I don't see much value in going to 2000, it was good but not so good as to step back to it. Really Vista seems pretty good right now (If you have 2 Gig of Ram) I am running Vista HP 64 on my desktop and happy as a clam. I have Office 2000 and Office 2007 on it (I should just delete Office 2000, I never use it.

Anyhoo welcome to Driver Heaven AMZAD!

Thanks MrAce for all your help in this thread


One missing SM Bus Controller

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp32501-33000/sp32555.exe

And one other thing nobody mentions, the C500 USB controller doesn't work properly in Vista
If you plug any large storage device into the USB ports, it won't work.

Works perfectly in XP
Compaq release a Vista only machine that has a component that only works in XP ......... Classic

Tnex a lot for all the help ..... i'v done everything and it seems that everything was ok but.....when i put the internet cable in the computer crashed.... it just freeze and i need to hard reboot it. after a wile the problem continues even thought the cable was off. and even the lan was disabled. no matter what i was doing in one moment the pointer just stops moving and i could't do anything. so the lap top need restart. i'v started to wondering what could be the reason for that. even i thought it is some hardware issue. first i thought it was the lan card..... broken but after i disable it the freezing continues.... so i started to thing maybe it is because the lap top heats a lot .... but this was'nt the problem either .... so today i decided to go back to vista and now everything is working even the lan. so there is some issue with the XP. but i cannot figure out what. i had my sound working. touchpad and short buttons wireless.....everything.... exept the lan and SATA ACHI...... i don't know maybe the problem was there in SATA but i cannot figure out how to instal it. But now with vista.... SATA is still disabled but i don't have freezing problems or any problems. it is ok but i want XP cuz it's a little bit hard to operate a PC with 1.86MHz processor and 1GB ram with vista after a while .... pls help .

please download MicroSoft program KB888111 then install it. It will activate sound driver

Download MicroSoft KB888111 and it will activate sound driver

Wow
 

Mad Mad Props to Mr ACE and Amp Man. I bought the C500 from Office Depot for a steal - little over $300 after rebate. I got the machine home and discovered that Vista SUCKS unless you purchase the extra GIGS of RAM! I looked into "upgrading" to XP from Vista on the Compaq website and they did not recommend it. I found this post and followed the instructions and now my machine runs like a dream. I've got a nice lean installation of XP Pro and couldn't be happier. EVERYTHING on the laptop works as it should. Thanks to everyone who helped figure this out - it looked like a crazy mix of drivers that could never work when I started, but now I'm done and it all works perfectly.

Thanks again,
MotoMan

Thanks MrAce but....
 

Ok, a few things have changed since the post made by Mr Ace. I just finished setting up a Presario C504US series for a client, and I would imagine my process holds true to most.
1) Several of the links DO NOT WORK!! This is a bad thing only for those of you who don't know how to use google. Alternative links of everything required re STILL AVAILABLE online. Simple google searches will yield relevant pages. One such would be the audio driver. Simple copy the spXXXXX.exe name and past that into google. A relevant download should present itself.
2) No .inf files?? Don't know why it's asking for a floppy?? Very simple procedure to get past. inside your C:\swsetup\SP32478\*.* folder is a file called F6flpy.exe. This file attempts to extract itself to a floppy disk. This is bad for most of us at this point as we don't have floppies. Rather then rushing out to buy something, simply follow this page HP Notebook PCs*-* How to add Serial ATA (SATA) driver to a Windows Installation*
The page listed above will detail everything you need. Rather then copying it to a disk though, simply extract it back into the C:\swsetup\SP32478\*.* folder and follow it from there. 2 .inf files will be listed when you follow the directions from Mr Ace, either one should work, I used the iaahci.inf file and found mine. After you get it installed, it will want to reboot, if you forget to turn on the Native SATA disk mode, you will BSOD out, this is scarry but have no fear. Simply hit F10 at boot and enable the Native SATA disk mode and all will be well.

Could NOT HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT MR ACE!!!! Very very nice post!!!

