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Brand New Computer

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Post #1
Just got my new computer!!! HP Pavilion Slimline s3713w Desktop PC Windows Vista Home Premium with Windows Media Center (32-bit) with Vista Service Pack 1 AMD Dual Core Athlon X2 (B) 4450e 2.3 GHz (45W) 3GB DDR2 SDRAM 320 GB SATA 3G (3.0 Gb/sec) 7200 rpm I'm still playing around with it, but not too sure that I like vista. Programs drag. You get "windows needs your permission to continue" every 3 seconds. Which by the way how to you shut that off? I don't know maybe it's just gonna take some time to get used to, but I'm just about a second away from throw xp on this thing. Jeremy
Post #2
Hi Jeremy. If you decide you want to try XP on your new computer, DO NOT replace Vista. Instead, setup a Dual boot so you can use Vista or XP.

Two reasons why I say this.

1. Replacing Vista with XP may invalidate your warranty
2. Hardware on some newer computers do not have XP drivers so you may not be able to use everything under XP.

See here for explicit instructions:
http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

This one seems a bit cleaner:
http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/about88231.html

As for turning off UAC, Google has lots of hits: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=t…;oq=turn+off+ua

Probably not a good idea though as it's one of the primary security improvements Vista has over XP. You really need to learn how to use it. This is a good start: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/a…shut_off_v.html
Post #4
HP does not have any XP drivers for that model: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwar…mp;lang=en&

You will have to determine each components name and model number then go to the manufacturers web site and see if you can find a driver.

Many of them may be integrated into the system board so finding the XP drivers for it may solve most of the problems, if there are XP drivers. According to the link you posted, it's a Asus M2N61-AR, which is an OEM board ASUS makes for HP so they don't have any drivers for it, see here: http://forums.driverguide.com/showthread.php?t=41191

You could try installing XP as a dual boot and see what it does and doesn't find. Maybe you'll get lucky and most will work, then you would only have to find the ones that didn't.

I think you're going to have to learn to like Vista or wait a bit then upgrade to Windows 7.
Post #6
OK I tried it, and now I'm a little stuck Went through the step on the second link that you gave me. Got through the dos setup on progress for xp and after the system reboot it gets stuck on the screen that say press any key to boot from cd drive…. and no matter what you do it hangs there, unless you do a hard reboot. So that did work, so figure well just delete the xp partition and boot back into vista, hum nope not happening. OK I'm like screw it I'll just do it system restore (which by the way is on a partition on the hard drive) and call it quits, not happening there either. Before getting to system restore it hangs on a blank black. Just my luck I didn't make a recovery disc set yet (lol). So had to order a set from hp. So unless you've got any ideas, then I'll be waiting on my recovery kit. Thanks Jeremy
Post #7
Did you follow the directions to shrink the Vista drive, move you DVD to E: then format the empty space so it became D:?
You then went through the first part of the XP install by booting the XP CD and selecting D: as the drive to install to, right? It copied the necessary install files to the hard drive, then rebooted and this is when it hangs? Does this mean you can't boot the XP CD again when you get the prompt?

What happens if you remove the CD from the drive then reboot?

To get Vista back, see if this works:

Starting the recovery from power up
If Windows Vista cannot open and if the Recovery partition on the hard disk drive is functioning properly, you can perform a System Recovery by performing the following procedure:
NOTE: If the RECOVERY or FACTORY_IMAGE partitions on the hard drive have been deleted OR the files in these partitions have been deleted, these steps will not work. You must use recovery discs.

1. Turn off the computer.
2. Disconnect all connected devices (such as the Personal Media Drive, USB drives, printer, and fax), remove media from drives, and remove any recently added internal hardware. Do not disconnect the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and power cord.
3. Turn on the computer and immediately press the F11 key repeatedly , about once every second, until Recovery Manager opens.

From this link: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen…6#c00814731_f11

If yes, then you should be able to restore Vista to it's factory new state. It means you will lose any personal data, but should get Vista going again.
Post #8 last edited

OK that sounds like a really great idea. Done a little search but can't find the motherboard drivers. Here is the link for my computers specs. Maybe you could help me.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen…product=3870526

Many Thanks
Jeremy


I like HP, but I can't begin to tell you how angry they make me that they have not provided XP drivers for any of their Vista machines. They need to suffer for their idiotic decision.

Anyways, regardless if the computer manufacturer wants to provide drivers or not, the hardware manufacturer's will.

The drivers for your computer are below:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_winxp_15.24.html - Chipset/Ethernet drivers.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_182.06_whql.html - Video Drivers

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/generic…c=en&dlc=en - Universal Audio Architecture driver for your modem/soundcard.

After installing all these drivers, go to update.microsoft.com and do a search for "custom" updates. You should find that your modem and sound drivers will now be listed under the "hardware" section directly from Microsoft.

If you can not get the modem drivers, its not worth even looking for as I'm sure you don't use your modem.

If you can not get the sound drivers you can try here:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downlo…p;GetDown=false

Download the driver for 2000/XP (32/64 bit) executable (.EXE) version.

Thats really all you need to get up and rolling with XP.
Post #10

Once you get your Vista restore disks, and you have done a repair install (or restore), then please look at this guide to help you with Vista.
It's really very easy to use … when you know what you're doing ;)

Could you post the link to the guide you recommended please Jacee.

Thanks, and kind regards,
Post #13
ok i finely got my restore discs. tried dual booting and just can't seem to get it right for some reason. So what I'm looking for is what is the best way to do it. I read a fhere it's best to have xp installed first as drive c and vista as d installed second. I want to beable to use xp as my main os. So anything that would make it easier would be so great. Thanks Jeremy

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