Installing XP Pro on XPS 420

SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.

The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

-----Original Message-----
Posted At: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 8:12 PM
Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Conversation: Installing XP Pro on XPS 420
Subject: Installing XP Pro on XPS 420
Has anyone installed XP on an XPS 420?
I have an XPS 420 coming with Q6600 and one 320Gb drive and Vista
Premium. I plan to install XP Pro, since that is my current
development
platform and I just prefer it over Vista. I have a slipstreamed XP Pro
w/SP2, which should handle the SATA drive issue. Is there anything else
I should be aware of?
Thanks.

cmplx80

2007-12-06 12:16:08 UTC

Post by Tom Scales
SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.
The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

Pro

w/SP2, which should handle the SATA drive issue. Is there anything else
I should be aware of?
Thanks.

Tom, thanks for responding. You're correct--the SATA drivers are not in
XP/SP2. My guess is that they're included in the X38 chipset drivers,
which I've downloaded from Dell. I've also downloaded drivers for most
of the peripherals. I'll post up a recap of this adventure at
completion.

S.Lewis

2007-12-06 12:59:26 UTC

Post by Tom Scales
SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.
The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

I lucked out and did see 3-4 of them.

I didn't get to "play" with any of them, though. I'm also curious if that
bezel LCD feature requires some special partitioning similar to Media Direct
on Dell notebooks.

Very nice looking systems, btw.

If I were the OP, I'd use care in viewing the partition information when
installing.

cmplx80

2007-12-06 13:51:40 UTC

Post by Tom Scales
SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.
The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

I lucked out and did see 3-4 of them.
I didn't get to "play" with any of them, though. I'm also curious if that
bezel LCD feature requires some special partitioning similar to Media Direct
on Dell notebooks.
Very nice looking systems, btw.
If I were the OP, I'd use care in viewing the partition information when
installing.

The LCD feature (I think it's called "Sideshow) is only supported by
Vista. I'll probably lose this, since there appear to be no XP drivers
for this. It looks like I'll also lose the 19-1 card reader also for
the same reason. I'm not too excited about Sideshow, but I would like
to salvage the card reader. I'm looking around for a reader that will
work with XP. AFAIK, Dell has no plans of developing XP drivers for the
special features on this system.

Ben Myers

2007-12-06 15:17:02 UTC

It's not Dell that "develops" drivers for computers. Dell does not have a
stable of software heavyweights versed in writing old-time C, C++, and assembly
language. The companies (Intel, AMD, nVidia, VIA, ALI) that design and
manufacture the chipsets are the ones who make the decisions about producing
drivers for various operating systems. If there is an absence of XP drivers
for a given chipset, blame the brand name company of the chipset, but do so only
after searching the company's web site for XP drivers. All Dell does with
drivers is put a software wrapper around them, in effect to "Dell-ize" them with
a common look-and-feel. Same with motherboard chipset, graphics drivers, card
readers, or any other devices driven by chips... Ben Myers

Post by Tom Scales
SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.
The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

I lucked out and did see 3-4 of them.
I didn't get to "play" with any of them, though. I'm also curious if that
bezel LCD feature requires some special partitioning similar to Media Direct
on Dell notebooks.
Very nice looking systems, btw.
If I were the OP, I'd use care in viewing the partition information when
installing.

Tom Scales

2007-12-06 15:56:18 UTC

In this case, it might be Dell, since the discussion was primarily about
the weird little monitor on the case, wasn't it? Who else would develop
that particular driver.

-----Original Message-----
Posted At: Thursday, December 06, 2007 10:17 AM
Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Conversation: Installing XP Pro on XPS 420
Subject: Re: Installing XP Pro on XPS 420
It's not Dell that "develops" drivers for computers. Dell does not have a
stable of software heavyweights versed in writing old-time C, C++, and assembly
language. The companies (Intel, AMD, nVidia, VIA, ALI) that design and
manufacture the chipsets are the ones who make the decisions about producing
drivers for various operating systems. If there is an absence of XP drivers
for a given chipset, blame the brand name company of the chipset, but do so only
after searching the company's web site for XP drivers. All Dell does with
drivers is put a software wrapper around them, in effect to "Dell-ize" them with
a common look-and-feel. Same with motherboard chipset, graphics drivers, card
readers, or any other devices driven by chips... Ben Myers

Post by Tom Scales
SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.
The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

I lucked out and did see 3-4 of them.
I didn't get to "play" with any of them, though. I'm also curious

if that

Post by S.Lewis
bezel LCD feature requires some special partitioning similar to

Media Direct

Post by S.Lewis
on Dell notebooks.
Very nice looking systems, btw.
If I were the OP, I'd use care in viewing the partition information

when

Post by S.Lewis
installing.

