fed up of vista want to reinstall xp but cant??

futuresbright

I an fed up of vista for a number of reasons mainly because it wont run my flight sim games,so would like to reinstall xp mce.

i have got as far as the blue screen which asks me where i would like to install but my hard drive is not showing up???

done a bit of reading on the subject but its all well over my head!

can it be done easily??

Little_John

Answer these questions and I will help.
What are you trying to install on? desktop or laptop?
Do you have a floppy drive in said PC?
If a laptop post the make and model number

The reason is that the drive controller requires drivers that are not part of the windows install disk. This is normally on desktops that are configured using a raid controller. earlier in setup you will see an option to press F6 to install additional driver controller drivers. hence the need for a floppy drive. If you have no floppy drive the easiest solution is to disable the raid controller in the bios. and install windows normally. If you intend to use raid then you need to get the raid controller drivers and a floppy drive. a USB drive can also be used but you need access to a pc to put the drivers on the usb drive.

futuresbright

What are you trying to install on? desktop or laptop?
Do you have a floppy drive in said PC?
If a laptop post the make and model number

1-desktop
2-no floppy
3-n/a

the machine originally came with xp mce on it but have since upgraded to vista home premium.

The reason is that the drive controller requires drivers that are not part of the windows install disk. This is normally on desktops that are configured using a raid controller. earlier in setup you will see an option to press F6 to install additional driver controller drivers. hence the need for a floppy drive. If you have no floppy drive the easiest solution is to disable the raid controller in the bios. and install windows normally. If you intend to use raid then you need to get the raid controller drivers and a floppy drive. a USB drive can also be used but you need access to a pc to put the drivers on the usb drive.

not sure what raid means?? but i would like to just install windows normally.
i have another p.c available if that helps.

thanks little john:A

sco0ter

So do you mean when it reaches the slect where to install screen , there is nothing at all showing where the partitions should be

futuresbright

sco0ter wrote: »

So do you mean when it reaches the slect where to install screen , there is nothing at all showing where the partitions should be

yes that is correct my hard drive is not showing??

would just like to format "c" and do a fresh install.

sco0ter

Im surprised the install let you get that for if there is nothing at all showing in the box... Usually you need a drive or partition showing before it would continue.

futuresbright

sco0ter wrote: »

Im surprised the install let you get that for if there is nothing at all showing in the box... Usually you need a drive or partition showing before it would continue.

yes thats my problem i cannot get any further as it is not showing a drive to install to.

after a bit of reading i think its something to do with drivers not being present on xp disc??

Little john seems to know whats wrong but he`s just teasing me and hiding!!!:rotfl:

Hermann

Suspect you have a serial hard drive.(SATA)

Windows often needs you to load these drivers using F6 early in the setup, without them xp thinks there is no drive present.

Drivers are often on a disc that came with the system or motherboard.
Otherwise you need to know motherboard and download from makers site.

Hermann

Here's the basics ....
http://www.alexnolan.net/articles/installxpsata.htm

spakkker

I've read that vista 'tattoos' the h/drive so you can't put on xp. I read that using a windows 98 boot disc may allow you to format-but no floppy. A free program called eraser lets you create DBAN onto a usb drive-can you select boot from usb? This should then wipe the hard drive. Some drive makers have make-back-to-new progs also. I don't fancy vista yet and have never even used it so no personal experiance. If you google 'vista cant reinstall xp' you will get plenty of pages

computerwoman

you could just get another hd and put xp on that and keep vista on the other one...just a suggestion...