s.d.davis

This laptop came with Vista and I want to have just XP running on it is there some way to clean out Vista and load my XP OS. The problem is drivers and Acer will not give ANY support on changing the OS. Is there anyway to find what drivers I need and were to get them.

justpassingby

Hi s.d.davis and welcome to TSF !

I've moved your thread to a more appropriate section.

Start by creating the recovery CD (factory default image) with Acer eRecovery Management. This may be your only way to return to a stable OS should the downgrade to XP prove to be too difficult.

I can't seem to find a system specs list for that model (there's a pdf guide available from Acer's website but it gives the specs for all 7220 and 7520 models). Please use everest from the posting system specs link in my sig to create a .txt report of your hardware (use the report wizard) and attach it to your next post using the manage attachments options from the advanced mode.

Once you know the brand and model of all your devices, go to their manufacturer's website (nvidia for the chipset and video card or Broadcom for the network for instance) to download the proper XP drivers for that model.

Don't try to install XP until you've got all the drivers you need.

__________________

HJT - 5 steps against malware. Post your HijackThis log there and not here !
Posting system specs

s.d.davis

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Edition
OS Service Pack -
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name SEABOARDLAPTOP
User Name Seaboard Laptop

Motherboard:
CPU Type Unknown, 1800 MHz
Motherboard Name Acer Aspire 7520
Motherboard Chipset Unknown
System Memory 2816 MB
BIOS Type Phoenix (12/21/07)

Display:
Video Adapter GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M
Video Adapter GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M
Monitor Generic PnP Monitor [NoDB]

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter High Definition Audio Controller [NoDB]

Storage:
IDE Controller Ricoh Memory Stick Controller
IDE Controller Ricoh SD/MMC Host Controller
IDE Controller Ricoh xD-Picture Card Controller
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
SCSI/RAID Controller Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
Disk Drive Hitachi HTS542516K9SA00 ATA Device (149 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive PIONEER DVD-RW DVRKD08RS ATA Device
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 152617 MB (109783 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Launch Manager
Keyboard Microsoft eHome MCIR 109 Keyboard
Keyboard Microsoft eHome MCIR Keyboard
Keyboard Microsoft eHome Remote Control Keyboard keys
Mouse Alps Pointing-device
Mouse HID-compliant mouse

Network:
Network Adapter Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter (192.168.2.11)
Network Adapter NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller (192.168.2.9)
Network Adapter Parallels Host-Guest Virtual NIC (169.254.114.47)
Modem HDAUDIO Soft Data Fax Modem with SmartCP

justpassingby

Hello again s.d.davis !

Everst couldn't find the motherboard chipset but by looking in the vista drivers list on Acer's website you can see that it's called mcp67m. These drivers should work :
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRA...2-101-29.shtml

The chipset drivers usually contains the video, audio and network drivers. In case those devices don't work properly we'll use the unknown device identifier to find out more once we're in XP.

Wireless network adapter : ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/noteboo...XB62(WHQL).zip or http://www.atheros.cz/download.php?a...007EG&system=1

Acer Crystal Eye webcam (there seems to be 2 different models, better make sure which model you have using the unknown device identifier first) : Suyin or Bison

Not sure about your card reader, modem and bluetooth device so we'll take care of that later.

The HTS542516K9SA00 Hitachi hard drive is a SATA drive which could cause problems if the XP CD can't recognize the SATA controller, but it seems to be using some kind of microsoft driver so let's give it a try. If the XP setup program can't find your hard drive come back here and tell us about it.

Make sure you've created the Vista recovery disks (factory default image and application backup image) before trying to install XP or you may end up with a half-working system and no way to return to Vista. Refer to the laptop's manual (you can download it from here under technical documentation). Make sure you have another computer to connect to the internet since you won't be able to surf with your laptop until the proper network drivers are installed.

Start by downloading all the above drivers and softwares and copy them on a CD or on an external drive. Also download the installer for the antivirus program you'll use (I recommend Antivir, Avast or AVG). Use XP's default firewall for the time of the installation.

You'll need a retail XP SP2 CD (if your XP install CD doesn't have SP2 then create an XP SP2 CD by slipstreaming the service pack in it) and your own XP product key.

Boot the laptop on the XP CD (press F2 to enter the BIOS utility and change the boot sequence to CD-rom first), press enter to setup windows now, select the partition where Vista is currently installed, format it and install XP. If you see another partition in the list it's probably a recovery partition. Don't touch it as it can come in handy should you need to restore the computer to Vista one day.

Once you're in Windows XP, start by installing the drivers for the mcp67m chipset then install the antivirus, make sure XP's firewall is on and install the wireless drivers. Tell us how it goes and if you're able to connect to the internet.

Once that's done go to the device manager (start => run => devmgmt.msc) and tell us about all the unknown devices you may have there. Use the unknown device identifier utility to find their vendor and model.

__________________

HJT - 5 steps against malware. Post your HijackThis log there and not here !
Posting system specs

s.d.davis

Thank you for your help. I will work on it this next weekend and see what I can do.

KEriksen

If I didn't create the backup disc before overwriting the c: (Vista) partition, is there no way to get it back then?

Under the repartitioning I saw an F: drive that I believe was mentioned in the manual too (as an invisible partition for something), which was named something like recovery or something. Can that help in case I mess(ed) things up?

How goes that motto I once heard... "Real men don't do backups, they cry."

Or something

eneles

@KEriksen: Please create a thread of your own in the correct forum (Vista support).