XP on Vista laptop - can it be done?

[corksil]

Hey, I have an HP TX2510us laptop which I just got from newegg. It runs decently but I'd much rather put XP on it instead of Vista - which it came with. According to this website I have 64bit CPU. My computer is telling me I'm running 32bit Vista home premium. Something is wrong - did HP really put 32bit Vista on my 64bit laptop?

I'd like to put 64bit XP professional on the laptop - would this work? Why is there a 32bit operating system on my 64bit PC?

It's all assuming I can find drivers for XP - which I think I can. I don't want to start a "XP or Vista, which is better?" thread here

Thanks so much!

[mikeL]

The 32 bit vista is the default OS the 64 bit costs extra, you will want to visit HP and see if they offer drivers for your laptop. I emailed HP support to ask about the same thing after looking for drivers without any luck, they said they wouldn't support XP for my DV9700 laptop.

[tdotsnoball]

First off, most computer processors (if not all) on the market today for PCs are 64-bit. Have been for a few years. Microsoft still chooses to produce and chiefly market Windows as a 32-bit O/S for some reason although they have made 64-bit versions available (starting with XP I believe). Having a 32-bit O/S running on a 64-bit machine is nothing to be worried about.

In your case, you would need to check for driver support for your laptop to ensure everything will work fine with XP - but I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to load XP 64-bit (or even 32-bit if you so choose). You could always go back to Vista using a restore disk if it doesn't work.

[glc]

XP drivers are not available for that model. 64 bit Vista drivers are available if you want a 64 bit OS. Why do you feel you NEED a 64 bit OS? 64 bit processors have been out for several years now and 64 bit versions of Windows are a relatively new thing. All that gets you is the ability to run more than 4gb of ram, which that model doesn't support anyway.

[Sarhan]

Yes but at first try to identify the internal hardware in the laptop as the hardware will require XP device drivers. If you already own the laptop and it’s running Vista, you can use any system diagnostics program to report the hardware and print the list. If you don’t own the laptop yet, look up its technical specifications online and print them out.

You can search Google for your laptop model “+XP” to see if someone has already switched from Vista to XP. They might have helpful information about specific drivers or problems you can avoid.

The next step would be to visit the manufacturer’s website for the laptop and navigate to the drivers for that specific model. Look for XP drivers and download them to a folder of choice. Check your hardware list to make sure the drivers are for your specific laptop.

[corksil]

Thanks for all the replies, I found the driver page here. Apparently 64bit Vista is supported, but no drivers are available for 64bit XP. I have 64bit windows on my desktop, so I'd rather be running two 64bit machines to keep things simple.

Thanks for the replies and answering my questions. I will procure a copy of 64bit Vista Ultimate for the laptop

[amdalex]

There is no reason to upgrade to 64 bit unless you want to upgrade to 4gb or more of RAM but you can't do that with that laptop.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by corksil Thanks for all the replies, I found the driver page here. Apparently 64bit Vista is supported, but no drivers are available for 64bit XP. I have 64bit windows on my desktop, so I'd rather be running two 64bit machines to keep things simple. Thanks for the replies and answering my questions. I will procure a copy of 64bit Vista Ultimate for the laptop

Again, as said before 64bit is overkill on a laptop that doesnt take more than 4GB of RAM. If I were you, I would be keeping a 32bit laptop running just in case of a compatibility issue creeping up with the 64bit OS.

[corksil]

I went w/32bit anyways - I tried with 64bit Vista Ultimate and ended up with 32bit instead. I have a disk that has 32/64bit installations on it but I installed it from 32bit windoze so I'm guessing it recognized my hardware as 32bit. I never had a chance to select between the two and after installing it I saw it was 32bit under the system panel.

Did anyone else notice that their system hardware score goes up after installing Vista Ultimate?