G2S Windows XP instalation

I looked through the forums to see if there is an other tread about this, but could not find any. Please refer to the tread if you know the link.

I don't have a G2S for myself, I have a VX2S-A2. Now I work in a computer repair store and one of our usual customers has a G2S. He is a gaming hardcore, and bought this machine specifically for that.

Now as most people already know, the newer laptops and computers come with some version of our lovely OS Vista. In that case it is the standard edition, 32bits. AND as most gamers know, it is not gaming friendly. Far from it.

We where going to make a little LAN party at my work place, and since most people got cutting edge systems, we where going to play games like Call of Duty 4, Crysis and so on...

As expected, nothing was working right. Constant system crash and very poor performance.

Screw Vista, back with XP.

This is where the first problem is encountered. I have a fresh XP Pro SP2 instalation disk in the DVD drive. Oops. XP does not support most of the SATA drivers, so the hard drive is not even recognized. Ok this one is easy.
I already installed XP on my VX2S, and since it is the same chipset, my custom Instalation disk will work fine, BUT it is an older SP1 Installation and the serial key of the new one does not work.

Solution? Find an old USB floppy drive. We have one somewhere in the back in case it is needed (actually, last time it was to make a FREESCO router with my laptop. No floppy bay). Simply dropped this on the floppy. Then just pressed F6 at the begining of the install. It then asked for the right drivers (there is 3 in the .inf file) The right one is the one with the longest name (can't remember better than that).

Then install as usual.

Asus as not realeased any XP driver, but most Vista drivers are backward compatible. The ones that are not working are VGA, chip set and LAN among others. Here are the drivers I used for install. : File 1 File 2
Keep in mind that not all drivers are working for the G2S.

I will post exactly what to use and what not later when I have finished the install.

For the VGA (usually the first to be installed), I used the newest drivers + modded .inf file from laptopvideo2go.com

 

Looks good for G2S users i know there are a few of these for the G1S floating around...but this is quite good good work. rep for you.

 

Thank you.

I have the G2 up and running now. Every component is installed and working.

I have used the following files from the driver package:

Audio drivers
WiFi drivers
eSATA drivers
chipset drivers
ATK driver set (don't run the setup file, just point the new hardware wizard to the folder)
Bluetooth drivers
Flash card reader drivers
Modem drivers

I used the drivers from the CD for Webcam (use the vista drivers, they are backward compatible).

And finally downloaded the drivers for the LAN card (Attansic L1 Gigalan)

Voila! XP running on the G2S
I will run a 3dmark06 test later to see what score I can get.

 

Kos-Mos you are my LIFESAVIOR. I just recently got a G2S-B2 and I really dislike Vista, and the most important program I need to use everyday is not yet Vista compatible. I heard reinstalling to XP is quite a hassle because you need to find all the right drivers, but you have done all the works!

So I just wanna sort make sure what I need to do. First get a USB floppy, and drop all the files you provided, and would this become a bootable disk? Or should I boot with a XP bootable CD? Also, the 2 inf files in the file you provided contains exactly the same file name length (iastor.inf and iaahci.inf), which one would be the right one?

And I guess I should be able to figure out the rest. Do all the shortcut buttons still work like factory default? Volume up, down etc...and do those direct flash lights still flashes (not like I really care)? I guess my question is, would everything, hardware wise, work just like before after this install, would I be missing anything?

Sorry if my questions seem redundant at times, but I really appreciate your help!

 

You just have to format the floppy, no boot sectors.

Then drag and drop all the files in the archive. You need both .inf.

Then boot with Win XP CD, and at the very beginning of the blue background screen, press F6 when it ask to install third party RAID drivers.

Then, when the floppy is loaded (it will show 3 SATA drivers). The one you have to use is the one with the longest name (can't remember the exact name)

You can also download a nice little program called NLite. It allows you to create custom XP instalation disks. You don't have to use all options, only intergrate the drivers.

And again you only need to integrate the driver with the longest name.

Then use your custom made XP disk as usual, it will detect your SATA drive no problem. (I did my VX2S with it)

 

Wait, what did you do to that Vista install? Newest games should run about the same and system crash, how so?

 

Please note that SP1 was not out yet for Vista.

Second, the G2S, being the "most powerfull" machine we had in hand, was running the servers as well as a client of the game.

And, We kinda are intense. Plus all games where running at med or low settings with still some cogging.

Now back with XP, the same games run perfectly smooth at medium-high-maximum quality.

Anyways this is not the point.
I am just telling people who want to do it that it is possible.

 

Thanks for the info, Kos-Mos; I was starting to think I'd be stuck with Vista, which has been nothing but an annoyance. However, I'm curious - did you install 64-bit XP? Because I'm trying to get that on, minus the USB floppy - using nLite to cook a disk. It keeps stalling with the "not 64 compatible driver" message. I've stuck to only adding 64-bit drivers to XP64 with nLite, except, apparently, the Intel Sata driver provided above. Any ideas on which would be the right driver to use for this?

 

Heh, never mind. Didn't take long at all to find the right driver... but if you're somewhat new to nLite, I'd recommend getting your hands on a USB floppy to load the SATA drivers. That's what I ended up doing... then loading an nLite XP 64 install without all the pre-loaded Wingarbage I didn't want.

 

Thank you so much for putting this guide together

I'm currently Dowloading the two files from Rapidshare. (I had to buy a premium account because there was a conflict with my IP and it said there was already a download in progress)

I have a question though, is the driver for the LAN card in there? I guess I'll know after the download is complete, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case it isn't.

I've never seen so many unknown devices after installing XP Hopefully with your help I can get my G2S running XP Pro without a problem.

 

Most of the drivers you need are there. You have to get the ones I posted in the first posts on your driver disk that came with your G2. The vista drivers for the devices that are not listed are backward compatible.

There is only a single one that is not there. You just have to connect to the internet, then run the new device wizard. It will search the internet and install the drivers.

It is the Intel Ready Boost chip that is not compatible with XP. They might add support later, but so far it only works with Vista.

 

So what's that little chip going to do with an XP OS? Anything? I could just pull it out from under the laptop. I see that there are two spots for the ready boost memory... I wonder where they're going with this...

Thanks again.

 

It just says "Device reserved for future use"