Installing WinXP over Ubuntu

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mikeczyz

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
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A while ago, I bought a Dell Netbook. I purchased it with Ubuntu pre-installed because I thought it would be fun to check out a new O/S and because it was less expensive than getting Windows pre-installed. Well, the great Ubuntu experiment is over and I want to move to WinXP.

I have an external CD-ROM and everything seems to be goign well. It detects the setup disc and starts doing its thing. After a few minutes, I get a BSOD which tells me to check any newly installed hard drives or hd controllers (don't have any new HD or HD controllers), check to see if the HD is properly configured (I assume so because i can boot into Ubuntu just fine), and check for hard drive corruption (I did and everything checks out fine).

Any ideas where to go from here?

Thanks!
 
windows 7 is an option but won't it be too big for my tiny little netbook? is there a way to slim windows 7 down?

I ran a memcheck and it's totalyl fine.
 
Most of us who have netbooks have Windows 7 on them, why would it be to big?
 
I just looked up a list of Windows 7 system requirements:

*

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
*

1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
*

16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
*

DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Almost all of these requirements pose a problem in one way or another. For instance, I own the 64 bit version of Win7 but my netbook only has a 16 gig SSD card. In addition, Win7 will use all 2 gigs of my RAM. In short, Windows 7 isn't really a feasible option for me.
 
Yea, you're reading those specs all wrong, but chances are your netbook will not run the 64bit version anyway so that is a non-issue.

FWIW, Windows 7 runs great 1GB of RAM netbooks.. I would know.
 
Okay, so we're back to my original question. :)

Anyone have any ideas on what might be causing my WinXP error?
 
Is there an OS install setting in your BIOS? I only ask because there is one on my eee900 although it doesn't seem to do anything.

I vote for a memory error, or a HD issue. You might have to do some kind of deep scan to flag bad segments on the SSD if that's the problem.

It might also be something as silly as a dirty CD. Anyway, memtest can't hurt to run, but I doubt you would have been able to run Ubuntu if it were a memory error. Linux tends to be more picky than windows when it comes to bad RAM.
 
mikeczyz said:
In addition, Win7 will use all 2 gigs of my RAM.
Click to expand...
Ah yes...another person who likes to buy RAM so it can be unused. We're a few days away from 2010, and STILL people don't understand that Vista and Windows 7 use your memory in ways to enhance performance. *sighs*.

Anyway, if you have a license for Windows 7 x64, then you can use it for Windows 7 x86. You just need to borrow a disc.
 
95% sure it's because the system is set to AHCI. Go into the BIOS and change Sata mode to IDE compatibility. It may also be called Sata Native mode ... disable that.
 
It's probably the classic SATA driver issue. If you haven't slipstreamed your SATA Drivers into XP via nLite, you need to do that. Or F6 during setup to use them and use a USB floppy.
 
bigdogchris said:
95% sure it's because the system is set to AHCI. Go into the BIOS and change Sata mode to IDE compatibility. It may also be called Sata Native mode ... disable that.
Click to expand...

My BIOS doesn't have anything which looks like this.

I'm going to look into this SATA driver issue and then try the thumbdrive install method. THis is incredibly aggravating.
 
mikeczyz said:
My BIOS doesn't have anything which looks like this.

I'm going to look into this SATA driver issue and then try the thumbdrive install method. THis is incredibly aggravating.
Click to expand...

Slipstream the F6 drivers for your sata controller first. Google nlite, it is a good fro adding F6 drivers and slip streaming service packs to Xp.
 
GORANKAR said:
Slipstream the F6 drivers for your sata controller first. Google nlite, it is a good fro adding F6 drivers and slip streaming service packs to Xp.
Click to expand...

Yea the F6 thing was my first instinct...


As far as Win7, the only iffy thing is the space it takes up. It depends what you're doing with the machine. If you're running vanilla Win7 and nothing else, it'll be fine. If you're going to have lots of data and stuff on it, you might run out of space at some point.

Honestly *nix (Ubuntu, or Moblin (Moblin looks awesome, I haven't tried it myself yet)) is the best thing for netbooks. Everything you're doing is within a browser for the most part, and it fits the bill nicely.
 
I have enjoyed my linux experience thus far but I am going overseas with my netbook and, shoudl any problems arise, I am going to have more problems fixing a linux o/s vs. a windows o/s. That and google video chat doesn't work on linux.
 
mikeczyz said:
I have enjoyed my linux experience thus far but I am going overseas with my netbook and, shoudl any problems arise, I am going to have more problems fixing a linux o/s vs. a windows o/s. That and google video chat doesn't work on linux.
Click to expand...

Understandable... I want to use something the rest of the world uses as well :D

At any rate I'd still try the F6 thing at setup.... That's what it's there for.
 
sweeeeet. I slipstreamed SP3 into WinXP and am currently installing the O/S. Thanks!
 
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