Extensa 5620 Downgrade to XP

I am trying to downgrade my Acer Extensa 5620 from Vista to XP. I was wondering if someone can point me in the right direction...

I have searched the Internet and obtained what I think is the AHCI F6 disk from Intel. But XP install would always end up in the blue screen of death before I even get to the User Agreement screen. If I don't use the disk, it will simply not find any drives.

Thanks in advance for any help....

 

Just wanted to add...

does anyone know how and where in the bios to switch from AHCI to Compatibility or IDE mode?

I think this is what I would need to do.... or not... but cant find it in the bios

 

Some BIOS (like mine, the HP dv6519tx) dont have an option to disable AHCI. Are you sure you have the correct driver? You could try 'slipstreaming' the driver into the XP installation using nlite (free off the net) and see if that works.

By the way, the 'Disable AHCI' step is for skipping the F6 disk procedure entirely (I think).

Grand Admiral

 

thank you so much for the clarification. I was able to update the bios and was able to switch to IDE mode... now I just gotta figure out how to switch it back without it crashing

 

I have the same model and want to install Xp, Can you explain what you did to update the Bios?

Thnx

 

I'll second that, any chance you could give us the 60 second run down on how to get XP on the 5620? Vista is horrible.

 

I recently bought and Extensa 5620 and would definitely like to install XP. Vista is a dog. Could someone give me the rundown on what I need to do that.
Thank You

 

I've now revised this guide to better cover all models of AHCI Acer's.

Solving the AHCI issue on Acer laptops:

I am at this moment typing on my Acer Extensa 5620-6830 (bought from Best Buy for $599 last week), which I upgraded from Vista to XP. This thing friggin' FLIES with a real OS on it With Vista it took almost ten seconds to extract a 2MB zip file! I mean, really....

I'll try and be as detailed as I can about how I did it. And yes, my AHCI is turned on in the BIOS. If you follow these directions, it's pretty easy:

1. Don't immediately wipe Vista! It's actually useful for another hour or so. Use Acer's backup software to do two things- first, a Full Backup of your system. Trust me, if you ever have to send your Acer in for servicing, it better have Vista on it or your warranty could be voided. Plus, someday when you sell it, uninformed people think it's a plus point
Secondly, why bother downloading random drivers you hope are the right ones? Acer makes it easy with its Driver and Application backup CD creator. A little known fact is that these drivers appear to be both the complete Vista AND XP set. Once you're done, you'll have burned three DVD's, and be ready for some XP goodness! If you've already wiped it, or just want the latest available, grab them from here. I did both, just in case, throwing the newest onto a 256MB USB drive. Thirdly, look in Device Manager to see what AHCI Disk Controller you have! Write this down. On the Best Buy Acer Extensa 5620-6830, it's the 'Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI.' Other models may be slightly different. This info is important later, and it can be difficult to find out without some annoying trial and error.

2. Reboot. Hit F2 to access the BIOS, and change the setting on the second page from AHCI to IDE (If you don't have this option, boot back into Vista and update your Bios, downloaded from the link above). On the Boot tab, change it so your DVD drive is first. Save changes and exit. Don't worry, we'll switch it back, but it's MUCH more of a PITA to leave it on when we install XP... unless you have a USB floppy drive sitting around, or like building slipstreamed XP disk ISO's!

3. Pop in your XP CD and install like normal. My Acer had three partitions (10MB, 90GB, and 90GB); I killed them all and created a single one. The Recovery CD's we made -should- put everything back as it was, if we ever need it. After formatting my 200GB drive it's 186GB. Being on really new hardware it won't autodetect everything, but Don't Panic. We have all the drivers we need, thanks to our forethought in making that disc / thumb drive / whatever.

4. Once we're at the desktop, change your resolution to 800x600, then start installing drivers (some setup program buttons are cut off in the default 640x480). You probably want to start with the chipset driver, then the video drivers, sound, etc. On the Extensa 5620, you will likely have no sound at first and end up with a 'PCI Device' that is unknown; just right-click it and choose Update Driver. Let it automatically find it (it's the HD audio), and your sound should work after the next reboot. I rebooted every time it wanted to, then installed the next driver. This way they don't clash or get misconfigured. The webcam driver (both original and latest on the FTP) appears to install and work fine, but makes your system hang when shutting down. Until we get a better driver, I just disable it to avoid having to hard crash every time. In theory, you can just enable it whenever you need to use it.

