[Tehgame]

I have a few questions regarding Vista.

My laptop came equipped with Vista, and I can't stand it... horrible system. I popped in a XP Disc and it gets to the menu. When I press install, Vista gives error for "incompatible format".

I restart my computer hoping XP will boot and install from there, but it won't either.

I go to My Computer and click format... nothing works, it says "Cant format this drive"

Any help please? The guide that was stickied didn't help alot

[DaveA]

Define "popped in a XP Disc "?

[Tehgame]

Well I took the disc out of its encasing and gently put it into the drive. I gently pushed it shut...

[uhaligani]

I feel it would be a mistake to totally delete Vista, there really is not a lot wrong with it. however, did you try the option on the XP disk to format, before installing?

[Tehgame]

Where is that option??

I despise vista, it's interface is horrible in my opinion. I don't like the "explorer" and how they modified it... just alot of things. I'd much rather have XP.

I thought I should add that this is an Acer Aspire 5100.
AMD Turion 64 Mobile 2ghz
1g Ram

[Tehgame]

So anyone else that can help??

[DoubleHelix]

Read the sticky at the top of this forum.

[vipernet]

XP cd should be bootable.

Go into BIOS and set your CDROM to first boot device.

[uhaligani]

Originally Posted by vipernet

XP cd should be bootable.

Go into BIOS and set your CDROM to first boot device.

He has found that option if you read the first post.

[kiwiguy]

But reading the first post, it does not suggest that the computer has been booted with the XP disk in the drive, and you most certainly cannot install XP while logged into Vista. Nor can you format from within Windows are a command prompt (which in XP or Vista is still within Windows).

In short, the computer has to boot from cold from the CD drive, when it will boot the XP CD (if correctly set in the BIOS to do so) and will not boot into Vista first.

But before you even think about loading XP, you should collect all the drivers needed for XP, as newer Vista computers often have no such drivers. That may require you to stay with Vista (which I might add I find to be a good stable and pleasant to use system).

[vipernet]

and you most certainly cannot install XP while logged into Vista. .

actually you can, just need VMware or virtual pc

[Tehgame]

Thank you for your opinion and help, but elaborate on "pleasant". Because in my experience, is nothing short of a pain in the ***.

A) The explorer is hard to navigate. - XP > Vista
B) It runs much slower - XP > Vista
c) Cooler backgrounds / screensavers - Vista > XP
D) Larger desktop buttons, worse interface - XP > Vista
E) By standard, always issues warnings when you try to run or open something. Sometimes two warnings... gets annoying and hard to find where to shut it off. - XP > Vista
F) The interface for Control panel and the utilities within is worse - XP >Vista

MOST IMPORTANT:

5% OF THE PROGRAMS WORK

[Rich-M]

I agree you are not giving Vista a chance. Unless you have really old programs I seriously doubt that 5% of programs work. Control panel is no different, choose Classic. I agree Explorer is a disgrace but it is usable. You can reduce the icon sizes and you can disable the Uac in Control panel users, and before doing it go into Security and elminate the annoying Uac messages.

[digger747]

I just bought my daughter a new Laptop for collage.I felt like you at first that i wanted to format the hard drive and install xp back on it rather than vista.First thing i did was buy a computer with decent integrated graphics-Nvidea GeForce Go 6150-added more memory-2 gigs.Went into bios and dedicated more memory to video.Started googling vista performance tweaks.Shut off all the annoying crud.Actually have it running pretty darn good! think if properely configured better than i thought! Do some research and give it a chance.Happy with it now.Takes awhile to get used to.

[Tehgame]

No games work, not need for speed, not nothing... Steam works and that's about it. I heard it's mostly due to the 64 bit thing.

If there's a modification to change the way explorer looks, I'll give vista a shot, but that's the most annoying disgraceful interface I've ever seen in any system. They are CLEARLY trying to imitate Mac's and they are doing a piss poor job of doing it.

Thing about Vista vs XP is that I'm also very used to XP. I have it at home, and I know it in an out. It seems more stable, This system will be stable eventually( year or two from now) but right now, it just seems full of problems that people don't like. It's also a resource hog regardless if you put classic