Cannot Update HP Pavilion p6730f Computer to Windows SP1

[garioch7]

I have posted this issue on the HP Support Forums, but did not receive much in the way of assistance, even though I believe it to be an HP issue. The link is:

Can't Update HP Pavilion p6730f to Windows 7 HP x64 Service ... - HP Support Forum - 4202608

The consensus seemed to be that Norton Internet Security might be the issue, but that turned out not to be the case. I am pasting in the contents of my two primary posts from that Forum to save folks from having to click the link in case they are concerned about it.


Post of 2014-07-27
I have a friend who has an HP Pavilion p6730f desktop computer that is almost three years old. She recently encountered an error from the Yahoo website when using her IE8 that Yahoo wanted her to update her IE (the latest version is 11). I found it that odd that Windows had not updated her IE through Windows Update as I had configured her computer to update her Windows 7 Home Premium x64 automatically. I tried installing IE11 for her, but received an error that it required Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Service Pack 1 to be installed. When I checked SP1 was not installed.

I conducted extensive research on HP and other Forums and found out that the driver for her HP Intel 4000 video chip was 8.15.10.2119 was in the range (8.15.10.2104 to 8.15.10.2141) known to have compatibility issues with SP1; hence, Windows Update would not display SP1 for download. I checked the HP Driver Support site for an updated video driver, but only the original one was available.

I then installed Windows KB2454826 in hopes that it would help. It didn't. I tried to install the latest HP Support Assistant program on her computer, but that failed with an error that it was incompatible with her computer. I ran chkdsk and sfc to try to determine if there were disk or Windows issues. Chkdsk came back clean; sfc reported two integrity violation with aeinv.dll and aepdu.dll that it could not correct. I could not find replacement copies of those files, and of course, HP did not ship the Windows disk(s) with her computer. I don't think those files (to do with Windows Experience) are the culprit in this case in any event.

I went directly to the Intel site and tried to download a newer driver for her computer, but Intel stated that the newer drivers were incompatible with her computer.

I tried updating the driver via the Device Manager, but it said the driver was up to date. I tried unintalling the driver. With Norton Internet Security turned on, the computer simply retrieved the same old driver (8.15.10.2119). With Norton IS turned off, the computer retrieved a newer video driver and installed it. After a few minutes, the hard disk went to 100% constant, writing to the hard disk continually (what, I know not). The Resource Monitor showed that the offending processes were "SYSTEM" and "svchost." I waited 15 minutes and the drive never dropped from 100% and 2 GB of available space had been consumed and the available HD space was continuing to decline.

I did do a check for Windows updates and it did show Windows SP1 as available, but I couldn't download the Windows SP1 because the hard drive was at 100%, writing gibberish, I presume.

I had no choice but to shut down Windows and I booted off of the Windows Startup Repair disk and found the Restore Point that I had made prior to commencing to try to solve the update issue. The System Restore was not successful, so I was left with no choice but to restore a month-old system image I had made of her computer, using Paragon Hard Disk Manager Suite 12. That took overnight to restore.

The next day I purchased a product called "Driver Toolkit", which read on one of the Forums I consulted solved the problem for one HP customer. Driver Toolkit indeed found a newer available driver and I installed it. Once again, SP1 showed as available. Once again, I could not download it because the hard drive went to 100% with "System" and "svchost" being the culprits. I had to shut down Windows and repeat the system image restoration of the previous night.

From what I have read, HP is aware of this issue with their proprietary Intel 4000 video drivers being incompatible with Windows 7 SP1, and I can find nothing to indicate that HP has addressed this problem with a new, updated, and compatible video driver.

It is my opinion that people, like my friend, who is a senior citizen living on fixed income, and for whom the purchase of this computer was a major expenditure, have the justifiable and reasonable expectation that HP will at least support their Windows 7 computer throughout the Windows 7 life cycle. Without such support from HP, her computer will become increasingly incompatible with updated applications and become prematurely obsolete. My friend spends many hours a day working on her computer and I personally don't think that the HP is providing adequate support to its customers.

I would be grateful if anyone out here in the Forums has a solution that will work for my friend's computer. For certain, before I try any suggestions, I will be doing a new full system image, so that my friend does not lose some of her newer data as was the case this time. She had neglected to copy certain files to a flash drive and I was unaware that she had not backed up some of her data files.

Thank you for any assistance that you may be able to offer. Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil


Post of 2014-08-07
I am providing an update to this issue. As suggested, I uninstalled Malwarebytes Antimalware from the computer, using their cleaner tool, rebooted, and then uninstalled Norton Internet Security using their removal tool. I then turned off the Windows Firewall, which had turned itself back on and rebooted.

