Downgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 7. Need Driver Help

[ryanhinkle]

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

 

[Anshad Edavana]

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.

 

[Britton30]

The i7-4700QM CPU and Intel chipset should support USB3.0 under w7 or Win 8.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

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.

 

[Britton30]

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.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

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.

http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/331844-issue-universal-serial-bus-usb-controller.html

@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

 

[ryanhinkle]

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.

 

[ComputerGeek]

@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

 

[ryanhinkle]

Decided to try something tonight to see if it would work. Had an SSD in my OLD Compaq laptop with Windows 7 on it. Put that in my HP laptop to see if it would boot up and load any drivers. It booted fine but would only load a few drivers(touch screen, keyboard, and a few others). After about an hour, I got every single driver installed, including the USB 3.0 drivers. So I copied those USB drivers to a separate partition on that SSD and went to try to reinstall Windows 7 on that SSD(since I can't read from a flash drive). When it asked me to browse for drivers, I went to the exact location of the files and it wouldn't recognize them.

I don't understand why the installer won't load the AMD USB 3.0 drivers, when they work fine when the OS is booted up. I guess I'm either stuck with this copy of Windows on my SSD(and all the Compaq/HP bloatware on it) or I'm stuck with Windows 8.

@ComputerGeek When I checked the System Info, the only thing it found was this:

AppEx Networks Accelerator LWF ROOT\LEGACY_APXACC\0000 This device is not present, is not working properly, or does not have all its drivers installed.

But in my Device Manager everything is installed, so I'm not sure what that is?

DXDiag will be uploaded now.

Thanks again for the help. Much appreciated

 

[Anshad Edavana]

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

 

[Britton30]

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

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

From the first post?

 

[ryanhinkle]

I have a Windows install DVD but I don't have a DVD drive in my laptop. I'm pretty sure even if I tried using a USB DVD drive it wouldn't work since the installer can't detect my USB ports.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

My bad, i forgot that your machine don't have an optical drive.

Had an SSD in my OLD Compaq laptop with Windows 7 on it.

If this old laptop still boots fine, there is a way. Unplug your HP Envy's hard drive and fit in to the Compaq machine. Now boot the Compaq from your install DVD/USB and open a command prompt window as per the below instructions ( originall for 8 but the same applies to 7 ).

Command Prompt - Boot to at Startup in Windows 8


Now you need to use DISKPART utility to issue the CLEAN command. This will wipe out the GPT partition table created by Windows 8. Please refer step 3 and onward of the below guide.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

After cleaning the partition table, follow to install Windows 7 and partition according to your needs. After the file copying and expanding stage is over, system will restart. When the system restarts and BIOS screen appears, immediately power of the machine and disconnect the HDD. Then put back the HDD in HP Envy and power on it. The installation process will continue and hopefully will finish without issues.

This works because the first stage of installation performs nothing but merely file copy and creating necessary files required for boot in the system partition. The second stage will actually detect the system hardware and configure Windows to work with it.

 

[ComputerGeek]

Let's start with what i can see from your data. After that, i'm confused by some of the posts so maybe you can clarify

1. You already have Windows 7 Pro x64 installed at this point
2. Yes, your computer has an AMD CPU, graphics card and chipset (so you don't want anything from Intel)
3. From what i see, the USB 3.0 controller already has an AMD driver installed as well

All that said

• Are you saying your USB ports don't work??? USB flash drives and disks? Other USB devices? If yes, describe the problem. (Do hear the USB connect sounds? See any driver install failures? ,etc)
• You already have Win 7 installed, so how did you that?
• As to your CD/DVD, you're saying one exists but not being detected? Check your BIOS. See if it's listed there. If not, I'd remove and reseat the CD drive with a good push. If still not detected, it's probably failed

/* EDIT */
p.s. The "problem" device reported is a non-plug and play driver from AMD for web acceleration. I wouldn't worry about it at this point

If you open and look in Device Manager, do you see any devices with yellow icons? There may be one for the AMD web accelerator. I would right click on your USB 2 and USB 3 controllers, select Unisntall. Then in DevMgr menu click Action->Scan for hardware changes. Do the drivers reinstall without error?

 

[ryanhinkle]

I have Windows 7(from HP/Compaq) installed on an SSD from an old laptop but wanted to install a fresh copy on a newer SSD in the HP laptop. I tried the old SSD to see if the drivers would install Windows 7(and make sure everything was compatible) and it worked. If it worked, I was going to install a fresh retail copy of Windows 7 without all the bloatware on the newer SSD and use that.

I just can't figure out how it will load the AMD USB 3.0 drivers in the OS but not when it's in the installer. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[ComputerGeek]

I think you have two different issues here
1. How would you do a clean Windows 7 install if you don't have a CD/DVD drive? and
2. How would you add AMD USB 3.0 drivers after you do a clean install Win 7 install?

Let's talk about the 2nd issue first: Many vendor drivers need to be installed after a clean Windows 7 installation. You can get find most on HP support site or Windows Update. But you're specifically worred about the AMD USB 3.0 driver? Before doing a clean install, start by backing up all the current drivers. Use DoubleDriver. The backup will include the AMD USB 3 driver you want.

Tip: The word "driver" is used loosely by vendors (and everyone). The word can refer to one of two different things
> The "driver package" or
> The "device installation app"

The "driver package" is the lean and mean set of files needed to install and get the device hardware to work. Driver packages are installed by INF files. (The driver package is what people usually think of when refering to "drivers")

The "device installation app" is the EXE file typically downloaded from vendor sites. These installation apps always include the driver package packed inside but can also include application level software (a good example is Catalyst Control Center). CCC isn't needed for the hardware to work. But is a software app from the vendor to help use/config their device.

Driver backup tools only backup the driver package, not the installation app. But once you get the packages installed (and h/w working) you can go find the apps as needed.

p.s. The AMD USB 3 driver is only a package. So you'll get it all from the backup...

So do the driver backup. Then can figure out how to clean install