big problem...help regarding xp downgrade

hello guys!

my friend has a sony vgn laptop w/vista installed.

i don't know what he did but he told me he was trying to format the HD and installed WIN XP. he called me and told me now his laptop is a mess now: can't boot up vista (i guess he didn't format the HD successfully). now there's a blank black screen everytime he turns on the comp.

i'm going to take a look and will try to install XP for his laptop. do you guys have any idea on this issue? if his laptop HD is a sata one, will that be a problem when installing XP?

please help me!

many thanks

 

is he trying to dual boot

 

no. he told me he wanted to get rid of the vista OS and install XP.

 

Yes many SATA drives will cause problems (mostly newer ones). you may need to make an F6 disk. When desktops black screen its usually the CMOS freaking out, so try the CMOS reset jumper (no idea if laptops have them and if so where it is, sorry i just know it usually works in desktops). about the F6 disc i dont know how to make one, teacher said i might have to for my laptop but i didnt. try googling it

also you could throw the drive in a desktop to format it

 

if he is trying to install xp alone he should not have a problem like that tell him to reinstall by booting from the cd then do a ntfs quick format

 

Concur. Boot from disk, and format. Btw, this should be in the Windows OS and Software section...

 

unless he screwed up the MBR. then you have to get into recovery console or something similar and fixmbr.

 

Do a low level format.

 

problem: bootmgr compressed = cannot boot up vista.

for the xp installation, it could not recognize HD (sata issue).

now either slipstream sata driver into win xp disc or have to go into BIOS and disable SATA. until now i can't find out how to get into that NR160E sony laptop

i did install vista ultimate again by deleting the partition. now that laptop has a clean-installed vista OS.

i still wanna downgrade it to XPP.