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revert to windows XP Pro 1

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DotNetGnat

Programmer
Mar 10, 2005
5,548
IN
Hi Guys,

I recently bought a new desktop(Dell Dimension 9200) that came with Windows Vista Home Basic OS. But now I want to revert back and put windows XP Pro OS on it.

So this is what I did so far...I restarted my machine with windows xp pro CD in the CD-ROM and pressed F12 to change the boot sequence to boot from CDROM.

It looked like windows set up started and went to do some intital process of checking the modules and at the end I got a blue screen with the following error:

Stop: 0X0000007B(0XF78E2541,0XC00000034,0X00000000,0X00000000)

can someone tell me how to format my machine and revert back to windows XP. Also 1) Do I need to format my BRAND NEW machine or 2) can i just create a new partition for doing a clean windows XP install?

Please suggest guys...thanks in advance...

-DNG
 
This error refers to an inaccessible boot device (but also possible virus infection). It may be that your shiny new Dell is locked to the Hardware and OS configuration as bought, and you cannot change the OS.
 
Thanks for your reply...so what are my options? How do i get to install windows xp on it.

can you please suggest me.

Thanks

-DNG

Thanks.
 
DotNetGnat,

Without knowing your setup and the ways of Dell this is difficult...but I did just the opposite (added Vista to XP install, so swap them in the solution) like this:

1. Installed new hard drive
2. Booted to XP to format the new drive (36 GB Raptor)
3. Disconnected XP Drive
4. Installed Vista to new drive (made it the boot drive in BIOS)
5. Re-connected XP drive
6. Using BIOS boot order I boot to whichever I want first.

I am sure there are other ways (partitioning the Vista drive comes to mind) but you should not install XP & Vista on the same partition...ever.

Tony
 
Try using an app to format the hard disk. I have reinstalled xp several times on my dell using the recovery cd. Before I reinstall I use killdisk to format the disk first and then boot off the recovery cd. This works going from vista > xp and vice versa.

When I was born I was so suprised I didn't talk for 18 months
 
I've run into this problem a few times when installing XP on Dell laptops - same STOP code 0x7B. The solution in every case was to change boot.ini to point to the correct partition on the drive. I won't have access to any of the laptops for a couple of days to confirm, by I think that the entries in boot.ini had to be changed from:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

to

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


Note the partition() number change. It may have been opposite, i.e. changing 1 to a 2.
 
wahnula is probabley on the right track. If I remember rightly from previous posts on multi boot systems and if the same priniciples apply, the older OS has to be on the C:\ drive (or first boot drive/partition), with second and subsequent OS's following on seperate partitions/drives. So in theory, creating a second partition and loading XP there wouldn't work.
 
thank you so much for all your replies guys...I will look into all your suggestions and try to post updated information...

thanks again...

-DNG
 
I just had a recent issue where I needed to re-install XP Pro on a laptop.

Booted off of the XP CD, and very quickly got the BSOD. This laptop *HAD* XP on it before.

Turns out that the XP cd I was using was pre- service-pack 2....

I used a program called nLite to make a rollup bootable XP install with SP2 already in it.

Worked like a champ. :)



Just my 2¢
"Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste." -Bonnie Raitt "Nick of Time"
--Greg
 
Hi Guys,

I have successfully installed windows XP in my machine using trial and error method...

I think, ASG0856 was right in saying that the error is related to unidentified boot up device...windows XP installation was unable to talk to the hard drive...

after googling for a bit...i read about changing SATA operation to Raid AutoDetect from Raid On and tried the installation again...and everything worked fine...

but my question is what is the difference between those two SATA operations. Can i still leave my setting Raid AutoDetect ON or should I now change it back to Raid on?

Any suggestions...

-DNG
 
Now that you've completed the installation, your RAID setting shouldn't matter. Set it as you wish... until you need to reinstall the OS, that is.
 
DotNetGnat,

Can you tell me step by step how you got it to work?

I reformatted my drive and am trying to install xp instead of vista. Did you use f6? What drivers did you use? Which version.

Please help. :)

-MarkusR
 
I have the drivers but they don't do me any good until I get windows installed. During installation did you load a sata driver? If so, which one?

Did you install off of a Dell CD? Did you dual boot or erase Vista and install XP?

Thanks much

-Markus
 
ok let me tell you what I did.

I brought this brand new computer that came along with Windows Vista Home Basic OS. I used it for a week but was not happy with it as many programs and applications were not yet compatible with Vista. So I decided to put windows xp on it.

I tried to do a clean install of windows xp [red]by booting the machine from CD drive(in which i have windows xp CD)[/red] wiping out Vista, but my first 3 to 4 attempts were all in vain. Everytime i got a blue screen error. I looked up the error online and all links pointed out the same error [red]"Hard drive on my machine is not accessible"[/red]

Then after reading more links...i read something about SATA operations...i checked my current SATA checkings and it was set to [red]SATA RAID ON[/red]...i changed it to [red]SATA AUTODETECT[/red]...then i tried the same process of booting the machine from CD drive. This time I was able to access the hard drive and windows xp installation started with out any problems.

I tried dual boot but read online that Vista and XP does not got well together and also read that doing a clean install is always a good approach. So i decided not to partition the hard drive.

please let me know if you need more information.

-DNG

 
DotNetGnat,

Sorry to be a pain in the butt...

So you only changed the bios RAID setting and that is all? You didn't need a flopyy disk or to press f6 during installation to load any SATA drivers?

-Markus
 
no i did not load any SATA drives....

i just changed the bois RAID setting...and that is all i did...

-DNG
 
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