Dell Inspiron 9400

Yet another possibly simple fix request.

I have recently obtained a Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop, which had been loaded by my inlaws grand children with all sorts of add-ons tool bars and other such crap.

Anyway, it never really worked as it should, so I re-installed windows XP (sort of base restore) and have found the following missing....

SM Bus controller driver

I went to the Dell site and downloaded all relevant drivers for the model by its serial tag, and this is the only one that doesnt seem to acknowledge being installed.

I followed the usual guide as to how to and in what order etc, but this driver still shows as not being installed?????

Do I need to re-install from the start, or is there a quick fix to get this driver working?

Basically, I cannot connect to the internet via wired connection, and am assuming this is what is holding me up.

Any hints or pointers greatly appreciated, in advance.

 

The SM Bus Controller is an Intel chipset and the driver isn't available from Dell. Basic instructions on how to obtain the driver and how to install it are located here.

 

Cheers for that mdonah, worked a treat loading the right driver, still no internet though, so will have to keep playing with it.

 

And so it continues.

Ok here is where I am at...

Windows XP SP3 fresh install, All drivers from Dell installed and showing as such.

No ! in device manager, so all good there.

Everything I am supposed to have hardware wise is showing up and working as they should ???????

Ethernet cable is a known good working one, ( I have swapped it with main PC cable and it works on main PC)

No visible damage to Ethernet port on laptop.

Broadcom 440x10/100 integrated controller, Location PCI bus 3 device 0 function 0

Advanced = 802.1p QOS = enable
flow control = enable
speed and duplex = Auto (have tried the other settings, nothing)
Wake up capabilities = both

Also, set for getting IP address automatically etc, so any other ideas from anyone?

Do I need to re install windows again? lost now.

 

Unfortunately, you may need to do a re-installation of Windows. Intel chipset drivers for some reason need to be installed separately and BEFORE any other drivers. I've got a Dell Precision M70 with an Intel chipset driver that HAS to be installed BEFORE any other drivers and separately because the computer has to be restarted afterward.

 

Cheers again, right, back to the start for me it is then.