The first thing I ran was the Windows Update Readiness Tool (KB947821-v33) and it applied some sort of hot fix, though it was a very slow process. Rebooted the computer, uninstalled the Intel Media Accelerator program from the Control Panel. The computer responded by installing a VGA-compatible video driver. This driver I uninstalled via the Device Manager and then rebooted again.

The computer then reinstalled the old Intel HD 4000 driver (8.15.10.2119), which of course conflicts with Windows SP1 so that it does not appear. I then tried installing HP SP52958, which is a more recent Intel HD 4000 driver (8.15.10.2342), but it ultimately failed to install reporting "incompatible hardware" as the reason. I then ran Driver Toolkit and it found a driver 8.15.10.2430, which it installed and the computer was rebooted.

Windows SP1 and KB2454826 appeared along with several other updates, including IE9. I selected only to installed KB2454826, which according to Microsoft is a necessary precursor file for Windows 7 SP1. At this point I noticed that the update was not downloading. The hard drive was at a steady 100% and culprit was multiple instances of "SYSTEM" and a few "svchost." The update would simply not download so I had to cancel that after 20 minutes.

Rebooted and tried installing KB2454826 via the offline installer file I had previously downloaded. As soon as the file executed, the hard drive again went to 100%, but after about 30 minutes, the update appeared hung and I cancelled out. Upon reboot, the update appeared as installed in the list of installed updates. Tried to download and install SP1, but no go because the download process could not get any resources from the hard drive, which was at 100% constantly. After about 20 minutes, I cancelled that and rebooted.

Upon rebooting, the computer hard drive would settle in to normal range (0% to 3%) after a minute or two, and remain stable, but the instant I clicked on Windows Update, it would immediately to to 100% and remain there. I repeated this at least three times. Something about executing Windows Update was causing the hard drive to be fully committed. Also I noted that the computer was writing, up to 2 or 3 GB of something, and then it would intermittently free up some space and start writing again the to the hard drive.

At this point, I was out of options and decided to roll back to the original 8.15.10.2119 driver via the Device Manager. That I did, but upon reboot, the same issue persisted - click Windows Update and the hard drive went to 100% and stayed there. I decided then to uninstall KB2454826, which I did, but that made no difference. I tried again to run the Windows Update Readiness Tool, but the hard drive went to 100% again and stayed there with no discernable activity from the tool.

I was left with no option but to restore from a system image I had created a week earlier, the third time I had to do a complete recovery from a system image in trying to resolve this issue.

So I think we can safely assume that Norton Internet Security was not/is not the issue.
In total, I have spent five afternoons and countless hours at home searching the web for possible solutions, trying to help my friend update her HP p6730f computer to Windows 7 HP x64 SP1. It is a no brainer to say it shouldn't be this hard to update her computer to SP1. According to Microsoft, the issue is the version of the HP Intel HD 4000 driver, which is in the range where Windows Update will refuse to offer SP1 as a download because of known compatibility issues.

To my mind, it would seem that HP might be violating the implied warranty of merchantability because this computer cannot update the operating system it was shipped with, which a customer has every right to expect. The computer will be three years old in November 2014, and it is too young to be declared obsolete, even if my friend had the financial resources to purchase a new computer, which she does not.

Can anyone help us fix this problem?

Thank you and have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

 

[NoelDP]

Please follow the Windows Update Posting Instructions and post the requested data
If the file is too large (8MB compressed), remove the older CBSPersist cab files until the final file is below the limit - you can always post them separately after zipping them. (the forum doesn't allow the upload of bare CAB files, for a number of reasons)

 

[garioch7]

Noel: Thanks for your reply. My wife and I are celebrating our 40th anniversary this weekend, and we have company coming from far and wide, so it will probably be mid-next week until I get time to go to my friends house. I will re-run the Windows System Update Readiness Tool, which I have already done, and I will re-run sfc to see if those two .dlls are still reported as corrupt. There are no error codes to report. I will also get you the log files you have requested.

Thank you so much for volunteering your time and expertise to try and help my friend out. It is REALLY appreciated. Have a great weekend.

Regards,
-Phil

 

[NoelDP]

No problem! - you have a good time, and come back when you can. I don't plan on going anywhere

 

[garioch7]

CBS Log Files Attached

Noel:

I have attached the CBS folder, minus some older "persist" files, to stay within the upload limit.

I ran the Windows System Update Readiness Tool (KB947821-v33) and it requested permission to install a Hotfix (KB947821). I approved and it ran four just over 20 minutes and then announced a successful installation. I rebooted and re-ran the SURT. Again it wanted to install the same Hotfix. I approved again and after 20 minutes, it again announced a successful install. I rebooted and launched SURT again, and once again, it wanted to install the same Hotfix. I declined and SURT reported an error of user aborting the tool.

