Vista -> XP

[Aragon of Odin]

Since I got my PC 6 months ago I've been running with Vista, sick and tired of the constant problems I face so I'm going back to XP and need a little advice as to which XP to go with, some thing I just truely don't understand.

My PC(I'm not at home right now so can't see exact specs, just going off memory)

Dell XPS 420
Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2.66GHz
4GB Ram?
Vista 32 Bit Home Edition (I think)
750 GB HD
ATI Radeon HD 2600 or 2400 (Can't remember) @ 256mb

This PC mainly only gets used for Gaming and then your everyday shit, burning dvd's, e-mail, music and so on. I gather I'd only need to stick with a 32 bit system, although don't really know the difference between 32 and 64 bit. Should I go with XP Pro or Home edition? An OEM version or no? What's the difference with SP2 and SP3 versions and which should I go with?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'd like to get out of Vista ASAP lol, thanks in advance.

[The_OG_Nelta]

What type of problems are you having? Your computer should run Vista just fine.

[Cephius]

One major problem:

Dell doesn't offer XP drivers for that model computer. That's going to create a pretty big headache when you install your hardware. You're going to have to seek those out before you think about reformatting

[Pikarya]

One major problem:

Dell doesn't offer XP drivers for that model computer. That's going to create a pretty big headache when you install your hardware. You're going to have to seek those out before you think about reformatting

^ this

If it was a Dell 410. You'd be able to since they did drivers/support for both XP and Vista operating systems. So unless your lucky, and able to find all the applicable software/drivers for it. Your kinda SOL.

Recently I purchased a HP Pavilion for my fiancee. And It came with Vista Home Premium. After hours of research, I found out that someone made a guide for that specific model on how to downgrade to XP and find the correct drivers for it.
(Heres the link, even though its moot for your purpose. http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/807503)

Anyways, like I said. Goodluck.

[Aragon of Odin]

Not looking so good lol. A lot of the problems I'm having is it just randomly freezes programs I'm running. It likes to crash FFXI a lot while I'm playing, sometimes when I open the Internet it freezes it before it even fully opens it. Just constant everyday shit like that is driving me up the wall, I had to turn off the UAC because when it was on it was giving me problems running FFXI.

[Shojin]

No idea what is wrong, my comp is not as powerful as yours and mine runs Vista great. The only problem I've ever had with Vista is that the sixaxis drivers to get your PS3 Sixaxis working on your PC aren't vista compatible and the creator hasn't made any Vista ones. Are you sure it isn't hardware problems other than OS? Maybe reformat and re-install OS to see if that fixes problems? It shouldn't be doing that. And I agree UAC can be a pain, turned that thing off the first day I got my PC.

[Zigma]

Call dell if it is really 6 months old, your laptop is known to have a overheating issue. That might explain the problem of crashing etc.

[Cephius]

Call dell if it is really 6 months old, your laptop is known to have a overheating issue. That might explain the problem of crashing etc.

It's not a laptop.

[Pikarya]

Highly doubt a 420 would overheat anyways. Even though it is stock cooling. Its a decent one at that.

[hagun]

Have you updated your Vista? I know when I got Vista it used to crash and freeze and sometimes burn, but after doing the updates, it ran just fine.

[Aragon of Odin]

I just did a big update yesterday, had been neglecting them for a while but it didn't seem to solve the problem. Also regarding the overheating, it's not the system that's crashing it's individual programs such as FFXI. Computer will continue to run and other programs as well will continue to run, it just singles out programs randomly and ends their processes.

[Zigma]

It's not a laptop.

my mistake.

[Shojin]

I just did a big update yesterday, had been neglecting them for a while but it didn't seem to solve the problem. Also regarding the overheating, it's not the system that's crashing it's individual programs such as FFXI. Computer will continue to run and other programs as well will continue to run, it just singles out programs randomly and ends their processes.

Have you tried a diagnostics check?