hello,

I installed vista on my computer and am now trying to go back to windows xp(surprise). only problem is that when i go to install xp i dont even get to where i can chose to install and it goes to some blue screen deal that says this error code(its all i could get before the screen went blank), 0xf78d2524. i googled that and came up with lots of people having somewhat similar problems, but most of them were having to do with fresh installs on fresh systems that had never had xp installed on them before so therefore it was just them having to install some driver on them to fix it. i don't really see why it would be that in my case since i have had xp working on my computer before, not more than 2 days ago, and now its not working. if anyone has some fresh perspective on my situation them feel free to chime in cause im at my wits end here lol. thanx in advance ^_^

If you are trying to roll back from Vista...I'd have to guess that is not going to work smoothly (don't know, I would just do a clean install of XP).

I do know that the two employ different drivers and would guess that it's the Vista drivers presenting you problems.

Exactly what steps have you taken to "go back"? If we know what you've done, better suggestions will probably result.

Louis

thanx for the reply, im not trying to roll back. im trying to do a clean install, format and install. ive even used a linux program to format and then put the xp cd in but it does the exact same thing :-\

That may be your problem .

Try using the linux distro to just destroy/eliminate the Vista install...then use the XP CD to format/create the partition.

Louis

ive already tried using the linux distro to format my computer, it formats it just fine but then it wont let me install xp again. but it will let me install vista again with no problem at all. maybe its a new feature of vista to cripple your computer so it can only install vista on it.

what kind of disk are you trying to install xp with?

some manufacturers cd's rely on a recovery partition for this

vista and linux would have hosed that

im using a purchased version of a windows xp sp 2 disk. so its not a manufactured version. also if it helps the computer i have is an e-machines t5224

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

exactly where in this procedure are you getting stopped?

step 7-1 as soon as i put in the cd and it boots from it it says its loading all the drivers and stuff or whatever it has to load before setup starts and then it gives me a blue screen with error 0xf78d2524 on it.

Have you considered a dual boot? If you have a large enough harddrive you may be able to have both XP and vista on your system.

i cant even get to the point where i can install xp, so i dont think dual booting will be an option

The eMachines T5224 has a SATA drive as standard equipment ( http://www.emachines.com/support/product_s...amp;model=T5224 ). Are you loading the SATA drivers for your motherboard when XP prompts you to "Press F6 to install SCSI/RAID drivers"?

no im not, and i don't know where i would get the drivers either. and i also don't have a floppy drive if that is something that i would need :-\

i found this page which seems to have the right idea: http://forums.techarena.in/showpost.php?p=...amp;postcount=4

but the links are dead so i guess it doesnt help all that much.

What I meant was not installing XP on Vista. You have at the moment one partition and you can't have a dual boot on one partition. If you can get to Vista you can partition your drive using Vista utility then you have a free partition to install XP.

But you seem to be on the right track with what you wanted to do and I won't distract you.

Refering to my link you are crashing in step 2 right, when the cd loads the drivers for a generic system?

this indicates a hardware problem or bad disk? even a bad cable

are bios settings all original?

If it was an F6(and I doubt it is) the CD will tell you it can't find any hard drives

that board supports ide emulation if I am not mistaken

yes that is the part that it freezes and gives me the error at. right when its loading the generic drivers. i dont see why anything would be messed up i havent changed a thing. it had vista for less than a day. and yes all the bios settings are unchanged. at least by me :-\

*bump-edy bump*

I googled it and didn't find anything definite

If you haven't changed anything inside the computer and some hardware isn't failing, then gateway has messed up
the drive configuration

http://www.e4allupgraders.info/dir1/mother...5/D945GCL.shtml

Is this your motherboard?

you will have to open the computer on this one, it's going to hairy very soon, but as they say when the going get's tough the tough get going

yes thats it

http://www.intel.com/products/i/motherbd/D.../D945GCL_lg.jpg

http://www.e4allupgraders.info/dir1/mother...L_jumpers.shtml

looking at these 2 pictures tell me what the hard drive and the dvd drive are connected to

there are 4 sata connectors and one pata

So, it looks like there might be 2 solutions:

-SATA to PIDE drive emulation (In BIOS or by jumper?) - how do I do this?
-Add a USB floppy w/ a disk with the SATA driver and add in setup - where are the SATA drivers for this MB?

Thanks!

OK - In answer to my own question - this is what I did:

-Hit DEL during startup, go into BIOS
-Go to Advanced -> Drive Configuration -> ATA/IDE Mode -> Choose "Legacy"
-Save and Exit
-During restart you might see a "Internal Error (9) HARDWARE_UNSUPPORTED" - Ignore this during startup
-With WinXP Install CD in bootable drive, install XP as you normally would (Your drive should now be visible during step 7-1 as described in Post 9 of this thread...)

-Good luck with drivers - I haven't tried any yet...