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Hi all im new on this forum but I have been on the electrical one a few times.
I have a dell inspiron m5040
I had to reload the windows 7 via a disk that came with the laptop. now I cant get on the net as it cant find the modem driver/devices
I have been on phone to dell who said it will cost 110.00 to help me. I tried downloading from dell to a flash drive on my other laptop, but when I tried to reload into the problem laptop it doesn't work. it should be easier than this surely
cheers

What is missing - is it the wireless network driver or the wired one or even a modem?

What did you download from Dells support site and what did it say when you tried to use it?

The problem is usually because you've gone to driver downloads and picked by model. During different production runs, they can change the hardware (from Intel to Realtek wireless, for example) which means you need to get the right driver.

Couple of questions:

1. When you reinstalled from the CD, did you wipe everything off or just repair/reinstall? If you didn't wipe it all, your drivers MIGHT be in c:\drivers (start > computer > c: > Dell or Drivers) - check for them here.
2. Have you tried a cable into your router - you might be lucky and find the wired NIC is working. Plug into the router with a cable and run Windows Update, make sure you install the drivers it suggests.
3. Got any other Dell DVDs? Might have them on there.

Failing that, there are ways of ID'ing them so you can get the right one. Dont' just go downloading from any old site though, lots of dodgy sites out there offering 'driver fixing utilities' that aren't all they seem.

BG

This is what you want.

http://ftp.euro.dell.com/Browse_For_Dri ... n%20M5040/

This is for the wired card
http://ftp.euro.dell.com/FOLDER97296M/1/R307625.exe

This should be for the wireless

http://ftp.euro.dell.com/FOLDER95957M/2/R304912.exe

BillyGoat wrote:What is missing - is it the wireless network driver or the wired one or even a modem?

What did you download from Dells support site and what did it say when you tried to use it?

The problem is usually because you've gone to driver downloads and picked by model. During different production runs, they can change the hardware (from Intel to Realtek wireless, for example) which means you need to get the right driver.

Couple of questions:

1. When you reinstalled from the CD, did you wipe everything off or just repair/reinstall? If you didn't wipe it all, your drivers MIGHT be in c:\drivers (start > computer > c: > Dell or Drivers) - check for them here.
2. Have you tried a cable into your router - you might be lucky and find the wired NIC is working. Plug into the router with a cable and run Windows Update, make sure you install the drivers it suggests.
3. Got any other Dell DVDs? Might have them on there.

Failing that, there are ways of ID'ing them so you can get the right one. Dont' just go downloading from any old site though, lots of dodgy sites out there offering 'driver fixing utilities' that aren't all they seem.

BG

hi whenever I download a driver from the dell site, it says ''can not find the modem device for this driver''!
even the one the uy below suggested.

Can you get on the internet with that PC using a cable to your router?

BillyGoat wrote:Can you get on the internet with that PC using a cable to your router?

dell told me that way but nothing happens when I plug the Ethernet in

Do you know how to get to device manager? (start > right click on computer and choose manage > click Device manager on left).

When you are there, look down the list of devices and you will find 'other devices' and 'network adaptors'

What do you have listed under each of the two categories above? This is a screenshot of mine, just to show what I am talking about.....
If you look under the 'other devices' category, you might be able to spot the network card missing the driver (might say network controller which is a big giveaway). Once you've found the likely suspect, do the following:

1. Locate the thing you think looks like the missing network driver (if you can't work it out, list them above for us, ...even type them if you can't get a screenshot).
2. When you've found the suspect device, double click on it and click the DETAILS tab
3. Set the Dropdown list to HARDWARE IDs and you will get something like this:
Write the second line down and come back here, this line tells us what the vendor of the device is (intel, realtek, etc), which device it is and which class of device we need to find the driver for.

When you have this, we can get you working on the wired or wireless, connect you to the net and get stuff working.

BG


edited for some terrible grammar. Not that it's much betterer.

im seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I really appreciate all your help if I could give you a kiss I would but im a bloke and it would look a bit dodgy!1
but seriously thanks a lot

BillyGoat wrote:Do you know how to get to device manager? (start > right click on computer and choose manage > click Device manager on left).

When you are there, look down the list of devices and you will find 'other devices' and 'network adaptors'

What do you have listed under each of the two categories above? This is a screenshot of mine, just to show what I am talking about.....

network.JPG

If you look under the 'other devices' category, you might be able to spot the network card missing the driver (might say network controller which is a big giveaway). Once you've found the likely suspect, do the following:

1. Locate the thing you think looks like the missing network driver (if you can't work it out, list them above for us, ...even type them if you can't get a screenshot).
2. When you've found the suspect device, double click on it and click the DETAILS tab
3. Set the Dropdown list to HARDWARE IDs and you will get something like this:

hardwareID.JPG

Write the second line down and come back here, this line tells us what the vendor of the device is (intel, realtek, etc), which device it is and which class of device we need to find the driver for.

When you have this, we can get you working on the wired or wireless, connect you to the net and get stuff working.

BG


edited for some terrible grammar. Not that it's much betterer.

HI Here goes
I have PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4727&SUBSYS_00131028&REV_1
_00131028
&CC_028000
&CC_0280
4 in total in that order
cheers

Errrr..... not sure I want to help anymore.....

The device you have found is the wireless card, it's a Broadcom 802.11n card. Looks like you are onto a winner.

So, next steps......

1. Open INTERNET EXPLORER on your computer and goto the following website: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com
2. In the top right hand search box, enter this: PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4727 and click SEARCH. You will get FIVE results.
3. Click the ADD button next to the ones with the VERSION DATE of:

5.100.82.135
5.100.82.95

4. Click VIEW BASKET under the search box
5. It will give a summary, click the DOWNLOAD button. It might ask you to install an ActiveX script, choose YES and install it - it's the download agent (this is the reason you are using IE. This is a SAFE site!)
6. When it's installed, click the BROWSE button and save them somewhere you can remember. I'm choosing MY VIDEOS, as it's empty.
7. Click OK and CONTINUE to begin the download.
8. The drivers will download......
9. Once this is done, browse to where you saved the drivers, Videos, in my case (Start > Computer > Videos).



More to come in a mo......

Now you have two driver folders in cab files, kindof like zips. If you are using Windows 7/8 or Vista, this is how to get them ready for installation.

Open folder one (Broadcom - Network - 1x1 11b-g-n Wireless LAN PCI Express Half Mini Card Adapter) and it will look SOMETHING like this (varies by Operating System).
Double click on it, it should open and look like this:
Select all the files, right click and choose COPY.

Click the BACK arrow to go back out the cab file
and right click > PASTE and all the files will appear......
Repeat with the other cab file (click back again, choose folder 2 and do the same).

Once this is done, I would go BACK to the VIDEOS folder and see this:
Copy these two folders to your USB drive and goto your non-working computer.

Open device manager again and double click on the SAME 'other device' where you gave me the hardware Id at the start of all this.

click the DRIVER TAB
click UPDATE DRIVER
Choose BROWSE MY COMPUTER FOR DRIVER SOFTWARE
Make sure the Include Subfolders check is ticked and click BROWSE.
Change the highlighted drive to your USB drive and click OK (in my picture, it's called IOMEGA, yours could be anything......)

click NEXT to let it search and cross fingers.

with anyluck, it'll find the driver and install the software. You may need to restart......if all goes well, you will have wireless.

Connect to the internet, run Windows update and let it get the rest of the drivers