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    quick vista format question

    Discussion in 'HP' started by bugly, May 12, 2008.

  1. bugly

    bugly Notebook Geek

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    Hello all,
    I recently purchased a Compaq A900 laptop with Vista Home Premium. My family and I are use to XP and I would like to install it on this laptop. I have backed up my computer including the vista operating system so I can reinstall Vista at any time. Is it possible to format the drive and install XP and if so, what is the best way to do it? A quick reply would be appreciated as I would like to do this tonight.

    Thanks for any input..

    Kevin
     
    bugly, May 12, 2008
    #1
  2. miner

    miner Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    The first thing would be to start off by slipstreaming the SATA drivers onto the Win XP installation. The A900 uses an Intel chipset and so would require SATA driver for the XP installation to recognise the HDD. As far as the drivers are concerned take a look at the sticky for the reinstalling Win XP in dvx5xx series. The A900 should use similar hardware and some of the drivers suggested in that thread should work for you as well. The A900 is a brand new addition, so there arent guides specific to that laptop yet. but hopefully, look through the deivce manager and search the web for XP drivers for the specific hardware.

    P.S: be aware you might run into ACPI issues with Win XP, if the BIOS does not properly support XP.
     
    miner, May 12, 2008
    #2
  3. bugly

    bugly Notebook Geek

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    Miner..thanks for the update...might be more than my experience will allow.. I will probably just keep Vista..and get comfortable with it. Thank you again

    Kevin
     
    bugly, May 12, 2008
    #3
  4. radopod

    radopod Notebook Evangelist

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    You could consider going for a clean installation of Vista to make things smoother for you!
     
    radopod, May 13, 2008
    #4