After Two Years...I'm Ready to Quit!

OK, so here's a long story summed up as short as possible.

About two years ago I bought a laptop on Black Friday at Walmart. It was a Compaq we got for about $200 with Windows 8 preinstalled. I've hated it every day since then! The laptop would probably have been fine, it's just that the operating system itself sucks. And I'm not just talking about the mistakes Microsoft made in its design, but it seems like the laptop simply has a hard time running it (likely because the manufacture wanted it to seem new and hip by shoe-horning an OS onto it that had no business being there in the first place).

Wiping hard drives and installing an OS has become old hat to me. However, when my initial Windows install disc started to hang at the OS install splash screen upon boot up, I came here and created THIS THREAD.

A multi-page discussion/argument broke out among the Major Geek staff as to whether what I was doing was even possible. Some said that the since the hardware drivers to support Windows 7 were not installed, downgrading would be impossible. Others thought it could be done, and encouraged me to keep trying. Unfortunately, the thread died and I never got an answer so I just gave up. I even tried resurrecting it recently, but to no avail. Now I need it for work and it's so frustrating that I'm ready to just say screw it and buy an older laptop on eBay.

I really don't have that kind of money, so if anyone could revisit this issue and give me their thoughts, it would be much appreciated!

 

Have you considered trying Linux? A distro called Zorin is similar to Windows. Or simply installing something like Classic Shell to make Win 8 look and act like Win 7?

Full disclosure: I switched to Linux a few weeks ago and don't care much for it, but YMMV.

 

But in the interim, your Win 8 should also be freely updatable to Win 8.1. It's MUCH better than 8 and I use the aforementioned Classic Shell so I have a Start Button and menu. Also, if the Compaq isn't touch screen enabled, Win 8.1 will default to the Desktop screen instead of the Win 8 type Start screen.

 

tethtian sorry you did not think you got the help you were looking for. When you ask questions about the benefit of different operating systems you have to expect different opinions because users have different experiences with each OS. Everyone has their own opinions!

I agree that you should hold out with Win8 now that it has been two years. I just have a few questions.

Have you downloaded Start Menu and tried using your Win8 in Desktop? Desktop looks and operated almost like Win7 in my opinion and is useful to those who don't want to use Apps and Touch Screens.

Did you uninstall all the bloated preinstalled programs and simplify what programs you run on the laptop? Keep the basics and download protection and security programs.

Can you explain why you keep reinstalling Windows? Did you create a recovery drive or a bootable disk? If your OS CD is going bad you might need it.


I personally like Win8.1 and my Touch Screen but understand some don't. I will install Win10 later this year. Granted every new OS has a bit of a learning curve. Good luck!

 

According to this http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03476850
it came with 2GB of RAM. Have you added 2 more GB to it.
I don't know about Win 8 but 2GB on Win 7 is frustrating.

 

First let me say thanks for the speedy responses.

To all those above that simply suggested not worrying about the problem at hand by just upgrading to a new version of Windows or to just "keep on waiting" since I've waited this long, I'm afraid I must remind you these are not options.

As I said, the laptop's hardware is clearly not suited for the current OS, let alone a new one. It runs like crap as is and needs downgraded to an OS that's a little less strenuous (or built in a way that won't make it lock up every ten minutes). I'm confident Windows 7 will accommodate.

Also as mentioned above, this is for work and I need it now (actually I need it yesterday) so I have to work fast to address the task at hand. The question is, can it in fact be done as other Major Geek staff has suggested in the past. If so, how? I'm willing to put in the work, I just need the tools.

 

But that's not the information I've been given by other folks here at the forum. Here is what Caliban said regarding the exact same issue in the previous thread I linked to once I was able to test Linux from a bootable disc (which doesn't exactly jive with your appraisal of the situation):

Don't take it personally. I just know when to reject options that have absolutely no baring on my current intents. I hate Windows 8 and have no desire to be saddled with it . How will upgrading to Windows 8.1 remedy that? I've seen it and I still don't like it. As for your RAM upgrade suggestion, I never made mention this was something I was interested in doing remotely. I have no intention of putting money into such a cheap laptop. My solution is not attempt to raise the hardware specs but rather bring the software down to its level. This is more cost effective and suits my needs more than your suggestion does.

Again, nothing personal. Its just there's really no point in answering such questions and wasting either of our time.

