Dell Inspiron 1721 XP drivers
This week I was really happy thinking about my soon to be Dell Inspiron 1721. When it finally arrived to me, I was a little disappointed about the color of the laptop: the blue on dell’s website is not the same as the blue of my laptop. I’ve soon realized that having an AMD Turion64 x2 @ 2GHz processor and 2 GB of RAM is more important that the shade of blue.
After counting the USB ports, passing it from hand to hand as anyone was interested in its looks, I’ve realized that I need a backpack. Searching the web, I’ve found a Dell backpack at the same retailer that sold me the laptop. How stupid can I be not to order the backpack together with the laptop? Now I have to pay shipping costs all over again.
Paul immediately offered to install Ubuntu (7.10) on the laptop (yeah, he’s a boy and boys love to play with new toys). The installation went well, Ubuntu runs smooth (except the wireless connection which I’ll fix later).
At home I’ve installed Windows XP (yes, I own a licensed copy of XP) and searched on Dell’s website for drivers. My surprise was that for my model Dell offers only Vista drivers. Since I hate Microshit Vista, I’ve searched the net for XP drivers. It wasn’t an easy task, but now I have all the drivers I need. If by chance you have the same problem as me, you can download the drivers from my Download page.
April 25th, 2008 at 14:18
Install OS X
Thats the way to go
May 8th, 2008 at 14:12
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! You are a life saver! I was looking for these EVERYWHERE and could not find them. I too HATE microshit vista and downgraded to XP ME ’05. Thank you thank you thank you.
May 8th, 2008 at 15:45
glad I could help
May 9th, 2008 at 16:23
Hi Alex,
I recently downgraded my 1721 DELL to XP too. However I have tried to install over a dozen sound drivers for the SoundBlaster and I allways get either a “no device found” or “This driver not compatible with the installed system”. Now, I discovered that there are still traces of DELL DIRECT in the HDD, though I formatted it with the XP CD.
Could it be that some remains of Vista generates a bug? if so, how can I solve it? I’ve been many weeks trying to solve this issue, so I appreciate any comments via e-mail.
Thanks.
May 11th, 2008 at 18:48
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 20th, 2008 at 6:55
Thank You!
Great job, saved my life.
Thanks again.
May 22nd, 2008 at 22:22
Thank you for all your hard work!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 23rd, 2008 at 0:13
Thanks guys for your comments, please share if you have any problems or you find other software for Dell 1721.
@Reinaldo: I;ve tried to email you, but the address you’ve enterd is not valid…
May 26th, 2008 at 10:29
SWEET!!! your a life savor alex ! its so hard playin world of warcraft then trying to switch to the net on Vista, but on my XP desktop i can run itunes the net and WOW no problema. now my machine will have that capability Thanks!
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:52
wow… thanx man i think i love u been searching for these drivers a lot…. really thanx a lot
June 4th, 2008 at 20:49
Thx man you saved my day, my wifes computer was born with Vista and she didn´t like it. And i keept on running in to driver troubles when i started installing XP. You are a marriage saver
.
June 4th, 2008 at 20:56
You’re a lucky man… she will have to cook something nice for you now
June 8th, 2008 at 16:12
Your a diamond!! Thanks for all your efforts.
Saved me hours….
June 9th, 2008 at 16:16
I also converted my 1721 to XP and it was running fine until I pressed the Dell Media Direct button. Now the laptop won’t boot to windows at all. It will only boot to Media Direct which is corrupted. Any suggestions on how I may resolve my problem?
June 12th, 2008 at 15:58
thanks for the list of drivers its saved my life-i use the 1721 as my work laptop for photoshop, premiere etc which its great at-but only when it runs xp lol
vista was killing it!
glad to see someone sharing the drivers-funny how dell doesnt tho lol
June 26th, 2008 at 9:13
Thank you very much about your work ! I have found several forums where needed files were descripted, but it would be a long and hard job to search them on Dell’s website.
Great idea ! Keep continuing !
July 3rd, 2008 at 18:02
About wifi and the Dell, it works with the open source Linux driver.
You do have to have a Internet connection to download some driver though. It can’t be delivered with the CD from Ubuntu though.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:46
10x, mate
July 6th, 2008 at 3:41
Hi,
I also downgraded my DELL inspiron 1721 to XP SP2. I was able to install all the drivers except for “SM BUS CONTROLLER”. Please share if you have any driver for this. THANKS.
