My wife recently bought me an Acer Extensa 5620 for Christmas. It's a great little unit with a lot of potential, but the one big flaw was the operating system: it came with Windows Vista. The fast hardware was crippled by the bloated, clumsy OS. I was therefore forced to figure out exactly how to get XP on it, so wrote up a guide to help others. It should apply to different Acer notebooks, and likely has info useful to other brands as well.
It's not as simple at it used to be. Today's laptops are 'meant' for Vista, so trying to install XP often isn't easy. In the case of my 5620, the hard drive wasn't even detected until I researched and changed Bios settings (known as the AHCI issue). I'm SO much happier after ditching Vista, though- when I first got it, a 1GHz Pentium III with XP could have run circles around it!
It's not as simple at it used to be. Today's laptops are 'meant' for Vista, so trying to install XP often isn't easy. In the case of my 5620, the hard drive wasn't even detected until I researched and changed Bios settings (known as the AHCI issue). I'm SO much happier after ditching Vista, though- when I first got it, a 1GHz Pentium III with XP could have run circles around it!
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Don't immediately wipe Vista! It's actually useful for another hour or so. Use Acer's backup software (mine had an Acer floating toolbar with this) to do two things-
First, a Full Backup of your system. Trust me, if you ever have to send your Acer in for servicing, it better have Vista on it or your warranty could be voided. Plus, someday when you sell it, uninformed people think it's a plus point ;)
Secondly, why bother downloading random drivers you hope are the right ones? Acer makes it easy with its Driver and Application backup CD creator. A little known fact is that these drivers appear to be both the complete Vista AND XP set. Once you're done, you'll have burned three DVD's, and be ready for some XP goodness! If you've already wiped it, or just want the latest available, grab them from [ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/ here]. I did both, just in case, throwing the newest onto a 256MB USB drive. Thirdly, look in Device Manager to see what AHCI Disk Controller you have! Write this down. On the Best Buy Acer Extensa 5620-6830, it's the 'Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI.' Other models may be slightly different. This info is important later, and it can be difficult to find out without some annoying trial and error.
First, a Full Backup of your system. Trust me, if you ever have to send your Acer in for servicing, it better have Vista on it or your warranty could be voided. Plus, someday when you sell it, uninformed people think it's a plus point ;)
Secondly, why bother downloading random drivers you hope are the right ones? Acer makes it easy with its Driver and Application backup CD creator. A little known fact is that these drivers appear to be both the complete Vista AND XP set. Once you're done, you'll have burned three DVD's, and be ready for some XP goodness! If you've already wiped it, or just want the latest available, grab them from [ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/ here]. I did both, just in case, throwing the newest onto a 256MB USB drive. Thirdly, look in Device Manager to see what AHCI Disk Controller you have! Write this down. On the Best Buy Acer Extensa 5620-6830, it's the 'Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI.' Other models may be slightly different. This info is important later, and it can be difficult to find out without some annoying trial and error.
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I've got an Acer Extensa 5420, and I found out the hard way, by simply cloning to a larger hard drive, that it's very easy to break access to the PQSERVICE partition to restore my laptop to factory default settings. Obviously changes or corrupting the C: or PQSERVICE partition will break access via Alt+F10 or eRcovery, but so can hiding or reformatting the D: DATA partition, since eRecovery establishes a "relationship" with D: during initial setup, which it seems can only be modified manually afterward, perhaps requiring both the registry and BCDEdit. It's possible to suggest that I'm wrong, but I've spent many, many days using the original hard drive and two cloned drives trying to determine why the clones lose access to the recovery partition.
