XP Install

[Torsioned]

Hi folks,

First time posting here so please be nice!

I bought a new Toshiba laptop back in October last year that came with Vista but due to numerous 'incidents' and much effing and blinding I've decided to buy a new version of XP and reinstall that.

Is it as easy as just doing a clean install or will there be lots of drivers etc that I'll need as well such as for the fingerprint scanner thing?

I'm not overly tech savvy but do have a half decent understanding of what goes on!

Also open to other recommendations please!

Thanks

T

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Welcome to the Windows Forum.

There is a possibility that your new computer may have devices with no drivers for XP. What I would do in your situation

• write down or print out a full list of all your devices and drivers
  
• search for appropriate XP drivers, then download (but not install) all the XP drivers
  

Next I would do one of the following

1. install XP over Vista
   
   • take a full backup of your current system (to an external drive)
     
   • format your HD, then install XP
     

[*]install XP as a multiboot system beside Vista

• install a boot manager
  
• create a second primary partition
  
• install XP in the new partition
  

Bot options above will allow you to go back to the working Vista system if the XP install goes wrong.

P.S. if your new XP disk has already SP3 on it, there may be a chance that all new devices are already supported.

[Tanmaya]

Hi,

I agree with Pat's opinion, but do you have Device Drivers CD for your Toshiba laptop? Because generally Manufactures provides device drivers and necessary softwares along with their electronics product. If you have one, then it will surely help you to proceed with Windows XP clean installation.

P.S.: Do not forget to take backup of all your important data on the laptop. B)

[y2khardtop]

I have an x205-sli3, and was able to find all of the drivers for XP, and the machine indeed does run much better in XP. HOWEVER, I recently tried a clean install of Vista (using a Microsoft Disc), and it is also MUCH better than the Toshiba bloat-ware infested install.

If you have the patience to track down all of the drivers you need, XP does run really well on modern machines. However, you can very easily do a clean install of Vista and get better performance than you likely have now.

btw, if you have an x205 I have the drivers you need. Make sure that if you have an SATA hard drive (you probably do), then you have to slipstream that into an XP disc or it won't recognize your hard drive.

[Torsioned]

Thanks for all the tips guys, one (pretty big thing) I forgot to mention is that last week I had a BSOD that wouldn't allow me to get even as far as the login screen; I couldn't even get into safe mode and no restores would work.

As I hadn't taken an image of my setup prior to this and didn't have any recovery discs, I was recommended to do a clean install from a normal copy of Vista Home Premium so it really is a bare bones system at the moment.

Does this affect anything that you guys have suggested?

Would I still have a complete list of drivers listed or am I pretty much stuffed? How do I know which drivers I need to search for?

Thanks

T

[y2khardtop]

you should do a clean instal of whichever version you had before, so your license matches up. Vista should load up just fine, and it is pretty good about finding most of the drivers it REALLY needs (much better than XP). Also, it will find you SATA hard drive fine, where-as XP would likely have issues.

If you have data on that machine you need, I'd try and get a Ubunto or UBCD4WIN bootable CD, so that you can attempt to copy the data off of the drive before wiping everything. Vista might let you save your data, but I'd try and get it copied first if you have anything of value.