Reformatted comp, loaded Windows XP and now can't connect to Internet

[gamecocks]

I have an old laptop that contracted a virus that I couldn't purge. So, I reformatted the harddrive using DBAN. Then I booted the laptop with Windows XP. Now I'm trying to connect to the internet using a LAN connection and am getting no connection.

I have a Dell Latitude D810. I went to the Dell site (on my working desktop) and attempted to download all of the drivers onto a flash drive to transfer to the laptop. I tried double-clicking on the downloads that I had (downloaded all of the "recommended" links available) and nothing really happens.

As you can tell I have very little knowledge with this part of laptop setup.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[mike1959]

Hi, You have installed XP on the laptop, so did it install right through to the desktop?
And you have entered the product key? Can you go into the BIOS and check that the LAN setting is enabled? If so, it should be able to connect to the 'net, assuming there are no other problems. Then you should be able to go to Dell's site and download all the drivers provided by them for your laptop. There may be several drivers you need that must be downloaded from their own makers sites. You can find out which by using, Control panel, system, device manager. Look for the devices with yellow triangles next to them. That indicates that the driver is either faulty, or more likely, missing. Hope that makes sense.

 

[gamecocks]

Thanks for the response.

I installed Windows XP directly on the laptop by inserting the disk and rebootting the laptop. I then entered the product key.

I did not install Windows XP from my desktop to the laptop. I was only using my desktop to try to find all of the drivers from Dell.

How do I go into the BIOS to check the LAN settings?

 

[mike1959]

HI. I assume the Laptop had XP on it from new, and you know that the product key for that PC is on a sticker underneath? You will probably need to go to Microsoft's site to 'activate' it again, but it should go through without problem.
To get into the BIOS screen, you power on the PC, and you will see white text on a black background, watch for a message such as 'Press F2 for setup' or something similar. Tap the Function key F2 a few times as soon as you see the message, it will be a few seconds after you power it up. When you see the BIOS screen, it will have a blue background. You can only use certain keys to move around the screen, arrows, pg up, pg dn, enter, esc. You need to go to the heading 'On board devices'.
Highlight it, enter, then look for the 'On board LAN'. Make it 'enabled'. Look around the screen for instructions about 'save settings and exit'. It's normally F11.
The PC should then carry on to the desktop. If you plug in your ethernet 'Cat5' cable from your modem, to the laptop, you should be able to launch 'Internet Explorer', and connect to the net. from there you can get your drivers from Dell's site. Hope this helps !! It's easy to do, difficult to explain.

 

[gamecocks]

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately it didn't work.

Upon a restart, I hit the F2 button and was able to pull up the BIOS screen. I then opened the section called "Onboard Devices", but don't see any items with the LAN. The items listed are:

Fast IR
Integrated NIC
MiniPCI Status
Modem Enable
Parallel Port
Serial Port

I don't see anything in the entire BIOS menu about LAN other than "Wake on LAN" under the "Power Management" menu.

 

[mike1959]

Ok, So you have got into the BIOS screen. Now scroll down to the 'Onboard Devices'. Press Enter. Arrow down to the 'Integrated NIC', press enter. In the main screen the optiions are, 'Off', 'On', 'On w/pxe'. It should be 'ON', if not, make it 'On'.
Press 'Esc'. Select 'Exit'. Press Enter. Now your PC should carry on loading Windows through to the desktop. If you connect your modem to your PC using a 'CAT5' (ethernet cable), you should be able to launch 'Internet Explorer', and the home page load up. If you usually use wireless connection between laptop and modem/router, it probably won't work at this stage. You can then go to http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen and enter your Dell's service tag, (on a sticker on PC) or select your model number from the drop down menus. Once you have downloaded your drivers, the PC should be back to normal, and wireless should work. I use a CAT5 cable every day switching between 2 PC's, A Dell Dimension, and a self-built 2.8 P4 using Linux Ubuntu 9, as I am to write this. (Just to prove it works!). Hope this helps.