Win 7 to XP problems

GregI

GregI

GregI

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10 Dec 2007
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Got my new Sony laptop (VPCEB1S0E) today and want to stick XP on it. I grab my XP Pro SP2 CD and boot from CD. When "Windows is starting..." pops up I get an error. Kind of like a BSOD. I tried 3 different XP CD's so it is not bad discs. I then reboot into Win 7 and tinker around. I tried to run setup.exe but "Install Windows XP" is blanked out and then I did something else in Win 7 and it was avilable but then I get this.

capturesv.png


What else can I do to downgrade? I don't need to transfer any files etc.
 
Allready tried running as Admin.

The XP CD's crash right before I can get to the format option so I guess I will need to download say a Windows 7 setup CD to even get a format option? The restore thing on F8 did nothing.
 
Remove 7 and stick XP on.

Reason being familiarity and for college. I need to log stuff for college such as setting up a static IP on XP and showing a windows 7 set up is gonna look weird when screenshotting etc.

I allready did the boot from CD thing, this is how I knew about the errors. That was the first thing I did actually.

Sony seem to have stuck a separate partition for recovery with Win 7 on so if XP does fail I can start loving Windows 7 after my course is completed.

capture1e.png


That seems a weird setup though? Shouldn't the recovery partition be on say the D: drive?

Just to be safe how can I create a recovery disc to recover the factory shipped applications/OS like pressing F8 at boot up will do? I see these options inside Windows 7 -

"Create a system image"
"Create a system repair disc"
"Create a new, full backup"
 
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Suppose I might just need to use VM for XP. I don't even think the drivers for the laptop are compatible with XP. It also sucks that the ATI display drivers are pretty weird. I cannot use mainstream Mobility ATI drivers.

Edit - Ugh. A brick wall now. Tried to get XP mode.

"You are not eligible to download Windows XP Mode. You must have Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate to run Windows XP Mode."
 
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I grab a Win 7 Pro CD and format the 455GB parititon and then run XP, it still errors out before I can get to the format window. I then delete the 455 GB partition using the Win 7 CD and XP errors again. The only thing I can think of is the recovery partition is conflicting now. Would this work?

1. Delete the whole recovery partition.
2. Install XP on say 250GB.
3. Insert recovery disks and create recovery partition again on the C drive and allow the approxy 235GB or so left for a dual boot for 7?
 
OK I deleted the recovery partition and only thing left on disk is the 455GB unallocated space and XP still errors out.

My last hope is this Gparted CD.

Edit - OK even if Gparted can format and stuff it seems downgrading is impossible due to driver issues.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103

That is the error code I get. It's not obviously a boot sector virus so it must be a device driver issue which XP just does not have support for. I am going to try and download the 64 bit SP3 XP ISO from MSDN and see if that still corrupts. If it does I am out of luck.
 
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I am restoring Windows 7 atm but once it is all up and running I will try your suggestion. Are you thinking that AHCI is too new for XP? I will probably use VMWare for XP anyway. I just want to figure out why XP is not installing for my own knowledge.

I was surprised at how many processes are running on 7 at factory default. Mines was at 93 processes and using 25% physical memory while XP settles at about 23 processes after a clean install. Gotta uninstall all that unneeded Vaio software I think.

I can get Windows 7 Profesisonal free from MSDN (32 and 64 bit). Might aswell grab that and then I have the option of using XP mode and none of that Vaio software.
 
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I had a look at the XP mode and it looks good. I don't really want it to do that natively installing apps into Windows 7 thing though.

We use VMWare in college so it seems logical to do the same at home so then if need be I can just copy the .vmc file to my usb drive etc.

Just gotta get the anti virus protection up and running since I'll be constantly putting my pen drive into college computers. Last year we had a large virus that crippled all the systems for months. Thinking of using malware bytes, nod32 and comodo firewall.

Thanks.
 
I got time to boot into the BIOS and there is simply nothing to change beside boot order.

rich, thanks for the info. I am on the nLite site now and just trying to figure out how to use it. If this does fix the problem I am gonna stick XP and 7 Pro as a dual boot I think. That would be a killer combination.

manic, thanks for all the help. The MS stuff probably would do but I have been using Comodo firewall on another machine and if anything wants to change anything, this will flag it up. My college uses Sophos and that does not even seem to be in any top anti virus list.

Edit - YES!!!!! Thank you Rich. I stuck the driver for AHCI from Sony support site into nLite and it worked. Installing XP now. Damn. What a hassle for something so little. Only thing I can see causing a problem is XP not picking up the drivers. I did stick all the drivers from Sony site for XP onto a disk. Fingers crossed.

2nd Edit - Ugh. I try to run the drivers for ATI in XP it gets to the install bit and then my PC restarts. I got the wireless card installed though. Sound also seems to not be installing. Any help?
 
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Right, this is really frustrating and I really need some help. I install VMWare player on 7 Home Premium and use the original XP disc I got from MSDN and XP installs. I then go to activate Windows and it says incorrect product key and message number: 45128

Is it actually possible to get a fully functional XP on these new systems? I have inputted 3 product keys (I know they should work) and none of them work. Same error as above.
 
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Key was straight from MSDN so nothing on my end.

I just gave up and obtained a working SP3 image with no activation required and working nice.

Thank you Microsoft. You make the world of computing so much easier. I feel stupid for buying Office Ultimate now (even at 38 quid). Let's hope that key works............

To sum this thread up -

If you want to downgrade from 7 to XP, use nLite to attach the drivers needed on a pirated version of XP. No other way will work.
 
manic, same here. The reason we got for being the "tech people" is that XP works and that large corporations like it and it would take a large amount of retraining and money to implement a global system.
 
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