Steps to a happy XP experience

Any particular inf files to exclude from the AA1 windows drivers - note that some of them have AMD64 and x32 versions and theres 69 of them in the Intel Chipset driver files.

 

I would suggest your guys to increase the DPI as the font is quite small on a 8.9" running at 1024x600
Mine's set to 111% to mimic an 14.1 at 1440x900

To do so (under XP), go to Display properties, Advanced: DPI settings
Custom setting...

And drag the ruler

Also, use the ClearType Tuner to adjust the font antialiasing, mine's set to darkest
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Down ... rtoys.mspx

 

Now I know I've seen this before on this forum and I can't seem to find it now. Is there a util from Acer or 3rd party that enables the on screen FN controls? ie. Brightness, Volume etc. etc. Can anyone point me to the right direction, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Damen

 

Disable the following services saves a hell on the boot-up:
Automatic Updates
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
ClipBook
Computer Browser (if you have a standalone pc – no network)
Error Reporting Service
Fast User Switching Compatibility
Help and Support (switch to Manual)
Indexing Service
Messenger
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Performance Logs and Alerts
QoS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Server (if you have a standalone pc – no network)
Telnet
Themes
Upload Manager
WebClient
Wireless Zero Configuration (don’t disable if using wireless network/Internet connection)

 

Damen, download and install Launch Manager from acer's site.

 

Ah, that was it, found it, thx.

Damen

 

Why FAT32 and not NTFS, if you don't mind me asking?

 

Just read through this and I think the slipstream info on the last page (especially with the important notes to keep manual install and include multiprocessor support) deserves its own sticky.

 

After following all the tips I've been reading here and from googling, my A110 with XP (SP3 clean install) now runs almost like a normal laptop in terms of lag, etc. I am very happy with it. There's still lag between tasks that require more writes to the disk etc. but ya, very happy with everything now.

At first I formatted my SSD to NTFS but that was SUPER SLOW, so slow nothing good could be done. The store salesperson told me XP on this would be incredibly slow, now I know why they said that! They must have installed into NTFS as well!
When I reinstalled XP I reformatted to FAT32 and followed all other useful tips here and now I have a really great tiny laptop!

I wrote about the experience putting XP in this thread also: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2730

Thanks to everyone everywhere for all the tips!

 

Question though:
If we must delete all partitions when installing via USB stick, does that mean it's impossible to have more than one partition on my AOA150? With the 120GB HDD, I really do want to have more than one partition (especially for reformat, I don't have to backup anymore than the partition in which the OS was installed on).. is there no work-around?

 

Don't know about the usb and one partition thing but if you want to install from a cd drive, you could try installing from a USB CDROM. If you dont have one you could easily pick up a cheap external casing for an existing cd or dvdrom drive and use that.

 

Be careful on which CD drive you go for as I failed to get my AA1 to boot from my USB CD drive - turns out that this is common problem with the CD drive in question (Teac CD-224E) and as far as I can trace no firmware update is available.

 

Given the lack of a bootable CD drive I ended up doing a full XP install via usb using the eee guide. have found a useful walkthrough of trimming some of the bulk of a full install back at http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/supertweaks.htm

 

The default versions of WinXP do not/cannot/will not install to a flash/SSD. I tried several known-to-be-working versions of XP and none worked. I tried XPLite and it went in w/o a problem.

 

Sorry to disagree but it can be done as I and other earlier posters on this forum will testify.

 

Yes it will. My XP Home SWE SP2 edition installed just fine to the SSD. It will not however install to an external USB HD/Stick without modifying some files in the setup directories.

 

Then why is it that 3 known-to-be working versions of XP Pro kept crashing to the BSOD when I tried to install to the Aspire One, yet those very same CDs worked when I tried to install to a standard PC? Furthermore, using the exact same external USB CD-Rom, I was able to install XP Lite?

 

I used a guide to stick a standard copy of XP Pro SP1 on a USB stick and install to SSD. I had previously gotten a nLited version of that to work, but it did not register the battery icon correctly (I see now that someone posted about that with a fix).

 

No idea why you can't but many others can, including myself. I installed via USB a full version of WinXP, not the lite version. am running it without any problems.

 

To z6joker9, I'm Interested to see that you managed an install using a USB stick - could you please say what guide you used.