downgrade vista to xp

kenjacy · 09-28-2008, 02:19 AM

i have a toshiba satellite a205 that came with vista home premium. i want to downgrade to xp sp2 but every time i run the xp cd it give the message "no hard disk installed on this computer" when it gets to the point of formating the disk.

**sobeit** · 09-28-2008, 02:23 AM

tell about the xp cd. It must be a full retail version of xp, it cannot be oem, it cannot be an upgrade nor came with another computer.

**blah789** · 09-28-2008, 07:59 PM

Is the hard drive a SATA drive? Windows XP doesn't have native support for SATA drives. You need to press F6 when you boot from the CD and then provide the SATA drivers from a floppy.
To find those, you have to know the make of the SATA controller on your laptop (it's sometimes integrated with the motherboard). You may have to look it up in the manual. If you don't have the manual, you can probably download it from the Toshiba web site by looking for your specific model. I see a bunch of different A205's, so you'd have to look for the specific one for your model.
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t..._sc_modSel.jsp
Download the manual and see what kind of motherboard chipset it uses. Then you may have to go on the manufacturer's web site (unless it's already on the Toshiba site) to find the drivers. If you need help, get back to us (be sure to give us the exact Toshiba model number)

Other things to take into consideration:
If you don't have a floppy drive, you may need to use an external USB one.

If none of the above works, try going into your BIOS (at startup, it may tell you to press a key like F10 and Del or something else to get into setup), and look around the menus. Sometimes there's a setting that allows the SATA controller to act like an ATA one. It may be named something like "legacy IDE" or "AHCI". If you set that, Windows XP will detect the drives since they start acting like old PATA drives again.

Also note that downgrading to XP involves hunting down for drivers for your devices (you'll likely see a lot of yellow exclamation marks in device manager on the first run). Some of the driver installation programs for Vista available for download on the Toshiba site may also have bundled drivers for XP, so you can try them first. If you need help in that department, get back to us.

Team Toshiba · 09-30-2008, 08:25 AM

Because your Vista copy is OEM, you might have some trouble finding XP drivers. Here's a link to give you a head start: http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...dItemList.jsp?

samsoft · 02-28-2009, 01:37 AM

i have the same problem , when i try to boot from Win XP SP2 CD (inorder to downgrade to xp) the windows says it can't locate any hdd, although i have done my homework and have already downloaded the required drivers from the toshiba site for xp , but once i get windows installed , everything will b fine

09-28-2008, 02:19 AM	#1 (permalink)
kenjacy Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1 OS: XP SP2	downgrade vista to xp i have a toshiba satellite a205 that came with vista home premium. i want to downgrade to xp sp2 but every time i run the xp cd it give the message "no hard disk installed on this computer" when it gets to the point of formating the disk.

09-28-2008, 02:23 AM	#2 (permalink)
sobeit TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: NEAR Posts: 7,433 OS: windows/linux	Re: downgrade vista to xp tell about the xp cd. It must be a full retail version of xp, it cannot be oem, it cannot be an upgrade nor came with another computer. __________________ there's been global warming since the ice age

09-28-2008, 07:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,234 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: downgrade vista to xp Is the hard drive a SATA drive? Windows XP doesn't have native support for SATA drives. You need to press F6 when you boot from the CD and then provide the SATA drivers from a floppy. To find those, you have to know the make of the SATA controller on your laptop (it's sometimes integrated with the motherboard). You may have to look it up in the manual. If you don't have the manual, you can probably download it from the Toshiba web site by looking for your specific model. I see a bunch of different A205's, so you'd have to look for the specific one for your model. http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t..._sc_modSel.jsp Download the manual and see what kind of motherboard chipset it uses. Then you may have to go on the manufacturer's web site (unless it's already on the Toshiba site) to find the drivers. If you need help, get back to us (be sure to give us the exact Toshiba model number) Other things to take into consideration: If you don't have a floppy drive, you may need to use an external USB one. If none of the above works, try going into your BIOS (at startup, it may tell you to press a key like F10 and Del or something else to get into setup), and look around the menus. Sometimes there's a setting that allows the SATA controller to act like an ATA one. It may be named something like "legacy IDE" or "AHCI". If you set that, Windows XP will detect the drives since they start acting like old PATA drives again. Also note that downgrading to XP involves hunting down for drivers for your devices (you'll likely see a lot of yellow exclamation marks in device manager on the first run). Some of the driver installation programs for Vista available for download on the Toshiba site may also have bundled drivers for XP, so you can try them first. If you need help in that department, get back to us.

09-30-2008, 08:25 AM	#4 (permalink)
Team Toshiba Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 13 OS: Vista SP1	Re: downgrade vista to xp Because your Vista copy is OEM, you might have some trouble finding XP drivers. Here's a link to give you a head start: http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...dItemList.jsp?

02-28-2009, 01:37 AM	#5 (permalink)
samsoft Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1 OS: Vista	Re: downgrade vista to xp i have the same problem , when i try to boot from Win XP SP2 CD (inorder to downgrade to xp) the windows says it can't locate any hdd, although i have done my homework and have already downloaded the required drivers from the toshiba site for xp , but once i get windows installed , everything will b fine