downgrade from vista to XP (acer 5315)

alright everyone,
just got my ACER 5315-201G08Mi laptop, and since i really don't like vista, i'd love to downgrade to good old XP. i saw some user here (bigozone?) has already done it. so i've checked all the drivers i need and i got this list:

- Intel Celeron(R) CPU 550 @ 2.00GHz
- Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller
- Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller
- Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Realtek High Definition Audio
- Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter
- Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express
- CXT HDAUDIO Soft Data Fax Modem with SmartCP
- Suyin Corp. HP Pavilion dv9640us WebCam (Acer CrystalEye webcam)
- Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller
- Intel Matrix Storage Manager ICH7/ICH8/ICH9/ICH10 (drivers 8.2.0.1001
- Intel Chipset Device Software (drivers 9.0.0.1008 WHQL)
- Intel Turbo Memory Driver (drivers 1.5.0.1013 WHQL)
- Intel Matrix Storage Manager ICH6 (drivers 7.0.0.1020 WHQL)
- Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller
- HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T20N ATA Device
- Alps Pointing-device
- Acer Inc. Launch Manager
- Moniteur Plug-and-Play générique
- Intel 82801 PCI Bridge - 2448
- Intel ICH8 Family PCI Express Root Port 1 - 283F
- Intel ICH8 Family PCI Express Root Port 2 - 2841
- Intel ICH8 Family PCI Express Root Port 3 - 2843
- Intel ICH8 Family PCI Express Root Port 4 - 2845
- Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
- Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1
- Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2

so far i've found most of these drivers and i'm still searching for the ones missing. however, i wouldn't mind having some general guide lines as i really don't want to **** up in the process (obviously). is there anything i should be particularly careful with?

thanks for your help.

 

well, with such a massive list i dont think u have left out anything....
i guess if bigO will be around he might give u some more advice....!!

out of all curiousity how r u doing it....?? reformatting the hdd and then doing a fresh installation of xp..??

 

haha i guess...

i'm just downloading the main items anyway (chipset, sound, etc.), i won't bother with the webcam and the other "side dishes" for now.

 

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

this site has an excellent walk thru for the entire process...
and once you post a few more times i'll PRIVATE MESSAGE you with a few other tips

but the main thing to do is install XP/ XP pro and upate to Service Pack 2,, then install the sound drivers..

then you can do the other drivers in the order listed on the link above
BUT SOUND NEEDS TO BE FIRST DRIVER INSTALLED..

it just solves a few probs with getting sound and modem to work.

bigO

 

yeah that was the original plan. but i heard i should keep the SATA drivers safe on a CD because XP doesn't come with its own SATA drivers. but that's the only tricky bit i've been warned about, and i'm afraid there's a couple of other thingies i should think of, which is the reason i'm asking for some advice now.

 

good god, that was quick haha.
thanks for the tip bigozone, that tutorial looks dead good. i'll give it a careful read tomorrow when i can think straight and have a bit less alcohol in my body (as it's already 3.12am here in europe) and let you know what the story is. if you have more good tips to share, feel free to drop me a line here : mehddr at gmail dot com.

 

just follow that guide to creating the XP disk using NLITE to embedd the SATA drivers into the install cd...

you can download the entire driver pack as one file there also..
but it doesn't contain the CAM drivers

i'll send you a PM with a cool link

bigO

EDIT::

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=251130

my 5315 info thread... i've been adding important stuff as i come across it!!

 

bigozone, you've just made yourself a proud man. nice one!

