XP over Win7, not what you may think

[familyman01]

First the question, then the events that lead up to it.

I am able to boot to disc by pressing any key, however, I am NOT able to press enter to install XP over an install of Win7. How do I get around this? My keyboard, either using USB or an adapter to PS/2, just goes dead after I boot into disc and the XP install screen comes up. IE: Press enter to install, F3 to quit, R to repair, my keyboard just goes non functional.

Google kept answering the wrong question, so I came here, long time user, but I haven't used this site from like three email account ago.... hence the new username and non existent post count.

USB keyboard/legacy support is enabled in the BIOS.

Boot to CD/DVD is obviously checked because I can boot to disc.

Google tells me to format because obviously you can't just plain old downgrade windows, however, I cannot even get that far. I plan on formatting anyway.

Google says SATA drivers are to blame, I don't have SATA, this is an old PC that I just wanted to see if Win7 would work on, however, Radeon HD legacy drivers for my AGP HD3650 do not work (no matter how many people say they will) with Win 7, so this is why I want to go back to XP.

I am fairly fluent in PC's, been building desktops and working on software and networking for over 15 years. This has me stumped. I'm assuming it's something so amazingly simple that I just look past it.

Right now it's Win 7 x86 starter (to keep the bloating to a minimum).
Old circa 2002 sony vaio, upgraded HD3650, upgraded 3.4gz pentium. otherwise stock/oem. New thermal paste, entire PC gutted, cleaned and reassembled.

Harddrive is fine, i've had XP and Win 7 on this many times before while playing around with it. I've had to go back and forth between OS's when I found out first that my old wifi card couldn't handle Win7, then went back to XP, found out wifi card can't even cope with my modern router, it's been replaced and the new one works fine, so I attempted to go back to Win 7 and now I find out that AMD catalyst installs but just doesn't, well, work. Never had a problem before going back to XP, but this issue is new and I'm scratching my head.

Thank you guys in advance.

 

[EricB]

Back your data up, use 3rd party software to wipe the drive clean. Windows 8 is worse

 

[carnageX]

Back your data up, use 3rd party software to wipe the drive clean. Windows 8 is worse

Personally I prefer it over Win7 .

 

[familyman01]

Back your data up, use 3rd party software to wipe the drive clean. Windows 8 is worse

I'm not sure who's question you are answering.

I said I plan on formatting, why wouldn't I back up my data? (It's already backed up to an external drive)

Never mentioned Win8, if the AGP legacy drivers from AMD don't work for Win7, I'm for sure not gonna touch Win8, this is about me needing to install XP on a machine that currently has Win7. (plus, I've downgraded many Win8 laptops to Win7 already, I agree, me no likey Win8)

And ok, I'm listening about using 3rd party software to wipe my drive, but... I would like to know how you think this is going to help my keyboard issue. Right now I at LEAST have a limping PC running Win7, if I wipe/format with 3rd party software, and my keyboard still fails during an install, then I've got a brick.

If you could give me some insight on why you think this method will work, I'll definitely try it.

Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Joe C]

is this a different keyboard from your past upgrades/downgrades with this pc? You might have to go with an older ps/2 keyboard to get it to work from the bios. I know you stated legacy usb support is enabled but sometimes the bios still won't recognize that usb kb (older Dells & HP's are notorious for that)

 

[familyman01]

Yeah, weird thing is, it's the same mouse+keyboard that I have used previously to downgrade to XP on this very PC.

I have another USB keyboard laying around that I can dig out and try, but I wouldn't on earth begin to know where to find a real PS/2 keyboard, I just have the adapter. Even local craigslist users don't sell stuff that old. To me, that's not really so old, I used to own a Tandy and an Atari 600xl, as I said, been doing this a while, that's why I'm so stumped, but that's besides the point.

I'll attempt these fixes later today, and if it works I obviously won't be able to tell you about if it worked till tomorrow.

Thanks again all

Oh, what bootable program/s does anyone recommend to wipe the drive? From memory, I believe there are quite a few options.

 

[familyman01]

Sorry if this offends mods, but since when do posts go under mod discretion before they get posted? The old Tech-Forums never did this. There were no curse words to set off any filters. (I would have edited this to my last post, however, a mod has to okay it so I cannot see it lol)

 

[carnageX]

Sorry if this offends mods, but since when do posts go under mod discretion before they get posted? The old Tech-Forums never did this. There were no curse words to set off any filters. (I would have edited this to my last post, however, a mod has to okay it so I cannot see it lol)

It goes by post count. And if you include links or images in your post (including smiles from the board) they automatically get moderated. We can whitelist legit members tho (i'll do so to your account when I get on my computer since I'm on my phone right now).

Sent from my HTC One

 

[familyman01]

Ah, I get it, I used an emoticon without knowing. Thank you for the clarification.

It goes by post count. And if you include links or images in your post (including smiles from the board) they automatically get moderated. We can whitelist legit members tho (i'll do so to your account when I get on my computer since I'm on my phone right now).

Sent from my HTC One

 

[carnageX]

No problem.

To answer your other question about what program to wipe your drive.. I recommend a GParted LiveCD to wipe and format the drive.

Sent from my HTC One