How to install Windows XP SP2 on Aspire 5920 / Aspire 5920G – part 2
- posted by Michael Walsh on December 21st, 2007
- (25)
If you’re reading this you want to install something more than Windows XP in your Aspire 5920, then probably you’re interested in … Where I find and how I can install all drivers …??
Well, here I will tell you my way to setup the machine, of course feel free to do it in different way with same components.
I strongly suggest reading this BEFORE you do anything, so you will know all the steps and everything you need to download first.
If you can, store the drivers on a USB key; considering that packages can be large, start to copy in the USB key just first packages (like points 1 -> 4 + 
and the others later ….
You need these drivers; I also suggest following the numeric sequence I’m listing here to setup Windows drivers:
1- MS Windows hot fixes
I suggest installing this set of hot fixes from MS; some are relative to power management, Azalia audio channel, reliability & stability and so on.
kb885222.exe /quiet /norestart
kb885855.exe /quiet /norestart
kb888111.exe /quiet /norestart
kb889673.exe /quiet /norestart
kb892050.exe /quiet /norestart
kb893803.exe /quiet /norestart
kb896256v4.exe /quiet /norestart
kb909095.exe /quiet /norestart
kb909667.exe /quiet /norestart
kb912945.exe /quiet /norestart
kb918005.exe /quiet /norestart
kb936357.exe /quiet /norestart
kb936357-v2.exe /quiet /norestart
kb938828.exe /quiet /norestart
Then create a new txt file and copy inside all between “—“ lines:
—
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Throttle]
“PerfEnablePackageIdle”=dword:00000001
—
Save with REG extension, like “newfile.reg”, then double click on it and accept to merge into registry
This is a part of power management patch
Collect all hot fixes directly from MS Knowledgebase or from http://thehotfixshare.net, of course download the package and do not use Windows Update …. now it’s better to avoid WU.
The parameter “/quiet” means: install silently without showing details on screen
The parameter “/norestart” means: install it but don’t ask to reboot when finished
During the installation you will see first screen from “Add new Hardware” wizard, close all now!
Reboot the machine after all patches and REG file are installed
2- Intel Chipset installation package named “INF Update utility”, you can find the package in Acer web site or in the main page of Intel, Intel has the latest version but you can use the Acer package as well
3- DirectX 9.0c redistributable package from Microsoft, look for the most recent package, now should be the November package.
4- MS .NET frameworks 1.1 and 2.0 with Service Packs
5- VGA card driver
This step need a special part, Acer have only Vista drivers and Nvidia don’t have a downloadable generic driver for mobile chips, if you haven’t a laptop in the supported list, you cannot download so you need to use another source.
One of the most complete website is www.laptopvideo2go.com, where you can find all Nvidia drivers release for XP or Vista, x32bit or x64bit.
Another source you can check is www.tweakforce.com, I only found this site recently and I haven’t tested anything from here jet, but you can try.
You can also use Nvidia software “Ntune” after driver setup to tune many parameters
Well, now you have a driver for you Nvidia VGA card
What about Aspire 5920 NOT with “G”?????
It’s easier; you need the VGA driver from Intel. Refer again to Intel web site main page and you will find the link to “Intel Graphic Media Accelerator Driver for WindowsXP”.
Simply follow the link, download and install… it’s not easy?
6- Audio. The CODEC is from Realtek and they have only one driver for all HD Audio, also for this you can’t download the driver from Acer website because it’s for Vista but you can download the file from Realtek web site, the package is for HD Audio CODEC, in the home page there is the link “HD Audio codec driver” under “Quick links”
7- Modem. The modem driver is from Acer website … install and forget it, this is my experience right now.
8- Ethernet. It’s a Broadcom Gigabit LAN adapter, you can get it from Broadcom directly:
From Broadcom website it’s possible to download Ethernet drivers:
http://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet_nic/netlink.php
There is no setup.exe in the package, so unzip the driver in an empty folder and follow the “update wizard” from Device Manager, browse to unzipped files folder and click on OK, Windows will get the driver
9- Wireless adapter. It’s from Intel, so easy way again: go to Intel main page and follow the link named: Intel PRO/Wireless Drivers for Windows XP.
Also this driver hasn’t a setup to install, so you need to again to unzip in an empty folder and follow the “update driver” wizard from Device Manager. Browse to unzipped files folder and click on ok, Windows will get the driver
10- Memory Card reader and PCMCIA / ExpressCard controller.
Just download the driver from Acer web site, unzip, run the setup …. Done!