5. Everything working OK now? No exclamation marks or unknown hardware? Great! Now let's conquer the AHCI issue. On the driver CD, browse (don't auto-run) to the Drivers\ directory. Copy the AHCI folder to your C: drive, so now it's c:\AHCI\. Open the command line (Start -> Run -> cmd), and enter "c:\AHCI\setup.exe -a -pc:\" (without the quotes). This will pop up the setup utility. Click through it- it's not actually installing, but extracting the drivers for us to use. You'll find them afterwards in C:\Driver.

6. Now we manually install the driver into XP: Go to Device Manager, under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers you should see something like: ICH8M SATA Controller. Right-Click on that and select Update Driver. Choose No to connecting to Windows Update to search, then hit Next. Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced), hit Next, then select "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install." Hit Next again, then select Have Disk. Browse to your Drivers folder (C:\Driver), highlight the iastor.inf file, and hit Open. Select OK, then choose your AHCI driver (what we wrote down earlier, remember?). You'll likely have to uncheck the 'show compatible hardware' option to see the AHCI options. Again, on the Extensa 5620-6830, it's the Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Storage Controller- YMMV (Your Motherboard May Vary). Click next, ignore the warning that installing the device driver is not recommended, click Yes, Finish, then Yes to restart your computer.

7. When your computer reboots, hit F2 again to enter the BIOS. I changed my boot order back to HD first (shaves a whole 2-3 seconds off bootup time), but that's up to you. Change from IDE mode back to AHCI, save changes and exit. Once you boot to Windows, your computer will find and finish installing the "new" hardware, then likely ask to restart again.... but hooray! No more Vista!

Troubleshooting: If you still get a blue screen upon booting up, you may not have selected the correct AHCI driver. Reverting the Bios setting to IDE should get you back into XP to try again. If not, use F8 to go into Safe Mode and reinstall the controller driver there.

Tips: I ran into an issue where my favorite OpenGL screensavers won't run over 1fps on the 5620. After finding out that this is why (Intel disables OGL hardware acceleration on screensavers), I then found a workaround: rename screensavers to *.sCr instead of all lowercase. You may have to reboot, but then they should all work smooth again. This affects all X3100 users, or anyone with Intel GPU's.

Credits: I didn't 100% come up with all this, but pieced it together from many different sources into a complete method that worked for me. I'll answer any questions I can, and continue updating it as needed or requested... now, if we can just get a decent webcam driver

 

Hi there!

Thx a lot to CharredPC, disabling the webcam I solved the hanging problem when XP restart or shutdown. (How did you identify the cause??)
Mention that I downgraded from Vista to XP on a travelmate 7720. I updated the BIOS, changed ACHI to IDE, installed Win XP and then installed the correct drivers for AHCI (ICH8M SATA Controller in my case) but when I try to set ACHI on BIOS again a bluescreen appears loading XP.
Any suggestion???

Thx in advance!!!!

 

Glad I could help! I figured it out by installing each driver and then rebooting. Both the original webcam driver and the updated one on the FTP cause the same lockup issue at shutdown (first reboot is fine, then it finishes installation of the webcam and hangs everytime after until you disable it).

A couple points. First, ensure all your other drivers are installed. This includes the chipset drivers! Second, make sure to install the driver manually as I described; if it installs automatically, or lets you install without complaining, then you're not installing the right driver. See, if your disk controller shows up as "ICH8M SATA Controller," that isn't the driver you should install. I know that sounds confusing, but here's why-

The current driver works with IDE mode, because that corresponds to what the Bios is reporting to XP. By changing the Bios setting, we're reporting different / incompatible hardware to the OS; normally it can't even boot to detect the new driver (BSOD). So we need to force-swap it for the ACHI mode driver (in my case, the 'Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Storage Controller' driver)- then when it uses it upon reboot, we now have the hardware to match. Make sure when installing you select the correct one! I figured out which was appropriate by looking at my device properties in Vista before I wiped it. I probably should have mentioned that step in my initial how-to, but figured all Extensa 5620's would use the same controller. ( Updated my guide accordingly!) Your Travelmate 7720 may use a different one, though a lot of your drivers here look similar to my 5620. The AHCI driver is actually the exact same pack for both, but it does apply to multiple controllers. My guess is that you either selected the model that was already installed, or the wrong one. Try choosing the 82801HEM/HBM one as I suggest, and see if that solves your bluescreen issue. At worst, you can put the Bios setting back, then F8 into XP's Safe Mode to restore the original driver.