 

Here is a how to link, which may answer the two questions, you had in your original thread.

http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/appl...-to-downgrade-from-windows-8-to-windows-7.htm

gl

 

Well, you are either very poor or just very focused on what you want to do regardless of recommendations to the contrary. A simple and inexpensive RAM upgrade would probably solve most of your problems. And, as mentioned before, Classic Shell is free and will make Win 8 look and feel like 7. I don't get the idea of dumbing down the OS instead.

 

On what basis is it that you are convinced Win 7 will be easier on that machine than Win 8? I use a rather modest 4GB laptop which has both its original Win 7 Pro 64 bit (2 yrs old) and Win 8.1 Pro 64 bit which I added (as Win 8) very shortly after. The two systems are very similar in configuration and software and both are kept up-to-date and used regularly, and my impression is very much the opposite. In use the Win 8 system is noticeably faster, particularly in the first few minutes after boot.

To try to give some substance to this I've been having a look at memory and disk usage this morning with these results -

Average memory usage when ticking over, nothing running -

Win 7 - 1.32 to 1.35 GB, Win 8 - 1.2 to 1.4 GB so nothing much different there

Size on disk of Windows folder

Win 7 - 26.6 GB, Win 8 15.8 GB, a huge difference mainly down to winsxs and System32 folders. Maybe an expert could explain that but I'm thinking there may have been significant changes made to the Windows core between 7 and 8.

I'm completely with the others on this - add some RAM. At anything under 3GB both 7 and 8 are hampered. You need 4GB and 8.1 for best performance.

 

Very interesting comparison Earthling. I run Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate on a partitioned HDD.

Windows XP RAM - 350 MB.
Windows Folder size - 2.37 GB.

So much for progress... the Micro$oft way. rolleyes

 

Yeah, I know you are very adept at getting a quart into a pint pot, but presumably those are 32 bit systems? It does make a huge difference.

 

Yes it does... but I only drink quarts :-D

 

Minimum requirements for windows 7 32bit is 1 GB, same with 8 and 8.1. Same with windows 10TP.

But, IMHO, running any of those OS's at less than 4GB is not optimal. Sure, downgrade to windows 7, you'll have the same slow issues as windows 8. My current computer flies in the wind with 8.1 compared to 7. You will have to ignore my ram usage, since I'm currently running vmware workstation, with vsphere 6 esxi with a load of server 2012 r2 to get vcsa to install.

 

Regardless of what I want to do to the contrary, how is whether or not I'm poor relevant or any of your damn business for that matter?

As for the rest of the comments above, I thank everyone for their time but this was unfortunately a dead end. Half of the suggestions listed here were akin to telling a doctor "my arm hurts when I do this" and him replying with "...well then don't do that." The other half I can see were genuine in attempting to help, but have just lead me to the conclusion this wasn't worth it.

On a side note, if Major Geeks provides training when they bring on new staff, I'd like them to use this as an example. You'll notice almost NO ONE addressed my original issue. The question was, can the hardware drivers to install Windows 7 be flashed onto the motherboard in order to get my install disc working. Somehow it transformed into me listening to the many tangents people decided to trail off on about RAM upgrades this and Windows 8 that. StruldBrug is the only one who did and he did it less than a twitter post. The rest was all just besides the point.

I am more than capable of determining whether or not a clean install of Windows 7 would have suited my needs on my own. Yet I'll never know because most people above kind of went into business for themselves and didn't bother to hear what I was saying. I guess wanting my question answered vs. hearing a multitude of other divergent opinions makes me selfish and emotional I suppose.

I'll love Major Geeks and these forums. They have been hugely helpful to me in the past and will likely be in the future. This I'll just chalk up to the one that got away.

Again...thanks anyway.:major

 

I can scarce believe the OP has reported this thread! For what? He appears to think we are all paid staff when all we are is interested volunteers with no connection whatsoever to the owners. Reality check required.

 

Earthling, Some people have not learned to not bite the hand that feeds them... sad. :confused

And we continue to help them... :confused why?

Because you're the better person.

 

I have just read through all the posts and I apologise for mine. I can understand the OP's frustration. Afterall, it's my choice to use Windows XP Professional SP3 and Windows 7 Ultimate.

techtitan,
Kindly don't misunderstand this post. Do the following - if you haven't already:

1. Check with the PC or motherboard manufacturer if it supports Windows 7.
2. If not, check if there's a BIOS update that will allow the installation of Windows 7.
3. Check the HDD with a program like HDDlife pro.
4. Check the Windows 7 DVD with a program like Nero CD-DVD Speed.

FYI You can only 'flash' the BIOS, not the onboard drivers.

