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    Help installing XP Pro on my 2090!

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by Vagabondllama, Aug 21, 2007.

  1. Vagabondllama

    Vagabondllama Notebook Consultant

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    Ok!

    I got fed up with Vista, and I'm going back to XP Pro.

    Here's the situation:

    I have an XP Professional install disk WITH Service Pack 2.

    I thought this meant that the installer would be able to detect my SATA harddrive.

    However, I attempted to install and it could not detect it.

    I found this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143771&highlight=xp+install+2090

    Which mentions stuff about AHCI Configurations, but I'm unfamiliar with it and couldn't quite determine how it affects my situation.

    Mine is enabled by default in BIOS...am I supposed to disable it in BIOS, then install XP Pro, and then enable it later? Or do I not need to enable it again?

    Anyway, if someone could just explain how I'm to install XP Pro, I'd be grateful :)
     
    Vagabondllama, Aug 21, 2007
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  2. yodio

    yodio Notebook Enthusiast

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    It dznt make sense, why do u want to go back to xp?????
     
    yodio, Aug 21, 2007
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  3. Vagabondllama

    Vagabondllama Notebook Consultant

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    Because Vista isn't really all that different from XP at all, except that it has certain things that annoy me that XP doesn't have. XP is more mature, better for games, more of my programs work on it, etc. Vista isn't BAD, but it's just really starting to annoy me with driver problems, random programs locking up that shouldn't be locking up, etc.

    EDIT:

    And with a bit more reading, I've answered my own question.

    If one disables AHCI, XP SP2 will install without a hitch. This makes the SATA drive appear as a regular ATA drive. Apparently this has no practical disadvantages. It limits the maximum transfer rate, but it's still high enough that you aren't going to notice any differences in performance. If you try to enable AHCI again after XP is installed, you'll get a BSOD upon boot up =).

    In order to leave AHCI enabled and install, you have to slipstream in SATA drivers during the installation.

    I also read two conflicting reports about installing the SATA drivers after disabling AHCI and installing XP. One said it was possible to install the drivers and re-enable AHCI, the other said it was not possible. Can anyone clear up this matter for me? I suppose I'll probably just disable AHCI and install anyway.
     
    Vagabondllama, Aug 21, 2007
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