I need to find a driver to fix my computer, any ideas?

Question

So heres the story... I completely wiped my friends laptop out and reinstalled a fresh copy of windows xp. Now it will not connect to the internet, wirelessly or dsl connected. It doesn't even show a wireless adapter in the connections. I went to gateways website, but I have no idea which wireless adapter driver is the right one. Also I was told I could download the driver to a flash drive then open it and install it on the other computer. Is this true? If not does anybody know of another way to fix it? Because my friend is going to me mad. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

I assume you already have the model number but there are a few alternative wireless devices to choose from. For the wireless driver do one of the following,

turn the laptop upside down and look for the sticker that shows the wireless interference compliance label, this often has the manufacturers logo on it somewhere (Intel, Atheros, Broadcom etc) that should give you a clue as to which one you are looking for.

Or take one of the removable panels off the bottom, inside you should see the wireless card and it will also have a compliance sticker with the manufacturers name on.

Daft question but is there a on/off switch for the wireless, sometime unless the switch is on the driver will not install because the device is not active.

And yes download the driver to your flash drive and install on your friends laptop, do not run the driver on your machine though as this will either not install or possibly mess up your own driver settings. You should see the LAN drivers too on the website, but both drivers may actually be listed as Unknown device in the Device Manager page.

Answer 2

Well you didnt actually provide any info that we could use to give you a direct answer, but.



Goto gateways website. Look up the model number of the laptop. Goto the laptops support section and download the driver listed for that laptops wireless card.



If you cant find it there, goto Control Panel, then System. Click on the Hardware Tab, then Device Manager. Find the network adapter section and the wireless adapter should be listed their as non-functional. Goto the properties for the adapter and you might get lucky and find out what kind it is.



And if you are still incapable of figuring it out, post eh model number of your laptop here and someone might be kind enough to locate the info you need.



And in the future, don't reinstall an operating system, especially for someone else, without locating all the drivers for every piece of hardware first. You never know which ones will not load.

Answer 3

Yes, you can download drivers to a USB flash drive and then install them on another computer.



If you could post the exact model number of the laptop, we could try to find the right driver for you. :-)



You also mentioned that the laptop won't connect to the Internet, even if it's connected via wired Ethernet to your DSL. Are you using a router between the DSL modem and the laptop? If so, that might be affecting things. Try connecting the laptop directly to the Ethernet port on the DSL modem. If that works, the problem is with your router's settings when using this particular computer.



Good luck!

Answer 4

If you can’t find the right Windows XP drivers manually, try this site:

http://www.drivers-updates.net/drivers/windows-xp-drivers.html

There is a program I use which will find drivers for just about all hardware devices. The best part is it takes a snapshot of your system specifications and matches the right driver to go with it.

You can also search by the following link:

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGkyTTIY9LeeMAm0FXNyoA?p=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.drivers-updates.net%2F+Windows+XP+Drivers+Download&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-701&sao=0

And you can also keep asking on:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/

Answer 5

properly, a million) Does the pc have audio equipment, if so make helpful they're plugged into the main suitable output on the pc. The headphone output will do. 2) make helpful on the speaker interior the backside maximum suitable corner of your demonstrate isn't muted and that quantity is on max, you will then have the skill to regulate the sound on the speaker itself. sturdy success =D