Downgrade Vista to XP

[shanka_safc]

Hi, I have a laptop with Windows Vista Enterprise installed on it. I am trying to downgrade the laptop to Windows XP SP2. When I boot from a XP disc it comes up with a message saying 'Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer'. However, when you boot the laptop up without any discs, Vista loads up. I have now deleted all the partitions using Partition Magic so there is no operating System installed and I am still getting the same message when booting into a XP disc. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Colin

 

[Nodsu]

My first idea is that you are a lazy bum and can't be bothered to do any research. Otherwise you would have found the most common Windows installation issue of all - the inability of XP to recognise SATA hard drives without extra drivers.

 

[Tedster]

you cannot use your sata drives with XP unless you install the drivers first upon windows installation.

 

[shanka_safc]

The laptop is an ACER Aspire 7720 series. I have been on the phone to ACER and they say that because they provided the laptop with Vista on it, they have no drivers for Windows XP. Surely there must be some XP drivers for this laptop on the Internet. Does anyone know where I can get them from?

 

[aspirulito]

you need to find out what SATA controller is in your motherboard, go the manufacturers website and you can get the XP drivers for it.

after a little research.. this link might help...
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...&OSFullName=Windows* XP Professional&lang=eng

 

[shanka_safc]

Thanks for that, I have tried doing so but get the following error message when extracting the file to a floppy:

Windows Error N.5
Access Is Denied

I have tried several different floppy dics too. Any ideas?

 

[Cinders]

Your USB floppy drive is the poo. I will email you the extracted files if you will send me a PM with your email address.

 

[bushwhacker]

Thanks for that, I have tried doing so but get the following error message when extracting the file to a floppy:

Windows Error N.5
Access Is Denied

I have tried several different floppy dics too. Any ideas?

shanka_safc,

First of all.
This happened to my friend's laptop before on the SATA. You have to go to change the BIOS to disable the SATA

Users can install Windows XP or Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2) on an AHCI enabled system by changing BIOS setting to disable AHCI (or RAID which includes AHCI in its functions) and use native SATA IDE emulation mode (SATA/PATA).

The source is found in here.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/23/windows-xp-setup-could-not-detect-and-find-any-sata-hard-disk-drive-on-ahci-mode/

After you installed it... the driver downloads for the XP is...

Intel Driver for Windows XP.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/fil...XP+Professional&lang=eng&strOSs=44&submit=Go!


Now i'm not so sure about your graphic card.

It is probably nvidia, ati or intel.

Nvidia GeForce 8400GS
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_163.71.html

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/radeonx-xp


The Intel Chipset Software should install the network automatically, enabling you to contact us again when in necessary.

Hope it helps. Google is your friend.

 

[shanka_safc]

All, I have managed to sort this out. I copied the drivers from a new Toshiba laptop and added them to a Windows XP disc and luckilly for me it worked on the ACER machine when I booted from the XP disc. Thanks for all the help anyways.