XP Pro will not install on Vostro 1400 / Inspiron 1420. Please Help.

Hi everyone,

I've been having some OS and hardware issues with my Vostro 1400 and have a couple of questions. I'm pretty sure I've got a bad hard drive first of all, and Dell is sending me a new one. It fails to install Vista completely and sometimes has issues when Vista is actually installed. So, with the junk OS off of my HD, I decided to install XP Pro. No-go!!! XP will not recognize that there is even a hard drive installed and will not proceed with the install. Vista will proceed with the installation, even allowing me to manage all drives (delete and create partitions, format etc.). Is there a driver issue going on here? Has anyone else had issues installing XP on their Vostro or Inspiron? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

=)

-Josh

 

You need to slipstream your xp cd with sata drivers.

 

make sure ahci is disabled in the bios, you need standard sata mode. then you need to feed it the sata driver from dells driver cd like rasenganx said. from there you should be fine.

 

That's not a hardware problem.. its the fact that you are not loading the SATA drivers before actually installing the OS. This in inspirons and vostros is a must because if you don't do it then the OS will never actually completely boot (that is why you are able to INSTALL vista but not login into the system)

I would recommend you go back to Vista installation having your sata drivers at hand. When choosing on which partition to install you can specify to "Load Drivers" and select the SATA driver provided by dell. Then everything should go smoothly.

Good luck

 

How do I "slipstream" the XP cd with the sata drivers? Here is how I am understanding this.

1) - Enter bios and make sure AHCI is disabled, start in normal SATA mode.
2) - Boot to CD with SATA Drivers, and install the particular driver.
3) - After SATA Drivers are installed, boot to the XP Installation CD and install XP.

Is this correct? Where can I obtain a bootable SATA driver for my particular HD? Fujitsu. Thanks again for all of your help people.

-Josh

 

Josh

The answers to your questions can be found in these threads:

The DELL forum information booth

FORMAT XP ON DELL LAPTOPS GUIDE

Installing Windows XP on Dell Inspiron 1520

Xonk

 

Check the Dell FAQs. There are whole threads dedicated to installing XP on the Inspirons. They list everything step for step with all the drivers listed.

 

Studly!!!

Thank you.

-Josh

 

I just did that on my Vostro 1400 on Sunday. I got a new hard drive to install XP so that I can swap back to Vista anytime I want. You don't need to change the BIOS setting if you have the correct SATA driver.

1. Slipstream the SATA AHCI driver onto a Dell OEM WinXP CD. If you have a new OEM CD (i.e. from 2007), the driver should be included already.
2. Boot with the Media Direct CD to set up partitions before OS installation.
3. Install WinXP with the slipstreamed CD.
4. Install chipset driver, notebook system software, quickset, media direct, we well as other drivers and applications.

 

This guide has EXCELLENT step by step instructions. Also with links to ALL THE DRIVERS and PROGRAMS you need.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=150033

If you can't follow these SIMPLE instructions, I'm not sure if you should even be messing around with it.

 

Hi,
I just received my vostro 1400 and trying to remove vista and install XP pro. I have followed the threads and built a XP pro image with AHCI drivers. However, when I boot with this disk or for that matter the original XP pro cd, it shows the "setup is inspecing your system" message for a second or so and then screen goes blank. There is no cd/hd activity anymore. Has any one else faced this problem? Any solutions for this?

Regards
R'twick