Hi everybody,

All this sounds like an awesome bunch of information, but I'm kind of stuck in the very beginning of the whole process.

I have a new Presario C500 and I created a new partition (X:) on which I wanted to install XP. Would all these instructions in this thread work for that or only if I format the drive completely?

So far, I tried to install XP on my newly created X: partition. Actually, I never got to actually select where I wanted to install it. After putting in the XP cd, a few minutes later I got a message saying "Windows cannot find any hard disks installed. Please make sure hard disks are powered and installed properly." - is this because of the SATA problem? Does that mean I have to drop in the SATA fix before doing anything else?

I am not very familiar with all this so any help would be appreciated. I have an understanding of what to do after XP is installed, but how do I actually get over this "no hard disks" problem?

Please help!

On installing the audio driver using Ace's method. It comes up with a "Device has failed to start (10) error." Anyone know how to fix..?

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to post an update: I successfully completed the switchover from Vista Home Basic to Windows XP Pro on a C500 laptop. I'd like to thank you all for this amazing help and instructions, especially Mr. Ace.

I didn't install all of the drivers yet, but some of them I really don't care about. Haven't enabled SATA native support yet either.

Thanks again! If anyone needs any help, I'll pitch in!

SATA headaches...
 

Good evening:

I would first like to thank all of the wonderful contributions within this thread, esp. MrAce. Working with a C554US, all of the drivers seem to be working except native SATA and I'm very happy to get away from that lame vista basic.

I have followed the SATA routine several times (along with loading all other drivers verbatim) and still can't seem to get native support. I don't have a floppy drive, so an F6 install isn't an option. Upon installing the driver (extracted with WinImage) and rebooting with SATA enabled, I get "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware...." Then, going back into the BIOS and disabling native SATA support, I have to go back to Last Know Good Config to get into Windows again.

Under device manager IDE controllers:

Intel 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller - 27C4
Primary IDE Channel
Secondary IDE Channel

All drivers are loaded, there are no yellow exclamations...

I next enabled native SATA support within BIOS and attempted to install XP SP2 again and the installer couldn't find the hard drive. My current XP install was completed with native disabled. Yes, I have verified that I do have SP2 from the initial install before running any updates.

Trying to run Storage Manager (SP32492) installer gives "Incompatible Hardware". Choosing iaahci within SP32492 from device manager under Intel 82801GM is not an option either.

I'm really stumped at this point and if anyone else has any suggestions about getting native SATA on this thing, I would love to hear them :)

Hi gigzter,

I am also working with a C554US, and have been trying to follow the tips provided here. I haven't gone as far as you yet, but was wondering if you are successful with your wireless driver install?

I followed the instructions to install the BroadCom wireless driver, and it installed fine. But for some reason I am not able to see any wireless networks around even though I could see several of them on my other laptop. Is your wireless working ok with yours?

Yes, the Broadcom wireless is working fine for me and I used the same driver as suggested by MrAce. I was searching this morning for a possible floppy option for the C500 line but have not been able to find anything. From what I can tell, the SATA driver must be loaded during the XP install. I read elsewhere that XP does not support SATA natively without loading the 3rd party driver using F6.

Native SATA without a floppy
 

Haven't tried this yet. But I'm gonna attempt to create a custom WinXP install disk with all the drivers listed previously including SATA. Will let you know if I actually get the thing to work. It's amazing what can be found online with a little effort...hehe...

Install Windows XP on SATA without a Floppy (F6) - No Floppy...no Windows on SATA? Wrong! - Softpedia

SATA driver??
 

hey guys.. I just installed xp.. great.. but i have the problem with the sata driver. I extracted the files to a folder using undisker, but i don't know what to do with them, because you can only install them if you have floppy drive at the boot up right???? or is there a way to install them using a CD??? Or even worst does this mean that i have to reinstall windows xp???? PLEASE HELP

I found this about how to add the drivers to the xp CD.. but this means you have to reinstall the OS..
MSFN Forums > Integrating intel SATA drivers
ANY HELP??

