TOTAL GUIDE: 1420 With XP!!!

Hello everybody. I have gone through quite a bit trying to install Windows XP on my Inspiron 1420. But, after much research and time, I am writing this guide below that should hopefully get you up and running with a brand new clean installation of Windows XP in under 2 hours (and most of that time will be burning something to a cd, letting windows install, and letting drivers install).

Here is a step-by-step guide:

PART I: CREATING A NEW WINDOWS XP DISK with SATA Drivers

-Download nLite from
http://www.nliteos.com/

-Insert your Windows XP disk into your computer. Start up nLite. Now, do the following:

a. Select your Language (English for me), then click "Next."

b. Click Browse for "Locating the Windows Installation" and select your CD-Drive with the Windows XP cd in it (for me this is D:\). Then it should ask you where to save the files onto your computer, so just browse to the Desktop and create a folder called "XPCD." nLite should proceed to copy the files into this folder. After this is done, click "Next."

***c. You may at this point see something showing you available presets. If you come to this screen, just ignore the presets and click "Next."

d. Now, we need to download the actual SATA drivers for the Inspiron 1420 to work in native AHCI mode (if you didn't understand this sentence just read on). Download the SATA drivers from here: http://support.dell.com/support/top...plash?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~mode=popup&file=205611

e. Extract the SATA drivers from the download (double click the icon) into a folder on the Desktop once again (I created a folder called SATA on the desktop for these files).

f. Now, go back to nLite. Next to "Integrate," select "Drivers." Next to "Create" select "Bootable ISO." Unless you know what you're doing, ignore the rest of the options. Click "Next."

g. Now we are on the "Drivers" page of nLite. Click "Insert" and choose "Multiple driver folder." Now go find that folder to which you extracted the SATA drivers (for me this folder is called "SATA" and is located on my desktop). In the pop-up that immediately follows, click the driver path again and select "OK." Now, choose "Textmode driver" and highlight the following line: "SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/M)" (pay careful attention to this!!!). Then click "OK." Then, click "Next."

h. You should get a pop-up saying "Apply changes?" Select "Yes." After this is done, click "Next." Now is the time to get out a blank CD. Remove your Windows XP disk and put in the blank CD. Go back to nLite now. Under "Mode" select "Direct Burn." Choose a Label for the CD (I just called it "XPSP2") and choose a burn speed. Then click "Burn" and say "Yes" to the pop-up.

i. Click "Next" again and exit (click "Finish") out of the program. Viola, we have our XP cd slipstreamed with the SATA driver so we can install directly onto the Inspiron 1420 with AHCI mode!!!


PART II: Installing XP and the Drivers

Okay, now that we have the actual disk, we are half-way through!

a. Insert the disk into your machine and follow the installation instructions for Windows XP, putting in whatever information you need to along the way. Once this is done, proceed to the next step.

b. Now, we need to install our drivers. For best results, just install the drivers in the following order, and DO NOT RESTART THE COMPUTER until I tell you to:

1. Intel Mobile Chipset
http://support.dell.com/support/top...plash?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~mode=popup&file=205326

2. Ricoh Driver
http://support.dell.com/support/top...plash?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~mode=popup&file=188377

3. Broadcom Ethernet Driver
http://support.dell.com/support/top...plash?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~mode=popup&file=207055

4. Intel Wi-Fi Driver (after downloading unzip and install)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/con...FullName=All%20Operating Systems&lang=eng

5. Bluetooth Driver (if you have bluetooth integrated into your computer)
http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R127314.EXE

6. Nvidia 8400GS Driver (if you have the dedicated graphics card option)
http://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R158222.EXE

7. Touchpad Driver
http://support.dell.com/support/top...plash?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~mode=popup&file=207700

8. Webcam Driver (if you have the integrated webcam)
http://support.dell.com/support/top...plash?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~mode=popup&file=206853

9. SIGMATEL AUDIO Driver

Okay now...this part is a little tricky but not really THAT hard. You just have to follow my directions EXACTLY to make this work.

Download and install it from
http://ftp.us.dell.com/audio/R158235.EXE
(DO NOT DELETE IT, keep it even after installing)


Now at this point, after installing all of the above, you should reinstall the computer. After your computer reboots, you WILL get an error saying that the sigmatel audio driver failed to install because you don't have the proper hardware (or something to that extent). This is OKAY!!! Proceed to the next step.

c. Okay, so what we need to do now, assuming that you followed all of the instructions so far, is go into the Device Manager (right click on properties on My Computer and go into the Hardware tab). Here, what you need to do is look for the one PCI device with a question mark next to it. It should say Unidentified PCI device or something close to that. What you want to do is right click on it and select "Uninstall." After doing that, right click again on the PCI devices and select "Scan for hardware changes." Now, your integrated audio along with the modem speaker will be detected, and so you should choose the automatically install driver option when prompted. After all of this is done, it will STILL FAIL. That's okay...now what we need to do is just reinstall the SIGMATEL audio driver once more! Go ahead and do that...and this time viola our audio will be detected and the driver will finally install!!! The only thing that WILL NOT work is the modem speaker if you are using a dial-up connection...but in today's world I'm surprised Dell even put a modem in this computer instead of giving us a gigabit ethernet...but that's besides the point.