 

YCLAHTWBYCMHD as they say

 

I gotta' say, things have taken a weird turn. I now see page after page of posts that continue to point a frustrated finger my way, suggesting things have somehow gotten' off the rails due to my inability to complete the Windows 8 questionnaire that continues to be forced upon me.

Am I not capable of determining which OS I want? Do I really need to explain why I don't like/want Windows 8 without it becoming a personal insult to some of you? I asked about install drivers. Plain and simple. This isn't a can of worms I opened. If there are some who feel they've been personally wounded by this, I fail to see how that's on me. My purpose was specific.

If this thread would have just stayed on topic and focused on the original question (again...DRIVERS), I doubt it would have went much further than a few simple posts. Now it's ballooned up to two pages of bad feelings and one person calling me poor (which is what the report was about, not the rest of the thread).

Again, thanks to everyone who tried to help and the Major Geeks staff that reached out. I have expressed my admiration and love of the support staff here on several occasions, so let's just move on shall we? This is a lost cause and has seemingly devolved to a futile endeavor.

 

I've been watching this thread in hopes of learning something new, possibly making a contribution if I am able. But I am astounded at how quickly things have devolved here, especially in a forum of good samaritans built on the concept of "provide what you can, and take what you need." How did this altruistic concept get corrupted so easily and so quickly? I see accusations of "personal hurt" and, rather than toss it back to someone else, I'll own it. I am personally hurt by the actions in this thread. This is supposed to be a community of "quid pro quo" and brotherly advice.

This isn't my website; I'm not in charge; and I have no authority over anyone. But as a thread lurker with no stake in the outcome, may I share my perspective from what I see?

To the OP:
You did indeed specifically ask about drivers for a Win7 downgrade, a very specific and narrow request. But based on the anticipated outcome of your endeavor, is it not desirable for others to share their experiences, possibly suggesting a "better" way for your consideration? That is what I hear everyone doing in this thread. I hear everyone suggesting ways to make your system look, behave, and operate in a manner similar to Win7. Inasmuch as you have refused to address any questions about WHY you do not like Win8 (and it's okay that you don't!), everyone is speculating on what you do not like and is offering a solution based on what THEY did not like. It may not be what you asked for, but IF there's a better way, should it not be offered, even though you didn't specifically ask for it? Speaking for myself, and ONLY myself, I'd rather have several different proposed solutions to a problem; decide which is most likely to solve my problem, and proceed from there; possibly with fallback solutions if MY preferred solution does not work?

To the offerors of tech support:
In all fairness to the original OP, he did specify his preferred solution is Win7, and it is HIS decision to make. Personally, I appreciate the suggestions as different tools for the toolbox, but maybe the OP has already considered these solutions, or even tried them and already determined they're not satisfactory. Or maybe he just wants to do it that way for the knowledge or as a proof of concept? Whatever the OPs reasons are, they are valid. It would be nice if he would respond to the questions, so folks aren't blindly guessing how to help based on perceived motivations for wanting Win7. He's made it clear, he wants Win7 and ONLY Win7, which is his decision to make, regardless of others' perceptions of the quality of that solution. You offered a Win8 solution (and I thank you for that!), it was summarily rejected, repeatedly. At that point, you either offer a Win7 solution, or you don't have a Win7 solution (which is okay, 'cuz you're not required to have one).

So I see both sides of the coin here, and understand both perspectives. What I DON'T understand is how this thread is worthy of reporting. There were no personal attacks; there was no malicious advice; no one suggested anything illegal; and no one "pimped" software they were selling.

Reporting this thread for being called "poor" is laughable to me. I'm a linux guy and MY suggestion would've been to install a linux distro on your machine. And I've been told on THIS FORUM that linux is a solution for poor people many times. If being called poor is a reportable offense, I have several threads that I'd like administrated. On second thought...my skin is thicker than that...never mind.

My rant is over. Sincere best wishes to the OP in getting your original request resolved. If you get it resolved, I hope you'll let us know what the solution was and how it was implemented. This will expand the knowledge base of everyone here, possibly preventing a repeat of the scenario in this thread. Thank you!

 

I told him in his previous thread http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=272571 that HP only lists Windows 8. If the manufacturer refuses to supply drivers, then you will have an extremely hard time getting an unsupported OS to work.
It was not what he wanted to hear, so he started a new thread, perhaps hoping the answer had changed. Again, I looked to see if HP had put up drivers. No, the answer did not change. My only advice was to increase the RAM so Win 8 works better.

