My Dell Netbook is not recognizing the wireless adapter. I want to reinstall XP to verify if this is a hardware or software issue but I don't know how. I have the Reinstallation CD I got with it, but there is no CD drive! How am I supposed to use this CD to reinstall?

does this laptop have a reqular NIC? with an RJ45 connector? ie. can you CABLE it into a network / hub/switch? if so... What I would do is use the network connection to copy over a partition manipulation program. MAKE a partition separate from the main drive. Then copy over the xp installation files to that directory...

re-execute the install from the new partition.
just BE SURE you have a bootable floppy disk (I am assuming it has a floppy drive???) (if it doesn't have a cd/drive) a floppy with whatever utilities are needed to manipulate the hardrive in terms of formatting and repartitioning etc... necessary, I suppose you can use more than one floppy if the utilities are on the large side. It can be very awkward if you don't have a cd drive, depending on what happens. It also COULD, if you're lucky, just be a straightforward xp reinstall or repair. also, keep in mind if the xp install is going to see it as an "upgrade" or a clean install. b/c if you delete the windows files, and it's an xp upgrade, again... it could get awkward.

all this is predicated upon the laptop having an NIC with RJ45 connector.

Other than that...
you will be connecting thru the USB,

or over a printer port... if it has one. And you'd use the built in "direct cable" feature with the printer port.

you could also possibly use a serial port, if it has one.

I forgot to explicitly mention... IF you are networking (or somehow cabling the laptop to another filesource) you have to (on a network) share out the cd drive of the OTHER pc... that way you can READ the cd and it's files... from the other pc, TO your laptop. There are many little details I'm leaving out. But... that's basically how you'd do it without a cd drive over a wire.

The only other ("easy") possibility is if you have a maintenance partition on the hard drive already- and it HAS the setup or image files needed. Lookup the specs on your dell. (what is it's specific model ?) some laptops from the big venders have a function key that you press on boot-up to get into a "resetup or repair" mode built into the harddrive already. And you wouldn't need the cd.

How're you making out with your notebook?

Oh hi, sorry I meant to post this in the XP forum and couldn't figure out how to delete this one, so I just recreated this thread over there. The next step I plan to take is buying an external CD drive. I'll post if that works once I get one.

Oh ! okay, that should work too! That'd be a good thing. Much easier (hopefully).