The LCD feature (I think it's called "Sideshow) is only supported by
Vista. I'll probably lose this, since there appear to be no XP

drivers

Post by cmplx80
for this. It looks like I'll also lose the 19-1 card reader also for
the same reason. I'm not too excited about Sideshow, but I would like
to salvage the card reader. I'm looking around for a reader that will
work with XP. AFAIK, Dell has no plans of developing XP drivers for

the

Post by cmplx80
special features on this system.

S.Lewis

2007-12-06 16:03:59 UTC

Post by Tom Scales
In this case, it might be Dell, since the discussion was primarily about
the weird little monitor on the case, wasn't it? Who else would develop
that particular driver.

Probably whomever the OEM vendor might be. Dell has seldom, if ever, been
big on R&D spending.

As Ben has said, Dell will typically take a vendor driver/diag and then mod
it for their specific use - BIOS included.

As an aside, the XPS M1730 notebook also has a cute little LCD on the
keyboard panel for such distractions as stopwatch timing, etc....

Stew

cmplx80

2007-12-06 16:24:31 UTC

Post by Ben Myers
It's not Dell that "develops" drivers for computers. Dell does not have a
stable of software heavyweights versed in writing old-time C, C++, and assembly
language. The companies (Intel, AMD, nVidia, VIA, ALI) that design and
manufacture the chipsets are the ones who make the decisions about producing
drivers for various operating systems. If there is an absence of XP drivers
for a given chipset, blame the brand name company of the chipset, but do so only
after searching the company's web site for XP drivers. All Dell does with
drivers is put a software wrapper around them, in effect to "Dell-ize" them with
a common look-and-feel. Same with motherboard chipset, graphics drivers, card
readers, or any other devices driven by chips... Ben Myers

Post by Tom Scales
SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.
The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

I lucked out and did see 3-4 of them.
I didn't get to "play" with any of them, though. I'm also curious if that
bezel LCD feature requires some special partitioning similar to Media Direct
on Dell notebooks.
Very nice looking systems, btw.
If I were the OP, I'd use care in viewing the partition information when
installing.

I probably should have said Dell has no plans of "providing" drivers
instead of "Dell... developing" drivers. That aside, Sideshow is a
Vista thing, as is the 19-1 Bluetooth reader, most likely. In short,
Dell has no XP drivers for either.

Ben Myers

2007-12-06 19:21:59 UTC

The unavailability of XP drivers direct from Dell for either the video or the
Bluetooth thingie in the XPS 420 should not stop you from searching for,
downloading, and installing drivers from the chipset manufacturer(s) web site.
Dell made a policy decision not to support XP with this box. Possibly the
decision was based on a similar decision from the chipset manufacturer(s). Why
not do some research, learn more about the guts of your computer, and maybe even
get to use it with a fully functional XP? ... Ben Myers

Post by Tom Scales
SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.
The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

I lucked out and did see 3-4 of them.
I didn't get to "play" with any of them, though. I'm also curious if that
bezel LCD feature requires some special partitioning similar to Media Direct
on Dell notebooks.
Very nice looking systems, btw.
If I were the OP, I'd use care in viewing the partition information when
installing.

cmplx80

2007-12-06 21:24:56 UTC

Post by Ben Myers
The unavailability of XP drivers direct from Dell for either the video or the
Bluetooth thingie in the XPS 420 should not stop you from searching for,
downloading, and installing drivers from the chipset manufacturer(s) web site.
Dell made a policy decision not to support XP with this box. Possibly the
decision was based on a similar decision from the chipset manufacturer(s). Why
not do some research, learn more about the guts of your computer, and maybe even
get to use it with a fully functional XP? ... Ben Myers

Post by Tom Scales
SP2 won't add the SATA drivers for the 420, I don't think, but they
should be on Dell's website.
The 420 is too new for any of us to have even seen one.

I lucked out and did see 3-4 of them.
I didn't get to "play" with any of them, though. I'm also curious if that
bezel LCD feature requires some special partitioning similar to Media Direct
on Dell notebooks.
Very nice looking systems, btw.
If I were the OP, I'd use care in viewing the partition information when
installing.

I've searched through several Sideshow and Vista gadget sites looking
for XP drivers (or links to same) to no avail. I'll keep checking
around. The decision made by Dell not to put XP on the 420 has nothing
to do with policy, but is mandated by the box design itself. Dell might
be a little strange, but they're not stupid. Sideshow is a Vista gadget
that adds some MAC-like features to a heretofore somewhat staid line.
Some gadgets may eventually have XP drivers and some probably never
will.
Research? I consider this newsgroup a source of information and I
explore it as such on a regular basis. My first post was to ask if
anyone has done what I'm hoping to do. That is not not just research,
that is *smart* research.

