downgrading to XP, what am I doing wrong?

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mattbiernat · #1 Post by **mattbiernat** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:05 am

I have an XP downgrade CD.
I insert the CD
I press F12 and I choose boot from CD
The computer however does not boot from the CD and keeps on booting Vista from the hard drive?
What am I doing wrong guys?
I also tried changing bios settings to boot from CD first but no help. I am using X300 with samsung external DVD drive.

#2 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:18 am

Does the machine boot from another bootable CD? WinXP install disc for example ...

andyP · #3 Post by **andyP** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:11 pm

mattbiernat wrote:I have an XP downgrade CD.

You should have more than "an cd", you should also have an R&R cd which is the boot cd. Boot from it and eventually you will be asked for the recovery cd.

mattbiernat · #4 Post by **mattbiernat** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:10 pm

Harryc wrote:Does the machine boot from another bootable CD? WinXP install disc for example ...

yes it boots from Vista recovery CDs.

andyP wrote: You should have more than "an cd", you should also have an R&R cd which is the boot cd. Boot from it and eventually you will be asked for the recovery cd.

I do have RR CD from which I used to be able to boot 2 days ago. Since yesterday I keep on getting blue screen of death while it loads that CD.

mattbiernat · #5 Post by **mattbiernat** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:40 pm

ok so in Vista I have created a start up CD. I am able to get to Rescue and Recovery during start up but where is the option to downgrade to XP???

#6 Post by **ZaZ** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:10 am

The XP downgrade discs are a separate set of discs. You can't downgrade to XP from the Vista discs.

mattbiernat · #7 Post by **mattbiernat** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:39 am

but there is only one downgrade disc for XP. one disc that boots you into RR and 3 discs for Vista.

andyP · #8 Post by **andyP** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:14 pm

Are we to understand from your last post that you have a total of 5 discs? As three of these are clearly for Vista the and one an XP downgrade, what's written on the fifth disc? Is it titled "Recsue and Recovery? If so; look closely on the left side of the disc, hopefully you will see XP-SP2 written in very small print. This should be the XP boot disc.

edit; typo

#9 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 5:09 pm

You might have to run the XP downgrade disc from within Vista.
Just guessing.

mattbiernat · #10 Post by **mattbiernat** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:13 pm

yes i have 5 CDs.
the RR CD does not have XP label on it.
the Windows XP CD says 1 of 1
and the 3 other CDs are for windows Vista.
I tried opening up XP CD inside windows Vista but I got no Autoplay...
Any suggestions?

#11 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 8:43 am

Try booting from any old CD. Then swap CDs for your XP CD.
Look on there for setup.exe and double-click that.

andyP · #12 Post by **andyP** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:55 pm

mattbiernat wrote:yes i have 5 CDs.
the RR CD does not have XP label on it.

Is this the disc you were booting from and getting blue screens? It's possible that it's dirty or scratched, try cleaning it and then, if you still get blue screens, copying it using another system and try again.

The disc will have a p/n on it. If you post the p/n maybe other members will be able to help identify it exactly after comparing it with disc p/ns they posses.

Another possible cause of blue screens when trying to recover a system is faulty memory, unlikely in this case, but it maybe worth looking at.

mattbiernat · #13 Post by **mattbiernat** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 9:36 pm

okay i managed to clean up both CDs. i was actually somehow able to boot using the XPSP2 CD, I followed lenovo directions and I clicked full recovery, then continue and then I get this message-- "this options has been removed from the system..." --- this really is turning into a downgrade nightmare...

#14 Post by **Harryc** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:25 am

Look, it really comes down to this. If you have a Vista preload you should 'create recovery discs' before erasing it, or else it is gone forever., They you simply put your XP startup recovery disc in the drive, make sure it is first in boot order in BIOS and boot. The R&R program should prompt you for additional CD's. If that process is not working then you have bad media (period). Call Lenovo and get a replacement. If you did not purchase or receive the XP downgrade discs from Lenovo, then you are on your own. You could post an Ad in our marketplace forum for a set. What machine type are we discussing here?

andyP · #15 Post by **andyP** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:46 pm

mattbiernat wrote:-- "this options has been removed from the system..." --- this really is turning into a downgrade nightmare...

nightmare is probably an appropriate use of words for this instance.

The message you are receiving cannot be provoked when using an R&R boot cd.

As a last, grasping at straws possible solution; kill your hard drive using Secure Data Disposal at it's lowest level, this will a) render your hdd as not bootable, and b) delete all files on the hard drive. Then you should ensure that your cd is set as first boot device, which it should be to run SDD, and try your discs again. If this doesn't help you will need to follow Harryc's advice and obtain a new set of recovery discs.

#16 Post by **tomh009** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:55 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:Try booting from any old CD. Then swap CDs for your XP CD.
Look on there for setup.exe and double-click that.

Did you try the solution suggestred by RealBlackStuff? You might even be able to run the setup from within Vista ... that's a quick thing to try, at least.

mattbiernat · #17 Post by **mattbiernat** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:55 pm

hmmm.... this is X300 machine.
1. these are the original CDs that i got for free from lenovo when I ordered the computer
2. i do have original Vista recovery CDs and they work flawlessly
3. i did try looking for setup.exe in windows XP downgrade CD but i could not find any.
4. i did try booting using old Windows XP CD but it says "hard drive not found." this error is because of my SSD. to bypass this error I would have to download some driver from MS website and use a floppy (which I don't have)

the funny thing is that I was able to downgrade one week ago, since then i did not scratch my CD and it looks pretty clean. and i am following all of the directions in the little lenovo instruction booklet....

5. i will try whipping the SSD and then booting again... i guess this is my last option before calling lenovo...

#18 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:27 am

mattbiernat wrote:i will try whipping the SSD

Yeah, WHIP it into shape, maybe it will listen then...

PS: you mentioned elsewhere, you ACED in English...

mattbiernat · #19 Post by **mattbiernat** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 9:15 pm

yeah, but there was a huge a comment next to my grade on the major paper that contributed to it. quote "your paper was very intelligent and bla blab blah and this and that.... but your grammar and spelling 'sucks'"

#20 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:58 am

I would have one more suggestion: get another hard disk, and install XP on that, either from your CD or find a set of proper XP recovery disks for your lappie.
If you ever have a bout of nostalgia, or are really REALLY hungering for Vista, put the old HD back in.

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