Downgrading to XP from Vista
I replaced Vista with XP (just not happy with Vista interface). I'm having one heck of a time getting my Wireless Connection to start. I have a Dell 1721 and I can't get the 140745 driver to start. The light the blinks when the wireless was on in Vista is dead. What am I missing?
Expert's answerThe Dell Inspiron 1721 laptop was only delivered with Vista and so getting XP drivers that work can be a bit of a challenge. There are third party driver CDs available for download that will solve most of the driver issues for the Inspiron 1721. I had a chance to go through this process myself recently and found, like you, that the wireless network driver was one of the more difficult drivers to get installed and working properly. In the end, it turned out that the XP wireless network driver available from Dell's support site for the Dell Latitude D531 laptop works for XP on the Inspiron 1721. Download the driver package and run the installer, then go into the Device Manager applet under System in the Control panel and remove the broken entry for the wireless driver and restart the system. When prompted for the driver location after restart choose the folder where you unpacked the D531 driver and you should be able to use the wireless interface when the driver installation completes. |
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