Windows Vista forum: downgrading from vista to xp

...you'll need to make sure the boot order is correct in the BIOS so ANY boot disc will load. There is also a possibility the "Native SATA" support selection needs to be disabled on some BIOS versions as well.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Your question about the Recovery Discs has already been answered once.

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-12546_102-0.html?forumID=133&threadID=243153&messageID=2484580#2484580

Do it.. After wiping with Dban, you should be able to load XP using those discs and following all the various instructions in this thread.

Hope this helps.

Grif

And if that's the case, then you wipe the drive with a program like Dban which should eliminate all issues with drive recognition, then install the SATA drivers during the XP install. (Make sure to create your Recovery Discs BEFORE wiping the drive.

You don't mention which processor you have, Intel or AMD, but the AMD machines have a different BIOS than Intel and as such, must be handled differently.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Just a quick note that will hopefully get indexed. I was able to revert to XP on my wife's HP dv9207us. The first step was to turn off "Native SATA support" in the BIOS since XP couldn't find the hard drive with this on. Once past this hurdle all went well until it was time to configure the system at which point I discovered that XP didn't support either the wired or wireless NICs. I was able to find the driver for the wireless NIC (Intel Pro Wireless 3945 ABG) which got me connected to my AP.

Once I had LAN connectivity I was able to work my way through the finding the remaining drivers and software. The wired LAN card is also Intel but a PCI-Express 1000. The only part that was tricky was the sound card. I tried installing the Conexant driver listed earlier in this thread but it wouldn't install. I then installed the Windows UAA package which then recognized the sound device and grabbed and installed the appropriate driver from somewhere.

The system appears to be fully functional with XP although I didn't attempt to set up the web-cam or the TV tuner. My wife will be using this system at work so she doesn't need these. I should hear from her later today as to whether reverting to XP solved the compatibility problems she was having with software she needs to do her job (probably).

Cheers,
Dave

* A PATA hard drive actually simplifies things since you don't need to worry about the possibility of a SATA driver being required during installation. There's no need to adjust the BIOS settings.

* No, you can leave the hidden recovery partition right where it is if you like. You should, however, burn the recovery DVDs so that you can reinstall Vista down the road.

Hope this helps,
John


P.S. You may also want to glance over this post regarding reverting to Windows XP.

Most of the DV6000 series use a SATA hard drive.. If it's PATA, then you don't need to disable the SATA support..

You'll need to check your BIOS to see if the "Native SATA support" is listed. Usually, of those using an Intel processor, you'll need to disable SATA support in the BIOS.. For those using an AMD processor, it may not be there.. Either way, you'll want to look.. Generally, if you don't disable SATA support in the BIOS, then the XP CD won't find the hard drive and install.

Personally, I recommend wiping the hard drive completely so the XP installation will work correctly. It may not be required in some situations but I prefer it that way. Nothing from Vista remains to clog up the system.. BEFORE doing that, you can create Recovery discs of the Vista setup which will work instead of the partition.. IF you ever decide to go back to the Vista operating system on the computer, use the Recovery discs.

Here's a link to my post above where I reverted my DV6205us to XP..

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-12546_102-0.html?forumID=133&threadID=243153&messageID=2461470#2461470

Hope this helps.

Grif

...unless you installed the SATA drivers with XP.. Most often, if you haven't installed the SATA drivers during the XP install and you try to re-enable "SATA support" in the BIOS, you'll get a blue screen after you reboot.. ON the few machines I tried it, it didn't work.. Still, in my case, I wiped the drives with DBAN. IN your case, you didn't.. Maybe there's a difference.

And since I find no difference between having the SATA support enabled vs disabled, I leave it disabled.

Hope this helps.

Grif

I have successfully installed XP in dual boot configuration with Vista on a dv9207us. If you plan on installing XP on on a HP Pavilion, following steps will help.

Make sure you have already made the recovery disks and a copy of the SwSetup folder which contains all the drivers

1) Partition your hard drive. You can use the shrink s/w that comes with Vista to do this.
1) Download the Intel SATA AHCI Controller Driver the HP site (sp32478.exe)
a) Download and Install Total commander software
b) Download and Install Magic ISO software
c) Download and Install NLite software
d) Extract the contents of this sp32478.exe. You get a file called F6flpy32.exe.
e) Extract the contents of F6flpy32.exe using total commander and you get a file called temp.ima
f) Open temp.ima with MagicISO and extract the 8 files.
2) Insert Windows XP CD, Open NLite software and slipstream the extracted 8 files. Make a ISO file and write that onto a CD.
This link should be of great help:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml
Once you have the slipstreamed CD, installation of WinXP should be a breeze

3) Most of the drivers are available in the HP site at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=1842189&lang=en

4) After doing so much, I had 2 things that would'nt work
a) Webcam: For this, I installed the driver that came along in the SwSetup folder and the webcam worked
b) Sm Bus Controller showed a question mark in the device manager: I downloaded the Intel chipset driver and ran it. This fixed it
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=N&ProductID=816&DwnldID=12150&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All%20Operating%20Systems&lang=eng


So now I had a WinXP operating system completely installed and the system would boot only to WinXP since the Vista bootloader was overwritten.

5) I used VistaBootPro and fixing the Vista bootloader to get a dual option at startup. Get more help at: http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/about88231.html
EasyBCD can also be used: http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

Go through all the links and get everything right before you begin installation of XP. I guess this process can be followed on all HP Pavilion laptops

Which processor is it using? Which motherboard? What is working now and what isn't? Which drivers have you already installed?

If it's an Intel motherboard/processor, have you tried installing the newest XP Chipset INF utility? (Make sure you're chipset version is included in the list.)

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=N&ProductID=816&DwnldID=14528&strOSs=44&OSFullName=Windows*%20XP%20Professional&lang=eng

Have you downloaded and installed the Broadcom driver from the link below?:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-53245-1&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=1842189&os=228&lang=en

One other note, most of the issues you're having are included in this thread somewhere.. Read the posts.

Hope this helps and let us know more.

Grif

Read http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7587_102-0.html?forumID=69&threadID=271360&messageID=2699006#2699006 to find out about the UAA driver.

I'm not sure of the specific processor but it is Intel and I already ran the Chipset INF...its not Nvidia.

Everything is working now, I replied to someone else's post. I was able to get everything working except for the Broadband WLAN. Once I installed the Broadcom, it worked like a champ. Then the 3 Base System Drivers went away when installing the Ricoh media card driver.

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7587_102-0.html?forumID=69&threadID=271360&messageID=2699006#2699006

Thanks again for all your assistance.

Raj909

I have XP and Vista Running on my HP DV9000 notebook.
I detailed everything I had to do with Every Driver I used.
http://www.intecautomated.com/HPDV9000.html

Hope this Helps.

My new computer is about 2 1/2 weeks old, a HP dv9000 Laptop. I was getting ready to take it back when I saw this post. I am so glad to see that someone else is having the same problem. I hate Vista, it is a crappy OS. I can't use any of the other expensive programs that I've purchased. And worst of all None of my Games! I am so bummed over this new laptop.
When I called HP, they had the audacity to try and charge me another $69 to have one of their Geeks help me. What a bunch of Bull!!!!
I need some help too, if I can get this OS off of my computer I will be very happy. Help Please Help!!!!

Why don't you get rid of your problem permanently by taking all your Windows disks and chucking them in the bin? Put a good Linux on your system and never look back.

The government agency I work for need to have compliant machines and programs so they can exchange data and forms world-wide..

Besides, I don't think it's a problem at all. It's called: job security.

Hope this helps.

Grif