Solved Lenovo G780 laptop refuses to accept drivers after a clean install

[mipak]

Hi,

I have just run a clean installation for a neighbour on her Lenovo laptop G780. Her original W7Pro 64-bit installed perfectly then I downloaded the audio, graphics and LAN drivers, transferred them to a flash drive which I inserted into the laptop and started to install the drivers.

I've followed this proceedure on different makes (excluding Lenovo) for years without any problems but I guess there's always a first time and it was at this point, my troubles began.

As soon as I inserted the flash drive into the Lenovo, the following message appeared on-screen ...

"This version of this file is not compatiable with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86(32-bit) or x64(64-bit) version etc ... ".

In all, I downloaded 9 more, all of which gave me the same message.

According to all 10, all the references show that they're all suitable for 32 and 64 bit. I also accessed the laptop's Control Panel | System which clearly confirms that the System Type is 64-bit.

Can anyone help me please?

Michael.

 

[torchwood]

Hi Mike,
you didn't by chance re-install via USB??
forgot to change back to boot from hard disk

or in the USB3 port??

Roy

 

[mipak]

Thanks Roy ...

Nope .. I ran the clean boot from the W7Pro64 DVD which activated when I pressed the 'presss any key ...' command. The original boot order in the bios wasn't changed.

The flash drive only contained the driver exe file.

There must be some common denominator, some common reason, that's causing the same messages to display after each different driver file is activated!!!

Michael.

 

[mipak]

There seems to be more to this than meets the eye.
As a test, I started to install a few other programmes to see what would happen ... most appeared to start the installation as normal but there were 2 or 3 non-driver programmes that also produced the original on-screen warning message.
Have really no idea where to go from here other than to un-install w7 and re-install it again.

 

[torchwood]

Hi Mike,

As program installation is also failing, pointing towards a corrupt install..

You could try

a repair install
or run these repair tools
KB947821 (SURT)
and from an elevated command mode sfc /scannow

Roy

note
i can provide W7 SP1 download Iso link -- what version home/pro etc ??

 

[mrjimphelps]

Once you get Ethernet or wifi working on the laptop, you can then install all of the other drivers directly to the laptop, without having to use another computer and a flash drive.

The 32-bit and 64-bit compatibility bothers me a bit. It could be that the drivers don't work perfectly in either environment, since they are made to work in both environments. I suggest you go with those which are specifically for 64-bit Windows.

Try older drivers, if the current ones don't work. Try Vista drivers, if Windows 7 drivers don't work.

Try finding the drivers by using the VEN-DEV method. See the following post for more information about the VEN-DEV method: Need drivers for HP 23-r111 Windows 7

If you simply cannot find drivers which will work, you could try a Windows update. Scan for updates, and install only those updates which are for the devices for which you cannot find working drivers.

 

[RoasterMen]

Once you get Ethernet or wifi working on the laptop, you can then install all of the other drivers directly to the laptop, without having to use another computer and a flash drive.

The 32-bit and 64-bit compatibility bothers me a bit. It could be that the drivers don't work perfectly in either environment, since they are made to work in both environments. I suggest you go with those which are specifically for 64-bit Windows.

Try older drivers, if the current ones don't work. Try Vista drivers, if Windows 7 drivers don't work.

Try finding the drivers by using the VEN-DEV method. See the following post for more information about the VEN-DEV method: Need drivers for HP 23-r111 Windows 7

If you simply cannot find drivers which will work, you could try a Windows update. Scan for updates, and install only those updates which are for the devices for which you cannot find working drivers.

32-bit drivers do not work with 64-bit drivers. They are specific for the type of OS you are installing.

 

[mipak]

@ torchwood, mrjimphelps & RoasterMen ...

it turned out that a re-installation was the answer.

the speed at which the error message kept on appearing on-screen was instantaneous. generally, i've found that when an error message comes on-screen after a few seconds, it's usually from a site that i'm looking for or at but when it's instantaneous, the fault is to do with my computer. despite the fact that it was meant to be a 64-bit machine, i re-installed w7pro32-bit, went onto the lenovo site and downloaded the drivers (the files names appeared the same as before) from there instead of previous sites i'd been on.
the final job was to run a full windows update (which took ages) and the overall result was fine although i'm not sure why i had the 32/64 drama.
thank you for your other suggestions and the 'link' offer ... the complete application name is windows 7 professional 32-bit.

i found 'the VEN-DEV method' very interesting and have saved this page in my bookmarks for future use ... thank you.

wasn't sure about 32 and 64 being specific ... thank you ... will remember that for next time. makes me wonder though if the laptop was originally a 32-bit machine.

anyway, a good result, the owner got her laptop back and was more than happy. thank you all.

michael.