***EDIT*** WE HAVE THE MODEM DRIVER UP AND WORKING PERFECTLY AS WELL!!!

Download the driver from:

http://support.us.dell.com/support/...eid=R147115&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=195675

That should take care of that

***END OF EDIT***

d. THERE YOU GO! You are all done, you have all the drivers up and working!!! Make sure you update your windows with all the patches and fixes...


Hope all of the above has helped greatly, as it sure has taken up quite a bit of time to write


***EDIT THE MEMORY CARD READER DOES WORK!!! I had some weird error...I just reinstalled windows again and it fixed itself***

 

Nice one matey,

This should work on the 1500's and 1700's i would imagine.

Their the same hardware right?

Will bookmark and try on my 1700 when it arrives.

Cheers

 

Yeah actually this guide should work on those models as well, I would double check a couple of the drivers (for example the video driver since they offer the 8600gt on those models).

 

Nice guide. Expecially because you list the drivers locations. It's always boring having to go through the manufacturers websites to look for the appropriate drivers.

Thanks, yourRep:=yourRep+1

 

Does closing and opening the lid cause XP to gracefully hibernate and resume without any side-effects?

 

you did a top-notch job on this guide. i dont have a use for it but if i ever need it, i know where to find it now. great job, keep up the good work!

Repped!

 

Thanks a lot!
I can't wait to get my 1420 and wipe out any traces of Vista on it!

Ideally i want XP and Linux (RH/Ubuntu) on it. Would i need some software like Partition magic to create partitions, for this?

 

In response to comments so far:

-Does closing the lid work?

Yes it does work, it works perfectly

-Do you need partition magic for XP and Ubuntu?

No you do not need partition magic. When you are installing XP, just erase all of the partitions initially present and create two new ones, one for XP and one for Ubuntu. However, I must warn you that Ubuntu driver support on the 1420 is not great at the moment (I've tried it). So, my solution is just to have one huge windows partition and run VMware on XP (you can get VMware server for free).

 

Great job!

 

wow nice!, but will this guide work with a vostro 1400? (all the drivers are the same?) or we must change/add something with the vostro?

 

Couple things you forgot. First off theres a hidden partition on dell pc's. If you notice when you reformat using vista, it always shows up as "partition 2." Using a dos program called kill disc, I found the partition "unknown" and did a binary wipe. From here I installed vista on partition 1 then xp on partition 2. Also, memory bandwidth for some reason in vista is 9000mhz, but in xp tests its only around 3000. Just some points to ponder.


sOnIc

 

More responses to comments so far:

-Does this work with Vostro 1400?

Yes this method should work...the hardware is exactly the same.

-Partitions and memory bandwidth

Hmm...for some reason when I was installing Windows XP I actually saw all the partitions, and I did a clear wipe, including deleting the Dell restore partition. Also, can you tell me where you're getting these memory bandwidth numbers from?

 

pcpitstop.com is where Im getting the memory benchmarking. And when you reinstall just xp, windows itself doesnt even see the hidden partition. Vista though is a different story. Put in your vista reformat disc and get into the gui for reformatting, click advanced. Dont format or anything, but just looking at your partitions, they start at partition 2. Not a big deal, but when I reformatted I wanted my partitions closest to the hard drive spindle, since Im only running a 5400rpm drive, I want to pinch as much speed out as I could. Less rotations = faster access times..

 

Awesome!! Windows XP Pro installed worked great. Minor adjustments (perhaps) regarding applying this to Vostro 1400. Most important point was getting SATA driver going. Thank you very much!!!

 

More responses:

-To sonicfrequency

Point taken about the partition...Regarding the memory I don't know what to do about that though as I seem to be running every application so far much faster than in Vista, so PCPitStop could just have an error in that aspect.

-To LarryEitel

You're welcome

 

Thanks for all the info!

Mind going into a little more depth about the problems with Ubuntu?

 

rep+=1 THANKS!

 

id like to add that if you have dell OEM XP discs, you can pop them in and they work just fine.

and you can have whatever version of xp you want, you dont need a key.

