Duat boot windows 7 and Windows XP

[comda]

Hello Computer World!

As mentioned in my previous posts, i have built a new System which i really like. However i seem to be having a TON of compatibility issues trying to run older games and software on it. For example, GTA VC GTA SA play but with lag, crashday, trackmania nations wont launch at all. And an application i Use Autohotkeys is having issues running in some of the online versions of these game (Gta SA). SO i have decided that the Windows XP SP3 mode in windows 7 Ultimate isnt enought, so i want to install windows XP. Now, i want to dual boot it however my Hard drive runs in AHCI mode and from what i read windows XP wont boot with that. Along with my motherboard came a little slip saying i needed an AHCI driver if im going to install windows XP. Where can i get this driver and how can i install it? If i do install XP where can i get a boot manager do control which partition i boot into?
 My second question is: is dual booting really worth it, or can i install Windows XP on a virtual machine and will get i the same performance for my game out of it like a dual boot? If so what other options do i have other then Virtual PC?

My system specs:
AMD FX 8120 (8 core CPU) 3.1Ghz each core
8GB RAM (2x 4GB)
1tb Hard drive
MSI R6870 Hawk graphics

Thanks in advance for your help.

[comda]

Sorry but forgot to mention that the Motherboard was an Asus M5A97 if that helps...

[hartbeatmr]

Good morning comda and welcome back to CH

    OK who ever told you that XP doesn't like ACHI is completely wrong if they meant that XP does not natively have ACHI / Raid drivers than they were correct. If you want to leave it at ACHI for both XP & W7 you need the ACHI / Raid driver but for installing XP during the set up of XP look on the bottom of the screen it will say to install raid drivers press F6 that is when it wants the ACHI drivers (I think it was F6 ) then just finish the install as normal.

    The ACHI driver you would get from Asus (if the drivers are not on the CD already that came with the MoBo) web site on the driver download page it is under SATA http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A97/#download

    My recommendation for dual booting XP and W7. Install and set up XP first then install W7 and let W7 take care of the boot loader the Windows 7 will be the boot manager. You also may want to way out the options on partitioning the HD and put XP on one partition and W7 on the other or you can install 2 separate HD's that is up to you.

    Also you didn't list what PS (power supply) you had. Model and wattage. Some of the game issue may be the video card may be starving for more juice. Plus make sure the Video card has the 2 power plugs that are plugged in to the top of the video card. 

Good luck on your Dual boot PC and come back if you need anything. Mike

   

[comda]

    Also you didn't list what PS (power supply) you had. Model and wattage. Some of the game issue may be the video card may be starving for more juice. Plus make sure the Video card has the 2 power plugs that are plugged in to the top of the video card. 

Good luck on your Dual boot PC and come back if you need anything. Mike

   

My power supply is a TR2 RZ 750 WATT BRONZE thats what the box says. Plus i do have both those connections connected to my graphics card. I already have win 7 installed. Am i still able to install XP now even though win 7 has partitioned the whole drive?
My power supply is a TR2 RX 750WATT BRONZ

[hartbeatmr]

Good evening comda and welcome back to CH

    Thank you for the reply the PS should be OK to run what you have right now and is a quality PS.

You can try to install XP after W7 but honestly you will run into problems. Using XP as the boot manager will not work as well using W7 as the boot manager.

But you will have to repair the boot manager from the Windows 7 disc. The reason why is XP will install it's own (older) version, and XP's boot manager can not boot to win 7. Repairing using the Win 7 disc will re-install Win7's boot manager, which can start XP.

But really in the long run and the issues that will come up I would still either get two hard drives or partition the hard drive that you have and install XP first then install W7 on other HD or partition but that is up to you.

Good luck and let us know how you make out, Mike   

[comda]

ok thanks for the fast reply. So your saying that if i try to install windows XP after 7 on a separate partition i will ruin 7s boot manager? ok however will this little application fix it?
http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

I found this while surfing the web a few hours ago. wonder if it will save me the time of starting all over again, since i already have windows 7 installed on a 200GB partition and then 4 more partitions for my games, programs and extras ect. And what other problems can i run into? just curious?

