Serious problem going from Vista to XP

Ryan016

New Member
Hi all,

I have a Sony Vaio Laptop, and want to "downgrade" to XP!
I have completely formatted my hard drive, and set my laptop to boot from CD. It starts loading drivers etc but after about 3/4 mins it says that it cant find a hard disc to install to???

Im guessing im doing something seriously wrong, ANY help would be great as im not Laptopless.....sigh
 

My Computer

Check you bios. It sounds like you may have inevertently turned off the HD.
What type of FAT did you use for XP, Vista uses NTFS and XP uses the FAT file system.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
AHHH just looked and i was wrong its NTFS, when i go to do the install though it only gives me two options 'Format the partition using the NTFS file system' or 'Format the partition using the NTFS file system <quick>'

How do i re-format as FAT???
 

My Computer

i used to use this one Format the partition using the NTFS file system when i used to format ..but i dont know about others they might give better adivce but thats what i used to do :)
 

My Computer

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
Hi,

Yeah i use the XP CD to format the Hd and it does that fine, but when it starts to install it says it cant find a HD to install to.
I have tried connecting removable storage too, it finds it but then says it cant install on it...
 

My Computer

Hi Ryan,

What is the full model number of your laptop?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
    CPU
    Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
    Memory
    4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0)
    Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2
    Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II
    Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0
    WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
    PSU
    XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
    Case
    Gigabyte IF233
    Cooling
    1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
    Mouse
    Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
    Internet Speed
    NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
    Other Info
    Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray
    Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB)
    WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25
    Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
theres a lot of people 'downgrading' and figure out that some of the settings wont let you. i think it was my sata drive that wouldnt let me install cause it didnt 'see' the hd ..and i know it did in Vista .lol im just rantng today.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway ML6437-est. laptop
    CPU
    Intel (R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T230 @ 1.86GHZ /1.87 GHz
    Motherboard
    factory installed/user customized
    Memory
    3 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    onboard
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    onboard
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    320gb wd caviar
    PSU
    factory
    Case
    factory chassis
    Cooling
    factory
    Keyboard
    factory
    Mouse
    touchpad factory
    Internet Speed
    AT&T DSL
    Other Info
    currently certified as the fastest computer in the city of 38761
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