window vista downgrade to xp

[avix]

hi, ive been trying to search before i ask stupid questions but im stuck at the point where there is too much conflicting information.

basically:

I have a toshiba satellite pro L40 PSL4B lap top. I cant handle windows vista, so i tried to install xp, i then realised that it did not pick up the hard drive. This is when i started looking for help on the net.

I got as far as finding out i have to use nlite to create a bootale disk that will have the new drivers that will detect the harddrive and allow me to install xp.

Now my problem is that i dont tried to use nLite after downloading all the drivers from the toshiba site and they werent compatible with nLite (i have a feeling i went about it wrong)

please could someone who has done this, advise me:

What drivers do i need and where can i download them?

How do i use them in nLite? (or must i use nLite)

and basically what do i have to do in order to run xp?

please let me know if you can help.

[joe43wv]

I reinstalled XP on a Dell laptop about two weeks ago. The only issue I had was it wouldn't install w/o a previous OS on there. So I had an old Windows 2000 product lying around so I installed 2000 and ran the XP disc again and got everything up and running. I installed the drivers after that and didn't have a problem after that. It sounds to me like your runing into the same exact issue I did. Try installing a previous OS like 2000 if your able and see what happens.

[avix]

maybe ill give it a go, but from what i have read on the net, this is a common problem basically the laptop has sata drives because it came installed with vista and i cant us a floppy disk to install the drives to pic it up, so you have to use nLite to change your xp cd to include those drivers,

i just dont know what drivers or where to get them or how to use nLite, anyone?

Edited May 9, 2008 by avix

[joe43wv]

Okay if the XP install CD doesn't pick up the drive, which most of the time it does, try downloading the SATA drivers of your motherboard from your manufacturer's website and put them on a floppy. Then when XP CD boots up it'll ask to press F6 to setup SCSI adapter that's when you hit F6 and it'll read the drivers off the floppy.

[avix]

yeah i thought of that but its a laptop with no floppy drive, aparently you can use nlite but thats what im asking about, also which drivers i have to put onto the xp cd and which i can install later

[angrypenguin]

If the drivers you download from the manufacturer can't be used by nLite, perhaps they are zipped or some other compression or installer format. If you download the drivers that are to go on a floppy, you should be able to import them with nLite fairly easily. nLite is pretty straight forward to use, but I would recommend testing in a virtual environment such as VMWare, VirualPC, VirtualBox prior to using real world, whilst it won't guarantee a trouble free install, it will make it more likely.

Anther option would be to add "MassStorage" drivers from Bashrat the Sneaky's DriverPacks (http://driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/

Good luck!

[avix]

http://solve-pc.blogspot.com/2008/01/insta...on-toshiba.html problem solved i think?!

[medicsix]

What I have done is to integrate the sata drivers using Nlite, The drivers are then downloaded at the onset, this has worked on every sata laptop I've downgraded so far. The sata drivers do not interfere with loading an OS on IDE drives.