February 8, 2004

1:25 PM

The HD on my Dell died recently. I bought a new one, and did a clean install of Win2K Pro. Now I have an operating comuter with no drivers for the hardware... How do I handle this?
posted by o2b to (4 comments total)

I have a second computer (iMac), and did some searching for drivers, and found some. Am I being naiive in thinking I can just dump them on a CD and load them onto Windows (using the add/configure control panel)?
posted by o2b at 1:27 PM on February 8, 2004

All Dell computers ship with a CD containing the required drivers.

If you no longer have the CD, you ought to be able to, as you suspect, just put the drivers on another CD and bring them in. It's much easier if you can search for the drivers from the computer that needs them, though; you're certain to get the drivers you need then.

And, of course, remember to run Windows Update as soon as you get an internet connection. It'll take you a couple of hours to download all the patches and updates, but it's well worth the time.
posted by jdroth at 1:48 PM on February 8, 2004

http://support.dell.com/filelib/

Just select your system type and OS.
posted by jopreacher at 8:47 PM on February 8, 2004

You're best to get the customized version of windows for your laptop. Generally, they customize a lot more than just providing you with drivers. Yup, can you tell, I hate laptop hardware really badly.

Suggestion: If you've lost the CDs, people often sell the CDs on ebay.
posted by shepd at 11:25 PM on February 8, 2004