Missing drivers after msconfig

[kirstyshepherd]

Can anyone help me with a problem I'm having with my Dell laptop?
The system was running really slow and so i took some advice and tried msconf. This seemed to improve the running time but when i next started the system i could not connect to the internet - on further inspection the network connections folder is empty as is the devices in the hardware folder.
I have tried various things to solve this but with no improvement, these include,
restarting in the normal mode of msconfig with all boxes checked in the options menu,
pressing f8 at startup to start in the basic mode
I have checked and the systems folder are still there for the drivers
I did try a system resore but all of the previous check points have been deleted.

Please help!!

[ApPy10]

can you install the drivers from your motherboard cd that is provided?

[kirstyshepherd]

I'm not sure I have one. I found a paper disc from Dell saying ' you don't need any discs as we put all the components on for you - if you have any problems do a Dell PC restore' but, from what i understand, this wipes everything that you've saved on the hard drive.
Maybe this is the only option - burn everything i have saved onto a disc??