I am trying to downgrade a dell inspiron 3531 from 8.1 to 7 by using a memory stick but when booting from from the usb stick it loads files and just comes up with bios not fully acpi compliant error. Have been told to install with a dvd but havn't tried this yet. Read a few threads about this error but no others seem to have the error so early.
Installing from DVD is less likely to solve the issue.I would suggest carefully reading the below tutorial and follow instructions as a first step.Have been told to install with a dvd but havn't tried this yet.
Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7
Usually most of the Dell machines are downgadable if correct BIOS settings are applied.
You can only downgrade Windows 8 Professional (or higher) to Windows 7 Professional (or higher)
How to Downgrade from Windows 8 Pro to Windows 7 Professional | Dell US
You can only downgrade Windows 8 Professional (or higher) to Windows 7 Professional (or higher)
"Windows 8 Pro" users are legally eligible to downgrade to "Windows 7 Pro" without any additional cost. Microsoft is kind enough to provide this offer but it doesn't means one should stick with "Win 7 Pro". They can install any other version but the downgrade won't be free - user should buy a separate license at their own cost.
Understanding downgrade rights
In case of "Windows 8 Core" edition, there is no free downgrade offer so the user should buy a retail version of "Windows 7" anyway. Which edition to buy is the choice of the user.
Tried the guide and created a uefi bootable usb but now just freezes after loading the files. Cannot get into windows setup
I checked Dell support site and it seems that Dell officially supports installing "Windows 7 x64" on your model.
Product Support | Dell US
Try installing in MBR mode.
Tried the guide and created a uefi bootable usb but now just freezes after loading the files. Cannot get into windows setup
1. First create the install USB manually using DISKPART instead of "Rufus".
USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create
2. Make sure to disable "SecureBoot" in BIOS and also enable "Leagacy" support. I couldn't get a manual so not sure where the settings are exactly located. Probably you will find them in the "Boot" tab. If i recall correctly, "SecureBoot State" and "Boot Mode" are the settings to be changed.
3. Plug the USB disk and power on system. Press "F12" to open boot menu. You may see your flash drive listed twice in the menu - one with "UEFI" prefix and one without it. Make sure to select the one without "UEFI" prefix for an MBR install.
4. If USB boots without hang/BSOD, use DIKPART to remove the GPT partition structure and perform a clean installation of "Windows 7".
DISKPART : At PC Startup
Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command
Tried many different ways including diskpart, rufus, wintoflash, unetbootin but each time when booting in legacy mode it shows the bios not fully acpi compliant error and when booting in uefi a red line shows at the top of the screen and the laptop freezes, can't get into windows setup at all. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Have you reset the UEFI/BIOS firmware as in the Dell link in post 3.
Yeah the problem still occurs
Try updating BIOS to the latest version and check whether the issue persists.
Product Support | Dell US
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