"Downgrading" Vista to XP

[Reynolds]

My brother recently got a new laptop.

Dell Studio 1535

It shipped with Vista, and he wanted XP, so I have installed it for him

After numerous google searches I managed to get the drivers working for almost everything.

Except the fingerprint reader, and the backlit keyboard.

The sound out of the speakers crackle a bit, but from what I've read it's somewhat of a problem with Vista too, and Dell is working on it.

Anyone have a laptop that downgraded to XP with a fingerprint reader and got it to work?

I found a few websites that claim to have one that works, but after the install and reboot, the program says "Failed to communicate with sensor"

I've also read the the fingerprint sensors are usually glitchy anyway, and most people disable them.

Sorry, know this is a lot, but any advice?

[west milly Tom]

Try windows Mojave. I hear good things.

[KnoxHarrington]

Is there an actual reason he wants to downgrade, or has he just heard Vista blows?

It's almost never a good idea to change from the version of Windows your computer came with.

[disneyspy]

oh you nerds...

[MisterSmith]

I did some quick searching and supposedly it is the same driver that they use for the Lenovo Thinkpad T500 Fingerprint Scanner.

I found a couple of places that list XP Drivers for the Dell Studio, but I have never heard of the sites before and don't know if risking a download would be worth it.

Have you checked any of the torrent sites?

***Edited - I found a link on Demonoid that has the XP drivers for a Studio 1536 (http://www.demonoid.com/files/?category=0&subcategory=All&quality=All&seeded=0&external=2&query=studio+XP+drivers&uid=0&sort=). Maybe it will work.

[drjoek]

Is there an actual reason he wants to downgrade, or has he just heard Vista blows?

It's almost never a good idea to change from the version of Windows your computer came with.



Yeah seems pretty counterproductive to downgrade. I have several Vista comps and. They have few problems. XP if fine but Vista is fine too. I can see a time where that downgrade would become a problem and I don't see the upside. To each his own.

[jimcfan]

Yes you can do this but it is not advisable. The biggest problem are the driver issues. Vista is not bad. You might, and I said might, consider upgrading to a 64 bit version of Vista. It feels more polished and is quite a bit faster and smoother. I like it very much. Software is being written for 64 bit and it is slowly getting better. Unless you the person is question is a gamer, then stick with 32 bit. The biggest frustration is the U.A.C. It is irritating.

[KingGeno]

Vista isn't that bad. I am beta testing Service Pack 2 for it right now, and it is even more stable.

YES it blows for backward driver supports and some software support, but downgrading can be a big pain in the ass. Specially if your system was built to be 64bit mode.

[jimcfan]

Vista isn't that bad. I am beta testing Service Pack 2 for it right now, and it is even more stable.

YES it blows for backward driver supports and some software support, but downgrading can be a big pain in the ass. Specially if your system was built to be 64bit mode.

I nearly downloaded SP2 the other day but I chickened out.

[KingGeno]

Plus, Windows 7 will be coming out next year. Rumors are that it will be a cheap upgrade or even possibly a downloadable upgrade for Vista.

Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is intended to be an incremental upgrade with the goal of being fully compatible with existing device drivers, applications, and hardware.[3] Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,[4] and performance improvements.

Think how Apple updates their OS's.

Should be great.

[jimcfan]

I don't like what Apple does. I was a longtime Mac user but OS X ruined it for me. I bought 10.0-10.3 and still they keep it up. How much do they expect their users to shell out? Or are we supposed to buy new Mac's every release? I hate that crap. Oh and if you use iTunes you had better hope your system never freezes because there will be hell to pay.

