Extensa downgrade to XP

I just purchased a acer extensa 4630Z and it has vista home premium on it. I want to downgrade it to xp, but when i put the a oem xp cd in while the system is booting up it preloads all the xp files but then get a blue screen with error 0x0000007b. How can I get a xp cd that will support this laptop?

I know you can use nlite to make a custom xp cd but I cant seem to find the right drivers to do so. I seen some people add slipstream drivers for aspires but this is different. Any suggestions?

 

The only thing that is probably missing are the SATA drivers and Intel matrix storage device drivers.

You will most likely have to slisptream those 2 onto the XP CD (and SP3 would be a good addon).

Worry about the laptop drivers later (when you have installed the OS).
Make sure you have the drivers beforehand of course.

There is another option ... you can turn off AHCI option in BIOS and install XP (then install all of the drivers, download and install SATA drivers ... and finally re-enable the AHCI in BIOS).

 

Ok I think ill do it the BIOS way but the only thing I cant find those SATA drivers I have all the others but those, they are not even on acer's support website. Should I go in vista and backup those drivers then use them just for SATA or its probly not compatible with xp.

 

You can go to www.intel.com and download the SATA drivers from there (they should be applicable).

Although, I would personally prefer you rather slipstream the drivers onto the XP CD and do it all in a single go without disabling AHCI.

 

Iam also experiencing the same problem with extensa 4630z. I have got Vista preloaded. But after that i have installed Xp in " D:\" without disturbing Vista (By swiching to IDE Mode). Now my Xp is working fine with all the drivers except the AHCI. I just want to know whether i'll get my Vista back ?

I need to have a dual boot. I understand that, i need to update AHCI and set the bios to AHCI. After updating the SATA drivers, what should i do ? how may i reload the Vista ???

Any good souls please help !!!

 

I'm not super familiar with Acers, but don't they give you a a recovery partition where you can re-load Vista, though I think it likely it'll wipe the partition(s). To do a install of Vista you'd need a Vista disc. I find it's best to install the older OS, in this case XP, first.

 

Yes the recovery partition of Vista will wipe Windows XP if you have it on the C: partition.

What you could have done is leave Vista and install XP on another partition if you wanted.
Still, to retain present XP installation and get Vista, you will need an actual Vista installation disc.

 

Ok I found Slipstream drivers but it was for downgrading a acer aspire laptop would it still work? Are all the slipstream drivers the same?

 

Hi, I'm also downgrading the 4630z laptop, but I'm having issues getting the wireless driver to work properly. I've tried several different drivers already and none of them are working.

I've downloaded and installed all win xp drivers from:
(insert http)support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/ex_4630.html
but I cant get any network cards to show up in my control panel. The device manages still shows my ethernet related hardware as not being installed (with a yellow exclamation point).

I've gotten everything else to work so far (sound, video, touchpad, etc) except internet. Even the regular LAN (not wireless) does not work.

I believe I'm not using the correct drivers and I'm running out of ideas. Any help would be appreciated.

-Update:
I've managed to get my LAN working using a driver from the thinkpad 4650. Unfortunately my WLAN still does not work. The laptop says it has a Acer Nplify 820.11/b/g/Draft-N WLAN adapter.

-Update 2:
-Ok, I got my wireless card to work. After hours of googling I found a working driver on the gateway sight (don't ask). You can download it here:

(insert http)support.gateway.com/support/drivers/getFile.asp?id=22383&dscr=Broadcom%20Wireless%20Driver%20Version:%204.170.25.12&uid=213871985

 

Ok I found Slipstream drivers but it was for downgrading a acer aspire laptop would it still work? Are all the slipstream drivers the same?

I checked intel's site for those sata controller drivers they arent there.

I just tried slipstream drivers I found filename called " iaahci.inf " I used nlite to intergrate them on cd im still getting a blue screen so they arent compatible.

 

Davouci or any other kind soul

I have same problems getting LAN to work on extensa 4630z running XP.
Can you send me link to get the "thinkpad 4650" drivers.
MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

anyone experiencing the wlan issue when you install a fresh copy of vista ultimate. i tried one of the driver from gateway but that didnt seem to work? any other drivers out there for me to try. i am experiencing the same issue like you guys but instead of xp i install a fresh copy of vista ultimate. is network controller with yellow exclamation mark means wlan? and ethernet controller=lan?

 

For the WLAN Issue, I was able to fix it by installing both the Broadcom and the Atheros drivers downloaded from the Acer Euro site. You have to install them in that order and it worked for me.....

 

radarsync.com/driver/d281238-atheros_ar5b91_wireless_network_adapter#

Download the WLAN.zip