7 replies to this topic

[pitbull616]

Greetings Everyone!

Ok... I'll first admit I'm not that good anymore, a bit rusty I guess.

Now, I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 LapTop bought may of 2009 that I tried to downgrade from Windows Vista to Windows XP

-without first reading what's going on with Dell appliances across the net first-

and now I'm another statistic. JEES!! =(

Anyway, if anyone here can help it would be much appreciated, my wife is going nuts without this laptop. first, the device statistics, then what's been done to date to get it in the state it's in now.

Dell® Inspiron® 1545 Statistics:

processor: Intel® Pentium® Duo® Core® T4200, 800mhz FSB, 2.0, 1mb, Penryn, 2c, r0, 64 bit, 2ghz Enhanced Intel® Speedstep® Technology
memory: (2x) 1g, 800, 128x64, 8, 200 1gbit = 2048 megabytes on board
Hard Drive (mobile): Western Digital® Blue Scorpion® 160GB, S2, 5.4, 9.5 WD-ML160
SATA Controller: INTEL® ICH10D SATA AHCI controller hub, Intel® Matrix® Storage Manager
Networking:: Marvell® Yukon, Wireless, Half Mini-card, DW1397, 4312BG (Atheros®)
Graphics:Mobile Intel® GM45® Express Chipset
Dvd+/-rw:8X, Serial Ata, Small Form Factor, Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology
sound card:Sigmatel®(?), IDT 92HD71B
photocard reader:Realtek® RTS5158E Card Reader Driver

ToDate operation and Issues:

OK. tried to get rid of windows vista 64 and downgrade to windows xp. as soon as I formatted hard drive (using debug scripting to hex whipe HD), then formatted HD, then began setup of Winxp, which errored out with error code 0x00000007B. tried to install XP several times, with same results. started to then do some online research into the matter, with an alarming amount of info being posted on tech forums across the board about people having the same issue.

Seems Dell enumerated a little "security" application into thier fake bios loader that encrypts access to the MBR hard drive header if actions are taken outside of factory settings!

so I contacted Dell, and talked with them. they said my motherboard was bad and needed a new one. (wtf?! - this is a brand new laptop!). So we exchanged motherboards (Robert's motherboard is the name on the Motherboard) via fedex, and the new board is installed.

Then I discovered that the Serial ATA drivers needed to be first upgraded BEFORE an OS downgrade. That also included at that point all of the physical onboard features for the device, from graphics to SATA drivers to networking drivers, to the Bios itself.

wow, like, when did an operating system dictate a system's base functionality? thought it was the other way around...

That's when I put two and two togethr and decided that that was Dell's PROPRIETARY way of "Security"... have the OS become the master of the hardware, disabling the primary command functions that have traditionally been backwards compatable since Window's inception. that's why Dell has a bios that seems windows based and had Dell branded on it... instead of the REAL chipset, like AMI, or Phoenix, which Dell has used for thier computers since time began.

I'm sure that there's a root application that can be utilised still that can get me to the actual bios, but I am at a loss to know where I can get such an app, or how to use it even at this point.

That's why I'm here. =)

at this time, I've tried to boot the Laptop to run Hiren's boot Disk 10 - which is what I used to whipe the drive, but now all I can do is open Dell's fake bios setup, do the system diagnostics check, or now jkust be stopped after the Dell POST sceen opens to load windows and be greeted with a 4 character sequence on a black screen that will just sit there... obviously the encrypted code that I mentioned earlier.

The characters look like this:

>_>_

now I cant even get a USB Drive or CD ROM to boot the system.

Anyone have a solution?

[Phreak]

If the laptop has a floppy drive you could try a version of linux such as http://www.linfo.org/mulinux.html

You could also try docking the hard drive to a second computer and copying an operating system onto it, i.e. a ghost copy from a similar machine.

TBQFH I'd try going back to dell - if all else fails, tell them you think there's a problem with the hard drive, that it won't boot into Windows - just act totally dump like a 'normal' user, and they'll probably send you a replacement.

Good luck - and sorry I couldn't be any real help.

[Computeruser]

XP does not have SATA controllers. If it is offered, the easiest way around this is to get into the BIOS and set AHCI for compatability mode. That should let XP start. Otherwise, you need to find SATA drivers for XP for your computer. ... C

[Scarra3]

I had this exact problem what you half to do is go into your bio's and turn off native sata support and if you dont have the in your bios then you half to get a program called nlite and slipstream your sata driver into the windows installer and dont forget the version of xp has to be sp2 if it is sp1 or sp3 then it will not boot at all.

[mr.ots]

Phreak, on 01 December 2009 - 00:42, said:

You could also try docking the hard drive to a second computer and copying an operating system onto it, i.e. a ghost copy from a similar machine.

I think phreak's idea will help you. That's what i did on a HP a few months ago. I had searched on forums like you and it seems that it is a vista problem not a hardware problem. Windows barrely gives any information about downgrading from vista to XP for some reasons.
I had mounted my HD on my computer and basically setted up the XP files with the drivers i could find, then it worked.

[amir3530]

restar your computer and press F2 , go too setup and disable AHCI,

[o00o]

Why not make the jump to Windows 7? If the machine ran Vista it will run 7. That way you should get no headaches.

[Lameth]

o00o, on 18 February 2013 - 18:20, said:

Why not make the jump to Windows 7? If the machine ran Vista it will run 7. That way you should get no headaches.

At the time of the original posting, Win7 was still rather new. I get why one would downgrade rather than jump to a new Windows OS before it's been on the market for long. Usually new OS comes with alot of problems when first released. Win7 did pretty well, but that's easy to say now

Hint - note the date of the OP

Oh! And welcome to Astalavista!