[kam1nsk1]

Hello

I need to format and reinstall windows on my acer aspire 3690 and need some advice.

Firstly I need to know whether it is okay to put windows xp onto a machine that came with vista? It is only 512mb so I think it would run better with xp as it uses less memory to run, but I'm not sure if this will have any other implications.

Secondly what order do I need to reinstall the drivers in? Any idea where this info can be found?

Many thanks in advance for any help!

Minski

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Hello

I need to format and reinstall windows on my acer aspire 3690 and need some advice.

Firstly I need to know whether it is okay to put windows xp onto a machine that came with vista? It is only 512mb so I think it would run better with xp as it uses less memory to run, but I'm not sure if this will have any other implications.

Secondly what order do I need to reinstall the drivers in? Any idea where this info can be found?

Many thanks in advance for any help!

Minski

Win xp will run better on that machine. You will have to do a full format then install windows xp and after it has completed installation and you get on windows for the first time you will then need to get the drivers on the manufacturers website. You will need a second computer to get the drivers from on the net, as you probably will not have any network connection available due to no drivers being loaded. I highly doubt win xp will pick up the laptops network card drivers automatically. If you cannot find all of the drivers on the acer website you may have to find some of the drivers from the hardware's manufacturer website. example like if you had an intel network adapter and it cannot be found on the acer website then do a google search for your network adapters model (drivers) or either go to the manufacturer website like I stated above.

You need to make sure the mobo chipset drivers, network adapter drivers, usb drivers and display/video card drivers are installed and you are done..

Make sure you also update xp to the very latest service pack and get the new updates from microsoft.

[jrm20]

Hello

I need to format and reinstall windows on my acer aspire 3690 and need some advice.

Firstly I need to know whether it is okay to put windows xp onto a machine that came with vista? It is only 512mb so I think it would run better with xp as it uses less memory to run, but I'm not sure if this will have any other implications.

Secondly what order do I need to reinstall the drivers in? Any idea where this info can be found?

Many thanks in advance for any help!

Minski

Win xp will run better on that machine. You will have to do a full format then install windows xp and after it has completed installation and you get on windows for the first time you will then need to get the drivers on the manufacturers website. You will need a second computer to get the drivers from on the net, as you probably will not have any network connection available due to no drivers being loaded. I highly doubt win xp will pick up the laptops network card drivers automatically. If you cannot find all of the drivers on the acer website you may have to find some of the drivers from the hardware's manufacturer website. example like if you had an intel network adapter and it cannot be found on the acer website then do a google search for your network adapters model (drivers) or either go to the manufacturer website like I stated above.

You need to make sure the mobo chipset drivers, network adapter drivers, usb drivers and display/video card drivers are installed and you are done..

Make sure you also update xp to the very latest service pack and get the new updates from microsoft.

[kam1nsk1]

thanks jrm, that is really helpful and pretty much confirmed what i thought. the network adapters driver was on the acer website, can you think of any others that may have been missing though?

I have installed these off acer - 802.11bg atheros wireless driver xp32
audio driver, chipset driver version 8.0.1.1002, lan driver broadcom 10-100 ver 4.37.0.0, modem driver, pcmcia and card reader, vga driver intel.

there is a ! sign next to the ethernet controller in device manager, and the wireless internet connection is pretty slow and won't connect to some websites (our other laptop works fine).

Any further help would be hugely appreciated!

Cheers

Minski