The Hotfix does not appear in the list of installed updates via the Control Panel, Uninstall Windows Updates. It did appear as successfully installed twice today under "View Update History" under Windows Update.

I ran sfc /scannow and it reported some integrity violations that it could not fix.

My friend and I will greatly appreciate your expertise in how we might get her computer to update to Sp1. Have a great day and thank you so much for helping us.

Regards,
-Phil

 

[NoelDP]

Here's the error from the SFC scan

 Line 7807: 2014-08-14 14:17:53, Info                  CSI    00000307 [SR] Repairing 1 components
 Line 7808: 2014-08-14 14:17:53, Info                  CSI    00000308 [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
 Line 7811: 2014-08-14 14:17:53, Info                  CSI    0000030a [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:18{9}]"aeinv.dll" of Microsoft-Windows-Application-Experience-Program-Data, Version = 6.1.7600.17566, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
 Line 7814: 2014-08-14 14:17:53, Info                  CSI    0000030c [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:18{9}]"aepdu.dll" of Microsoft-Windows-Application-Experience-Program-Data, Version = 6.1.7600.17566, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch

The CkeckSUR scan was clear - after fixing a lot of errors on an earlier run.

Summary:
Seconds executed: 1240
 Found 2941 errors
 Fixed 2941 errors
  CSI F Mark Missing Total count: 2941
  Fixed: CSI F Mark Missing.  Total count: 2941
Customer Experience report successfully uploaded.  Thank you for participating.  For more information, see the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program on the Microsoft web site.

The odd thing is that there were no errors the week before when you ran the tool! - but it looks like they may all have originated from a single IE update.


I'll post a fix for the SFC errors a bit later.

 

[garioch7]

Noel: Thanks for your reply. Standing by for the SFC fix. Now if I could find a compatible HP Intel HD 4000 driver for my friend's computer, we might really be off to the races and finally get her computer back to good health.

Have a great day, and thanks again.

Regards,
-Phil

 

[NoelDP]

I'm having a bit of trouble finding the source for these files - but I have a couple of people searching for them so hopefully I'll be able to post the fix later today.

the drivers... https://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=&ProductID=3712&ProdId=3712 for the Intel ones - but HP have a habit of modding them, and the Intel ones won't install then.
What's the exact model of machine?

 

[garioch7]

Hi, Noel. The exact model of the HP Pavilion is "p6730f", as noted in the title of the thread. The HP Product ID is: BV533AA#ABC, and the serial number is: MXX0490KRS.

You're right - as noted in my initial posts, I cannot get generic Intel HD4000 drivers to install. They fail to complete installation with an "Incompatible Hardware" error. So HP has definitely messed with the architecture.

I am very grateful for your help and that of your friends and colleagues. Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

 

[NoelDP]

Try this set of drivers
Original Intel Graphics Driver - HP Pavilion p6730f Desktop PC | HP® Support=

 

[garioch7]

Noel: That is a link to the original HP Intel HD 4000 driver. My friend has that driver and it is the source of the issue as far as I can tell. The first link is an HP Forum link which describes the problem. I did try the solution in a post that referenced another thread and post #33 but that just caused the hard drive to go to 100% and stay there. We could see Windows SP1 and other updates, but could not download and install them because the computer hard drive was fully occupied with multiple instances of "System" (30 or 40) and several "svchost" processes.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Not Listed - HP Support Forum - 539343

This is the Microsoft Windows reference to this issue - Note Number 4:

You do not have the option of downloading Windows 7 SP1 when you use Windows Update to check for updates

I tried the suggestions there and that did not work either. The problem is the hard drive going to 100% and staying there.

Perhaps I need to get my friend's Windows SFC integrity errors fixed before doing anything?

I appreciate your help, but she already has the driver you mention - it was the original driver and has never been updated by HP. I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it, but as long as that driver is installed, Windows SP1 will not appear in the list of available Windows updates.

Thanks again. Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

 

[Jonguy30]

I had the same problem as you had, but on a different HP model laptop (I have a G62). I never had the Windows SP1 update listed on the WU service.

What I did was download an image mounting program, there are many good freeware programs available such as daemon tools (not recommended as it may contain unwanted software such as adware) or PowerISO (recommended) and then I downloaded the Windows 7 SP1 ISO from microsoft download center and then just proceeded to install it. It was just like if I had a retail CD, everything went smoothly, no problems.

 

[garioch7]

Jonguy30:

Thank you for your response. I have Imgburn installed on my friend's computer (got to watch the PUPs there) and I do have a registered copy of Power2Go 7 on my personal computer, so I could handle an ISO file. I have lots of DVDs since I am a retired person who does a lot of videography. I am somewhat reluctant though to proceed to downloading that 1.8 GB separate downloadable file. I am living in rural Nova Scotia with a 1.5 MB/sec download speed.

