I usally use this software : http://www.iobit.com/en/driver-booster.php

it always does the trick , you just have to sit there and it will do all the work .

to use the manufacture website , you have to know the specifications of you pc parts , like processor"Intel , AMD ...etc " , sound and network cards "Intel , Realtek" , graphic card "Invidia , Realtek , AMD " .

 

Steve:

Ignore the advice and webpage link in post #2.

What's the exact "service tag" number and/or "express service code" number on that Dell Inspiron 17R N7110 laptop?

Since you're planning to do a clean install of Windows 7, you might want to look at and make use of my Windows 7 install guide in the Windows 7 forum.

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Frank is correct; never use a third party driver program. Your link shows two different usb3 drivers. You need to input your service tag# so you get only the drivers for your hardware.
Normally you do an install in the following order;
1 Install the os
2 Update to the latest service pack [for win7 sp1] If your install disk already has sp1, then skip this step
3 Install chipset/motherboard driver. This is called an inf driver for intel systems
4 Install sound, nic, wireless, touchpad drivers
5 Install video driver
6 If all is well, activate windows and make a backup image. Store this on an external, NAS, network share, whatever. If you ever need a "Clean" install, it takes all of 5~10min to restore the image; clean install done.
7 Do windows update and install ALL critical updates. Repeat until there are no more updates to install. Note this is going to take a while for an operating system that is now 7+ years old.

 

Thank you all for responding.

@flavallee

What's the exact "service tag" number and/or "express service code" number on that Dell Inspiron 17R N7110 laptop?

Service tag number: 9FWYZP1
Express service code: 20553413941

@crjdriver

You need to input your service tag# so you get only the drivers for your hardware.

I already did that. In fact, the link I gave was for the service tag number above.

 

Then install drivers in the order referenced.

 

@crjdriver

Then install drivers in the order referenced.

What about the drivers in applications, drivers for OS deployment, removable storage, serial ATA and system utilities? You want me to install those too?
What if two drivers have the same name? Do I install them both? What if the drivers are optional, should I install them anyway? I don't assume you want me to reinstall the BIOS.

Also, how are you supposed to install these updates? Are you supposed to put the drivers on a USB drive beforehand? Or are you supposed to use the ethernet port on your computer to be able to go directly on Dell's website and then download them from there?

 

OK, download ALL of the drivers you are going to need along with whatever utilities you use ie ccleaner, AV software, irfanview, whatever and sp1 [if you need it]
Start with the drivers I listed. If you need any others ie you have yellow marks in device mgr, then download those when you need them [After you finish the install]

Just be sure to install the chipset driver first then the rest can really be installed in any order.
Be sure to reboot when prompted.

 

@crjdriver

OK, I'm going to make a backup of the drivers already installed, just in case.

Will my ethernet port still work after I install the OS -- so that I can directly go on Dell's website to download all the drivers -- or will I have to use the drivers on the backup disk?

 

This makes no sense; you have win10. Why would you make a backup of drivers on the system IF you intend on installing another operating system???
Do what I posted. Download the referenced drivers and put them on a flash drive, external, whatever; include the service [if needed] and whatever utilities you use.

If your system originally came with win7, it should have shipped with a driver disk with the win7 drivers. Do understand that the drivers on that disk are most likely very outdated. While you could use them, it makes much more sense to do what I posted; download the newer drivers and put them on a flash drive.

 

You may have to install Network Card (Nic) drivers after a clean install. Yet windows 7 does come with various Nic drivers. If I were you I'd download the important drivers before installing and store them on a external media.

 

Service tag number: 9FWYZP1
Express service code: 20553413941

Here is YOUR Dell Inspiron 17R N7110 laptop.
It shipped in June 2011 in the U.S.A. and came with Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit.
Your log shows your laptop running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, so the upgrade from Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit to Windows 10 Pro 64-bit was made in some other manner.

These are the primary Windows 7 64-bit drivers that you should download and save:
Intel HM67 Chipset
Intel HD Graphics 3000
Realtek High Definition Audio
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030/Advanced-N 6230
Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit Ethernet
As crjdriver has already advised you, the Intel chipset driver needs to be installed first before installing any of the other drivers.
That allows the Windows operating system to properly detect and configure the laptop's devices.

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@crjdriver

This makes no sense; you have win10. Why would you make a backup of drivers on the system IF you intend on installing another operating system???

When Windows 10 installed itself without my informed consent, I don't remember having to reinstall new drivers for Windows 10. Because of that, I somehow thought the drivers would still be intact.

Look, I'm not a techie like you guys. I can draw the structure of isopropyldimethylamine and I'm fairly proficient at Microsoft Excel, but I've never done this before.

And to answer Frank's question, when I first inherited my laptop it originally came with Windows 7 Home edition, so I had a friend install Windows 7 Pro on it. That was until Microsoft tricked me into "upgrading".

