1720 Windows XP install / wipe vista

OK i got a 1720 inspiron from dell. dell does not offer windows xp drivers for everything on this laptop . the drivers missing from there website are the sound modem and video drivers. download and install all the drivers that are available for windows XP

**Added step if you want mediadirect to work , insert media direct cd hit F12 while system is booting to boot from cd or enter the bios and make cdrom the first boot device. select option 1 ( all space to OS) if you only want xp on machine option 2 for more OS's on machine i did 2 made 47 GB for xp and the rest as unformated D for linux , im sure you could do a dual boot with xp and vista too.

Ok to start i used a windows xp disk slipstreamed with a program called nlite and driverpacks (i believe you only need to slipstream the sata driver in) with all service packs and updates. even using this the only drivers found from driver packs was the broadcom network and the intel 3945 and the sata driver. so your stuck with a laptop with no video sound or modem

sound - ( intel HD audio , sigmatel HD audio ) download the sound driver for windows xp from dell from the vostro 1500 i tried like 20 different sound drivers with no luck , this is the only driver that worked ( driver packs installs a driver that fails to start )

video - ( nvidia 8600GT ) (could try the vistro 1500 xp driver but i didnt test ) download the newest driver from nvidia's website. try to install it will unpack i think to C:\nvidia\(driver release number) it will auto run the setup which will error out and fail now goto laptop2go.com and find the inf generator (enhancer page link at bottom) keep all the options default make a new inf overwrite the inf file in the folder the driver was unpacked ((C:\nvidia\(release number\nv4*.inf ) ( the inf has to be from the exact release number follow instructions on there website )) manualy rerun the setup program from the driver folder. ya video works ( basicly nvidia's driver does not have inf for the go chipsets yet the driver is the same in all there hardware thus patching the inf file is required )

modem - ( software modem conexant hda D330 mdc v.92 modem ) download the windows XP driver from dell.com from the vostro 1000 odd the diag package can be downloaded on the 1720 download page ....

**Added step for media direct once all drivers / updates are installed and after a good reboot ( make sure not to mess up the drive layout / partition until this is done ) fully boot into windows and reinstall the media direct disk it will install on its drive F ( windows xp embeded ) install vista or linux at this point ( have not tried vista but after this i deleated the pation for drive D and installed ubuntu linux using the alternate install cd for 7.04 notes coming soon)

some useful links

http://www.nliteos.com/ >>> nlite
http://driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/ >>> driverpacks website
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ >>>> laptop2go website for nvidia drivers
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/enhancer >>> got my *.inf from this page
http://www.dell.com/ >>>> some drivers from many places ...

final notes ... linux installed alot easier .... lol ( i will write that how2 soon )
once all drivers are ready it would be nice to make a backup cd and place it with your dell cd's

 

First of all, thanks for posting your information. It was just what I needed to get up and running. I'm having a few issues though that don't seem to have played out properly. Two major issues remain for me, and I'm at a loss for what to do.

First is that the sound drivers you refer to don't seem to install properly. The installer runs (without the warning I get for other Sigmatel installers) but then stops in the middle of installation. Nothing happens. In your post you say "driver packs installs a driver that fails to start", is this what you are talking about?

The second issue is with the wireless network installation. I have the Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card installed. There aren't any drivers for this under the Windows XP option for the 1720. But, the details for they do appear under network drivers for Vista and seem to indicate that they can be used for XP. So, I downloaded and installed the two different drivers that are listed, but each time I get Application errors for WLTRAY or BCMWLTRY. I can't get the wireless to work. The errors have to do with the tray utility for wireless. The BCMWLTRY error comes up continuously unless I disable the Dell Wireless WLAN Tray Service.

Any suggestions?

By the way, I installed the Nvidia drivers for the Vostro 1500 and all went well for me.

Thanks again.

 

So, I was just able to resolve my second issue. I found drivers under the XP option for the Vostro 1000 and they did the trick. I'm now up and running with my wireless connection. Now if I can get some sound I'll be in business.

 

I see now that when you said "driver packs installs a driver that fails to start", you were referring to the driver packs located at driverpacks.net.

I still haven't been able to get the Sigmatel drivers to install. I've tried at least 20 different Sigmatel drivers, none have worked. Different installers behave differently. Some immediately give an error that the drivers are not compatible with my system as soon as I run the installer. Others will actually run through an installation process, then reboot, then begin the install process again, then give the error and stop. The driver referred to by preludelinux above (for the Vostro 1500) is the only one that doesn't give an error. However, it doesn't complete the installation either. It just seems to quit.

In my device manager I have one big yellow question mark under "Other devices", next to BCM2045, which I think is the bluetooth for my laptop. Then, under System devices there's a question mark next to "PCI Device", which I guess is for my sound.

Now I know why everyone hates Bill Gates.

 

The nightmare is over.

I was right, that PCI Device with the big question mark was my audio. I had to go into the Device Manager, right click on it, select Update Driver... Allow Windows Update to connect to the internet to search. Then the PCI Device was recognized as an Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus. But it still had a yellow question mark. After making this change I was able to install the audio drivers for the Vostro 1500, and I have sound. One new item popped up, which is "Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus". I'm guessing the Vostro 1000 modem install will fix that.

I hope this solution helps someone out there.

 

Thanks to everyone so far for their posts - where do you go for your Bluetooth drivers?

 

I also want to put Ubuntu on my 1720. If I use the text based installer, and put it on the D: partition, is there anything special I need to do besides that? Booting from the LiveCD, and could not get X to display. In fact, I think it turned off my monitor altogether. Does anyone know where I could find a walkthrough to do this? I have been looking, but have found nothing.

