4420 XP change

Just picked up a 4420-5910.
Big problems...I want to switch to XP Pro.
Formatting for XP Pro but Snoop mentioned an Acer Downgrade .iso, but it was never mentioned as to what this wa, where to get it, and what it does.

I did a quick format this morning but I could not load the broadcom drivers...got a message :cannot install this...

Now I am trying a COMPLETE format and will see what happens.

Any new info to help me with this is greatly appreciated. I do not have a hard-wire internet connection available where I am, but I have a second laptop whichcan get what I need via wi-fi.

Thanks for any help here.

 

SUCCESS!
I did a complete format.
Loaded WinXP.
Loaded Service Pack 2 IMPORTANT!! (i think)
Don't worry about the 1394 driver for ethernet.
Install the Marvel Yukon Driver. This will create a new connection that works.
After that, Install the Broadcom driver and the wireless comes right on...at least in my case. I did nothing special...no .iso change or 'XP Downgrade'.

The nexrt imprtant issues I have now are the following:

1. The display is not up to its potential. If anyone can tell me which driver to use to get the full duisplay capabilioties I would appreciate that, as teh Radeon Xpress 1250 states that it is for VISTA...not XP.

2. The computer aknowledges the 250GB Hard Drive, but the C: drive partition is only 114 GB (roughly half. What happened to the other 120GB of unallocated space and what do i do to utilize it?

After I get these two issues resolved, I'll move on to the webcam, touchpad (the only thing not working is the center 'scroll' button, and the extra buttons on the machine formerly part of the ACER e-mgmt systems.

 

I tried loading the ATI Mobile Catalyst but I get the message that it cannpt find a driver that is compatible with my system.

 

Try this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000

 

Thanks for the link.
However, I do not know enough to make these decisions nor decipher what exactly I should be doing with this info.

I'm fairly simple...I knwo I have a 250GB HD, and my XP is only using about half. I guess I am really looking for some advice/direction on how to best utilize the other half or tell XP that my C: drive should be the entire 250GB (without having to undo all that I have done thus far (if that's even possible!

 

OK...Solved the display issue with directions from http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=316874

Thanks!

I still need some serious advice on how to recapture & use the other half of my hardrive!

 

What do you want to do with it, have a separate drive so as to store data like pictures, documents etc, or attach it to your original C:???

I have 2 drives, one for my system (windows, program files etc), and one for my data, this way if i need to re-install vista, the system doesn't wipe my personal stuff.

 

Hmmmm...I like that idea....completely separate data from software.
I could get used to that. Is it difficult to do for a novice?
Can I do this without disrupting what I have done so far?
Will it be difficult to direct all of my software to store data in the DATA drive?

 

I am aware of the acer-euro site for the drivers for this machine, but can someone please tell me which drivers to use for the Webcam?
NOTE: I have woped Vista and loaded in WIN XP SP3.
Thanks!

 

You don't need to create another thread for every question. You already have a thread for downgrading to XP so all questions related to that(like XP driver for the webcam) should be posted here.
Your newest thread and this thread have been merged.

 

Thank you.

 

Really having a bad time with this...cannot get the webcam to work at all.
Downloaded Suyin from Acer-euro and another version from Suyin..ran setup on both...nothing.
There is no software (other than Moviemaker) to even test the cam!
The device says its working but the software says the device is NOT working.

HELP!!!

 

I'm not above begging...i like this machine and don't want to re-load Vista!

 

Latest info:
Still wondering about the SM Bus Controller...do I have the right one installed? as my device mgr shows teh SM Bus COntroller as a non-working device. Could this be affecting several of these other issues?

I CAN play a DVD, but there is no sound. The WINDOWS sounds work.

My Card Reader does work.

Still cannot get the WebCam working

Loaded the Acer ePower stuff but both said "sorry...wrong OS"...so I am running at full power and only getting 1 3/4 hrs. of battery time.

USB devices still show message about no USB 2.0

Machine is very fast...35 Sec Start-Up!
Acer was very helpful on the tel...sending me a Vista Recovery Disc.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am running out of options.

 

SMBus driver means the chipset and because of that you have a problem with the audio and the USBs.
The WebCam is detected as a USB device which means it doesn't work because of the missing chipset driver again. ACER have drivers for both XP and Vista for your laptop:
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/ex_4420.html

 

Wow! THank you so much...progress has been made!

I now have my Webcam up & running and itlooks soooo good...quality is excellent.
Can't thank you enough as that was the deal-breaker for me.

Now, onto the DVD.
I now have no DVD at all. The window goes into PLAY but it is stalled with no pic or audio.
I have installed the Firmware update for the DVD (optiarc) but as I understand, you still need to have a 3rd party software to play a DVD.

