Need someone smarter than me to help with XP Pro driver installation and order

[eysikal]

Here's the story:

I have an HP Compaq 6910p notebook that came with Vista. I'd like to downgrade to XP. HP has a list of XP Pro drivers for the 6910p on the HP Support site.

For the life of me I can't even understand what some of these drivers are. I tried installing them and am left with several unknown devices in the Device Manager. I need someone to help me decide which of the several drivers listed for the 6910p are meant for my machine. It seems like there are duplicates.

I'm guessing the order of installation of the drivers is important as well. I tried searching online for a guide but was unsuccessful.

 

[eysikal]

I'm guessing I might need to post more details about my 6910p's configuration.

For example, mine does not have a dedicated ATi card and instead uses the intergrated Intel graphics chip.

When I look at the list of wireless drivers, for example, I get pretty confused.

 

[Azhar]

well the thing with HP laptops is you won't be able to install the wrong driver anyways. If you see several wireless drivers for example (usually IntelPRO or Broadcom), you can simply get them both and one will tell you that that specific hardware doesn't exist. Just use the other.

I'm sure you'll be getting posts below mine asking this, so I'll start it off: Why are you removing Vista?

 

[Catweazle]

HP Compaq 6910p is a product line for which the hardware can vary. There are a couple of different chipsets, a couple of different graphics sub-circuits, a couple of different audio chips, several different wireless chips etc etc.

You're gonna have to identify the specific hardware which is in your particular 6910p, so you can know which of those drivers you need. You gotta get the ones which relate to your hardware, Nobody can just look at this topic and know precisely what you need to download.

That's an 'all purposes' download page which presents all the drivers for all possible hardware combinations in the 6910p product range, I'm afraid.

Still got Vista running on it? If not then re-image the thing using the recovery tools.

Then run a hardware identification tool on the thing and note down the precise details of all the relevent hardware components. That'll enable you to identify which device drivers you need to get for XP.

 

[eysikal]

I'm sure you'll be getting posts below mine asking this, so I'll start it off: Why are you removing Vista?

I've just noticed that XP in my experience is "snappier." I only have 2GB or ram on the laptop--so I'd rather run XP.

 

[eysikal]

Still got Vista running on it? If not then re-image the thing using the recovery tools.

What do you mean by this?

Then run a hardware identification tool on the thing and note down the precise details of all the relevent hardware components. That'll enable you to identify which device drivers you need to get for XP.

What is the best way to do this?

 

[Catweazle]

It's a HP laptop, eysikal. That means it would've come with the facility to wipe the thing and reinstall everything back to the way it was when first shipped, using the 'Recovery Partition' on the drive or using the set of Recovery disks you made when you first got it. (You did do that, didn't you? The product's documentation would've indicated that you should make a set, using the included tools, for safety purposes.)

HP/Compaq laptops usually have the facility to use a particular keypress combination during startup to access the 'Recovery' tools, and if you haven't nuked the hard drive entirely to delete the recovery partition you should still be able to do it that way. Check the manuals and leaflets etc which came with your laptop. Instructions will be in there somewheres.


There are several hardware identification programs you could use. I personally use Everest Ultimate. Others might use SiSoft Sandra or some other program for the job. Running such a thing gives you a report which properly identifies the hardware components in your rig.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Even the Device Manager should tell you pretty much what you need to know. As long as you write down the basics, especially the NIC drivers, you shouldn't run into any issues. If you get stuck on one piece of hardware, pcidatabase.com will help you identify it.