XP in a new Dell Laptop

[Guest]

Hi -- I just bought a new Dell Inspiron 1521 that came with Vista Home
Premium. I replaced that with Windows XP Pro from a newly purchased CD-ROM
over that. I have had no luck connecting to the internet, neither through
ethernet nor through my LAN (the Dell has a wifi card built in). I noticed
that in Device Manager, under "other devices", all seem to be missing --
i.e., they have yellow question marks and exclamation points. This includes
the ethernet controller and and network controller. Is this the source of my
problem?

Any guidance on how to get my Dell running XP normally would be greatfully
appreciated. -- David

 

[Nepatsfan]

In

Hi -- I just bought a new Dell Inspiron 1521 that came with
Vista Home
Premium. I replaced that with Windows XP Pro from a newly
purchased CD-ROM
over that. I have had no luck connecting to the internet,
neither through
ethernet nor through my LAN (the Dell has a wifi card built
in). I noticed
that in Device Manager, under "other devices", all seem to be
missing --
i.e., they have yellow question marks and exclamation points.
This includes
the ethernet controller and and network controller. Is this
the source of my
problem?

Any guidance on how to get my Dell running XP normally would
be greatfully
appreciated. -- David

Download the drivers for the devices you are missing from this
web site.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...emID=INS_PNT_1501&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

If you're not sure what hardware items were included in your
laptop, click on Add or Edit Service tag. Enter the 7 character
service tag which you will find on the bottom of your laptop.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[DL]

Of course by doing this you have likely invalidated any warrant or support
from Dell

 

[Guest]

Yes, but I'm not the one who forced a buggy piece of garbage known as Vista

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Hi -- I just bought a new Dell Inspiron 1521 that came with Vista
Home Premium. I replaced that with Windows XP Pro from a newly
purchased CD-ROM over that. I have had no luck connecting to the
internet, neither through ethernet nor through my LAN (the Dell has
a wifi card built in). I noticed that in Device Manager, under
"other devices", all seem to be missing -- i.e., they have yellow
question marks and exclamation points. This includes the ethernet
controller and and network controller. Is this the source of my
problem?

Any guidance on how to get my Dell running XP normally would be
greatfully appreciated. -- David

Of course by doing this you have likely invalidated any warrant or
support from Dell

Yes, but I'm not the one who forced a buggy piece of garbage known
as Vista on the public.

Neither did Dell nor Microsoft. Especially in this case.

You realize Dell still sells systems *with* Windows XP - so - in this case -
you have 'forced yourself' to buy Vista and then instead of calling and
speaking to Dell (and likely get it resolved where you have Windows XP
supported from Dell on your Dell system) - you went your own route...

 

[DL]

Dell supply systems with Winxp pro, nothing has been forced on you, it was
your choice

 

[Guest]

True, but only in a very restrictive sense. Both Dell and HP offered 1 older
model with XP. I asked both if XP could be installed on the Inspiron (and the
HP DV line), and the answer was no. Who is forcing whom here? Why should I
have to settle for the dregs of their lineup when I want the latest hardware,
just to get XP? For the record, I've reinstalled Vista, and hope to make it
work. Within 1 hour here's what's happened:

Windows Media Player wont play
Windows Explorer crashed twice trying to look at a photo
Norton 360 (which runs great on my XP desktop and is "Vista ready" won't run.

 

[DL]

Well over here all Dell Inspiron & other series including desktops are
avilable with Winxp pro

 

[Shenan Stanley]

True, but only in a very restrictive sense. Both Dell and HP
offered 1 older model with XP. I asked both if XP could be
installed on the Inspiron (and the HP DV line), and the answer was
no. Who is forcing whom here? Why should I have to settle for the
dregs of their lineup when I want the latest hardware, just to get
XP? For the record, I've reinstalled Vista, and hope to make it
work. Within 1 hour here's what's happened:

Windows Media Player wont play
Windows Explorer crashed twice trying to look at a photo
Norton 360 (which runs great on my XP desktop and is "Vista ready"
won't run.

The problem is that the Inspiron 1520/1521 is not sold in Dell Small
Business. The Vostro 1500is the small business model closest to the
Inspiron 1520/1521. It is the Business sections of the Dell website that
have Windows XP as an option without some calling/arguing with sales people.

In any case - Windows XP can be installed on it (by Dell or by the end user)
and all you have to know is that you can get the drivers for the hardware
for Windows XP from here:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...SystemID=INS_PNT_PM_1521&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Stanley. For all my criticism, I do respect MS for your willingness
to respond & fix. Just for the record, last year I posted a critique of
Apple's Front Row software on their chat board -- not a flame, just some very
specific problems -- and it was removed w/ in 24 hours, without explanation.
I posted again asking why it was removed, and it was removed. So much for the
free speech ethic at Apple.. -- David

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Thanks, Stanley. For all my criticism, I do respect MS for your
willingness to respond & fix.

<snip>
In reference to *your*, if you meant me in relationship with Microsoft...

