Replaced XP Home with XP Professional and no wifi driver

Bateman

I recently got the 'police virus' on an old dell laptop and could not remove it for love nor money (safe mode with cmd prompt for restore would not work, machine just kept rebooting).

I decided to re-install XP but I could not find my (Home) cd so used an XP Professional cd I have from work with full licence key.

My desktop is wiped but I can access my old folders and files ok under c:/documents & settings.

So far so good but I now have no wi-fi and it seems like the re-installation has wiped the Intel Pro Set software/drivers and they can't be installed/ found using the Pro cd.

Can anyone pinpoint the precise driver/download I need to get to sort this? Can hopefully get it on a USB key in work and install on the laptop.

gctest50

Which exact laptop is it ? Inspiron Latitude etc ?




http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/ie/en/19/ProductSelector/Select/Familyselection?CategoryPath=all-products%2Fesuprt_laptop



.

srsly78

Install windows 7 instead and it will probably "just work", and you get a much better os as a bonus.

For the exact driver you would have to tell us the exact model of the wifi card. Use an ethernet cable to connect to your router and get online in the meantime.

weemcd

Have a look for a program called driver genius. It might be of use, I have tried it before when doing installs of xp for something similar.

Bateman

Laptop is Inspiron 1300

Must root out an Ethernet cable, could not find it earlier but should have one

Not going to pay for windows 7, XP does the job fine and a newer OS would presumably slow the machine down? Sticker on machine says designed for XP but Vista capable.

srsly78

It will actually speed it up...

Bateman

Cheers for the replies btw

Will try that genius thing as well

Bateman

srsly78 wrote: »

It will actually speed it up...

I see XP won't be supported after April - I take it microsoft aren't offering free upgrade to W7, just recommending everyone purchases 7 or 8?

gctest50

Intel (R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/ie/en/iedhs1/DriverDetails/Product/inspiron-1300x?driverId=R155386&osCode=WW1&fileId=2731117458&languageCode=EN&categoryId=NI

PropJoe10

Go into Device Manager, right click on the Network Controller with the yellow mark beside it, click on Properties, then the Details tab, and select Hardware ID in the dropdown menu. Copy any of these strings of letters or numbers into Google and you should be able to find a driver.

Failing that, go onto the Dell site and download wireless drivers for the Inspiron 1300 and one of them should work.

200motels

Slim driver is a free software app that could find your driver. You can get it from File Horse.

An Ri rua

Bateman wrote: »

I see XP won't be supported after April - I take it microsoft aren't offering free upgrade to W7, just recommending everyone purchases 7 or 8?

I have an 8 year old Inspiron 1300 that I have dual-booting with XP Home SP3 and Ubuntu 12.04. Also incidentally a 320GB HDD (it recognised more than recommended (around 120) and maxxed to 2GB. Plus a Pentium 2.0 GHz chip. It is now a grand machine. The B130/1300 is a great bargain buy and a great machine to hold on to. SIMPLE to upgrade, a very very robust. Just have to figure out how to remove XP while leaving Ubuntu and files intact.

Seriously though, depending on what you use the machine for, just stick a popular linux distro on it. Laptop's worth max €150 if spec'ed out like mine. Yours is probably worth €80-90? Hardly worth paying for W7?

PropJoe10

An Ri rua wrote: »

I have a 9 year old Inspiron 1300 that I have dual-booting with XP Home SP3 and Ubuntu 12.04. Also incidentally a 320GB HDD (it recognised more than recommended (around 120) and maxxed to 2GB. Plus a Pentium 2.0 GHz chip. It is now a grand machine. The B130/1300 is a great bargain buy and a great machine to hold on to. SIMPLE to upgrade, a very very robust. Just have to figure out how to remove XP while leaving Ubuntu and files intact.

Seriously though, depending on what you use the machine for, just stick a popular linux distro on it. Laptop's worth max €150 if spec'ed out like mine. Yours is probably worth €80-90? Hardly worth paying for W7?

I also have one of those machines, its rock solid. Very easy to upgrade the RAM, hard drive and processor. Had it for 8 years now and she's still humming along on 2GB RAM. Got Debian on it at the moment, and it runs nicely with the XFCE desktop environment.