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6935G switch from Vista to XP Home

post #1 of 14
4/29/09 at 1:13pm
Thread Starter 
Hi all! I'm a notebook newbie so pls bear with me...I have the Acer Aspire 6935G and it came with Vista, which I hate. I want to switch to XP Home but I can't locate the various drivers apart from on sites which claim to offer 'free drivers' but then ask for fees. Has anyone experience of siwtiching from Vista to XP on this machine please, or can anyone point me to a reliable source of drivers? Apologies if I've missed a FAQ or a comprehensive guide - I promise I've had a good look but...
Excellent site by the way - I thought I was alone in the dark til I found this!
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post #2 of 14
4/29/09 at 2:10pm
Same principle here:

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread227187.html

List out your devices manufacturers, then search direct on the net. You can also try to get XP drivers from other comparable models of Acer.

cheers ...
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post #3 of 14
4/30/09 at 5:46am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for that ghn. The prospect sounds worrying but I still feel inclined to make the change. I just worry about still having wireless connection etc. Thanks again
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post #4 of 14
4/30/09 at 7:23am
Thats why one should consider dual booting. Two partitions and different OS on each partition. That way, while you located all the drivers, utilities required for XP you at least have an operational laptop with Vista
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post #5 of 14
4/30/09 at 11:45pm
That laptop is new and Acer has switched from Nvidia with the 6930 to an ATI card for the 6935. Vendors are working on Windows 7 driver not going backwards to XP. That was a problem when trying to go back to XP after Vista was first released and will be even more of a problem with Windows 7 being released in fall. There is also an issue with SATA drivers when moving back to XP.
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post #6 of 14
5/1/09 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
Update is I have gone for gold and switched to XP Pro. So far so good...switched HD to IDE and XP Loaded fine. As advised in many fine posts on this site, I first made a full recovery copy of Vista, noted all Vista hardware and driver details, plus downloaded as many as I could find to suit XP. I now have sound, video and internet working. Couple of questions;

1) XP asked me if I wanted to delete various partitions (I think there were 4 in total) so I deleted 3 of them and put XP on C. Now XP only recognises 140gb of the 320gb hard drive. I'm not really 'into' partitions but could anyone advise how I increase C up to the full 320gb?

2) XP is only seeing 3gb of the 4gb installed RAM. I assume this is because my XP is 32bit - is there nothing I can do to increase the usable RAM to 4gb?

3) If I install XP SATA drivers can I go back into BIOS and switch to SATA drives? Bet it's not that simple somehow!

Thanks again to the knowledgable contributors - all advice appreciated.

Steve
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post #7 of 14
5/1/09 at 1:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jones View Post
Update is I have gone for gold and switched to XP Pro. So far so good...switched HD to IDE and XP Loaded fine. As advised in many fine posts on this site, I first made a full recovery copy of Vista, noted all Vista hardware and driver details, plus downloaded as many as I could find to suit XP. I now have sound, video and internet working.

Would you post the links where you collected the XP drivers to share?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jones View Post

1) XP asked me if I wanted to delete various partitions (I think there were 4 in total) so I deleted 3 of them and put XP on C. Now XP only recognises 140gb of the 320gb hard drive. I'm not really 'into' partitions but could anyone advise how I increase C up to the full 320gb?
Hmm, might be a constraint somewhere, you might have to settle for 2 partitions.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jones View Post
2) XP is only seeing 3gb of the 4gb installed RAM. I assume this is because my XP is 32bit - is there nothing I can do to increase the usable RAM to 4gb?
I am afraid not!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jones View Post
3) If I install XP SATA drivers can I go back into BIOS and switch to SATA drives? Bet it's not that simple somehow!
It is simple, but not needing. AHCI supports and advantages are not being taken in consideration under XP. Just leave it.

cheers ...
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post #8 of 14
5/1/09 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
The drivers were all at

(77k ' )
http://komku.blogspot.com/2009/01/ac...-xp-vista.html

easy to find via a Google search. I downloaded about a dozen drivers no problem and so far the graphics, sound and wireless internet all appear fine. Re the partition problem, I'm hoping that Partition Magic will be my saviour!
As usual, thanks for the reply - very helpful.
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post #9 of 14
5/1/09 at 1:37pm
Your link is fixed. Thanks for the info.

Partition Magic is cool. Good lucks.

cheers ...
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post #10 of 14
5/2/09 at 3:56pm
Thread Starter 
Further update...I am gutted. I had installed drivers for most hardware and XP running great. Then I found a program free with a mag called Easeus Partition Manager which claimed to move partitions around simply. Installed and dragged my 140gb C partition (with XP etc on it) to include 2 other unassigned (probably not the right term sorry) partitions. All looked well and I should have had a 300gb single partition. Easeus said 'restart PC' which I did and all looked well. 11% completed, then suddenly blank screen and a flashing cursor!!! I left it for 30 mins with no change. Switched off and on - nothing. I have resorted to reloading XP and starting again. It appears that the drive is now 300gb as I wanted but why did it lose my system data?? I thought these clever partioning programs didn't destroy data??
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post #11 of 14
5/2/09 at 4:26pm
Interesting. I did use Easeus Partition Manager in the past, and never had an issue. But then I used it as to partition, and not to "glue" partitions together like you did.

Have you tried Easeus Support FAQ?

You got what you need in the end - too bad for the reload.

cheers ...
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post #12 of 14
5/5/09 at 10:39am
Thread Starter 
Well after a traumatic weekend I now have a working laptop again! I don't think the remote that came with the laptop for controlling movie/TV playback is working properly but I need to check further. Aside from that I'm very happy with the laptop and it plays my games just fine! Thanks for all comments and support.
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post #13 of 14
5/5/09 at 12:42pm
Hi Steve.
I bought the same Acer 6935G as you and an OEM XP PRO license and want to do the same as you.Do you have a link to serve as guide for the whole operation?I started making the recovery disks .It is the only thing I did so far.
Thanks
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post #14 of 14
5/6/09 at 1:28pm
Thread Starter 
Hi Recagnik - I only followed the advice given in numerous emails and adapted it to suit my laptop. In essence;

1) Change boot sequence in BIOS so CDROM is read first
2) Change Hard Drive in BIOS from SATA to IDE (XP doesn't recognise SATA when loading so this avoids a disc read error)
3) Ensure I had copies of all XP drivers I could find - see link in this thread
4) Make a note of all hardware listed in Control panel before Vista is removed.
5) Make Vista recovery discs that are bootable from CD - the Acer laptop allows that as an option. Then if all goes wrong you can get back to ex factory condition.
6) When you insert XP disc all should go fine, but I cocked up the format so I was left with 4 partitions. You probably understand partitions better than me!!
7) Cross fingers...good luck
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