How to: Step-by-step guide for installing Windows XP on XPS M1530

grab nLite from here:
http://www.nliteos.com/download.html

hen these two files which are xp drivers for the hardware (thanks kanadianiceman for finding them and ubnyan for compiling them neatly!)
http://www.mediafire.com/?7hwmn4yfjw2
http://www.mediafire.com/?f52jzgdv1ln

edit: update url for matrix storage controller driver
http://support.us.dell.com/support/d...&fileid=235720

edit:
new complete driver package found here: (Many thanks to Udi for compiling this package!)
http://www.uditha.de/assets/Udi_M1530_XP_Drivers.exe

Now, put in your Windows XP disc and copy the entire contents of the cd to a folder on your desktop (name it 'XP')

Run the nLite program. Click next until you get to a page that asks you to point to the location containing Windows XP install files. Now you point it to the 'XP' folder you just created on your desktop.

Click next until you see a screen with about 7 or 8 long rectangular buttons on it. One of the buttons will be named 'drivers' and at the bottom one should be named 'bootable iso'. Click them to select them then click next.
(note: You can mess with the unattended install and tweaks settings as well, however, that it outside of the scope of this guide and I will not cover them in detail. If you do not know what you are doing I would suggest just leaving them alone for now and go back and play with them later)

Hitting next after this page should take you to the drivers page which will let you add drivers to the Windows XP install. Now we get to add the SATA matrix drivers to the installation. You need to run the executable file that you downloaded. this will let you extract the drivers to a folder. make sure you either make a note of where this folder is located, or make a new folder on your desktop and when prompted, changed the extraction point to this folder)

Back in nLite on the drivers page there should be a button in the bottom right corner labeled 'import'. Click it and select 'insert single driver'. Navigate to the folder containing the extracted files. Search for the sata drivers folder. Once found, you will be given a list of all the drivers in that were in that folder and you need to select a specific one. The one you are looking for is near the bottom. You need the one that has ICH8M (which is ICH8mobile) and it also must say SATA DRIVER before it and not RAID DRIVER. (or the ahci driver if you downloaded the complete package from Udi) If you want to play it safe you can include all of the drivers without doing any damage by just selecting the first one the shift clicking on the last one which should select them all then click ok or whatever button is on that screen to accept the selection.

You will see a driver pop up in the white part of the screen on the drivers page. Clicking next will bring you to a screen that will ask you to start the process (this is assuming that you haven't checked any of the other options on the main menu, if you did then go through them until you get to the page asking you to start the process) This process will repack the .cab (cabinet) with the new drivers and settings.

Afterwards, click next which will bring you to a screen that will let you burn the changes to a bootable Windows XP cd. In order to burn it to CD you need to select 'direct burn' in the top left selection box. Towards the bottom right corner there is a 'burn now' button which will start the burning process, so pop in a cd and click the burn now button and you will shortly have a bootable Windows XP cd with SATA drivers on it.

Before you boot from cd you'll want to save the two zip files that you downloaded containing all of the hardware drivers for Windows XP. You can write them to cd, store them on an external hard drive or thumb drive, or do whatever you have to do in order to have a copy of them because you will be wiping this hard drive very shortly.

When you are ready to wipe the hard drive and install Windows XP, AFTER having saved the drivers somewhere off of the laptop hard drive you will put the cd in and reboot the computer. On the first screen that pops up that has the Dell logo on it, you will need to hit f12 a few times. As soon as it beeps you know it accepted your input. This will bring you to a screen that lets you choose what to boot from. Choose 'boot from cd/dvd'.

After a few minutes of loading you will eventually get to a screen that displays your currently connected drives, this will be waiting for you to input which partition will contain your operating system. There will probably be multiple drives on this screen due to dell installing recovery and media direct partitions, but these are only partitions on your hard drive. To be honest, I really dont use media direct or the recovery partition so I delete them ( by highlighting them with the arrow keys then pressing 'd' then 'L') I leave the choice to you whether you want to keep these two partitions or not. Onward.

Personally, I would recommend having at least two partitions on your hard drive, one for the operating system and one to store files. I like having a separate partition for storage because I can reinstall the operating system without worry of losing files. If you dont want to worry about separate partitions then select the unpartitioned space with the up/down arrows and hit enter twice and skip the next paragraph.
(for those who do not know, a partition will simply look like a second hard drive in windows but will be completely independent from other partitions on the same drive)

To make a new partition you need to hit 'd' to delete the C: partition then 'L' to confirm deletion ( do this for all partitions that you do not want). afterwards it will bring you back to the previous menu which will contain unpartitioned space. To create a new partition you highlight the unpartitioned space (arrow keys) then press 'c' and choose a size for it. For an operating system partition you are usually safe with 20000-30000 megabytes. Personally its been a long time since I've had a Windows XP OS take up more than 25000 megs but you can choose however much you wish. Select the unpartitoned space again then hit 'c' and enter to create the other partition with the remaining space.

