Question

How can I remove Vista and install XP when the drive is partitioned?

Asked by: swordfishsoup

Hi

Bought a new laptop recently HP Pavillion dv9000. Just about ready to throw it out te window as it has Vista home premium on it, and although I thougt I'd persevere I've had enough of the incompatibilities with about everything I try to do...Rant over....SO

I did buy a fresh copy of XP at around the same time (before MSoft) hid them all in a cupboard. But I can't install as it tells me there is a newer version installed. I believe this has something to do with the drive having a partition and that if I could remove this I could reformat and install xp.

I just don't know how to do it.

I'm aware that I'll have to gather some drivers but it seems they are available from HP.

Thanks for your help

Dave

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Asked On
2007-10-31 at 01:16:22ID22929109
Tags

vista

,

remove

Topics

Windows Vista

,

Windows XP Operating System

,

PC Laptops

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
15

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Answers

 

by: mpfisterPosted on 2007-10-31 at 01:25:35ID: 20183391

Try booting directly from the XP cdrom. On some machines you have to press a function key to get the boot selection menu. I don't remeber HPs key.
After loading some stuff it allows you to select the target partition for XP. Here you can also delete and create partitions.
Note that ALL DATA on the partition WILL BE ERASED!

 

by: swordfishsoupPosted on 2007-10-31 at 01:30:31ID: 20183399

Great thanks......disc is going in now....

Asta la vista --vista

WIll feedback on that one

Have a good day

 

by: swordfishsoupPosted on 2007-10-31 at 01:50:18ID: 20183443

Is it a good idea to have xp installed on a seperate partition? does it improve performance?

Also with the partition in tact would I then be able to reinstall Vista(if it all goes horribly wrong) from the backup recovery disc I have?

Thanks

Dave

 

by: rindiPosted on 2007-10-31 at 02:21:49ID: 20183539

Before you remove vista, make sure you have the install media so you can return the PC back to the original state if necessary. Often when you buy a PC preinstalled you don't get the media along with it, so you have to make the DVD's yourself. You should find a tool installed that allows you to burn a recovery set.

What you should also do before throwing out vista is to check on the HP site that all the drivers for XP are available for download for that notebook. Very often it is very difficult to get drivers.

I always partition my drives. I make a small partition for the OS and a large one for the data. Also, make sure your XP CD isn't an upgrade version, or you won't be able to install it directly.

 

by: swordfishsoupPosted on 2007-10-31 at 02:44:15ID: 20183608

Thanks for that Rindi
I did burn the DVD when I got the laptop, I just wondered if I was to delete the partition that it would make reinstalling the recovery disc tricky.

You have answered that within your answer though as I will install xp on that partition.

Will I have to define the size of the install partition or will xp automatically check? I wonder if the current partition for vista should be big enough...?

Thanks for your help

Dave

 

by: rindiPosted on 2007-10-31 at 03:24:29ID: 20183869

When you start the XP installation you will be asked where you want it installed, on which partition, and you can select the size you want. I'd just delete all partitions during the installation, then create a new one. Vista requires more space than XP, so that size is good enough for XP too.

 

by: swordfishsoupPosted on 2007-10-31 at 03:49:43ID: 20184015

Hmmm. was all going well, booting from cd but now I apparently don't have any hard disk drives on my computer......

Any ideas?

 

by: rindiPosted on 2007-10-31 at 03:56:26ID: 20184050

You need a driver for the disk controller, and that driver you should apply during installation via Floppy disk. Early during the installation process you can press F6 to add drivers. The problem is that you probably don't have a floppy drive. Either get one that you can connect via USB, or use nliteos to create you own XP installation CD with the driver included. With nliteos you can also define that you want your user data (documents and settings folder) elsewhere, like on drive D:.

http://nliteos.com/

 

by: swordfishsoupPosted on 2007-10-31 at 04:02:49ID: 20184102

Thanks. Can I do this with an SD card?

 

by: rindiPosted on 2007-10-31 at 04:13:23ID: 20184147

No. The install process where you press F6 only recognizes Floppy Disks.

 

by: swordfishsoupPosted on 2007-10-31 at 06:00:26ID: 20184962

Rindi, sorry to bother you again with this.

I'm going the nlite route(thanks) I think I have the sata driver but just wanted to check as there are two listed in device manager: one is intel ..ultra ata storage controller, and the other is Standard AHC1.0 Serial ATA controller.

I found (i think) the drivers for the ultra, but not the standard. The details for each seem to be the same atapi sys32 and all that.

Do you think I'll be ok with the one I have?

Thanks

Dave

 

by: rindiPosted on 2007-10-31 at 06:35:53ID: 20185300

I don't know which will be necessary. If you can get both on the CD that would be best.

 

by: jd2066Posted on 2007-11-01 at 19:52:28ID: 20198108

Here is a page with more info: http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/howto-windows-xp-install-on-a-vista-computer
There are links there on installing XP in a dual boot with Vista and using nLite to add drivers.

 

by: swordfishsoupPosted on 2007-11-02 at 01:39:31ID: 20198904

Thanks for all your help on this. Am posting this with via my laptop with xp.

The nlite way was the way to go, and although from the outside to a technophobe it seemed complicated it is actually quite straightforward to use.

Last piece in the puzzle is that I don't seem to be able to to find soundcard drivers....but that's another question...

Best wishes

Dave

 

by: rindiPosted on 2007-11-02 at 01:47:08ID: 20198925

your welcome. You'll have to try finding the drivers through HP, but as I mentioned, before downgrading you should always check that drivers are available for that hardware and your OS.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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