downgrade from vista to xp?

DiscoZombie

so last year, my wife bought a brand new $2500 Alienware laptop. The thing is basically a paperweight, and has been from day 1. I'd like to think it's mostly because of Vista. The OS is so incredibly slow, even on a pretty state-of-the-art system. Service pack 1 and various other updates refuse to install, and doing anything is more tedious than doing the same task on a 486 with Windows 3.1 installed. anyway, is it easy to "downgrade" (read: upgrade) from Vista to XP?

Xyth

Vista isn't your problem.

Reformat the computer, fresh install. Download all the newest drivers. Come back if it's still slow.

lolfighter

Do you mean without formatting the system partition? I wouldn't even contemplate that. With a format, it's more a question of whether the hardware is still XP compatible.

DiscoZombie

you guys are probably right and I'm jumping to conclusions about Vista. Certainly don't know if there would be any hardware incompatibility with XP, so maybe a vista reinstall is the way to go for starters. Problem is, when you buy a computer these days, they sure as hell don't give you a CD with the operating system on it, so I'm not sure whether I have any way to format and reinstall... maybe I can pirate the OS and then use my legit CD key or something.

douchebagatron

they didnt give you an OS cd? thats weird. and yes you can download the OS disk from somewhere and use your current cd key. if its not on the bottom of your laptop, you should actually be able to go to the computer properties and see the key you are using.

one thing is just make sure that you download the right version, as there is like 8. most likely its home media center edition or something like that.

DiscoZombie

well, they gave a 'recovery' cd - I don't know if that's the same, and if it will allow me to reinstall after reformatting...

KungFuDiscoMonkey

Typically the recovery CD they give you is to restore it to the state the machine was when it shipped to you.

douchebagatron

well different companies do different things, my laptop came with a cd with all the crap they put on it, and then a cd to install the OS. this might be both, or something like that. its worth a shot.

eediot

e: deleted

SkulkBait

Just a thought, but given that alienware is owned by Dell, did you try the <a href="http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/" target="_blank">Decrapifier</a>?

aNytiMe

Windows logo key, type run, click run, type msconfig, hit enter, uncheck garbage.

DiscoZombie

<!--quoteo(post=1693606:date=Nov 16 2008, 09:44 PM:name=6john)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(6john @ Nov 16 2008, 09:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693606"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->well different companies do different things, my laptop came with a cd with all the crap they put on it, and then a cd to install the OS. this might be both, or something like that. its worth a shot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yeah, if it restores the thing to the condition it was when we got it, it might not do any good, considering the machine was problematic right out of the box. if I can just reformat and reinstall the OS though, maybe that would be good...

<!--quoteo(post=1693699:date=Nov 18 2008, 01:22 AM:name=eediot)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eediot @ Nov 18 2008, 01:22 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693699"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Did you ever consider the folly of

A. buying an alienware laptop
and
B. buying alienware fullstop

I know that's besides the point but $2500 on a laptop and alienware to boot hmmm<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
well, laptops aren't exactly as easy to build yourself or have custom built, and she wanted a gaming one. Alienware used to have a good reputation - maybe they suck since getting bought by Dell. I think I exaggerated on the $2500 - I think it was "just" $2000...

<!--quoteo(post=1693700:date=Nov 18 2008, 01:26 AM:name=SkulkBait)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SkulkBait @ Nov 18 2008, 01:26 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693700"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just a thought, but given that alienware is owned by Dell, did you try the <a href="http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/" target="_blank">Decrapifier</a>?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

was worth a try, but it's still not updating properly.

<!--quoteo(post=1693752:date=Nov 18 2008, 05:59 PM:name=aNytiMe)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(aNytiMe @ Nov 18 2008, 05:59 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693752"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Windows logo key, type run, click run, type msconfig, hit enter, uncheck garbage.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
is that the same as starting in safe mode? because I've tried that, to no avail... basically, I'm trying to get it to update (service pack 1 and some other windows updates) and it just won't work. the thing still runs most games OK, so maybe I should let sleeping dogs lie.

I've been wondering if it's not software at all but rather hardware that's bad - perhaps the hard drive. She used to play WoW on it extensively last year, and the game would crash somewhat randomly, saying some files were corrupt. Installing the game was a nightmare to begin with because it said our discs were corrupt, even though I used the same discs to install it on my own PC. We just installed Warhammer Online and there were no install problems, nor is it crashing, so it's tough to isolate the problems. meh. Honestly, we probably should have sent the thing back for servicing as soon as we started having trouble with it, but it took them like 3 weeks to get it to us to begin with - the very thought of sending it back to them for weeks more of maintenance that probably wouldn't help was awful.

PseudoKnight

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->is that the same as starting in safe mode?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Not at all. By unchecking those items you prevent them from starting up when you boot the computer. This frees up resources for applications more important to you. Safe mode loads only necessary Windows components to do temporary maintenance and/or repair.

It's likely there's "crapware" installed. (almost all prebuilt computers have it) Try uninstalling all the applications that you don't use. If you have Norton antivirus installed, uninstall that and use some other anti-virus software like <a href="http://www.free-av.com/en/download/index.html" target="_blank">Avira</a>. (if you want a subscription-based AV suite, get NOD32) Download and run <a href="http://www.ccleaner.com/" target="_blank">CCleaner</a> to clean out junk. There's other malware applications like Spybot that can help.

The service pack not installing is disconcerting, though. That helps stability and performance on Vista. If you can't get that to install then you might be better off restoring the Windows installation from the recovery CD and starting over.