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General discussion

how do i install windows xp media center over vista?

Jun 27, 2007 11:38AM PDT

Bought a eMachine T5226. Good CPU but has Vista. Bought XP Media Center and wondering if I install this will my Ethernet,USB,Card Reader, Audio, and integrated (factory) graphics work? Basically will all the factory hardware still work? Do i need Drivers, if so where find those? Any help will be appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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You're on your own...
Jun 27, 2007 2:01PM PDT

That's one thing about downgrading the OS...your manufacturer will not help you out so you'll have to track down the drivers on your own. Read over this post in the forum sticky, then download the program Everest to find out more about your networking card, integrated graphics, etc. You'll have to go to the website of each of those components' manufacturers and see if XP-compatible drivers are available. If not you could try the default drivers packaged with XP or downloading XP drivers for a similar model computer, but there are no guarantees it'll work.

Good luck.
John

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98% Chance...
Jun 27, 2007 10:00PM PDT

You may be ok. "Ethernet,USB,Card Reader, Audio, and integrated (factory) graphics work?" Usually. But the first hurdle (and it's a big one) is installing the XP OS onto a SATA drive. If you are lucky it just works, if not read a few of these. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=HOW+TO+INSTALL+XP+ONTO+A+SATA+DRIVE

If you find no drivers for the above items it's usually fine to add the needed card and disable the onboard item.

Bob

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(NT) Are you sure its not 99% chance :)
Jun 27, 2007 10:08PM PDT
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99%
Jun 27, 2007 10:14PM PDT

Seen this done? Do You see any complications?

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(NT) I was kidding with Bob
Jun 27, 2007 11:15PM PDT
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SATA
Jun 27, 2007 10:21PM PDT

My old Gateway 500GR had a 200GB SATA hard drive running on windows XP. This mean anything? Is that the SATA you are referring to? I also hear that Gateway makes eMachine so maybethat will help? I'm thinking if make a set of system recovery disks I can always go back to vista when it has more compatibilty and or stability.

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Vista to XP
Jun 28, 2007 1:52AM PDT

Prior to an OS down grade, you should note what was included with the PC restore wise, with mine I got an Upgrade Vista DVD and a Recovery DVD from Gateway which is the Operating System Only, niether of these include the full driver software for my computer just generic ones or none at all.

The first thing I did was make the DVD's of the Full Factory Install and the Drivers and Software with the Recovery program included with my computer. In Device Manager I made a note of the names of the hardware in the computer, you can also use the recommended 3rd party software, I used SIW since it doesn't require install and seemed to work well to identify my stuff.

Rather then format and install only XP I decided to set up dual boot so I shrunk the drive within Vista and created space and a drive letter to install XP on. I tracked down the driver software for my video, modem, LAN, Intel chipset, sound and put them in a folder in the Recovery Partition on the hard drive and to a CD for install after the install of XP. I put the XP CD in and rebooted and entered BOIS and changed the RAID setting on the hard drive to IDE under the Advanced tab, this makes it so you don't have to load on SATA drivers during install if you do not have them or a Floppy Drive in general, after saving the settings and exiting I pressed any key to boot from the CD when the screen came up. During the install you will pick the Drive you made in Vista to install XP on. After the install the computer will only boot to XP because it changes the Vista boot loader so unless you want the option to boot to Vista you can leave it that way, it also changes the factory installed boot so you won't be able to use F11 to restore the computer so it is important to make the factory install DVD just in case you need to go all the way back.

I later decided to hook a temporary floppy to the computer and installed the SATA drivers, entered BOIS and set the IDE back to RAID, did a repair with XP and it loaded in the drivers and I didn't loose any information, I found that the computer really wasn't that much faster least that I could tell with the SATA over the IDE so was probably a waste of my time.