11- Bluetooth. The XP compatible version is the 5.1.0.3300. This is not free software, it could be not available from Acer Websites, ask to Acer Call Centers,
12- Intel TurboMemory. No driver for Windows XP known by now …
13- Webcam. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BE CAREFULL ABOUT THIS POINT
In my laptop there is a Bison webcam (HardwareID = USB\Vid_5986&Pid_0102) but you could have another branded webcam, SO PLEASE CHECK THE “HARDWAREID” BEFORE INSTALLING ANY SOFTWARE or DRIVER, if you install webcam drivers left right and centre without checking … it’s a mess to make it working! To check the HardwareID, open device Manager, expand “Imaging Devices” -> double click on “USB Video Device” -> select “Details” tab -> select “HardwareID”
Suppose you have Bison webcam like me, how to get the driver? Well you need just patience, select another Aspire model in Acer website and look for XP webcam drivers … Bison driver package is the same, Intel ONLY the driver, I’ve not installed also the Orbicam application.
14- Touchpad. Installed the Synaptic tool from Acer website, it manage also multimedia keys on the right of keyboard
15- Launch Manager. Downloaded from Acer website and installed, it manage the left keyboard side set of keys (wireless + Bluetooth and so on), the package it’s also for XP.
Acer Empowering Technology
Application version from Acer website is only for Windows Vista and there isn’t an official set of tools for Windows XP for Aspire 5920.
So I will not suggest you to try any other XP packages from other models … but if you really want to do that, you need to know that .NET frameworks from MS need to be already installed and you have to install the Empowering Technology Framework tool as first package, then all the others you want. I’ve never tested any of such tools on AS5920, so all problems are really unknown …
IF you want to manage Power Management profile for CPU instead of native Windows XP, you can test RightMARK CPU Clock utility; it seems to run without problems, until TODAY!!
If you want to manage different Wireless profiles I suggest installing the Intel PROSet tool, always from Intel website, so you can setup wireless profile and change the “simple” wireless client from Windows XP.
Windows Update
Of course if you want, run “Windows Update” to update completely your machine adding also WMP11 and so on, as you like
Well …. it seems we have installed all … but does it really work?
My AS5920G has been running for more than 3 months with CoD4, Crysis, LostPlanets (dx9) demos to test it running at 1280×800 …
Sounds good, eh?
Enjoy your Gemstone!
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Daniel wrote, on January 22nd, 2008:
Hi,
i have recently installed XP on my Acer but i have no sound i insall different driver but no one works for me
Alessandro Pini wrote, on January 23rd, 2008:
D> “i have no sound”
I’ve seen (heard?..) something quite similar a few times on notebooks and towers from Acer and other manufacturers, maybe I can help.
Uninstall everything sound- and modem-related, including anything mentioning UAA (Universal Audio Architecture). Better yet, start over a clean install, if you can. Maybe you’ll have to tweak the registry after uninstalling a necessary audio-related Microsoft patch… unfortunately, regarding this I don’t have any URL handy: I decided I preferred a clean re-install and so I threw the info away altogether. It’s on the web, anyway.
Reboot.
Install what should theoretically be the right driver. In my instance, on an Acer Aspire 5710, it was Realtek version 1.80 (the latest at the time). In your instance, your best guess is as good as mine, but it’s probably the right one.
Reboot (it won’t work, yet).
By this time, you should be able to “see” an unknown device. If I remember the English names correctly (I use an Italian Windows XP):
right click on My Computer;
manage;
device manager;
system devices;
unknown PCI device (should be marked as non-functioning.
Open its properties window and update its driver. When asked for the driver location, let it find the right one on its own: Install the software automatically.
Wait!
Wait!
Wait!
Wait for a few minutes, because auto-detection can be slow. In my instance, I had to wait for three full minutes (minutes, not seconds) before seeing any sign of “life”.
Do not install the modem. Later.
Reboot.
In my instance I had perfect sound at this point. Then I installed the modem, which was HD-audio-based as well.
Preferring clean installs, I installed these particular two notebooks three or four times each before finding a good recipe. Using disk-imaging software, you can shorten total installation time by taking a snapshot of your system partition everytime you’re about to change something. If you fubar anything, you can restore the last working partition in minutes and still have a clean (if incomplete, yet) install.
I hope this helps. May the god of system administrators smile upon you.
test wrote, on January 27th, 2008:
You Left out CIR and TV Tuner info, just fyi.
Shamtu wrote, on February 10th, 2008:
Hi could You post config file for RightMARK CPU Clock utility becouse there is so much options that I can’t set it corectly.
Phillip Craig wrote, on March 3rd, 2008:
ok i see all this about installing the windows xp pro 64 bit in acer aspire (BUT) how the heck do i do the downgrade ?
Phillip Craig wrote, on March 4th, 2008:
hey does any one have the cd dvd burner drivers for theTSS Corp CD?DVDW TS-L632-D for windows xp pro 64 bit edition
Adnan wrote, on March 5th, 2008:
thanks for the info all work with me fine but 1 thing i have mice built-in how can i use it ??
