problem installing xp on vista

jayru

Member
when i reboot with xp cd it starts to load files then it says starting windows and then an error message appears and says a problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer... at the bottom of message it says something about checking hard drives and hard drive controllers... Help! Please!
 
Hi jayru, welcome to NST

Problem: You can't install XP "onto" Vista. This in technical jargon is an upgrade. You can't upgrade a newer OS with an older one. However, if you want to delete Vista's partition and install XP as the only OS than you can do that.

Problem: Your controller's operating mode in the BIOS is probably causing the problem.

Go into your BIOS and change the operating mode and than XP setup should start without problems. You can resize Vista's partition or store XP on a spare if you want to eventually have a dual-boot going here. Otherwise, delete Vista's partition and create a new one to install XP on. Make sure you backup your stuff before you do this. You will need to re-install programs, drivers, and copy back over your files after the installation.

If you want the to dual-boot, you can try booting Vista before the install but after changing modes to see if it will still boot. If not, a re-install of Vista will be needed as well.
 
What is the BSOD message it gives? Without that we cant tell you where the install process is stalling.
 
Like Justin said, this error is due to AHCI operating mode for SATA controller enabled in BIOS...:wink: To fix this, you will need to enter your BIOS (F2) and change the operating mode from AHCI to ATA. I had the exact same problem, and I fixed it that way...hopefully it will work for you as well. :wink:

GL and let me know if it works.

-Coolname007

P.S. If once you have XP installed, and Vista now gets the "stop" error, instead of XP, when trying to boot, it is because the ATA setting does not work for Vista...I had this problem as well, and I had to switch operating modes back and forth in my BIOS every time I wanted to boot into the other OS. I fixed it in the following way: downloaded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager for XP, and it allowed me to boot into XP with the AHCI mode enable thereafter, and I've been booting it that way ever since! :grinning:
 
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no operating mode found in bios

Hey Kairozamorro, thanks for the reply. From what i've been finding it seems the operating mode is most likely my problem. I am trying the dualboot sorry i didn't make that clear, some one else has also said to change operating mode from AHCI to ATA but i can't find that in the bios?? I'm using an ACER Aspire X1200 if you or anyone else know how to change these settings on this thing it would be much appreciated. Thanks again for the help!

Addendum:

Kairozamorro and Coolname007(sorry didn't see you before that last post) thank you for the help,I talked to acer and they said there was no way to change the operating mode. Acer also seemed to think that the problem was the xp not seeing the partition said to get new hard drive?? But it sounds like i would have the same problem and no dual boot, which i'm about to give up on and just go strictly xp anyway but now I'm scared that xp won't work at all on this machine. I'm at a stand still now and open to any suggestions or thoughts, thanks again!
 
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Acer also seemed to think that the problem was the xp not seeing the partition said to get new hard drive??

If there's a problem with your XP installation not seeing the partition you created for it, it could be because the partition is not set to "active" before booting from the XP CD...:wink: That was the case with me as well, and I had to set it to "active", before it would recognize it as an actual partition, and not "unallocated" space. It also wouldn't hurt to hide your Vista partition, before installing XP, as this will allow your XP partition to be called (C) when you boot XP, and also the Vista partition to be called (C) as well, when you boot into Vista. :wink:

You can accomplish both of these things (i.e.giving the XP partition an "active" flag, and hiding your Vista partition) with a tool such as Gparted or BootIT NG. And then when you're finished with the installation of XP, you can simply unhide your Vista partition, and set it to "active" again. You will need to burn Gparted to a CD though before you hide your Vista partition, and set your XP partition to "active"...as for BING, you will still need to download (the 30 day free trial) and burn a CD, but you will also have the option to install it on the computer, on an 8 MB partition that you create with BING, and use the tool before booting from the XP CD (though the XP installation will deactivate BING, and will require having to insert the BING CD after installation to reactivate it, if you would like to keep the tool, which btw, also inludes its own bootloader, imaging software, etc.).

GL and let me know how it goes.

-Coolname007
 
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OK I'll try that... but one question i have is when the computer starts to boot off the cd it says booting off the AHCI cd rom, is this still going to be a problem being AHCI and not ATA as you mentioned earlier... and if i try this is it still reversable in case it doesn't work? Thanks again you guys have been a tremendous help!
 
OK I'll try that... but one question i have is when the computer starts to boot off the cd it says booting off the AHCI cd rom, is this still going to be a problem being AHCI and not ATA as you mentioned earlier... and if i try this is it still reversable in case it doesn't work? Thanks again you guys have been a tremendous help!

