Why won't my Dell computer get online?
Why won't my Dell computer get online?
I bought an old dell optiplex 790 for free recently. It had some issues where windows wouldn't load properly. When I got the computer, it came with Windows 7 Pro on a 64-bit version and I tried to fix things using system restore, but that didn't work. So after formatting everything and reinstalling Windows 7 Pro 64-bit from a copy of a USB drive, the windows itself loads and works fine. However, I am missing some important drivers. Specifically, there are no Intel Ethernet drivers installed, which means my built-in ethernet port won't connect to anything, and it also refuses to recognize a USB wifi adapter. I tried downloading driver files online and moving them onto a thumb drive so far, but nothing is working. Do you have any tips?
You likely need the motherboard chipset drivers first. Since this specific motherboard has a Q65 Express chipset, you should visit the Dell support page at https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/...90/drivers And check for the chipset filter. Once there, find the "Intel chipset driver" and then install the USB3 and ethernet drivers.
I tried installing drivers from the website, but it gave me lots of kernel32 errors all over the place. But I did find an old driver CD that came with a different computer back in the day. That one worked fine. Now the internet connection is working better, but there are still new problems to fix. The software needs updating, but Microsoft stopped giving support after 2020, so it won't update anymore. It seems stuck on an older version from 2011. Also, I can't even browse the web properly because of old licenses and I cannot install Firefox due to "unknown problems." Oh well, I was hoping for something super easy but apparently not going to happen.
The best way to deal with old machines is to put one of those many Linux versions on them. They are thinking about stopping support for 486 CPUs, so that's a big change coming up. Many things work great under Linux. Simple web browser stuff runs fine and if you want to use it as some kind of server, it has much better support than Windows. I guess it depends on what you plan to do with the machine.