Long story

[jstearns]

Here's a long one for you.

My friend bought a laptop (Gateway MX8738). He quickly found out that he wasn't a fan of Vista, so I said I would install XP Pro on it for him. I recently did something similar to this on a windows 98 computer for a relative, where I put in new parts (hard drive, ram, WLAN card), and installed windows xp pro perfectly fine.

So it looked like a relatively easy task. I used DBAN/Nuke to wipe the hard drive, then I popped in the xp pro disc. Then I got an error. I googled around and found out I needed a SATA driver. Unfortunately, these have to be installed via floppy. The laptop doesn't have a floppy drive, so I slipstreamed the driver using nLite. I made a disc, and started to install. I got past the original error until I got another error telling me my driver was corrupted. (iaStor.sys)

Then I found that I might have needed to change some drive configurations in the Bios (version 72.15). I've looked through it for a good half an hour and cannot find anything to do with the hard drive other than boot order.

So the question is, am I screwed?

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

I used DBAN/Nuke to wipe the hard drive

talk about overkill. do you use dynamite for swatting flies too? you should douse the HD in kerosene, light it on fire and drill a few holes through it to make sure you get Vista off entirely. sheesh the XP disc would have formatted the hard disc just fine (assuming you load the proper drivers first)

you may be able change the hd controller mode to IDE or ive seen 'OS Install Mode' on some (the process varies on every bios but its not in every one)

the most foolproof method though is goto http://driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/ and download Driverpacks BASE and MassStorage and integrate them to your CD and reburn.

[Octopuss]

I can understand the BIOS is major problem. I just HATE it when I enter it only to see the **** manufacturer turned it into useless crap with about five options at most. What's the logic behind this? This especially applies to laptops. But some desktops as well; Dell, namely (though Dell still has some basic options left).

[jstearns]

The XP install cd wasn't having anything to do with the hard drive with vista on there (why I can't conceive).

I'll try the driver packs and get back here tomorrow.

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

yeah manufacturers have a tendency to mess with the BIOS and it never turns out too well. The only 2 logical reasons i can imagine and OEM wanting to disable BIOS options are:

• Prevent customers from frying their systems while under warranties (in which case they should provide an unlocked BIOS which voids the warranty IMO)
  
• Ive done phone support for an OEM before and ive had to talk a customers with an IQ slightly higher than pool algae through the BIOS before and was thankful for the limited options.
  
• The more you disable, the more you restrict your customers repair/upgrade options (if you build the perfect product youll only sell one to each customer mentality)
  

the XP cd couldnt format the drive for the same reason you cant install to it right now. because you dont have the drivers for it. has nothing to do with Vista being on the drive.

[jstearns]

From the driverpacks website:

"It's an easy to use GUI to slipstream the DriverPacks into a 32-Bit Windows 2000, XP or Server 2003 source. Currently, "disc" (CD/DVD), "BartPE" Masstorage Plugin and "multibootDisc" platforms are supported."

I'm using XP Pro, but I'll go ahead and give it a try.

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

From the driverpacks website:

"It's an easy to use GUI to slipstream the DriverPacks into a 32-Bit Windows 2000, XP or Server 2003 source. Currently, "disc" (CD/DVD), "BartPE" Masstorage Plugin and "multibootDisc" platforms are supported."

I'm using XP Pro, but I'll go ahead and give it a try.

"It's an easy to use GUI to slipstream the DriverPacks into a 32-Bit Windows 2000, XP or Server 2003 source. Currently, "disc" (CD/DVD), "BartPE" Masstorage Plugin and "multibootDisc" platforms are supported."

yeah when they say XP that usually means XP Pro and Home

[jstearns]

If I'm not mistaken, XP Pro is x64. Though it could just be sketchy grammar, maybe it only means the Windows 2000 as being 32 bit. Oi Vey...

[jstearns]

Anyways, DriversPacks worked. Success!

Har, har, har,..mine is an evil laugh!

-You guys rock.

[jaclaz]

I used DBAN/Nuke to wipe the hard drive

talk about overkill. do you use dynamite for swatting flies too? you should douse the HD in kerosene, light it on fire and drill a few holes through it to make sure you get Vista off entirely. sheesh the XP disc would have formatted the hard disc just fine (assuming you load the proper drivers first)

FYI, this method of partitioning has a number of estimators:

http://members.aol.com/spoons1000/break/index.html

jaclaz

[Octopuss]

lmfao

[kti^]

If I'm not mistaken, XP Pro is x64. Though it could just be sketchy grammar, maybe it only means the Windows 2000 as being 32 bit. Oi Vey...