- JUN from Philippines
July 6th, 2008 at 4:38
don’t mind my last post…it is all working now. Thanks for your Driver Collection. Your my Saviour ^_^
July 12th, 2008 at 7:00
it would be great if you could also provide ubuntu hardy heron drivers for the dell 1721 also. the xp drivers have been a lifesaver.
July 17th, 2008 at 0:47
Thank you so much, I downloaded and used all of the drivers, everything works perfectly.
July 18th, 2008 at 4:30
Thanks Alex you were a lifesaver.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:37
Thanks so much, this is a great resource, down with vista!!
July 29th, 2008 at 10:56
Thanks a lot. Right now I’m downloading the drivers, can’t wait to see Xp on my 1721. Down with Vista! It’s like driving a new BMW and pulling a heavy trailer… Thanks to people like You the Internet is a place to solve problems!
August 1st, 2008 at 3:45
Hay How Can I Delete Vista Off My Inspiron 1721 Or Do I Just Install The Xp Drive You Have In Your Download Page And Then Try To Run The XP Program that Thay Gave Me With My Labtop I Tryed And I Couldnt . You Thank You Can Help Me Or Guide Me Throw It
August 1st, 2008 at 12:04
Hi. You have to install Windows XP first. The laptop was no shipped with a XP installation CD, so you will have to get one yourself. You cand download cracked versions of windows from torrents, DC++ or warez sites. I recommend (lol) to buy a licensed copy of Windows XP.
You will need to boot from the XP CD, format the VIsta partition and install XP, After that download the drivers from my site and install them.
If you need more help, contact me.
August 10th, 2008 at 3:51
Hi Alex, and everyone
Thanks for putting the drivers online in such an easy place
Many people have had trouble getting the AMD AHCI SATA RAID controller working under XP. Most drivers do not work, and Dell’s ones are totally broken. After many, many hours of searching, I finally located drivers that work!
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-68363.html
Vista had an awesome crash on my flatmate’s laptop and the only way to do data recovery on it was to get XP installed booting off a USB HDD, which was a convenient way to experiment with all the AHCI drivers out there and eventually I found one that works.
Enjoy!
August 13th, 2008 at 18:49
Worked for me! Thanks for posting this. Another satisfied FORMER Vista user.
As a tip, be sure to install the dot net before the ATI video one.
Also, your anti-spam words are too hard to read.
August 16th, 2008 at 19:04
Hi, I have the same computer and very little knowledge
about computers. Is there any way or site I can get
step by step instructions how to go from vista to xp?
many,many thanks
Donna
August 18th, 2008 at 8:51
Hi there
Thank you very much,it was great and very usefull, I downloaded many programs for my audio and at last I found it here.
GoodLuck
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:08
Alex,
If you could answer this question before I attempt to install XP on my grandsons laptop It would be appreciated. I see Dell refers to Notebook System Software (NSS) Is this necessary? I don’t see it listed. I am looking forward to attempting installing XP
Please forgive the question as I am a senior and don’t really want to mess up his computer. I plan on a Sunday attempt.
Thank you
Donald
August 24th, 2008 at 14:51
Hi Donald,
The coputer works fie with the drivers that i’ve listed here. The ony thing that is not working is the media buttons (only mute, volume up and volume down works).
August 24th, 2008 at 18:16
Hi Alex,
Thank you for your reply. I look forward to using the drivers you so graciously provided. Thank God for people like you who are willing to share their information.
Donald
August 24th, 2008 at 21:22
Hi Alex,
I just installed XP but I have a question. The display does not fill the screen it is full size side to side but it is about 1/2 in short top and bottom. Can you help?
Thank you.
Donald
August 24th, 2008 at 21:37
Alex,
Please disregard the last request. I found out what had to be done. It was my fault for being in a panic. As I said before I’m not sure of my computer skills.
Thank you,
Donald
August 27th, 2008 at 11:30
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the drivers you have done a great job. I have got one problem with my bluetooth device. well it can not be activated. when installing the software it prompts me to press fn+f2 or radio on/off switch. but despite pressing the button and turning on the switch, again it is not working. I have checked the BIOS as well. the blue tooth is activated from there.
I shall be thankful for your answer
Thank you,
Alexander
September 10th, 2008 at 17:20
Hi,
Thanks! You’re a lifesaver! What a performance boost!
