Can I downgrade from Win7 to Vista or XP?

I've been having lots of problems for the last few months with Win 7 64-bit. All hardware is compatible. Worked fine for a few months, then started having freezing issues. I've troubleshot every part inside, accessory, driver, software program, etc., that I can think of, and I'm just tired of dealing with it.

I heard that it's possible to somehow downgrade? What is the process for this? The kicker is that my copy of Win7 64-pro was purchased from Digital River through Microsoft when Win7 was first released. It's called an "upgrade" but will install as a full OS.

Another question... if I just go with a different mainboard, is that possible with the copy of Win7 I have? I'm thinking about just trying to upgrade to a Gigabyte mainboard instead of this Asrock p55m board I have. Suggestions?

Thanks

Understanding Downgrade Rights

Hope this helps.

baccusboy said:

I've been having lots of problems for the last few months with Win 7 64-bit. All hardware is compatible. Worked fine for a few months, then started having freezing issues. I've troubleshot every part inside, accessory, driver, software program, etc., that I can think of, and I'm just tired of dealing with it.

I heard that it's possible to somehow downgrade? What is the process for this? The kicker is that my copy of Win7 64-pro was purchased from Digital River through Microsoft when Win7 was first released. It's called an "upgrade" but will install as a full OS.

Another question... if I just go with a different mainboard, is that possible with the copy of Win7 I have? I'm thinking about just trying to upgrade to a Gigabyte mainboard instead of this Asrock p55m board I have. Suggestions?

Thanks

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Basically, you will need to buy the OS you want to install.

If you bought that computer prebuilt, changing the motherboard will void it.
If you bought W7 and installed it, then you can downgrade, but I believe they discontinued that (I could be wrong).

~Lordbob

Going to Win 7 32bit would be the sensible starting point.
And do a clean install.

Of course you can, Like bob mention, you just need to buy New OS unless you already have XP/Vista in your hand and just wait to install it.

Say why don't you try Seven 32? . Im just saying

Given the info in your first post, I'd be very surprised if the OS is the problem.

DeaconFrost said:

Given the info in your first post, I'd be very surprised if the OS is the problem.

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I would agree, but he asked about downgrading.

~Lordbob

You could try a different OS from download thats been tweaked and set up already and use your valid key. There are several sites to down from that are good OS and most are set up well right from install.
Also have you cleaned your system up lately?? Disk clean-up and defragment drive does wonders sometimes if you have not done in a while.

P.S. I only say this because I found since using Win 7 I don't want to go back to XP personaly because Microsuck finally got it together w/ 7 and I am in love with it since I started playing w/ it 2 months ago.

Did you try a different PSU?

Lordbob75 said:

I would agree, but he asked about downgrading.

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If it is a hardware problem, yet the OP still downgrades, it won't solve the issue.

DeaconFrost said:

Lordbob75 said:

I would agree, but he asked about downgrading.

Click to expand...

If it is a hardware problem, yet the OP still downgrades, it won't solve the issue.

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I understand that...

My point is that since we really don't know what his problem is, we gave him the info he asked for and asked for more about it.

~Lordbob

I know what you mean, but if you went to a mechanic to get your oil changed, and he/she noticed that your car was leaking other fluids....you'd want the more serious issue taken care of too, wouldn't you? An OS that works fine and then suddenly starts freezing and stuttering can most often be traced to failing hardware. Solve that problem, and you solve the issue.

DeaconFrost said:

I know what you mean, but if you went to a mechanic to get your oil changed, and he/she noticed that your car was leaking other fluids....you'd want the more serious issue taken care of too, wouldn't you? An OS that works fine and then suddenly starts freezing and stuttering can most often be traced to failing hardware. Solve that problem, and you solve the issue.

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Well, yes. But we still need more information on the other issues...

~Lordbob

Now that I can agree on. There have been a few good questions posted, so hopefully the OP can tell us what was swapped.

No hardware has been swapped yet. As I said, all was just great until things started becoming problematic. I thought it might be a cooling issue with the CPU, but temps were always OK. I reinstalled with new thermal paste anyway, and still have the problem.

IF it's hardware, I'm thinking something mainboard must be wrong. I already had to replace an identical Asrock P55mpro board with this one within a week after purchase. After my experience thusfar, I will never touch their boards again. I've read about some people having issues with I5 chips and memory timings on Asus/Asrock boards, but I can't figure out why my board would suddenly begin having issues if it was just fine... am wondering if my Gskill Ram is going bad? Tested that, and it was fine once, but one time Windows put up a little flag in the bottom right corner and said there was possibly a Ram problem. That only happened once, though. It would also have to be BOTH 2GB (2x2gb config) sticks going bad, because I've tried both of them individually in different slots, and freezes still happened. Oh, and I did get a bluescreen during an overnight Ram test, but I can't be sure it was the Ram that caused the bluescreen? Hard to know! My problem has never caused bluescreens.


I'm going to install an old OEM version of XP and see what happens. If it's hardware, the problem will likely persist, I'm assuming.

Specifically, what happens to me is the OS will boot fine, but randomly soft-freeze (meaning the mouse still works, but IE, Firefox, or other programs will lock). The mouse still moves around, and I can half-launch programs, but they will freeze until everything unlocks at once. I can even CTRL-ALT-DELETE, but it won't list the processes until it unfreezes. Sometimes just doing that makes it unfreeze, but not always. It will often snap out of this freeze after 10 seconds to a a minute. Lately it hasn't been coming out of it always. Also have experienced some shutdown issues lately -- that's a new one that appeared recently. This happens moreso when I am using Windows Live Mail or Flash websites, for example.

Yeah, I'm clear of known viruses. I used to run MS Security Essentials, but double-checked by uninstalling and installing Kaspersky to see if it found anything. Malwarebytes came up clean, as well.

Based on what is happening, it could be Ram, a mainboard problem, or just about anything, I'd think.

Oh, and the problem does seem to possibly happen more after I leave the machine on for a long time... could be heat-related, but don't know how. I've got great airflow, a freshly-seated Coolermaster heatsink, etc. The room temperature has been 25 to 27 degrees celsius as of late. I've been running CoreTemp and no core has ever gotten over 50 degrees celcius at full load. Usually they're just below 40.

Have you run a OS repair yet. If not I would suggest you try this before installing a different OS. As you said this only started recently....there are occasionally bad updates (just had my first BSOD in 12 months today....bad update download I assume, Wild blue can be problematic sometimes).

I would suggest the starting point should be the graphics card, then the ram.

Going back to XP won't prove anything, its just giving up.

Your graphics card is low budget, step up to mid range.

Hi See these links you will not have to worry after wards:

How To Downgrade From Windows 7 To XP (Step-by-Step)


How To Downgrade From Windows 7 To Vista (Step-by-Step Guide)

pcs3657 said:

Hi See these links you will not have to worry after wards:

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I'm quite sure the OP would still have to worry if it is a hardware issue.

Back on topic, the likely causes for freezing are over-heating, bad memory, failing PSU, or a failing motherboard. The memory is very easy to test, and the PSU is easy to swap out, so I'd start with those two.