downloading xp drivers, message doesn't exist

[Doowop-den]

I removed windows 7 and reverted back to XP. Doing so, I made the mistake of removing the drivers too. I reinstalled windows XP, but the driver disk says 'doesn't exist. I went on Dell and downloaded all the drivers onto a flash drive, when I insert the flash drive, it says the same thing. I need the Ethernet drive so I can go online then, i'll be able to download all the drivers. What is stopping me from downloading these files?

 

[Math Geek]

what are you trying to do when it says "does not exist"? win xp is missing a lot of the native support you got used to with win 7 so it might be a missing driver you need to get the drive to read.

but need some more info on what you are trying to do when you get the error. a screenshot would be helpful as well if possible of the device manager screen.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

"I removed windows 7 and reverted back to XP. Doing so, I made the mistake of removing the drivers too"

Windows 7 drivers don't work on XP so you wouldn't have been able to use them anyway. Just thought you should know that.

Now please reply to Math Geek's post.

 

[Doowop-den]

"I removed windows 7 and reverted back to XP. Doing so, I made the mistake of removing the drivers too"

Windows 7 drivers don't work on XP so you wouldn't have been able to use them anyway. Just thought you should know that.

Now please reply to Math Geek's post.

 

[Doowop-den]

I'm not using 7 drivers, I'm trying to install xp drivers. If I'm missing the driver to read the files, then how can I download the driver to read the file that I need to download all the other files?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

I'm not using 7 drivers, I'm trying to install xp drivers. If I'm missing the driver to read the files, then how can I download the driver to read the file that I need to download all the other files?

I didn't say you were using Win7 drivers. I was merely pointing out that Win7 drivers don't work on XP after you said you removed Win7 but you made the mistake of "removing the drivers too". In other words, removing the Win7 drivers was not a mistake.

You can download the XP drivers you need on another PC that has internet access.
Copy them to a pen drive, then plug the pen drive in to the PC which needs those drivers & install them.

May be I misinterpreted what you said in your opening post. Whatever, I'm done here.

 

[Math Geek]

it sounds like he already downloaded the drivers and has them on a usb stick but they won't read off the drive. that's how i am reading it.

more than likely the drive itself needs drivers since xp was not as nice to devices. but not sure what the error is coming from. can you copy the drivers off the thumb drive and onto the desktop? or is this where the error is happening??

if it won't read at all from a dvd or thumb drive, then you may have to get creative to get the files onto your hdd to be installed. i have in the past installed the hdd into another pc so i could copy and pste the drivers to it. then reinstalled it into the right pc and installed the files from the hdd and not from external media.

as i said, creative but might be needed if you can't get them on there any other way.

 

[BrianVS]

What format are you using for the USB device?

Windows XP should be able to support older USB devices, formatted as FAT-32. It might not work with some of the newer, larger formats. I seem to recall having to format a 64GByte USB drive as FAT-32 before it could be used on the XP machine.

SO; What size is the Thumb drive you are using, and what format is it? Try an older/ smaller drive in the 2GByte ~ 8GByte range, they are very likely FAT-32 drives. I use such drives with XP, WIN98 using NUSB33, and real-mode DOS 7.1 (win98se bootgui= 0)