Reformat Vista for XP on Dell Vostro 1500

heres how to do it on a xps 1530 it should be the same for your machine too... just some of the drivers might be different.... just use this as a guide.... and figure out what you're doing wrong

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=212981&highlight=xps+1530+xp+windows+install

there you go and good luck

 

or you can try the non-slipstream format for the sata here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=193815&page=17

 

Yes, I think that should work.

 

Thanks a lot all of you guys. I finally got XP running fine on XP PRO SP2.

 

Anytime.

 

Can someone assist me in doing an install here?

I've the Vostro 1500, but mine came with XP Home. I have a copy of XP Pro, but when I put it into the disk drive, it says it cannot install because the version on the HDD is newer.

I've tried to get the laptop to boot from the CD, but regardless of how I set the boot menu, it just boots into XP Home rather than boot the CD installation.

I'm trying to find out some step-by-step instructions. I've done reformats and clean installs of Win98 previously, and a clean install of XP Pro on this desktop, but have never done a reformat / install on a laptop.

I have read the thread, but have no idea what you mean by a 'slipstream', etc. I need to try and find a pretty much layman guide to do this.

I had planned to simply reformat the HDD and install XP Pro, but I see there are issues which will bring me unstuck (SATA drivers; AHCI, etc. I have only ever used IDE HDDs).

Can anyone help? Thanks!

 

Okay, I've done the reading and figured out slipstreaming. That's the method I intend to follow. I've got the R154200 storage drivers (Intel Matrix Storage Manager) from the drivers disk.

Some questions:

1. Once installed, can I use the Dell drivers disk to automatically update all the required drivers, or do I have to manually replace the drivers for each instance?

2. My XP Pro CD is an original from a few years ago, not SP2 (although I have SP2 ready to go as soon as XP Pro is installed). Does this affect the process?

3. Is MediaDirect worth reinstalling? I have never used it, but figure it might be worth having it on there to prevent a nasty accident happening if someone presses that little button.

 

I'm getting the same problems - BSOD after the initial start, unable to load drivers with F6 option because I don't have a FDD, etc.

awwitzjerreey,

Can you explain how you resolved the problem?

 

I tried to do an ATA installation, but found that the BIOS was set to ATA anyway (not AHCI); it says it is the default; in any case the same problem appeared.

In case anyone can decipher this, the BSOD was:

0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xF748E0BF, 0xF78DA208, 0xF78D9F08)
pci.sys - Address F748E0BF base at F7487000, datestamp 3b7d855c

 

Problem found: I had to slipstream in the SP2 pack, then it would install. I'm doing the disk reformat at the moment (the long one); hopefully the install process will go without a hitch.