Yeah...like Guru said, it is fully reversable. :smile: You may have to disable the Flash Cache Module, first though, before you can switch the AHCI setting to ATA. :wink: That is what I had to do...and then when the time comes to switch it back, you will need to re-enable the Flash Cache Module again, before you can switch it back to AHCI.

GL and let us know how it goes.

-Coolname007
 
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You can have flash cache disabled in AHCI, it is just the other way around where you can't have it enabled in SATA.
 
You can have flash cache disabled in AHCI, it is just the other way around where you can't have it enabled in SATA.

No, he needs to disable flash cache, before switching from AHCI to ATA, Justin. Otherwise, it will give him an error message saying the Flash Cache Module needs to be disabled. You can not have it enabled in SATA mode...and it needs to be enabled before switching back to AHCI from ATA. That has been my experience at least...its possible though your computer may be different in that regard, though I don't think that's likely. :wink:

-Coolname0007
 
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Hey everybody! I'm back but still getting nowhere. I,ve got BootIt NG now, nice program by the way, hid vista partition with xp partition active and I'm still getting the same error message. One thing I did notice when booting from the xp cd, was when the prompt to press a key to boot from cd it has three lines of text (1)Boot from AHCI CD(2)No emulation system type 06(3)press a key to boot from cd. The second line is the one i wondered about because it only does that for the xp cd, any thoughts? I've tried and tried to find a way to change the operating mode from ahci to ata but no luck and nothing for flash cache either, this computer doesn't seem to allow much manipulation or if it does i don't know how to figure it out. Just for kicks i'll give ya the full error message and maybe it will raise a red flag to someone: A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer
TECH info~~~STOP:0x0000007B (0xF78D2524, 0x0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)
Check for viruses, remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers, check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated, run CHKDSK/F to check for hard drive corruption and then restart your computer. This doesn't seem like it's that hard to do and I'm definitely no computer expert but I don't feel as though I'm in over my head either. Any thoughts or suggestions, as always, are much appreciated. Thank You!
 
Hey everybody! I'm back but still getting nowhere. I,ve got BootIt NG now, nice program by the way, hid vista partition with xp partition active and I'm still getting the same error message. One thing I did notice when booting from the xp cd, was when the prompt to press a key to boot from cd it has three lines of text (1)Boot from AHCI CD(2)No emulation system type 06(3)press a key to boot from cd. The second line is the one i wondered about because it only does that for the xp cd, any thoughts? I've tried and tried to find a way to change the operating mode from ahci to ata but no luck and nothing for flash cache either, this computer doesn't seem to allow much manipulation or if it does i don't know how to figure it out. Just for kicks i'll give ya the full error message and maybe it will raise a red flag to someone: A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer
TECH info~~~STOP:0x0000007B (0xF78D2524, 0x0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)
Check for viruses, remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers, check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated, run CHKDSK/F to check for hard drive corruption and then restart your computer. This doesn't seem like it's that hard to do and I'm definitely no computer expert but I don't feel as though I'm in over my head either. Any thoughts or suggestions, as always, are much appreciated. Thank You!

Cheers! :smile: I use BING too! Are you limiting or not limiting primaries? That question is not really related to your problem, but I may be able to give you some useful tips in that regard...:wink:

Here's the Microsoft fix to your problem (let me know if it works):

Advanced troubleshooting for errors in Windows XP

-Coolname007
 
Cool thanks for the link! I'll give that a shot. As far as the BING I set it to no limit and I'm thinking about switching to limit, but would love some input. Thanks again!
 
Well, I think i've hit the wall. When I first talked to acer they said this computer would work with XP but it doesn't. I looked on MS site for drivers for this hard disk and nothing then acer said they don't have one either. I also talked to Western Digital Corp. who makes the hard disc and they said because it is an OEM drive I would have to get it from Acer. But on WDC"s web site they have the driver listed but i'm thinkin trying this might be a bad idea? What kind of damage could be done if this is not the right one? This seems like the only thing to try at this point. Any input?.. Anyone?... Help?....
 
If the OEM for the parts or the system don't have a driver, your outta luck. Best thing I can tell you is to start searching similar models to see if they use the same hardware and have drivers available or just do a general search for them. They may be a little hard to track down, but with effort comes reward. I had to a lot of this last January for my Dell laptop when I decided I wanted XP on there and at the time they didn't apparently provide XP drivers for my model.
 
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