Any advice on how to get my DVD up & running?

And did I than you for heping with the Webcam? No problem as I cannot thank you enough!

 

Have you tried with other DVDs? What are you trying to play, a DVD movie or a DivX/XviD one? What software do you use to play the video files?

 

I am able to load a software CD.
I was able to play a DVD Movie, but had no audio.
The Windows sounds are working.
After i loaded the SMBUS file, I could no longer play a DVD.

I have NEVER previously played a DVD on this machine. Only have it a few days and went right to XP. This is new territoy for me.

I got the Firmware update from the Lenovo web site which supposedly corrects a few issues that they are aware of with the Optiarc AD 7560A

 

In his guide about installing XP on Aspire 5315, BigO says to install the audio driver BEFORE the chipset driver because some may experience audio problems. You have quite a different laptop but maybe that applies to you too. I'd try to delete the CD-ROM from the "Device Manager" then restart and let Windows to reinstall the device.

 

Got to run to a meeting now but I will try that as soon as I return.
I'll keep you posted later.
Thanks so much for your attention!

 

Did you get your hard drive sorted out, if not, i've found a guide which may help you.

First go to Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management, then click onto disk managment on the left.

Then follow this guide:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/hard_drives_06.htm

Hope this helps

 

Removed the CD drive in Device Mgr and re-started..but no luck.
One DVD that I did have video on before the chipset update now has nothing.
Another new DVD out-of-the-box says that it cannpt play it because of a digital copyright problem.


As for the drive. no i have not sorted that out, but thank you, bangert, for the link and I will now go there and read it.

I'll let you know what happens.

 

Interesting reading, Bangert. Thank you for the link. From there, I did a search and found several; good forum discussions about this very issue. It seems merging space is very common dueto XP still around and drives getting bigger.
Most agreed thatr Prtition Magic was the way to go, but also recommended a full back up sd merging with Windows present can end badly if the system hangs up during the process. THis may be a bit too risky for me so I may just let it stay as it is for now.

XP seems to have nicely split my 250GB into (2) 120GB and (1) 10GB...neatly with the C: in the middle of the larger & smaller unallocated spaces.
I doubt if I'll be able to fill that 120GB...I'm almost all loaded and only used 15 GB. I think I will place my Data in the other drive...seems like a good, conservative thing to do. That way I only have to back up the Data drive and not worry about the sotware.

I would imagine that most of my software can be instructed to save data in the other drive.
Question is, what letter to use. Do I leave my DVD as 'D' and make the Data drive 'E'? Does that make sense or is there something I sho9uld know about before I do that?

 

I don't think the drive letters for your DVD or extra partition really matter, it would really boil down to personal preference.

On some software, ones that autosave things without asking, you may need to go into the settings to change the default save path, on others like office programs you can manually select where you want to save everytime you save a document. I guess a little playing about with your software would be in order.

 

I think it will be some time before I even start to use up 100GB!

Now back to my DVD issue....still not working.

 

Tried updating Windows Media Player to WMP 11...still no good. Got a message that I should upf\date my video card driver.
Went to MS site and downloaed their windows utility to check video drivers. That showed that I don't have th right drivers, but did not give me the option to check for an update.

Back to square 1.

Do I need to download a DVD decoder software? Shouldn't XP and Media Player 11 be able to do this?

 

here is a screen shot of the message I am getting in Windows Media Player 11 when I load a DVD...

I can download a video clip and get audio & video, so I know that those functions are working on the PC

 

For the video card try these drivers: http://www.ati.com/online/mobilecatalyst/
If you're using the driver from ACER's web site it's normal to experience problems - these drivers a probably VERY old.

Also yes, XP need codecs to be able to play some file types especially if you want to use WMP. I'd suggest you get VLC player, it's free and has all the codecs build-in to it. You can get it from: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

 

I have already installed Mobile Catalyst...I get an error message: cannot find a driver compatible with your system.

I got my screen resolution fixed when I used Mobility FireGL...don't remember what led me to that. It;'s been a lot of days, a lot of downloads, and it's all becoming one big blur.

I loaded VLC and it is playing the DVD. Thank you so much!

The audio is low...even with VLC aduio levels and realtek levels at max. Any thoughts?

 

Problem has been solved...I go tired of fooling around so I paid for Roxio Codecs package for $15, rolled back and re-installed WMP 10 instead of 11, which has issues working under XP, and now everything works fine....except I am still unhappy with the volume I can get with everything cranked up to full.
I should be able to blowup these tiny speakers with all @ max volume but that just isn't going to happen.
Any thoughts here would be appreciated as this is the FINAL issue with this laptop.
It is extreemly fast and I am really very happy now!
Thanks to all who helped me get through this!