secondly i decided i'd make my own driverpack B addon with other drivers from Dell, and this perhaps unsurprisingly, solved the problem.
I made extra 8,9,10,11,12 under the D\G\I with the contents of
R79733.exe R96000.exe R126541.exe R126990.exe and R126991.exe (not in that order though) - these being the graphics drivers for Dell GX260,GX270 and GX280 onboard Intel embedded graphics. Below is the outcome for the graphics detection.
[2002/09/24 00:31:28 480.223 Driver Install]
#-019 Searching for hardware ID(s): pci\ven_8086&dev_2562&subsys_01261028&rev_01,pci\ven_8086&dev_2562&subsys_01261028,pci\ven_8086&dev_2562&cc_030000,pci\ven_8086&dev_2562&cc_0300
#-018 Searching for compatible ID(s): pci\ven_8086&dev_2562&rev_01,pci\ven_8086&dev_2562,pci\ven_8086&cc_030000,pci\ven_8086&cc_0300,pci\ven_8086,pci\cc_030000,pci\cc_0300
#-198 Command line processed: C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe -setup
#I393 Modified INF cache "C:\WINDOWS\Inf\INFCACHE.1".
#I022 Found "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562&SUBSYS_01261028" in c:\D\G\I\10\ialmnt5.inf; Device: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Driver: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Provider: "Intel Corporation"; Mfg: "Intel Corporation"; Section name: "i845G".
#I023 Actual install section: [i845G]. Rank: 0x00000001. Effective driver date: 01/23/2005.
#I022 Found "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562" in c:\D\G\I\12\ialmnt5.inf; Device: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Driver: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Provider: "Intel Corporation"; Mfg: "Intel Corporation"; Section name: "i845G".
#I087 Driver node not trusted, rank changed from 0x00002001 to 0x0000e001.
#I023 Actual install section: [i845G]. Rank: 0x0000e001. Effective driver date: 03/23/2006.
#I022 Found "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562&SUBSYS_01261028" in c:\D\G\I\12\ialmnt5.inf; Device: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Driver: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Provider: "Intel Corporation"; Mfg: "Intel Corporation"; Section name: "i845G".
#I087 Driver node not trusted, rank changed from 0x00000001 to 0x0000c001.
#I023 Actual install section: [i845G]. Rank: 0x0000c001. Effective driver date: 03/23/2006.
#I022 Found "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562" in c:\D\G\I\5\ialmnt5.inf; Device: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Driver: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Provider: "Intel Corporation"; Mfg: "Intel Corporation"; Section name: "i845G".
#I087 Driver node not trusted, rank changed from 0x00002001 to 0x0000e001.
#I023 Actual install section: [i845G]. Rank: 0x0000e001. Effective driver date: 08/20/2004.
#I022 Found "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562" in c:\D\G\I\7\iegd.inf; Device: "Intel Corporation 845 Embedded Graphics Controller"; Driver: "Intel Corporation 845 Embedded Graphics Controller"; Provider: "Intel Corporation"; Mfg: "Intel Corporation"; Section name: "iegd_alm".
#I087 Driver node not trusted, rank changed from 0x00002001 to 0x0000e001.
#I023 Actual install section: [iegd_alm]. Rank: 0x0000e001. Effective driver date: 06/04/2007.
#I022 Found "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562&SUBSYS_01261028" in c:\D\G\I\8\ialmnt5.inf; Device: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Driver: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Provider: "Intel Corporation"; Mfg: "Intel Corporation"; Section name: "i845G".
#I023 Actual install section: [i845G]. Rank: 0x00000001. Effective driver date: 02/10/2004.
#I022 Found "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562" in c:\D\G\I\9\ialmnt5.inf; Device: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Driver: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Provider: "Intel Corporation"; Mfg: "Intel Corporation"; Section name: "i845G".
#I087 Driver node not trusted, rank changed from 0x00002001 to 0x0000e001.
#I023 Actual install section: [i845G]. Rank: 0x0000e001. Effective driver date: 03/23/2006.
#I022 Found "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562&SUBSYS_01261028" in c:\D\G\I\9\ialmnt5.inf; Device: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Driver: "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller"; Provider: "Intel Corporation"; Mfg: "Intel Corporation"; Section name: "i845G".
#I087 Driver node not trusted, rank changed from 0x00000001 to 0x0000c001.
#I023 Actual install section: [i845G]. Rank: 0x0000c001. Effective driver date: 03/23/2006.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_SELECTBESTCOMPATDRV.
#I063 Selected driver installs from section [i845G] in "c:\d\g\i\10\ialmnt5.inf".
#I320 Class GUID of device remains: {4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
#I060 Set selected driver.
#I058 Selected best compatible driver.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICEFILES.
#I124 Doing copy-only install of "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562&SUBSYS_01261028&REV_01\2&EBB567F&0&10".
#-011 Installing section [i845G] from "c:\d\g\i\10\ialmnt5.inf".
#W313 Copy target "C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxext.exe" is also a Delete target, forcing COPYFLG_NODECOMP.
#W313 Copy target "C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxexps.dll" is also a Delete target, forcing COPYFLG_NODECOMP.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_REGISTER_COINSTALLERS.
#I056 Coinstallers registered.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLINTERFACES.
#-011 Installing section [i845G.Interfaces] from "c:\d\g\i\10\ialmnt5.inf".
#I054 Interfaces installed.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICE.
#I123 Doing full install of "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562&SUBSYS_01261028&REV_01\2&EBB567F&0&10".
#I121 Device install of "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562&SUBSYS_01261028&REV_01\2&EBB567F&0&10" finished successfully.
[2002/09/24 00:31:33 480.329 Driver Install]
conclusion is:
rank 0001 valid .cat and subsys
rank c001 no/invalid .cat and subsys
rank e001 no subsys and no/invalid .cat
-anything higher than 3FFFF is going to be 'Untrusted Driver Rank' and not work automatically, hence as far the Intel drivers must have original file set in them.