snipped
Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
Almost certainly, Vista is preinstalled on C, not D. What's on D is
not Vista pre-installed but what you need to reinstall it--to reset
the computer to the condition it was in when it came from the
factory. And it's not "part" of D, it's all of it; D should be
reserved for that use, and nothing else should ever be written
there, since doing so can screw up the restoration info that's
there.
snipped
Bill wrote:
Many thanks for the helpful advice in the replies. One small point
about Ken Blakes comments on the D drive. Acer have said "Doing a
restore back to factory default will erase everything completely
i.e. even viruses/trojans on your C:\ drive. Restore back to its
original state. The D:\ drive will be left untouched as it contains your
Recovery
image file which is hidden away." which led me to suppose that data
files should be kept on D as otherwise it would be erased.
Your misunderstanding of what the D drive for does not change that it should
not be used if you plan on ever being able to go back to the original
installation state without worries. The recovery partition is seldom larger
than it needs to be. In other words - it is usually *quite small* in
comparision to the drive they leave for your use. The really sad part is
that this is probably one of the worst ways an OEM can supply for an
end-user to restore their computer in case of a problem - because it is
*worthless* if the physical hard disk drive dies.
In any case - in reference to your original questions...
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...5364e6900c82f/
First, I would suggest going to Windows 7 instead of Vista.
Second, you don't necessarily need a bootable installation CD with
integrated SATA drivers. It may be okay just to change the SATA operation
to 'legacy' and XP will install as is and/or you can use a floppy diskette
during the installation (look into pressing "F6" during the first part of
the installation.)
Looking on their web page, driver downloads for the machine you mentioned
include:
- Chipset: Intel Chipset Driver v8.3.0.1014, 2.0 MB, last updated
2008/12/10
http://snipurl.com/uxhc6
- Audio: Realtek Audio Driver v5.10.0.5449, 24.6 MB, last updated
2008/12/10
http://snipurl.com/uxhcd
- Lan: Intel LAN Driver v1.159.2.6, 1.0 MB, last updated 2008/12/10
http://snipurl.com/uxhch
- Modem: Pro-Nets Modem Driver v2.1.70, 721.4 KB, last updated 2008/12/10
http://snipurl.com/uxhcs
- VGA: Intel VGA Driver v5.10.00.1026, 16.4 MB, last updated 2008/12/10
http://snipurl.com/uxhcw
- Wireless LAN: Foxconn Wireless LAN Driver v4.100.15.5, 2.6 MB, last
updated 2008/12/10
http://snipurl.com/uxhd4
There is no specific SATA driver - my guesses would be you don't need it,
you could use the Intel Chipset driver and/or you could change the BIOS
settings so the SATA operation is legacy and you would need to worry about
anything until the installation was actually done and then you could install
all the drivers inside of Windows XP from above.
So...
1) No.
2) Slipstream/Integrate them in. If you are asking this - it is probably
something that would take you longer to do than the suggestions already
given (you've never done it, nLite *might* be able to do it for you - but if
one of the suggestions above work - you don't have to worry about it.)
Yes - one of the suggestions was a floppy drive - but depending on other
BIOS settings and the floppyt drive in question - sometimes a USB one is
worthless during the installation.
3) When you install Windows XP - you might as well drop any pretense you
will ever use the recovery partition (D) to go back to Vista and use the
installation steps to delete all partitions and create one single partition.
4) Yeah - if Acer doesn't directly support it - your attempt may fail and if
they did not give you actual external recovery/restoration/installation
media for Windows Vista - once you wipe that recovery partition (D) on the
drive - you have no options beyond calling Acer and asking for media or
buying another OS.
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html