Can I run Windows XP 32

For absurd reasons that are painful to explain, I need to run a game that can only be run on Windows XP. My desktop has a Core i5 2500k and a Gigabyte Z68-D3H-B3 motherboard with 8 gigs of RAM.

Thinking that I would (surely) be able to install Windows XP Home 32 bit on the computer (but be limited to accessing 4 gigs of RAM and maybe some HDD limitations as well) ... I tried to install Windows XP using a retail boxed copy disc of Win XP 32 Home (SP2).

The computer throws a BSOD pretty close to the beginning of the setup process, after setup has copied files and right when it starts to say "Setup is loading Windows"...

HELP!

Do I need a 64-bit version of Windows? If so, how would I have known that? (All FAQ type material I've seen seems to talk about whether you can run 32 bit apps under 64 bit windows, how to tell whether you're running XP 32 or XP 64, etc., but NOT how to tell which version of Windows you need to install...)

 

Hi my friend , what is your bsod's message ? What is your previous operating system ? :wave

 

Difficult to install an older OS on top of an existing newer version.

 

I meant I was installing on a separate/empty disk that I just installed for the purpose..

I now believe I'll be able to get past this by going into the BIOS to disable AHCI, which apparently is not compatible with a 32-bit OS.

 

AHCI --IS COMPATIBLE-- with 32bit OS'es.

I'm running it here, under 32bit Windows XP SP3.

The BlackEdition XP builds are good AHCI and SATA enabled XP installations.

 

What do you mean black edition? Sounds like some cracked/modded version, which we dont discuss on majorgeeks. You can download your systems chipset drivers which should allow you to use AHCI in your xp, but you shouldn't loose enough performance in xp that i would worry.

 

I switched to IDE mode in the BIOS and the Win 32 installation appeared to work.. except after it did its first auto reboot, the installation would fail to continue... it would just hang after the "Boot from CD" prompt, instead of loading the OS.

This happened on both a new WD 160 gig drive and a new Samsung 1TB drive. Unless I just happened to get 2 brand new dead disks from Newegg, I'm doing something wrong.

(Could it be hardware related? The new drives from newegg were both "OEM, Drive only" versions... do I need to go buy some jumper pins and set them, or something? My mobo uses SATA so I always assumed jumpers were a thing of the past -- yet if I'm trying to run in IDE mode, perhaps the jumper pins make a difference?

Before considering that, though, I'll try to install in AHCI mode... I'm not sure it was AHCI causing the crash before, as I may have actually been in RAID (XHD) mode. (Again, not sure why that would cause the OS to crash though.. perhaps because it's XP home edition and not pro?)

I have a million questions and no answers

 

Hi mate , download this tool

http://majorgeeks.com/Speccy_d6358.html

follow the process :
from left column choose
Summary ( wait 30 seconds until report generated )
from bar menu select :
File
Save as Text file
choose desktop as saving location
follow this process to post your machine type report

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=86880

to help you finding Sata drivers !! :wave

 

Thanks for the suggestions, all.

I eventually got this to work by simply disconnecting every other HDD while trying to install XP 32. This apparently prevented the OS install from failing due to the machine trying to boot from the wrong disk before the install process had finished (previously, adjusting boot priority in the BIOS did nothing to fix this).

However, as stated previously, I could not get XP 32 to even begin installing while running in RAID (XHD) or AHCI mode; the machine would crash at a blue screen before even beginning the setup process.

Anyway, thanks again!