Vista - Go from Vista to XP??

I bought a PC with Vista installed on it for use in my business because my
old PC crashed. I have a lot of software that is either not compatible with
Vista, or is very costly to buy the upgrade for it to work with Vista. I have
a copy of XP Pro and tried to install it on the Vista PC and ran into
trouble. I was told by the support people from the store where I purchased
the PC that a PC built with Vista could not have XP installed on it. Is this
true? Can't I zero the hard drive and do a fresh install of XP or is there
something in the BIOS that doesn't allow me to install anything but Vista or
some other feature that prevents this?

You should be able to do a clean install of XP, if you have the correct
media and license.

-Frank

"CrashSW" <CrashSW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:05F648EA-5F3E-4F9B-A98A-307ACFAFD7F6@microsoft.com...
>I bought a PC with Vista installed on it for use in my business because my
> old PC crashed. I have a lot of software that is either not compatible
> with
> Vista, or is very costly to buy the upgrade for it to work with Vista. I
> have
> a copy of XP Pro and tried to install it on the Vista PC and ran into
> trouble. I was told by the support people from the store where I purchased
> the PC that a PC built with Vista could not have XP installed on it. Is
> this
> true? Can't I zero the hard drive and do a fresh install of XP or is there
> something in the BIOS that doesn't allow me to install anything but Vista
> or
> some other feature that prevents this?

UPDATE: The problem I am apparently having is that the 'generic' drivers for
the hard drive that Windows XP setup installs are not compatible with my
Emachine T5086 so setup does not recognise that a hard drive is installed.
Any idea where I can download a driver? I am currently on hold with Emachine
support but who knows how long that will take! Thanks for any help!

"CrashSW" wrote:

> I bought a PC with Vista installed on it for use in my business because my
> old PC crashed. I have a lot of software that is either not compatible with
> Vista, or is very costly to buy the upgrade for it to work with Vista. I have
> a copy of XP Pro and tried to install it on the Vista PC and ran into
> trouble. I was told by the support people from the store where I purchased
> the PC that a PC built with Vista could not have XP installed on it. Is this
> true? Can't I zero the hard drive and do a fresh install of XP or is there
> something in the BIOS that doesn't allow me to install anything but Vista or
> some other feature that prevents this?

"CrashSW" <CrashSW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2D758653-5010-4375-9FE1-CC066B66F740@microsoft.com...
> UPDATE: The problem I am apparently having is that the 'generic' drivers
> for
> the hard drive that Windows XP setup installs are not compatible with my
> Emachine T5086 so setup does not recognise that a hard drive is installed.
> Any idea where I can download a driver? I am currently on hold with
> Emachine
> support but who knows how long that will take! Thanks for any help!
>
> "CrashSW" wrote:
>
>> I bought a PC with Vista installed on it for use in my business because
>> my
>> old PC crashed. I have a lot of software that is either not compatible
>> with
>> Vista, or is very costly to buy the upgrade for it to work with Vista. I
>> have
>> a copy of XP Pro and tried to install it on the Vista PC and ran into
>> trouble. I was told by the support people from the store where I
>> purchased
>> the PC that a PC built with Vista could not have XP installed on it. Is
>> this
>> true? Can't I zero the hard drive and do a fresh install of XP or is
>> there
>> something in the BIOS that doesn't allow me to install anything but Vista
>> or
>> some other feature that prevents this?

If you can identify the chipset and find out which drivers your system
requires there might be a way around it

Have you run a utility such as Belarc Advisor or Everest.which may help to
ID the motherboard? Or just remove a side panel and see if there are any
labels or a model number etched onto the mobo.

Providing you can obtain the correct drivers, during the beginning of the XP
install you'll get a prompt to press F6 if you need to load SCSI or RAID
drivers. Perhaps you may be able to use that to install the drivers your
system needs.

