Not able to install Windows XP after installing Linux ?

Today, a friend asked me to help with his laptop. He had installed Ubuntu (actually due to my persuation). But, yesterday XP crashed(as it does after every few months) and when he tried to reinstall XP, the XP disc simply refused to recognize his hard disk. Actually, a few other friends of mine have also had this problem and they curse Linux for it!!

The problem occurs because the hard disk in such laptops/desktops is set to use AHCI sata mode. AHCI is the acronym for the Advanced Host Controller Interface. It is a new interface specification that enables advanced SATA features like Native Command Queuing (NCQ) [gives some performance boost] and hot-plugging [enables you to attach a hard dik without rebooting the system ]. Also, according to Wikipedia: AHCI is fully supported out of the box for Windows Vista and Linux operating systems from kernel 2.6.19, and later operating systems such as Windows 7. Note, Windows XP is MISSING from the list.

So , the problem lies with XP, not with Linux! There  are a couple of solutions:

1) Use the OEM XP install CD, meaning, the XP CD which came with your laptop. The OEM CD contains required drivers for AHCI mode on that particular computer.

2)Just goto the BIOS settings and disable AHCI mode (change it to simpler and older IDE mode) and the use a vanilla XP CD (the one commonly available). The caveat is that you lose a little performance.

3)If you can, use a new Winows OS (Vista or 7 ). Or simply stay with Linux!

Are Customers truly the KING?

I beg to differ. Recently, I went to a mobile repair shop. My Sony Erricsson phone is now out of warranty so I skipped the Service Center. However, the person at the repair shop behaved as if we had come there since we had no other option. And top of that, when my phone was repaired, after hours of waiting and then being told to come the next day, I discovered that the speakers of the phone were dead. One another round to the shop!!
What hurt me was the behavior of the shopkeeper. It was as if he was doing a service to us without taking money!!