Office Depot has a really good price on the C771US notebook thru saturday Sept. 20. I have held off on purchasing a notebook/laptop because of Vista. Comparing Vista and XP is alike to comparing bi-focal to progressive lenses, "You love what you start with".
I gather from reading other posts that a Compaq Presario C771US can be down graded to the wonderful Windows XP. My question is a two part one and starts with "Can I install a new notebook HD in order to keep the OEM copy of Vista" AND "what drivers will I need to accomplish this feat".
Some of the other posts referrals to drivers to download get kinda far out there. I am not really a computer guru so any response please try to pin point the driver for me instead of sending me to a page where I must make a choice.
Note: If you are the author of this question and wish to assign points to any of the answers, please login first.For more information on assigning points ,click
here
============== Enter Bios setup by tapping F10 key at startup.If you have the option in Bios setup to disable Native sata mode,XP will install with no problem.
===============
Most of the drivers released are for XP SP2.If your install doesn't have SP2 get it & install before drivers.
Thanks for the advice on the Vista backup disk and for the detailed conversion instructions. Saving a Vista disk will allow me to save about $ 150. Will let you and the forum know what kind of luck/problem I incounter when doing this.
I may be a while as I have some other irons in the fires concerning Christmas. Yeah it's early but businesses have to start early.
Hello. I hope this will help though it applies to C771TU model. I would like to add this link for Atheros Wireless LAN driver as nothing else worked for me.
P.S: The page says the drivers are for Vista but they worked for me for XP. YMMV. Also, I did not even need to manually do the "Atheros Amber Light Fix". Good luck.
Printable version
