Installing XP on Preinstalled Vista Toshiba Notebook

[jack56]

Installing XP on Preinstalled Vista Toshiba Notebook

Ok... it looks like I'm ready to go... everything is in the C: folder now:

Now I'm going to download the nLite version.

http://www.nliteos.com/download.html

*********************************************

Well, I did all of the above and it is not working?

When I got to this screen:

I got this error message:

Then at the end of this, when I tried to do the bootable ISO, I got that error message again and it shut down.

How fustrating... I lost 3 hours of work here.

Edited October 18, 2008 by jack56

[Borsia]

If you are following the instructions on the Toshiba tech site

http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/TSB85017Z0000R01.htm

we are in the same boat.

I have followed the instructions (4 times) and I have the CD with all the "required" files but now what?

My computer won't read the disc. It doesn't recognize a .iso file.

I think I would like this notebook if it had XP Pro.

But with Vista it is just 6 pounds I don't need to carry around.

[MCT]

If you are following the instructions on the Toshiba tech site

http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/TSB85017Z0000R01.htm

I have followed the instructions (4 times) and I have the CD with all the "required" files but now what?

My computer won't read the disc. It doesn't recognize a .iso file.

r u unable to burn the iso file properly? see here

http://www.allbootdisks.com/cd_creation.html

[Borsia]

I was able to burn the disc and it shows about 680MB which is the right size for all of the files.

But I can't get my computer to read it. How do I get this image onto the hard drive so that I can run it. I tried restoring Vista and it still doesn't seem to be able to open the file.

I am not sure that that would help since my goal is to get Vista, which I will refer to as the "Bloated Pig, or BP, entirely off out of the laptop. The BP is 7.8GB! XP is only 750MB which makes BP 1,000 times larger; and as any pig farmer will tell you getting a 1,000 LB pig to move takes a lot of slop and a lot of patience. And a BP is slower than continental drift on the ,very rare, time it does work.

How do I use this image now that I have it?

[Ponch]

My computer won't read the disc. It doesn't recognize a .iso file.

...

I was able to burn the disc and it shows about 680MB which is the right size for all of the files.

if you have a 680MB ".iso" file on your disc, sure it won't boot any computer. ISO is a 1 file image of the cd. You need to burn the iso "as image", so all the files that are in the iso file are directly visible on the cd and the cd is bootable.

@ Jack65, if I read well, your iso is 40Gig (!!!), so you must have made a basic mistake with your folders.

[Borsia]

Well it only shows as 1 ISO file with a size of 680MB. The size roughly replicates the size of the information that should be in the iso image. It consisted of the entire Win XP Pro (sp2) & the batch of drivers (6) listed in the instructions. They were in the form of 2 folders before sending them to nlite. 1 folder "DriverDisk" and 1 folder called "XPCD" which contained all of the XP from the MS original disc.

[jaclaz]

You burned it incorrectly.

The .iso file is the "actual whole CD", it must be burned as image, NOT as a data disc.

To simplify your life, copy the .iso somewhere to your hard disk, then run this app:

http://www.imgburn.com/

Then follow this guide:

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61

jaclaz

[Borsia]

Ahh Success,, It even has that new windows smell!!

Iburn is really cool and easy!

First I would like to thank Jaclaz I have been fighting this for 2 weeks ever since I arrived in China.

I don't speak Chinese so there was no one to ask locally.

I followed your instructions with one added precautuion

Using another computer I partitioned the laptop drive the way I wanted it to end up.

Then I coppied all of the drivers onto the C partition since I was having so much trouble relating to the SATA drivers being missing.

Now I have only 1 residual problem. After it burned the image Iburn cycled the tray to check for errors. Windows started installing almost instantly. Now every time I retsart this (my desktop PC) computer it asks if I want to continue with setup or run XP. Usually I hit the on button and go get something to drink, go to the head somethng to kill that 3 minutes it takes to start. But now I have to baby sit it.

Thanks again Jaclaz and everyone else.

[jaclaz]

Thanks again Jaclaz and everyone else.

