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  • Downgrading from Vista to XP Problem

    I looked and didn't see anything on this in the archive, but if someone already has answered, please let me know (I'm dealing with a pretty huge headache and my not be thinking clearly)

    I have a brand new, just out of the box Dell Vostro 220slim (seriously, just opened the box this morning). It has Vista Home Basic on it and I need to downgrade to XP Pro. I have tried booting to the XP CD; it goes through and loads files, and then it says that it is starting windows. Then I get a bsod and a message that says:
    A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

    If this is the first time you'e seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
    Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard dries or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

    Technical information:
    ***STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF78D2524, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)


    I went online and searched and I tried to do what people had suggested regarding the hdd controller but I didn't see anything like that in the bios and I don't know where else I'm supposed to be looking. Any help would be appreciated, and yes, due to software I need to run I have to go to XP.

    Thanks!
    A crisis is a problem you can't control. Drama is a problem you can, but won't. - Otter

  • #2
    I would not be surprised to find out that the drive has to be wiped first. Check out Darik's Boot and Nuke for an easy (and free) way to completely erase an existing hard drive.

    It's what I'd do next.

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    • #3
      Actually, I didn't see mention the HDD was wiped at all. You can't go straight down in pretty much anything, but especially OSs. You need to uninstall before you can use a previous version. Sorry if you did this, but forgot to mention, due to the headache.
      Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

      http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

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      • #4
        You might also want to go out to the Dell website and make sure they have drivers for XP for your particular machine before you wipe Vista off of it. You may be SOL if you don't, as they may not have them at all. Without the proper drivers, XP may not work properly on that machine.

        I'd also make rescue disks for it, just in case you need to take it back to Vista, even if you don't have any intentions of doing so. If, after you wipe the drive, you cannot get XP to install, you're screwed without them.


        Eric the Grey
        In memory of Dena - Don't Drink and Drive

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        • #5
          Agreed. The term "downgrading" isn't the most accurate phrase here, as it implies you can just stick the disk in and get it to change over.

          Like it has been said before, check for XP drivers for your hardware, especially if it's a laptop. A lot of times the manufacturer won't bother with older drivers, which essentially screws you over. If you can get them, put them on a separate disk or flash drive. (I personally recommend the latter, as the files can be removed and updated.) Be sure to back up any non-recoverable files as well (files you made yourself, game saves, etc. Anything that was created by your own actions and not gathered from another source.)

          Once all that's done, put in your XP disk and shut down the computer. (yes, with the disk inside) Make sure the system is fully shut down and not in sleep or restarted. You need it to do a full boot to make sure the BIOS doesn't bypass the disk drive. At a point after the BIOS does it's initial boot phase, you'll see "Press any key to boot from disk". This is what you want so press it. After a few seconds, you'll see a blue screen come up and some stuff loading. Just let it run at this stage. Eventually you'll be given options to install XP or to repartition a drive. You need a clear drive for this, so select to repartition and delete the partition and recreate it.

          Why would I say this? Because Vista uses some files that XP also recognizes the names of but can't use them. During an install XP will often try to bypass replacing those files under the assumption it doesn't need to. This causes the OS to fail when it needs to access them. Recreating the partition forces a reformat as part of the install process which actively removes the files.

          Now that that's done, it's time to do the install, Select to install XP and select the drive. The installer will say it needs to format the drive so let it. As well, because the drive has been used before, do a full format as opposed to a quick one. The quick one just clears the swap file, which is effectively it's table of contents. The full format overwrites the drive itself. Takes longer, but it makes sure there's nothing on there that can cause problems later.

          Once done, the drive will reboot and start the actual XP install process. follow the instructions and let it do it's work. Once the final reboot is done, you can plug in the flash drive, let it get recognized, and then install the drivers. I recommend one at a time and if it needs to reboot after install, to let it.

          There you go, you have now went from Vista to XP.
          Last edited by Broomjockey; 04-04-2009, 03:01 PM. Reason: snip
          I AM the evil bastard!
          A+ Certified IT Technician

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          • #6
            Quoth lordlundar View Post
            Once all that's done, put in your XP disk and shut down the computer. (yes, with the disk inside) Make sure the system is fully shut down and not in sleep or restarted. You need it to do a full boot to make sure the BIOS doesn't bypass the disk drive. At a point after the BIOS does it's initial boot phase, you'll see "Press any key to boot from disk". This is what you want so press it. After a few seconds, you'll see a blue screen come up and some stuff loading. Just let it run at this stage. Eventually you'll be given options to install XP or to repartition a drive. You need a clear drive for this, so select to repartition and delete the partition and recreate it.
            I did this. It goes though, starts to run from the cd and before it gets to the screen where I'm able to chose to install XP it gives me the error I put on top.

            For some reason I can't get vista uninstalled. I tried directions from tech-faq.com, went to allbootdisks.com to make a disk to reboot from. Nothing is working.
            A crisis is a problem you can't control. Drama is a problem you can, but won't. - Otter

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            • #7
              Did you do the Boot 'n Nuke thing?
              Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

              http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

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              • #8
                Quoth Broomjockey View Post
                Did you do the Boot 'n Nuke thing?
                Yes, the third time though it worked (first two times I got errors so I re-burned a disk). Now I'm installing XP, get to the same place and get a new error.

                A Problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

                If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

                Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

                Check with your hardware vendor for any bios updates. Disable bios memory options such as caching or shadowing. if you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select advanced startup options, and then select safe mode.

                Technical information:
                ***stop: 0x0000007E (0xc0000005, 0xf748e0bf, 0xf78da208, 0f78d9f08)
                *** pci.sys - address f748e0bf base at f7487000, datestamp 3b7d855c


                Now I'm gonna go research what that means.
                A crisis is a problem you can't control. Drama is a problem you can, but won't. - Otter

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                • #9
                  I've got a sinking suspicion it might be a case of the vendor locked the hardware to the OS, or something evil like that. I hope I'm wrong.
                  Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

                  http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I found the solution to that error rather quickly actually; had to change from pci express to just pci in the bios. then I tried a different disk. Got back to the first error (that's good?) and decided that I'd just start changing things in the bios till I got it to work or I drove myself crazy (hmmm..I could have made that a drinking game if I'd had any booze here).

                    Changed the hd from ahci to ata and now xp is installing.

                    Thank you!
                    A crisis is a problem you can't control. Drama is a problem you can, but won't. - Otter

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                    • #11
                      Glad it worked -- one other "weird" solution I have found which has worked on more than one Dell that I've UPgraded from Vista to Xp is, to go into the BIOS and toggle the RAID setting (yes, even if you never plan to use RAID). Then, switch it back once XP is working, if desired.
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