Actually you are mistaken

XP Pro 32-bit is a version that's intended for professional use (duh) corporations and such, with support for joining domains amongst other things.

XP Pro 64-bit is a version of XP that's built upon the Windows Server 2003 kernel, also intended primarily for corporate use.

XP Home is only available in 32-bit and is, as the name implies, meant for home use.

[jstearns]

Ok, so XP Pro installed fine, but a good bit of hardware isn't working.

In the Device Manager, I have 7 devices in the "Other Devices" (aka Not Working) category:

• Ethernet Controller
  
• Mass Storage Controller
  
• PCI Device
  
• RTL8187_Wireless
  
• SM BUS Controller
  
• Video Controller
  
• Video Controller (VGA Compatible)
  

If you go here you can see the drivers and components in the laptop. Here are some issues/thoughts I have on fixing the situation:

1)Go back to DriverPacks (see previous post), and include all of the driverpacks possible, and hope that they will install themselves if I reinstall XP.

2)The wireless driver on the gateway website (link provided) says vista only. Uh-oh.

3)The wireless card (according to gateway) was manufactured by a company called LiteOn, but I couldn't find any drivers on their website (I did send them an email though).

4)The network card may be shot (he says it hasn't worked since his power went out a few weeks ago).

I'm thinking number one may do the trick..but I've learned a lot about installing XP here the past few days, so I'm thinking someone has a solution with a greater chance of working..

Edited June 18, 2008 by puntoMX
No need for new topic.

[kti^]

To use the rest of the driverpacks should work fine as far as drivers go.

[stans4]

Ok, so XP Pro installed fine, but a good bit of hardware isn't working.

In the Device Manager, I have 7 devices in the "Other Devices" (aka Not Working) category:

• Ethernet Controller
  
• Mass Storage Controller
  
• PCI Device
  
• RTL8187_Wireless
  
• SM BUS Controller
  
• Video Controller
  
• Video Controller (VGA Compatible)
  

If you go here you can see the drivers and components in the laptop. Here are some issues/thoughts I have on fixing the situation:

1)Go back to DriverPacks (see previous post), and include all of the driverpacks possible, and hope that they will install themselves if I reinstall XP.

2)The wireless driver on the gateway website (link provided) says vista only. Uh-oh.

3)The wireless card (according to gateway) was manufactured by a company called LiteOn, but I couldn't find any drivers on their website (I did send them an email though).

4)The network card may be shot (he says it hasn't worked since his power went out a few weeks ago).

I'm thinking number one may do the trick..but I've learned a lot about installing XP here the past few days, so I'm thinking someone has a solution with a greater chance of working..

For components with laptop OEM Vista-only drivers, you get to find out what chip is used, then go to the chipmaker OEM website and see what you can dredge out for example drivers. Sometimes these are buried in a passworded FTP site intended only for OEM laptop makers' use, in which case you're screwed. You then get to do the google driver chase thing. Wireless is probably the toughest thing to get working, sometimes makers will use different chips on cards with the same or very similar model numbers. Sometimes the only way to find out stuff is to crack open the laptop and see what the chips actually are. Unlikely Liteon was the chipmaker, they probably just relabeled somebody else's module and changed the PCI bus ID. If they did that, you may get to do some .inf file editing when you actually DO find a driver for the chip. If the chip is TOO new, there may not have been an XP driver ever written for it. There is a way around it for many laptops, a lot of these use mini-PCI cards for wireless, these can be easily interchanged and you can find replacements on the open market. Just make sure if you get one that's it's got XP drivers. Solving software problems via hardware.

I had to try 3 different drivers for the wireless card in the one Acer and go to a Atheros site in .cz land to get it before it would come up under XP correctly. Only had to go through 2 sets of Intel XP drivers to get the SATA working, the Intel retarded graphics chipset video driver worked right off.

If your PCI bus controller isn't working, you probably need to find out what the motherboard's chipset is and go get the XP drivers for it before proceeding any farther. Vista->XP on laptops sometimes takes a few weeks(or longer if you don't have good luck).

My practice has been to clone the original drive onto a bigger one, install and use THAT one for all subsequent installs and general jacking around. The last time I did one of these conversions, I just did a regular "in-place upgrade" of XP right over the top of Vista, this preserved everything that was previously installed. Still had to do the driver chase to get everything working under XP, though. Sometimes the supplied laptop utlities aren't ALL crapware, sometimes they do some rather critical functions, like power control and video port control. Blast the drive and wipe out the recovery partition and you'll never know, until you need it and don't have it.

Stan