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    AR350E Downgrade

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by davidch, Aug 9, 2007.

  1. davidch

    davidch Newbie

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    I am in desparate need of downgrading this laptop to XP Pro. I called Sony and they don't have anything for downgrading, but I'm going to try anyway.

    Whenever I put the XP install CD in, it comes up and says that there isn't a hard drive.

    Can someone please help me get past this point so I can install XP?

    Thanks in advance!

    David
     
    davidch, Aug 9, 2007
    #1
  2. ipanema77

    ipanema77 Notebook Consultant

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    Got the SATA drivers for the HD ?
    Which version of XP are we talking about ? Pro ? SP2 ?
     
    ipanema77, Aug 9, 2007
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  3. davidch

    davidch Newbie

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    No I don't have the SATA drivers...crap. I'm also using an OEM XP Pro with SP2 cd...

    It's a Fujitsu MHV2200BT drive.

    Oh, and I used Ubuntu CD to remove the partitions and format to NTFS. So it should be a clean drive.
     
    davidch, Aug 9, 2007
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  4. ipanema77

    ipanema77 Notebook Consultant

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    I couldn´t find any drivers by now, but this could be helpful, too:
    http://193.128.183.41/home/v3__product.asp?pid=520&inf=swr&wg=30
    It´s from the German Fujitsu HP, the language of all tools is English.
     
    ipanema77, Aug 9, 2007
    #4
  5. MonsterMaxx

    MonsterMaxx Notebook Evangelist

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    Check in the bios and see if there's some sort of setting for type of drive.

    I just installed XP on a new SZ6 and it handled it ok, but I hear thinkpads need a bios setting change.

    Hope that helps.
     
    MonsterMaxx, Aug 9, 2007
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  6. davidch

    davidch Newbie

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    The bios is pretty crappy for such a "multimedia powerhouse"...it's Phoenix Technologies bios and I can't change hardly anything...is there a different function key I hit instead of F2 to get an advanced bios?
     
    davidch, Aug 10, 2007
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  7. titan_psp

    titan_psp Notebook Enthusiast

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    you need to have raid driver
    or SCSI driver because all AR series use SCSI connection
     
    titan_psp, Aug 13, 2007
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  8. fujitsu6460n

    fujitsu6460n Newbie

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    i contacted fujitsu support they will contact me within 24 hours for the sata drivers for the 200G sata HD. I will keep you updated when I hear from them
     
    fujitsu6460n, Aug 27, 2007
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  9. st0rm

    st0rm Newbie

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    Any luck with this situation? I am looking to downgrade to Windows XP, I have a Fujitsu N6460 and same issue, Windows XP SP2 dosen't recognize the HDD, so I am looking for the drivers.

    Any help would greatly be appreciated.

    Thanks
     
    st0rm, Sep 15, 2007
    #9