One HUGE PROBLEM though!! Photoshop CS3 (the entire creative suite 3 actually) will not run on my inspiron 1721 under either vista OR XP!!! The reason I ‘downgraded’ was to run it and now I find it won’t run on XP either on this machine. CS2, however, installs fine.
Any helpful comments would be much appreciated. Is it some kind of hardware fluke? Anyone out there running adobe cs3 on the dell inspiron 1721?
September 12th, 2008 at 21:11
Thanks very much for posting these drivers. The problems I am still having are
1) I am unable to get the thingy to adjust volume to show on the task bar and even though the device manager shows Audio Codecs, Legacy Audio Drivers installed and not corrupt, cannot adjust sound.
2) The PCI device card is still showing a Yellow ? Which means the drivers are not installed.
Please help.
Thanks very much.
September 27th, 2008 at 0:55
Thank you so much : D This package has helped me out big time. Now let’s just see if I can get the bluetooth drivers to work under windows xp this time… Last time I tried under xp64 it didn’t work.
September 30th, 2008 at 19:09
Hi i also have a dell inspiron 1721 and have had ubuntu installed on it (i’m still learning how to do everything im not very good with computers) but the mouse will not work properly it will dart around the page and not let me control it. to even write this i had to reboot onto vista *groan* . I was told that if i downloaded the ubuntu version made specifically by dell my mouse problem would probably be solved, is that the version that you have on your downloads page?
September 30th, 2008 at 23:03
Hi, as far as I know, there is NO ubuntu version made for dell. The one I have is the standard ubuntu distribution…
September 30th, 2008 at 23:28
Oh ok
well that version worked fine with your computer then right? no mousepad errors or anything?
October 1st, 2008 at 2:28
Muchas Gracias!!!
Perfecto!
October 22nd, 2008 at 22:05
Ooh! Thanks a lot! If it will work, it will be great! Thank you again!
October 29th, 2008 at 7:45
Alex
I will need some help on getting the sound to play can you please assist send me instructions via email thanks.
October 31st, 2008 at 6:48
Hey Alex!… thanks for the drivers man!.. i have the same problem with my laptop!.. is the same model that you have… i had almost a year looking for drivers.. Thanks very much!… greetings from Venezuela!
November 8th, 2008 at 21:25
Great work!!!
Thanks a lot for drivers
November 9th, 2008 at 17:52
I have a dell inspiron 1721 and I have loaded XP on it but I’m missing some drivers. I went to dell website and all it has for this laptop is Vista, where could I find the drives for XP?
November 10th, 2008 at 2:17
Alex – Greetings from Newfoundland, Canada. Thanks a lot for the drivers. I was about to give up and re-install Vista (OUCH!) but I found your website!!
By the way, I had trouble with your touchpad driver…it would not let me configure the pad. I found this driver at DELL below which worked better. Thanks again.
http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R155653&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=207700
November 10th, 2008 at 9:38
@eric – http://download.ricobon.ro
@Peter – I also couldn’t set up my touchpad, but didn’t give much attention to that detail. Thanks for the driver, i’ll put the one you’ve suggested online. Thanks again
November 14th, 2008 at 14:30
Thanks, This saved me TONS of searching and work.
November 18th, 2008 at 22:30
thanks alot man , ive been searching for hours for the drivers ,, thanks alot , your an angel
November 19th, 2008 at 23:16
great!!!!!! Thanks a lot for all time that i won for installing xp drivers for my inspiron….
very good job man…..!!!!!!!
November 20th, 2008 at 22:35
thank you thank you thank you!
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:42
thanks .
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:15
i have all of my drivers except my sound driver. my sound driver is different from yours. mine is a legacy, would you happen to know where i could get it? i’ve been looking for days now and no luck…
November 23rd, 2008 at 13:04
Sorry mate, you’ll have to google it. You should use Everest to see exactly what chipset you have, and search that chipset.
December 8th, 2008 at 14:26
Thanks Alex your drivers are great!! My pc matches your specs.
December 20th, 2008 at 19:39
How did you get your wireless working if you did?
