Acer Extensa 4620Z - XP drivers where are they

Have new extensa 4620Z need to change it from vista to XP pro. Went to Acer support drivers download page can only find vista drivers.
Manual says O/S all versions of vista and Xp for 4620,4620Z & 4220, but note at bottom of spec pages says specs listed are for reference only, the exact config of your PC depends on model purchased. So does this mean 4620Z was originally built as XP notebook which has upgraded vista drivers now or that its not compatible, Acer support has nothing under FAQ or manuals to help answer, have to say support for Acer is worse than IBM which is vastly better than it was 8 years ago.
Anyone know if its safe to just remove vista & reload with XP Pro SP2? will XP have all the drivers I need, don't want a dead notebook because missing drivers which I can't find to download.
Before anyone asks why I need to change from Vista its simple, all my other computers are XP Pro all printers, scanners & programs are stable with XP Pro, I can't afford to go buying new printers etc. just to make sure they work witht he notebook.
thanks in advance for any help.

 

Yes it's safe to change, XP is not gonna kill your notebook.

What you need to do before doing that is to go to the Acer downloads section and get all the XP drivers. That way you know that you have all the drivers before you nuke Vista.

 

Thanks Adinu, but that was my original point Acer download drivers page for this notebook doesn't have ANY drivers for XP only VISTA. Which is why I was asking if anyone knew if this model was originally built as an XP notebook or if the "Z" after 4620 means its only compatible with Vista.
Don't want to have issues that it can't find the lan, modem, HD, webcam etc.

 

The acer euro FTP has the XP drivers as well as the vista drivers for your model

The FTP link is here

Click on the folder called "driver" in there you will find all of the XP drivers for this model the "Z" doesn't matter. The folder called vista contains the vista drivers.

 

Thanks Evolution, this is a great help. Would never have thought of checking Euro site, live & learn as tey say. Thanks again

 

Maz1964, or anyone....were you able to install XP and get the drivers to work? I just purchased this laptop and would like to install XP, but want to be sure it's going to function ok. Thanks.

 

Evolution, you are awesome; TY!

Jmb3450, I used much of the drivers mentioned by Evolution in #4 but recall a few exceptions, this 'upgrade' also proved to be quite a learning experience. I am doing a internal writeup for this laptop and will post it soon, here are a few preliminaries:

Prepare a OEM Windows cd using nLite, I gave up on the manual method after several useless discs which only got the fresh system to boot, crash, reboot... Integrate the IATA driver from intel (iata78_enu.exe, Driver v7.8.0.1012 ), use the commandline option /? to find out how to _just_ extract the package. From nLite integrate the whole Driver folder, you don't need the Driver64. Create the ISO and install from it. Intel chipset installer went crazy installing useless USB drivers, from Device Manager right click and uninstall all your USB Host controllers and let them reconnect, pop a flash drive in to check they work.

You will have the Windows Is Shutting Down lockup without poweroff issue now, disabling the Acer Crystal Eye webcam will stop that. To fix this update the driver, steps:
Can Windows connect to... blah... click No, next
Install from list of specific... Next
Dont search. I will choose... Next
Choose the USB Composite Device... Next
Your computer will detect two devices and ACPI power options will work!

Your camera will now have two devices in Device Manager:
Imaging Devices > USB Video Device
U'S'B' Controllers > Acer Crystal Eye webcam

Why in the world a MS driver from 2001 would work better than the manufacturer's driver is anyones guess. Perhaps Vista automatically integrates the idea of a dedicated USB controller for the USB device...

Thanks again Evolution. BTW Google only showed one result for that FTP location, how did you find it? Or is that proprietary info...

 

Most of the experienced acer users on the forum know about the acer euro FTP. Also when you go to download any driver from the acer euro support website it will tell you to check the FTP for additional downloads.

 

Ashman
I haven't found time yet to tackle to downgrade but i've been collecting drivers & nLite - when you made slipstream did you make a data dvd disc or regular cdrom? was wondering if drive would detect dvd disc when first reloading XP PRO.
What do you mean about using comandline to extract the package? I'm always nervous about doing anything in DOS. I have the zip file of iata78_enu.exe, Driver v7.8.0.1012 which I had planned to just unzip then slipstream the folder. Is this the wrong thing to do?
Do I still need Chipset_Intel965_v8.2.0.1012_Vista_XP with the IATA78 driver? I had planned to slipstream all drivers onto the nLite XP disc as recommended on another posting for other types of Acer notebooks which came with vista downgraded to XP Pro.
Sorry if questions seem dumb, I one of those types that like to be very sure of what they are doing before playing with software changes.
Thanks ina dvance for any advise or tips

 

I'm using an Acer Aspire 4720G. On the FTP there used to be a section for XP drivers under xp_not_authorized or something like that. Recently they cleared all the drivers in there just before I get to get my hands on both the Bluetooth and Intel Wireless Link 965AGN drivers. I googled around and there was just no way to get access to these drivers. So I went in to download both the drivers which were meant for model 4710 and it worked. I was thinking MS could have asked them to take em off so we're stuck with Vista lol.

 

maz1964,

I understand that feeling, not a problem. I couldn't unzip this installer with my app (7-Zip), but if you can it'll save you these steps. This is the extract command:

iata78_enu -a -p"c:\iata78_driver"

If you get privilege errors from the app (it requires root~):
Explore/browse to your iata78_enu.exe and copy the folder ' Address' at top.
goto Start Menu > Run
Run this: runas /user:Administrator cmd
It'll prompt for your admin passwd...
type cmd "" (press the left arrow so cursor is between the two quotes, right click & Paste, hit enter)
You should now be in the folder containing the iata78_enu.exe (you can use the dir command to confirm it's 'here'). You can use the command above to extract the files now. All it will do is extract NOT install, and ask for agreement to their EULA of course.

