miles_muso

Hi All, I've modified this post to start a new thread, in the hope that someone else will benefit from the runaround I've been through. This will help you to install XP on the HP dv9640us if, like me, you want to get rid of VISTA. The HP dv9640us is equipped with two SATA drives but, unlike some other notebooks in the range, the BIOS will not allow you to turn off native SATA support. Therefore, installing XP is not straightforward. I spent a long time with HP support, who pointed me towards drivers on their site that might help. However, the information HP gave me was incorrect, and in fact the chipset on the dv9640 is the newer GM965 using the ICH8M controller, not the ICH7M that they specified. Should anyone else have a similar problem, I strongly recommend using Intel's chip identifier utility, which can be downloaded from their site (or use this link.) Also, a good idea gleaned from another forum is to copy the C:\swsetup directory from Vista before installing XP. Although the .exe files here will not run, it's a good place to look for drivers once XP has been installed. I used nLite to create an ISO image, which incorporated the correct SATA drivers. nLite allows you to 'slipstream' the drivers into an install DVD (or CD), which gets round the problem of XP not recognising the SATA Hard Drives and thus not being able to install itself. I found a lot of good information in the step-by-step guide found at nogodforme, which although a strange title for a site is in fact very useful (and, to their credit, was referred to me by HP themselves, although they do not recognise it 'officially' ) However, instead of loading the three drivers he mentions, you just need to download Intel's 32-bit Configuration utility, which can be found here (just make sure it's the correct one for your chipset if you're notebook is not exactly the same as mine!!) IMPORTANT!! This download, once unzipped, reveals an exe file which extracts a set of files to a floppy disk. Ideally, you should have a blank floppy available with a USB floppy drive. Once the files are on the floppy, you should copy them to a folder on your HD and then point to this folder at the 'add drivers' stage of the nLite process. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A FLOPPY DRIVE you can use a program called Virtual Floppy Drive (VFD) to 'fool' your computer into thinking it's writing to a floppy. You can download this here. The use of this is quite tricky, but if you follow the guide here then you won't go far wrong. Happy installing, Long live XP!! Cheers!

Hi All, SUCCESS! I used nLite to create an ISO image, and booted from there. However, the information HP gave me was incorrect, and in fact the chipset on the dv9640 is the newer GM965 using the ICH8M controller, not the ICH7M that they specified. This was the reason my previous ISO installs failed to work. Should anyone else have a similar problem, I strongly recommend using Intel's chip identifier utility, which can be downloaded from their site (or use this link.) Also, a good idea gleaned from another forum is to copy the C:\swsetup directory from Vista before installing XP. Although the .exe files here will not run, it's a good place to look for drivers once XP has been installed. I also had a lot of good ideas by reading the step-by-step guide found at nogodforme, which although a strange title for a site is in fact very useful (and, to their credit, was referred to me by HP themselves, although they do not recognise it 'officially' ) Anyway, if someone somewhere wants to add this info to a google-able site, maybe my experience might help others. Cheers!

CPU and Kelsenellenelvian, Thanks so much to both of you for your help. I'll try it out tomorrow and report back.

Hi all, Newbie to this forum. I have a new HP notebook (a dv9640us, to be exact) which came pre-installed with Vista, but I wish to install XP and have purchased a new, legal, copy of XP for this purpose. (polite note: I'd prefer it if this post wasn't used to start a Vista v XP thread, I really just want some answers to my particular problem. Thanks ) A few other forum posts have suggested using nLite to get over the non-recognition of SATA drives in XP (which means that XP will not install) by adding the correct drivers. I've tried this a few times, creating an ISO image with drivers extracted from the relative .exe files, but I've had no luck so far. I've read the nLite user guide and the FAQs concerning SATA, but these seem to be aimed at using nForce raid controllers. I have been in touch with HP (using their on-line 'speak-to-a-qualified-techie' service which, surprisingly, gave me a free IM session with a techie who knew what she was talking about!) and got a large email back from them. In it were instructions for installing XP on a SATA-based system, but these need an external floppy drive, which I do not have. However, I believe nLite can solve this problem, I just don't know the exact configuration needed. Therefore, I reproduce the email from HP below: I downloaded the 'softpak' 32478 and tried to use WinRAR to extract the drivers. However, the only file extracted was called 'TEMP.ima' and I'm sure this won't do the trick. How can I use nLite to get round this problem? Also, can someone tell me the difference (and why there is a difference) between text and uPNP drivers. I appreciate that this is an exceptionally long post (for a newbie) and that the answer may already be available by reading through a mass of other posts, but if someone can help then I would be extremely grateful, and my failth in the kindness of strangers will forever be restoreth!!