Is it possible to install Windows XP on a z97 chipset?

[Ruya]

Hi there. I recently picked up an Asus z97-A motherboard to go with my i7-4790k cpu, but I've been struggling to install Windows XP (My preferred OS) with this hardware.

I've already slipstreamed AHCI drivers onto my XP disc; I ran XP with my previous x58 mobo with AHCI mode without issues.

When the XP setup loads, I get error 0x000000A5, "the ACPI BIOS in the system is not fully compliant with the ACPI specification".

Is there any way around this, or is the z97 chipset simply not compatible with Windows XP? If that's the case, would I be able to use XP on a z87 board instead?

Thanks in advance. XP is a must-have for me and I'd like to get this sorted quickly as I only have a few more weeks to return the board.

 

[TransformedBG]

if i remember right you have to turn off AHCI... the hardware may be too new.. i had to do it on my laptop to get it to install..

 

[dejo]

there is a driver from "fernando" that will allow ahci or raid, but takes some work to get it working properly

 

[Ruya]

I tried to explain; I have the AHCI driver on my XP disk already, and had great success with it on my old motherboard (x58 chipset)

The issue I'm having now is unrelated to AHCI as far as I can tell (This error occcurs even if I change to IDE mode)

Some others that I found through googling who were having this problem were able to press F5/F7 during setup and select an option to be able to install XP, but none of the 3 options from that menu proved successful for me, so I'm looking for other solutions.

 

[Witchdoctor]

I have not had any problems getting XP to work on z97

 

[Tech Tweaker]

I'd start by disabling UEFI booting/bootloader mode in your bios, if possible.

I had a similar issue with a laptop, where it wouldn't recognize hard drives formatted in NTFS for Windows 7 or XP (regardless of 32-bit vs. 64-bit) until I disabled a UEFI booting and Secure Boot options in the BIOS. Then it read the drives fine and I was able to load into the OS. Without disabling those the system was only able to load drives with Windows 8/8.1 loaded on them and didn't even recognize XP and Win 7 based drives as being boot-able media.

In this instance Windows XP and 7 are considered by some BIOS'es and/or motherboards to be "legacy" operating systems, and sometimes aren't able to load up if UEFI bootloader is enabled.

Go into these menu's:
Boot Devices Control-Set to UEFI and Legacy OpROM

Boot from Storage Devices-Set to Both, Legacy OpROM first

Secure Boot-Set to "[Other OS]" (This is very important, as Windows XP does NOT support Secure Boot, this is likely the setting that is holding you up.)

Good luck, post back if you still have difficulties.

 

[Ruya]

I've had the CSM setup and set to Legacy OpROM and everything this whole time, but I did not change the Secure Boot setting, so I actually had very high hopes for that... Unfortunately, I still bluescreened with the same error as soon as all of the files had loaded for the XP setup.

I've not yet mentioned that I already have Windows 8.1 installed. I never imagined that simply having a different OS installed would prevent me from getting into the setup of another, though.

So, does it have something to do with 8.1 being installed and one drive having a GPT partition (or some other problem innate to 8.1 being installed), or is this motherboard simply not willing to let me setup XP? Remember that I'm not even making it into the setup where I can select which drive to install; It just crashes as soon as the setup loads.

I've actually already picked up an ASRock z97 motherboard to try out tomorrow, and if that doesn't work I guess I'm going to try downgrading to a z87. Not being able to run XP is simply unacceptable for me and I sure hope that another operating system which I like at least as much is out in the future when I don't even have the choice.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Wait, are you trying to install both Operating Systems to different partitions on the same hard drive?

Or do you have separate drives?

 

[Ruya]

I would prefer having them both on the same drive with different partitions, but I'd be happy either way.

The matter of fact is that I can't even get into the setup to choose a drive to install to yet.

 

[Johan45]

Try this link, I had the same issues as you but after slipping the right drivers into my XP install it went fine. http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...all-windows-XP-on-an-Asus-Z87-Maximus-Hero-Vi

 

[Ruya]

Thanks, but I already have Fernando's AHCI drivers on my XP disc; I was dual booting XP and 7 with AHCI enabled on my old motherboard without issue. (however it was an x58 chipset so it had complete XP support)

I'm pretty sure that this error I've been having with my z97 board is unrelated to that, and the solutions that I found w/google for the few people who had this problem have been fruitless for me.

Once again, the error is 0x000000A5 "the ACPI BIOS in the system is not fully compliant with the ACPI specification"

 

[Tech Tweaker]

This kind of makes me want to buy a Z97 board just to see if I can get XP to load, because this is really bizarre.

 

[Ruya]

I have an MSi board on the way next week to try. If it doesn't work out I might have to give up and use Win7 exclusively, but I will be very, very sad.

The reason I want XP so badly is because in my experience it has much more responsive input. The performance tends to be a little lower, but the trade-off is worth it to me.

Hopefully a superior OS comes along some day in the future.

 

[funsoul]

I had no issues installing xp on z97 (msi xpower ac) but I used ide mode and ran the install from a cd. Couldn't get it to install using a usb drive.

 

[Ruya]

Alright, well, the new motherboard came in, and had the same issue.

However, a family member passed off their windows XP disc to me and I was able to get into setup.

I didn't install it, but at least now I know that my problem was with my disc, although I'm really not sure how or why.

 

[Ruya]

So, the problem seems to be with 64-bit xp. 32 bit is able to install with absolutely no issue if I press F5 and select "Standard PC with C-Step i486". However 64 bit XP does not have this option. Does anyone have any clue what steps need to be taken to get 64 bit xp t install on this chipset? I'm stumped.

 

[Woomack]

I'm always installing XP for tests with drives in IDE mode and all is working fine. However there are no XP drivers for some devices.

 

[dejo]

xp will install on a z97 mobo, I have done it in the past. Working on getting the sata drivers incorporated into it as well. And doing that today!

 

[funsoul]

The only thing that wasn't working under xp32 was the z97 chipset driver. I just used a slightly older driver and everything works fine. Again...had to install from a cd and did it with the drive set to ide mode.

 

[dejo]

xp64bit will install in ahci mode with the proper driver slipstreamed into the os