Dell Vostro 3750 and Windows XP x64

If you need XP, install a version of Windows 7 that supports XP mode (virtual PC) - that means Pro or Ultimate.  

XP64 is out - there just won't be drivers for much of the hardware.  Even with 32-bit XP, you're likely to face problems finding all the drivers and will end up with only partial functionality.

Many thanx for the advice, but I spent 10 days (full time) trying to make it work, both Win7 Pro  -and-  XP Mode, and it has been one of my most frustrating experiences in some 30 years of working with computer hardware and software.  Aside from Win7 (=Vista 2.1?) which is discussed in numerous other forums, the XP Mode is an unmitigated disaster, full of UUF's (Undocumented Undesirable  Features, a.k.a. bugs), nothing seems to work as it should, and with frequent crashes and freeze-ups.

Life is too short to try on my own to fix something that has been deliberately crippled. Hence for me the WinXP is the only option. Surely somebody must have already tried to use it on 64 bit machines.

The problem with XP64 is that it never sold widely - and drivers weren't developed.  If you can live with a partially functional system, it may be an option - but you will not find drivers for everything.  Even 32-bit XP is becoming harder and harder to support with newer systems.  

UPDATE: Finally I received the Windows XP x64 Pro CD (original & legitime CD), bought a new HDD so that I could save the original Dell HDD with Windows 7 on it, partitioned and formatted the new drive, installed it in the Dell 3750 laptop, set the boot priority to the CD drive and . . .

. . .after loading all the various files from the WinXP x64 CD I got a blue screen saying that Windows detected corrupted files that may damage the computer (or something like that), and that it has to shut down.

After several attempts using different tricks, but with the same result, I put in the Dell Windows 7 CD, and it installed without a problem.

Q:  Is there any fundamental reason why it is not possible to install an XP x64 OS on a 64-bit Dell 3750 (Intel I7) laptop, even in its most basic, simplest form?

I need it for basic engineering purposes, i.e. no fancy applications or games requiring special 3D video or specialized interface cards. Life was so much easier when I built and tinkered with Apple II+'s . . .

The answer is yes, there's a reason - it's a 10-year old operating system (whose design dates back longer than that)  and the 64-bit version just doesn't have driver support for most of the hardware now out there.

Think back to the late 90s when XP was being developed - when the Pentium II was current, 20-40 G drives were high end an a gig of RAM was exceptionally high end.

You can install Win XP 64 on the Vostro and you can also install Win XP 32.  But before you continue, just so you know, you will run into more issues after the OS is installed.  The Vostro 3750 only has drivers for Win 7 and although (as with the SATA drivers) you can go ahead and install some of them anyway and they will work ok, you will run into the majority of them being incompatible with XP.  That's where i am at the moment.  I've installed Win XP 32 and am now scrambling to get the basic video, network, audio, etc... drivers installed.  But to answer the first question:

The bluescreen you're getting is because the original XP install disk doesn't have the proper SATA drivers on it.  When it tries to find the disk drives to offer you a choice of where to install / format, aparently it doesn't like the choice in drivers that it has so it craters.  The work around is this:

1.  Download a program called NLite (it's free).  You should be able to find it with a simple google search.  This program will allow you to take the original install disk and insert the proper drivers, create a new ISO, and burn a new install disk that will work fine.

2. Download the SATA drivers from the dell website and extract them (when it starts to install them cancel out of the installation, but make note of the exact dell "Rnnnnnnn.exe"  number so you can find the proper drivers to put into the new ISO.

3. Run NLite and follow the instructions.  It will want to know where your original install disk is.  It will make a copy of it.  After it makes a copy it will give you a choice of things that you can alter.  Alter nothing but the DRIVERS.  Expand that field and select "Add" (it may say insert or something similar).  Browse to the subdirectory that you extracted the SATA drivers to and select it.  Note that you will probably have about a dozen choices.  At the top make sure that "Text Mode" is selected, and hold down the CTRL key and select every one of the drivers that you have availible.

4.  Continue selecting NEXT until you get to the end and it asks if you want to create an ISO.  Create the ISO, Burn it to a CD and Viola... you have a new installation disk that will work to install XP on the Vostro.  But as i mentioned before, you'll only have succeeded in crawling deeper into the crack as you won't be able to find drivers for all of the perpherials on the computer.

I hope this helps.

Dell Vostro 3750 work with XP 64 ? I've many problem with Seven and express card. Laptop freeze.

Giacomo, there is an awful  lot of users unhappy with Windows 7 (a.k.a. Vista 2.1), an extremely crippled development of WinXP with idiotic, illogical and unnecessary changes, and the inevitable endless bugs.. However, WinXP x64 is not an answer - that was supposed to be a 64-bit successor to WinXP x32, but Microsoft decided to concentrate on a more radically changed Vista. Hence the support for WinXP x64 is abysmal, and an extensive research on the internet shows that the troubles with this unfinished OS is not worth the trouble.

If you are interested in installing WinXP x32 on Dell Vostro 3750 you may check out the following discussion : http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/263740-45-windows-dell-computer#t94518

With WinXP x32 you may not get all the fancy features built into your notebook, and in particular the 8 GB limit for memory size, but the benefits of getting rid of Windows 7 is worth it, especially if you are more into the traditional uses of legacy software rather than video games (which may need all firepower of x64 video).

Thank you, but in an HP Pavillion dv6-2020sl (AMD) my express card working very well, with WIN7 64 Bit.