PLEASE! Need help downgrading FW.

Oh geez, okay. I need help. My friend asked me to help her decide what computer to buy. After painfully looking through dozens of specs I suggested she get the Vaio FW. One of the selling points was that Sony claimed to offer downgrades to XP. Well, they don't. At least not anymore. The folks at Customer Support told her she can't downgrade because the drivers arn't compatible with XP. When she told me that I chuckled a bit and told her there isn't a piece of hardware made that is Vista exclusive. Anyway, long story slightly less long is that now I have her laptop and I'm supposed to do the downgrade for her. My first problem is that I get a BSOD trying to boot from my XP disc even before the license agreement so reformatting and installation has been impossible (I'm stumped on that one, maybe SATA drivers?). Also, I'm having trouble tracking down a parts and driver list for the FW at all. It seems a few people have successfully done the downgrade but failed to share their winning strategy. If anyone has any help to offer for either it would be so greatly appreciated.

 

Let me guess, 0x0000007A? Yep, that's SATA drivers. First thing would be to nLite in the AHCI drivers into your XP disc.

 

Okay, first off, thank you so much for helping me...

Now the questions: I was looking at the nLite page, I'm not even sure what that is supposed to do. And what do you mean by "into your XP disc"?

 

How is it that the SATA drivers arn't a part of the firmware? It would seem to me (just from common sense) that a couputer wouldn't be able to boot an operating system unless the BIOS could properly run the SATA hard drive. Also, the error I'm getting (I just checked it again) is 0x0000007B, not A.

 

I really really don't mean to be a pain. I've built desktops for myself and for others, never coming across something like this. The BIOS is scary limited with options only to change the time/date and the boot priority order. I really don't want to have to return the computer to my friend telling her she's stuck using Vista. Is there a BIOS update I can get, drivers I can F6 in during setup, something else entirely? I thought about removing the HDD from the laptop and reformating with a fresh XP install from my desktop then plunking it back into the laptop. But, I can't even say that would work for sure.

 

That won't work since the desktop will be using ATA and the laptop will be using AHCI. Drivers and firmware are totally different things, you don't even have to worry about the BIOS. 0x000007B is a similar stop code to 7A in that it's likely being caused by missing support for device drivers (perhaps for the optical drive, not the hard drive? I've seen it before.)

What you need are the F6 drivers, but unfortunately, you probably don't have a floppy drive on that laptop. This is a problem because even a USB floppy drive would only be seen for half of the installation, and you'd be SOL when it stopped seeing the drive.

nLite is a tool for integrating drivers (and other things) into a Windows CD. What's the specific model of laptop you have? I'll find the drivers you need.

 

You do need the SATA drivers and since XP will only allow drivers to be installed from a floppy, unless they are part of the installer, you will have to slipstream them in to make them part of the installer. There are multiple threads about downgrades to XP on various Sony models here. Any of the models with SATA have had to go this route. There is no other known solution except slipstreaming the drivers.

Gary

 

It won't work. You would wind up with a configuration for the wrong hardware and it would not even boot into Windows.

Gary

 

I have a VGN-FW190.

I guess the thing that's making me confused is that when you build a machine, a desktop for example, you can build one that only has SATA drives. You set them up, the MoBo and BIOS can already detect them and they can be set to be the primary boot drive. XP or any OS has nothing to do with whether your computer can handle SATA drives, with the exception of AHCI and RAID, which are just configurations that should be able to be turned off, letting the drive run in IDE mode. The same thing applies to CD/DVD drives. If the computer couldn't recognize them pre-OS level then how would you ever get the thing off the ground?

 

Not true, some chipsets do not have Windows XP support built in and it must be slipstreamed or placed in compatibility (ATA) mode. An example of this in desktops would be intel's P35, where to install windows XP at all you need F6 drivers. Running in compatibility mode defeats the purpose of having SATA at all, as it greatly hinders performance. Not all computers will have a compatibility mode. I know the Dell Inspiron 1521 is one of them, HP DV6000 series, as well as your sony. So yes, at a firmware level the computer sees the drive fine, so IT'S NOT A FIRMWARE ISSUE. Now the OS also needs special things called drivers to see the drives (and other hardware), so we've explained how to load them. If you don't want to believe us that it's not a BIOS update then cool, good luck with your computer.

If you feel like just listening to us and giving it a shot, you will need this driver: Intel ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Driver (note that it says both SATA and AHCI?)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...&OSFullName=Windows* XP Professional&lang=eng
Should be able to extract the files from that.

Hep out.

 

Simple, by loading the drivers at the beginning of the installation process. We have had to do this with RAID controllers for a very long time and now we have to do so with SATA and XP. The problem you face is that XP only supports a floppy drive for loading drivers, and the laptop has no floppy. Couple that with the fact that the Sony minimalist BIOS does not allow you to turn off AHCI and you are in left with a slipstreamed install.

Gary

 

I'm sorry if I've aggravated any of you, this was not my intention. I'm just trying to understand, that's all. Also, I'm not trying to tell you that I believe you are wrong. My problem is not a matter of listening, it's a matter of understanding. Thank you for your time and patience. I believe the last post from Hep! (thank you Hep!) is helping me get it a little better. If it were my computer I was working with I wouldn't be so cautious and hesitant to just test things out. As it is not my computer, but a friend's, I want to make sure I grasp the problem fully before I just start installing drivers and wiping drives that I may or may not be able to get operational again.

Okay, that being said, so you're saying I can get these drivers and...? I'm not sure. Will I be able to use a Flash drive to F6 them in during Windows installation? Someone had suggested nLite, however I have exactly zero experience with that software/procedure.

Again, thank you for your time, I am aware that all of you are here voluntarily and I'm not trying to cause problems. I'm sorry if I've seemed rude and I wish tone of voice could be better represented textually. Please don't give up on me just yet.

 

Okay, so how does that work. I've never had to do a "slipstream" install. I've never even heard of such a thing.

*Also, as a side note, you can get around having to set up RAID before Windows install if your MoBo has two HDD controllers like the Abit Quad GT with the X38 chipset.*

 

A flash drive will not work. The XP installer knows ONLY about floppy drives for drivers or drivers included as part of the installler.

There are several threads here with details on the slipstream process.

Gary

 

Thanks ScuderiaConchiglia... I'm reading about how to do a slipstream install. It doesn't seem too complicated. Wish me luck!

Oh! I almost forgot, has anyone collected the FW's drivers for XP or have a complete list of necessary drivers? I tried looking through the thread for FW Owners... the initial post asked people for them, but it looks like no one has responded about that topic, at least not there.

 

Wow I am having the EXACT same headache . I just purchased a brand new Sony FW190 and have been trying to install XP on my seagate 7200.3 hard drive. Sonys own web site says to install the new drivers with a CD lol. No wonder nothing is working.

Can you please post your results with the slip stream disc ?

Also a list of some of the basic drivers for the FW190 can be found on Sony.com in the support section when you select your model number.

 

there is a good AHCI ICH9 driver for FW sata.
do this : copy inf folder from c:\windows\driver\sata driver
xp setup will detect HDD and install successfully. but the problem is blue screen on first boot after complete setup.
its restart continuously.... help plz

 

The slip stream disc worked for me but I had to make a couple tries at it due to the blue screan of death at the first re boot also. Major pita.

There is another thread on this board with a list off most the drivers.

Hope it helps.