Tuesday, October 28, 2008

HOWTO Install Windows XP on Acer 4330

(Image courtesy of Raymond.CC)

I bought an Acer Aspire 4330 a few days ago, but I couldn't install Windows XP. I think it's designed for Vista, but I don't want to use it because it's unusable. Windows XP Setup coredumped after a minutes, and I thought I had to slipstream the installation CD to solve this. Fortunately, a friend told me that all I had to do was to change my SATA mode from AHCI to IDE. The setup then went smoothly.

Installing the drivers is a PITA. The drivers in the provided DVD doesn't work because they're for Vista. I had to download the files from their FTP site.

Unfortunately, they provide multiple drivers for the same device. Do I need to use the driver for Atheros? Or Broadcom? Or Intel? Blah.

I'll continue installing the drivers tomorrow. I still have to finish this router/load balancer that I'm making. Hopefully, our connection would become twice as fast after we combine Bayantel and Globe connections. More on this later.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Day! We are having the same problem; i just bought a 4330 just now and i can't load xp aswell. Help please, baka kasi napagan mo yung sayo... Thanks in advance....

simoncpu-test said...

When you first turn on your laptop, just press 'F12' to enter CMOS setup. You can change the SATA mode from there.

I don't have my laptop with me, but I'll google for screen shots.

Unknown said...

Hi! where do i get the xp drivers for ACER ASPIRE 4330? Thanks a lot!

simoncpu-test said...

Allan,

You can download the drivers from their FTP site. It's at: ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/travelmate_4330/driver/

I've only tried installing the Intel graphics card driver. I don't know the specific drivers for the other components, because it's not specified in the manual (the manual is a generic document for the Aspire series).

I haven't finished setting up my laptop yet. I'll update this blog once I'm done. =)

Unknown said...

Thanks! I guess i need to slipstream first, I've tried doing those from other blogs but i can't seem to make it work. Do you have the files ( SATA AHCI controller) drivers do be used in slipstreaming? I downloaded files but they don't work. 32bit or 64bit? BTW, thanks a lot for your real time reply. I hope i can make it work, with your help. i'm so desperate....

Unknown said...

Also tried setting controller mode to IDE but it doesn't work. It installs but ends up to "disk boot failure" when setup restarts it.

Anonymous said...

i bought 4330 too
i had the same problem while i installed XP...but i change the sata mode(like at the screen shots)
but after i install XP i didnt realize that at the cd driver all driver for vista
so...i install vista & i upgrade my memory 2GB(1GB each pc5300)
but now i having a problem....sometime the laptop hang...but after a while not hang again
must i change the memory??is driver XP for travel mate compatible with aspire???

simoncpu-test said...

Hello,

I haven't got the time to continue installing my Acer laptop. I have Windows installed already, but the wireless drivers doesn't work still. I'll probably fix it this weekend.

Some, but not all, Travelmate drivers are compatible with Aspire.