Bottom line: sometimes you can't get what you want.
We've all had that happen.
Lots of us would still be using XP, if MS didn't stop support last year. Some old printers that still work, aren't supported by drivers for 7 so new hardware had to bought even though the old unit was still fully functional. How about old, fully functioning flatbed scanners? I see people posting trying to find drivers. The scanner is still good, just not supported by a new OS.

If he really hates the computer, my advice, cut your loses, sell it and buy a refurbed Windows 7 one.

 

Due to the OP's curt dismissal of all suggestions, and choosing not to respond to any requests for factual information, I just don't have the patience to plough through all this and the previous thread again and check everything, but the failure to install Win 7 sounds to me like the machine may have been supplied as a UEFI system with secure boot and has nothing at all to do with missing Win 7 drivers. If that is the case then disabling secure boot and using the Win 7 disk to delete existing partitions should clear the way for installing 7.

 

I think it's time to just breath and let it go people. Breath and let it go...

 

Have you considered the possibility I raised a little earlier that your Win 7 install fails because of secure boot? Secure boot arrived with Win 8 and unless disabled will prevent all attempts to install a different system. Do you understand UEFI and secure boot and the protection they maintain over Win 8?

 

Alternatively,

Not sure this is the best solution, or even a viable solution, but I'll toss it out there: depending on your system's RAM, would installation of Win7 in a Virtual Machine be an acceptable solution?

If installation of Win7 directly on your metal, overwriting Win8 turns out to not be a workable solution, perhaps this may be:
- clean up Win8 and upgrade to 8.1 for performance boost, per suggestions in this thread
- bump up RAM to 4-8GB
- install VirtualBox
- load Win7 as a VM guest on your Win8 host
- run Win7 VM in full screen mode

Again, not ideal and perhaps a roundabout way of getting there. But maybe the next best thing to your preferred ideal solution. Your machine, your call...

 

Just when I thought I was out...they keep pulling me back in! :-D

Man, now I'm just amused. You have given up all attempts at masking just how personally butt-hurt you are about me disregarding your advice haven't you? On a side note, I did try and come up with a better expression than "butt-hurt" which didn't sound so immature. Frankly, I couldn't' find a more appropriate one in light of you getting your panties in such a twist.

@Hedon James

Virtual machining isn't going to be an option, just because of the nature of how I need to split my work space between this and another Windows 7 based desktop I'll be dividing my time between. Yet another reason why I cared not for the Windows 8 discussions (not that they were ever relevant mind you). Appreciate the effort here though.

@Earthling

Yes I am familiar with what you are referring, yet I have not delved to deeply into it in this instance (as I was led to believe drivers/bios info/etc was possibly missing). Having said that, it's certainly worth a try. This is the first viable option I've gotten since the thread started, so I'll definitely take a look at this and keep you posted on my findings.

 

Start with the good advice from Earthling.

Then download the drivers from here.

http://laptop-driver-download-cente...3/compaq-presario-cq58-windows-7-drivers.html

Ignore the 2 Intel drivers.

:wave

PS I have no way of knowing if those drivers are the correct ones. The onus is on you.

:wave

 

UPDATE:

Ah...victory never felt so satisfying!

You've not heard from me in about a week or so, as I've been busy reinstalling all my programs and configuring my fresh new install of Windows 7! After much of this thread failed to yield any results (where some would've had me give up all together) I decided to re-double my efforts to figure out what the obstacle was on my own. The closets any user came to figuring out the issue had to do with the secure boot option, however this didn't quite hit the nail on the head either. It turns out, the real solution I discovered after much work and investigation was going into the BIOS and forcing the system to load into a legacy platform for older versions of the OS. Once active, the install disc breezed through it's installation just fine.

As for the naysayers who doubted this was even possible or whether the system would be better off once Windows 7 was installed, I'm compelled to scoff in your direction (and these past few pages document who you are). Absolutely EVERYTHING about my setup is running smoother from top to bottom now. Same hardware. No upgrades. Just a complete cleaning out the crappy Windows 8 cobwebs.

I must say I'm currently resisting the urge to flip a big middle finger to all those who beat me over the head and made me out to be an idiot up 'till this point. However, I feel my success in proving them so unequivocally wrong is vindication enough. I'd suggest remembering in the future that inspired amateurs can sometimes know a thing or two using simple common sense that you "seasoned veterans" may not want to admit. Let's hope the next Techtitan who comes along won't find himself fought so much along the way.

As for the Major Geeks staff and any users who did offer a helping hand, to you I am eternally grateful. Thanks for providing a wonderful community and I look forward to working with you more in the future.

P.S.

:-D <<<<<<<<<<<< This is me right now! :cool