Reinstalling XP (with no Vista CD)

[laurakoz]

I'm fairly intermediate when it comes to computers but I'm a quick learner and have been able to 'recover' fairly fried machines in the past. I'm a great Googler and I follow directions rather well, so I'm fairly confident I can do this with your help...

Specs:
2007 Compaq Presario (SR5130NX)
AMD AthlonTM 64 X2 dual core 3800+
1024MB memory 200GB HD
NVidia GeForce 6150SE
Windows Vista Home Premium

Background:
Just bought a new Compaq after my 7 year old HP died for the third time. Came with Vista of course, which I thought I would try out, but I'm having compatibility issues with a majority of my software and the compatibility wizard is hit or miss. I'm also having a variety of other annoying issues and I'd much rather just go back to XP.

I have an XP CD but since Vista came with this machine, no Vista CD. I've seen various tutorials about reinstalling XP with dual boots and the CD but nothing that particularly applies to me.

My concerns:
1) No Vista CD
2) No previous version of the OS on this machine to steal drivers from the old.windows folder
3) No knowledge/experience with SATA support (as it seems this is a fairly important part of the step)
4) I'd like to keep some of the software that came with this machine (e.g. Lightscribe)

If anyone would be able to work through a few posts with me until I can get a step by step 'how to' for my situation, it would be much appreciated. Please ask for any details you need... (I'm half tempted to go back to Best Buy and just throw my XP CD at them and tell them to 'have at it' but I am afraid of what ungodly amount that would cost)...

Thanks in advance!

[tom.tdw]

do you have your vista activation key (it should be on a sticker on your pc), if not you might want to use a free utility to get it so you can reinstall vista some time in the future (don't want to lose £150 of software).

you might want to duel boot, but you will need a vista disk to do so
if you borrow one you can copy it (legally) with infrarecorder (or you could get one via bittorent but i'm not sure about the legality of that, it should be OK if you use your existing activation key)

if you just want to reinstall XP just put your XP disk in your pc and restart (then it will give you the options you need)
but make sure you know your vista key first

[BertImmenschuh]

That version of LightScribe may or may not work with WinXP. LightScribe is available as a separate program at http://www.lightscribe.com/ for Windows Vista, XP, 2000 (32-bit & 64-bit).

In fact, some Notebooks won't work with anything but Vista, prevents doing what you want to. A client found out about that when trying to buy 2 new Sonys.

The CD Key for the OEMs/Brands is usually tied to the version of the OS which is usually customized to work only on their hardware and sometimes only on particular models. I know Dell does it as I did a test of installing a Dell-branded CD on a custom machine and it failed with an error message early in the routine that it would work. Borrowing a disk would have to meet those constraints.

I've yet to find a legal download from the 'net of the Windows CD or Microsoft Office CD.

[laurakoz]

Don't really know anyone with a Vista upgrade so I'm not sure about borrowing the CD, but my main concern now --the HP site only lists drivers for Vista 32 and 64-bit for this PC, that mean I'm screwed? :(

[BertImmenschuh]

Yep, sounds like you are stuck with WinVista on that machine. But the version of Vista that came on the Notebook shouldn't have been the Upgrade version. It should have been the full OEM version.

[laurakoz]

Yeah, coming to that realization and looking at BestBuy for Business...

[allibear]

Yeah, coming to that realization and looking at BestBuy for Business...

The HP Compaq's usually come with the operating system and the preinstalled software on a recovery partition, usually the 'D' drive, it will contain an OEM copy of the OS. They do not provide Recovery Discs as they used to year's ago due to cost cutting but there is normally a program installed on the machine by HP which allows you to create your own set of Recovery Discs and a Recovery Tools Disc, (which allows you to partition the drive etc).

You reinstall the operating system by running a 'System Recovery', only downside is you have to reinstall it with all the preinstalled software, you can't pick and choose, basically it restores the PC to factory settings.

I have a 2 year old Compaq that came with XP, I now have Vista on it, but this meant reformatting the drive and losing all preinstalled software, which I was quite happy to do, and digging out all my necessary drivers from various vendor's sites for Vista. I can reinstall XP at any time by running the 'System Recovery'.

It may be an option to create another partition and have XP installed on that, have you contacted HP support with the question? You would also need to check which version of XP you have on disc. An OEM copy is tied to one machine and will not activate if it is moved to another. You would need to have a full retail licence copy to move it to another machine.

Hope some of this info. is of use.

[laurakoz]

It may be an option to create another partition and have XP installed on that, have you contacted HP support with the question? You would also need to check which version of XP you have on disc. An OEM copy is tied to one machine and will not activate if it is moved to another. You would need to have a full retail licence copy to move it to another machine.

Thanks for the reply...
I have spoken with HP. XP is not an option and they don't offer the drivers for this machine. I spoke with one of their tech guys that said he would help me find various drivers, but no guarantee --and no warranty. I do have a clean copy of XP, but I figured my best bet was to go with a swap and get a machine with XP on it so I have an OS I can deal with *and* a warranty :)