I am also concerned with whether SP1 would install when my friend's computer is showing Windows System Integrity errors. I regret the day I ever recommended that "great buy" to her. It was a great price, but I assumed that HP would support it through the Windows 7 life cycle. That all said, I will give it a try if no one else can come up with a better solution. I will just do another full system image with Paragon HD Suite 12 before attempting the installation and then see what happens.

Thanks again for your helpful advice. No one in the HP Forums has had a word to say since I posted back that killing Norton did not solve the problem. It would be so nice if HP would just do what consumers expect and issue an updated driver so that their customers can download and install Windows updates and service packs. That is the last HP that I will ever recommend and when my HP colour laser printer dies, you can bet that I won't be buying an HP replacement.

Have a great day, and if I go your route, I will post back. I am desperate to get my friend's computer, who is a senior on fixed income, up and running and I appreciate any help.

I am hoping that somewhere there is a compatible HP Intel HD 4000 driver and an answer to resolve the sfc errors that were reported.

Regards,
-Phil

 

[Jonguy30]

You're very much welcome. Back when I downloaded the Win 7 SP1 ISO I also had a 1.5Mb/s download speed, but we have since upgraded. So don't feel bad about your slow download, you're not alone.
It took about 1.5 hours to download it for me.

I should really have researched more about laptop brands before I made my decision. My HP laptop isn't bad by any means but it has some annoyances I don't like. Mainly the awful support they have. Also its hardware isn't top quality either, an example is the laptop fan (I think it's not functioning properly), sometimes it's just, weird.

It seems to me like HP only releases one version of their drivers and be done with it. I also don't understand why the WU service doesn't offer the SP1 update on many HP laptops. On most "normal" computers it is offered and if it isn't there is a small trick you can do, I tried that but it didn't work either. I can't wait to replace my computer... there are way better ones out there. But for now I'm stuck with this.
I also uninstalled all of the HP "bloatware" software that came with it. Stuff like the HP "support center" and whatever.

Anyway, please do post back if my suggestion works.

 

[garioch7]

Jonguy:

Thank you for your email. I am a bit concerned about trying to ram in SP1 via the offline installer for the following reasons:

My friend's computer has:

1. SFC integrity errors that SFC, and I, are so far unable to repair. Noel was going to post back with a cure for that if he could find one after he reviewed the SFC CBS log files that I attached to a previous post in this thread.

2. A Windows Update Hotfix, being initiated by the Windows System Update Readiness Tool, keeps saying it installed correctly and then tries to reinstall the next time SURT is executed. It shows in the Windows Update History as installed (twice), but is not listed as an installed Windows Update via the Control Panel, Uninstall Program, Windows Updates. Something not quite right with that.

3. The Window KB article on SP1 states (Reference 4) that there are known compatibility issues with the HP Intel HD driver (8.15.10.2119) that is installed in my friend's computer and we can't find an alternate driver (so far) that doesn't cause the hard drive to go to 100 percent and start consuming disk space writing, we don't what. I am leery of what compatibility issues might arise if we try to ram in SP1 via the offline installer.

I am going to suggest to my friend that she send a registered letter to the CEO of HP Canada complaining about their lack of support for her computer. She has a right to expect that HP will support her computer through the life cycle of the OS that it was shipped with (Windows 7 Home Premium x64). There is an implied warranty of merchantability that her computer should be supported, according to my understanding of civil law here in Canada.

If we get nowhere there, and with complaints to the Better Business Bureau and government consumer agencies here in Canada, then I would consider the approach you are suggesting, if my friend consents. It is her computer. By the way, do you recall the exact driver version you had - is it the same as my friend has (8.15.10.2119)?

The other obvious issue is that your computer is a laptop and a different model than my friend's computer which is a desktop. The motherboard and architecture will be different, so what worked for you might not work for her.

Please don't get me wrong. I appreciate, very much, your advice, and Noel's efforts to resolve this problem, but as you can see from my initial, very LENGTHY, post, I have tried everything that I could think of, and that I could find through web research without success, with the exception of trying to ram in SP1 via an offline installer.

If we do go down that route, I will post back with what happens, but I can't say as I am optimistic that it would work, and we have already had to restore her complete computer from system images three times. Obviously I would make a fresh system image before attempting the offline installation of SP1.

I completely concur with your comments about HP. Never again will I recommend, or purchase, an HP product after this experience. The only advice from the folks on the HP Forum was to kill Norton Internet Security, which I did, and when that didn't work, I have heard nothing further from anyone there.

If my friend does get a response from the CEO of HP Canada, I will be sure to post on the HP Forum and here what support/fix that was offered and whether it worked.

Thanks again, Jonguy, for your interest, time, and expertise. It is much appreciated. Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil