20 replies to this topic

[marko]

As everyone will probably know these days, it's inevitable when you buy a new laptop or desktop it will come pre-loaded with Windows 7 - I've had this myself and wondered what it would be like to go back to XP. A colleague I know tried it without first creating restore disks for their new desktop and got themselves into a whole heap of issues when they realised they couldn't restore the machine back to Windows 7!. So, before you do anything, make sure you have a restore disk for your new machine - if you don't, create one (options are usually found in the start menu).

Now, you may have an old Windows XP disk you can use which is fair enough, but remember a lot of machines nowadays are 64-bit which means if you have an old 32-bit disk you're not going to get the machines full potential so you'll be trading off some hardware to get XP back on your machine in this case. Even if you have the correct XP disk, you will most probably find that newer machines have only had the hardware configured for Vista/7 and you might not be able to get the correct drivers for XP - no point in investing in a £1000 tower machine with all-singing graphics when you have to install a generic driver cause you can't find one for XP?!!.

Newer machines mostly come with SATA drives these days also, which is the main reason many people can't regress back to XP on their machines, 9 times out of 10 you will be installing XP for a typical IDE configuration which the install process won't understand and will simply either bomb out with a blue screen or tell you it can't find the necessary hardware to install XP. If this happens, you'll need to enter the BIOS area of your machine and change the hard drive config from SATA or AHCI to something like IDE or ATA - it really does depend on what you have installed, but try changing that setting, if it doesn't work, change it for something else - guaranteed one of those will work (you'll have to refer to your computer manual to find the correct way of entering the BIOS but it usually involves booting up the computer and hitting a key at the black screen with white writing which appears after a couple of seconds - usually something like DEL, F10, etc).

[vikash kumar munda]

My friend told me that we cant install lower version of windows like in this case window xp on newer version of windows but its opposite is possible is it true.

[marko]

YES

[Scottar]

On my new laptop it's 64 bit. I had great difficulty finding drivers for all the installed periphs so when I finally got XP running it could only do so in a dinosaur resolution as no good driver for the video card could be had. HP did not support XP drivers for this Pavilion model.

My old laptop was a Toshiba that had Vista installed on it- 32 bit. It was slow and clunky. Fortunately I found XP drivers for it from a European site. It was robust under XP. Best computer I ever owned.

But then I was using a BIOS upgrade util from the Toshiba drivers site one day. I was looking at the install options in Windows and I closed a file bowser util program called Xploer2. All of a sudden the BIOS program stated to upgrade the BIOS. I let it run for a couple of minuets when it was obvious that the program was just looping. I could not do a force shutdown so I had to unplug the laptop power cord and let the battery run down. When I tried to boot it back up the drive activity light came on but nothing appeared on the screen. I tried the boot into BIOS options trick but nothing appeared on the screen.

My research on my old tower monster told me that the BIOS was shot and I either had to replace the BIOS chip or replace the motherboard. Since I could not find the location of the BIOS chip, and it was surface mounted, the only option was a new motherboard at $500~ $600. And although I found a webpage that took you through disassembly steps, getting down to the motherboard was a very dicey task. I nearly tore-up one of the connectors in the process.

So I opted for another refurbished laptop which is my current one. I may try to get a more powerful machine but I hate the new screen sizes. May just remove the display and plug in a LED standalone monitor. I would also want one with a better keyboard layout then this current one.

[marko]

Scottat, couldn't you have took the machine to a local computer shop or something similar? Maybe would have been worth letting them try to reflash the BIOS before writing the machine off perhaps?

[Claw]

I know a guy who will buy any old computer working or not ,,and refubish them. If it is a cheap easy fix, he sells them for $75.00-$200.00 each ,,mostly XP. I have an XP disk that I lost (someone went through my cases) the product key. My wife had an old Win98 that was very limited ,,so I ran the XP disk in the 98,,NOW IT'S xp. Her computer is a Dell,,and a Dell disk (which it is) ,doesn't need a product key if used in a Dell computer. Point is,,,you can easily go from old to newer,,,but it really isn't a good idea to try and go from new to older,,especially when there are ways of getting a good deal on an older computer. But hey ,,Scottar,,I salute you for giving it a try. Sometimes you just never know and BAM,,it works.

[Gremlinn]

I have a Toshiba laptop that i installed XP on over Vista too. Found European drivers also but i didn't flash my Bios.

Once a flash goes wrong, there's nothing else to do but replace. As far as i know, you can't reflash a Bios.

[Scottar]

marko, on 16 February 2012 - 08:02 AM, said:

Scottat, couldn't you have took the machine to a local computer shop or something similar? Maybe would have been worth letting them try to reflash the BIOS before writing the machine off perhaps?

First of all i would appreciate you getting my username right.

2nd, I took it to an experienced engineer who was running a computer store. He told me when the BIOS chip is fried, it's fried. And trying to R&R is more expensive then just getting a replacement, since 2005 new laptops are primarily surfacemount components and most computershops will no deal in R&R on surface mount components, they don't have the equipement and getting the info for japanese products is very trying.

So if it was remotly possible to reflash the BIOS at a chip reprograming falsh device, I never could find anybody who could do that. And unless you are on a service plan with Toshiba- forget it.

[Scottar]

Claw, on 16 February 2012 - 04:16 PM, said:

I know a guy who will buy any old computer working or not ,,and refubish them. If it is a cheap easy fix, he sells them for $75.00-$200.00 each ,,mostly XP. I have an XP disk that I lost (someone went through my cases) the product key. My wife had an old Win98 that was very limited ,,so I ran the XP disk in the 98,,NOW IT'S xp. Her computer is a Dell,,and a Dell disk (which it is) ,doesn't need a product key if used in a Dell computer. Point is,,,you can easily go from old to newer,,,but it really isn't a good idea to try and go from new to older,,especially when there are ways of getting a good deal on an older computer. But hey ,,Scottar,,I salute you for giving it a try. Sometimes you just never know and BAM,,it works.

Are you talking about case desktop motherboards or laptops, becuase as I just told Marko laptops are mostly SMT with no insert chip, including the uProcessor. There may be those who can do this for Laptops but not many I knowof. Then I would probably have to ship the computer to the repair shop as I don't know of any local guys including the computer vendor who has been around for over 30 years. It has to be worth the effort for them and most people would rather just upgrade to a newer, better computer.

[Claw]

Scottar my friend,Ireally can't tell you all the details. I know he pushes alot of desktops,,but he does work on the laptops with his father. His dad is the one I take it that really has all the know-how. But ,yea with shipping and all that extra,,a new one would make more sense. Hey,,but at least with this post ,,I get to talk to you buddy.