Michael Walsh wrote, on May 21st, 2008:
Posting this on behalf of Cookie Jones. Hopefully you guys can provide more answers for him (Simone’s are in blue):
For all of you reading this, Simone’s answer is as far as an Acer tech support guy can “legally” and “ethically” take you – remember removing Vista invalidates your warranty and no-one working for Acer would ever promote that for any of its customers.
But I know a select few of TheAcerGuy readers are shameless experts on this subject so fire away!!
Morris Lee wrote, on May 22nd, 2008:
1. Burn XP SP3 CD from ISO img (will it be bootable?)
I think so… basically MS images are bootable.
yes it will boot, not sure if it will have SATA driver build-in
2. Copy XP drivers to a USB drive
you only need the SATA driver if you are in sata mode i believe. yes, you can have all the other drivers on here too.
3. Shrink Acer’s D partition (”DATA”) to make a partition for XP, using Disk Mgmt snap-in
this might screw up eRecovery
4. Reboot/Change SATA mode to IDE (will Vista work in IDE mode?)
Changing the BIOS parameter you go in “legacy” mode so Vista will no longer use AHCI drivers, it will reload all drivers for ich8m south bridge controller at first reboot.
5. Reboot/Install XP SP3 from burned CD (will it work without XP drivers?)yes, but only that drivers for stuff like the CIR transciver, graphics card(use laptopvideo2go.com drivers) camera etc will not be installed, mouse and keyboard should function normally as a generic device.
If you have changed BIOS setting to “IDE” it will work without additional drivers to setup.
6. Finish XP install – THEN apply the XP drivers?
absolutely yes – always FIRST operative system THEN drivers!
7. Go back some day and fix Vista boot (low priority)
install EasyBCD it is free, add vista boot in th MBR(master boot recorde, then during boot, you will see both vista and XP boot selection.
As you can see I’m lost. Hope it’s not too many questions at once. but I REEEEALLY want to do this.
cookie jones wrote, on May 22nd, 2008:
This is great – thank you Simone that’s exactly what I needed, and Morris Lee – your tips are a big help. Re #3 Has anyone set up dual boot without losing e-recovery? Will my home-burned recovery DVDs still work, at least? On older Travelmates I have totally reformatted the HD, and the recovery CDs did work – tho they were the factory ones, not burn-your-own.
I have a bit more thinking to do on SATA mode before I go ahead, but I’ll surely be back with more questions. Thanks again.
Morris Lee wrote, on May 23rd, 2008:
you can still reinstall the erecovery from some files in the eRecovery program folder, so no worries, only make sure you have the eRecovery PARTITION untouched
cookieJones wrote, on May 28th, 2008:
Okay, instead of messing with dual boot and voiding the warranty, …
Has anyone installed and run XP from an external HD, or know what options there are? Would a USB drive be too slow? Can the other ports be used to connect external HDs? (Sorry, I’m very hardware ignorant).
Morris Lee wrote, on May 28th, 2008:
sorry to disappoint, but Windows does NOT allow you to install windows itself on any USB based interface storages. you must make your own buil of Windows XP installer to do so, I have seen a guide to do so, lots of steps………
cookieJones wrote, on May 28th, 2008:
Sorry I wasn’t very clear – by “USB drive” I mean a ‘real’ HD (like the HD that’s in the aspire 5920) mounted in an external enclosure that connects to the machine via USB. Do you mean that won’t work – even if the BIOS is set to boot from the external USB HD?
Has anyone used the other ports – the “ExpressCard”? or “IEEE 1394″? Can they be used to connnect an external HD?
Morris Lee wrote, on May 28th, 2008:
yes, that’s is correct, ANY harddrive will NOT work with the windows xp installer IF it is going through USB interface, I believe M$ did this on purpose for copyright issuses, so in theory, firewire(1394) will very unlikely to work with XP installer.
Morris Lee wrote, on May 28th, 2008:
I do have one prediction to make, almost 100% sure, swapt the internal harddrive to the one you want for external USB, install xp from there like normal computer, THEN put the harddrive back in the USB inclosure, boot from it ^_^ may have a tiny bit of performence loss, but not as much as vista’s performence loss AHHAHAHAHAHH
cookieJones wrote, on May 29th, 2008:
Re the first post – thanks for the warning! Re the 2nd post – I like that idea but suspect it would void the warranty. I’m going to try one other thing first, and if it fails I’ll do this HD swap you suggest above.