December 20th, 2008 at 20:04
I just installed the drivers. Make shure the wireless is turned on ( abuuton on the left side of your laptop)
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:39
I am thinking about changing my 1721 over from vista to xp,which i own a certif copy, it has way to many problems and blue screen errors. I haven’t been able to find all the drivers for it and was wondering if you could help.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:40
All the drivers that I needed and worked for me can be found here: http://download.ricobon.ro/Drivers/Dell_Inspiron_1721/
January 18th, 2009 at 0:27
thnx a lot, you’re a helper, man!
February 5th, 2009 at 5:52
Thank you very much, Alex. I hate Vista too. I’m waiting for my Inspiron 1721 to arrive, and I’m downloading the drivers now. You’re a real lifesaver.
March 26th, 2009 at 23:13
Thanks! This was really helpful!
April 5th, 2009 at 20:40
I just want to thank you so much for helping me be able to go from Vista to Windows XP on my laptop. However, I couldn’t get the sound back, so my son installed the windows xp service pack 2 and now I can’t get anything – it just keeps rebooting. I did have an error code of c0000135 and I’ve been researching the information for that. However, I can’t even get to a safe mode screen that I could at least try and work from and correct this problem. Any suggestions?
May 24th, 2009 at 1:47
Thanks for the drivers
This was really helpful!
June 5th, 2009 at 11:04
YOUR A STAR!!!!!!!! saved me loads of Probs.
June 11th, 2009 at 21:45
ubelievable mate ,thank you so much , i to had the 1721 with vista , managed to install xp but couldnt get the sm bus controller at all, anywhere but here, fantastic mate , you are superb , thank you so much
p.s i still feel my laptop is running a little slow can you or anyone suggest anything that would speed up my laptop , whats this ubuntu thing is it faster than xp , i dont understand it could someone explain in noob language what it is plz ? cheers
June 12th, 2009 at 9:05
The term “slow” is very general. It depends on what applications you are running, how hot is your processor, the fragmentation of your HDD, etc.
Ubuntu (a Linux distribution) is an operating system (OS) like XP or Vista. The difference between Windows and Linux is huge. If you are new at using a PC, love to play games, etc, stick to XP.
You can download a Ubuntu iso from the net and test Ubuntu without installing it, just to get an ideea on what it is.
June 12th, 2009 at 20:07
it basically just a inspiron 1721 by dell mate , nothing extra installed apps wise , dosent need defragged as just had clean install with xp removing vista in the process , what you reccomend i could use to boost it its speed , anything ?
June 14th, 2009 at 3:30
thank you so much! i would prefer to just use ubuntu, but i had to setup my machine to dual boot with xp also to run illustrator… i was having trouble finding many of these drivers… and then, i had to re-register JScript manually, and now everything is running smoothly!
July 3rd, 2009 at 21:58
I am saying the same thing as everyone else, however THANK YOU! Hours wasted on Vista and I can thankfully now go back to XP. You have saved me a lot of time!
July 9th, 2009 at 7:48
Dear Alex. It was great and so helpfull. Thanks alot.
August 16th, 2009 at 2:46
Thanks for the drivers buddy, I owe you a beer:-))
October 12th, 2009 at 0:43
Thanks so much for the drivers. Was looking for them everywhere for months on end! Lifesaver!!
October 18th, 2009 at 1:33
Thx for the drivers. It must have been a lot of work finding them. Can anyone tell me how to install XP on this machine, I keep getting the message that the HD can’t be found.
January 16th, 2010 at 8:01
I was wondering if you have ran across windows 7 drivers for the inspiron 1721?
January 18th, 2010 at 12:12
Not yet, but I plan to move to Windows 7.
May 16th, 2010 at 21:46
Hi, i have a dell insprion 1721 laptop. it came installed with “Vista” i have decided that “Vista” is a four letter word, and should not be used by anyone (joke)
i am having issues with the SM controller and the VGA controller. XP is very happy on this machine now, yet when i try to get those two issues repaired i am having no luck. Is there a straight forward, no looophole driver set for XP to repair those issues? Please help.
May 16th, 2010 at 23:46
thanks anyway, please delete my comments. i have it all worked out.
June 9th, 2010 at 18:07
nice work dude, thanks for share…
Dell Inspiron 1721 XP drivers | Alex Luigi RICOBON
June 13th, 2010 at 5:12
Thank you much for your hard work..
July 5th, 2010 at 9:32
The world is a better place because of people like you. I have been scratching my head for several hours over some of the drivers not working. Death to Vista!!
November 22nd, 2010 at 13:45
Decent text. I like your site design as well. continue the good work.