Downgrading to XP Pro from 7 Starter edition on Acer netbook

OK, so I really can't stand Windows 7 starter edition, which came
preinstalled on my Acer netbook AOD257. And I don't feel like paying
85.00 for an upgrade to Home Premium just yet. So I wiped the hard drive
and installed a legal copy of XP pro. The installation seemed to go
perfectly, but after it finished, the computer just rebooted over and
over....

Could this be a hardware problem with the Acer? Is it possible that it's
physically (i.e. hardware) impossible to run XP on it?

Acer tech support is useless. They just repeat that it is not their
policy to recommend changing or downgrading the OEM operating system.

Kalkidas <> wrote:

>OK, so I really can't stand Windows 7 starter edition, which came
>preinstalled on my Acer netbook AOD257. And I don't feel like paying
>85.00 for an upgrade to Home Premium just yet. So I wiped the hard drive
>and installed a legal copy of XP pro. The installation seemed to go
>perfectly, but after it finished, the computer just rebooted over and
>over....
>
>Could this be a hardware problem with the Acer? Is it possible that it's
>physically (i.e. hardware) impossible to run XP on it?
>
>Acer tech support is useless. They just repeat that it is not their
>policy to recommend changing or downgrading the OEM operating system.

Do yourself a favor and install Ubuntu Linux. Did this on the wife's
computer. She is as happy as a clam.
--

Kalkidas wrote:

> OK, so I really can't stand Windows 7 starter edition, which came
> preinstalled on my Acer netbook AOD257. And I don't feel like paying
> 85.00 for an upgrade to Home Premium just yet. So I wiped the hard drive
> and installed a legal copy of XP pro. The installation seemed to go
> perfectly, but after it finished, the computer just rebooted over and
> over....
>
> Could this be a hardware problem with the Acer? Is it possible that it's
> physically (i.e. hardware) impossible to run XP on it?
>
> Acer tech support is useless. They just repeat that it is not their
> policy to recommend changing or downgrading the OEM operating system.

Well, did you ever get around to installing the "Windows XP" DRIVERS for
your hardware? Did you check the notebook maker has Windows XP drivers?
Many pre-built computers have a minimal or base version of Windows that
they support. Acer might not have Windows XP for that model. Go to
their web site and check if they provide Windows XP drivers for that
particular model.

Kalkidas wrote:
> OK, so I really can't stand Windows 7 starter edition, which came
> preinstalled on my Acer netbook AOD257. And I don't feel like paying
> 85.00 for an upgrade to Home Premium just yet. So I wiped the hard drive
> and installed a legal copy of XP pro. The installation seemed to go
> perfectly, but after it finished, the computer just rebooted over and
> over....
>
> Could this be a hardware problem with the Acer? Is it possible that it's
> physically (i.e. hardware) impossible to run XP on it?
>
> Acer tech support is useless. They just repeat that it is not their
> policy to recommend changing or downgrading the OEM operating system.

Are you getting an "Inaccessible Boot Volume" error ? Windows XP doesn't
have an AHCI driver, and if your disk interface is set that way, you
may need to press F6 and offer a driver for the disk interface.

Normally, when WinXP reboots over and over again, you'd want the
"Automatically Restart" option to be unticked. As then, the Blue
Screen Of Death (BSOD) information sits still on the screen and you can
write it down. In your situation, that may be hard to set up.

You can try starting in Safe Mode, via pressing F8, but I don't know
if that will escape a disk driver issue.

*******

The AOD257 uses dual core N570 and NM10 chipset with two SATA ports.
From the spec sheet for NM10:

"The SATA controller contains two modes of operation -
a legacy mode using I/O space, and an AHCI mode using
memory space".

On my Acer laptop, the *only* setting in the BIOS, is to enable
or disable AHCI. If such a setting is available, I would disable
AHCI and try WinXP again. The SATA ports would then run in legacy
mode, and any SATA disks would look like "they were on a ribbon
cable" to the OS.

If there is no AHCI disk operating mode setting to disable in the
BIOS, then an AHCI driver will have to be offered via pressing F6
during the install of WinXP. Some people solve this, by integrating
the AHCI Intel driver (a.k.a slipstreaming), using NLite from nliteos.com .
To slipstream drivers, they must be in a certain format, for that
to work.

"Integrate Drivers button..."