First I’m going to try an eSATA adapter in the expresscard slot to connect a new external HD (special enclosure that will work with the adapter), to install and run XP. Theoretically (so the salesman tells me) Win XP setup should see it as just another HD that it can install to. It’s a fast interface, too. I’m about to order the parts, and hopefully in a week or so I’ll know if it worked. (fingers crossed)
Morris Lee wrote, on May 29th, 2008:
Sounds good, by the way, I did open my laptop before, the back plate only, were you can upgrade ram, graphicscard, and Harddrive before, I was still able to get something else fixed from Acer under the 1st year warrenty.
cookieJones wrote, on June 10th, 2008:
Well that agrees with what I have learned from Acer tech support. I asked if swapping out the HD to install XP like that would void the warrantly. He said no it wouldn’t, as long as you swap them back – and confirm that the problem still exists. Huge relief!! Now if Windows setup can’t see the 2nd drive, I can just swap/install/swap, as you suggested.
I still plan to try the external HD for other reasons (convenience of a separate HD). But it’s nice to know I don’t have to choose between the warranty and XP.
cookieJones wrote, on June 19th, 2008:
I have XP SP3 installed on the new HD after a very bumpy ride. The eSATA drive can not be set as the boot device. It won’t display in the BIOS boot menu no matter what, even with adapter drivers installed and hardware connected. So much for plan A. Unless connectrf via USB, it’s usable only as storage.
So I swapped the drives to install XP. I tried installing it in AHCI mode but it didn’t work. I’ll look into that some other day, for now IDE will be fine. I’ve installed most of the drivers, but still one lingering “unknown device” in Device Manager that I can’t identify. I was hoping someone here might know what it is.
The only info it shows is Location: “on Intel ICH8M-E LPC Interface Controller – 2815″. The status says “The drivers for this device are not installed (Code 28).”
If I do View “resources by connection”, it comes up under I/O under the first PCI Bus branch, as [00000620-0000063F], and also under IRQ as IRQ4 (ISA). It isn’t listed under Memory or DMA.
Anybody know what this is?
Morris Lee wrote, on June 19th, 2008:
did you try all the drivers on the acer driver site? there was like a audio modem driver or some really weird named driver has to be installed too. cause that is the only thing I never really notice, or if i ever actually used it at all. unless vista came with that driver…
cookieJones wrote, on June 19th, 2008:
Hi Morris – Yes I did get the audio from Realtek, and the modem from Acer, and many others. Although ,,, there was one that I couldn’t figure out what to do with as it had no exe: the CIR_XP-v7.1.64… from Acer. Could that be it?
… Yup, That was it – I did “update driver” from the unknow device and it took the CIR. Okay, all set now. Thanks!
Morris Lee wrote, on June 19th, 2008:
thats good, the cir is the remote reciver, thats if you have one…
Matt wrote, on September 18th, 2008:
Interesting guys. Have you seen GAG (graphical Boot Manager)? It’ll allow you to rubn a duel boot XP / Vista by hiding the Vista partition while booted into XP, then revieling it when booted back in vista. Its very neat and strong, and I’ve been running it for some months now. You can add in Linux partitions into GAG as well. Give it a hoy. LOL
David Rex wrote, on November 10th, 2009:
I don’t know if this will help anyone in particular, but I found this web site to be invaluable in giving me virtually all the important hardware drivers for a client Acer 5920-6727 notebook. Looking for the correct drivers during an XP Pro 32-bit installation, I mistakenly hit the UK website URL and pleasantly found this site (by mistake). I could not find any drivers for XP Pro on the USA Acer or other global websites, so this mistake was a blessing in disguise.
That being written, here’s the site address:
http://www.acer.co.uk/acer/service.do?LanguageISOCtxParam=en&miu10einu24.current.attN2B2F2EEF=3734&sp=page15e&ctx2.c2att1=17&miu10ekcond13.attN2B2F2EEF=3734&CountryISOCtxParam=UK&ctx1g.c2att92=122&ctx1.att21k=1&CRC=2980211862
In addition, I found the following tool handy for getting ALL of the other hardware drivers for the 5920-6727 after the basics were installed from that UK site, and it also found the updates to many of the UK site’s drivers, to boot! It’s not a free service, but I own it from being a PC technician in any case, since 2008 if memory serves me. This program is the best of the so-called driver updaters for PC’s IM experience, and has worked without fail in dozens and dozens of services on PC’s and PC notebooks.
Driver Magician is the name, and it can be found at GoldSolutions Software web pages, or using Google search engine for the namesake it can also be easily found. I spent about 2 hours upgrading the machine from Vista SP2 to XP Pro SP3 with all updates installed (.Net Frameworks, Active X, XI, etc), and another 1.5 hours to do the drivers and all the necessary restarts and Registry fixings (Registry Mechanic is handy for that job).
Again, my apologies if this post doesn’t serve anyone here, but I have a perfectly working notebook now and am very glad to be rid of Vista with all its issues and slowdowns causing havoc with the machine for the previously grief-stricken owner! You have a nice web site, and it seems that you are serving a vast community of Gemstone owners, so good for you! Cheers, and good hunting!
Rex