roblems when downgrading from vista to xp home

[David Pin]

Hi there
I am having problems trying to downgrade from vista to xp home on my laptop.
I totaly cleared vista from the Hard drive then inserted the xp disc to find
that it did not find any drivers.
I have the new drivers and have got past that problem but now when im
installing xp i get these error messages:
Installation Error E:\I386\ams.
Fatal Error:
One of the components that Windows needs to continue setup could not be
installed.

If i dont get this error message i get one that goes to a blue screen saying
that windows has encountered a problem and has had to close to prevent damage
to the computer.

here are my laptop specs:

CPU Intel® Pentium Dual-Core T2080 (1.73GHz)
Chipset Mobile Intel® 943GML Express chipset
Memory 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 (1 x 1024MB)
PC Card 4 in 1 card reader
Hard Drive 100 GB, Serial ATA notebook hard drive
CD / DVD Drive Dual layer DVD±RW
Video / Graphics Card Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (up
to 128MB)
Monitor 17" TFT (native resolution 1280x1024)
Modem Motorola SM56 modem
Sound Card Realtek High Definition Audio
Network Card Realtek 8139 / 810X (Onboard)
Network Card RaLink RT73 Wireless card
Firewire Card OHCI compliant IEEE 1394 host controller (onboard)
PC Card 1 x ExpressCard/54 slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
Case Advent L71II3 / 5 chassis

I really need help with this

thanks

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You never said which laptop. Did Vista come preinstalled on the computer?

The best way to replace one OS with another is to delete the partition,
create a new one in its place, format, and then continue with installation.

 

[Another Brian]

One point that I'll make when replacing the OEM OS is that the first
thing I'll do is use some image backup software (Acronis TrueImage in
my case) and make a full image of the hard drive and save that
somewhere. Then if I screw up the upgrade or downgrade of the
computer, I can put the original image back on so that I have
something that is working, even if it isn't the OS that I am aiming
for.

Brian

 

[David Pin]

The laptop i have is an advent 7204
I deleted the old partition during installing win xp. I then (Quick
Formatted) the drive then xp started to install. The installation then got
the part where it tells you how long it is going to take, it keeps stopping
and giving the the error message.
I did get the installation down to 5 mins left but i got the blue screen
error saying that windows had encountered and had to close to save the laptop
from being damaged.
I really am stuck and i thank any help

cheers

 

[David Pin]

thanks for the reply,
when i got the laptop the vista operating system was corrupt, so i just
deleted it off the laptop.

 

[David Pin]

how long should it take to format the hard disk with the specs i gave above??
thanks

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

An hour or less unless doing a quick format.

 

[David Pin]

whats best to use? normal format or quick format?

 

[David Pin]

which one is better to use, quick format or normal format?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

It doesn't usually matter. You only need to do a long format on a raw
drive. One that has already been formatted NTFS needs only a quick format
but you may do either. Some folks believe that the long format is always
better but it is really up to you. Since you have a choice at this point go
ahead and do a long format.

 

[David Pin]

Last night i decided to go for the long format method because my drive was
raw. i sent it away and when i came back this morning it was only on 3%.
Should i give it more time, the lights on the laptop same that its still
working or should i do something else?

please help

thanks

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

No. Something is wrong if it stopped at 3%.