XP Vaio VGN-NS20Z

Hi

Just got recently a Sony Vaio VGN-NS20Z, Intel Core Duo T6400 2.0GHz, 4 GB ram, it has Vista of course and I'm trying to downgrade to XP, tried to run the setup on the CD, but it won't install.

Can you guys help me.

 

What exactly do you mean by won't install? Can you not run setup from the XP disc at all or do you get so far and it says that there are no hard drives detected?

If you can give a more detailed description of your problem I may be able to guide you through the initial setup process depending on the issue.

 

Hi

I open the CD with XP, run the setup and it lets me do anything, except install XP, the opction doesn't even show. Try to boot it from the CD and it goes directly to the desktop.

 

So if you put the XP disc in while windows vista is running you get the list where it asks you "What do you want to do?" and it gives you the following opitons:

Learn more about the setup process
Install optional Windows components
Perform additional tasks
Check system compatibility

but it does not give the 'Install Windows XP' option or it shows but is grayed out?

Now you mentioned that if you try booting from the disc that it takes you straight to the desktop. Do you mean that you had the disc in the drive and rebooted or turned your computer back on before Vista starts and it did not give you the message 'Press any key to boot from CD....'? If that's the case you will have to go into your BIOS to make sure the boot order is set that the CD-ROM is checked first or at least before it boots from the hard drive.

To get into bios to check this you will have to reboot the computer (or when simply turning the computer on) and during the boot screen you will have to press a certain key like F1, F2, F10, or Delete. These are the most common keys, but some BIOSes may be different and use a different key or key combination to get in.

 

BTW, about the XP disc you will be installing from... is it the retail OEM version or does it have a service pack built into it? This will also be important because without any service packs integrated XP will not see more than 120GB of your hard drive. By looking at your laptop specs I believe you have a 320GB HDD. Am I correct?

 

Yes correct, 320Gb.

I think it doens't have service pack and yes, it show's grayed out.

I checked the Bios and the CD is 1st option.

 

Hmmm... Interesting. I have come across laptops like this before where I think they deliberately make it so you can not boot to CD-ROM media to make is so you can't change their setup.

Would you by chance have an external USB CD-ROM you could try booting from? You will obviously have to have that set in the boot order also to boot from an external USB device.

And for the record the 120GB limitation only applies to SATA hard drives and not IDE drives. Don't ask me why this is though because I myself am not so sure. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it though.

Although it can be risky another thing you might try if you are brave enough is to update your BIOS to the latest version to see if that makes a difference with booting from your CD drive. Let me know what you come up with and good luck!

 

You know what? Going to save myself the trouble and put Windows 7...my only problem is the game GT Legends, it blocks the starforce dll's.

 

You know that's not a bad idea. You would be surprised at the work involved in getting any version of XP to work on these newer machines. It involves a lot of integration of updates and drivers and burning new discs. Not to mention Windows 7 comes with full XP emulation even if Windows 7 itself is incompatible which is very nice too. I agree that going that route will save you a lot of headache. I hope I was of some help though.

 

Thanks for the help, i had Windows 7 on my other laptop and it's great, especial compared with Vista...