The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Vista to XP on a 1520

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by ElementalGT, Nov 16, 2007.

  1. ElementalGT

    ElementalGT Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    65
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I know countless threads have been made on this subject, but...

    I was wondering, are there any difficulties with uninstalling Vista and putting XP on my Inspiron 1520? Or is it a pretty straight forward process?

    Thanks.
     
    ElementalGT, Nov 16, 2007
    #1
  2. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

    Reputations:
    489
    Messages:
    2,842
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    If you have all the drivers (which you should since Dell offers both XP and Vista on the 1520) then it's a very straight foward process like you said. Format, install XP then install the drivers.
     
    adinu, Nov 16, 2007
    #2
  3. sinstoic

    sinstoic Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    214
    Messages:
    1,028
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    It is a straight forward process provided you have the XP installation disc and the required drivers. Backup any data before you install XP. Insert the XP installation disc, delete all partitions and create one or two primary partitions based on your requirements and install XP. Do you need anymore information? Do reply if this was useful!
     
    sinstoic, Nov 16, 2007
    #3
  4. JellyGeo

    JellyGeo Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    57
    Messages:
    603
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I just received my 1520 with the 160-Gb HDD - I left Vista on it after I un-installed the all of the junkware. Then I defragged Vista from command line ( defrag c: -w -v ) which took about 40 minutes. I used disk manager to shrink the C: partition after that and wound up with a 60-Gb partition. Then I booted a slip-streamed XP CD (with ICH8M drivers on it) and proceeded as the other posters have mentioned above. Good luck...
     
    JellyGeo, Nov 16, 2007
    #4
  5. sinstoic

    sinstoic Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    214
    Messages:
    1,028
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    OP is talking about replacing Vista with XP!
     
    sinstoic, Nov 16, 2007
    #5
  6. XDViPeR

    XDViPeR Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    25
    Messages:
    243
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Vista is *almost* as good as XP, yeah sure here and there, there are some annoying features but you overcome them and make Vista run more XP. Just search the forums for some tips to speed up Vista, or do a clean format, it makes it much faster!
     
    XDViPeR, Nov 16, 2007
    #6
  7. Xonk

    Xonk Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    8
    Messages:
    26
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    The Inspiron 1520 has a MediaDirect button and associated software. MediaDirect requires that you use the MediaDirect 3.3 Installation CD to prepare your hard drive BEFORE you install the OS.

    see this thread:
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2674584

    and search the forums for posts on MediaDirect.
     
    Xonk, Nov 17, 2007
    #7