Success!
 

Good morning:

I'm happy to report that I did successfully integrate the SATA drivers into an XP install disc using Nlite. My first attempt failed however as I tried to simultaneously integrate drivers for sound, etc. and for some reason the machine booted using the custom disc, found the hard drive, but said that it was unable to format to continue. I tried both a quick and full format to no avail. I then made another custom disc using Nlite with the SATA drivers only. The XP install disc then found the hard drive, formatted, and the install began per usual. For some reason, I am now having an awful time getting the modem driver to load properly. I had it running fine previously with non-native SATA but now running natively I keep getting the dreaded Error10 will not start. Will continue working on it later as I've run out of time yet again.

Massive Thanks
 

Mr Ace... THANK YOU!!!

this was all so helpful, got my c500 working, still gotta do the SP2 upgrade to get sound working but it seems that every single problem I have encountered has been fixed by other users in this forum, and yeah XP home is alot better than vista !!

so happy
 

I'm so happy i finaly made the transition from vista to xp.. it's working so better now.. Special thanks to Mrace and to all of the people who contributed with stuffs that Mrace didn't explain.. had a lot of trouble with sata but it's working just fine.. hope you all can make the UPGRADE

Help Mr Ace,

I bought c500 pressario and replaced my vista with xp. Pls i need your help. I have download the following drivers and install them but some responded and some didnt. They are: sp32646, sp34152, sp35272, win2k_xp14293, sp33258, sp34510, sp35444, sp35940, sp35938, sp35942. My sound does not work and also goes for my USB ports. Pls i need help fast.

sideline
 

Hey guys Ive had drivers for this compaq laptop, actually i lost my religion for a couple of days, if you want the drivers just email me at thezoo@nts-online.net and ill send them to you, Matt

couple problems....
 

I just installed windows XP professional SP2 on my C500 but I have a couple of problems.

I'm not sure how to get the SATA drivers to work. I tried to follow Mr. Ace's advice but
when I tried to installed the sp32478 driver on XP I keep getting the error "Insert Floppy to Write" , I have no idea what to do with that.

2nd.....I can get all the other drivers to work except Wireless Lan.
I've tried sp36684, per the links way above, but my laptop won't detect any wireless signal once I've installed the driver

Please help .

Thanx,

Newbiee that HATES VISTA with a PASSION!!!

I have a Presario C502US also, and everything here worked great except the Broadcom driver.

The broadcom wireless detects networks fine, but cannot connect to any of them...

I set the laptop next to the wireless router and it still just sits there trying to connect then stops.

Any suggestions?

Oh, and thanks again for all the other help getting this laptop on XP. Its SO much faster now.

forget the part about the Broadcom not working, I got it to work......(i'm an IDIOT, i forgot to hit the wireless button next to the power button on the laptop.)

But i am still having trouble with the SATA drivers.....please help.

thanx.

great now I got F__cked!

I tried to install the SATA drivers and I when I rebooted the computer
and set the Bios to ENABLE SATA, I got BSOD, and then when I set it
back to DISABLE SATA, I got the BSOD again!!!

now I have to reinstall the whole thing over again......I f__king hate WINDOWS!!!!

I got the WiFi working. Used the AT&T Connection Manager and it worked fine.

MrAce,
Just felt like giving you some points and credits for your work and what you are doing in these threads.

I have Compaq Presario C500 and a problem with and the wirless internet.


hope this is use full. if anybodey knows how to get the wireless lan working again please help.


(im using a D-link wireless usb addapter, i borrowed from a friend)

hello everyone,

I have Presario C508US and i'm having problem finding files on network controller and SM bus controller.

If someone could make a post to a link will be greatly appreciate.

If somebody need help with Compaq Presario C504US or look like, i can help with it, mail me on itshane@gmail.com

thanks itshane for your help. got the sm bus controller working but still no dice on the network controller

I install the network driver version 3.00D but did not work for some odd reason
I'm not able to turn the wireless connection.

Please help.

FYI,my pc used to be vista but changed to widows XP