XP on Aspire 5720?

Is there any way to put XP (instead of Vista) on my Acer Aspire 5720-6113 Notebook? I went to the bios and set it to boot to the CD drive before the HD and that doesn't work and inserting the XP CD when the computer is booted up doesn't work since the Install Windows XP option isn't active.

I was just wondering if it is even possible to get this computer to boot from a CD?

 

Are you installing it over Vista or are you deleting
Vista all together?If you're deleting Vista make sure
you make recovery disks.I suggest buying a new hard drive
and installing a XP on that and keeping Vista as a back up
in case you want to use it down the road.

If installing over Vista that's a little tricky since usually you have
to have the older OS installed first for a dual boot.

 

It has Vista on it ATM. Is it possible to install XP on a different partition and dual boot that way?

Edit
I also found out I bumped the wrong one in the bios but now it boots to the DVD drive instead of the HD.

 

Sure.

One way is for you to download a third-party software like VistaBootPRO, since, the system will boot into XP after you'd have installed XP because of the different bootloaders.

 

I go to install XP and it says it can't find my HD. =/
Any ideas why?

 

Check the BIOS for "SATA Native : Enabled" option and disable it.

Make sure the boot options are set to CD-drive, then HDD.

Exit saving changes.

That should work

 

This is a feature of Serial ATA HDD that can be disabled.

How did it go. Doesn't the bootable CD load now?

 

Excellent! Thank you guys very much. All seems to be working now.

 

Remember to download VistaBootPRO before the installation, otherwise you might not be able to boot into Vista (it has a different bootloader from XP, NTLDR) as i mentioned earlier.

 

Eww, I checked the Acer website for the drivers to my computer and they only work on Vista?

http://www.acerpanam.com/flex/acerdrivers/bin/drivers.html?CFID=880924&CFTOKEN=34743837

Acer Aspire 5720-6113

 

Actually that's not a problem.

But first let me know what is it that you want to do?
Do you want to dual-boot XP & Vista or just only XP?

 

Dual boot.

 

you downloaded VistaBootPRO?

 

Yes, I did download that.


Ugh, looks like Vista is getting the blue screen of death when I try to start it up but XP starts up.

 

a lot of the XP drivers for the 5720 are the same as for the 5315... same mainboard... arcadia

this site has good instructions on XP only install using SATA instead of disabling it,,, and has a lot of the drivers that are compatible with your model

http://soulpass.com/2007/11/10/inst...essional-sp2-on-acer-aspire-5315-2153-laptop/

 

well install it in XP and select detect OS options

 

Why would Vista be getting the blue screen now? =/

 

Shhpaz,

try this URL:

http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/about88231.html

This is a detailed tutorial on how to use the software for dual-boot.

 

how did you partition the Hard drive?

using Disk Shrinking in the Disk Mangt. utility in Vista or XP bootable CD, or a third party partitioning softwr. like Parttn. Magic?

 

Disk Shrinking.

When I log into XP, I can still see all the Vista files on my C:/ drive (XP is D:/) and I did exactly what that link said.

 

"Open VistaBootPRO, ignore the prompt to backup your BCD. Go to the System Bootloader tab, select "Windows Vista Bootloader" in the first section and "All Drives" in the second section and then click Install Bootloader . Next, go to the Diagnostics item on the menu bar and select "Run Diagnostics". VistaBootPRO will default back to the Manage OS Entries page and you will see that you now have entries there for "Earlier versions of Windows" as well as "Microsoft Windows Vista"."

 

Did you try that?

 

Did that and saw those. I rebooted to check it out and now I cannot get on Vista at all (Blue screen after I press the Enter button to select it) and XP keeps getting an error saying something is wrong with some .sys file so I re-enter my XP CD and do a repair then XP boots right up again.

 

Hster2 do you own or work on Acers much?? if so i have a link you might like... but i don't wanna post it in the forum... tried to pm you.. but well you know....

if you do much w/ acer laptops let me know

later,
bigozone

 

Something's not right with the steps you followed.

pls. follow them exactly as they appear on the URL I pasted earlier, you shouldn't have any problems, I've done it a couple of times.

Failing try changing the boot partition in Disk Management utility in XP, that'll be the last option to counter the failing Vista volume.

 

Ok, now I can't even get the "select an OS" screen. It automatically tries (and fails due to blue screen) to boot to Vista.

 

Ok, I can't get any of the drivers to work with XP. =[

 

Since my computer didn't come with a restore CD for Vista.. would I have to buy one or would I get it since my laptop is still under warranty?

 

Hi Shhpaz,

You seem to have run into some problems of your own. Well, no worries.

First, I believe u've backed up your important data. So install XP OS. Let me know when you've done this. Then, i'll tell you how to install the XP drivers, partition it and install Vista


OK

 

Hster2, when i post a private message to you it says something like

"this user has chosen not to recieve private messages" and refuses to send you the message???

 

I got Vista back on it. Lucky enough to do that. I think I'm done messing with it now. I'll settle with Vista instead of wasting another day or reformatting, etc. Lol.

 

Shhpaz,

Well, its nice to know ur happy with the way things are, nice escapade we had.

Though it's not good to back down in the face of what might seem to be a problem.

Good Luck anyway.

HSter2

 

Yeah but reformatting, reinstalling Windows, and then reinstalling all the programs I had before isn't worth all the trouble, imo.

 

Ok, I got XP and Vista on it successfully, finally.

1) I deleted all my partitions
2) Created 2 partitions (equal in size) using the option the Windows Vista CD gave me.
3) Installed Vista Home Premium (C:\)
4) Installed XP Home Edition (D:\)

After that, it would automatically boot the XP so I had to insert my Vista CD in and fix the boot. After that, I rebooted and I got the OS choice. (Older Version of Windows and Windows Vista) I didn't even need that program to get the dual boot working.

Thanks guys for the help.

 

congrats shhpaz...

persistance pays.... see where you are now...


later,
bigO

 

Hallelujah! ...

Congrats to Shhpaz!

-HSter2 out