First post, by Malik
- Rank
- l33t
If you're using Vista or 7, you might have noticed the colour disortions in some Windows 9x games like Interstate 76, Die by the Sword, Sanitarium, etc. Some may have flickering screens. ( Some workaround is possible by tinkering with the compatibility tab settings, but not all and not complete.)
The Asus G73 is a Win7-only system, with no official WinXP support. I had to download individual stock drivers from original manufacturers. Some Win7 32-bit drivers work, but most won't.
Anyway, after few trials and errors, including the missing nt os kernel errors, I have installed XP on this system successfully. After installation, changed the IDE driver to AHCI driver mode. Otherwise I had to change the sata mode in bios everytime I switch OSs.
Used easyBCD to automate the bootloader editing.
In the process, I also installed Ubuntu Maverick (10.10). I have to mention that Ubuntu works right put of the first installation. No additional drivers downloaded. Both graphics and audio work from the first boot. Even the keyboard lighting, on-screen display for brightness controls and volume, etc, work from the start. ( I had to install the ATKPackage from Win7 32-bit file to make these work in WinXP).
The stock Mobility Radeon 5000 series works well, as well as the Realtek High Def. Audio Codec.
All the problematic games in Win7 now work as they should under XP.
Another reason I wanted XP, is to load many 32-bit apps I have, which will cause "not compatible with this 64-bit windows" messages in my Win7 x64 Ultimate.
Posted this so that any infos (though limited,) displayed here might be useful to those dual/multi os users on newer systems.
(IMHO, XP 32-bit is so far the best OS for Gaming, Legacy compatibility and extremely MIDI friendly, and for dosbox, you can install the munt driver.)
ASUS G73JH-A1 basic specs :
i7 720QM
intel HM55 Express Chipset
8GB 1333 DDR3
Mobility Radeon 5870
Realtek HD Audio with Audigy HD EAX 4.0 Compatibility