 

Well the thing is Ubuntu just doesn't have all of the drivers for the Inspiron 1420 yet...I forget which ones they were but I remember my video and wireless having problems at the time. I'm sure it'll be fixed as time goes on. But...VMware works perfectly for me so I'm not even going to bother with a dual-boot with Ubuntu now.

 

I wonder why the memory card reader won't work. the memory card reader for the vostro 1500 works with XP. I can't imagine they're not using the same hardware...

 

I went from using XP for 5 years to Vista and I love it

 

I don't know why the memory card reader doesn't work either...but apparently it's not just for the Inspiron 1420. A friend of mine has the 1705 and it gets a blue screen too when he puts in a memory card. Weird error...

 

is he running xp?

 

I am not sure what the card reader problems are for you guys. I have XP PRO loaded and it opens SD cards in the card slot just fine. After reading the first post - it appears I even have the exact same drivers loaded. Got bluetooth working fine as well after using the method here:

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_wireless&message.id=34695

Using the method from the third post down resolved my issues with the 355 bluetooth drivers.

Let me know if there is any info I can post that might help. great site - wish I'd found it earlier as I worked through the XP / driver load by myself.

 

Yeah he is running XP. We both have no clue why we get blue screens for memory cards...hopefully it can be fix though. I'll have to research it a little...

 

nice guide thanks!

 

You're in LUST, not LOVE. Give it a few weeks. You'll soon tire of the never ending hard drive thrashing (constant activity), the super-slow file copy times (what is Vista doing when copying files anyways?), the extremely long network connect times (seems to take forever for wired or wireless connections to actually start working once enabled), and all the other mindless, useless new features to slow you down. I suppose it is new a pretty, though.

Mind you, I'm not a Vista-hater...I use it on my desktop, but on my notebooks, I've tried Vista on all of them for a period of a few days to a few months, and everytime I switch back to XP, I wonder what I saw in Vista in the first place.

I just did a XP PRO install on a new Vostro 1400 that had VISTA. The install was easy (I used a newer Dell XP PRO CD), and got the drivers off a VOSTRO 1500 resource CD. Had the whole thing done in less than an hour without any slipstreaming or futzing with SATA drivers...everything is found and working.

 

^^ That's good to hear you got it up and running, the new XP cds from Dell already have the SATA drivers on them I guess.

Indeed...I feel like Vista is just Windows ME version 2.0 ... There's a reason there was a 5 year gap between XP and Vista (even though there probably should be even more of a gap). Vista IMO is already a sinking boat...lacks so many features that should have been included in the first place and it's so inefficient. Is eye candy really worth sacrificing your computer's resources? Add to that the incompatibility with many programs... in the end all Vista can tout is Direct X 10.0 but it seems that can now be back ported to XP due to a critical point that Microsoft has relaxed standards on to let Nvidia go after their complaints on it being very difficult at the moment. MSoft is coming out with Vienna and it is expected to release in 2009...hopefully that will be all that Windows XP is and what Vista SHOULD have been.

 

Dual booting XP/Vista with similar results here:

1420 With Windows XP (that is, I nerfed Vista)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143417

BTW, everything works, including the memory card reader

-LQ

 

I have the Vostro 1400 with Vista home. I want to also dual boot on it with XP. I got the HD partitioned with Vista installed on primary drive from Dell when i made the purchase.
For Dual boot will I have format the HD or can I just install the XP on the secondary drive? I plan to mainly use XP and maybe switch to Vista in a year when it matures.
How did you go about the dual boot any links etc.
thx

 

How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) -- the step-by-step guide

http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

I then used BCDEdit to restore the XP/Vista Boot Manager.

Note: If possible, back up all existing partitions first using a program like Acronis Disk Director in case things go south when experimenting.

-LQ

 

This is so weird...I just reinstalled my Ricoh Chipset drivers and my memory card reader still doesn't work. How is it that it's working for you? I get a blue screen the instant I put my memory stick pro in there with XP...

 

By chance, have you gone through this thread?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143417

In particular:

Chipset Drivers: I installed the Intel drivers, and ended up with a whole bunch of unknown PCI devices or something. So, on a lark, I downloaded and installed the Ricoh (version A00) chipset drivers, which seem to control the SD card reader (even though the SD card reader was working). Suddenly, my chipset was working. Everything, that is, except for one unknown "PCI Device" listed under the System Devices. What could it be? Could it possibly be...

-LQ

 

I was so excited to see this guide. I thought, I can do this!

Now unfortunately I am getting errors in the Nlite boot disk phase of the project...

During "applying changes" step I get the following message:

Access to the registry key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\NliteTempReg\controlset001\services\iastor\Parameters\Pnp interface' is denied But your drivers may still work anyway

Okay - so then I proceed on to burn phase and (3 attempts so far with 3 different disks) recieve the following error:

Write Failed! Error opening C: \ \Desktop\XPCD\i386\setupreg.hiv

This happens about 1/2 way through the burn process every time.