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/part1.html

This is an example of an AHCI driver, which with WinXP, would be
put on a floppy diskette while pressing F6 to enter this driver.

http://downloads.zotac.com/mediadriv...Intel_AHCI.zip

You'd copy the contents of the f6flpy32 folder to a diskette,
so that seven files are copied to the top level of the floppy
diskette, and TXTSETUP.OEM one of those files. Similarly, if
slipstreaming with NLite, it would likely involve those seven files.

Looking in the IaStor.inf, there are text strings. I can see this,
but I can't be absolutely sure about the VEN and DEV. I've been
unable to verify what values NM10 chip uses.

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B22&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) PCH SATA AHCI Controller"

*******

If you had a Linux LiveCD to boot, and run dmesg or lspci -nn
or the like, you could verify the VEN (8086) and DEV (3B22 or
whatever), as a means of determining whether the computer
is in AHCI disk mode or in legacy mode. The AHCI drivers
aren't necessary if in legacy mode. But if the BIOS has no
setting to disable AHCI, then the contents of "f6flpy32"
folder may help.

I tried to verify, that the "3B22" value was correct, but
the Intel datasheet and spec_update documents, have no details
on the subject. Which is strange, and stupid.

Another example of an NM10 driver package, is on the Asus
site for their AT5NM10-I motherboard (with soldered CPU).
When you unzip this, you'll also find an "f6flpy32" folder
suitable for slipstreaming. The rest of the package is
likely useless.

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mis...M_V8901023.zip

The Asus motherboard, offers these settings.

"Configure SATA as [IDE, AHCI, Disabled]

Sets the configuration for the Serial ATA connectors supported
by the Southbridge chip.

SATA Run Mode Configuration [Compatible, Enhanced]
Sets the SATA run mode configuration.
"

A setting of "IDE", "Compatible", should work with an older OS.
But in the case of the Acer, with Insyde BIOS, it's likely to
just be "AHCI" [Enable, Disable] and Disable would be a good
choice for any OS.

Paul

On 8/14/2011 11:42 PM, Paul wrote:
> Kalkidas wrote:
>> OK, so I really can't stand Windows 7 starter edition, which came
>> preinstalled on my Acer netbook AOD257. And I don't feel like paying
>> 85.00 for an upgrade to Home Premium just yet. So I wiped the hard
>> drive and installed a legal copy of XP pro. The installation seemed to
>> go perfectly, but after it finished, the computer just rebooted over
>> and over....
>>
>> Could this be a hardware problem with the Acer? Is it possible that
>> it's physically (i.e. hardware) impossible to run XP on it?
>>
>> Acer tech support is useless. They just repeat that it is not their
>> policy to recommend changing or downgrading the OEM operating system.
>
> Are you getting an "Inaccessible Boot Volume" error ? Windows XP doesn't
> have an AHCI driver, and if your disk interface is set that way, you
> may need to press F6 and offer a driver for the disk interface.
>
> Normally, when WinXP reboots over and over again, you'd want the
> "Automatically Restart" option to be unticked. As then, the Blue
> Screen Of Death (BSOD) information sits still on the screen and you can
> write it down. In your situation, that may be hard to set up.

Yeah, I can't read the error message, it goes by too fast. So I should
be able to turn off auto restart in the BIOS???

> You can try starting in Safe Mode, via pressing F8, but I don't know
> if that will escape a disk driver issue.
>

Yeah, no matter what f8 option I choose, the computer always reboots.

> *******
>
> The AOD257 uses dual core N570 and NM10 chipset with two SATA ports.
> From the spec sheet for NM10:
>
> "The SATA controller contains two modes of operation -
> a legacy mode using I/O space, and an AHCI mode using
> memory space".

> On my Acer laptop, the *only* setting in the BIOS, is to enable
> or disable AHCI. If such a setting is available, I would disable
> AHCI and try WinXP again. The SATA ports would then run in legacy
> mode, and any SATA disks would look like "they were on a ribbon
> cable" to the OS.