Now all that is left is to install Windows XP is select the C: partition then hit enter. Choose format method. (go with NTFS, not FAT32) The quick format will take less than 30 seconds while the other NTFS format will take between 5-10 minutes. To understand the difference between a quick format and the normal format, think of your hard drive like a book. Quick format just erases the table of contents in the book while a normal format will erase all of the pages as well. Either choice will work exactly the same, but if you are worried about security of the information previously stored on the drive then you should opt for the normal, slower format.

After choosing format method the computer will copy the setup files and go through with the Windows installation. From here on out everything is relatively straight forward with the setup process. After the setup is complete the computer should boot up into Windows XP and all that is remaining is to install all of the drivers from the zip files that you saved before erasing your drive. (right click and extract them to the same folder before trying to run them)

Afterward, if you want to check if you've got the hardware installed correctly, you can right click on 'my computer' then click 'manage'. Select device manager in the left frame and anything that has a yellow exclamation next to it is not functioning. If something is not functioning you should try reinstalling the driver for it. If that still does not work then you can either send me a pm or ask in this thread.

This entire process is a lot less complicated than it looks! I promise.

 

sorry, but the link for the mass storage thing that allows you to acess SATA hard drive is dead. Mind repost it again? Thank you so much!

 

this one should work:

http://support.us.dell.com/support/...eid=R173412&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=235720

if this link dies you should be able to just do a search on the page for matrix storage controller

 

Thank you so much for posting all the links in an easy to find place with clear and comprehensive instructions. I am thinking about buying a 1530 and this makes it a lot easier to find all the drivers and software to use, at first when i saw the title i though cool somewhere to get the drivers, now i get to dig up one of the old hard to follow slipstream guides. But you proved me wrong and made everything remarkably easy.

 

Nice guide

 

Is it legal to strip your OS?

 

Hey, does this work on M1330 aswell? because I think I will install XP on my new laptop when it arrives.

 

You have really done a very good job.. Your work is really to be appreciated..

Thanks!!

I have created the WIN XP CD as u have explaned but still i am hesitating to do so. I have couple of doubts..

What about the Dell Warranty, if something goes wrong; as Dell itself not supporting the Win XP.

What about the performance of your Laptop???
Is it providing the best output..

Are all the features of the laptop are working after the installation of drivers you have provided like the "Finger Print Reader" , "HDMI Port", "Web Cam", "Media Centre Buttons" etc etc..

I need your review about the overall performance of the Laptop after installing Win XP..

Thanks!! once again...

 

@ bmp41083

Is it possible for you to generate a complete hardware config detail by using the following software..

"Everest: Ultimate Edition"

By using the above software we can find out the relewant drivers for the Dell M1530.

Thanks!!

 

I used this guide, and aside from a bit of fiddling with the sound and bluetooth drivers, it 'just works'. However, I've gone back to Vista, the reason being I could never get my laptop to 'wake' from sleep mode using XP (Pro). XP is definitely a little 'zipper', however I spend most of my time in VMWare doing software stuff, so whether this is with a XP or Vista host doesn't really bother me.

 

Dell cannot void your warranty because of you changing the software. So you can install XP without fear of losing your warranty.

I dont really use the fingerprint reader because it seems more of a hassle than having my passwords saved. No one ever gets on my laptop and its locked whenever im not on it. But I did set it up just to test it out and it does work. So does the HDMI, webcam, and media center buttons.

The performance increase was noticeable to me, especially playing Gears of War and Crysis. 3dmark06 score was about 300 points higher on XP than Vista with the 169.28 drivers. I also prefer the ease of networking and not having to deal with the network security crap on vista.

@Kimura, it should work on the m1330 as well. Just check out the guide for the m1330 drivers to download them. But the matrix storage controller should be the same one.

edit: also added the Everest Ultimate report as an attachment. (its very long!)

 

I originally had some similar problems. Ensuring the chipset and Dell software was installed and using stock video drivers cleared this up for me. I hibernate and Stand By with impunity using XP.

M1330 does have some different parts. There is a detailed instruction on the Dell XPS Forum (dell.com) for the M1330

Only if you're over 18 and not in public.

 

@bmp41083

Thanks!! for your quick reply... I have gone through the report file you posted.. I have found that your 8600m GT is 512MB, how come???

As i have not seen any such config over the dell website for M1530....

Thanks!! once again for the information & support..

Cheers

 

it counts the 256mb of on board memory and 256mb of system memory that it uses

 

There are some other guides for M1330 if you wanna know.

