[Cricky2oo8]

Hi i'm new here. Came across this site while googling for help downgrading my laptop to xp. I see there's already a few threads on driver issues on dowgrading a vaio to xp but i havent got as far as installing xp just yet.

My problem arises when i put the windows xp install disk in and reboot windows does not detect any hard drives. I know that this is because xp does not come with the SATA AHCI Controller Driver on the disk and i know that the problem can be overcome by slipstreaming the drivers into a new xp disk. This can be done in a program called nLite.

The problem i have is that i don't know what the driver that i'm looking for is exactly. I don't know if its a specific one i need for my model of laptop or if there is a generic driver out there. If anyone can tell me what it is i need that would be great! I spent all day yesterday searching the internet not really sure of what i was looking for and even ended up with an annoying malware problem after visiting so many sites! So please, if someone can help it'd be greatly appreciated!

My laptop is a Sony Vaio VGN-NR32M. The hard drive in it is a Toshiba MK2546GSX and the motherboard chipset is Intel GL960 Express.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide!

[OldBuzzard]

My question is why on earth do you want to downgrade?

That has a Core 2 Duo 1.73GHz & 2 GB memory. It will run Vista just fine. Especiallly if you use a Ram Drive for Ready boost, or if possible, bump the memory to 4GB.

Unless you have some MISSION CRITICAL application that absolutely will not run in Vista, it makes no sence to downgrade.

Vista is SO much better than XP. I have multiple Vista and XP installs on this system, and I rarely use the XP ones. They are on here mostly because I beta test for HyperOS which is software that allows multiple versions of Various MS OSs, so Iput them on to make sure that HyperOS is playing nice with all of the various OSs. If it wasn't for that, I'd be Vista 64 bit exclusive.

Try 'living with' Vista for a month or so. I think you will find that once you get used to it, you will like it better than XP, and will wonder why you ever considered downgrading in the first place.

[GigaWatt]

which service pack of XP did you try? if it was SP1, try SP2 or SP3... maybe some of them will have the SATA drivers for your notebook...

or, here is another thing you could try: open up the notebook, remove the HDD, put it in another notebook (or a PC with an appropriate adapter for the HDD attached to it) and run XP from there, load the files needed for the installation, put the drive back in the notebook and let the installation of XP continue with the XP installation CD in the CD/DVD drive...

[Cricky2oo8]

Originally Posted by OldBuzzard

My question is why on earth do you want to downgrade?

That has a Core 2 Duo 1.73GHz & 2 GB memory. It will run Vista just fine. Especiallly if you use a Ram Drive for Ready boost, or if possible, bump the memory to 4GB.

Unless you have some MISSION CRITICAL application that absolutely will not run in Vista, it makes no sence to downgrade.

Vista is SO much better than XP. I have multiple Vista and XP installs on this system, and I rarely use the XP ones. They are on here mostly because I beta test for HyperOS which is software that allows multiple versions of Various MS OSs, so Iput them on to make sure that HyperOS is playing nice with all of the various OSs. If it wasn't for that, I'd be Vista 64 bit exclusive.

Try 'living with' Vista for a month or so. I think you will find that once you get used to it, you will like it better than XP, and will wonder why you ever considered downgrading in the first place.

I have been using Vista on the laptop for the past few months and i do like it, i'll admit. The reason i want xp on it is because i'm a dj and the laptop with vista doesn't work that well with the software i'm using but i didn't mind that. It wasn't until i upgraded my mixer to the allen and heath xone 4d which has an onboard soundcard. This mixer doesn't work well with vista. There's some driver issues. I use the laptop while djing live at gigs and vista just wasn't stable enough. Since i managed to downgrade to XP its been running like a dream. No clicks or pops in the sound and no freezin or anything like that.

I'm going to try and partition the hard drive then use vista for web browsing and whatever else then use a stripped down version of xp just for music related stuff.

The only problems i have now are finding the right drivers. I've most things apart from the chipset graphics drivers. I cant get full screen resolution from it the way it is now but i dont mind as it runs Ableton Live and Traktor no problem.

Originally Posted by GigaWatt

which service pack of XP did you try? if it was SP1, try SP2 or SP3... maybe some of them will have the SATA drivers for your notebook...

or, here is another thing you could try: open up the notebook, remove the HDD, put it in another notebook (or a PC with an appropriate adapter for the HDD attached to it) and run XP from there, load the files needed for the installation, put the drive back in the notebook and let the installation of XP continue with the XP installation CD in the CD/DVD drive...

Thanks for your help but i sorted it already, it was done the way i said in the original post but i just wasn't doing it right first time around.

[OldBuzzard]

Definately a VALID reason for wanting XP on that lappy .

Now I noticed that you said that you liked Vista, and could be thinking about dual booting Vista and XP. I also checked the specs on that HDD, and it's 250GB one, so unless you have a HUGE collection of music on it, you have lots of room for what I'm about to suggest.

If you are still thinking about dual booting, you might want to investigate an application called HyperOS. It allows for multiple installs of Vista and/or XP. You essencially make multiple partitions, and install an OS in each. Then it will allow you to boot to any of the partitions. One advantage is that if you 'booger up' one install on a partition, it doesn't affect the others. You can also 'clone' a partition, and have a 2nd one as a backup, 'just in case'.

Since in your case the XP install is 'mission critical', you could use Vista as your main OS for web surfing and the like, and make an install of XP with your DJ applications. You could even eliminate net access on the XP partition as added protection for the mission critical applications. Then as FURTHER 'backup' (I'm 'oldschool', about backups), you could then clone the XP install to a 3rd partition, and have it for instant backup, just requiring a re-boot, if you have problems of some sort in the middle of a gig.

Check out HyperOs Systems for more info. HOS 2009 would be what you would want to look at.

DISCLAIMER: I have used HOS for years, and am now in fact, a beta tester for them, so I could be seen as a bit biased. However, take a look at it, and see if it's something you could use.

[Cricky2oo8]

That was actually the original plan. I tried using a partitioning program and completely messed up the hdd lol. Managed to format though and install xp.

I'll give your suggestion a try there with that HOS program and see how it works out. Cheers!