Vista and XP Confusion - New XPS M1530

Hello all!

Received my XPS M1530 today and... I'm not too impressed with Vista. I can't seem to get 'into it'. Instead of configuring it I'd much rather throw XP Pro on here alongside Vista, work from XP for now and play with Vista as I feel like it.

But I've got a few questions about this.

I've got four default partitions currently: OS (C ; Recovery (D ; and two unnamed partitions with sizes 78 MB and 2.5 GB respectively. The 78 MB partition is labeled "Healthy (EISA Configuration)".

Personally, I do not see the need for the Recovery partition. If something goes so wrong that I need to reformat and reinstall the OS, I'll do so from the supplied recovery disks. So that partition can be deleted.

What about the other two? Are they important?
Assuming they can be removed, I would make another partition for XP Pro and install it there (and grab the drivers needed, etc etc). Problem solved.



The other option that I'm considering is while installing XP Pro, completely wiping the drive clean and then reinstalling Vista on another partition. However, is this possible with Vista being based off the Dell OS discs?

Does anyone see any problems with these ideas? or have any suggestions?

When it's all said and done, I'd like Windows XP to be the primary OS and Vista to be the secondary.

Thank you!!

 

The 2.5GB partition is your Mediadirect partition.

 

I would recommend dual booting Ubuntu and XP...Vista is a flop, although maybe SP1 may fix that

 

my pm to you bounced back ???

here:

personally would just install XP and keep vista too. This dual boot is easy to run and all you have to do is get a boot manager(freeware) and tell it what to boot to each time. By default your choice shows up for about 30 seconds on startup w/ a dual boot.

If you do this(install XP also> dual boot), your Vista Boot will be messed up and will boot into XP. Then you repair your vista installation using a Vista install disk and do a repair at about the 2nd install menu >> easier done than said >> really.

you don't need more than a 20-30 gb partition for XP and can get by with a lot less.

a good partition tool is Acronis disk director suite 10>6N2ZY-WCUAJ-9WL9X-86KZF-49MYG or paragon.... partition magic 8.5 hasn't worked very well for me w/ vista...... or for freeware >>
Cute Partition Manager v. 0.9.7 and is Vista/Linux compatible.....

 

Thanks. I don't think I'll need this feature. Any idea what the 78 MB partition is?

I've dual booted XP and Ubuntu before. While I thought Ubuntu was great, I just did not use it enough to warrant having it. The vast majority of my time was spent in XP and using windows based programs. I know Vista is a 'flop', that's why I want XP on the M1530! However, no doubt Vista will likely become the Windows OS of choice in the future, so I'd like to become familiar with it and slowly configure it to my tastes. However, since Vista is still new and no service packs have been released, I do not want to move over right now. Hence why I want to dual boot.

Ann, thanks for the help. I did receive your PM, not sure why it bounced back to you. Strange...

I think the best route to take would be reformatting and installing XP Pro, and then installing Vista in a partition. But what I question is, can the provided Dell OS DVD's install to a specific partition, or can they only install Vista as it originally was? (IE, will it install vista to one partition, or will it format and recreate all the original partitions?)


Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

Similar state to you, I have the M1530, don't like Vista, but want to run it in parallel to xp.

I don't know jack about media direct, but is there any way to get it to run, but to have th information on the primary drive? I see no need for it to take up its own partition..

Also is it safe to remove the EISA Configuration drive? (Also what program would be good to remove it )

I have done searching, and I found answers to the questions, of course, I don't have those answers anymore, as it was on a machine that is now formatted

 

I *think* the 78mb partition is the boot manager, that supports restoring the original image. Is it the first partition?

 

yes, they can install elsewhere, you just sort of tell them by manipulation of the partition and what install first, etc. Two partitions, install XP Pro First, it will be C: Drive, Then install Vista and it will jump on the 2nd partition. Your drive letters will be a bit messed up because of your CD/DVD drives, Removable Devices, etc. No problem though, just install any of the many freeware boot managers and all is well in the world.


Acronis Disk Dir Suite 10 is available for this job....

annie okie

 

Okay! Decided to install XP solo for now.

Reformatted all partitions aside from the 78mb one. When I figure out exactly what it is, I'll decide if it's needed.

I've installed the XP drivers discussed in various threads on here, and everything seems to be going relatively smooth.

One issue is that the laptop will not come out of standby mode. Once it goes into standby, bringing it back causes the hard drive to spin up and the power light to stay on, but the screen stays blank. I think this was mentioned in some other threads, and I don't know if a solution to this is available yet?

And a question: To install XP I changed the BIOS hdd setting from AHCI (correct acronym?) to ATA since my XP CD wasn't recognizing the hard drive. I'd like to change the setting back to the default... do I need to specifically download new SATA drivers for Windows XP or should I have them now, after getting up-to-date from Microsoft Automatic Updates?

Thanks!

 

You need to provide the SATA drives during the install. Changing it now will result in BSOD. Get the appropriate driver, then start over.

 

Actually, if you just install this:

Hard Drive Driver
Description: Intel Matrix Storage
Release: 11/9/2007, 7.8.0.1012
Size: 5.62 MB
Download: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/deta...stems&lang=eng

You can then shut down, change back to AHCI and you'll run fine.

See this thread for more details:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=193815

 

sonicwind, thanks for the help.

When I attempt setup of the driver, I receive an error:
"This computer does not meet the minimum system requirements for installing this software. Setup will now exit."


I downloaded Intel's Chipset Identification Utility (version 3.22), and this is what it displayed:

Chipset:
Intel(R) GM965 Express Chipset

Chipset Components:
Memory Controller:
82GM965

I/O Controller:
Intel(R) 82801HB/HR I/O controller hub (ICH8M)

Integrated Graphics:
Intel(R) 965GM Graphics And Memory Controller Hub(GMCH)


I could not find the "82801HB/HR" controller listed in the system requirements of the driver setup.

*sigh*

And on top of it all, I got the crap Samsung LCD monitor! JOY!

 

Can someone with a M1530 and XP run 3dmark06?
I have the computer with Vista and It would be nice to see if there were any difference..

 

is it possible to install xp as dual boot without removing or altering vista thats already installed? i need to run some software that wont run on vista

 

I got 4045 with stock clocks and drivers. 5179 overclocked with the latest nVidia drivers patched with LaptopVideoToGo inf.
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4794551. I'm pretty sure I could get it up to 6000 with some research and tweaking, if necessary. This is really pretty disappointing since the over a year old 7900 in my 1705 is just as fast.

 

yes. no problem............

be sure you have a partition ready for it. it should just install to the 2nd partition >. you should get an option during installation where you select the partition where you want to install it

i renamed the partion >> XP 64Bit, replacing "drive"

i've found that easier and less confusing when doing a dual boot, that way you ALWAYS which partition you're messing with.

after you install XP on the 2nd parttion, your vista boot record will very likelybe corrupt. So use your vista disk, reboot, go to vista install and do a "repair" >> it will repair the vista boot record and you can again boot into vista

get a easy boot manager like "Easy BCD" and also iReboot >> they make a dual boot simple........

 

To solve the standby issue, update the drivers. the video card drivers posted on the drivers thread will cause this problem