Problems reinstalling Vista bootloder following XP install

Hi

First post so apologies it's so long!

Have DELL XPS 420 with Vista 32 bit so followed tutorial to dual boot to XP. Used nLite to slipstream drivers and finally got XP on my machine. Problem was that I didn't include all the necessary network drivers so PC won't connect to the internet in XP!!

This meant that I am relying on USB Flash and another PC to download .Net, Easy BCD and missing drivers to restore Vista bootloader and get me back on the internet. I managed to find .Net and subsequently installed this on XP. However, the Easy BCD install prog I thought I’d saved was in fact some sort of download manager so when I got home and tried to run it tried to connect to the internet so I was stymied again! I’ll go back to my brothers later today and download and then install the latest Beta version on this site.

(can't use USB ports in work where I'm currently posting)

The biggest problem was the DELL drivers needed. I have been to device manager in XP and can confirm that the following items have yellow bang:

“Other Devices”-2 *Audio, Ethernet, PCI Simple, Sim Bus, Video Controller, XPS Mini View.

The Network controller is showing as green and functioning (IE1394).

The main problem is getting the missing Dell drivers. Apart from the fact that there are no official XP drivers for the XPS 420 you also have to download another prog before the individual drivers (think it was Microsoft.Net) and this slows everything down.

Can I also check my understanding here? Is downloading drivers different to downloading other files and progs? I.e. you don’t get the chance to save to a location as the system assumes that the drivers are for the PC you’re working on.

If I can’t download the drivers onto my USB using my brothers PC then I have a problem. I suppose I can use Easy BCD to restore the Vista bootloader and then get onto the internet using Vista and then try and download onto the USB using my PC and then boot into XP and install them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Simon
 
I am relying on USB Flash and another PC to download ...

I have been to device manager in XP and can confirm that the following items have yellow bang ...

The main problem is getting the missing Dell drivers ...

Is downloading drivers different to downloading other files and progs?

Not at the Dell support site. If you go there and enter your machine's service tag number and OS, you will be given a list of drivers you can download onto your USB stick and take back to your machine and install via same .exe files.

I usually begin with Dell's BIOS update that can be run from with the OS, then I update the chipset drivers and continue on from there with video, Ethernet, audio and/or whatever else.
 
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