Having reformatted windows after getting some nasty viruses on my machine. I began to install the drivers from my Dell CDs (Laptop is Dell 1520). When it came to the ethernet driver (Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller ) I accidently installed it twice, which on the second time made the installer try to remove the driver but it didn't work properly and got interrupted during removal. Now the problem is that the ethernet driver is no longer installed, so it seems... but whenever I run the installer to install in again it just tries to remove the driver again but always gets interrupted. Does anyone have any idea how to solve this problem?

Remove in safe mode, install in reg mode.

try this

To get rid of that unwanted driver, device, or service:
1. open the "Start" menu and choose "Run..."
2. enter: cmd and click "ok".
3. at the cmd prompt, type:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
press enter.

it's ok if nothing seems to happen

4. now type, devmgmt.msc pressss enter. This will launch the Windows Device Manager. close command prompt
5. in the Device Manager, select Show Hidden Devices from the View menu

as you expand the different drivers and devices in device manager you will see not only the items that Windows currently detects as installed on your pc (these are the usual items displayed), but you will also see drivers, devices, and services which have been loaded in the past but were not uninstalled or are not currently started. You can find your offending device, right-click, and choose "uninstall" to remove it from the system completely.

Be careful, you should note that non-loaded devices, drivers, and services are "grayed" out, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should delete all of them. Only remove items you know you don't need. be careful that you don't change too many devices or you might need to re-activate your Windows installation.

if you accidentally exit the Device Manager Console you will need to start over again at the cmd prompt.

Okay, I followed your instructions Surfer, problem is I cannot find which one is the ethernet driver.. how would I know what it is called? Is there any way to find out?
I tried googling the names of all the drivers which were greyed out but still couldn't find it

Thanks for you reply

should be listed under network adapters.

But the ethernet adapter is listed under unknown devices since my computer thinks its not installed...

you can uninstall anything in unknown devices. windows will find everything there again and the drivers should be able to be installed.