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About changing Vista to XP Pro…

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I am helping a friend change a recently purchased laptop from Vista (don’t know what version at the moment) to XP Pro. I would like to know what problems, if any, people have run into while undertaking the same project.

Laptop is Acer Aspire – not certain which model at the moment.

Thanks in advance!

edit – yet another typo

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Clarifications

In reply to About changing Vista to XP Pro…

Clarifications

Just

In reply to About changing Vista to XP Pro…

be aware that there are hidden partitions on the drive. If you erase them you will completely lose Vista. I would ghost the drive first. That way when your friend decides to go back to Vista it can be replaced. Use sis.exe or aida32 to get a list of drivers and the chipset. Download the drivers so that they are available.
Chipset
Lan
Video
Audio
USB2

Might help

Have no intention…

In reply to Just

of wiping the recovery partition. And thanks on the commands. Am GUI comfy, but not so with Command Line.

Vista to XP Comments

In reply to About changing Vista to XP Pro…

I am currently in the process shifting from Vista basic on a campaq desktop (brand new) SR5030NX.

So far, I found that if you do not wip off the secondary recovery partition, windows XP will not load, period. So if you don’t want to wip it off, you can forget it. I tried a number of windows XP versions and experienced the same thing. THere is obviously something on that partition that prevents Windows XP from loading.

I wiped the secondary recovery partition which is no big deal as long as you have either made a recovery disc set from your system, or you have one from the computer company who made your comnputer.

With that issue aside, I was able to load windows XP onto the system successfully. So far, I have found that I have problems with the video and sound card.

With the system I am working with, it uses an integral video and sound card and so far, I haven’t found the drivers to make the video and sound card work in XP. I am still searching and talking to people to find out what divers would work in this situation.

One answer, was instead of having to deal with driver issues, was to just purchase another pop in video and sound card in the available slots if you have them.

In your case, being it is a laptop, it may be easier to find drivers for it as opposed to a tower desktop type computer.

But from what I understand, a laptop would need drivers obviously because you have no available slots to put one short of attaching an external one.

In my case, it may be easier all the way around just to purchase new cards rather then the headache of finding drivers that would work.

Hope this helps.

Here is a link for the Video

In reply to Vista to XP Comments

http://tinyurl.com/24rcql

Haven’t found the Sound as yet.

Try this on…

In reply to About changing Vista to XP Pro…

I have downgrade few windows vista business to winxp pro before. No need to remove the 2nd partition, it is ok to leave it.
One thing i realise is SATA hardisk, winxp will not detect SATA, so change some setting on bios.
Then find all nessary driver.
winxp will working fine even with 2nd partition on it.

Thanks to all…

In reply to About changing Vista to XP Pro…

Everything went very smoothly. Left the factory default restore partition, though also burned image of same to disk. Downloaded all drivers from manufacturers website for XP and burned to disk. Acer had everything there that was needed. Dropped XP in the drive and installed. Allowed it to format C: drive, and left the rest alone. No probs as yet – though built-in webcam now has to be accessed differently (not thru provided software, but through cameras and scanners in Control Panel). So still working on the software glitch…

Occasional NIC connection issues, but currently unsure if that is ISP or card. Will try driver update, see what happens. Also, this person not very savvy – so there may be some settings issues. I haven’t had a chance to look at things since the install. Gonna have to shortly, I s’pose.

Again, my thanks to all!

ACER offers XP Drivers on line

In reply to About changing Vista to XP Pro…

Acer is the builder.. Go to their site at webmaster@acer.com Find the right page to click on “Notebooks” then enter your model for downloads… (you will need XP drivers for all your bits and pieces) They list them as “Vista” or “XP” choose the XP download nad save it on a “CD-R”.. when you have all twenty or so then you can change the operating system or have a vendor do it for you.. Make sure you get the ATA or hard drive driver.. some hard drives have this built in so you cant down load it … you might e-mail the company to see if they need to help you with it…. THE VISTA DRIVERS WONT WORK WITH XP.. YOU MUST HAVE THE NEW XP DRIVERS…. You might get a Mirror software first to make sure you can reload VISTA if you F oul up…. Help..? Cross the i’s and dot the t’s and its not a problem… Getting the XP Pro operating system. Go to the counter and buy the OEM disc… this is about $300. cheaper than buying the full verson in a box. Just cant call the factory for help cause they will tell you to go to your installer.. But you can go to an installer anyway anytime…. Help this hopes you….. Ha!

XP install on Acer with Vista

In reply to About changing Vista to XP Pro…

I put a detailled explanation of what I do with success

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