Downgrading to XP
 

I purchased a laptop about 6 months ago and Vista came pre-installed but I'd like to downgrade to XP. The problem I'm having here is that everytime I try to boot from the Windows disc I get an error saying that Windows cannot find any hard disks.

I've looked up about Dual Booting and I followed the procedure by creating a partition of 5GB via Vista's Disk Management tool although I still keep getting this error message. The other way I could try this is to format C: Drive - I don't want to do this as I still have 6 months on my warranty and I've been told this option would make it expire my.

Can anybody help? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Chances the hard drive in your laptop uses a SATA interface... meaning you need to get some DOS SATA drivers from the manufacturer of your machine.

The other possible method is to try and hunt around in the BIOS and look for a SATA compatibility option that allows your computer to see all SATA ports as IDE.

I searched google for some DOS SATA drivers but I couldn't find anything - I have a Compaq Presario C500 (the model number is C504EA though). I'll have a look in the BIOS shortly and let you know if I fix it via that.

Thanks for the fast response, Render !

Formatting a drive does not make you lose warranty - unless you're using some weird brand, Mr. Bloggs.

Oh right. I'm just going by what I've been told. Even though, formatting isn't going to help me at this time as I can't even get it to boot up Windows =\

Thanks, though ! At least I know now.

"Downgrade"?

Also, I thought an XP SP2 iso had sata drivers built in, so you could just install straight onto a sata drive?

I happen to have an XP SP2 iso uploaded, and it's what I installed my current XP install from, though I'm still on PATA, so. Good luck =)

http://www.divshare.com/download/1640159-fce
http://www.divshare.com/download/1641721-c28
http://www.divshare.com/download/1641722-95b
http://www.divshare.com/download/1642616-1fb
http://www.divshare.com/download/1642617-58b

The only thing I could find in the BIOS refering to SATA was a "SATA Native Support" which is enabled. Is there anything else I should be looking for?

Thanks for the links, Roph ! But the trouble I'm having at the moment is the computer not being able to read a Hard Disk even though I partitioned, so I'm not sure if downloading your copy would make a difference =\

One way to find out I guess.

Get drivers for the SATA controller and slipstream them into the install disc, preferably a SP2 disc. Or put them on a usb stick and enable USB legacy support so the install routine can access the stick without drivers.

I've successfully installed XP by disabling the SATA Native Support but now I'm kinda stuck with some of the drivers. I need a Wireless Assistant driver and Graphic Driver (having a widescreen monitor and only getting 1024x768 resolution kinda sucks)

Thanks for all your help so far, if you could help me out by finding the drivers (as I have no recovery discs) then I would appreciate that !

Also, I can't enable the SATA Native Support otherwise Windows XP doesn't load. Would this effect my laptop?

You should reinstall it with native SATA. I don't see any way to switch IDE drivers now that the system is up (at least when dealing with windows).

If I have SATA enabled it doesn't read the Windows disc. I'll have another look into them actually as I have removed Vista now.

What do you mean by 'read'? Does the system not boot from the windows disc or what?

I mean that if SATA Native support is enabled, it won't boot up the windows disc. I had to disable it so it could install XP but now I can't get the drivers to work.

Of course you don't.

You installed XP on a system with PATA emulation enabled, now the system kernel is configured to use PATA. If you now switch to native ATA the kernel won't boot.
And you can't install the drivers as long as PATA emulation is enabled.

So you have to install XP with native SATA. If you can't boot with the disc, then try another one. Or first test if booting from CD works at all if SATA is on (I doubt it doesn't work)

You should also explain what you mean by 'not boot'. Does the BIOS fail to detect the disc or does the discs bootloader work, etc.
There are too many possibilities here.

Ok. I'm sorry if I'm not putting it into great detail here. I'll scratch...

I've formatted C: drive
In the BIOS, SATA is Enabled
I put in the Windows disc
It loads up but before asking which partition/drive I want it installed on, it says windows cannot find any disks and has to restart.
I disable SATA Support and it installs windows
doing this I cannot install any drivers or intel chipsets

I hope this explains a bit better (I doubt it though)

Roph. Do you happen to have a Registry Key for that windows please?

OK, so the windows install disc does boot but the install process fails.

That's better than a disc does isn't even detected as bootable by the BIOS.
Now check if you have some option like USB legacy support in your BIOS. That enables that USB mass storage devices can be seen by the OS without a driver for the USB controller. Then search the SATA drivers for your controller on the net and out them on a USB stick, best formatted with FAT32.
When booting the windows install disc it should ask you for a short momentan to press some key if you want to install additional system drivers. You should hit that key fast and guide the installation routine to the drive that's assigned to the usb stick. It should find the SATA drivers, integrated them into the install process and also load them. This way the harddrive, now in SATA mode, should show up in the partition manager of the installation.

I, for one, don't see why it's such a big deal to get the hard drive to work in SATA mode. I mean, I've had my computer work in PATA for the longest time, and I've recently enabled SATA and reinstalled windows. It seems to me it's more hassle than it's worth. I can't say I see a difference in overall system performance.