HP DV6218tx - removing Vista

I've just purchased a HP DV6218tx laptop ( Australian Model) with Vista Business as the OS. I basically wanted to know if replacing Vista with XP will be a difficult exercise.
From what i can gather it looks relatively simple, apart from some comments about slipstreaming the SATA drives....not exactly sure what this is.

Does anyone know if this laptop was ever sold with XP? And if replacing Vista with XP is fraught with danger?
Are the drivers that are in the swsetup directory going to work for XP? If not, where do i find them

Comments appreciated.

 

All needed drivers are on HP site.
Additionally you will need sp32646.exe UAA thing from there.
All notebooks work with XP.

Slipstreaming: in factory default setting (in BIOS) XP will not see your hard drive.

 

Yes, as late as mid January 2007 and given the way people are dumping Vista, will probably be sold with it again.


These 3 threads should get you going. Pay particular attention to the Reinstallation guide. Although it was done on a DV2000T, the same applies for the 6000. I believe it covers the SATA slipstream/BIOS workarounds.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=59471
HP dv2000t Reinstallation Guide - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=101859
QuickPlay 3.0 Download Link - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3224055&lang=en
Software & Driver downloads HP Pavilion dv6000t CTO Notebook PC

Unless you can get a hold of the original XP SWSetup folder for a T, you'll not be able to install Quickplay Direct or Quickplay for Windows 2.3. The 2nd link gets you the latest Quickplay Windows 3.0, if you don't have it. It's a hack install since it was not intended for XP.

I believe most of the drivers are covered in the third link. If anyone knows of a better dl page, please jump in.

Also the UAA driver:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...58-1&swEnvOid=1098&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=3

 

Thanks guys - appreciate your help.

Tell me one more thing; If it all goes bad, will the recovery CD/DVD restore the system to factory settings, including all the drive partitions?

 

Yes, back to it's crapware bloated self unfortunately

It will return the drive to it's original layout (i.e. the way you purchased it)

 

OK - Partial Success. Basically if you have all the drivers and follow the guides in the stickys, it's a piece of cake (I used the bios workaround option).

My issues:
1. I don't have a copy of quick play that will work with XP.

2. The battery meter shows as AC connected, even when I run from the battery. I have two unknown devices in device manager and no reference to any batteries. I think I need to reinstall the Microsoft ACPI-compliant control method battery driver, but have no idea where to find it - I've searched everywhere (including the system32 directory), but no luck.
This thread explains the exact problem in more detail.

Can someone point me to (or send me) the drivers?