Welcome to Computer Hope.
Did the Dell not have a recovery partition built-in?
Before doing a full install of Vista or XP, you should have a copy of all the drivers that were on your system.
Your Dell has a service Tag number on the bottom or back. Using the tag and the serial number you can get exact locational of the drivers.
But in some cases there are a large set of drivers for that model and it may take several treys to get the right ones.
You need the completed set of drives for your machine. The audio may not come up until all over drivers are in placer. Actuality, that makes sense. It would not do to have audio and not video,
For addition help, you need to give the model number of your Dell. Just the model number, not the tag and serial. That you need on the Dell site.
If you received the machine with Vista, you should keep Vista on it. Some users prefer to go back to XP, but that is seldom necessary.