Keep me updated! I don't see any reason to stay with dog-slow Vista, when the only benefit is a slightly prettier interface, updated games, screensavers, user pics, and wallpaper. For that matter, check out how XP Pro looks on my 5620 (warning, 1280x800 screenshot) All the benefits, but runs like lightning!

 

Thank u very much indeed for your help.

Well, I couldn't start XP using the AHCI SATA mode. I tried to do the steps of your first post as I could but doesn't works.
First, I extracted the driver files from the driver package, not from the CD but from the Acer drivers page. (I don't have the original CD...)
I tried to replace it using the .inf file directly but the update tool told me that it was unable to find any difference with the driver already installed. I think is obvius because I used this driver before so probably the mistake is that I'm not using the driver from the CD?? But is so confusing because the driver on the CD may be the same or older version as I'm using... Actually, I don't know. The filename of the package is AHCI_Intel_v7.5.0.1017_Vista_XP and the names of the devices that it configures are:
- Intel(R) ICH8M 3 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2828
- Intel(R) ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850
So I think, they are the good ones but probably they are incompatible with XP using AHCI SATA mode??

Second, I uninstalled the SATA drivers installed before and I restarted the computer. I entered to BIOS and I changed the SATA mode to AHCI... the same bluescreen appeared. I did that because I thought the new and correct hardware will found it on the next XP reboot so I can install the driver properly.

I'll be waiting for any suggestion! Thx again.

 

That's fine, either one will work. I was just trying to save people the trouble of downloading things

I know, it's confusing. That is the same driver package you have installed, yes. It includes both the IDE and AHCI drivers. Read my updated guide carefully. You can't just right-click and choose Install on the *.inf file. You have to go through the process I described and manually change the Serial ATA driver over to the AHCI driver. The driver you have now says nothing about AHCI in the title- we need to manually place one there that does. Make sure you're viewing all devices, not just the 'compatible' ones.

Exactly. Those are the correct drivers when your Bios is set to IDE mode. We have to change them before we can set the Bios to AHCI.

Unfortunately that process won't work; XP can't even boot to the point of trying to install a driver. That's why we swap the driver, THEN reboot with the AHCI on. The only other two ways I know of besides the one I described are really more difficult (slimstreaming/rebuilding the XP install CD, or finding a USB floppy drive to load drivers from using the F6 RAID option during setup).

Let us know how it works out!

 

Hi Charred, Hi All,

All that is written here works VERY FINE. I just did everything, I must admit I knew most of it, except extracting dos command. And the Crystal Eye works fine, well installed, no crush.

Thanks for the topic and the whole teaching, it's great your knowledge, CharredPC.

I had some problems on audio install, but did it finally. realtek...

Bye

 

First off, thank you very much CharredPC for your post, it's
been most beneficial. I have the Extensa 5620-6830 notebook,
loading the WinXP Pro edition (SP3). I'm having trouble loading
the audio drivers and I'm getting the PCI Device warning under
Device Manager. Previously, I had the Network Controller warning
under Device Manager, but when I added the ACER utilities and the
Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1, it resolved perfectly. Plus, I've gotten
everything else to work properly.

I've downloaded multiple audio version from the acer FTP website.
Audio_Realtek_v5.10.0.5423_XP.zip
Audio_v6_0_1_5391.zip
and this one:
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?
Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=
false#High%20Definition%20Audio%20Codecs

None of them are working. I've attempted selecting the setup.exe file
and also the update driver (right click) on the PCI Device under
Device Manager: I've done both the Hardware Update Wizard and
'Search the best driver in the location' where I placed the uncompressed
files.

Any suggestion? Thanks in advance.

 

Oh, the only other driver I haven't installed since you mentioned
there still may be issues with the Crystal Eye Webcam.

WinXP Pro (SP3) is showing up as USB Video Device within my
Windows Explorer. When I select it, the right panel opens up
the webcam and I see a live video feed of myself.

If I do load the Acer webcam driver, will I be able to uninstall
it if I have crash issues like you mentioned previously?

 

hey, i have followed the intsructions posted, but when i get to installing the driver, i get the error message...."The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem." I've tried using the drivers downloadin from the acer website for xp and still get taht same error....does anybody know what i can do?

