Rolling back to XP

[Takeshi Kovacs]

Rather stupidly I installed Windows 7 RC after a bottle of wine last night and never read any of the literature, so never created a partition or anything.

So now I have Win7 as my main OS, problem is it doesn't seem to like most of my hardware (mainly my netgear WG111v3 dongle) and I'd like to go back to WinXP 64 SP2 - however when I pop in the disc and boot up from it, I try and format the HDD and get the following:

Setup was unable to format the partition. The disk may be damaged.

Make sure the drive is switched on and properly connected to your computer.

You must select a different partition for Windows.

​

Now I know the HDD is fine, it isn't even two weeks old and it works perfectly well under Win7 and it worked well under 64xp. So how on earth do I format this partition and get back on XP64?

Thanks and apologies if this has been asked before, I am just really frustrated and annoyed at myself.

TK

 

[Avien]

Pop in the Windows 7 disk, delete all the partitions. Restart, put in XPx64 disk. Also did you have to install HDD drivers upon XP setup before? That may be your problem as well.

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

Really, it's that simple? If so sorry for wasting your time and thank you for making me look like a fool

Problem though is it will only boot up from the CD in windows?

Edit: No, I didn't have to install any HDD drivers. I stuck in the HDD and popped in my CD and installed it straight away, everything worked fine.


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update
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Yeah I just popped in the Win7 disc again and it totally ignores it, takes me through to Winodws and if I run it through windows it does not give me an option to remove any partitions. Obviously disk manager won't work as the partition I want to format is the one that Win7 sits on.



Going to download Gparted and see if I can nuke it that way.

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

Gparted just tells me that I have an invalid partition table on my USB drive, *****

 

[holo88]

thats kind of odd. i installed XP over 7 without a problem. maybe it was you installation disk that is at fault....

@Takeshi Kovacs - sorry, i dont have any experiance with installing off a usb. Im sure some who does, will be along, shortly.

 

[jfar]

Hi, so do you have a "Windows Old" folder.? when you select My Computer, and then the drive that is running at the moment,?

also what does it say in MSCONFIG under the boot section?

 

[srq2625]

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update
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Yeah I just popped in the Win7 disc again and it totally ignores it, takes me through to Winodws and if I run it through windows it does not give me an option to remove any partitions. Obviously disk manager won't work as the partition I want to format is the one that Win7 sits on.



Going to download Gparted and see if I can nuke it that way.

Time for a stupid question (I'm pretty good at those) ... In your BIOS, have you selected your DVD drive to be first in boot order?

Next stupid question ... Are you sure your DVD is bootable? As in, are you sure it's the one you used to install Win7 ?

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

Windows 7 (H:\Windows) Current OS; Default OS

There is no Windows.old anywhere on my computer, but there is a Windows folder within my Windows folder that looks like my old XP...

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

Time for a stupid question (I'm pretty good at those) ... In your BIOS, have you selected your DVD drive to be first in boot order?

Next stupid question ... Are you sure your DVD is bootable? As in, are you sure it's the one you used to install Win7 ?

Yep to the first question and I am pretty sure the Win7 DVD is bootable, I just downloaded it off the MS website and burned it. I am never doing anything drunk again!

 

[jfar]

What about msconfig/boot.
Here is mine, what does it say in your one.

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

Sorry, jfar

It says:

Windows 7 (H:\Windows) Current OS; Default OS

I would post a screen shot but I can't get it to going the net at the moment (and the router is too far for a cable) so I am stuck on this old brick of an acer laptop.

 

[Robert Cartman]

Gparted just tells me that I have an invalid partition table on my USB drive, *****

So If I understand well you want to install the XP to an USB drive?

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

This is what the DVD with Win7 on looks like, AFAICT it look like it should be bootable?

So If I understand well you want to install the XP to an USB drive?

No, mate. I want to install Windos XP 64 SP2 on my computer as my main (and only) OS.

 

[Robert Cartman]

No, mate. I want to install Windos XP 64 SP2 on my computer as my main (and only) OS.

ok

If you can not delete or format that partition than try to make an other new partition somewhere and install the XP on that. Maybe it works. And maybe later you can format the partition of the Win7 from the XP. I hope it helps!

 

[jfar]

Sorry, we need to know these things, in Control Panel /Administrative Tools /Computer Management /Disk Management, what does it say, or can you post a picture.

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

ok

If you can not delete or format that partition than try to make an other new partition somewhere and install the XP on that. Maybe it works. And maybe later you can format the partition of the Win7 from the XP. I hope it helps!

That is exactly what I was thinking

Long way to go about it but it should work! Thought I would post on the off chance that there might be a simple solution. I think I am going to wait until it is fully released and compatible with my hardware before I go buying the upgrade. I am impressed with it so far but I really need to get back into an OS that has lost most of it's teething trouble

Thanks again

 

[Robert Cartman]

You are welcome!
I ought to you to keep the Seven as a secondary system and try to get on with it!
We are always here if you will have problem with it!

 

[jfar]

So are you saying, that you don't care if you loose all the stuff that you had on XP x64?

Because it looks like you have a lot of stuff there.

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

ignore!

 

[Takeshi Kovacs]

So are you saying, that you don't care if you loose all the stuff that you had on XP x64?

Nope Couldn't give a monkey's, I only built the computer last week so I haven't had time to fill it full of rubbish yet. So I am quite happy to format the primary partition if this is possible?