[Bob Impact]

Fingerprint readers have issues with 32 bit OS's. Don't ask me how I know, I just do (i'm way too lazy to find any sources, outside of the fact that when sarah's new laptop shipped it shipped with Vista 64bit as a free upgrade because of that issue, and that my work laptop has the fingerprint reader disabled because we run XP) I'm not saying ALL of them don't work with 32 bit, just most, especially ones designed to work with Vista. You're also losing performance if the machine was build with 64bit in mind. Like it or not switching the OS on a computer built for it is like pulling out the motor of your car and installing a 67 Hemi, sure it may work better in an old Challenger but not necessarily in your Prius.

And jimcfan has the best avatar ever. Nobody will ever come close. Devin Townsend is made of metal and awesome.

[StupidGirlllll]

My brother recently got a new laptop.

Dell Studio 1535

It shipped with Vista, and he wanted XP, so I have installed it for him

?


Why didn't he just have it ashipped with XP...that was an option. I know cause I just got one. Granted xp is a little bit more, but from the looks of it the extra 100 bucks would of been worth it to have a brand new computer that works.

[Reynolds]

Why didn't he just have it ashipped with XP...that was an option. I know cause I just got one. Granted xp is a little bit more, but from the looks of it the extra 100 bucks would of been worth it to have a brand new computer that works.

You have a Dell Studio 1535 that shipped with Vista? I don't know how, because then I should have just been able to get the drivers from the Dell site.

I'm going to try some of the options posted here, thanks all. If that fails, I'm going to just reinstall Vista. It was made for 64 bit, and that is part of the problem. I have a Sony Vaio that shipped with Vista, and I easily downgraded. Sony eventually just put XP drivers on their site because of all the requests.

I also made it dual boot with Ubuntu, but Adobe doesn't make a flash player for linux 64. I guess there is a workaround, but I'm not all that familiar with using terminal in linux.

[Reynolds]

I did some quick searching and supposedly it is the same driver that they use for the Lenovo Thinkpad T500 Fingerprint Scanner.

I found a couple of places that list XP Drivers for the Dell Studio, but I have never heard of the sites before and don't know if risking a download would be worth it.

Have you checked any of the torrent sites?

***Edited - I found a link on Demonoid that has the XP drivers for a Studio 1536 (http://www.demonoid.com/files/?category=0&subcategory=All&quality=All&seeded=0&external=2&query=studio+XP+drivers&uid=0&sort=). Maybe it will work.

Thanks but I'm not a Demonoid member.

[jimcfan]

You have a Dell Studio 1535 that shipped with Vista? I don't know how, because then I should have just been able to get the drivers from the Dell site.

I'm going to try some of the options posted here, thanks all. If that fails, I'm going to just reinstall Vista. It was made for 64 bit, and that is part of the problem. I have a Sony Vaio that shipped with Vista, and I easily downgraded. Sony eventually just put XP drivers on their site because of all the requests.

I also made it dual boot with Ubuntu, but Adobe doesn't make a flash player for linux 64. I guess there is a workaround, but I'm not all that familiar with using terminal in linux.

Actually there is currently a beta flash for linux 64 bit. Nothing for Vista yet, though. Sucks because FIrefox 64 (Minefield) is very fast. I keep trying to download Suse 64 but can't seem to get it.

[SP1!]

Vista isnt that bad, people just love to hate MS, if you use it for work its a different story, it took a long time to get everything updated for vista.

[Snoogans]

Yes you can do this but it is not advisable. The biggest problem are the driver issues. Vista is not bad. You might, and I said might, consider upgrading to a 64 bit version of Vista. It feels more polished and is quite a bit faster and smoother. I like it very much. Software is being written for 64 bit and it is slowly getting better. Unless you the person is question is a gamer, then stick with 32 bit. The biggest frustration is the U.A.C. It is irritating.

ive had Vista 64 bit for like 2 weeks now and I love it. Its way better then XP was, in my opinion

[Reynolds]

ive had Vista 64 bit for like 2 weeks now and I love it. Its way better then XP was, in my opinion

I finally said fuck it and put Vista on it. The fingerprint reader still won't work. I also had a nasty trojan on my laptop, and decided to put Vista on it as well. So far so good, fresh reformat, all updated drivers, and bios flash. Might put it on my desktop as well.