 

got it to work....jus needed up update xp to service pack 2...

 

Yes VonBSD, you will be able to uninstall it, cause it's just an application... as you can see, the webcam is already working...

I've installed "TM5710_Webcam Chicony v.5.7.28.400.zip" try it too. It works absolutely fine.

 

this is beacause the PCI device is the modem... install the modem drivers and then the audio driver will work. meanwhile there is a conflict between audio driver for soundcard and audio driver for modem.

and install it manually, if needed, I mean go to PCI device in Device Manager, have the PCI Device and the click on update driver under Properties. That only after you execute setup option from the modem zip package and still doesn't work. Hope it ill work for you like it did for me.

 

Well, I attempted to load the modem via the Update Driver and Setup
file to no avail.
I've tried both files on the FTP Acer site:
1) Modem Agere LiteOn v2_1... Vista version
2) Modem Foxconn Conexant... XP version

When I do the Update Driver from the Device Manager, I get
the following message.

From what I can tell, everything works perfectly except me being
able to get the modem and audio drivers to load correctly.

I've probably spent over 12 hours trying to resolve this issue to
no avail.

 

i need some help, i installed server 2003 on the laptop and everything is working smoothly except i have a question mark next to my graphics card, PCI (modem), and an unknown device. And i can not install the intel drivers because it wont let me. Anyone know how i can get it to install the intel drivers on this lappy?

 

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/SO...AA-Bus-Driver-for-High-Definition-Audio.shtml

try installing that first, then seeing if it will see the modem/audio drivers from the files you have.

 

goofball, thanks for the tip but still no success.
Previously, I found that same file on realtek.com
but with no luck correctly installing the file.

Each time I try to load different Realtek audio files, they
load correctly but after rebooting, I check Sounds and
Audio Devices and the screen states 'No Audio Devices'.

I'm not sure if this matters, I downloaded and installed the
Bluetooth driver, even though I do not have a Bluetooth device.
When I check my Audio Setting under Control Panel, the Bluetooth
shows up as a playback device but I still do not have sound. When
I check my PCI Device under Device Manager, I still see the
exclamation mark. I've attempted to reload the audio and modem
files, while having the Bluetooth driver loaded but still nothing new,
so I removed the Bluetooth driver.

I still downloaded the file you recommended
but I still get the same result. After loading the Realtek
file, I attempted to update the PCI Device driver, manually
selecting all (i.e., one at a time) downloaded drivers for
the Extensa 5620 from the Acer site and still nothing.

I don't understand why others would have success and why
I'm having so much trouble--it doesn't make sense.

P.S. Thanks Mellody1 for the webcam post and info.

 

Also, the Vendor ID for the PCI Device is Intel (8086) with
a Device ID of (284B) which corresponds to the
HD Audio Controller.

Which I found under the Details tab of the PCI Device Properties
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_284B&SUBSYS_011F1025&REV_03

I used this link for help:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298837

 

VonBSD: Sorry I've been away for awhile or I'd have helped sooner. You've hit the nail on the head with your own thoughts; When you installed the Bluetooth drivers without having a bluetooth module installed, they sort of 'took over' the HD Audio PCI device. Hence, no matter how many times you install the sound drivers, it can't locate the hardware. To solve this, you can do one of two things:

1. In your Device Manger, right-click the Bluetooth device and choose uninstall. Reboot. After rebooting, it should find the new hardware. Hopefully, it will see it as the HD Audio device. If not, and it asks, point it toward the HD Audio driver directory. There's a small chance it could automatically reinstall the BT driver. If so, do option #2.

2. In your Device Manager, right-click the Bluetooth device and choose Update Driver. Select not to use Windows Update. Choose to install from list or specific location. Selecting 'Include this location in the search,' select the HD Audio driver folder, then hit Next.

Troubleshooting: If it says it can't find any compatible devices, go back and choose 'Don't Search. I will choose..' Uncheck 'show compatible hardware,' then use 'Have disk' to select the HD Audio folder driver. I'm assuming the driver isn't in a single installer executable file, or has been extracted. By now it's probably all fixed, so I'll wait to hear before further troubleshooting random possibilities

On a side note, I love this laptop. I upgraded the original 1GB (2 x 512MB sticks) RAM with 2GB (2 x 1GB sticks), and turned off virtual memory. It simply flies! I'm still planning on purchasing and installing the Bluetooth module as well. Someday when prices drop below $200, I may even upgrade the cpu to a Core 2 Duo 2GHz...

