UPDATE: September 8, 2008 to include driver package information from my previous post
Preface: Please read this entire guide before attempting to install XP on your laptop. It would be wise to make Vista backup discs with the included Acer utility in case you should need to install Vista again. Also please be advised my Acer came with integrated Intel graphics some 5920 models come with Nividia graphics cards, you will need to find and download those from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx It goes with out saying that installing an operating system is a big job and often requires you to wipe your entire hard drive. Please backup all your important files beforehand!
Let’s get down to business:
Installing XP on your Acer 5920 laptop is fairly straight forward. Your first order of business is to change the hard drive’s SATA Mode. You’re going to do this by entering your BIOS setup this is done by pressing F2 at startup while the Acer splash screen is up as soon as you boot your computer. Once at the BOIS screen use your right arrow key to move over to the main tab. From there use the down arrow key to select the last option ‘SATA Mode’ press enter and use the up arrow key to select IDE mode and press enter.
Now we need to get the laptop to boot from the CD ROM. While in BIOS use the arrow key to scroll over to the fourth menu option, ‘Boot’ press down arrow until you get to #2 which should read IDE CD, highlight the IDE CD entry and press F6 to move it up. When you’re done IDE CD should be beside # 1. Now press F10 to save and exit, confirm your changes.
Here are some pictures to help you out a bit, click for full size:
Pop your XP CD in the CD-ROM drive before you reboot and close the drive. Reboot. Then press any key to boot from the CD.
Run through the XP install. I’d suggest wiping all partitions and giving XP the entire hard drive unless you want do dual boot with another OS such and Linux if that’s the case you’re smart enough to setup your own partitioning scheme. 
From a fresh install of XP the following works:
Webcam
Trackpad
Left Side Hotkeys (Internet, email, etc)
As you can see, once XP was installed, virtually none of my hardware worked. No wireless internet or even Ethernet connection, so I Googled. I found this (second post) on a forum, it’s an exe that installs all the drivers necessary and I installed it and the install took about 10 minutes and when I restarted I had everything I needed. The only issue was some error about the blue tooth driver but I don’t use it, I’ll explore it in the future, if I need it. I’m going to upload the file here as it’s hosted at one of those file hosting sites and you never know how long the file will be available. Here is the link: <LINK REMOVED – VIRUS FOUND>
There are some issues with the wireless driver in that package, it wouldn’t install for me. You will have to download these with another computer and drop them on CD or thumb drive. Get the files from here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2259&lang=eng select your windows version then select ‘Intel® PRO/Wireless Drivers-Only for Windows* XP’ download this file and copy it over to your laptop and run the installer.
Now here’s the problem, XP with it’s ever present pain in the ass activation BS will not activate for me so I’m going to leave off here. If I recall correctly once you connect to the internet and activate Windows you can get the rest of the drivers via Windows update.
If you run into any issues drop me a comment and I’ll see what I can do to help you out.
Last Edited 03/28/09 Typo fixes and link removal.
hi thanks for all this info it is going tobe usefull as i am going to remove vista from my acer 5920 i also have the intel graphics duo core 2ghz 3gb ram 160gb hdd etc.
But the problem is i do not have my vista disk will this cause a problem for me or shall i just back everything i have.
I will be with a mutlimedia company while i am doing this so it should all go ok as they are family friends but i just hop all my webcam and side touch keys etc all work including sound and sub woofer thanks again
Hi Dan thanx for the info regarding win xp on acer laptop i have just bought one and if i need to change the operating system your article will help me.
kind regards john
Thanks guys, I’m glad it helps.
@Sharon, I’m not sure that the “media touch” keys work under XP as I’ve never used them but the Synaptic’s driver for the touch pad controls the media keys. I assume if they have an XP driver it must also enable the Media Keys.
hi i’v got acer5920 normal version i mean buyed without vista . I like my laptop v v much sply cos of looks n features . But i wana know wats da reason 4 gettin this error . I’v installed xp professional in my laptop . And when i tried install nvidia graphics from cd i got with laptop i get this error . “The nvdia setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware . Setup will now exit” wats all this n wat would be the solution cos am tryin install few games but not able to play them due to graphis
pls help guys .
Duke,
You may not have a nVidia card. Some 5920′s come with nVidia graphics and others come with an integrated Intel card. Unless you have the ‘powered by nVidia sticker near your trackpad your laptop has an Intel card.
DUKE: goto http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ and download the forceware drivers and the modded .inf file. extract the drivers, replace the .inf file in the forceware dir and install! works a treat. cheers.
awesome great help
my acer 5920 have vista. I change it myself found drivers compatible with my hardware. Everything is great the only thing that is not working is my touch key. Can someone post any solution for enabling them .
thanks advice
hi hav recently installed xp on my acer 5920 and am havin problems with graphics on web pages!?! all pages i go on have no backround colour or image’s is it something iv done? can any one suggest how to fix!!! cheers.
I dont suppose you know where i can get the blu-ray drivers for xp on the aspire 5920?
Can’t seem to find it from any reputable source. even acer dont have it on thier website,
Thanks
Itto
@Itto
I’m not sure off hand your best bet would be look at the manufacturer of the drive’s website..Do you know who made the drive?
Edit: After a little research, this looks to be the driver you need: http://drivers.softpedia.com/progDownload/Sony-NEC-Optiarc-BC-5500A-P-ATA-Firmware-105-Download-71174.html
Dan, this guide rocks! I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why XP wouldn’t detect my hard drive. And thanks for the links to the drivers, etc.
. . . but the link for the driver package leads to a 404 error
@Zack
I’ve removed the drivers file because my antivirus found a trojan in it. You can see the note on this post: http://www.bigdan.us/windows-xp/xp-installed-on-acer-aspire-5920.html
Thank you Zack, I’m glad it helped.
Hey, thanks a million.
I was trying to help a customer on the phone and was having difficulties trying to boot from a CD. Came across your website and it helped.
Cheers
Hi Dan, all i can say is your a lifesaver, ive been searching the web all day long, getting told to use ‘nlite’ and do various other things. After reading what you posted, all i had to do was turn on my laptop, push F2, and change the SATA to IDE, this helped solve the ”no hard drive detected error’ that i was having and ive almost installed xp now. Thanks a tonne mate, roll on XP
Fergie.
Hi again, double post, but for those who are looking for the acer 5920 (and 5920G) drivers for XP, i would recommend downloading them all from the following site.
http://www.getpcmemory.com/drivers/download-acer-aspire-5920-5920g-windows-xp-drivers/
Ive finished installing all of mine and they all seem to work perfectly. No viruses at all, so i was very pleased with the downloads.
Hope this helps out a few people who are finiding it hard to get the XP drivers for the acer 5920.
cheers
Fergie (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Glad to hear Fergie! Thank you for the comments and the download link.
Hi
I recently downgraded my Acer 5920g to XP. got the drivers from another website and installed. all is working except the card reader. i installed the driver and it says in the device manager that it is working but it doesnt show in explorer or my computer. if you plug in a flash card nothing happens. also if i plug in the camera with the flash card it picks up the camera in my computer but when you click on it nothng happens. when vista was installed the card reder was working.
any ideas???
Thanks
thanks a lot
Can i use this information in my blog? i will paste a link to this post as well! Thanks man!
Sure no problem.