 

Anyone know why it's so difficult too set this thing up for XP? The Inspiron 1720 in my case.

The Other Dell laptops seem fine.

edit - I downloaded the Driverspack and burnd the files too a CD... I did get the NVidia Driver installed OK

 

OK, I got the sound working using the Vostro 1500 driver, as well as the Wi-Fi working using the driver from the same laptop model (1500).

The NVidia driver was found using the DriverPacks page. Thanks for the thread . It would be nice if Dell had not made this so difficult.

 

Hey guys

I'm bringing this thread up again, because I have the similar problems regarding driver installing for XP on my 1720 laptop.
I did the Vostro 1500 sound driver thingy (thanks a bunch!), and had already installed the graphics driver, but I have a lot of other unidentified devices, that need installing. (The ones who appear as big yelllow question marks on device manager)

They are:
Base System Device

Base System Device

Base System Device

BCM2045

Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus

Network Controller (note that a network card driver is installed, and is working fine...don't know what this is though)

SM Bus Controller

I would really appreciate it if anyone could help me identify these devices, and, if possible, tell me where I can find the right drivers.

Thank you
Mavur1

 

On the page
http://supportapj.dell.com/support/...SystemID=INS_PNT_PM_1720&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en

Did you download both of the Chipset drivers (Intel & Ricoh) and install them?
Have you tried the modem driver?
http://supportapj.dell.com/support/...1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=20&fileid=197457

BCM2045 is the Bluetooth device I'm pretty sure. Do you have the 355 Bluetooth module? Try this driver:
http://supportapj.dell.com/support/...eid=R127314&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=169465

I'm still trying to get my sound working, it's a bit of a headache. Especially as I'm trying to create a slipstreamed install using nLite, to make it easier in future. But when I get it all working, I might put up all the relevant drivers in one location, because I found it painful to track them all down :/

 

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and currently have a 1720 on order. I want to put XP on the machine but it looks like a ton of trouble so I would like to know if installing both Vista AND XP on the machine would be a viable option (IE: easier to install drivers once Vista is up and running). If anyone could shed some light on the best way to do this I'd be grateful.

My machine is coming with two Hard discs so if I can I'd like to put XP and Vista on a partition each of the first HD and use the second as an onboard utility drive for storage and recording.

Any help is appreciated. Sorry to dig up an old thread but I'm desperate!

 

I have a new Dell 1720 with Windows Vista Home premium on it. Dell told me that I could not put any version of Windows XP on this machine. The problem I am having is installing XP. My 1720 has a 320 GB SATA hard drive. Do you have a serial drive in your 1720? When I go to install XP, install is not detecting the hard drive. I know that on desktop machines that have a SATA drive that you have to install the hard drive drives to allow XP to see the drive. How do you do this with no A:\ drive? Dell via India told me this 1720 system would not work with XP and that there are NO drives. After reading here on this forum and especially your post, I know differently. There is always some way you can work around things and you are proof of this. Any help that you can give me would be wonderful. Thank you, Keith

 

I have not done this but to answer your question you have to create your own xp disk with the sata driver slipstreamed in. The OP used a program called nlite to do this.

 

Oh darn Hawkman, I thought it was going to be something hard!!! ROFLOL. I do thank you for your answer. But doing what you are talking about is way out of my league. I know quite a bit about computers, but I am not into writing programs at all. There has to be another way. I guess I am going to have to buy a portable A:\ drive again. Then I could install it just like I do on desktops. I cannot believe that Dell and Microsoft is making this so tough.

 

I do not think its that hard. You do not have to write any programs. All I think you need is a xp disk, the sata drivers and any other drivers you want to put in. Nlite is a download that will allow you to burn a xp disk that has your drivers built in. It should walk you through the process.

Read about nlite here http://www.nliteos.com/guide/index.html

 

Hawkman, I took your advice last night and downloaded Nlite. I just now finished making my second XP disk and I am trying to install it now. The first disk just could not complete the final part of the installation and I could only get the machine to start in SAFE mode. In the mean time, I have found that Dell is now supporting 11 drivers for Windows XP on a Dell Inspiron 1720 with a Serial ATA hard drive. Now I wonder why when I talked to Dell support supervisor via India that Dell had no drivers for the XP version on a 1720. I guess that the supervisor and the tech were reading from the same script.

I do want to give you a big thanks Hawkman for giving me that little bit more information and encouragement to pursue making my own disk. I will say that Nlite does not make easy for a novice programmer like me. There is not much for directions for Nlite that I could find but what do you expect, it is free. You just have to use your common sense and follow your gut feeling in making a disk. Again, thank you Hawkman.

Here is where you can get the drivers for Windows XP for an Inspiron 1720 laptop. http://support.dell.com/support/dow...NS_PNT_PM_1720&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en&TabIndex=

 

Glad to see you gave it a try. Let me know how you made out. I have been getting ready to do a clean install with vista but now I am considering xp. I would think the 1720 would fly with xp and the proper drivers.

 

Hi,
thanks for all the info. I'm looking to install XP on my 1720. I'm a bit of a novice, could someone explain how to slipstream files for the SATA drive.
I intend to tahe out the hard drive with Vista on it and install XP on to a new drive.
On www.user-guides.co.uk they claim to have a disk that has all the XP drivers for the 1720 would this be any help or is it just a con.

Thanks,
Mark

 

Follow the above link to the nLite site. It makes cretign the slipstream disk easy.