The IATA driver was the only thing I needed to slipstream onto the install CD, it was a bootable CD by the way.

I think the Intel Chipset app contains a lot of drivers you should install like Memory Controller Hub, USB, etc... I remember letting it do it's thing automatically then cleaning up the USB stuff later.

tac603,
Wouldn't surprise me in the least regarding MS. I have been hinting to my boss that we should be able to move everything in our offices to 'nix by 2012

 

Hello folks.

I’ve been having a heck of a time going from Vista to XP.

Has anyone experienced a problem getting the audio driver installed after installing XP?

I get Install Realtek HD Audio Driver Failure!! error when trying to install Realtek drivers. I tried the driver on the Acer Euro FTP site first, then the one on the Realtek site. I get the same thing with both drivers.

When I look in the Device Manager, I do not have any yellow exclamation points under sound devices. I do have a 'Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus' device. When I select it and click on “Update Driver”, nothing happens. I can only disable the device.

I Googled and found the following:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12045955#post12045955

If I try to uninstall it, I get Failed to uninstall the device. The device may be required to boot up the computer. error. I even tried to uninstall it under safe mode but got the same results. I get the same results even if I disable the device first. Restarting does not make any difference either.

Any ideas?

 

Well...

I wiped the whole thing again and installed the Realtek audio driver before anything this time. It worked!

I have always installed the chipset inf files first, but I guess you cannot do that with HD audio.

 

Has anyone been able to get the eNet utility to work with this laptop, XP and Broadcom wireless NIC?

I get the following error when I attempt to install eNet:

"Acer eNet Management only supports Intel® 2200BG/2915ABG/3945ABG/3945BG wireless cards"

I know for sure eNet worked when Vista was installed.

Also, I feel foolish for asking this, but is there a Bluetooth device built-in to the Extensa 4620Z? I ask because I could not find a XP driver and I get "No Bluetooth device" when I slide the Bluetooth button which is located on the front of the laptop. I don't recall if this was functional when Vista was installed. The user manual has a "manufacturing option" notation which means some models come with it.

 

i just got m y extensa 4620z today. i went to install xp, and of course got the "no hard disks..." message. i read about the nlite solution, but i'd like to ask something b4 i try that. when i first ran the xp cd, setup ran as normal up til the no hdd part. however, now when i try to run the same disc (not nlite), it just hangs at "setup is inspecting ur comp's hardware profile" and reboots after about a minute. does anyone know why this is happening? is there a way to fix it? will i be able to use the nlite method to install xp?

 

You MUST add the IATA driver to the install disc. The standard WinXP install disc does not have a driver for this notebook's interface. The nLite solution is the simplest way.

I don't know why the install is stopping at a different point. It should fail at the same point everytime because nothing is saved from the previos failed install.

First, I tried it with adding all of the drivers (sound, NIC, etc.) to the nLite installation disc. That created a problem with the audio. I tried everything but ended up wiping the HDD and creating a new nLite disc with only the IATA driver.

Just follow the instructions in the previous post and only add the one driver. Then install the other drivers after the O/S is installed. Install the audio driver first.

I could not find a eNet version for XP, so you will loose that functionality. No big deal if you are not planning on installing all of the ACER utility crap.

Good luck!

 

Yes, at least my 4620Z does. You'll know it if there's a light w/ a bluetooth symbol between the battery charging led and the wireless activity light.

 

Hello Everyone.

I want to firstly say that I am amazed at how much I have learned in the period of 24 hours. I found Evolutions post especially helpful. I have had my Extensa 4620z for a few months now and have finally worked up the bravery to rip vista and install xp for obvious reasons.

I bought myself the xp, then when i tried to install I recieved the notorious, "no hard disk found" message. I must have spent 12 hours reading what to do today. I wish I would have came to this site first I could have saved so much time. Anyways...so now I have downloaded the f6flpy32.zip file and ordered myself an external floppy drive as well as some floppy disks, which should arrive in 3-4 days.

Anyways...I'm just trying to gain some reassurance that I know what I am doing. I've read all directions on at least 20 websites, so I'm sure I can do it, like I said just wanna run it by somebody because I've never really worked with floppys...ever.

So I am gonna hook up the floppy diskette drive, insert a blank floppy, then extract with winzar, create an iso of the f6flp32 file...(can i use power iso or could I even just extract with winzar then copy and paste to the diskette?)...sorry i know this sounds pretty slow speed...

Then place the xp in cd/dvd rom...restart computer, run xp set up, press f6, install f6flp32 through, then choose drive, format, and install.

I'm guessing after that, if it works I will have to start installing the xp drivers.

Another thing I was confused about was should I install the drivers to vista before I even install xp? Or can i do that after xp installation?

Sorry I just need someone to Please use laymens terms. At this point I believe I pretty much have it done.

Please let me know if I am completly way off though!!!

Thank you in advance sooo much.

 

sorry to bump an old thread but does anyone have the IATA driver? i cant seem to find it and a friend of mine wants xp on his acer laptop and he doesnt know how to do it, so i told him i would. except i cant find the driver lol

 

been doing some digging around here and google and took forever to get enough info on setting up win xp for the 4620z. just wanted to help all those lost souls when it comes to installing xp on their 4620z. anyway, here's a great link to a step-by-step tutotial on how to set up xp on an Acer Extensa (the tutorial is for a 5315, but the steps are the same for the 4620z-- just different drivers). oddly enough, the iata drivers used for the 5315 are the same as the ones needed for the 4620z (the website actually hosts the needed iata files).

here is the TUTORIAL

also, the needed 4620z xp drivers/files can be found in the acer euro site HERE

one last link for those interested in dual booting vista + xp. HERE