Problems with removing vista and replace with XP?

im trying to remove vista from a new laptop i bought yesrturday and replace it with XP. i found many steps on how to successfully do this, but theres a problem. when i go to boot my cd with windows XP on it it goes through the whole process of going through the files on the CD, then brings me to a screen that says if i want to set up windows XP now to press ENTER.



when i do this it says that there are no hard drives detected on the computer. why is this happening?? there are hard drives because i still have vista on one. i made a new partition that i was going to put XP on, but it doesnt recognize that at all. im not really a computer pro - was simply following the steps that others gave me and im running into this problem. is there a way to fix the no hard drive problem?



thanks!Problems with removing vista and replace with XP?
you will have to delete the partition having vista on it, then create a new partition in the empty space, after that install xp in the newly created partitionProblems with removing vista and replace with XP?
Did you delete the old partition? It's probably sayiung there's no hard drive cos one already has an OS on it. You can delete it in the same menu you added it, make sure you have a valid activation code with the XP disc or it'll all be a waste of time.
It's really quite simple. Vista is (normally) installed on the AHCI BIOS, and XP, in simple terms, hates that BIOS. You'll need to change to the ATA BIOS to best run XP. Also, alot of computers now slipstream the hard drive drivers in with the installation cd. You may need to install a driver (such as the Intel Matrix Storage Manager) depending on the type of system and drive you have by pressing F6 when prompted during the CD setup.



Vista also changes the boot record on the drive, i normally debug the drive on the computers i downgrade from Vista to XP to clear the boot record and eliminates any problems that could arise there, that could also fix your problem, but it's more likely the BIOS setting.
That idea might work but also if the hard drive is SATA then XP does not see it.. XP SP2 should be ok but for some reason has a problem with laptop sata hard drives..

There's somewhat a way around this but more trouble to do..



If it's an OEM XP made for the brand laptop you are putting it on then you might be ok with not having a key..