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If a hard disk is formatted and drivers are lost, using safe mode should allow the computer to connect to the internet and download them again
Q My son’s HP Pavilion DV9605EA laptop became very slow to use, so he decided to format the hard disk and reinstall Windows Vista. All appeared to go well until he tried the sound, which didn’t work. He then tried to connect to the internet to download the drivers but discovered the internet connection didn’t work either. For the sound, neither drivers were there. How can he get the laptop to work again if he can’t connect to the internet? I have my own laptop, if that will help.
Stan Price
A Your son’s situation offers a salutary lesson to other readers, which is essentially to be prepared: if you’re about to erase a hard disk before reinstalling Windows, be sure to download all the requisite drivers first and save them to a USB memory key or a DVD disc.
Regardless, it shouldn’t be too hard to get this laptop back on the internet. To start, try using the Safe Mode with Networking option, which is available from the Windows Advanced Options menu. To summon this, tap the F8 key shortly after switching on the PC.
When Windows launches in this mode, it is considerably pared down and uses Microsoft’s own drivers to communicate with the computer’s various components. This should be enough to get the laptop online and from there your son can download the necessary drivers from HP’s website.
If this fails, then use your own laptop to download the drivers from the same place and save them to a USB memory key (or burn them to a DVD disc), and use this to copy the drivers to your son’s computer.
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