Windows Vista Problems

I screwed up and installed windows vista on my moms dell dimension 2400 that previously had XP on it. Little did i know that there is no drivers for it and now it is completly screwed up. I tried to reboot and install xp but it will not let me format and install xp. so now im stuck with a useless computer that i cant do nothing with and cant install xp back on to fix. anybody know what i can do???

 

This thread here says all the XP drivers work ok in Vista. You could try that.

I think there is something about going from Vista to XP that you have to format using a third party format utility. I'll read a few pages and get back to this thread if no one else answers.

 

I don't see anything specific about having to use a third party format program. Try again, this time deleting the Vista partition and then letting XP use the unallocated space to create and format a new partition for install.

 

Ill Give it a try. Not a real computer wizz but ill see what happens.

 

The only thing you are doing differently is step 3 to delete the existing large partition rather than format it. Then you can create a new one or the installation will do it for you if you choose use unallocated space and should now allow the format since Vista is gone.

 

How exactly do i delete it from the partition this part of it is new to me i know nothing

 

If i could just get the drivers to install or find the drivers for vista i wouldnt worry about it but i cant

 

My first post has a link where the poster in that thread says the only driver not working in Vista was the display adapter and that using the XP version from Dell's site worked fine. Which drivers are you having problems with?

As far as reinstalling XP, it should be the same basic process as installing Vista. I assume you are getting an error about XP not wanting to format over Vista because Vista is newer. Is that correct? If it is then my idea was to delete the partition containing Vista rather than format it. Then you would create a new partition and because it was empty the installer would allow you to format it. These are the steps below(Vista will be on the largest partition in the list--you may only have one listed or you may have a very small one that you can leave alone). As far as step 4 goes after you have deleted the partition in step 3 you should get a screen asking you where you want to install windows and "unallocated space" will be highlighted, you can just press enter to accept that which is fine. Then you will get to a format screen and you want to format in NTFS. Then install should begin.

 

the video graphics driver and i cant find it anywhere but from dell and the problem is that i cant get it to install because it says its for xp and want install on vista because its the wrong OS

 

I think you can just try to use the XP version. Don't use the setup file.

You should have a folder on your C:/Drivers/R106456 in this are the drivers which I believe will work even though they weren't written for Vista.

Go to Start and type in devmgmt.msc
Go to Display Adapter and right-click the item it shows and select Properties then Update Driver. I'm not sure of the exact wording but you want to so no to automatically updating and want to say yes to browsing to the location of the driver files(something about you having the disk). You will want to browse to C:\Drivers\R106456\Win2000\ialmnt5.inf and then hit OK. It should install the driver and then you will have to reboot.

 

I forgot you were on Vista. When updating the driver you would browse to the C:\Drivers\R106456\Win2000 folder and it will find the ialmnt5.inf file.

Or, if Vista works like Win7 you may be able to go to the C:\Drivers\R106456\Win2000\ialmnt5.inf file in My Computer and then right-click it and choose install.
Note: if you don't have file extensions showing then the file will just appear as ialmnt5

 

Done exactly what you said it blocks me and says the inf. file does not support this method of installation

 

Try this driver it is slightly altered from the Dell one. Unzip the file to Desktop or other location you can find.

Go to Start and type in


Go to Display Adapter and right-click the item it shows and select Properties then Update Driver. I'm not sure of the exact wording but you want to so no to automatically updating and want to say yes to browsing to the location of the driver files. Browse to the folder you unzipped and select the Vista ialmnt5 folder. Click Next. Let me know the exact wording of any error.


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I've read numerous threads where many, many people have had success with this method. It may be a permissions issue but the method and the driver should work.