[hartbeatmr]

Good evening comda and welcome back to CH

     I am Almost 100% sure that when you install XP after Windows 7 as already installed it will brake the W7 boot files. If you don't want to you don't have too buy or use a 3rd party software. All you would do is when you are done installing XP you will have to use the windows 7 disk to repair the boot loader then both OS's should work.

     That software you have link us too comes highly rated and may work for you. Personally my self I have always used the windows boot loader and I don't use any 3rd party software. But if you want too give it a shot maybe it will save you some headaches but the it may cause you some issues I honestly can not say .

Please let us know how you make out and if you use it let us know how well you like it etc. Mike

EDIT: you will also need sata driver during the XP set up you will see "press F6 to install sata driver" then continue with the setup. Plus check if your sata hard drive is listed as IDE / Raid / ACHI etc this will affect the install also

[comda]

alright. Thanks so far for your help. I was about to do the install last night when i stumbled on a thought. How do i know whether i have windows XP 32 bit or 64 bit? i know 32 bit windows will only let me use 4gb out of my 8GB. Is there a way to check? I have a legal CD of windows XP home. However over the years and the move i lost the original box and papers. All i have is the CD and the serial number writen on the back of it.

[patio]

It will say on the CD...XP 64 bit was at the time somewhat of a rare commodity...
So my guess is it's 32 bit...if it doesn't specify on the CD it's 32 bit for sure.

The other option you have outside what's been discussed is to install XP to a seperate HDD...
In this scenario you would be using the BIOS at boot to determine which OS you want to use at a particular time.
This eliminates the risk of screwin with the Win 7 bootloader and is actually the cleanest way to have a dual-boot system...beauty of it is is that neither OS "sees" each other however file transfers are seamless and some...although not all apps installed will run/launch from either OS...


If you in fact decide on this setup the procedure is relatively simple...
Unplug the existing Win7 HDD...
Connect the new HDD and boot to the XP CD and do the full install...
After installing all drivers/important apps etc. and XP is running fine it's simply a matter of re-connecting the Win7 HDD and you're good to go.

At boot time you hit whatever key it is to enter the BIOS (mine happens to be Delete ) and select which HDD/OS to boot to....

Quick and painless.

P.S. The other advantage to this setup is if you have a solid backup strategy that includes Disk imaging you create seperate images for each HDD/OS and store them in a safe place...

Let us know...

[comda]

ok so say it is a 32bit version. How can i then be able to use all 8GB? is there a patch or something?

[hartbeatmr]

Good afternoon comda and welcome back

There is nothing you can do it is a limitation to the OS max is 3 to 3.5 gigs and doesn't matter even if you have 8 gig's installed.

There is no patch, reg hack or 3rd part software that will help you, if you want to use a 64 bit OS then you should be able to see all available memory

All 32 bit OS (operating systems) will see no more than 3 to 3.5 gig and no more
64 bit OS (operating systems) will see 8+ gigs

Hope this helps you, Mike 

[patio]

ok so say it is a 32bit version. How can i then be able to use all 8GB? is there a patch or something?

In short...No...
However XP with 4G will run pretty snappy...

[comda]

ok sorry for taking a while to respond. i tried to install the Raid drivers at startup and it says it couldnt specify what i was using so i just presed enter but after that it waits a second and then gives me the BSOD what did i do?

[hartbeatmr]

Good afternoon comda

If you are getting BSOD than you might have the wrong drivers or you have the BIOS settings for the hard drive. But when you got the BSOD what was the error? (i.e  0x000007d etc)

Hope to hear from you soon, Mike

[comda]

well this is what the page says exactly"

" A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. If this is the first time your've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen apears again, follows these steps;

Check for Virus' on your computer. remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controlers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive curruption, and then restart your computer.

technical information;

*** STOP : 0x0000007B {0xFFFFFADF2AE323C0, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000034, 0x0000000000000000, 0x00000000000000000}  "

Thats the stop error code there, not sure what it means though.