Installing OS on a netbook

[meistah]

Hey all, I had windows 7 installed on my netbook (acer aod-150?.... something like that) I wanted to put windows XP back on it, but I couldn't get it to work via usb drive (tried all the boot from usb to install xp instructions online)
so my plan was to hook the hdd up to another laptop, start the windows install, then pull it when it rebooted and put it back in the netbook. As it would have preloaded the install files and wouldn't be running from the CD at that point.
However I ran into a few BSOD's on both the netbook and the laptop i was prepping the hdd on. I determined they were due to power/sata settings on the laptop that conflicted with the XP install files, I was able to disable those settings in the BIOS and run the install successfully, then switched the hdd back to the netbook ...
then i ran into the problem that the BIOS on the netbook is so basic that I don't have the option to disable those functions, so it still gets a BSOD.
I'm a bit stumped at this point. I suppose I could install windows 7 again the same way and it would work, but I was pretty set on having XP on this computer, as it really needs 2gigs of ram to run 7 efficiently.
Any thoughts???

[JD]

My mom has a similar model, and I find Windows 7 runs pretty decently on it. You just can have a bunch of background apps running...

For getting XP back onto it though, I'd suggest picking up an external DVD drive. They go for about $50 I think? There are guides to install XP off a USB drive, but it's quite a bit of hassle.

Alternatively, you could look into some Linux distro? I believe Ubuntu has a netbook edition. Might be sufficient for you, and you won't have to worry much about viruses/malware.

[JimboToronto]

I'm not sure why you're having trouble installing from a USB flashkey. Is it selected as primary boot device in BIOS?

I used the Bootable USB key/ISO mounting tool that The Thingy includes with the ISOs in his torrents. It seems to be a Microsoft product from the MS store.

It includes a foolproof wizard to mount any ISO as a bootable key. If you have a spare key it'll save you buying an external optical drive.