Hi, finally bought a Dell box with vista on it...was kinda nervous but I gather it is the future. Within the first day, it was crashing..and I was only loading software...when the computer fixed itself, it would always use a previous b/u point. Frustrated with this..I finally decided to load my copy of XP Pro..I got a blue screen of death..4 times..with a memory error..so I called dell..oh, the computer is only recognizing 3 out of the 4 gig of RAM on it...Dell said it was because I was leaving usb devices plugged in when I was loading software and the usb drivers were corrupt...sol'n...reload os..so on goes vista again..now I have lost my 30 day trend anti virus software..all my ram isn't showing..I have the software for xp so I go to reload XP again, it caves..btw, the XP is a good copy.. BTW, dell said it was bad to load the xp on it but I couldn't make out what she was saying...I had to concentrate because of teh accent...am I being fed a load of hooie ? Thanks, Ian.

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There have been several posts about downgrading from Vista to XP here, so I won't 
go into lots of details that reiterate that, however, I will say that doing the downgrade 
MIGHT be bad without fully understanding your hardware and required drivers, and 
whether those drivers will be compatible with XP.  So, in other words, doing some 
research before downgrading is highly recommended.  What the CS person from Dell 
told you about XP being a bad fit for your system might actually be true.

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I thought about that...a search on this site...the dell is pretty mundane..did ....intel processor...ati vid card..soundblaster...sata h/d.. and I grabbed all the xp drivers fro the various web site before I started...would it be the m/b is non xp possible ? Should I have formatted the h/d before I started...never heard of a computer that wouldn't go ne or two o/s backwards..thanks Ian..

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Yes, the board drivers could also be an issue.  You need drivers that will be compatible 
with XP for all of your hardware... that includes the board.

I don't like upgrades and prefer doing clean installs to avoid any problems.  The 
same for downgrades.  I prefer to let the install format the drive as it needs to.

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Lets see if we can throw some light on all this. XP will work on a motherboard if vista does. USB devices left plugged in sucking up memory. I had to laugh at that one. XP only seeing 3gig of memory. Is it SP1 by any chance? I think under SP1 3gig is the max memory it will "see". You can have 4gig installed but its a waste of money. So you have lost your "30 day" trial of a/v. Download AVG free version (type AVG free into google, top answer). Hope that helps

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regarding trend pc-cillin you can download a 30 day trial version Here:

http://uk.trendmicro.com/uk/home/home-user/









On Monday, February 4, 2008 at 11:54 pm, GaryCantley wrote:

>Lets see if we can throw some light on all this.

>

>XP will work on a motherboard if vista does.

>

>USB devices left plugged in sucking up memory. I had to laugh at that one.

>

>XP only seeing 3gig of memory. Is it SP1 by any chance? I think under SP1 3gig is 

>the max memory it will "see". You can have 4gig installed but its a waste of money.

>

>So you have lost your "30 day" trial of a/v. Download AVG free version (type AVG 

>free into google, top answer).

>

>Hope that helps

>

 

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Sure, XP might work on a computer shipped with Vista, but drivers can be an issue. 
 The forums show plenty that have tried to downgrade and now have driver issues. 
 I wouldn't make a statement like any motherboard that runs Vista will run XP, because 
it leaves the impression there are no worries about doing an XP downgrade on a PC 
shipped with Vista.  Plus, it is necessary to make sure XP drivers are available 
for ALL hardware, MB included.  New hardware may not have XP driver available from 
the manufacturer.  Here's just a few examples:


http://askbobrankin.com/vista_to_xp_downgrade.html
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=223800&start=0
http://www.computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/33094.html
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205101355
http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/driver-support/210084-stupid-vista-downgrading-xp.html

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The statement about the 4 gigs of memory is not accurate.The fact that it "shows" 
only  3.xx gigs of memory is a limit of the 32 bit O/S.The operating system has a 
limited amount of memory address and it reserves some for hardware thus showing less 
ram than installed.It is "using" all 4 gigs it's just not all avaialble to the o/s.64 
bit operating system will show all of it due to susbstanially increased memory addresses.It 
has nothing to do with service packs and as for being a waste of money 3.xx is certainly 
more than 2 so not really a waste.

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