[Gswiss]

If you follow the procedure suggested in post #6 you should have no problem installing a dual boot environment.

[bobush]

I bought a vista supplied quad core q6600 a month ago. Vista is a nightmare. I have 2 300 gig sata drives on it. Can I dump everything onto the drive runnning Vista and load the XP on the other and how do I then boot from either. I would expect once I have XP running I should be able to access the other drive to get files etc?? I hope to keep the Vista one able to boot up and run so when "if ever!" microsoft sort out the problems I can go back to hopefully a better Vista...
bobush

[escalader]

BACKGOUND:

I just installed a new PC and initiallized Vista home edition ON MY FRIENDS new 64 bit 2GB RAM HP Pavilion PC. I viewed it as a chance to learn Vista on someone else's PC!

This PC is using the old flat screen monitor, it works and the HP all in one printer/scanner When the old pc died (motherboard failed) and the hard drive was removed and it is in a casing with all the client data for moving over to new HP machine. it will become the external drive.

COMMENTS (SO FAR)

I have never seen so much bloat on 1 PC in my life! 1st the Vista bloat and then this HP software bloat then the installed NIS 2007 60 day bloat.I have no doubt that over time I can pare this PC down to the essentials for my client.

QUESTIONS

1) Is it possible to have Win XP sp2 completely replace the Vista? I would load w98 original full version then the win xp upgrade formating whole drive and no doubt wiping out entire drive?
2) Can XP sp 2 install support a 64 bit PC? Has anybody out there actually done this ?
3) Is there a source for listing all the unneeded/ or dysfunctional HP software?
4) Is the thread here for vista hints on security efficiency improvements
5) What other hazards are there?

[ssjsid]

I got an Acer Aspire 3100 which came with Vista installed. Vista was too heavy for it and it was so slow that it was making my work hard. I decided to install XP using a SP2 cd. I expected to be given an option to select which OS I want to run when it boots after installing XP on a seperate partition, but it didn't. The boot records of XP don't show any sign of Vista. And there are no drivers for XP which makes my life miserable. I can't do anything now. Whenever I boot XP runs. I also tried removing XP but no use. PLease help!

Will it help if I format the D drive on which XP is installed? Will Vista take over again? Is there any other way?

I would love to get rid of Vista altogether and have XP only on my machine, but if that's not possible I just want to be able to run Vista atleast. I can deal with a slow computer but not one which doesnt even work properly.

My USB and CD drive seem to be working. Haven't checked DVD support yet. But my LAN, WiFi and audio still not working.

[paulb100]

Originally Posted by ssjsid

I got an Acer Aspire 3100 which came with Vista installed. Vista was too heavy for it and it was so slow that it was making my work hard. I decided to install XP using a SP2 cd. I expected to be given an option to select which OS I want to run when it boots after installing XP on a seperate partition, but it didn't. The boot records of XP don't show any sign of Vista. And there are no drivers for XP which makes my life miserable. I can't do anything now. Whenever I boot XP runs. I also tried removing XP but no use. PLease help!

Will it help if I format the D drive on which XP is installed? Will Vista take over again? Is there any other way?

I would love to get rid of Vista altogether and have XP only on my machine, but if that's not possible I just want to be able to run Vista atleast. I can deal with a slow computer but not one which doesnt even work properly.

My USB and CD drive seem to be working. Haven't checked DVD support yet. But my LAN, WiFi and audio still not working.

YES you can fix it... you havent completed the dual boot install process thats all...
you insert VISTA DVD then click instal..then next window click repair computer... then choose from the repair menu to repair startup problems... it will amend the BOOT record to BOOT VISTA...
then restart PC and VISTA will boot...after that download Easy BCD Creator (somehwere in this POST is link to it)..then use it to create a boot entry for XP...so u can choose which OS at boot..

ALSO....
u can get drivers for XP for your laptop... just search acer drivers (your model) in google..also browse thru support on ACER site...

I have XP and VISTA on dual-boot on my ACER and XP runs much better on it..
plus i amended mine so that i only have 5 seconds to choose XP or it will boot vista (my preference)

[without_lace2]

thanks...im computer stupid but i know enough to know that vista drives me crazy..i cant use my mic in my fav chat room...it worked fine on my old puter which had xp..i read some where else how to do this and i have both disks but i was scared id mess things up. im starting school for computers so hopefully i can start figuring this stuff out on my own.

[Gswiss]

Why try and switch to Vista if you're happy with XP? Vista doesn't buy you much more. I've been using Windows 2000-SP4 as my day-to-day system and have had no problem at all for the past few years. All my problems (system hanging, reinstalls, etc.) came from XP. Your best bet is to downgrade to Windows 2000. There are very few programs which do not run on W2k. All new devices : printers, numeric cameras, burners, etc. operate even under Windows 98 (Second Edition)! 20 to 25% of US firms are still running with Windows 95 or 98.

[paulb100]

ok
Is ur current stasus is u have BOTH OS's on but can only boot XP?
and have driver issues on XP?
I can tell u how to sort it but im bot going to type it all in here for nothing if you dont
have this current config....

[paulb100]

Originally Posted by ssjsid

I got an Acer Aspire 3100 which came with Vista installed. Vista was too heavy for it and it was so slow that it was making my work hard. I decided to install XP using a SP2 cd. I expected to be given an option to select which OS I want to run when it boots after installing XP on a seperate partition, but it didn't. The boot records of XP don't show any sign of Vista. And there are no drivers for XP which makes my life miserable. I can't do anything now. Whenever I boot XP runs. I also tried removing XP but no use. PLease help!

