downgrade nightmare

[benklop5]

I bought a Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop back in spring of 2007. Vista had just been launched, and was included on my new computer. Even out of the box, it was fairly slow and unresponsive but I didn't really want to mess with it, especially since I would only be using it for word processing, internet surfing, and watching an occasional movie. Fast forward a year and a half: the computer had become so slow that I couldn't take it anymore. Even with 1gb of RAM (seemed like a lot when I ordered it anyway), it took a few minutes after I logged in before I could use the computer and if I was listening to music with a few Firefox windows open the computer would occasionally just lock up. I backed up my data, formatted the hard drive and tried to install XP Pro from a disc I had laying around. Two days later, I'm still trying to figure it out.

I boot from the XP cd, load the preliminary files, choose the partition etc. Then, when the computer restarts, it performs the same process over again. Without a CD in the hard drive, it says "Disk read error" and won't start up. I think the problem is rooted in XP not recognizing my SATA hard drive, but the Dell website says I don't need a driver (confirmed by Dell tech support). Any ideas? I don't have a floppy drive, but tried to slipstream SATA drivers from another similar model (Inspiron 1525) using nLite to no avail. Please help!

 

[JustaGeek]

Add another 1GB of RAM, for a total of 2GB (or more if you can) and put Vista back on this laptop.

You'll be amazed with the difference that the extra memory will make.

If your laptop's specs are at least equal to mine (see the sig) this is the best fix.

Good luck!

 

[htne]

Two routes you can take:

1) Create an XP install disk with slipstreamed drivers. Start with the mass storage driver pack at http://driverpacks.net and then use nlite to create your slipstreamed install cd.

2) download an illegal copy of the XP install CD which already has the necessary drivers slipstreamed. If you use this illegal cd with your legal license key, then you wind up legal. A little twisted maybe, but remember it is the CD key which Microsoft is selling, not the media (actual CD).

If you pursue the second route, you will have to make sure that the version of XP you download is compatible with the CD key that you already have (oem versus retail, home versus pro, upgrade versus non-upgrade, etc).

 

[C1]

You may need to WIPE the HDD (not just reformat) then do the install.
If you have a serial HDD & are attempting to install XP then you will need to either disable AHCI (hopefully available option in your BIOS) or use the F6 option during the initial (ie, 1st pass) XP install. For this see my procedure steps for installing XP in a Fujitsu A6110 notebook provided in the following thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=34&threadid=2141238

 

[DrGreen2007]

Yep, disable the AHCI option in the BIOS, Ive had to do it with a few inspiron/latitude laptops that I upgraded to XP from Vista.

- I did find that if you use a Dell XP CD, it already has the AHCI drivers in it, and I didnt need to disable AHCI in the BIOS, I only had to when using my original, MS XP CD.