I'm now gonna do what you said above. I'll let you know how it works out.

 

WIndows 10 generally uses drivers supplied by Microsoft. Al though some manufacturers have WIn 10 drivers you need to manually download those. But as this isn't the case here. You want to revert back to WIn7 64bit. You have to, as other members stated, download the appropriate drivers. Save them on an external media for use after your "clean Install"
And, again, it can not be emphasized enough, always install the "Chipset" drivers first. Before you do anything else.

Good luck.

 

when I first inherited my laptop it originally came with Windows 7 Home edition, so I had a friend install Windows 7 Pro on it.

That explains how you were able to upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro.
It's impossible for Windows 7 Home Premium to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.
It would've upgraded to Windows 10 Home.

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That explains how you were able to upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro.
It's impossible for Windows 7 Home Premium to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.
It would've upgraded to Windows 10 Home.

That's right. The first time I had a friend do it for me, because I was pressed for time.
Now that I have more time, I'd rather do it myself and learn something new, instead of asking my friend to redo it all over again for me.

Anyway, I was able to install the OS and the drivers in the list you provided, but I'm running into driver issues. Right now, I'm getting 5 different error messages in device manager.
1) Ethernet Controller: The drivers for this device are not installed (code 28)
2) Network Controller: Same error
3) PCI Simple Communications Controller: Same error
4) SM Bus Controller: Same error
5) Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller: Same error

On top of that, one of the USB ports is inoperable and video viewing works fine -- at least sound wise -- but the videos are gridded by small rectangles. I haven't gotten the chance to test the Ethernet port yet for the internet, because I can't seem to find any Ethernet cables around, but I know wifi doesn't seem to work. I'm guessing downloading the aforementioned drivers in device manager will solve these issues.

 

You do NOT go into the Device Manager to install the list of Dell drivers that I provided for you.
All those drivers have an .exe extension, so double-clicking each one will start its install process.
Make sure the Intel chipset driver gets installed FIRST, then restart the computer.

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You did not install the drivers correctly. Exactly what did you do ie list step by step. The sm bus shows you did not install the chipset driver and any other drivers after that would not be installed correctly since the chipset driver was not installed.

 

You did not install the drivers correctly. Exactly what did you do ie list step by step. The sm bus shows you did not install the chipset driver and any other drivers after that would not be installed correctly since the chipset driver was not installed.

I'm pretty sure I installed the chipset driver first before installing any other driver.

This is what I think I did:
1. reinstalled the OS on the primary partition after reformatting
2. popped the dvd in with all the drivers in the list provided
3. installed chipset driver
4. installed audio driver
5. installed ethernet driver
6. installed driver for wifi
7. installed or reinstalled touchpad driver
8. installed video driver

I'm going to reinstall Windows again, and follow the order again to see if it helps.

 

OK, I don't know what I did this time, but I managed to get it to work. I went into device manager, and I'm still getting these two errors.
1) PCI Simple Communications Controller: The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)
2) Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller: same error

 

The PCI simple controller is probably the modem.

The USB could be the USB 3.o ports. I do believe this model has the Renesas 3.0 controller.

Try those drivers. If that doesn't work then double click the device in device manager. Go to details and select "Hardware Id's" Then give us the complete string it displays for each device.

 

@Fireflycph

Thanks for the prompt reply.
I managed to solve the USB problem.
Just curious, how did you know which driver to install? The reason I'm asking is because there were two USB drivers listed: the Renesas one, and what looks like a generic USB driver.
Also, I wasn't able to solve the modem problem, so I'm posting the hardware ID's as listed:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C3A&SUBSYS_04081028&REV_04
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C3A&SUBSYS_04D81028
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C3A&CC_078000
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C3A&CC_0780

 

I knew because I looked up the original configuration on Dell's website. You had previously supplied the Service tag in another post.

When I get around to it I'll see if I can find the device associated with those id's.

Before I do I want to make sure you did install the Chipset?

I think you need to install the Intel Engine Management driver too.

 

@Fireflycph

Before I do I want to make sure you did install the Chipset?

Yes. The Chipset was the first driver I installed.

Intel Engine Management driver? What does it do?

Also, I can't seem to find a way to access my webcam. I checked in >All programs, couldn't find anything..

 

This is what Intel says about it.

"This performs various tasks while the system is in sleep, during the boot process, and when your system is running. It is important that this subsystem is functioning correctly to get the most performance and capability from your PC."


Your webcam is probably working fine. You'll need some software to use it. Try Skype or something like that.

 

Okey dokey, I'll do that right now.

 

@Fireflycph

So I did what you told me to do, and right after I installed the driver, the PCI error message in device manager disappeared. The only problem I'm having now is I can't seem to be able to download any security patches from Microsoft. I've been literally waiting for 3 hours, and I haven't managed to be able to download a single update. What am I to do?