Woo!
Hurrah for Dell!

I was concerned - the troubleshooter started thusly:

The following wizard is complex. It may require the following:
More than 20 minutes to complete all tasks by new user to Dell™ systems
Hand tools to complete one or more tasks (hammer?)
Opening the computer
Removing and replacing parts on the computer
Backing up personal files (e.g. pictures, mail) and/or data files stored on the computer
Reinstallation of Microsoft® Windows® and/or Dell drivers

I got halfway through the process and got redirected to a Microsoft help article about modifying the registry, which related to Windows XP rather than Vista (which is what I am running on).

Well I didn't want to start following instructions for the wrong OS so I phoned them. Got put through to the right place straight away and a nice chap called Aaron fixed it for me in a matter of minutes via remote assistance, which was bloody surreal and a bit nerve racking (I have the google gadget which displays random photos, and I was actuely aware that some of my pics are rude and was panicking that Aaron might accidentally discover TMI about me!)

Anyway, the driver had become out of date, and Aaron did the regsistry stuff and updated it for me.

And it was free (apart from the cost of the call, 10p a minute and it took all of four and a half minutes).

I love Dell *hugs laptop*

Thanks for all your suggestions - if I hadn't been concerned about following the wrong help thing and therefore not phoned them, I would have been here asking you guys lots of (possibly silly) questions instead :)
( warmfuzzies Isn't here, Wed 1 Oct 2008, 15:35, Reply)