I am making the disc on my old desktop (Win 2K pro) . Using Dell OEM CD.

any ideas?

thanks.

 

I have a dell OEM XPSP2 disk that I got from a friend. Is there anyway to tell if the sata drivers are on the disk before I start? I mean, maybe I dont even need to do Nlite? (see post above please)

 

I don't know how to tell. I just grabbed an XP PRO (Green) DELL CD from a newly received Dell Optiplex 745 that I got from the Outlet. Stuck it in, booted from it, and started the install. It saw the hard drive and I never looked back. Everything went flawless.

The only device I had an issue with was the 10/100 Ethernet. Had to go to Broadcom's website. For some reason, the 1400 has a different Broadcom ethernet chip than the 1500. But, that is working fine now also.

 

Thanks a lot for this very useful guide. Your efforts have helped us a lot.

I did exactly the way it was mentioned in your guide and everything worked like a charm.

I have a few issues though:

After going through all this process I have following two things mentioned in the "Other Devices" heading in Device Manager:

a) Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus
b) Network Controller


These two aren't going away even after installing all the drivers mentioned in the guide.

Did I miss something?

I appreciate your efforts.

 

Just an update:

My Network Controller problem has been resolved.

I had a Dell Wireless 1390 Mini-Card instead of Intel Pro Wireless card.
Just downloaded the following driver :

http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R151519.EXE

and the problem went away.


However "Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus" still appears in 'Other Devices' in Device Manager.

Also whenever i boot XP OS says that it has found a new hardware and asks to install drivers.

Pls advise.

 

Right so I mentioned earlier that the Modem device on High Definition Audio Bus doesn't work. Basically this is the noise that a dial-up modem makes when it is connecting to the internet. It's not a big deal because either way your modem will still make a connection if you still use dial-up. Go ahead and right click on it and click "Disable" in the device manager. You shouldn't see that new hardware pop-up anymore with regards to that. This does not remove any actual functionality from your computer...you simply won't hear it dialing if you use dial-up.

 

Thanks a lot lightflux for the reply.
This really helped.

 

No problem...although I still can't get my own memory card reader to work without a blue screen showing up. Maybe I should call up Tech Support and see if there's any fix to this.

 

Ugghh - total bummer. So, I continue to get errors making my CD. Google is no help & the lack of replies here makes me think my situation is unique. Soon I will cry! :cry: :cry: :cry: I wanted this weekend to be about installing apps not fighting with install CD.

same two errors every single time:

During "apply changes": access to \\\\iastor\parameters\pnp interface is denied

durning burn: (fails about 1/2 way through) error opening \\\\\\setupreg.hiv


tried searching nlite forums...but those guys are really out there. also tried doing this on several different machines. Same error everytime.

So does that mean I have a bad XP CD to start with?

 

Hey brown shoe....I dunno why I missed your comments earlier. Yeah...you probably have a bad XP cd. Try just borrowing one from a friend...you can still use your own key.

 

Awesome! Most of the instructions and drivers mentioned in the first post worked on my Vostro 1400.

The major difference was having to add two AHCI drivers to the XP installation disc, not just one. Otherwise I got blue-screens when trying to load XP. The two drivers are:

SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/M)
SATA RAID Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E)

Also the Sigmatel instructions can be simplified. When you reboot and it says it failed to install, you just go into Device Manager and manually point the device to the Sigmatel driver directory, no need to run the executable again. You can also then disable the Modem Device as mentioned.

 

i have a couple of questions.

if you create that xp partition and then sometime afterwards something goes wrong and you try to restore the laptop to factory settings, will the partition be erased or whatever?

also, if you have mcaffee installed and MS office, will those things carry to xp? or will xp just have whatever was on the installation disc?

thanks a bunch for the great, in-depth guide, by the way.

 

If your partition goes haywire yes you will lose the data. I don't get your second question, could you rephrase?

Also UPDATE!!! I got my memory card reader working after reinstalling XP hehe

 

Has anyone tried how to make QuickSet application work on XP?

 

Quickset worked fine for me on my Vostro 1400 with XP. Use the Quickset from the Vostro 1500 drivers.

 

The QuickSet from the Vostro 1500 XP drivers didn't work on my Inspiron 1420 with XP.

It says "This is not a supported system. Setup cannot complete".

 

If you want to use the modem, simply install these drivers:

Communications: Conexant D330,HDA,MDC,v.92,modem, Driver, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Multi Language, Multi System, v.drv_xp_2k_7.59.00.50, A00

http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R147115&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=195675

The modem is also helpful for faxes from time to time.

-LQ