Vista to XP Pro issues

[globalexplorer]

Dear Forum,

I have a brand new Toshiba satellite A135-S4427 (Intel core duo, 120GB HD, & 1GBram) with Vista Premium installed. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a laptop with XP still installed that fit my budget (why do the stores like BB and OD jack up the prices of the laptops with the old OS?). My issue is that most of my very expensive programs that i use for work will not have their Vista upgrades done until August sometime. The software only runs well with XP and IE6 (not7). I know....you pay big bucks for software and its funny that its so temperamental or maybe the company should have been proactive in getting the programs up to speed...BUT they are not.

So my question is, I have a good copy of XP Pro here at home. I am not a very wise computer guy so excuse my ignorance but the sales kid at BB told me that if I wiped the HD clean and installed XP on this, that the computer would not function because of missing drivers. I dont even know what a driver is exactly but can someone explain to me what i should do?

What would you do in this case?

Is there a place where I can go to get "said drivers"?

Anyone wanna trade a new Vista laptop for a new XP laptop? hahaha

Thank you for your time and have a great day.

Cheers

GE

[tap52384]

Go to the manufacturer's website and download software drivers for your laptop's hardware for Windows XP and burn them to a CD. That way, when you install Windows XP, you'll be prepared. Software drivers will enable Windows XP to understand how to use certain pieces of software that it cannot understand how to use natively or even improve how it's used.

[globalexplorer]

Thanks for the intel.

After speaking to Toshiba by phone they say that "drivers for this computer and XP are not supported" only Vista.

?

[Idontwantspam]

Sounds like a bunch of FUD to me. I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong) but I think that you can legally downgrade to XP from Vista. You could maybe try installing XP, use your Vista product key, do an upgrade not a fresh install, and then maybe that would work? I think that's allowed, if not, DO NOT do that. No illegal activity allowed.

[nitroshift]

You can go here: http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su...kceghdgngdgnj.0 write down the configuration and then go to the chipset (manufacturer) website and download the drivers for Windows XP.

[TheFlash428]

Agreed--fact is, you may (or will) have to install some device drivers after you install XP, which can be a pain, especially if your network/wireless adapter is one of the devices that won't start.

I don't know if legallity even plays into this question, so I won't approach that (and assume the copy of XP is legit), more a question of wether or not it will work or not. Yes, it will, but I suggest doing some research first and try to find the drivers you'll need.

By the way, I've gone through the same process, and it was worth it.