Installing Dell Drivers after a reinstall of Windows... Part 1...

All information on this site is furnished in a general manor and can have errors, oversights and so cannt be expected to cover every specific scenario. Please research any information used with Dell documentation or contact their tech support if any clarification is needed.

Quick Version: System software first, chipset installer 2nd, security program before installing network related drivers.

If you should have to manually reinstall Windows on a fairly recent Dell computer... There are some thing you should know about reinstalling your Drivers. There are quite a few that are unique to Dell systems and there is an order to follow to get some of them to reinstall correctly. On a Desktop computer, you'd need to reinstall the Desktop System Software first, and then secondly a Chipset driver of some sort (usually an Intel, AMD or nVidia). On Notebook/Laptop computers it would change only slightly, You'd need the Notebook System Software first and then the Mobile Chipset driver second. If these 2 types of drivers aren't installed first, some other drivers and programs will not install correctly.

After these are installed, the driver installation order isn't as critical but there is a general order to follow after this which I recommed, Video driver, Antivirus/Security Software, Network drivers for Ethernet and Wireless, Mobile Broadband as applicable, Audio, Input Devices, Dial Up Modem, etc.

Dell has a link to their recommendations and my order is just slightly different from theirs:

Downloading and Installing Drivers in the Correct Order
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?&docid=1A0C0937D62A8739E0401E0A55174744