Upside to this way - if you do decide later down the road you want to go back to Vista it's a matter of restoring the boot loader with the Vista DVD, moving the things in XP that you did over to the Vista Partition and expanding the drive, while using XP you have access to all the things you did in Vista Partition. Down side, my shrink gave me 80G of the hard drive - for some that may not be enough but keep in mind large things can be stored on the Vista Partition if more space is needed. Also altho my install went smoothly I did have problems installing the modem in XP being on broadband I have decided to let that go and lastly some programs altho I did not have the problem with any of mine will not install on any other drive letter but C.

The post about Googling how to dual boot vista xp is where I found the directions to do this and I had printed them out to follow step by step.

I have found that MS slightly missed the mark with this operating system since I believe that it is slightly more intense on your hardware then it should be but I have also found that vendors are using it as a way to get you to buy a new one of what isn't compatible with Vista hence making you lash back at MS, like my older HP all in one, HP said they gave the generic drivers to MS and if I want full control over the all in one with thier software they gave me a link to what they now offer that is compatible with Vista, I actually have come to prefer the Vista supplied ones as the CD to load on the printer in XP was mainly bloat ware anyway, now I can use programs already on my computer for the scanner etc.

Since everyone was aware this operating system was coming for 5 yrs now it would seem that vendors have choosen to move on with thier new product drivers rather then waste man hrs on supporting the older ones.

Northlite

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Downgrading to XP
Jun 29, 2007 7:06PM PDT

How about:
1) Leave Vista on
2) Get free version of VMware Workstation 6
3) Install XP Media Centre as a virtual machine.

Works for me.

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why would you?
Jun 30, 2007 12:17PM PDT

Why would you want to regress? Vista has ' Windows Media Center ' built in. Spend the money on upping your video card! If you need the remote control - go to your OEM - they're resaonably priced. You can also get a remote with a 'T.V." card.

Dean.

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XP vs Vista
Jul 2, 2007 2:58AM PDT

I went in with cash in hand to buy a new laptop. I was lucky to get a salesman who was honest and gave me some good info.
VISTA is NOT a friendly program. He said if you are just starting out with a computer, Vista is great, BUT if you get Vista and have any old programs, printers, etc. They will be useless. I looked myself on MicroSHAFT's site and very few drivers are listed, NONE of mine.

I do Web and Graphic design, Programs for this work is NOT cheap. I can't afford to buy all new printers and programs.
So, he suggested I search for a laptop that has XP on it.

I have been searching and it is not easy to locate one.

So, "BUYER BEWARE", unless you have a lot of funds, stick with XP. Vista will cost you a lot . PLUS you need at LEAST 1BG of memory to just start the program 2GB is suggested, as well as a large hard drive.

Do a lot of research before you spend money on something that will b be useless to you.

Cat

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Vista vs XP
Jul 2, 2007 1:07PM PDT

I think that it is unfair to say nothing older with run on Vista as I just loaded around 30 kids games on a low end Vista Basic computer today with only 512 of RAM and they all loaded on and play fine, three games I had to run in compatibility mode were older MS games. These are games collected over the yrs from 1995 and up. I find the biggest problem is these older games have to set the graphics back to 256.

On my main computer with Vista Premium had the drivers for my older HP all in one which HP gave them rather then bundle them with other software, the only thing that doesn't work right is my U3 Flash drive program because they aren't going to make a Vista compatible version for it and I only used it to release the drive for removal and Vista provides an icon in the task area for that, the storage part is the same as it was before.

On my laptop FrontPage 2003 some times hangs and it acts strangely when I try to delete things from the web but GIMP and IrfanView work fine for my graphics work.

I guess that's because most of my software for work, accept for FrontPage, is open source I haven't noticed that much of a problem with the conversion because Thunderbird, OpenOffice, FireFox, GIMP, etc all seem to be compatible. Also after 6 mos it does start to grow on you.

Northlite

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It WIll
Jun 30, 2007 4:12PM PDT

I suggest you format the main drive move any other stuff you need onto another computer or floppy, flash stick etc...all your stuff should work with Windows Xp. if not go to Manufacturer site and download the drivers..
hope this helped
dave.