Solved What driver is missing?

[ChuckBradley]

I have an HP Pavilion TouchSmart 14 Sleekbook, model 14-f023cl. It came from HP with Windows 8, but I do not have any recovery media. The hard disk nas been wiped clean, including removal of the recovery partition. I am trying to install Windows 7 on the computer to find out if the computer works well enough to justify buying a newer version of Windows. I can navigate through the BIOS screens, so the screen and the KB work to some extent. Using an external DVD drive, since the computer has no optical drive, the installation procedure starts ok, so at least one USB port works to some extent. The installation procedure allows some choices by pointing and clicking, so the touchpad works to some extent. Then I get to the problem that led to this post. The installation procedure give a polite version of "Ha, ha, you need a driver for some bit of hardware and I won't tell you what, so start guessing you poor sap. Bring me the right secret driver and I will let you proceed. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha." So off I go, on a quest for the secret driver. The HP website is the obvious place to start. There I find the model information can't be used to get to the drivers. Instead, HP wants the serial number of the computer, which they convert to the model number and then report that there are no drivers available. On the bottom of the computer I find a label claiming the computer contains an Atheros AR5B125 WIFI card. I find the appropriate driver at the Atheros web site and install it. Microsoft agrees it is a driver, but not the magic secret driver. There are many web sites that offer thousands of drivers. I tried a bunch of them and got one of two results from each,
1: no drivers available.
2: run this program on your Windows system and it will update all your drivers.
But I don't have a Windows system on that computer yet.
So, I hope someone can tell me what the secret driver is, or at least what bit of hardware the driver is for,
or a driver collection website that lets me get all the drivers for a given model without the executable package.
Thanks very much.

 

[flavallee]

HP Pavilion TouchSmart 14-f023cl Sleekbook (support site)

Its driver downloads section has drivers for Windows 8 and 8.1 64-bit, but none for Windows 7 64-bit.

How exactly and what type media are you using to try to install Windows 7 in it?

 

[Johnthehead]

Missing drivers for your machine?

Here is the link for the drivers: Just select your operating system and 64 bit version..

HP Pavilion TS Sleekbook 14 Drivers Download for Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP

This is for your HP Pavilion TouchSmart 14 Sleekbook, model 14-f023cl

I am pretty sure the ts in the link means touchsmart..





You say the hard drive was wiped clean...
If so you could put on a linux o.s. temporarily to get the computer up and functioning...or maybe you have an old windows xp disc lying around...but all of that gag the installation gives you sounds to me
like the disc has a virus...
I see you have an external dvd drive. Is it a writer?
And how much ram does the machine have?
If you have a writer and your machine has 2 or 4 gb..then you could download an iso image of windows 10 from their site ..burn the iso image to a blank dvd..I like the rw.. install windows 10...and it will install all the drivers you need automatically if you have that wi fi driver you spoke of already installed...

 

[Johnthehead]

So I found the drivers link for 2 models:
The first link gives you a number of pavillion models and these 2 are on this page..so if you want to do more searching start around page 400..I think the second one could be it...

[URL="https://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/hp/laptops-desktops/hp-pavilion-sleekbook-14/4043"]

[URL="https://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/hp/laptops-desktops/hp-pavilion-ts-sleekbook-14/4841"]http://https://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/hp/laptops-desktops/page412[/URL][/URL]

and you can just copy and paste into your normal browser. You do not have to use internet explorer...

 

[Johnthehead]

driverscape.com

do not see all the links when I read it online so will try again..

HP Laptops & Desktops Drivers Download for Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP - Page 412


HP Pavilion Sleekbook 14 Drivers Download for Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP


HP Pavilion TS Sleekbook 14 Drivers Download for Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP

 

[SIW2]

HP Pavilion TouchSmart 14-f023cl Sleekbook (support site)

Its driver downloads section has drivers for Windows 8 and 8.1 64-bit, but none for Windows 7 64-bit.

How exactly and what type media are you using to try to install Windows 7 in it?

This is an hp touchsmart of similar vintage

Downgrading from 8 to 7 on HP Pavilion Touchsmart

 

[ChuckBradley]

To answer some of the questions and supply some additional details:
The installation media is a DVD that came with a Dell desktop system. It has worked properly in the past. The disk is in a LG
DVD burner plugged into a USB port. Boot order has a DVD drive ahead of the HD. The BIOS is very simple, no SATA settings, and no way to update the BIOS. I have no Windows 8 media, and no product key. My Windows 10 kits are upgrades from 7. I am trying to find out if the hardware works well enough to justify buying a Windows 10 kit. I really dislike the idea of buying it to find out that I should not have bought it. I also tried installing Windows 98 and NT. Both failed almost immediately. I like the LINUX idea and will try it right away. Thanks much.
I will reply again as soon as I check out some more of the suggestions.

 

[SIW2]

If your intention is not to use win7, but instead to go to win10, then I am not sure why you are doing this.

Just download the latest win10 iso and try installing it. Probably work fine, and will likely pick up the activation automatically from the win8 msdm table in your machine's bios.

If you are unsure, just install it to a different partition, keeping your current win8 intact.

https://software-download.microsoft...1613081897&h=7afda37a0c94cc091bd3ac0f95e878bd

https://software-download.microsoft...1613081897&h=75ff0962803d4baf842142cbebc416ff

 

[ChuckBradley]

I downloaded all of the drivers listed above from driversport.com. Two were .exe packages to go into an existing system, so I could not use them. The others were .zip files. I unpacked each into a corresponding directory and copied them to a thumb drive.
When the installation process blocked, I tried all of the directories with the drivers. Still not found. But there was no driver for my new LG GP65NB60 DVD burner, so I called LG. They claim they have no drivers for any of their CD/DVD products. They all use only the generic OS support. But one tech recalled seeing the same message. The missing driver is a USB port driver specific to each motherboard. So off I go to check on the USB drivers I downloaded. Bingo! I found it. There, in a readme.txt is the warning, this will not work if you try to get it into the system through any USB port. It must come from a hard disk.
Now to try Linux. The computer has 8GB memory and AMD 64 bit processor at 1700 MHz. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

 

[ChuckBradley]

I downloaded a random Linux kit (UBUNTU), installed it, and was able to check out the rest of the hardware of the computer. Everything worked, so I can go on to try installing Windows 10. I will mark this as solved and summarize what I learned so others might learn it with less pain.

This applies to HP Pavilion TouchSmart 14 Sleekbook, model 14-f023cl. It probably applies to any notebook computer that does not have a CD or DVD drive. This applies to installing Windows 7 on a system that had Windows 8 when the system was new. It probably applies to most cases of trying to install an earlier version of Windows to replace a later version. There are two basic and extreme cases, the disk has a working operating system or the disk is totally empty, and various intermediate cases. Some of the replies here assumed a fully working or almost so operating system. I had a blank disk. The missing driver can not be loaded thru a USB port. The only other way in is by a communications link and the OS installer has not made it work yet, so the only option is to take the disk out of the notebook computer, and install it in another computer. Then you can copy the missing driver from another disk. But the installation procedure decides what drivers are needed based on the configuration of the system it is running on, so you have to run it on a system that is almost identical in components to the notebook.

This bad news applies only to the case of the empty disk and the severely crippled disk. There is a lot of information in this topic and elsewhere in this forum about how to move to an earlier version of Windows if the disk is healthy or only wounded.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and other information.