Installing WinXP on a new Vostro

Question

Has anyone here attempted to install WinXP on a new Vostro laptop?

I just purchased a Vostro 1400 and have not been happy with Vista for many reasons. So I wiped the HD with DBAN, found some info about how to get around the lack of SATA drivers (by installing the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver), and am halfway through the WinXP installation process when I get a "Please insert Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver into A:" message.

In my A: drive is a USB floppy disk drive (which I used in the F6 portion of the installation process), and, to my knowledge, -has- the Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers.

But it's at this point that I can go no further.

After a day of trying all kinds of different drivers & support forums, I went to Geek Squad for help. The technician there told me that many other new laptop users have been trying to do the same thing (wipe out Vista, install WinXP), and because of an incompatible driver, doing this is impossible.

Do you know if this is true? Am I attempting the impossible? Or have I not found the correct drivers yet?

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Loonytom · Answer

Thanks for your help so far, but my inspiron hasnt got a floppy drive, only dvd. Have to burn all the stuff on CD I guess. If theres no answer to this question till tomorrow evening, I gonna write a mail to the Dell support. In 2 weeks Im going to fly to US for an internship (I am German), and I bought this Notebook to work there with designing programs that doesnt run on Vista. It would be worthless for me if you cant install XP :(

Message Edited by Loonytom on 08-11-2007 05:32 PM

Loonytom · Answer

Omg, thats the same thing I am just trying. Just wanted to ask almost exactly the same thing, got an Inspiron 1520.

mikeleeorg · Answer

According to the guy from Geek Squad, this has been a popular request. So I guess lots of new laptop users are trying to get rid of Vista. heh. If I get a resolution, I'll post it here.

In case this helps, here are the steps I've taken so far:

1. Wipe out hard drive with DBAN.

2. Download Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver onto floppy disk.

3. Insert WindowsXP installation CD.

4. Hit F6 during installation process.

5. Connect USB floppy disk drive with Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver on floppy disk.

6. Select "Intel(R) 82801HEM SATA RAID Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E)" as the driver to install. There are four choices total, and they are:

+ Intel(R) ICH9 SATA AHCIController (Desktop ICH9R)
+ Intel(R) 82801HEM SATA RAID Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E)
+ Intel(R) 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/M)
+ Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R SATA RAID Controller

7. Continue with installation.

8. Receive message: "Insert the disk labeled: Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver into drive A: Press ENTER when read."

9. Insert floppy (same floppy I used earlier) into drive and hit ENTER.

It's at this point that nothing happens. Hitting Enter does nothing. I've tried downloading other drivers, from Dell.com and from Intel.com, to no avail.

mombodog · Answer

Post your model of Dell Vostro please, you may be able to enter the bios and turn Raid off, then install XP SP2 without any extra drivers.

mikeleeorg · Answer

@Loonytom,

I don't have a floppy drive in my laptop either; I had to go out and purchase an external USB floppy disk drive. Ugh.

@mombodog,

I have a Vostro 1400 mobile (laptop), with the most basic features. This includes:

Processor - Intel® Celeron M® M540 (1.86GHz, 1M L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Memory - 512MB Shared Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 1 DIMM
Hard Drive - 80G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Video Card - Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

I hope that's enough info. Do you need other stats as well? I really appreciate your help in this!

lonetreejim · Answer

Look here for info on how to Slipstream the AHCI drivers onto a XP installation CD.   http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml   ltj

mombodog · Answer

mikeleeorg, there is not much info on your bios settings from Dell, but other models can be changed to allow the install of XP without using F6 option. Enter the bios and look at what is available, most say,'Sata operation' then in the right pane select 'raid off' or 'Raid Autodetect/ATA', save settings on exit.

mikeleeorg · Answer

@lonetreejim,

Thanks for the suggestion! I just started downloading nLite, when I decided to follow up on mombodog's reply, and to my astonishment...

@mombodog,

THANKS! That worked! In my BIOS under SATA Operation, I only had two choices: "ATA" and "AHCI". I selected "ATA" and the full WindowsXP installation worked! Wooo!

@Loonytom,

I hope this solution works for you as well. If not, lonetreejim's suggestion seems like a good one if you don't have an external floppy drive. I'd sell you mine now that I no longer have a need for it, but I doubt it would get to you before you leave for the US.

Thanks again everyone for your help!

Loonytom · Answer

Looks like it works with me too, now I also understood why it didnt work with that option enabled. I only have a win xp pro installation disk without any sevice pack here, I get a bluescreen with it. But the home edition CD works. Gonna get a XP pro disc with SP2 then it sould also work I guess. Thx much.

mombodog · Answer

You can slipstream sp2 into that old XP disc if you want.   http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

Loonytom · Answer

I also found a German website that handle exactly my problem (how to install xp on an inspiron 1520), with all drivers and explanation how to create the windows install CD with SATA. Maybe its use for other readers too: http://www.inspiron1520.de.vu/ Everything works properly, but the graphic in 3d games doesnt run as it should. Must be a conflict somewhere.

H8 · Answer

I installed xp on my vostro 1700 yesterday, found all drivers (including modem, bluetooth, wlan(n))

mombodog · Answer

H8, do you mind posting links to all those drivers for us?

dqn · Answer

H8 - I'm also looking for bluetooth and modem XP drivers for my Vostro 1700.  Kindly provide the links.

H8 · Answer

Modem http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R147115&SystemID=VOS_N_1000&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=13468&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=20&fileid=195675 Bluetooth http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R127314&SystemID=XPS_M1210&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=12084&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=169465 ... or was it more?

Message Edited by H8 on 08-23-2007 12:00 PM

Message Edited by H8 on 08-23-2007 12:02 PM

Windows General

Installing WinXP on a new Vostro

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