Ben Myers

2007-12-06 22:32:43 UTC

Your best, and perhaps your only, bet is to identify the motherboard, graphics,
and Bluetooth chipset manufacturers, go to their web sites, and see if they have
"reference" drivers for the chips in question. I have done this countless
times when confronted by a computer repair for which the owner has no driver
CDs, and it often works. It does not work when the chipset manufacturer has not
written the drivers for the operating system in question. Despite warnings
from Dell, GateMachines, HPaq, and the chipset manufacturers, the risk of any
sort of problem from installing the chipset manufacturer's drivers is virtually
nil. So do the research on the chipsets, and remember that Google is your
friend.

If Sideshow is only for Vista, forget about it. It may well depend on
low-level features added by Microsoft to make Vista what it is, whatever that
is... Ben Myers

Post by cmplx80
I've searched through several Sideshow and Vista gadget sites looking
for XP drivers (or links to same) to no avail. I'll keep checking
around. The decision made by Dell not to put XP on the 420 has nothing
to do with policy, but is mandated by the box design itself. Dell might
be a little strange, but they're not stupid. Sideshow is a Vista gadget
that adds some MAC-like features to a heretofore somewhat staid line.
Some gadgets may eventually have XP drivers and some probably never
will.
Research? I consider this newsgroup a source of information and I
explore it as such on a regular basis. My first post was to ask if
anyone has done what I'm hoping to do. That is not not just research,
that is *smart* research.

cmplx80

2007-12-06 23:44:26 UTC

Post by Ben Myers
Your best, and perhaps your only, bet is to identify the motherboard, graphics,
and Bluetooth chipset manufacturers, go to their web sites, and see if they have
"reference" drivers for the chips in question. I have done this countless
times when confronted by a computer repair for which the owner has no driver
CDs, and it often works. It does not work when the chipset manufacturer has not
written the drivers for the operating system in question. Despite warnings
from Dell, GateMachines, HPaq, and the chipset manufacturers, the risk of any
sort of problem from installing the chipset manufacturer's drivers is virtually
nil. So do the research on the chipsets, and remember that Google is your
friend.
If Sideshow is only for Vista, forget about it. It may well depend on
low-level features added by Microsoft to make Vista what it is, whatever that
is... Ben Myers

Thanks for your responses, Ben.
I've downloaded the drivers for the X38 motherboard chipset, ATI video
card, and dvd, and am putting my install CD together as we type. I
ordered the system on Dec 2nd and projected delivery is Dec 13-17. The
more I scout around, the more info I find stating that Sideshow (or
Vista gadgets in general) require Vista Home Premium and up. I'll
gather more specific details as time permits.

I'll post up the results of all this after I get the system configured.

dired

2007-12-07 23:04:40 UTC

I have an identical xps420 system as you and I just installed XP Pro. As
of right now, my only unrecognized devices are onboard Audio, Ethernet
Controller and XPS MiniView. The MV still turns on and plays solitaire.

Ben Myers

2007-12-09 14:58:36 UTC

According to the Dell web site, the XPS 420 has an Intel Chipset Software
Installation Utility, Intel 825xx Gigabit Ethernet controller, SIGMATEL STAC
92XX C-Major audio chip. I am not sure which Intel 900 series chipset it has,
but if you go to the Intel web site and look for info on one of the Intel
965-series motherboards (e.g. DG965RY), the drivers there will fix up your
Windows XP installation and make it work properly. This is an example of what
one needs to do when installing an earlier operating system on a computer for
which Dell provides only support for later OS's.

You have found XP drivers for the video card? If not, same story. Card
manufacturer's or video chipset manufacturers's web site.

I can't help with MiniView. A Vista-dependent function? ... Ben Myers

Post by dired
I have an identical xps420 system as you and I just installed XP Pro. As
of right now, my only unrecognized devices are onboard Audio, Ethernet
Controller and XPS MiniView. The MV still turns on and plays solitaire.

S.Lewis

2007-12-09 19:57:54 UTC

Post by Ben Myers
According to the Dell web site, the XPS 420 has an Intel Chipset Software
Installation Utility, Intel 825xx Gigabit Ethernet controller, SIGMATEL STAC
92XX C-Major audio chip. I am not sure which Intel 900 series chipset it has,
but if you go to the Intel web site and look for info on one of the Intel
965-series motherboards (e.g. DG965RY), the drivers there will fix up your
Windows XP installation and make it work properly. This is an example of what
one needs to do when installing an earlier operating system on a computer for
which Dell provides only support for later OS's.
You have found XP drivers for the video card? If not, same story. Card
manufacturer's or video chipset manufacturers's web site.
I can't help with MiniView. A Vista-dependent function? ... Ben Myers

My guess is that MV/SS has it's own HPA partition similar to MediaDirect in
their notebook line. Has it's own MBR entry that allows booting to that
partition independently of Windows.

Just a guess.

dired

2007-12-10 01:26:38 UTC

Most of the drivers listed on the ibm site for 975x worked:

'Download Software, Drivers and Utilities' (http://tinyurl.com/yqevao)

WSZsr

2007-12-06 12:08:31 UTC