Trying to dual boot on my laptop

[sandlotje89]

Came with vista preinstalled, followed this guide:http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/install-windows-xp-on-your-pre-installed-windows-vista-computer/ and am now trying to install XP, but it's not detecting the hard drives. I assume I need the drivers, but how do I do that w/ a laptop? I just use floppy with my desktop, but with lappy I don't even know how to obtain the drivers. Vista is still loaded on the other partition. Any thoughts?

 

[sandlotje89]

Well, unless someone has something really solid to offer, don't worry about it. I don't think it's possible anyway because of driver compatibility issues; but I'm just gonna take it to the local computer shop and see if they'll help me out.

 

[3uL]

I experienced this and had solved this. The problem is just you need driver for your sata/ide controller. what your laptop brand?

 

[mcutra]

Re

Hey did u install a new HD or u just make another partition by shrinking the existing one. If u shrinked the partiton make sure the new partition is set to NTFS file format , but this doesnt metter much XP setup can detect all kind of file format ok.

 

[sandlotje89]

Hey did u install a new HD or u just make another partition by shrinking the existing one. If u shrinked the partiton make sure the new partition is set to NTFS file format , but this doesnt metter much XP setup can detect all kind of file format ok.

Hehe, I just partitioned it through the Vista tool. I managed to successfully get it dual-booted and had a lot of fun doing it; I also got my desktop dual booted. I loaded XP after vista on the laptop and Vista after XP on the desktop.

Just in case anyone ends up doing a search on google or something, here is the INCREDIBLY detailed guide that I followed: AR Series Dual Boot Guide. I recommend that even those of you who know how to do it should look at it just because of how much this guy put into it. It is an incredible step by step guide for anyone who wants to attempt this. The hardest part was slipstreaming the RAID driver, but even that wasn't hard with the directions. However, don't use the drivers links from his thread unless your computer has the same exact device; but you should be able to find whatever drivers you need on the internet through Googling; just make sure you have the essential drivers.

What you will need in order to do this is the Vista and XP installation disc. I went to my local computer shop (and yes I mean a locally owned computer shop, not Best Buy or anything like that), and they burnt both of the discs with the latest service packs absolutely free and even gave me a free mouse and keyboard! They're really cool. Anyway, if anyone needs help, feel free to PM me.