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General discussion

Wifi fails after inst. XP on Inspiron 530, prev. w/ Vista

May 22, 2009 10:10AM PDT

Dear friends at CNET,

I am having problems getting a wifi connection (and getting my computer to recognize my wifi card) after installing Windows XP (OEM) on my Dell Inspiron 530 desktop PC. The original computer, as purchased, had Windows Vista (I believe was Home, Premium). The Dell Drivers installation disk did include XP drivers. The wifi with those drivers fails. From another computer, I downloaded the drivers listed for XP of my Inspiron 530. The wifi failed after installing those drivers. The wifi adapter on my computer, as listed on the Dell, when the Vista was installed, is Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter.

Dell refused to offer me tech support on this because I did not have the original operating system installed on the computer.

I am sure this is a very common problem, that can be resolved by somebody here, as there are probably many people replacing the lemon Vista with XP.

Thank you for your time and attention on this subject.

Don

Discussion is locked

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Dell System Software
May 23, 2009 5:55AM PDT

Windows Xp requires the Dell Desktop System Software installed first with the Chipset drivers or the network drivers and other drivers will not install properly. Go to Dell Downloads and choose your model and operating system and download any driver you need. The Desktop System Software is listed under System Utilities.

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Re: Now Windows refuses reinstallation
Sep 29, 2009 9:53PM PDT

Some months ago, when I posted this message and received your reply, I had followed your instructions, precisely, when reinstalling the OS, and the drivers in the exact order. Yet, the computer, with OS XP, still failed to connect to the wi fi internet. Since I did not have time to spend on troubleshooting and to pursue the issue here, I simply installed the original Vista OS. However, I would like XP Home OEM Edition OS, that I purchased, installed on the computer.

This past few weeks, I found in a google search that the name of the wifi card with this Dell computer was misnamed, both in the product packaging and at the website, as Broadband when the actual name is ASUS. After downloading the driver from ASUS and installing it, I finally got a connection with XP on the computer.

Now the problem is with the XP OEM OS software that I had purchased and installed on that hard drive. When I hooked up this hard drive with the XP on it to try out the new wi fi driver, I was required to reactivate Windows. I did that, and got online, as I explained above, installing the ASUS driver. Since I was concerned that I may have botched up the system and registry with all the trial and error on this issue the past months, I reinstalled the Windows XP OEM. This time, the computer refuses to allow me to complete the installation of the OS. It says it does not recognize my disk as valid. I have seen this issue someplace before. After a certain number of reinstallations of Windows Operating System, the computer/disk refuses reinstallation. I don't remember what the solution was for this. Does anybody here know what I am talking about and can tell me how this is done?

Thank you for your time and attention on this issue.

I'll be back to my computer late this afternoon.

Don

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"certain number of reinstallations"
Sep 30, 2009 1:13AM PDT

That's true for the OEM versions. No one here can tell you how to "get around" that. The forum policies FORBID that discussion.

But here's the proper answer. Call Microsoft and ask for more activations. You aren't trying to rip them off, just trying to install this OS a few more times on the same machine.
Bob

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Re: install problem
Oct 1, 2009 4:10AM PDT

"This time, the computer refuses to allow me to complete the installation of the OS. It says it does not recognize my disk as valid."

This is a rather unclear description. Let's assume you're not connected to the Internet. Than you are able to install on an empty hard disk if the hardware and the disk are OK. The install can't check anything of the old hard disk (because it's empty) and can't check with Microsoft (because there is no Internet). The worst that can happen is that it refuses online activation later on (up to 2 months later before it starts making troubles). In that case, it shows how to contact the free "activation helpdesk" Microsoft has.

So can you tell your exact problem in some more detail.

Kees

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Re: Install problem - followup
Oct 5, 2009 7:54PM PDT

This message is to followup on the installation problem.


There were actually four or five technical issues involved, since beginning this thread:

- 1) Getting a wifi connection on this Dell with XP OS

- 2) MS refusing installation of my XP OS disk.

- 3) Then, after finally installing XP, the computer did not recognize the external hard drive that I was going to use to transfer my files from the the old hard drive to the new hard drive.

- 4) At the moment, I know there was another minor problem, but don't remember at the moment.

- 5) Now, an error message appears during startup, "Diskette drive 0 seek failure. Press F1 to continue, F2 to enter setup." Although the only hassle is to press F1 to continue setup, this is a concern about the bios, I believe.


I found that the problem with the wifi connection was that I installed the incorrect driver for the wifi card. Dell had incorrectly labeled its wifi card as Broadband when it was ASUS. I got a connection with Vista because it the driver was on the installation CD. When replacing the Vista OS with XP, the Dell Vista driver CD did not have the correct driver and got the wrong driver when downloading a Broadband driver. Got the connection with the ASUS driver.

The solution to "2) MS refusing installation of my XP OS disk." I can't remember what the solution was, I tried so many solutions and up all night.

3) I finally got the XP installed and with wifi, thinking my hassles were all over, only to find that the computer would not recognize the external backup hard drive. After much time on this, using device manager, system tools, the wizards, reinstalling the driver, etc, I looked up the Maxtor CD. When installing other hard drives, the Maxtor CDs were useless, with software for earlier OS. With nothing to lose, I installed the software, and found a wizard or something, that I used to format the hard drive. I could then see the external HD on the computer. Before this, I tried formatting it with the Windows, but of course the computer would not see it to format it.

5) Now, an error message appears during startup, "Diskette drive 0 seek failure. Press F1 to continue, F2 to enter setup." I believe this is a concern with bios because I had hit "Load defaults" on one of the latter attempts of installing the hard drives. I had done this as a last resort, when all other solutions had failed. So, now I've got this pesky error message during starting up the computer asking me to press the 1 key. Thes problem could be much worse than it appears, probably creating a hassle if I ever try rolling back the computer to a restore point. And don't know what else it means, software installation problems, etc. I suppose I should post new thread on this. I doubt that Dell is going to help me on this, since my warranty is expired.

Thanks for your attention.

Don N.