ok to install XP on M6400?

Hi. I've just bought a refurbished M6400. It comes with no preinstalled OS. I have a dell install disk for Windows XP SP2. Is it ok to install this on my M6400? I will then update to SP3 over the web. I guess i will also need to install drivers for the graphics card, etc etc.

Please let me know if you have any advice and pitfalls to watch out for.

I'm also considering adding a second hard drive. What drive specification do i need?

Thanks

 

The potential obstacle is SATA support. You can get past this by using the "press F6" (or whatever it is) and then loading the relevant drivers which you will need to have downloaded from the Intel site.

My preferred route would be to use nLite to both patch SP2 to SP3 and integrate all the M6400 drivers into a new XP installation disc. You will then have much less messing around afterwards to update XP and get everything configured.

John

 

ok. so, is sp3 is fully compatible with the m6400? the problem if i understand correctly is upgrading from sp2 to sp3. i can buy xp pro sp3 for £45, so would this be an easy option? in terms of, say, nvidia drivers, are these on the xp install disk or would i need to download those separately? thanks.

 

Dell still provides XP compatibility for its business machines. However, you will need the right drivers off the Dell website.

My one uncertainty about XP SP3 is whether it includes adequate support for Intel's current SATA interface. If it does not then you get part way through the installation and get a BSOD.

John

 

on the dell website, when ordering a new m6400, they have the os option -

'(English) Genuine Windows Vista® Business SP1 Downgrade to XP Professional SP3 with XP&Vista Media'

i don't fully understand this. is this just an XP SP3 install or is it vista with XP laid over it in some way?

should i just bite the bullet and get myself vista business 32-bit or even 64-bit. i will be using it for CAD applications so maybe 64-bit is the way to go.

 

It is actually a stand-alone XP installation but the only way it can be sold is by selling you Vista business, which can then be "downgraded" to XP.

If you are not sure what to buy then try Windows 7. You can download and install the release candidate and it should work up until next March. I wouldn't spend money on Vista. This thread is about Windows 7 on the E6400. Much of the M6400's hardware and drivers will be similar.

John

 

I just did a clean install of Windows XP 32-Bit on my M6400 so I will try to help the best I can.

Drivers: When putting in your service tag or picking the model from the list, ALL drivers will be listed for that model / os - whether you have the hardware in your configuration or not.

What this means is that if I choose M6400 Windows XP (32 bit) Video Card drivers, it will give me the option to download drivers for both the Quadro FX2700M & Quadro FX3700M cards.

This becomes a problem if you load the wrong drivers so it is best to install them manually because if they are the wrong drivers, windows won't install them.

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SATA: sp3 did not add any new drivers - no AHCI support. This can be changed in the bios to ATA instead of AHCI or RAID.

As suggested, nLite would be a good solution to slip-streaming service packs, hot-fixes & updates, drivers and a whole lot more.

One warning about using nLite though - make sure you have a 2nd working computer in case you put the wrong drivers in.

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Vista to XP Downgrade: The way it was explained to me is this...

When Vista came out, computer manufacturers started to ship all the new computers with the new operating system. The problem was that all the old software was not compatible with Vista. It was easier to just send the computers back instead of installing XP and fighting with driver issues due to new hardware.

Microsoft & computer manufacturers listed and offered new computers with the choice of either Vista or XP with a catch. They could only have XP on the machine but not give out XP recovery disks, only Vista recovery disks. (At least that was what I was told when I asked them where my XP x64 disks were at).

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CAD: Depending on the CAD program, you may have a major problem - not being able to install it on the current Windows system.

I have Windows XP x64 (64 bit) on my desktop and I often download a lot of different trial versions of CAD/CAM programs to see what is out there since it has really come a long way in the last few years.

The biggest problem I have been facing is that they are now 32-bit or 64-bit only. Some of the older (2007 / 2008) versions cannot be installed on anything but a 32-bit version of Windows.

For example: I cannot install SolidWorks Student Edition 2008-2009 on my desktop unless I dual boot with a 32-bit Windows system.

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I hope this helps you understand everything a little better.

 

I forgot to add...

I had a problem with the newest Dell Nvidia drivers for the Quadro FX2700M.

My settings were to put the computer into standby when the lid closed and when I opened it again, the screen stayed black.

 

just use vista and get windows 7 when its available

 

thanks everyone for your help. i guess what i'm after is the easiest way to get a working os on my machine without weeks afterwards on trying to sort out niggles. this will be my business machine, so i need it to be reliable and low maintenance.

i've heard windows 7 is fairly stable, but is all the usual software compatible with it? my usual software is

- autocad inventor 2010
- microsoft office 2003
- photoshop cs3
- adobe lightroom 1.4
- itunes
- and a whole host of other minor packages which i've been using on xp for 2 or 3 years.

will the above run on vista? i'm beginning to think that maybe vista is the most stable and compatible option. i would probably just stick with 32-bit for the time being, and i'm sure i can borrow the install disks rather than paying for it. any thoughts?

i've just looked at the dell website and they seem to have a very useful source for all applicable drivers and the order to install them in. is it as straight forward as i'm thinking it is?