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.

    still trying to install XP on 1505

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by brianluce, Apr 4, 2007.

  1. brianluce

    brianluce Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    101
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I have a generic (non Dell) copy of XP I'm trying to intall on my 1505. Vista has proven to be unusable for the software I run.

    When I install XP, the first window opens but the "Install XP" is shaded and impossible to highlight. All the other items on that first dialog box can be highlighted and clicked on.
    Is there something in Vista that must be disabled before Vista can be installed?
     
    brianluce, Apr 4, 2007
    #1
  2. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

    Reputations:
    836
    Messages:
    3,682
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    If you want to install XP, you have to boot from the disk. You can't downgrade from within Vista; that's why the option is grayed out.

    Prior to installing XP, visit Dell and download all of the required drivers and software for XP for your laptop. Review the XP install guide on this board and make sure you follow the directions!
     
    kegobeer, Apr 4, 2007
    #2
  3. brianluce

    brianluce Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    101
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yep, I did all that and still it doesn't boot. Is there something in Vista that prevents booting from XP disk?
     
    brianluce, Apr 5, 2007
    #3
  4. Robert in Sadorus

    Robert in Sadorus Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    17
    Messages:
    354
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I just tried to get XP back and it opened a whole new can of worms, needless to say i've spent the last 3 hours cleaning up the mess, I did get XP back up but it had all kinds of problems finding my hardware and other assorted stuff. So I did a clean install of Vista and there is a night and day difference from the first Vista upgrade attempt, So much nicer this time around, no bloatware and i actually have space on my hard drive that i can use now. Clean install freed up like 30-40 gigs of space, Unbelievable.
     
    Robert in Sadorus, Apr 5, 2007
    #4
  5. brianluce

    brianluce Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    101
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    How does one do a "clean install of Vista"? I don't care if which OS I use, I just want something that works.
     
    brianluce, Apr 5, 2007
    #5
  6. Jagged73

    Jagged73 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    66
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    If you really want a clean install of XP, then you need to make sure your bios is set to boot from cd.

    If it is then insert the xp disk and restart your computer. If I were you before I started though I would have an off hard disk back up of all your drivers and documents.

    Once the XP disk boots up you will be walked thru the installation. There is a guide here on this forum you can use also.

    Simply inserting the xp disk and trying to install XP while Vista is running wont work, and even if it did I can guarantee that it would be even more wonky than what your working with now.
     
    Jagged73, Apr 5, 2007
    #6