 

Actually, I upgraded too and have 3GB of RAM. When you turn off Virtual Memory, how does that make the pc faster? Do you set the Virutal Memory
to 'No paging file'?

Anyway, I tried your suggestions but I still can't get it to work.
When I attempt to Update the Driver by manually selecting the INF file,
I get the following message:
'the specified location does not contain information about your hardware.'

It's like my hardware is different and I don't have a compatible software
driver for the XP version.

I also noticed that when I have both the Bluetooth and Realtek software loaded, I get a conflict with the file: AzMixerSel.exe
and Microsoft wants to send an error report.
When I remove the Realtek Audio the error message goes away.

 

To turn off virtual memory, yes, you stop using the paging file. System Properties -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced tab -> click Change and choose No Paging File. OK, OK, OK... you'll have to reboot for it to take effect. If you ever run into an older program that requires a page file, or you have any other issues, just set it back. This just forces your OS to use all the (faster) RAM when loading applications instead of constantly writing to the (slower) hard disk. Windows will still keep a ~40MB system page file anyway, regardless of what we tell it to do (verifiable under Task Manager).
*Note: I recommend doing this only if you have 2GB of RAM or more. You CAN do it with 1GB if you only web surf and play solitaire, but too much multitasking or apps with memory leaks / poor memory management may cause problems. Virtual memory (is supposed to) pick up where your physical memory leaves off- unless you have a lot of RAM, with the page file off you'll risk running out and hitting out of memory errors.

If you don't have Bluetooth, uninstall the software completely. All of it. It will only cause conflicts and doesn't benefit you. It makes troubleshooting more difficult too. Also uninstall the HD Audio software. After that, reboot and uninstall the bluetooth device in Device Manager (if it hasn't done so automatically). Reboot again. Does it now autodetect it? What does it call it? Now try installing the HD Audio driver. Use the one on the Acer European FTP linked earlier in this thread. Also verify that the *.inf file is a true driver file, not just a a part of the executable setup.

Let me know how it goes

 

Both programs removed...
If I uninstall the PCI Device and reboot, upon booting
into the OS, it will find new hardware and attempt to
do a hardware wizard update.

Found new hardware: PCI Device

I select "Install from a list or specific location" then
"Include this location in the search", I select the
Audio_Realtek_v5.10.0.5423_XP folder, WDM subfolder
from the Acer European FTP download provided previously
in this thread. I've even tried the Vista subfolder just in
case but I get the same message.

Just get the message "The wizard could not find the software
on your computer for... PCI Device"

I'm thinking this might have something to do with my SP3,
I came across this microsoft forum:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2575850&SiteID=17

I installed Windows XP Pro SP3, is there a way I can downgrade to
SP2 without having to purchase a new XP disk with SP2? (Never mind)

****************UPDATE******************
I got it FIXED, YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I now have sound

I found the hot fix from Microsoft here:
http://geekswithblogs.net/lorint/archive/2006/06/11/81540.aspx
The download is under the picture.
KB835221.exe (QFE to fix the "Microsoft Bus" error message)

The KB888111.exe for SP2 didn't work for me since it's for SP2

The KB835221.exe states SP1 BUT it worked for my SP3!

The modem also now loads correctly.

Thanks CharredPC for your help.

 

That's amazing that you got XP to look like Vista. How did you do that? I also have a 5620-6830 and Vista's really becoming annoying. I printed out your "revised guide" and made the 3 backup dvd's. I checked the driver folder and there are 14 folders. Should I assume I'll be loading 14 drivers (or 13, not installing Bluetooth ). How long would you estimate to install all the drivers after loading XP? I'm planning on an hour or 2... And should I put in SP2 or SP3, and should I do that before or after the drivers.
Thanks so much for all your postings!

 

Where is the tool you spaeck of in your first post (Driver and Application backup CD creator)? i can't find it...
laptop Extensa 5620-6389
There is backup software, (NTI BackupNow 4.7). However, it cannot backup system files.

Also...
i want to install XP on a seprate partition that is the majority of the disk, while leaving Vista on a ~20GB partition. my plan is to delete the "Data" partition of the disk, witch is empty, and make a new 20GB partition. How can i move vista to that new partition?