Also, I did indeed make recovery DVD's using eRecovery, and tried to restore access to PQSERVICE by using them, but they failed every time. The DVD's restored the C: partition, but not access to the recovery partition. Considering the recovery partition utilizes a "switch" or "input code" (Alt+F10) for access, and the partition is hidden using the partition ID=27, it's possible that eRecovery discs will not include the recovery partition. So far cloning using the 2009 Seagate or WD version of Acronis True Image both somehow managed to break access to the recovery partition. EaseUS ToDo Backup Free also failed to restore after performing file or sector by sector backups, but that was because it somehow misinterpreted the allocated space of all the partitions to slightly larger than the factory hard drive. The problem might be the utility Acer used to create the partitions, how they were accessed at the time, and/or the BIOS in conjunction with the physical specifications. EaseUS Drive Clone/Copy cannot technically clone from large to small hard drives, and it has an "unwritten" strict technical methodology which must be followed, but it better revealed the problem with restoration. If you decrease the size of partition D: DATA, you can clone from large to small, or create backups which will be more successful at restoring. This suggests that slightly "shrinking" volume D: DATA, before using a third-party drive imaging/backup solution will significantly improve chances for successful recovery later. In both Vista, Windows 7, and it would seem Windows 8, you can expand volume D: DATA after a successful restore using disk management.
All of this is simply to suggest that while eRecovery should restore volume C: ACER, it won't necessarily restore PQSERVICE or volume D: DATA. In testing I placed files in both volumes C and D, and after restoring using the discs, the files I placed in volume D were still present, and I could not access the "built-in" recovery. So, considering warranty and factory installed hard drive size, it might be better to simply replace the originally installed hard drive with a larger or faster hard drive, keeping the older drive in case of needed factory repair. Otherwise, I recommend that before you "wipe" the hard drive of all partitions, or install any OS which can break Acer's MBR offset for recovery, test your backup discs using a different borrowed or bought hard drive. If the test drive is smaller, but more than half the size of the original, like a 120GB to a 160GB or a 60GB to an 80GB, simply "shrink" volume D: DATA before creating the backup. You won't need to create another set of recovery disks if successful because you can always "expand" volume D: DATA after completing the recovery.
Then again, maybe my laptop just doesn't like me and is making my life difficult, which makes my comment a moot point.
Hope some can help if so email me at powdertoybeta@gmail.com
I've been asked by so many people to replace vista with XP on their laptops its rediculous. For anyone saying Vista is better than XP this is my experience:
Vista......................
1. Had to reinstall Vista on 19 occasions after automatic updates screwed it up.
2. Took 4 hours and 30mins to backup 80GB to another hardrive.
3. Can't install any software updates for my phone.
4. Slow to boot. around 5mins from boot to desktop.
5. Takes ages to detect and connect to my other 2 XP and 1 Win 2000 PCs on my home network.
6. stupid file search. it can't find files i know exist.
After XP Upgrade.............................
1. Only reinstalled XP once (power failure during update).
2. Took 2 hours 10mins to backup 120GB.
3. Installed all updates on my phone.and even upgraded its OS.
4. boots faster. 2mins from boot to desktop.
5. VERY BIG increase in speed.
6. Connects to my home network and other PCs in seconds
7. More reliable drivers.
8. All my hardware works as it should and not when the OS says so.
9. I can actually find files using Windows Explorer's search bar.
So if you want to go vista to xp i highly recommend it.
This i just my opinion.
I have since "upgraded" to Windows 7 on extensa 5620 but unfortunately ran into the "replace battery" issue so now get 10 minutes on battery vs 2+ hours when used xp.
Been trying to find solution but all options that I have tried so far [disable acpi, drain battery in bios screen, etc.] have not worked.
When check under device manager I do have yellow exclamation point for something labelled ACPI. Is there a driver for ACPI for Windows 7 that you used and if yes, from where? Can not find on acer us or euro site.
Got similar problem on another acer after upgraded to windows 7 but had battery replaced under warranty and switched back to xp.
Appreciate any help.
Thanks!!
With Windows XP, you have pretty basic graphics and a fair amount of security to your computer. XP also doesn't have Windows Update, but it notifies you when you should go to Microsoft's Web site and download updates. But the one thing that XP has that Vista doesn't: speed. XP is incredibly fast, especially with good hardware.
