Removing vista, installing xp on acer aspire timeline

[atsabay]

I have an acer aspire timeline 5810tz, and it shipped with vista. however, i HATE vista, and know XP will run a lot faster on my laptop. However, I seem to be running into some problems trying to reformat... I'm not sure what the correct bios settings are. on my previous laptop (a dell inspiron) i changed the bios mode from ahci to SATA, so i thought that it would be just as straightforward with my new acer.

does anyone have any clue as to what settings i need for my bios in order to successfully boot from an xp disc?
I keep running into a blue screen of death when i boot from an xp disc without changing any of the bios settings...

 

[Matan Eldan]

Please set the BIOS values to their defaults, and than change the value in BIOS called "Boot priority order" (or something similar to that)

Make sure that the CD-ROM device is set to be in the first priority, in order to boot from the XP installation disc.

 

[atsabay]

I made sure that BIOS was set to the default settings, but i kept getting the blue screen of death.... i didn't change boot order, but i did hit f12 and select boot from disc. The blue screen came after the disc had already booted a bit, and even gone through some file loading. but then it just fails.

 

[FALC0N]

You said XP disk. What XP disk? Is it a retail version you purchased at a store? An OEM version perhaps? Home or pro?

Sometimes you get older version of XP like the RTM or service pack 1 that just won't install on newer hardware. I don't think the home RTM or SP1 versions included SMP capability. You may need to track down a disk with Service pack 2 or 3 on it or slipstream it to whatever you have. Your key will work on the newer disks.

 

[Zoron]

You'd be better off moving forward with Win 7 rather than backward with XP.

That said, not all OEMs will give you access to all the options in the BIOS settings. Acer may have permanently enabled AHCI because they had no plans to support Windows XP on that laptop. There are a couple of ways around it...

1. Download the proper AHCI drivers (the ones you need for F6) and have them at the ready on a floppy.

2. Integrate the drivers into your XP installation using nLite.

Personally, I think you're better off upgrading to 7 or giving Vista a fair shake. It's not as bad as you've heard... and I know it's hard to ignore all the complaining voices out there... but I had no issues with Vista. I've had it on my 3 year-old desktop and I've had it on two laptops. Yes, it's different from XP, but not too dramatically.

 

[FALC0N]

You'd be better off moving forward with Win 7 rather than backward with XP.

That said, not all OEMs will give you access to all the options in the BIOS settings. Acer may have permanently enabled AHCI because they had no plans to support Windows XP on that laptop. There are a couple of ways around it...

1. Download the proper AHCI drivers (the ones you need for F6) and have them at the ready on a floppy.

2. Integrate the drivers into your XP installation using nLite.

Personally, I think you're better off upgrading to 7 or giving Vista a fair shake. It's not as bad as you've heard... and I know it's hard to ignore all the complaining voices out there... but I had no issues with Vista. I've had it on my 3 year-old desktop and I've had it on two laptops. Yes, it's different from XP, but not too dramatically.

So its AHCI that causes this? I have been leaning towards SMP support since I have only heard of it with XP home RTM. But I have not seen it first hand yet, so I have not had a chance to troubleshoot it.

 

[Zoron]

AHCI does cause problems when you don't have the proper drivers loading... Windows XP doesn't recognize the newer hardware and is likely trying to install the non-AHCI driver upon startup... which would definately cause a blue screen.

SMP shouldn't be an issue... since XP would see one physical processor. Though if the OP could, try disabling the other core anyway... just to see if that helps the issue.

I know people want to hang onto XP for as long as possible... but it's getting to the point where it may no longer be feasible. OEMs are manufacturing their PCs with Win Vista / 7 in mind and may ignore XP altogether. (Especially true in the consumer segment). Business class machines still do have an option for XP Pro, but the options are becoming more and more limited.

 

[mibix19]

Could you not run XP as a virtual machine giving it most of your resources to run better?

 

[FALC0N]

I know people want to hang onto XP for as long as possible... but it's getting to the point where it may no longer be feasible. OEMs are manufacturing their PCs with Win Vista / 7 in mind and may ignore XP altogether. (Especially true in the consumer segment). Business class machines still do have an option for XP Pro, but the options are becoming more and more limited.

I think the time where it really becomes a problem is still several years off. Its becoming an occasional problem with OEM machines and their modded bios, but not really DIY stuff. And even with OEM's it just takes a little troubleshooting work.

But yes, it will become more difficult with time.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Best answer selected by mousemonkey.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey