Possible change from Media Center to XP Pro?

[CrazyCow]

Recently bought the beautiful notebook AR 11B but having big problems changing the operation system from Windows Media Center to Windows XP Professional. Hopefully someone could help me work this out (the swedish telephone support had no clue).
The notebook has a 100 gb SATA harddrive and here comes the first problem: Win XP does not recognize SATA discs (a message during the installation says the harddrive can't be found).
To install the SATA drivers the easiest way is to use a floppy drive (pressing F6 in the beginning of the installation) but since I had none I did a slipstream (unattended installation) with the SATA drivers and my Win XP Pro CD.
Now Win XP finds the harddrive and I'm also able to both partition and format the drive. After the first part of the installation (first reboot) I don't get any further though, since a bluescreen appears with the message: stop 0x0000007b. After this I cant do nothing but turning off the computer.
This bluescreen message normally occurs when some driver are missing or not properly installed but since I use the original drivers from the laptop I have no idea why this happens (the drivers in the folder c:/drivers).
The drivers I’ve been using in the slipstream are Intel(R) 82801GBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH7M).

I’ve found a post on this forum treating more or less this issue (http://www.club-vaio.com/clubvaio/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=34092) but with no solution.
My opinion is that everyone has the right to change the operation system but this time Sony made it really, really hard for us that are trying!
Any suggestions?

[Blencogo]

Sorry - don't know enough about Slipstreaming to help if that is the problem. I know how to do it but have never tried it. I have a Sony USB FDD with a Boot Disc and Third Party Drivers for such emergencies. So I'm clutching at straws here!

"stop 0x0000007b" usually means "Inaccessible Boot Device"

I presume you have checked the Boot settings in the BIOS?

Which Boot.ini are you using - the original (Sony) Boot.ini will look for Windows in Partition (2). If you have reformatted the drive, this needs to be changed to Partition (1) as the Recovery Partition has been removed.

You are right when you say that everyone has the right to change their Operating System but in the case of MCE to XP Pro there seems to be no point at all. MCE IS XP Pro with a few add-ons. There is nothing XP Pro can do that can't be done with MCE including connection to XP networks, Domains etc.

Sorry I can't help - as I said, I'm clutching at straws. Floppy Drives are quite cheap these days - could be a good investment. As a last resort you could always use the Recovery Discs to reinstall the original MCE OS - at least then you would be able to use your Vaio.

[frannys]

Sounds like a corrupt MBR(boot manager)This must be set to C:\.Have you checked AHCI is actually set in the Bios.You could change it to IDE,that will also boot .AHCI is normaly loaded on at installation(F6)Through the Floppy,but can only be installed if the Bios shows it too.Otherwise it will not work.It is for the Intel disk manager you can load into windows,it is seperate from the Intel Ich7 inf,the Ich7inf is your Mainboard drivers.

[CrazyCow]

Hi and thanks for your comments. I reinstalled MCE but since it is filled with crappy programs I prefer a clean installation and still I havn't given up the hope. Thats the reason why I'm trying to change the system.
First of all Blencogo, if I understand you in a correct way, I don't think the problem is the boot.ini file. This file is only accessable when the operating system is already installed on the drive and since I formatted and did a new partition the drive can't impossible look for the recovery partition which by the way does not even exist anymore!
Changing the boot.ini file will only be useful when two different operating systems are being installed at the same time (to make computer boot from the right one) and in this case I only trying one at a time.
Buying a floppy will have the same effect as the slipstream. The use of the SATA drivers (wheter the're installed with the F6 way or the slipstream way) is to find the harddrive, rest of the installation will end up in the same way (=bluescreen).

Frannys - I think you might be close to a solution. Since I can't find anything in the BIOS concerning AHCI I will try slipstreaming nothing but the SATA drivers. If I'm lucky that might work.

Well since again for your fast answers, I will tell you if I suceed or not.

[frannys]

If you boot to IDE there is no need to F6,Windows will just load on as normal.As soon as it is finished and your on the Desktop for the first time,You must load on the ICH7inf first.After the reboot,then put the Graphics Driver on,reboot,then the Sound card drivers.After that you can install anything else as you wish.Software goes Last after all Drivers have been installed.I have always found this the best way to set up a system.

[frannys]

Heres a good tip for all=Every 3-6 months give your system a new Format and a clean install of Windows.It is like having a spring clean.It gets rid of all the left behind crap that eventualy hogs your resources ect.Plus whenever you do a reinstall of the OS,always do a new Partition and Format each time.That way Windows has a clean drive to work with always.

[rich912]

Good advice frannys, but the time spent re-installing all the third party software and settings puts me of doing this unless the system is groaning!

I did however bite the bullet a month back and must admit that the machine now loads and runs twice as fast – maybe because I have kept it minimal and only install additional programs if and when really needed…..

[KyriakosP]

i'm also an AR-11B user and i also wanted to reformat my system with a clean one either Windows Pro or Windows MCE... I gave it up because it's useless.. i also bought a floppy drive loaded the SATA drivers on it but when i installed the SATA controller and the installs the drivers for the controller hugs.. A message like: iastor.ini cannot be found appears... I'm sure that this file it's on the diskette and i'm also sure the disketted is formatted and new... something is wrong...

The only thing i tried ever since is to install Windows Vista... Vista Ultimate was running like a charm, so i will wait until the first release to enjoy my pc as i want to with the software i want etc..

[CrazyCow]

If you boot to IDE there is no need to F6,Windows will just load on as normal.As soon as it is finished and your on the Desktop for the first time,You must load on the ICH7inf first.

Don't sure I understand this. My problem is that I can't even get inside Windows XP, the bluescreen shows after the first reboot (when installing).
Booting the SATA drivers only didn't work (no harddrive found) so now I'm kinda back where I started... 😞

[CrazyCow]

A message like: iastor.ini cannot be found appears... 

This message is shown when either the drivers or part of the drivers are actually missing. When you install the drivers with the floppy you must place ALL the drivers in one folder and then copy them all into the floppy disk.
If you did correct your harddrive will be found for sure (I did the same but with a slipstream instead of using a floppy). The problem is getting into windows after the installation finished...(bluescreen).

The problem for many AR11B users seems to be finding the harddrive - this can be done fairly easy. For me (and probably for many more) it would be very interesting if someone could detect the harddrive the same way as I did it and then install windows just to see if the same bluescreen appears. If not the problem will be solved.