 

If you like, I'll write up a complete how-to on the process tomorrow (bit late tonight). These days it's a common request to Vista-ize XP when I refurbish people's older PC's... and when I'm done, it's snappier than a fresh standard XP install

There's extra folders you won't use. I pretty much just installed what XP couldn't find the drivers for; just make sure you get the chipset drivers installed first. The video and sound are dependent on it.

I used a Windows XP SP2 CD. If you're using an original SP1 disc, then yes, upgrade to SP2 (if you can) before installing drivers.

I'm glad you find them helpful I don't have a ton time to keep up with this board, but I'll try and pop in as often as possible.

 

My Best Buy Extensa 5620 came with an Acer software toolbar floating on the desktop. Among other things, it opened Acer backup / recovery disc creator software. I would assume yours would have it as well.

AFAIK, you can't move your Vista installation to a different partition. Perhaps someone will correct me with some clever third-party-software method, but I'm pretty sure it's impossible. Also, the Data partition of your HD should contain a system recovery option and the Vista setup files. If you want to dual boot, your best bet is to start fresh- install Vista where you want, then install XP. There's detailed guides how to do that elsewhere on the web... I just personally don't see a need to keep Vista

 

Yes I'd difinitely use a write up on the Vista look, very cool!

I have an XP SP1 CD, and a separate SP2 update disc. I looked everywhere for a combined XP SP2 install download to burn to disc so I don't have to install as 2 separate (long!) steps...does that exist and if so any ideas where I could download?

(Also, any thoughts on SP3, I tried to install on another XP computer and got a "wrong XP version on computer, cannot install" message, weird...)

Thanks again!

 

Your guide helped me tonnes, and after lots of work my laptop is up and running (it's a Travelmate 7720), but there is one quite annoying problem remaining. The screen is not working properly, it only shows "the left half" of the screen, and no matter what resolution I choose the picture doesn't fit the screen. I've installed the relevant drivers from http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/tm_7720.html as far as I can see, but still the same. The only thing I haven't installed yet are the acer utilities, but I suppose they wouldn't have anything to with this kind of a problem?

Any ideas, anyone?

 

It never fails, as soon as I complain loudly somewhere I manage to fix it. I downloaded the drivers from intel instead and voila...

 

Sorry I haven't gotten it done yet, work's kept me super busy this week.

It does exist, but I'd probably get thrown off the messageboard if I gave out a link. Technically downloading an XP install disc is illegal, or at the very least a grey area, even if you have a valid license key to use with it. That said, there are XP torrents findable through Google and I use one myself (with my own valid key).

AFAIK, XP SP3 isn't officially released yet. I'm not touching the 'leaked beta' versions, so have no experience with it. If you do all the SP2 system updates, you have 99% of what's in SP3 anyway. It's more of a consolidation than anything new- a way to streamline the 80+ separate patches into a single pack.

 

i just integrated the sata driver in my winXP cd
but good this worked for u

 

Since this seems to be turning into the unofficial Extensa 5620 thread, I thought I'd make some observations about possible hardware upgrades for this unit.

This laptop has the newest latest-and-greatest Socket P, which I think is a good thing... future upgrade-ability and all that. The Socket P supposedly handles both 677mhz AND 800mhz FSB. If this is universally true, then our notebooks can be upgraded to something pretty sweet. Here's my future plans, providing 800mhz is indeed feasible:

Currently our CPU is a 1.5GHz T5250, with 2MB of L2 cache, running on a 667MHz bus. I'm thinking a 2.4GHz T7700 with 4MB of L2 cache, running on an 800MHz bus would be pretty nice. It currently sells for $328 shipped online, or about $270 shipped on eBay. Why not the beefier 2.8GHz X7900? Well, because this is a laptop, and cooling/battery life are real issues to me. The T5250 and T7700 specs are both about 35W. The X7900 is 44W- not to mention insanely pricey for that extra 400MHz.

If our system now has an 800MHz FSB, we'll need better RAM. I've already swapped the standard 1GB (2 x 512MB) out for 2GB (2 x 1GB), but that's 667MHz stuff. Currently you can grab two 1GB sticks of 800MHz PC6400 DDR2 for $74 shipped online (or $52 on eBay). Heck, eBay has 4GB (2 x 2GB) available, shipped for $92... but as my 32-bit OS will never use past 3GB, why bother?

