inspiron 5150 are:

Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Dell _Wireless (Except US,Japan) WLAN Card
Dell _Wireless (Japan) WLAN Card
Dell _Wireless (US) WLAN Card
Dell TrueMobile 1300 MPCI Card
Dell TrueMobile 1300 PCMCIA
Dell TrueMobile 1400 WLAN
Dell TrueMobile 2300 Wireless Broadband Router
Dell Wireless 1350 WLAN MiniPCI Card
Dell Wireless 1350 WLAN PC Card
Dell Wireless 1370 WLAN MiniPCI Card
Dell Wireless 1450 WLAN miniPCI Card
Dell Wireless 1470 Dual-Band WLAN miniPCI Card

Everything that says "Wireless" or "TrueMobile" is for a wireless network - grab the Broadcom one (direct download link). After downloading, run it to extract, then hunt down the folder and run Setup.exe - it's a bit weird but it works.

[Metiao]

That's exactly what I needed!

Just that one little name that Dell wanted to charge me $99 for.

Ros, If I were gay, I'd give you the best butt sex you've ever had

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Metiao
That's exactly what I needed!

Just that one little name that Dell wanted to charge me $99 for.

Ros, If I were gay, I'd give you the best butt sex you've ever had

Erm... heheh. $99 for something that I found in a few minutes using only general experience of Dells (I don't know the Inspiron line, only the Latitudes) and what they've published online.

Mind you, "best... ever had" wouldn't be difficult. But I'd rather stay as is.