LG P300: XP install crash - SATA driver

Hi,

First, thanks to the people who posted about the P300, i bought it a month ago and i am very, very happy. It must say it's my first laptop (but had PCs for 18 years) so my opinion isn't worth much lol, but i wanted something small but powerful and found it.

Now, i bought my P300 from FutureShop (Canada). Unfortunately the XP downgrade disk didn't come with it. It's not listed in the content either on LG Canada's site. I need to downgrade to XP or win2000 (!) in order to run an application required for my work. I installed an XP virtual machine (using VirtualBox) running from Vista but it's it's sluggish.

When i tried to install from both an xp home 'upgrade' (i poped in my old win2000 cd) or a full XP home cd, booting from it, i get a blue screen type error. The STOP code is 0x0000007B and from googling it seems related mainly to SATA driver issues. The STAT drivers shipped XP cd are too old for the laptop's HD.

I found a link detailing how to build your own custom xp install disk with newer drivers ( http://paparadit.blogspot.com/2007/06/installing-sata-hard-drive-with-windows.html) but i wanted to get some feedback if someone had done this or anything else to install XP without the european xp dowgrade cd. I downloaded the various drivers for xp from the lg website, the HD driver should be in the intel.zip file.

So, hoping this turns into a discussion of some sort. I will let you know of my experiments.

Ian

 

Hi Ian,

I think the best thing is to borrow a friends USB floppy drive and install the HD drivers when the XP installer asks if you need to install RAID or SATA drivers. That is how I have installed my desktop XP work station.

I am not sure if a USB SD card will work or not, never tried it but worth a try if you don't have a USB Floppy.

Hope that helps!

Tom

 

Or try a USB Flash (finger) Drive. That just pop up in my mind too!

Cheers

Tom

 

Hi, unfortunately you need either a USB floppy or a bootable CD with the updated drivers. I am not going to buy a USB floppy but i might have time tonight to try out the instructions in the link above. If someone has done this procedure for the P300, i'd like to know how well it went

I got a reply from someone at LG canada about the possibilty of getting a copy of the downgrade cd:
"Good morning These units do not come with an XP downgrade CD. For a downgrade CD please contact Microsoft. The drives for XP are on our site, however please note that the webcam will not function in XP."

I am awaiting clarification on the "For a downgrade CD please contact Microsoft" part...

Ian

 

Hi Ian, So you can't use any other sort of external storage to install the SATA drivers? Is this true? Can you burn it on a CD? I don't think Microsoft will give you a downgrade CD. I think it's up to LG or the Manufacturers to provide downgrade CD as Microsoft would of give out OEM Licenses. Oh well, let us how you go as its nice to hear or read other user's experiences. Cheers!

 

Hullo Ian.

I hope this thread will help you solve your problem.

Good luck.

 

Another guide is here

 

Slipstreaming the driver is definitely the right way to go. I tend to be more lazy. If you just want to get it installed, go into the BIOS and change the SATA controller from Enhanced to Compatible. Then, once you get XP installed, DON'T ACTIVATE IT YET. Install the SATA AHCI driver, reboot, shut down, flip the controller from Compatible to Enhanced, THEN activate. I'm about to do this so I'll have detailed instructions in a day or so if it'll help.

 

Thanks people for the links and info. I had followed the instructions on the paparadit.blogspot link i gave in my first post but must've done something wrong because the sata driver didn't get loaded during boot and i haven't had time to retry and post about those results.

Beefman let me know how that works out, i should be able to try it out this weekend. Are you doing this on the P300? and when you mention 'not to activate it', this is regarding windows product activation right? So this method doesn't require to burn a cd... nice.

Thanks for the links, kwebihaf. The instructions are clearer and different than the ones i had. If i have problems with beefman's technique it'll give me a better shot at custom boot cd thing

 

Works like a champ. My P300 is now positively screaming using XP. No irregularities noted in installation. Just install the Intel drivers before changing over to Enhanced/AHCI SATA mode. It's positively astonishing to me just how SLOW Vista is in comparison to XP even on this machine. Next up: Getting my hands on a 320gb 7200 RPM drive and making the swap.

 

I've been through this bro, here is what u should do.
Get an XP CD with SP3 built in it, that should solve ALL UR ISSUES trust me and an IT eng.

*Removed by Mod...Piracy is against the forum rules.

I tired installing the SATA controller driver from a USB floppy drive....does not work!!

 

Hi, finally you can confirm that a xp cd with SP3 solved the problems?
I' m very interested in this lap top but if xp doesn't work fine, i think that i should looking for another alternatives.

Thanks a lot,your answes will be a great help.