laptop wi-fi problem

[banksy]

hi, i formatted my daughters laptop & re installed win xp but now i cant find anything to re connect to the router in my house. the laptop doesn`t detect any wi-fi hardware/software.
it was on there before i formatted it. the laptop came with built in wi-fi & has worked perfectly for 2 years - till now.
any help would be really appreciated (i`m a bit of a novice with comupters by the way).
cheers, banksy.

[UncasMS]

sounds like you used something different than xp before or not?

you will have to find the name of the wifi adapter manufacturer and the specific model used

tools like sandra or eeverest should be able to tell you which hardware is built in

after you have found out the name of your wifi adapter you will have to search for an xp compatible driver for this adapter using google & co

[PurpleDemon]

Curious,

What is the manufacturer and model number of the laptop?

[banksy]

its a dell latitude d410.

[PurpleDemon]

If this is original network card, Then THIS list of wireless drivers should help.

In XP Click start menu/right click my computer/properties/hardware/and click the device manager button.

You should see a yellow exclamation point by some of the list of hardware. This is what what XP doesn't know what drivers are needed. Look for a network controller on the list and match up with the list from the Dell site I linked to.
Good Luck

[doctorhardware]

Also the dell has a service tag number that is on the computer. Go to the dell web site and enter the service tag number and it should list the drivers and the installed software on the computer. But there is some times that not all of the correct drivers will be not listed on the dell web site for the computer.

What I do here I use a program called true image. I have bought an extra laptop hard drive, and installed in an external case. I do regular weekly backups so if the drive fails or is hit by a virus, I only lose a day or two. But it is data that I can always recreate.

[banksy]

cheers, all for your help. i downloaded appropriate driver & transfered to laptop. all seems fine.

[PurpleDemon]

Good to hear.