<p>I reformatted an originally-vista laptop with an XP reinstallation CD... and I don't have the motherboard CD that has the drivers...so I have no internet connection (on the laptop that I reformatted; I'm using a different computer right now). If I go to control panels -> System -> hardware -> Device Manager, I see yellow question marks on "Ethernet Controller", "Network Controller", "PCI Device", "SM Bus Controller", "Video Controller", and "Video Controller (VGA Compatible)" </p>
<p>I've been searching google for the last two hours and it seems as though I can somehow find drivers online and download them...I tried going to the Dell website and looking for drivers but there are sooooo many even when I narrowed it down with my model number. </p>
<p>Should I take it to a technician? How much would this sort of stuff cost?</p>
<p>What model do you have?</p>
<p>Go to Dell’s website, select ‘support’, select ‘home users’, select ‘drivers and downloads’, select ‘laptops’, select your model, select your OS (XP). You’ll now see all kinds of driver categories. Start by downloading/installing the driver for your ‘Chipset’, then ‘Network’, then ‘Video’, then you can also do the ‘CD/DVD’, ‘Audio’, and then anything else you might need that’s applicable to your system.</p>
<p>You s/b able to do this and not need to take it to a tech and save yourself some time and money.</p>
<p>Thanks…is it chipset that’ll start the internet connection? or network? are all the drivers required?</p>
<p>Also do I download these on this computer and then burn it to a CD to a flashdrive and then unzip it on my laptop that’s actually being reformatted?</p>
<p>First do the chipset then the network. After that point you can probably get to the internet from the laptop and get the others.</p>
<p>Download them to the computer that’s connected to the internet, move the files to the flash drive, move them to the laptop, and then install them following whatever instructions they might have.</p>
<p>thanks. Also, is it normal that my screen resolution is very wide? I tried going to appearance under control panels and changed the resolution, but that made the screen smaller, but still incredibly wide.</p>
<p>When you get the video driver it may be better but widescreen laptop displays usually work better in Vista or above. Don’t worry about adjusting it much until you get the video driver installed.</p>
<p>Thanks, uc dad. I have the internet running now. The only thing is, it won’t run without the blue chord from the router…I guess I’ll figure it out somehow. Thanks!</p>
<p>You need the drivers for the wireless card.</p>
<p>Yeah - you either need the drivers bceagle mentioned or if it was included with another driver you already installed, you need to enable the wireless networking and then you need to configure the wireless to work with your wireless router - i.e. you need to set the WEP key into the laptop, and maybe set the mac address of the laptop into the wireless router if yours requires this with the way you configured it.</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re working your way to a fully functional laptop.</p>
<p>Another problem - I think I was trying to install the wireless card and a notification that says, wireless adapter 1515 is not found comes up. Also, it keeps saying that I need to turn the wireless on/off switch, but where do I do that? I thought it was PROsetup or something like that but it won’t install properly either. </p>
<p>On m device manager, the ETHERNET CONTROLLER and NETWORK CONTROLLER are gone, though.</p>
<p>I have a Dell XPS M1330 from 2008 and it has a switch for turning on and off the wireless and Bluetooth. Your 1545 might have something similar.</p>
<p>It appears that there are many threads on this issue (google dell inspiron 1545 switch turn on wireless). Some say to hit F2, some say to hit FN+F2. I would look for a slide switch first. Do you have the documentation for the system?</p>
<p>Ah, thanks. I got the switch to turn on. But the wireless 1515 driver installation is still saying that it canno find the 1515 adapter device for it.</p>
<p>I’d suggesting googling for the exact error. It seems to be a common issue with your system.</p>