I'm having a problem downgrading from Vista to XP Pro. I'm not sure what exactly the problem is, but I can describe the details.
Here is a shot of my partition table (this is after a fresh Vista install this morning):
I downloaded a Slipstreamed version of XP Pro, and installed. Everything went smoothly, but there was a few problems. My monitor was garbled (Video card drivers...), and I couldn't get a connection to the internet. I have a Scientific Atlanta WebStar Cable Modem with Roadrunner HighSpeed from Time Warner. When I plugged everything in on Vista, it worked perfectly, but after a fresh wipe/install, it wouldn't even read the modem. It didn't come with an installation disc, only a disc with a manual and USB drivers. Everything else seemed to work fine.
So, I wiped/installed Vista again, and lo and behold, the cable modem was purring like Detroit muscle. Baffled, I turned again and downloaded a different version of XP Pro, and tried one more time with a fresh install. Instead, I created a new 3GB partition (just as a test) and formatted with NTFS, and installed. Everything seemed to go fine again, but the same problem resulted. Baffled once again, I restarted, expecting to get an OS choices menu, but didn't. So, I restarted with my disc, deleted that partition, and restarted once more. Instead of booting my partition of Vista, it said "Disk Boot Failed - Insert Boot Disk and hit Enter." So, I restarted without the disc in the drive, and the same thing resulted. So, I restarted with the disc, and went to the Vista Repair Options menu. I had it check for startup problems, and it said, "Done checking, hit enter to restart immediately. If problems were successfully fixed, your computer will restart normally."
Pipe Dreams.
Same thing happened, so I realized I was officially screwed. Since this is a new machine, I had no Restore Points set. It slipped my mind that Vista doesn't set Restore Points automatically.
I eventually wiped/installed Vista again, and now I'm here.
Any suggestions?