[JustJon]

Vista isnt that bad, people just love to hate MS, if you use it for work its a different story, it took a long time to get everything updated for vista.

Vista is ok, Service Pack 1 has really stabilized the OS. They have fixed alot of the software compatibility issues, but I think it's still a lil sluggish on games.

[Reynolds]

Vista is ok, Service Pack 1 has really stabilized the OS. They have fixed alot of the software compatibility issues, but I think it's still a lil sluggish on games.

I liked it at first, but now during the second day of using it, it's getting quirky. Blue screen a couple times, I think that was because of the Dreamscene wallpaper I was using, turned that off and it stopped.

Windows kept telling me things were performing illegal operations and had to be shut down, even though I could just minimize the error pop up, and continue using the program. Through some google searches, I determined this was because of the user account control. I turned that off, and now that stopped happening.

Now my taskbar just disappeared. I could click things that should be there, but the only thing I could see was the "start" button. Clicking properties and changing settings made it reappear, even though the settings I changed had nothing to do with hiding the taskbar.

[Reephdweller]

Vista is ok, Service Pack 1 has really stabilized the OS. They have fixed alot of the software compatibility issues, but I think it's still a lil sluggish on games.


Agreed. When I first got this laptop it had Vista and I hated it, I wanted to downgrade to XP. It just didn't feel right, SP1 definitely helped things and since then the system has been solid aside from a few small quirks here and there.

[Snoogans]

I liked it at first, but now during the second day of using it, it's getting quirky. Blue screen a couple times, I think that was because of the Dreamscene wallpaper I was using, turned that off and it stopped.

Windows kept telling me things were performing illegal operations and had to be shut down, even though I could just minimize the error pop up, and continue using the program. Through some google searches, I determined this was because of the user account control. I turned that off, and now that stopped happening.

Now my taskbar just disappeared. I could click things that should be there, but the only thing I could see was the "start" button. Clicking properties and changing settings made it reappear, even though the settings I changed had nothing to do with hiding the taskbar.

are you using 64 bit vista?

[Reynolds]

are you using 64 bit vista?

No, 32

[Reynolds]

No, 32

32 Ultimate

[scottinnj]

Is there an actual reason he wants to downgrade, or has he just heard Vista blows?

It's almost never a good idea to change from the version of Windows your computer came with.

Sometimes it will void the factory warranty as well.

[Reynolds]

Finally figured out how to enable that 4th GB of ram under Vista 32, made a big difference, Windows flies now.

[PapaBear]

Finally figured out how to enable that 4th GB of ram under Vista 32, made a big difference, Windows flies now.
I didn't know you could do that! I'm slowly building a new comp, and I'm having trouble deciding if I should go for 64 or 32. I don't do gaming, but I want the most ram I can get since I play around with video and photos a lot (and also tend to run a TV tuner while doing it). The mobo I'll be using has a total capacity of 8GB, but I'd be happy with 4GB.

[Reynolds]

I didn't know you could do that! I'm slowly building a new comp, and I'm having trouble deciding if I should go for 64 or 32. I don't do gaming, but I want the most ram I can get since I play around with video and photos a lot (and also tend to run a TV tuner while doing it). The mobo I'll be using has a total capacity of 8GB, but I'd be happy with 4GB.

Yeah, do a google search on " BCDEdit " , there should be a few options on getting it to work if you decide to go 32. In your system information it will still say 3gb available, with 4gb installed, but Microsoft says this is a bug, and you can view the correct amount in the control panel / system.

[PapaBear]

Thanks. Damn. I kinda wish I didn't know this. Now I have to put more thought into my decision.:wallbash:

[Reynolds]

Thanks. Damn. I kinda wish I didn't know this. Now I have to put more thought into my decision.:wallbash:

go for the dual boot :D