Windows XP drivers for XPS M1530

Question

Hi, I am re-installing Windows XP (SP3) on a friend's XPS M1530 and trying to find suitable drivers.  I downloaded the ones on Notebook Driver but am getting occasional freezes while Windows is booting.  He has also had similar problems in the past when using these drivers.  There are several threads about XP drivers for the XPS M1530 on this forum, but they all seem to be from 2008 and the links to the driver packs are dead. Several sites claim to provide suitable drivers.  They fall into two groups , with identical drivers in each group: 1) odrivers, FileFobia, Notebook Drivers Download The drivers on these sites come as self extracting archives and seem to be identical to the Vista drivers given on the Dell site.  Looking at them in detail some are compatible with XP (e.g. Chipset, AHCI) but others aren't (e.g. GeForce, Ethernet).  2) Notebook Driver, DriversWiki Many of these come as rar archives which seem to contain only the XP versions of the drivers.  Some of the drivers on these sites are newer than the XP compatible ones on the Dell site, e.g. Chipset (8.3.1.1009/8.2.0.1014), SATA AHCI (7.8.0.1012/7.5.0.1017).  Also there is a much newer XP compatible version of the AHCI driver on the Intel site (9.6.0.1014), and when I ran an nVidia tool to check the graphics driver it found that the version installed was 174.31 but the latest compatible version is 307.83.  I was able to successfully install both of those without any apparent problems. Why are many of the XP drivers on the Dell site not as up to date as those on manufacturers sites (Intel, nVidia) or other driver download sites (Notebook Driver).  Is it just that Dell hasn't validated them because it doesn't support XP on the M1530, or do the other sites release them without thorough testing?  Can newer versions of some drivers clash with older versions of others (e.g. AHCI vs Chipset)? Similarly, why does Dell show some of it's drivers as only being compatible with Vista whereas other sites show them as being compatible with XP as well.  Have these other sites gone further than Dell and also tested them with XP? When picking drivers is it better to go for the ones on the Dell site or more recent ones on other sites? Do you know of any well tested driver packs for Windows XP on an  XPS M1530? I realise that Windows XP is 3 generations old but would appreciate any help you can give.

DELL-Sujatha K · Answer

Hi Quest0r,

Dell has not tested XPS M1530 with Windows XP Operating system. Hence drivers are not available. Only Windows Vista 32bit and 64 bit drivers are available for this system.

It is always a good idea to install the drivers from the Dell website.

ejn63 · Answer

And in less than 12 months, XP will be a completely insecure, unsupported operating system - if you plan to keep the system beyond April, 2014, don't even bother investing the time to try to get XP to run -- after next April, XP is a dead, sitting duck.

Quest0r · Answer

Hi Sujatha K,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

I realise that XP isn't officially supported by Dell. Despite that some drivers shown as compatible with XP as well as Vista, but others only with Vista. Do you know why this is?

ejn63 · Answer

That won't matter come next April 8, 2014 -- that's when all support (including security updates) for XP cease.  While Vista was a flop (as 8 is turning out to be), Windows 7 will be kept current until 2020 -- well beyond the point at which an M1530 will have been recycled.

Quest0r · Answer

@ejn63

The M1530 originally came with Vista installed but my friend, along with many others, much prefers XP. I am just trying to keep it running for as long as Microsoft supports it. According to Market Share Reports over 43% of Windows users are still using XP, compared to less than 6% who are using Vista.

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