HTH

Ian

The motherboard is an Intel Coryville 2, the video card is Intel GMA 950, the
Nic is an Intel 82562G 10/100, audio is Intel SigmaTel 9220. the modem is a
conexant 56k ITU v.92 fax/modem, the hard drive is a 250 GB SATA II (7200
rpm, 8mb cache)

"Ian R" wrote:

>
> "CrashSW" <CrashSW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:2D758653-5010-4375-9FE1-CC066B66F740@microsoft.com...
> > UPDATE: The problem I am apparently having is that the 'generic' drivers
> > for
> > the hard drive that Windows XP setup installs are not compatible with my
> > Emachine T5086 so setup does not recognise that a hard drive is installed.
> > Any idea where I can download a driver? I am currently on hold with
> > Emachine
> > support but who knows how long that will take! Thanks for any help!
> >
> > "CrashSW" wrote:
> >
> >> I bought a PC with Vista installed on it for use in my business because
> >> my
> >> old PC crashed. I have a lot of software that is either not compatible
> >> with
> >> Vista, or is very costly to buy the upgrade for it to work with Vista. I
> >> have
> >> a copy of XP Pro and tried to install it on the Vista PC and ran into
> >> trouble. I was told by the support people from the store where I
> >> purchased
> >> the PC that a PC built with Vista could not have XP installed on it. Is
> >> this
> >> true? Can't I zero the hard drive and do a fresh install of XP or is
> >> there
> >> something in the BIOS that doesn't allow me to install anything but Vista
> >> or
> >> some other feature that prevents this?
>
> If you can identify the chipset and find out which drivers your system
> requires there might be a way around it
>
> Have you run a utility such as Belarc Advisor or Everest.which may help to
> ID the motherboard? Or just remove a side panel and see if there are any
> labels or a model number etched onto the mobo.
>
> Providing you can obtain the correct drivers, during the beginning of the XP
> install you'll get a prompt to press F6 if you need to load SCSI or RAID
> drivers. Perhaps you may be able to use that to install the drivers your
> system needs.
>
> HTH
>
> Ian
>
>
>

"CrashSW" <CrashSW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E559FE26-795D-4EFF-B046-F17B1FB79F2B@microsoft.com...
> The motherboard is an Intel Coryville 2, the video card is Intel GMA 950,
> the
> Nic is an Intel 82562G 10/100, audio is Intel SigmaTel 9220. the modem is
> a
> conexant 56k ITU v.92 fax/modem, the hard drive is a 250 GB SATA II (7200
> rpm, 8mb cache)
>
> "Ian R" wrote:
>
>>
>> "CrashSW" <CrashSW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:2D758653-5010-4375-9FE1-CC066B66F740@microsoft.com...
>> > UPDATE: The problem I am apparently having is that the 'generic'
>> > drivers
>> > for
>> > the hard drive that Windows XP setup installs are not compatible with
>> > my
>> > Emachine T5086 so setup does not recognise that a hard drive is
>> > installed.
>> > Any idea where I can download a driver? I am currently on hold with
>> > Emachine
>> > support but who knows how long that will take! Thanks for any help!
>> >
>> > "CrashSW" wrote:
>> >
>> >> I bought a PC with Vista installed on it for use in my business
>> >> because
>> >> my
>> >> old PC crashed. I have a lot of software that is either not compatible
>> >> with
>> >> Vista, or is very costly to buy the upgrade for it to work with Vista.
>> >> I
>> >> have
>> >> a copy of XP Pro and tried to install it on the Vista PC and ran into
>> >> trouble. I was told by the support people from the store where I
>> >> purchased
>> >> the PC that a PC built with Vista could not have XP installed on it.
>> >> Is
>> >> this
>> >> true? Can't I zero the hard drive and do a fresh install of XP or is
>> >> there
>> >> something in the BIOS that doesn't allow me to install anything but
>> >> Vista
>> >> or
>> >> some other feature that prevents this?
>>
>> If you can identify the chipset and find out which drivers your system
>> requires there might be a way around it
>>
>> Have you run a utility such as Belarc Advisor or Everest.which may help
>> to
>> ID the motherboard? Or just remove a side panel and see if there are any
>> labels or a model number etched onto the mobo.
>>
>> Providing you can obtain the correct drivers, during the beginning of the
>> XP
>> install you'll get a prompt to press F6 if you need to load SCSI or RAID
>> drivers. Perhaps you may be able to use that to install the drivers your
>> system needs.
>>
>> HTH
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>


Ive not ever heard of requiring drivers for a specific model of hard drive.

Its more likely that you need drivers for the IDE/SATA controller .

Seeing that you have clearly ID'd the mobo got to the Intel website and
download all the drivers for that board - at least one will be for the
boards chipset and the IDE/SATA controller.

HTH

Let us know how you get on.

Good luck

Ian