 

by the way, what are the risks of installing that? I mean like what will happen if I fail to install XP? last time my friend tried to installed xp on his m1530, he failed and couldn't boot his notebook. That dude ended up buying a new laptop and was grounded at home for 2 weeks. (sorry if I'm being random. It's in my blood)

 

i really dont know the risks of XP. the only problems I have are about a blue screen once a week after resuming from hibernation. as long as you keep your recocery CD you should be able to install Vista if you can't get XP to work. How long ago did that happen to your friend? I know towards the end of last year Dell was not including Windows install CD's with matrix storage controller drivers integrated into the disk. This would cause Vista install to freeze up whenever I tried to reinstall it after XP failed to install. (this is how I learned about the ICH8 matrix storage controller problems) and how to solve it)

 

yeah...Thanks for anwering. by the way, I'm still having a problem with the driver. I got a question mark on the "other devices/ network controller" I tried to find the driver for it but I can't find one. TT_TT

 

@ bmp41083

Is your Dell Travel Remote Control is woking properly after installing the Windows XP???

Mine is not working, rest every thing is working fine...

I think i need the drivers for the remote control???

Thanx...

 

yeha i dont think my bluetooth device is working
where you get the software for that please ?
I couldnt see it in the file packages you kindly made
also dellset can you supply a xp one of that too
Cheers

 

Yesterday when I was ordering my 1530 the woman at Dell told me that trying to install another OS would void the warranty.

I hope she doesn't tell my parents; I'll get grounded for sure!

I'll see how Vista works out once I remove the bloatware. I'm willing to give it a try before taking any drastic steps. It sounds as if these XP conversions have been less than 100%. I tried to get Dell to do it for me, and they are aware that it would be an enormously popular option, but she and two others told me that Dell couldn't do it... probably because it would void the warranty from their end.

I also told her that I'd be pissed if in one month's time Dell began to offer the 1530 with XP installed. BTW, no word on that rumored LED display, either.

 

Hi All,

Just got my shiny new black 1530 this morning! She is a thing of beauty.

Anyway, I am creating my xp iso using nlite and am wondering whether it is possible to add the drivers from the zip? instead of running the each wizard after the install.

Great thread

Thanks

 

you know... i've never really tried that. its probably possible but would still require you to install the device and have windows search for the drivers.

as far as other drivers, this thread has all of the XP drivers. The first post is the Vista ones, scroll down the first page and subsequent pages for XP

 

All the driver are zipped at the top of this thread, I will give it a shot and report back.

Cheers

*Edit* This was actually far more difficult than I had anticipated, some of the driver files are built in to the exe's while others folders have multiple .ini files. I will just install them manually afterwards.

 

Sooo I managed to get XP on my 1530 which I love, and everything works except getting audio through the HDMI out. From everything I've seen the people with Vista speak of an HDMI option in the audio playback devices, which just isn't there for me. I imagine this is because I'm using drivers for a laptop that doesn't have HDMI out, and so they don't support it. But I've tried looking and all the laptops that have HDMI don't have any XP support. So yeah, any help would be appreciated! =D

 

Thread hasn't seen action in about a week or so, but just as an FYI I used nLite to bundle the device drivers into the installation. This is for a Vostro 1500. It appeared to work properly, and worst case scenario, I do it manually later on. Best case, it saves me about 10 reboots when I do finally get XP on.

I'll be testing it out tomorrow.

 

I got it running sweet and have been for a week or so.
1 thing i cant get to work is the mediadirect button
It does nothing and it wont let me install it off the CD
Anyone got any tips or info , it would be greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance

 

hey folks

changing to XP will not void your warranty in any way shape or form. The warranty is for HARDWARE!!

Also, if you want to put XP on your laptop, do it. You could always leave your vista recovery partition intact, for a complete restore if you want. And, you also should have gotten a vista dell re-installation disk if your Dell laptop came pre-installed w/ Vista. That disk is almost like doing a clean install, it doesn't include all the bloat programs that came with it from the factory- just do a clean install and your back to Vista.....

 

Hi there,
I wish that I'd seen this thread before trying to install XP on my M1530. When I tried yesterday, I inserted my XP Home Edition disc and booted from it. Before doing this I had to change the FCM to disabled and the SATA operation to ATA. I had to format the Hard Drive to NTFS and then installed XP. All seemed to work fine until I restarted the computer, and now all I get is a message:
"Invalid boot.ini file
Booting from c:\windows....
ntdetect failed"
It flashes up for about half a second and then the computer reboots and it goes in a loop until I turn it off properly. Now Vista won't install either because of a lack of drivers or something. Anyway I really don't want Vista on it again so if someone could help me install XP again without having to reinstall Vista they're help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance...