 

glad you approve!!! and thanks for the REP...

i'll go outta my way to help someone who shows a little thanks

just message me with any questions you have...

i'd start by following that SOULPASS guide to the letter

then i can point you to UPGRADED drivers (i think i have newer ones than ACER or most anyone)....

have fun
i know i'll never go back to VISTA... and that Core2Duo cpu is a great investment... 2 gigs is a must if you don't have it now.... but if you are like me you just have to go one step at a time

later,
bigO

 

hey bigo, so i've went through the whole step by step tutorial, and everything went fine until i reached the launch manager set up, then it started to get a bit funny.

first, i can't get the laptop to make a sound. in the sound manager it says everything's working fine (codecs and that), but it also says there's no device installed for playing sound. i did follow the tutorial carefully and installed everything in the right order, starting with sound. did it happen to you too?

the other thing that bothers me is the fact that i can't access the WLAN set up: you know that small icon next to the time in the taskbar (bottom right corner) that tells you whether you're connected, when i double click on it to scan for available WLAN networks, it says windows isn't allowed to manage my connections because another program is. what program would that be?

apart from these two things, the whole XP installation process went fine and it looks steady enough. i would really like to be able to listen to music and connect to the internet though haha.

thanks in advance and sorry for being so demanding. it's just that i'm moving to a different country on tuesday and i don't want to be trapped there without a functional laptop...

 

by the way, what's the launch manager for anyway? and that whole acer empowering bollocks, do i HAVE to install it? thanks!

 

right, i did sort out the sound issue. but the WLAN problem is still causing me a lot of anger!

 

the atheros connection manager is the only thing i have installed that can over-ride windows WIFI settings but that is not a part of the SOULPASS toutorial..

i had 0 problems using thier info... but the WIFI has caused MANY people problems... i'll did up some driver links and send them to you!

launch manager is the ONLY ACER app you need to install... it controlls the keys for WIFI,, volume and the green e key... so that is the only acer app i have installed

that and the NTI burner program


i have some links to newer lan drivers

let me dig them out tomorrow... but the one from windows update by doing a custom update (not express) should have a driver update listed under the hardware option on the left

just private message me with any probs...

i guess i need to check my mail

later,
bigO

 

firstly, my apologies for logging on as a bugmenot.com user. I really cant be bothered signing up.

but i thought i'd point out something important...

if you read through the comments on the soulpass site, they say that you MUST install the ePower management utility otherwise your CPU fan will not restart after coming back from 'sleep' mode, causing your computer to crash. And to install ePower you first must install the Empowering Framework (because ePower uses the framework).

Some users still however have problems with overheating after coming back from sleep mode, and someone has suggested using I8KfanGUI which worked for them. If you install this, then you wont need to install ePower and Empowering Framework.

 

NEWER BIOS VERSIONS HAS FIXED THAT ISSUE

bios ver 1.34 or 1.40 don't have that issue
sorry if i assume people kept up w/ updates and upgrades

but for older versions of the BIOS you are 100% correct....

this method also works
i just turned off sleep, suspend, and hibernate and didn't have that issue

 

Hey, Bigo, the wifi light/key works with no acer stuff installed.
All I did was install the driver from device manager and mine works fine.

Just thought you'd like to know.

James

 

do the other media keys work ,, (vol +/-) and the green E key that can be setup to open programs or websites.. if not then you might want to install LAUNCH MANAGER for XP/vista

i think the VISTA one on the support.acer-euro.com site is both XP and vista

if not uninstall it and PM me... i can send you a link

 

Just checked and to my surprise the volume keys also work, no display
on screen, but hey ears tell ya what ya need to know about that. The
green e key no work, but no problem for me. I use a USB cordless mouse
for everything possible. The quick lanuch toolbar makes a lot of
things easy to do.

Also I had windows 98 installed and forgot to change back the bios
setting to ahci and xp installed in ahci mode still booted ! Found the
software for the hardware all by it's self ! Of course 98 is kinda
useless on a 5315 so back to XP and ahci I went.

James

 

i bet it flew with WIN98

what drivers did you use?? were they easy to loacte?? i've got a spare HDD and i'd like to load it up just to see.... even if it can't both cores of my CPU

 

Only got it to work in safe mode, install was funky. It installed in one boot from a full version CD of windows 98. Had to hack using another install from another computer to get it to boot in safe mode.
Not worth the trouble ! )
Bet I saw the windows 98 boot screen a hundred times before it
booted in safe mode. Used the drivers for windows 2000 and a
lot of hacking changing numbers so the drivers would load.

James

 

you still having issues??
i deal w/ so much i miss a few posts here ane there..
post current issues and i'll try to help