Windows Vista uninstall vista

Whenever one is in a hurry.....(they do stupid things and get caught)

On a test machine (which with all user data backed up), I did an upgrade install of vista over xp pro. (insert I told you so here) I keep getting explorer crashes-so I pulled the drive and put in a freshly formatted drive- which runs vista fine. I would like to "resurrect" the previous drive and remove vista from it. Reading the boards, it looks like it is either impossible to do this or possible- depending on who did what. My system runs a bootloader upon startup and if I select the previous version of windows, a white bar runs across the screen, and then it just black screens. Safe mode seems to work ok. (I am actually now accessing this drive as an external usb-hdd.) It looks like several new folders are on the drive which hopefully are the previous xp installation. Everything appears intact.I am assuming I need to disable the bootloader - or aim it at xp- and perhaps reinstall certain xp files and delete certain vista files. If I have to reformat and reinstall, that is not the end of the world but it would be interesting to try and bring it back. Anyone have any success with this?
Thanks, awm

 

My guess is that I will have to do just that- as mentioned everything is backed up and it is a test machine; I seem to enjoy giving myself impossible tasks and then claim it is a learning experience! (You'd think I'd learn by now)