Putting XP on my vista lappy

ok, so my lappy is in my signature. i know some computers can be formatted and installed with xp, and others you just mess up. will i be able to format the drive, and install xp and still have m ymedia card, gpu, and every thing else work?

 

As long as you have the drivers. Go to Gateway's support site or google for them, and you'll be up and running in no time in XP.

 

well, these are the only xp drivers on the site.


BIOS Downloads
Description File Info


7712.exe - Gateway BIOS Version: 77.12
Supports: Windows Vista (32-bit), Windows XP
Note: This is BIOS version 77.12 for the Gateway notebook computer models and components listed below.
4/27/2007
2,961 KB
Hard Drive Downloads
Description File Info


D20035-001-001.exe - Windows XP and Vista (32-bit or 64-bit) SATA/Mass Storage Controller version: Intel 6.2.0.2002
Supports: Windows Vista (64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit), Windows XP
Note: This file contains the Windows XP or Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit) SATA/mass storage controller driver for the computer models and components listed below. English, Japanese, and Spanish installation instructions are included in the file.
1/23/2007
18,502 KB
Media Reader Download
Description File Info


D20003-003-001.exe - Media Card Reader Driver Version: TI 2.0.0.6
Supports: Windows Vista (64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit), Windows XP
Note: This file contains the Windows XP and Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) Media Card Reader driver for the computer models and components listed below.



hope that was formatted correctly, in short, bioos, harddrive and media card reader. what about everything else? will i be able to do this? can i dual boot without uninstalling vista just to see if it works?

 

Generally driver issues are reported for upgrading from XP to Vista, because Vista is still new and many hardware devices lack full support. But I don't think you should have any problems in downgrading to XP.

If I'm not mistaken, your notebook has Intel GMA 950 gfx, Intel LAN/Wi-fi and Sigmatel 92xx audio; all of which are widely supported under XP. They have built-in XP driver support, therefore you should be able to run XP with all the devices operational at least with basic features. For full support, you can download drivers from Intel.

 

I'd check to make sure your hard drive isn't SATA... if it is SATA you'll have some fun because laptops don't have floppy drives to allow XP to load some SATA drivers

There is a workaround however, that is you use nLite and integrate the drivers onto the CD before you install XP (I highly recommend the usage of nLite if you know what you're doing)

Also you might get away with a USB stick with the drivers, or a plug in floppy drive


Good Luck

 

ok, ill try the nlite thing, but where do i get these other drivers? also, how do i dual boot xp so i dont have to mess up my vista partition, or recovery part?