Windows xp on vista 64 bit?

[BIG JUS]

SUP PEOPLE? I RECENTLY BOUGHT A DELL XPS 730 WITH VISTA 64 BIT OS. I AM AN AUDIO ENGINEER, AND I HAVE A PROGRAM CALLED PRO TOOLS BY DIGIDESIGN WHO HAVE YET TO CREATE A VERSION TO RUN IN A 64 BIT OS. I WAS INFORMED THAT I COULD PARTITION THE DRIVE, AND INSTALL WINDOWS XP 32 BIT ON THE PARTITION, AND THEN DUAL BOOT. I HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL WITH CREATING THE PARTITION, HOWEVER WHEN I REBOOT THE CPU AND BEGIN THE BLUE SCREEN INSTALLATION PHASE, IT CANNOT FIND ANY DRIVES OR ANY PARTITIONS AT ALL!!! I CALL DELL TECH SUPPORT, AND THEY TOLD ME THAT THERE WERE NO DRIVERS MADE FOR VISTA 64 BIT TO ENABLE IT TO DOWNGRADE TO XP 32 BIT. IS THIS TRUE?????? IS THERE A WAY I CAN INSTALL WINDOWS XP PRO 32 BIT ON MY CPU???? OR AM I FORCED TO SPEND ANOTHER 500 ON NEW SOFTWARE??? PLEASE HELP.... IM SO FRUSTRATED....

 

[johngalt]

Hi, BIG JUS, and welcome to the forums.

First of all, you are not downgrading - be sure to explain that to Dell techs again - you are *dual booting*.

Secondly, ask them to give you links for the drivers.

Thirdly, verify if your system is running a RAID configuration - if so, then you'll need a RAID driver diskette that you will need to insert when XP first starts booting up.

I am assuming that you are correct and have indeed created a partition.

Finally, DON'T YELL AT US ANYMORE!

Seriously, all capital letters is the equivalence of yelling at people. Do it again, and I'll delete this thread.

 

[BIG JUS]

My bad... Force of habit... How do I find out if im running a RAID config?

 

[johngalt]

Well, the easiest way is to power off your computer, then power it on - you should see some sort of a message saying F2 to enter Setup - press F2 until it changes to Entering Setup.

Then, you'll have to look around at the different settings, there might be a setting that Stands out as RAID or else there might not be - in this matter I am not as knowledgeable as I do not run RAID at home and don't have access to a Dell machine to tell you where *exactly* to go ....

 

[BIG JUS]

Oh yea, I explained at first that I wanted to run two OS's and they informed me that they were unable to help me do that. That it did not fall under the "Dell guidelines". If anyone can bless me and let me know how to go about doing that it would be very much appreciated...

 

[johngalt]

Call them back and ask them point blank if your machine (not your family of systems, your particular machine with it's Dell Express Service Code is running RAID or not - if they say yes, ask them to direct you to a link that has drivers for the RAID when installing Windows (don't say XP, just say Windows).

That should hopefully help.

Of course, if you just went to Dell's website, clicked on support, then clicked the radio button beside download Software and drivers, then selected Enter an Service Tag and entered your own tag, you might be able to find out for yourself, or, at the very least, download the driver and *try* it to see if XP then sees your partition.....

 

[BIG JUS]

Cool... imma try it now...

 

[johngalt]

K - good luck

 

[BIG JUS]

I just finished rebooting and checking my setup...No sign of anything saying RAID... I checked every option...

 

[BIG JUS]

I went to the Dell support and entered my info, I was unable to find a driver for my needs. is there something specific I should be looking for?

 

[BIG JUS]

The only driver i see is one for the bios from11/25. My CPU was built on 12/11... I guess Dell support was correct as to there being no drivers available for me.

 

[BIG JUS]

OK, so I just checked another thread, and some dude was saying he successfully did it, but he had to change the AHCI to ATA in his BIOS in order to be able to see the partitions. I just double checked my system, and I have an option under ICH SATA CONFIG SETTINGS, I can either chose for the SATA 1-6 to be AHCI or RAID. My question now is do I switch it to RAID? And you stated above that i would have to put drivers on a diskette, however I only have cd drives on this bad boy... All help is appreciated guys.... Thanx....

 

[jesse1]

BIG JUS,

Dell has drivers for the 32 bit Vista os for your 730 system. Click the link below to download. You will need to create a partition on your hard drive in order to install another OS.
RAID Enabled Mode

The XPS 730 can be configured for RAID, even if a RAID configuration was not selected when the computer was purchased. You can use one of two methods to configure RAID hard drive volumes. The first method uses the Nvidia MediaShield ROM utility and is performed before you install the operating system onto the hard drive. The second method uses Nvidia MediaShield and is performed after you have installed the operating system and Nvidia RAID drivers. Both methods require that you set your computer to RAID-enabled mode before you begin.
Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode

1. Enter system setup.
2. Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight Drives, then press <Enter>.
3. Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight the applicable SATA drive, then press Enter.
4. Press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight RAID On, and then press Enter. Repeat the process, as needed, for each SATA hard drive.
5. Press Esc press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight Save/Exit, and then press Enter to exit system setup and resume the boot process.

Drivers & Downloads

Jesse