Dell N5040 Laptop Question Please.

[Estam]

My grand-son just passed me his N5040 and asked if I could install fresh copy of Win 7.
After installing Win 7 I seem to need help finding a driver file that will connect it to the internet.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[burninatortech4]

I'm guessing you mean this model?

https://www.newegg.com/obsidian-black-dell-inspiron-15/p/N82E16834200339?srsltid=AfmBOoppLVjwlK8YtIhGIDCRc_TtWK5jx5WkZvt8RMWVaAMhhE6RyfA3

• Intel Core i3-380M
• 4GB Memory 500GB HDD
• Intel HD Graphics
• 1366 x 768
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
• 8X CD/DVD Burner

Are you able to connect it to an ethernet cable? It's likely that Windows will pull the WiFi driver if you give it temporary internet access through an ethernet connection.

If not, download the WiFi driver manually from here:

Support für Inspiron 15 N5040 | Treiber und Downloads | Dell Deutschland

 

[burninatortech4]

If you're just interested in running as is with Windows 7 - feel free to ignore.

While you're at it you can upgrade the RAM to 16GB with new sticks of SODIMM DDR3 and a 2.5" SSD. The machine will be much more usable if you do this. I highly recommend it.

Upgrade guides

DDR3 to buy (buy 2x)

Samsung 8GB DDR3 SODIMM PC3L-12800 RAM Memory (M471B1G73EB0-YK0) for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Samsung 8GB DDR3 SODIMM PC3L-12800 RAM Memory (M471B1G73EB0-YK0) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

SSD to buy

Samsung MZ-76E250 860 EVO 250 GB 2.5 in SATA III Solid State Drive | eBay

Erased (DoD 5220.22 M Compliant) and tested good (Not formatted, partitioned, or allocated). Sold as used and in working condition. There may be drives that have up to 50 bad sectors. There may be writing or markings on the drive or the drive may vary slightly (color and/or label may differ)...

www.ebay.com

You will need to reinstall windows from a USB drive. You can find a guide on doing that here (windows 10 will run fine if you upgrade the RAM and add an SSD as above):

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

www.youtube.com

 

[tcsenter]

If you have another PC to download stuff on and something to transfer e.g. USB flash memory drive, you can really speed things along by downloading and installing these:

Simplix UpdatePack7R2 (~790MB) - Installs nearly all post-SP1 patches and updates for Windows 7 including apps if you want to install things like Internet Explorer 11, Security Essentials are options. Requires Windows 7 patched to SP1

Snappy Driver Installer (Chose Lite) - Will offer the latest known drivers for any devices in the system, if you first select "Download Indexes Only". It can sometimes be a little laggy so wait a minute for it to download the indexes and process them.