Hi
Can anyone please help me. I purchased a Compaq Presario pc but it has Vista already installed. I cannot get along with Vista, my programmes don't work, I cannot see any advantages and it is not compatible with by broadband so in a bit of a mess really.
I have bought an OEM full install Windows XP Professional Edition. I have tried to install it but keep getting a blue screen and it won't go any further.

I have changed the BIOS so that it boots from the disc, and I press F6 when it asks about SATA drives but I don't know what to do after that. I get another screen which says to press either S or esc. After that it says it cannot locate a floppy drive
Any ideas please

Unless your programs are for Windows 98 or before I see no reason for buying a new computer. A large number of programs written for XP do run under Vista and those that don't should have a patch available at the publishers site.

As for your XP install, installing SATA drivers (F6 during setup) should be an option since XP has drivers for SATA built in. You stated that you purchased an OEM copy of XP with should also have SP2. Have you tried installing XP without selecting the option to install SATA drivers (F6)?

Do you have a floppy drive on your desktop? If so, you need to copy your SATA drives on floppy, press F6 during install, then when asked, browse to floppy to locate your SATA drivers so it can recognize your disks. However, I thought SP2 had the ability to recognize SATA HDD's. I don't have to do this myself for my SATA drives.

Also, some laptops that come preinstalled with Vista do not allow downgrading, meaning, there are no XP drivers for the hardware. I'm not sure if this is the same case for desktops that come with Vista. If so, you are out of luck!! Might want to check with compaq to see if they have XP drivers.

i'd read that you can go to bios and disable serial support for the hard disk then install your XP with SP2 then after you finish the install, enable the serial support again.
sp2 is very important or you will get a blue screen if you enable serial support.