CF-Y7 Downgrade from Vista Business to XP issues

Hey Guys,

I picked up a CF-Y7 last week, with 2 gig of ram, 2.0 GHZ 5800 chipset in it. Its running Vista and I would like to run XP as the software I use for work is geared for XP.

I've been running into some issues while attempting to downgrade and was hoping someone here could offer some insight.

I've downloaded all the drivers and such for the XP install from the Panasonic site including the Sata drivers.

I put in my XP install disc (full version) and laptop is able to boot off it. it asks for sata drivers which I allowed access by getting a usb floppy drive and put the sata drivers on it. so i load the drivers.. but yet.. XP still doesn't see the hard drive. what gives?

has anyone sucessfully downgraded before?

any help is greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

Tim

 

sigh... panasonic doesnt' really have much support...

 

Did the panasonic download section have instructions on how to do a fresh xp install?
They do explain for some models



Alex

 

unfortunately they don't. They have all the XP drivers though but no instructions on how to properly downgrade. Do you know of a specific model similar that has instructions to install XP?

oh you're from BC too.. i'm on the island.

 

I will look for the info
Some models have a bios update relating to change the sata hard drive to a compatable format to load
Which xp including sp# are you installing ?
btw I live on the island as well ,in the comox valley and in cr


Alex

 

i have two discs.. i have regular XP Pro.. and XP Pro SP3. Oh. I'm just further south from you in Victoria. Thanks for the help TomCat. Greatly appreciate it. I dont' want to return this laptop cause i got it for a great deal at LD but for me to do my work.. i need it to be on XP.

 

Well how did you get it without the xp downgrade disk?
Its been included for about 1 year
I have xp downgrade disks for the last 3 new toughbooks
And I just bought my F8 at LD and the 2 restore dvds were included
Can you ask LD to get a disk or copy for you


Alex

 

oh.... hrmm.. good question. Well i looked online and my model number is the JM version (seen at the end) and it doen't come w/ downgrade discs (This is according to the Panasonic site).

I'll double check my packaging tonight when I get home from work but I had checked before and all it had was the Vista business disc. Your F8 had both? and the F8 are newer too and you got that handle on your toughbook. nice.

 

OK I see that the downgrade is not an option for your model
When you load xp and you hit the correct F key to find sata drivers, does it show the drivers during the instalation?
When you downloaded the sata drivers, did you unextract corectly to the floppy?


Alex

 

Yup. it shows the drivers cause it boots off my usb floppy drive. and I choose the one they say to choose too.

i think its correct.. cause all i did was unzipped directly to the root of the a:\

 

I don't have any idea why it won't work
A time consuming option is to slipstream the drivers onto one new xp disk
But i'm not positive that that will work



Alex

 

i may try that.. But before that. I'll try loading up using my first generation XP disc w/o any SP on it. i'm pretty baffled.. I can't imagine an XP install be this troublesome.

 

I did the thing. I successfully downgraded my Vista to XP.
There are several issues I have met during downgrading:
1. That is actually what you have, basic XP distro is too old to support SATA. To solve the issue you have to correct and burn a new XP distro with SATA drivers included. To do it:
-- Find special utility which can update and burn XP distro. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of utility I have used.
-- Download SATA driver for your hardware. You can fetch it from the current Vista distro (I followed this way) or try to find it on intel web site
-- Update XP distro with the SATA driver using the special utility I have mentioned before and burn new XP distro.

After that you can start XP installation boot from the CD

2. I remember I had problem with HDA driver. It was required to install special Windows XP update which was not available on MS web site. As far as I understand this update is supplied only directly to notebook vendors and they use it during XP installation. I found this (KB888111) on Panasonic web site but, surprise, it was impossible to install since it was localized as JP package. Try to find the MS English update on another vendor web site. For example, Lenovo for sure had it.

 

thx man. i'll give that a try... i don't know how to rebuild the xp disc.. but hopefully one of my friends do.

what should i look for on the lenovo site? whats a hDA driver? I guess i'll look it up

 

The software that I was thinking about is called nLite



Alex

 

Sorry, I am not frequent visiter of the forum. HDA = HD Audio. Unfortunaly I don't remember where I have found the MS fix kb888111, but I think I have it somewhere stored on my PC, if you still need it I can send it to you somehow.

PS:
Tomcat57 is right, the software I have used to update XP distro is called nLite

 

sup guys.. alright.. i think i wave the white flag... this laptop wins lol.

i've burnt 10 copies of xp... used nlite multiple times... without any success.

the motherboard/harddrive seems to be forever stuck on vista. can't think of anything else. spent 1.5 weeks on research. testing.. everythign to have it go to XP.. but no go. unfortunately.. sadness... i'd bang my head against the laptop.. but its a toughbook... wouldn't suffer any damage lol

 

Never give up

I can give you access to XP ISO image I have built and use. I think it is not against low, since anyway you have to use your personal serial key. Let me know if you want to get the ISO image and I will provide (privately) kink to it.

 

ok i'll give it one last try. sunday is the last day for me to return the laptop pretty much.

you can reach me at tathom @ gmail . com (Remove the spaces). thanks man

 

Have you looked here? There is info on downgrading and even a downloadable leaflet about it. You have to register... But it is free!

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wc...ePage?langId=-1&storeId=15001&catalogId=13401

 

I am also looking at a CF-Y7 version that does not have an XP downgrade (CF-Y7BWAYZJM). I have virtually no technical background. Will I be able to downgrade? How difficult will it be?

Thanks,
Peter

P.S. What does the JM signify?