Installing windows XP on this MSI EX705 notebook was a real pain and suffering until I noticed a small detail on the official MSI download page. By default it comes with Windows Vista or FreeDOS preinstalled, but I’m sure most of you would agree that XP will be your preferred choice and would like to downgrade from vista. Well this is where the problems start. My exact model is: ex705x-223eu but this problem is general and includes all of the msi ex705 models.

Problem:

Getting Blue Screen Of Death while trying to install Windows XP. Even when ACHI mode is disabled from the BIOS and Mass Storage (SATA) drivers are integrated with a floppy by pressing F6, the WinXP installation simply stops with a BSOD right before the hard disk partitioning menu comes up.

Solution:

Apparently you will have to choose your BIOS version according to the OS (Vista or XP) you would like to use.  This is highly unlikely for a notebook manufacturer and completely unnecessary. I wonder what is the catch behind this. Anyhow you can download the MSI EX705 BIOS here. Remember that failure of this procedure can easily result in a dead notebook, so if this is your first time doing this you should definately consider reading this manual by MSI.

After the BIOS is upgraded to the XP version, you can install Windows XP on your MSI EX705 as you would normally do on any other notebook.