In my opinion, it would be an upgrade to go from Vista to XP. But you may have different thoughts.
and you should be ashamed of yourself for recommending that people use an old insecure operating system.
vista can be made to run as leanly as xp, and you gain the advantage of higher network performance, improved security (think aslr, dep, etc...), better startup/shutdown times, better use of your ram, better use of modern cpus, better use of modern hard drives (write caching).
honestly vista is faster than xp if you turn the graphics down to classic. i really think you should give it a proper go.
also i noticed you said windows 7 was better than vista... actually it's exactly the same os, but with features removed, reworked uac, some new wizards and troubleshooting tools, and a new taskbar. if you call seven fast, you are implying that vista is fast
something to think about for you
Second: XP isn't insecure.
Third: I'm not saying Vista is horrible.
Fourth: Vista is fast on a decent PC, but not as fast as XP.
Fifth: I have noticed a speed difference when upgrading my HP from Vista to 7. Small, but noticeable.
So stop, okay? Let people choose their own OSes.
i'm just trying to make sure you don't have the wrong idea about vista and 7, since you are pretending to be an expert and you are influencing others.
i didn't realise i would be starting an argument with a 15 year old by replying
anyway, if you managed to "forget" that xp had windows update, you really shouldn't be giving anyone advice on choosing an operating system.
as for security... hey, i think it's secure to make everyone who uses the computer an administrator... and sure, the fact that windows xp has hundreds more security fixes must mean it's obviously more secure. definately doesnt mean it was designed with security patched in later as an afterthought
good to see you don't think it's horrible, even though you advise people to use an inferior OS
your fourth point: anything is fast on a fast computer...
your fifth point: you noticed a speed-up because you installed a fresh OS, not because you changed OS, although 7 is configured to be slightly leaner by default. most computing professionals could configure vista to be faster than the default 7.
everyone should choose their own OS, but people like you should stop spreading false truths and pretending to be knowlegable on the subject, as you will mislead common folk.
And yet you haven't even tried it?
I recall someone going on Fox news and explaining to the world how Mass Effect was full of graphic sex content that corrupted our youth. Turns out she never even played the game. Latter on, after she had actually seen the game played, she was quoted as saying that the sex was sort of a joke; there was more hardcore stuff in the TV show Lost.
Get your own opinion, don't spread somebody else's.
My sources.
If I told you that when you bought a new car it would have a V8 engine instead a of a four-cylinder, a 25 gallon gas tank instead of 12, twice the amperage from the alternator and upgraded all-season radials... you'd be pleased, right? Okay, now let's say you buy it and have all that, but the new car performs exactly the same as your last one- or worse. When you go complain to the dealership, they shrug and say you should've bought the twelve-cylinder model to see any improvement. Does that make sense to you? Because that's the position you're defending here; that's what you're defiantly calling an upgrade.
Both cars in my example get you from point A to point B, just like XP and Vista accomplish the exact same tasks. If you want to nitpick about feature differences- fine. Can't live without the eye candy? Another guide I've posted explains how to make XP virtually a clone of Vista. Like the new search feature, 'bread crumb' explorer link, sidebar and widgets? Same guide, all free. Everything runs smooth even on this outdated old work computer I'm on with "only" 1GB of RAM. Look at that, I just saved $500+! This may surprise you, but some people would rather tinker for an hour or so instead of pointlessly dropping half a grand to reduce performance.
Lastly, to each their own. You're as much of a Vista zealot as we are XP advocates. I posted this Acer guide knowing many people think the way I do, and could use some guidance. Some people throw money and hardware at a software problem- other people just solve the software problem, which is what we're doing here. If you love Vista and are happy with it, that's great. Honestly, I'm glad it worked for you. I guess some people can accept driving a new BMW that runs like a Honda Civic. We'll just be over here, turning or new machines into Ferrari's ;)