# Reinstalled XP on my Dell Inspiron - Now What
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 6, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280 "2005-12-06T01:15:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280/1 "2005-12-06T01:15:03Z")
I have an Inspiron 1150 which got a clean reinstall of Windows XP (w SP II) today. My IT buddy at school did this for me, but I did not bring along the Dell ‘Drivers and Utilities’ disk that he said was needed to make the reinstall complete. He thought (he’s more an Apple guy but knows his stuff in general) that if I just popped in the disk, it would walk me through the process and everything would be dandy.
No dice. I put the disk (the Dell ResourceCD) in and after it percolated for a bit it popped up a window that shows me information about Utilities, Drivers, Diagnostics and Applications. I can click on those areas, unzip files for those drivers and whatnot and install them, but the machine still has a big clutzy fonts and I can’t figure out how to get online. I gotta be missing something simple and I have no access to my IT homey for a few days - anyone around here have advice?
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280/2 "2005-12-06T01:19:25Z")
Forgot - I tried Dell Support. Since I acquired the laptop through a third party (the school where I’m employed) they don’t show me as being a customer in their database, so no luck there. I tried with my wife’s info (her quicker, nicer, new Inspiron is what Im on now) but crapped out there as well. Geaah.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280/3 "2005-12-06T05:52:41Z")
Here
[Inspiron 1150 Driver Sets](http://http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_1150&os=WW1&osl=EN)
DL what you need and install it. It might be worthwhile to DL them all and install them as it is possible they have features the generic XP drivers do not.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280/4 "2005-12-06T05:54:00Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> Here
>
> [Inspiron 1150 Driver Sets](http://http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_1150&os=WW1&osl=EN)
>
> DL what you need and install it. It might be worthwhile to DL them all and install them as it is possible they have features the generic XP drivers do not.
Link not working correclty
Go to Dell and seach for all drivers & DLs for the 1150.It will take you to the appropriate page.
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### Author:  [@Otanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otanx)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2005, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280/5 "2005-12-06T10:09:19Z")
Last time I worked on Dells (about a year ago) the drivers would only copy themselves into a directory on your hard drive (C:\Dell\Drivers\stupid random number for each driver) You would have to go to each of those directories and run the actual driver install from there, or use the Device Manager and point it to the proper folder for each driver.
The random number is actually some version number, but I never did figure it out.
-Otanx
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### Author:  [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280/6 "2005-12-06T13:40:32Z")
Right-click **My Computer** , hit **Manage** , and click **Device Manager** in the left pane. Anything in the right pane that has a yellow exclamation mark on it needs to have a driver installed.
If all the drivers are installed then there is a configuration problem. You may have to adjust your screen resolution by going to the Settings tab of the Display applet in Control Panel. As far as getting online, go to a command prompt and type IPCONFIG. The output should give a clue as to the problem.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280/7 "2005-12-06T14:17:56Z")
Go to Dell’s corporate support pages for the 1150 [here.](http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_1150&os=WW1&osl=EN)
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### Author:  [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reinstalled-xp-on-my-dell-inspiron-now-what/334280/8 "2005-12-06T15:01:32Z")
> [@Number](#):
>
> Right-click **My Computer** , hit **Manage** , and click **Device Manager** in the left pane. Anything in the right pane that has a yellow exclamation mark on it needs to have a driver installed.
>
> If all the drivers are installed then there is a configuration problem. You may have to adjust your screen resolution by going to the Settings tab of the Display applet in Control Panel. As far as getting online, go to a command prompt and type IPCONFIG. The output should give a clue as to the problem.
That helped a ton - thought I had installed the graphics driver already but as has been mentioned, its not like Dell walks ya through this, which sucks for novices like myself. Thanks!