[mhbaldwin]

I just bought an HP computer running Windows Vista Home Premium. It's a 64 bit machine. I need to run XP as nothing in the office works with Vista. I bought System Commander 9 to help with the installation. I installed System Commander and partitioned the drive. When I tried to install Window XP Professional OEM software in the partition, I got a blue screen. I can't seem to get past it.

I called the the support line for Avantech and they said that it was a software problem and that I needed to call Microsoft.

I called Microsoft who said that I needed the drivers to resolve this issue. However, they do not recommend a downgrade to XP and will not support a dual boot system, nor will they say where I can get the drivers and recommended that I call the computer manufacturer. Microsoft also told me that I should not install OEM software as it is reserved only for computer manufacureres. I bought the software at Fry's Electronics. They said nothing about that.

Is there a difference between OEM software and the retail copies of XP? Does it have anything to do with the drivers that work with the hardware and software?

I spoke with HP and they will not support a dual boot system either. Nor will they give me the drivers. They did say that the correct drivers would clear the problem as there is a conflict with the the hardware and software working together. They do not have the drivers posted on their website and would not give me a list of the drivers that I need.

Can anyone help me with this problem? I am sure that someone have faced this problem before.

Thanks
Mary

[S0ULphIRE]

To answer one of your questions, OEM and Retail are two different packages. Retail versions are usually released with a users manual, are prettied up a bit, and cost more because of that.
OEM copies of the software are intended for PC Manufacturers, who buy the software in bulk. Usually there's a few left-over OEM's from a particular lot, so the PC manufacturer sells them off to small pc stores for them to sell. which is what you've got.

[peterhuang913]

Differences between OEM and Retail

[EricB]

take that software and get your money back.

backup your files. keep you vista discs around. delete everything. install xp first. at the xp setup screen create 3 new partitions. 1 for xp, 1 for vista and one for your documents.

install xp. go to driverpack.net and get the rest of your drivers. you can unzip them and burn them to disc then install through device manager or follow this method

Originally Posted by EricB

here's how you update you xp cd to have almost all drivers. you need the driver packs and the driver base software. here are the links

DriverPacks.net > DriverPacks > Intro

DriverPacks.net > DriverPacks > DriverPacks BASE

download driverbase. put your downloaded driver packs files in the driver pack folder that you get when you extract driver base download with 7zip

7-Zip

extract driver base. put your driver zip files in the right folder.



open driver base. click the arrows to get to the next screen. notice that i have an xp folder on my desktop (I have 2 actually. I use ryanvm integrater to slipstream all of xp updates into the disc too). you need the files there as driver doesn't copy your xp cd files to the hdd. you have to manually do it yourself or use nlite to copy the files to the hdd



if you put the files in the right place you will see the drivers on this screen. just follow the steps leaving the default options. you can change them if you understand them.


when you are done use nlite to create a bootable iso file from the folder.

install vista. make both os document folder on your 3rd partition. Go to start right click my documents, click properties (you can only do it here) and select move. Move it to you second partition. This will speed up disc performance plus if you have to reformat, you won't lose your data.

[Exhibition]

Go into the BIOS, and change the SATA controller from IDE to RAID. That should allow you to install XP.