Will it help if I format the D drive on which XP is installed? Will Vista take over again? Is there any other way?

I would love to get rid of Vista altogether and have XP only on my machine, but if that's not possible I just want to be able to run Vista atleast. I can deal with a slow computer but not one which doesnt even work properly.

My USB and CD drive seem to be working. Haven't checked DVD support yet. But my LAN, WiFi and audio still not working.

Yes all this is possible...
remove the HP software if its uneeded but if its driver software for scanner/printers then just leave it but disable the software running at startup (drivers still work when called upon by hardware)
Vista works great if you remove the HP bloatware (which only takes upto 1hour depending)
use this webpage to amend the services as per 'SAFE' colomn...this will get Vista running as smoothly as XP without stopping any important services... http://www.speedyvista.com/services.html
(i currently have Vista running on a 2Ghz 512Mb machine and it starts up fast and when done with sidebar / AOL Active Virus Shield / Messenger running at boot..only uses 33 process and 70% RAM (which is good for vista and those apps open on 512Mb RAM)-)
however you could dual boot XP and set it so that it runs either one as default after a set amount of seconds at boot unless you choose otherwise.. i currently have 5 seconds to choose XP or vista will boot.... (I use XP for games)
If your a PC-Techie working for a client I wont need to go into the details of how to amend all this...

[johnnysch]

Recently I bought an HP Pavilion 2315 notebook. It came with Vista Home Premium which I did not like at all.

But trying to install Windows XP as an alternative or dual-boot system was anything but easy. HP did not include any

disk with drivers for Vista or XP; Vista itself was on a separate partition of the 160GB hard disk from where it could be

recovered in case of crash. HP’s support page did include information about the drivers but no instruction how to replace Vista with XP.



Just in case somebody else runs into this problem, here are the steps to replace Vista with XP on the series 2000 HP notebooks:

1. Create a new partition, using Vista’s partition manager; I did not touch the 7GB Vista system partition and left 50GB for the (existing)

files that came with the computer, and the rest (~80GB) blank, ready for XP.

2. Disable the SATA option in the BIOS.

3. Windows XP installed OK. Device manager shows all the hardware bits that are not working.

4. Download the mass storage driver (PRO2KXP.EXE) from Intel (search for it on http://support.intel.com) and run it

5. Download all hardware drivers for the Series 2000 laptops from HP’s website. They can be found at: ftp://compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp32501-33000 etc.

SP32646 (run this first!) SP32144 SP32784 SP32839 SP32020 SP32566 SP35444 SP33761 SP35415

SP34510 SP34489

I used another computer to do the downloads and created a driver CD.

6. Install drivers from CD – reboot, reboot, reboot….

7. XP loads without problems and everything works fine, Device Manager is clear. I have not yet set up a dual-boot system but will install a dual-boot manager when I need it.



I believe that this information applies to all series 2000 HP notebooks; for users with other models, search http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc for model.



HP could have saved me all this trouble – one working day – by including a driver disk….

I must say though that when I contacted a support person on their website, she was most courteous and helpful.



Hope this helps somebody.



Regards

Hans

[escalader]

Thanks, I copied your steps in case I need to do a similar install on an HP desk top.

[beachbumwest]

I bougtht 2 notebooks for grand kids with Vista home basic. Working with Vista is like watching grass grow and kids will never graduate college in time waiting for conflicts to correct. Yes, I really, REALLY, REALLY want to delete a file with one click not 3 screens. Both came with just the basic RAM 512M & processors 1.6mz to run Vista, Probably a clean out price from Best Buy I have 2 copy’s of XP Pro and wish to just reformat and load them. BUT, will a format remove the notebook drivers with the O/S? I want to do this before transferring apps to them. I was told to just install one of my Temp notebook HDD’s and do a reload of vista. Then, after cleaning vista off the original HHD to swap it back in and install XP so notebook drivers stay intact. Is there another way without taking these new computers apart to get to the HHD’s. One is a Gatway, other a Toshiba. Thanks for any help I can get. My first desktop using win 3.0 ran faster then these two

[johnnysch]

Before you do anything, make sure that you can get the hardware drivers from Gateway/Toshiba, download and burn to CD. An alternative to reformatting would be to get a new hard disk and swap it for the existing one, in many notebooks it is easy to do. An 80-120GB hd is cheap and if things go wrong, you could always put the Vista hd back....

[escalader]

I like the idea of swapping out the HD!

One would need the windows XP full product cd to install it! Be careful of the 32 bit 64 compatibility issue on the CPU to ensure xp will run.
Otherwise you would need xp pro.

[Gswiss]

I had no problem at all installing XP alongside a pre-installed Vista on my HP nc6320 laptop. On the other hand, I get stuck right from the start, when I try to do the same thing on a friend's Dell Inspiron 6400.

When I reach the point where XP installer asks where the XP partition should be located and I select an unallocated area (same problem appears even if I create and format an empty partition beforehand and select it), I get the following error message : “To install Windows XP on the selected partition, installation program must copy certain boot files on Disk 0 with ID 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]. However, this disk does not contain a partition compatible with Windows XP”.

I don’t know whether this has to do with the SATA disk. On the HP, I disabled SATA Native Support in the BIOS and everything went fine. In the Dell Bios, I found no equivalent option.

How can I create a “compatible partition” ?