Converting a list web part to a dataview webpart throws and error

I added a list web part and I wanted to convert it to a dataview so that I can modify its XSLT. When I did so  I got an error Unable to display this Web Part. To troubleshoot the problem, open this Web page in a Windows SharePoint Services-compatible HTML editor such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer. If the problem persists, contact your Web server administrator

However from SharePoint designer everything looked fine. Finally the only solution I found was to create a data view web part from a scratch and add the list as a data source to it.  I also added the list webpart so I can steal some of the XSLT. So in short the steps were

1)      For a publishing site Add a new page

2)      Open the page from SharePoint designer by detaching it from the page layout. ( Right click on the page in SPD and select the option detach from Layout.

3)      Click on a web part zone and select DataView menu and add a dataview web part

4)      On the RHS click the list that you want to use as a datasource and select show data.

5)      Drag all the fields on the dataview web part and then customize it till it looks like the way you want it to look.