Lastly, the standard 200GB hard drive. It's quiet, it's fine, but do you know what the specs are? Turns out it's a Toshiba MK2035GSS; 4,200RPM with an 8MB buffer and 12ms average seek time. That doesn't really fit in with the new powerhouse upgrades. While no bigger, a much faster alternative would be the Hitachi Travelstar 200GB. It runs at 7200RPM, has a 16MB buffer, 10ms seek time, and is selling for $190 or less shipped.

All of these upgrades currently add up to around $510-$580. I'm not nuts- that's about what I spent on this laptop itself, so too costly an upgrade for me. But here's my thought: for now, it's plenty fast as it is. I have no complaints. I figure it will take about eight months to a year to really feel the limits on this... and the way technology pricing goes, that should make my planned upgrades much more affordable. Luckily I'm no heavy gamer, so the lack of videocard upgradeability doesn't bother me, as it might others. In the meantime, I'll just add in the Bluetooth, purchase a heavy-duty battery, and enjoy my 5620.

BTW, I will be posting a full XP-to-Vista / Tweak guide (with all required files) tomorrow, so stay tuned. Sorry for the delay! It turned into something of a project, and I'm a perfectionist

 

The Windows XP to Vista makeover / Tweak / Tuneup guide is complete! I hope it's useful. I've put the guide itself within the 160MB upgrade package, but it's also available to view separately here (3856 KB). It should be viewable in Wordpad.

The file package includes Vista themes, screensavers, games, cursors, applications, Wallpaper, user account images, screenshots, tweaking tools, and more.

The package is split into two pieces. The first part is here (100431 KB); the second part is here (65828 KB). Use Winrar to extract.

 

U R MY HERO ! i bought my extensa 5620z sunday and yesterday i just decided to take vista tha'HELL out of my laptop it was slowing me down...then when i finished the format and the setup of XP and the drivers i realized that sound was not working so today i spent hours shearchin for ways to fix it and the it happned...i saw ur post...i did what u told me to and, SHWING!!!, ALL GOOD...so i decided to register in this forum just to thank u for that u simply spared me a couple of €(or Europe $$)for contacting help from acer and then they maybe could realize i just had an non-genuine version of xp on my laptop but that's that...I THANK U LONG TIME FOR CHANGING MY LIFE...i just want to know something more...how can i get does 3 dvd copies of the recovery-vista hiden partition (cause i deleted it on the formating step)...

 

1 more thing does ur laptop detects internet by ethernet cable...cause mine doesn't :tongue: only by wireless

 

Yeh all good here. Try a different cable and/or try a different ethernet destination port in case the one you've tried to date is iffy.

 

having just worked on one, i saw same problem, turns out the driver was not loaded. go into device manager and update it. the ethernet connection is probably highlightes/sticking out.

 

I have Xp on my notebook as well. I simply disabled AHCI mode in my bios to install xp. It took me awhile but I did get xp drivers for the notebook. I have completely made Xp look like vista. I simply installed bricoPack Vista Inspirat Ultimate. From a first look at the notebook , you cannot tell if it's Vista or Xp with a Vista theme on it. The only driver I cannot find is the Sata driver for the HD.

 

I get Internet on wireless and Ethernet no problem. You sure you have the proper drivers for the network adaptor ?

 

hi charr i have a question... after changing to ide mode and changing the boot state, i load the disk, it gets to inspecting my hardware...it doesn;t load but restart. any clues?

 

hi charredpc i am stuck on step 6. i did everything but i still get the blue screen. also i bought my laptop from best buy so i am guessing the sata drive is same.




i was able to back up my vista drivers and i have this folder in there

Intel(R) 82801HEM_HBM SATA AHCI Controller

also i am now missing my dvd drive. why oh why....

 

aznplayer213:
your post is vague, no offense. if you explain your problem in greater detail, you are more likely to get a response. (laptop exact type, what steps you did other than those on the guide, what steps, if any, did you skip). also, if you followed the guide from the beginning, you can use the recovery disks and start fresh.

 

also, does anyone know how to adjust the screen brightness?

 

OK, if you're getting a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) and you followed the instructions exactly, then you just didn't install the proper controller driver. Try a different one, and make sure you change the driver exactly as I described.

Missing your DVD drive...? It sounds like you changed something in your IDE/SATA drivers, but perhaps not the right thing Any exclamation points or errors?