> If there is no AHCI disk operating mode setting to disable in the
> BIOS, then an AHCI driver will have to be offered via pressing F6
> during the install of WinXP. Some people solve this, by integrating
> the AHCI Intel driver (a.k.a slipstreaming), using NLite from nliteos.com .
> To slipstream drivers, they must be in a certain format, for that
> to work.
>
> "Integrate Drivers button..."
>
> http://www.nliteos.com/guide/part1.html
>
> This is an example of an AHCI driver, which with WinXP, would be
> put on a floppy diskette while pressing F6 to enter this driver.
>
> http://downloads.zotac.com/mediadriv...Intel_AHCI.zip
>
> You'd copy the contents of the f6flpy32 folder to a diskette,
> so that seven files are copied to the top level of the floppy
> diskette, and TXTSETUP.OEM one of those files. Similarly, if
> slipstreaming with NLite, it would likely involve those seven files.
>
> Looking in the IaStor.inf, there are text strings. I can see this,
> but I can't be absolutely sure about the VEN and DEV. I've been
> unable to verify what values NM10 chip uses.
>
> PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B22&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) PCH SATA AHCI
> Controller"
>
> *******
>
> If you had a Linux LiveCD to boot, and run dmesg or lspci -nn
> or the like, you could verify the VEN (8086) and DEV (3B22 or
> whatever), as a means of determining whether the computer
> is in AHCI disk mode or in legacy mode. The AHCI drivers
> aren't necessary if in legacy mode. But if the BIOS has no
> setting to disable AHCI, then the contents of "f6flpy32"
> folder may help.
>
> I tried to verify, that the "3B22" value was correct, but
> the Intel datasheet and spec_update documents, have no details
> on the subject. Which is strange, and stupid.
>
> Another example of an NM10 driver package, is on the Asus
> site for their AT5NM10-I motherboard (with soldered CPU).
> When you unzip this, you'll also find an "f6flpy32" folder
> suitable for slipstreaming. The rest of the package is
> likely useless.
>
> http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mis...M_V8901023.zip
>
> The Asus motherboard, offers these settings.
>
> "Configure SATA as [IDE, AHCI, Disabled]
>
> Sets the configuration for the Serial ATA connectors supported
> by the Southbridge chip.
>
> SATA Run Mode Configuration [Compatible, Enhanced]
> Sets the SATA run mode configuration.
> "
>
> A setting of "IDE", "Compatible", should work with an older OS.
> But in the case of the Acer, with Insyde BIOS, it's likely to
> just be "AHCI" [Enable, Disable] and Disable would be a good
> choice for any OS.
>
> Paul

Thanks. Your info is extremely helpful. I do have an AHCI/IDE option in
the BIOS. I'll try changing to IDE and reinstall.

Thanks again!

On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:04:52 -0700, Kalkidas wrote:

>Thanks. Your info is extremely helpful. I do have an AHCI/IDE option in
>the BIOS. I'll try changing to IDE and reinstall.

Don't you need to load a SATA driver from another disc to install XP on
a system with SATA drives?

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail rpont (at) gmail (dot) com

On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:35:10 +0100 (BST), "Rodney Pont"
<> wrote:

>On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:04:52 -0700, Kalkidas wrote:
>
>>Thanks. Your info is extremely helpful. I do have an AHCI/IDE option in
>>the BIOS. I'll try changing to IDE and reinstall.
>
>Don't you need to load a SATA driver from another disc to install XP on
>a system with SATA drives?

I thought SP3 (and maybe earlier? SP2?) includes SATA drivers.

--

Char Jackson

Char Jackson wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:35:10 +0100 (BST), "Rodney Pont"
> <> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:04:52 -0700, Kalkidas wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks. Your info is extremely helpful. I do have an AHCI/IDE option in
>>> the BIOS. I'll try changing to IDE and reinstall.
>> Don't you need to load a SATA driver from another disc to install XP on
>> a system with SATA drives?
>
> I thought SP3 (and maybe earlier? SP2?) includes SATA drivers.
>

I guess we'll find out soon, whether this works or not.

My SATA disk here, uses the built-in PCIIDE and PCIIDEX files.

Paul

On 15/08/2011 19:54, Char Jackson wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:35:10 +0100 (BST), "Rodney Pont"
> <> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:04:52 -0700, Kalkidas wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks. Your info is extremely helpful. I do have an AHCI/IDE option in
>>> the BIOS. I'll try changing to IDE and reinstall.
>>
>> Don't you need to load a SATA driver from another disc to install XP on
>> a system with SATA drives?
>
> I thought SP3 (and maybe earlier? SP2?) includes SATA drivers.
>

Possibly - but that implies a slipstreamed disk. Vanilla XP certainly
does NOT have SATA drivers...

On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:54:38 -0500, Char Jackson wrote:

>>Don't you need to load a SATA driver from another disc to install XP on
>>a system with SATA drives?
>
>I thought SP3 (and maybe earlier? SP2?) includes SATA drivers.

I can't see that the OP said which service pack the XP installation is
using. I thought the neighbours was SP2, but might be SP1, and that
didn't include the SATA driver.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail rpont (at) gmail (dot) com