I Reloaded Windows- I Need Help... Please! (1 Viewer)

[James Edward]

A friend's Dell PC had adware/spyware/virus issues, and it was recommended that I reload Windows XP using the disc supplied by Dell.

Now that I have done so, NOTHING is on the PC. It will boot up, and the only thing on the desktop is the Recycle Bin.

Fine- I figured I'd start by reloading her DSL software- but I get an error message telling me that her screen resolution setting is too low(800x600). When I go to change it, it won't let me. It also has the 'color quality' setting at medium, and I can't change that either.

Is this a driver issue with the video card or monitor? Where do I begin?

PLEASE tell me how to fix this- I'm in a Catch-22 position now- I know I'll need other drivers to do the printer, etc, but without DSL working, I can't download them.

ANY help is appreciated. Try and keep it straightforward, as I am only somewhat capable in the computer arena...

Thanks for any replies.

 

[ThomasC]

It looks like you'll need to reload the video card driver. Enter the service tag located on the computer case into Dell's website, and they'll tell you the exact model of the video card, and I think they have the driver available there as well.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Yeah, be prepared to spend some time. You'll need to hop on the Dell site from another PC and burn a CD full of drivers. Enter the service tag number, as Thomas said, and you'll be able to a) check the as shipped configuration and b) download drivers. In some cases the as-shipped won't give you enough detailed information to be certain which built-in video card/modem/what-have-you is actually in your friend's system. But the download page will have drivers for all the available options. so just download the lot of them and transfer them to your CD. It will take some time, but you should be OK. (Oh, and on a clean install Windows defaults to only showing the recycle bin on the desktop. You actually have to customize the desktop to make My Computer, Internet Explorer, etc. visible.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[James Edward]

Thomas,
Thank you so much.
I'll get on that tomorrow, and let you know how it turns out...
Jim

 

[Mike_J_Potter]

Yes you will need the video driver to get the resolution changed though 800x600 is usually good enough so it may be lower then that. Almost all the pcs at ,my job are 800x600 (besides mine of course) Since they don't have internet access you'll either have to 1. download the drivers from dells website support.dell.com from a different pc like stated earlier having the service tag (should be a like 1 7 digit numbers and letters) will make them easy to find, then burn them to a CD or copy to a usb flash drive and take them to the new pc. Or do they still have the Dell resource CD that came with the PC? That will have all the drivers on it. If your really in a pinch and no other way to get the files you might be able to get one from dell. Or if its a Dell Optiplex GX 100 or higher I probably have a copy at work I can send you.

 

[ThomasC]

Eh? Is this the Dell-customized Windows XP installation you're talking about, or plain Windows XP? I always get My Computer, Internet Explorer, Recycle Bin, and My Network Places after a fresh install (I shouldn't know that :frowning.

 

[ThomasC]

Hmm...would your friend still have the CDs that came with the computer? The drivers might be on a CD supplied with the computer.

 

[James Edward]

No- She either did not get the "Resource" CD, as Dell calls it, or lost it. My recent Dell purchase did not include one either, but my year 2000 purchase did. I think it is a way for them to cut costs.

But THANK YOU ALL for your responses. I did not know how to proceed, but it seems I should be OK. I'll post any further questions and my results...

 

[Armando Zamora]

My 3-month old Dell didn't come with a "Resource" disk or WinXP O/S either. However, Dell is cutting costs by including these things on a separate partition of the HDD. You have to burn it to a disk yourself prior to formatting the HDD. Once you format the hard disk, you're hosed.

 

[Paul Padilla]

James...there are probably a number of things that don't have the proper drivers...chipset...video...NIC...sound...modem if it came with one. If your familiar with the device manager, just because there aren't any yellow flags doesn't necessarily mean it's set up correctly.

The last few Dells we purchased for my company over the past couple of months didn't come with disks. I found that we had to specify that option for another $10 for the XP cd when we placed the order. But without that they didn't come with either disk, so if your friend has XP, then they should have received the resource CD as well. These things are easy to misplace.

It's sad to see that manufacturers are veering back towards restore partitions vs. giving you the damn disks in the first place. I think it isn't as much of a money saving issue as it is an ease for overseas tech support issue. Much easier for them to have you do a restore from an image compared to installing XP from scratch.

As a matter of course I wipe all of the machines we receive from Dell and install XP fresh (upwards of 50 times by now) and the only thing I ever see is the grassy field and the recycle bin using the Dell specific XP CD.

 

[James Edward]

OK- THANK YOU again...

I found the information and driver for the video card, and was able to get the resolution up to par. DSL is now loaded and functional, so I will be able to download any further drivers directly to the PC. I reloaded Word, and put Norton Internet/Anti-Spy on too, and both seem to be working fine.



As far as I can tell, the sound card and printer are the only obvious ones that are missing. The NIC missing is probably why the DSL setup would only recognize a USB connection. I switched to USB to make it work, but would the NIC be the issue for it not recognizing the Ethernet connection?

Maybe a stupid question- what does the chipset driver affect?

Thank you again!

 

[StevenFC]

Let's just put it this way:

Bad system board chipset = doorstop

Bad video chipset = squirrely or no video

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

It's a good idea to check the Dell site for that specific model and download every driver issued for it (for XP obviously...) and install them. That way you'll have the freshest possible drivers instead of using the stuff that came with XP. When I say every driver I obviously mean the latest version of every driver for every internal component, not every version of any given driver.

Oh and obviously you should go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and grab every update in sight there too. That should be step one after every Windows install, and then make sure automatic updates are turned on.

Insert standard rant about getting Antivirus software, possibly even a free variant, and a software firewall here.

Edit: chipset drivers are the drivers required for using all the components installed on the motherboard properly. In some cases, decent drivers are available in XP, but for newer chipsets you'll need the latest drivers to get harddrive controllers and many other aspects of the motherboard chipset to work properly.

 

[Ken Chan]

A little late to the party, but does your friend have a router? If so, you wouldn't need to install DSL software. The router will log into the network, and then the computer(s) just access the internet "directly" through the router.

If you have broadband, you really should have a hardware firewall, like the one provided by a router. They're cheap, like $40, and provide protection against snoopers. Be sure to change the default password, and make sure remote configuration is disabled.