[lefty.crupps]

Dell Dimension E520

The machine came with Vista but it doesn't work with any of the applications that we need. We just went out and dropped the wad of cash on Windows XP and resized the hard drive with the Vista Disk Management.

When we boot into the WinXP cd, it loads all the drivers etc but when it gets to "Starting Windows XP" screen at the end of the driver loading (no graphics yet), it suddenly bluescreens and says to check for a virus or run a checkdisk. We tried this a number of times and its not working.

Due to the fact that nothing is set yet for installation, the WinXP disk should _not_ be even yet touching the hard disk, just loading into RAM. The machine is new and has 2GB of RAM on it, more than enough for an XP install.

Does anyone know what could be the issue? I am wondering if we have to find/install additional drivers at the initial XP disk loading, but I am not sure.

Worst of all this is costing us hundreds of dollars just because of Vista. We tried the VMWare image but that didn't work either (see http://www.vmware.com/community/thre...threadID=86249 )

Please, any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

[The_Oracle]

funny thing, got a brand new e520 yesterday (preloaded w. XP,) and rather than decrappifying the darn thing i tried a clean reinstallation of XP. although it shipped with a regular oem XP cd, i tried my slipstreamed oem disc (just the latest updates, otherwise untampered with) and i got the BSOD when it came to 'starting windows' ... i think the error was '0000007e', not quite sure now. eventually i booted from the disc that came with the computer and it went thru, pretty sure it was the controller driver.

my suggestion, talk to dell and ask them to replace Vista with XP (which now is an option for new dell PCs again). or find the xp sata driver required for the dell e520 and slipstream it into your xp cd (if you can't load it from floppy using F6 when prompted).

[DoubleHelix]

You can't install an operating system into RAM. It has to be installed on the hard drive.

[managed]

Another option is to set up a Dual-boot, Vista and XP, that way you can keep Vista, details here :-
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/about88231.html

[lefty.crupps]

>i got the BSOD when it came to 'starting windows' ... i think the error was '0000007e'
Yes, that looks right -- maybe 0x0000007e, but whatever, like that means anything! I will indeed look for some drivers or maybe even an identical machine at the office with WinXP -- just use the recently purchased license when it asks.

Can you by chance tell me what drivers you have and are using? I don't know if there is an easy way to do this, but I also don't know which drivers are causing the issue...

I don't think that we can ask for a Vista refund, however (but I may try). It's been about two months of using Vista just to RDP into a box across the office to do his work; the Vista has still been used, however ("used" software, how strange... thats why i love Open Source, no restrictions like this BS -- and he could have been doing the RDP in Linux, no software fees, if this RDP-to-XP setup was sufficient!! But, its not).

>Another option is to set up a Dual-boot, Vista and XP
That was the plan, due to the limited number of installs allowed with Vista, we figured that we should leave it on the machine; eventually Microsoft and its fearful minions have to get it (the software) right, i would hope. I will check out your link, however; thank you!

>You can't install an operating system into RAM. It has to be installed on the hard drive.
Um, yeah, I know. But where do you think the install software is loaded, if not on a hard drive? Its not all constantly coming from the CD, nor is it written to the hard drive before accepting the install. The various setup screens, drivers, settings, etc are loaded into RAM. Otherwise, any install CD would ruin an installation (by writing to an unknown hard disk and overwriting unknown data) even if it was canceled before the actual install; said data is very much in RAM at this point in time. Check out some linux LiveCDs, you'll see what I mean.

Thanks for the help, Forumers! Continued tips are welcome!

[The_Oracle]

you mentioned a VMware image and your 'love' for open source software.

try this:

VirtualBox 1.3.8 for Windows Hosts
http://www.virtualbox.org/

beats the hell out of VMware and MS-VPC, user friendly and great performance.

just set up a virtual XP machine for the software you cannot use with Vista, your computer has enough memory to spare.

[lefty.crupps]

I will look into it, thanks. However, we tried a similar virtualisation with VMWare and the Bridged network connection failed, and NAT didn't serve our VPN purposes. VMWare had the benefit of converting the already-set-up physical machine into a VMWare image; I have some doubts about that VMWare image running in VirtualBox, but I will check it out, thanks!

[ozrom1e]

Try this article:

Dual-Booting Win XP and Vista – PC Magazine

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2109434,00.asp

[reynoldsju]

This is just my opinion

Find out what brand and model of your hard drive in the machine and goto its website. Download their utility boot disk, and most of them I see have the option to format or kill partions from there.

Install XP SP2

Wait for Vista SP1 at the very least.

Like I noted above, just my opinion

[The_Oracle]

of course, the VMware image will NOT work with VirtualBox, you must install XP, creating your own machine.

Dual-Booting Win XP and Vista – PC Magazine

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2109434,00.asp

this articles is dealing with XP first, then Vista, unfortunately it's a bit trickier on a machine that has Vista already installed.

http://www.syschat.com/dual-boot-vis...eady-1946.html

[lefty.crupps]

Well I ended up booting with an Dell Dimension E520 OEM XP disk (for an identical computer here at work) and swapping it out with the real/purchased XP disk to finish the install, but that would only boot XP into safe mode.

So then I re-reinstalled with that OEM disk and then changed the license key to match the purchased XP. Everything works now!!

Not yet got the dual-boot to work with Vista; need a lot of Internet Updates for XP (including .Net 2.0) before I can run that BootVistaPRO program mentioned in this article:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2109434,00.asp

Regardless, we're up and running with XP. Thank you all for the help!

[ozrom1e]

You are welcome and I am glad you got some help here at TSG....

[lefty.crupps]

We had a similar issue, again with a Dell running Vista where we had to purchase and install XP to make it usable. This was a Dimension 9200. This install was completed by entering the BIOS and turning the RAID from 'On' to 'Auto-detect;' the install didn't fail after this.

Just posting the new fix for future readers, and thanks again.

[inetdevforums]

I do wish someone had simplified it to this, but here it is... the entry above had it correct... change the BIOS setting raid to auto and it will work. No slipstreamed cd needed.

[paulo_emiliano]

Do you know where I could get this OEM XP disk (that for an identical Dell E520) if not from Dell? I am in Brazil, and here Dell is not selling E520`s with XP in it.

Thanks!