Windows XP on Corei7

[Ankit Garg]

I just wanted to know if I can install Windows XP SP2 32 bit on a Core i7 system. Would Windows XP support the motherboard that would be needed for Core i7. Also I think Core i7 processors are 64bit, so after installing a 32bit OS, will all the 32bit applications run without any problems on it?? My hardware vendor says that I won't be able to install XP on any of the new motherboards, I just wanted to confirm (I'm not too much into hardware so I'm clueless about this and google isn't helping much on this)...

[Peter Johnson]

It should run just fine. Most likely the fancy tools provided by the motherboard manufacturer (to do things like monitoring or overclocking) probably work on XP only.

One reason you might not be able to install XP, according to the vendor, is that there might be some new hardware on the motherboard that does not have any XP drivers. Of course, that doesn't mean that XP will not run, just that those devices that lack drivers will not work.

If you install a 32-bit Windows OS, you will be able to access only 4GB of the installed RAM (in a desktop Windows it will show at around 3.3GB because the hardware uses up some of the address space).

Personally, I would install Windows 7 64-bit. If you get at least the Professional version you can install XP Mode which lets you run XP in a virtual machine.

[Ankit Garg]

Thanks Peter for the answer. Actually this question was not for me, I have Vista Home on my laptop. My uncle needs a new system. They have some sort of software which runs only on Windows XP. Their whole work depends on that software (it controls their machines) and its a heavy software (but 4GB RAM is enough, it just needs faster processor). They currently have P4 3.0Ghz but its old now so its slow. They wanted to upgrade so they asked me (as if I knew much about it ). I'll check to see a motherboard which has Video and LAN drivers for XP...

[Arun Dase]

I just wanted to know that can we install Windows XP-64 bit on a core i7 laptop or not. If yes then why do i get this blue error screen to restart on my Samsung Laptop.Pl. help.

[Peter Johnson]

The answer is: maybe. 64-bit XP will run just fine on an i7. However, laptops use a lot of proprietary hardware, and unless you can get 64-bit XP drivers for that hardware, it won't work. In some cases you will be lucky and XP itself will supply some default drives that provide basic functionality (example: video driver for 640x480 or 800x600 screens). In other cases, the hardware will be completely unusable (NIC cards come to mind).

Also, saying you get a "blue error screen" doesn't give us any clue as to what you are seeing (other than it is blue). It would be best if you posted the error text or took a picture of the screen and posted it.

[Daniel Doboseru]

^When about hardware, most blue-screens are caused by a corrupt access to a memory location, so mainly is a problem with the RAM (this is when BSOD is caused in the OS). But other hardware components can halt the system too.