Can't connect to internet after laptop factory restore

waterwatereverywhere

Hi,

Hope someone can help with continuing computer woes!

Yesterday I restored an old Dell laptop back to factory settings.

Now I cannot connect to the internet. It is an old Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop.

How I always used to connect was through a USB wireless adapter which I use to pick up the portable signal from my mobile phone. This was all working fine before the restore.

The wireless adapter is fine, it works on another PC and laptop so that isn't the problem.

It's something to do with how Dell is trying to access the internet but I can't figure out what I need to change.

The Dell does have an internal wifi card but it is only 802.11n and not 802.11g (which is what my phone's signal is) - I remember I had to do some fiddling about when I first started using the phone to connect to the internet but it was so long ago I can't remember what I had to change.

There is only "Internet Explorer" on the Dell at the moment and it refuses to connect.

Any tips gratefully received. Many thx.

samlevi1981

you should install the drivers of your wireless usb adapter.
It should comes with a cd when you first purchased it.

hope that helps.

waterwatereverywhere

Hello,

Many thanks - yes I have already installed the drivers for the wireless usb adapter and it shows signs of working fine - it is something in the Dell settings which is preventing the internet connections.

I don't have a phone line or broadband and it keeps seemingly trying to set up using a dial up or broadband connection - not sure how to "force" it to use the wireless adapter to connect instead?

NiftyDigits

It would not be 802.11n, but 802.11b/g, unless someone has updated the card. So, it should work. Perhaps disable the security(WEP/WPA) on your WiFi connection until you can update the laptop to XP SP3.

How did you effect the Factory Restore? The likelyhood is that you have not yet proceeded to Service Pack 3.

For IE you need to go into the browser connection settings.

You can just use another Browser until all is updated.

waterwatereverywhere

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

How did I effect the factory restore - I used the Dell automatic system where it does it for you - you just choose Dell restore and it does it automatically. It is back to factory original which is MS Windows XP version 2002, Service Pack 2.

Then I put the CD in for the USB wireless adapter to load the drivers.

Then plugged in the USB wireless adapter. The interface for this comes up fine and it allows you to attempt to connect and put in the password. It even tells you you are connected, but when you click on "Internet Explorer" it says "Page not found - check your internet connection".

I can't update to service pack 3 because I can't get onto the internet on that laptop to download the updates. Is there a way I can just download the necessary updates to another machine, so I can copy them on a memory stick to the laptop and run the update? (What I don't want to do is download them on another machine and have it automatically trying to update that machine which doesn't need updating.)

I tried to download Google Chrome on another machine and copy that to the laptop to try and install it but that wouldn't work without the laptop being connected to the internet.

Please does anyone have any further suggestions I could try? Very much beginning to wish I'd never started all this...

closed

if you are tethering, and not using a mobile dongle, uninstall the dongle software, you don't need it, internal wireless will work the same

To connect, click on the wireless icon bottom right, look for your phone's ssid, enter password.

you don't have normal broadband with a router, everything is tethered through the mobile phone? If so, service packs and updates are hefty downloads that may eat up your data allowance

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389#method21

If you did the macrium backup, the service packs would be amongst it.

NiftyDigits

waterwatereverywhere wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

How did I effect the factory restore - I used the Dell automatic system where it does it for you - you just choose Dell restore and it does it automatically. It is back to factory original which is MS Windows XP version 2002, Service Pack 2.

Then I put the CD in for the USB wireless adapter to load the drivers.

Then plugged in the USB wireless adapter. The interface for this comes up fine and it allows you to attempt to connect and put in the password. It even tells you you are connected, but when you click on "Internet Explorer" it says "Page not found - check your internet connection".

I can't update to service pack 3 because I can't get onto the internet on that laptop to download the updates. Is there a way I can just download the necessary updates to another machine, so I can copy them on a memory stick to the laptop and run the update? (What I don't want to do is download them on another machine and have it automatically trying to update that machine which doesn't need updating.)

I tried to download Google Chrome on another machine and copy that to the laptop to try and install it but that wouldn't work without the laptop being connected to the internet.

Please does anyone have any further suggestions I could try? Very much beginning to wish I'd never started all this...

I gave you a link to OPERA.
Here is the link to the XP Service Pack 3 CD image.