 

That's why I bought a small business Vostro, absolutely no bloatware. Doesn't have HDMI and the GPU is GDDR2, but hey, it's a trade off for the price I paid.

 

Thought I'd post an update.

I bundled my device drivers with my Windows XP Professional installation CD and it worked flawlessly.

Drivers that were installed: Ethernet card, nVidia display drivers, touchpad, card reader, SATA,
Drivers I still had to do manually: Mobile chipset, WiFi, modem, Sigmatel

So basically yeah, if you want to bundle in your device drivers it'll work and save you some trouble.

 

Does Mediadirect install and work with XP? I want to use XP but I would also like to use Mediadirect as I do use this functionality.

 

Okay, I fixed the problem and now have Windows XP running on my M1530. However, I did not use the intel matrix storage controller... will this make any difference? Has anyone got their bluetooth device working?

 

Also, whilst using XP, has anyone managed to wake from a sleep or stand by? It's very annoying but it must be fixable.

 

This guide has been a lifesaver, however I also have the same "sleeping" problem. Is there more specific description of the "stock video drivers" and "Dell Software"? I did keep Media Direct-- (perhaps that is the issue?)

 

i had that problem until i updated my drivers from here
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showforum=89

v174.16 XP 32bit | NVIDIA thats the driver im currently using.

 

downloading link of Xp drivers which is around 77mb is not working. plz update the correct link

 

Hi I have istalled XP in my XPS M 1530 notebook. It is great pleasure working with XP. All the installation is fine, But there is a big problem with the LAN network drivers,wireless network drivers and blue tooth driver. Please let me know if you have a solution. For LAN, Marvel is the driver it is getting installed but not connecting. Bluetooth driver saying only compatable for VISTA.Wireless drivers are not detecting the available networks saying one of the required program not installed on ur system. Please give me a solution.

Thanks

 

yeah soon I'll be receiving my m1530 as well and I'm pretty sure I'll installing xp as well since I'll swap the HD to a new hitachi 7k200gb sataII. would be nice if some one can post the updated links to the needed drivers. and be super sweet if "Jlbrightbill" post a small guide how and where to put all those drivers into window XP cd and install fresh

 

whats the matrix storage controller? is that a fancy way of saying SATA drivers? cuz if thats the case. If you have a windows XP with SP2 the SATA drivers are already there so all you have to do is "zero fill" the drive.... well thats if you want to (I always do.. cleans the HD out of all the junk it had before). Then install the windows xp and then just install all the drivers seperately without making any boot cds.... much easier if you have a windows xp with sp2... well it depends on what matrix storage controller means.... what is that? i think it has something to do with intel and their fancy words.... from what im reading on the net it is just a fancy word that intel has that is suppose to speed up HD access (I bet it doesnt even work) =P. if thats the case you should be able to just install that after you install the OS.

 

There is no "stock" video driver for this card for windows xp, nvidia didnt make xp drivers for this card. If you want an xp driver for this card you're gonna have to get it from somewhere else.

And most likely ppl who are having problems with the hibernate mode, it is most likely do to the video card driver. Whoever wrote the driver didnt write it well enough. Just look for another one

 

just wanted to bump this post up. it's falling back.... ^^

 

EDIT: nevermind

 

Sanx for guide. It was very helpful about finding drivers for my XPS.

 

Hi I have istalled XP in my XPS M 1530 notebook. It is great pleasure working with XP. All the installation is fine, But there is a problem with the LAN drivers,wireless drivers and blue tooth driver. Please let me know if you have a solution. For LAN, Marvel is the driver it is getting installed but not connecting. Bluetooth driver saying only compatable for VISTA.Wireless drivers are not detecting the available networks saying one of the required program not installed on ur system. Please help me.

 

I had the same problem with blue tooth. I spend lot of time searching correct driver. Try this:
http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/Dell_Wireless-355-Bluetooth-_A01_R127314.exe
But wi-fi drivers doesn't work too. Please, if somebody have solution, let me know.
PS: Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN for XPS 1330 dont match.
And sorry for my bad english))

 

Thank you very much for your helpful guide. I'm thinking of installation window XP x64 for my XPS M1530. Can I use the same drivers that you provided or I have to find the right drivers for x64, if so, where can I get those drivers ?

 

nice guide, the only driver I am missing is for my dell wireless. Could someone post a link to that driver for me. Thanks

 

Am I right in thinking that if you order an m1530 with the new Penryn CPU then you cann't install XP?

 

I'm still having trouble with the SATA drivers. The guide says I should download a file "166200.exe" from the Dell website, and that that file should contain a "ICH8M" file. However, the link provided in the guide leads to "R173412.exe" from the Dell page, which doesn't contain the required driver.

Can I just skip the SATA drivers when using XP SP2 in the first place?