I am not employeed or associated with Microsoft in any fashion other than
being a volunteer on these newsgroups. For that Microsoft chose to award me
something (Microsoft MVP title) but I do not speak for (and often I speak
against) Microsoft or their products.

 

[Poprivet]

You missed the boat somewhere: Dell would have put XP on THAT PC for you.
I asked my

 

[Poprivet]

The problem is that the Inspiron 1520/1521 is not sold in Dell Small
Business. The Vostro 1500is the small business model closest to the
Inspiron 1520/1521. It is the Business sections of the Dell website
that have Windows XP as an option without some calling/arguing with
sales people.
In any case - Windows XP can be installed on it (by Dell or by the
end user) and all you have to know is that you can get the drivers
for the hardware for Windows XP from here:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...SystemID=INS_PNT_PM_1521&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en

Actually, that's a discussion I had with Dell a few weeks back: They said
they would put XP on any model I wanted it on, and told me how to do it.
You have to talk to Sales at order time and get it prearranged, THEN input
the order for residential sales.
I followed their instructions and, although we received instructions on
how/where to get some drivers instead of the actual drivers, my friend
actually has XP Pro running on his Inspirion and is quite happy, but
neophytes always are happy with new machines<g>.
I almost wish I was in the market just so I could do it, too; just to
make a point to them. But who knows, maybe the kinks will get worked out in
Vista's SP. I've sat in front of a couple Vista machines now, and with some
tweaking and turning things off, I could get used to it reasonably easy, so
I'm at least past my "fear" of Vista for when that's all I can get software
for.
I'm sure that day will come. These same scenarios happened with the XP
release too, as I recall. I just with they'd finally lay off the "perfect
security" innuendos & crap.

Pop`

 

[Guest]

Yes, I did miss the boat -- I made the mistake of believing the Dell sales
person. I would be perfectly happy to live with Vista if I could get the
Media Player to work. There are a few similar complaints about WMP on the
Vista chat board, to which no one is replying. I can't reload WMP in Vista,
because a standalone Vista version is not available on the MS site (please
correct me if I'm wrong).

At some point, I will throw in the towe and re-load XP.

 

[Guest]

Stanley -- Thanks for your help, and for clarifying your status. -- David

 

[Dave B.]

That is a common occurrence in Apple's forums, rather than admitting
problems they try to hide them, at least until a lawsuit comes along.

--

 

[Guest]

Nepatsfan: I am going to reinstall XP again this weekend. I checked out the
page on the Dell site and am very impressed. They have it very well
organized. Just to confirm the procedure: Are these downloads are
self-installing? (I.e., are they packaged as executable files?) Do I have to
do anything in Device Manager to get them running correctly? Finally, once I
install them, I assume I should have a machine comparable, if not exactly the
same, as if I had bought an XP version directly from Dell -- yes?

Thanks for bearing with me -- I'm just trying to head off those annoying
"hair pulling" moments. ;<) -- David

P.S.-- Go Pats! (I live in Brookline)

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Nepatsfan: I am going to reinstall XP again this weekend. I checked
out the page on the Dell site and am very impressed. They have it
very well organized. Just to confirm the procedure: Are these
downloads are self-installing? (I.e., are they packaged as
executable files?) Do I have to do anything in Device Manager to
get them running correctly? Finally, once I install them, I assume
I should have a machine comparable, if not exactly the same, as if
I had bought an XP version directly from Dell -- yes?

Thanks for bearing with me -- I'm just trying to head off those
annoying "hair pulling" moments. ;<) -- David

P.S.-- Go Pats! (I live in Brookline)

It can be assumed that the drivers you download will allow you to install
Windows XP and utilize all features of the system just like if you had
bought it with Windows XP - unless you notice there are some components
missing from their drivers list that you have now. Bluetooth, for example.

However - for the most part - Dell supports all of their systems right now
with either Windows XP or Windows Vista (and a flavor or two of *nix.) You
should be able to find what you need from Dell. If not - you can likely
find what you need from the actual manufacturer of whatever product might
still need a driver.

The drivers are generally self-installing from Dell - although, on
occassion - you might have to go in Device Manager and manually install the
drivers.

 

[Guest]

Stanley -- Thanks. I've installed one-off drivers, but never to get an OS off
the ground like this before, so I'm trying to touch all the bases. I recall
many times in tinkering w/ computers when something that "should be easy"
seems to take forever. ;<) -- David

 

[Nepatsfan]

Most driver packages I've downloaded from Dell are
self-extracting files. When you double click the downloaded
file it will extract the installation files to a folder named
something similar to this;

C:\DELL\DRIVERS\R123456

You'll need to go to that folder and run setup.exe to start the
driver installation.

As for your laptop running as if it had been shipped from Dell
with XP installed, I'll simply echo what Shenan noted in his
response. Yes, it's a safe assumption that if Dell is providing
the XP version of the drivers for a hardware component, it
should work correctly.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

In