going from vista to xp

You will need to right down all the components and make sure there are XP drivers for each component. If and only if there are, you would need to reformat the drive, can do this from the XP install, and then install XP.
I have heard of some manufacturers not releasing drivers for all the components in new laptops.

Question: Why are you going directly from Vista to XP? Especially considering the time involved as well as the additional money needed for an authentic installation of XP?

He purchased new laptop that freezes? LoL not much of a shopper is he? I hope he didn't get suckered into a extended warrenty

Very strange...But anyways, enough of that jazz..

What you will have to do although this may void warranties etc etc is insert any XP install CD where you have a valid product key to. Install XP, if it brakes your balls during activation call the described number and go through the process of getting it validated, only took my 7 minutes the one time I had to do it. Once its installed go directly to your device manager. If there are any exclamation points it will have a basic description of what it is supposed to be e.g. video device would be where you would have to install the real video driver/pci audio device would be where you install the real audio drivers. If you happen to have any exclamation points, go to the manufactures website under the support section. Their should then be a model lookup and then a link to a downloads/drivers site. From there download and install the appropriate drivers. If your unsure go to the website and double check that they have XP drivers for the laptop before you downgrade.

Strange, do you have your boot priority set to CD-ROM first? A message in a DOS like screen should come up asking to press any button to start setup... Once you do that it will load a bunch of files. I kind of forgot what happens after that, but I think it asks to accept some agreement and then you will presented with your hdd partitions. From here I believe you can delete the partition (might be two if its got a backup partition, delete both). Now create one new partition and format it using NTFS and then install XP on that partition, and that should be it..

BTW make sure you have his stuff backed up.

HA, I had a wonderful example, I was checking out my buddies laptop which was an HP of some type. In XP 70~80 processes I think . W T F? It was a nice dual core AMD chip and the laptop was very nice, but the damn thing was like a snail. I was able to get it down to the 50's but most of the stuff was still from HP that I didn't want to turn off since he paid for some warranty deal(waste of money) but ya a fresh install will clear all that garbage out. I really wonder why companies do that?

Salesman - "Here's your Ferrari sir!"
Buyer - "Thank you!"
Salesman - "Oh wait, one more thing...*Grabs 5lb sludge hammer and knocks the windshield and lights out*"
Buyer - *Drives away with smile on face because he bought a fast car.*