Hi I am new to your forum and to most this is going to be a stupid question. This all started when I had problems with my sound card. To make a long story short I tried to reinstall windows using the repair option an a gateway recover disk, the problem is that I have a Dell. Now when it fired up I don't have all the drivers or they are just not compatible with the Dell. I went to the device manager and there a the question marks besides the video and ethernet. Since I have totaly messed up with the install I will just have to make it back to stock a clean install. I have an xp disk but it still comes back the same way. So how can I get it to format and have it back to a clean install.........thanks.......two-dogs Travel to Dell's site and enter the Service Tag # of the machine...it will lista all your drivers.
You can also order an original XP restore CD from them that will include the appropiate drivers.
Using a different OEM install CD rarely works...if at all.Thanks for the help I went to the Dell site but wasn't sure what drivers to down load. So you are saying that you can't use a windows install disk. I USED it before to get a hard drive going but for some reason on this one it doesn't fully format. After the install is done it fires up like it is in safe mode the video is at 4 the lowest bit and you can't change it. I can't HOOK up to the internet because it doesn't detect the ethernet card any advice my friend..........two-dogs I didn't say you couldn't use an XP CD...i said THOUGH you can order 1 from Dell.
Did you enter your service tag # ? ?
If so the drivers listed are all the ones that machine uses.
If the CD you have doesn't fully format it sounds like it's a copy of a XP CD...good luck with that.It's best if you have a CD for the drivers needed for your mobo and a genuine copy of an installer for your os.Thanks guys looks like I will be calling dell..........Just one question can I download the drivers on a disk and copy to my computer or is that not an option.......thanks...two-dogs Yes.
Ok I was able to get my video going with the drivers but I need to know which one I need for the ethernet. I am not able to network yet and can't access the Internet. Any help on this........thanks......two-dogs Ok an update all is good I didn't have to get a disk, I was able to ask Dell on there support site and they TOLD me what driver I needed.... I want to thank all of you for all your advice and help .........I am sure I will be back again, I know enough about computers just to be dangerous............two-dogs

Nicely done...
Good to hear you are fixed up and thanx for letting us know...

We'll be here....