You are welcome, always happy to hear a problem has been solved.

Anout the option you get when you boot, it is in text mode (the BOOT.INI or is it in the graphical screen?

If it's in BOOT.INI it is trivial to get rid of it:

http://www.msfn.org/board/BOOTINI-hard-drive-t25365.html

(you may need to set "show hidden and system files" and possibly remove the Read-Only attribute to see/edit it with Notepad)

jaclaz

[Borsia]

I went into the BOOT.INI and the BOOTBACKUP files and found the offending command and took it out. I just opened the files in Notepad and erased the command line then saved the altered form. I did have to change it from rean only. Now the message doesn't appear but the computer still launches setup.

I thought it might have something to do with it being in China so I tried putting my glasses on upside down (Bifocals) And I squinted really hard but it looks bout the same. Is there someplace else I need to change it?

[jaclaz]

I went into the BOOT.INI and the BOOTBACKUP files and found the offending command and took it out. I just opened the files in Notepad and erased the command line then saved the altered form. I did have to change it from rean only. Now the message doesn't appear but the computer still launches setup.

I thought it might have something to do with it being in China so I tried putting my glasses on upside down (Bifocals) And I squinted really hard but it looks bout the same. Is there someplace else I need to change it?

Post the contents of your boot.ini.

jaclaz

[Borsia]

Hi OK her it is

[boot Loader]

Timeout=5

Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT

[Operating Systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

It had another line that ended with "Microsoft Windows XP Professional setup" Which is the line I took out.

Any suggestions on where I might find usable drivers for the Satellite A205. Most of the ones I have found don't actually work.

[jaclaz]

Change this:

[boot Loader]

Timeout=5

Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT

[Operating Systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

to this:

[boot Loader]

Timeout=15

Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[Operating Systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /basevideo /sos

Basically the same entry is written TWO times, one in the "default" tag, which means that it is the one that will be booted without user intervention and once below with a "description" (the part between quotes) that is what you see when you boot.

BUT if ONLY one description is present, the user has no "alternatives" to choose among, so the only available choice is not even displayed, and no "timeout" is given, so you need adding (temporarily) another entry (the one in bold italic above) that by the way is an entry to boot the same system in a "diagnostic mode", useful in cas of problems.

Once you have tested the feature, you can remove last line from the BOOT.INI or reduce to nearly 0 the "timeout" value.

jaclaz

[Borsia]

Another BIG THANK YOU it works like a charm.

Now that it isn't bogged down by the Vista OS my Toshiba Satellite seems to do OK. I am still hunting drivers but the worst is done. Tomorrow I am going to run the Sony image processing software and Photoshop.

With the Vista it ran out of memory with only 2 RAW images being processed at one time. The RAM use doing nothing was almost 1GB. Now it uses 450mb leaving 1.6GB free.

I'll post the results.

I have been asked countless times by friends and relatives and others over the years if they should go with a PC or Mac and I have always said PC. First there is the cost of hardware and then there is the availability of inexpensive software and the easy upgradability. But with the introduction of Vista I have had to change my thinking.

Unless MS stops thinking that adds for ”Mojave” and Bill paling with Jerry Seinfeld and admits that vista is another ME bomb and either drops it or fixes it I am telling them to go Mac. I still consider XP to be way better than Mac. But they are planning to drop support for XP in 2010.

[jaclaz]

Another BIG THANK YOU it works like a charm.

You're welcome.

NOT to "defend" MS, and NOT to "downgrade" Apple, but as I see it, MAC's ARE "better", but it is relatively easy when you have control on both the hardware and software.

I would say that 3/4 of the problems with PC's (read Windows) are related to either:

• hardware producers going each their own way (the missing/not-working driver nightmare you are currently experiencing)
  
• hardware producers AND MS pushing newish releases of Windows on underpowered machines
  

And yes, the last 1/4 is probably responsability of some MS "queer" way of doing things, including failure to properly document some aspects of their software.

BUT, without IBM (and also MS), most probably the PC would have not have been so widely spread, should the "closed everything" Apple policy in past years be the main one.

jaclaz