Downgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 7. Need Driver Help  

Hi all, new guy here. I just bought myself a new(well, refurb) HP laptop and absolutely hate Windows 8. Have been trying to get it to install but every time I get an error saying it can't find CD/DVD drive and asks me to look for the drivers. I'm installing Win 7 from a USB flash drive because there isn't a DVD drive on my laptop.

I have no idea what drivers it wants me to find, I'm guessing USB? I really don't know. I posted this on the HP Support forum a few days ago and didn't get any response there.

Any help would be great! I'm going nuts not being able to use Windows 7. Here is a link to my laptop for specs and whatever else you might need:

Product information HP ENVY 15-j023cl Notebook PC | HP® Support

Hi

Before you trying to downgrade "Windows 8", i highly recommends creating the "Recovery Drive" as per the below tutorial.

Recovery Drive - Create with USB Flash Drive in Windows 8

Have been trying to get it to install but every time I get an error saying it can't find CD/DVD drive and asks me to look for the drivers.

According to the official spec ( HP ENVY TouchSmart 17-j023cl Notebook PC Product Specifications | HP® Support ) , your model only came with 4 USB 3.0 ports. Windows 7 won't support USB 3 by default and requires special drivers. I would recommend simply burn the "Windows 7" ISO to a blank DVD and use it to install. You will be able to install Windows 7.

The i7-4700QM CPU and Intel chipset should support USB3.0 under Windows 7 or Win 8.

Yes and no. "Windows 8" doesn't require a driver to be installed for Intel controllers. "Win 7" do support "USB 3.0" but only after installing the driver like this one.

Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver — Why did Intel release two Windows* 7 USB 3.0 xHCI drivers?

In some laptops, USB 3.0 works in both EHCI and XHCI modes. With EHCI mode the controller will work in "Windows 7" as "USB 2.0" ports. When we install the driver, those ports will automatically switched to XHCI which is the true USB 3 mode.

On the other hand, some laptops which are specifically designed to run "Win 8" may not support EHCI mode and you will get " A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing " message if you try to boot from that port.

It's a Haswell CPU, Haswell supports USB 3.0 natively, I have two Haswell systems, no drivers were needed any more than USB 2.0 drivers were.

As part of my work, i have to deal with laptops from various manufactures which are differed in configuration. As you probably know, USB support is not in CPU but rather in chipset. Also like any other device, USB configuration is controlled by the BIOS ( like SATA modes - AHCI and IDE ). Regardless of the CPU and chipset, OEM can choose to enable or not enable EHCI support. It is like "USB Legacy" mode found in older systems ( If "Legacy USB" is enabled in BIOS, DOS will see and use USB keyboard and Mouse. Basically this setting will report USB keyboard as a PS/2 one to the DOS ). Like that EHCI mode will report USB 3.0 port as 2.0 to Windows 7.

Issue with Universal Serial Bus (usb) Controller

@ryanhinkle

Most of the drivers from the below link may also work with your machine.

Software & driver downloads HP ENVY TouchSmart 17t-j100 Quad Edition CTO Notebook PC | HP® Support

Two questions to what everyone has posted:

1. My laptop has has an AMD APU, so will those Intel drivers work? I'm thinking no, but I'm not sure?

2. I don't have a CD/DVD drive in my laptop so would it be possible to use a USB disc drive to install the OS? I'm only asking because if it can't recognize my USB ports now, would it be able to recognize the disc drive via USB?

Thanks again for all the help.

@Britton30
My understanding of USB 3 is consistent with Anshad. Win 8 comes with generic USB 3 drivers from MS but Win 7 requires 3rd party drivers installed. My guess: If you installed Win7 chipset drivers for Haswell then the USB 3.0 drivers were included in the chipset driver.

@ryan
This might help shed some more light on your problem....

List any Problem devices

• Make sure devices are connected and powered on
• Click Start->Run, enter: msinfo32. Click the + sign next to Components to expand it
• Click Problem Devices. Anything appear?
• If yes, click on it, Ctrl-A to select all, Ctrl-C to copy it, Ctrl-V to paste into next post
• On the other hand, if no devices are listed, tell me so

Generate and attach a DirectX report

• Click Start->Run, enter dxdiag and click OK
  ===> If you’re running 32 bit Windows, dxdiag will launch on its own
  ===> If you’re running 64 bit Windows, you’ll see 64-bit DxDiag. Click it to launch the 64-bit version of dxdiag
• Notice progress in lower left window corner
• When done, click Save Information button and save as a text file to your Desktop
• Click the Upload a File button to upload and attach the file to your next post

Just curious to know, why don't you use a DVD for installation ?.