U47A and Windows 7 Downgrade

Hello. I am attempting to downgrade a brand new ASUS U47A notebook from Windows 8 down to Windows 7. I do not wish to use Start 8, or any other add-on to emulate the functionality of Vista/7 on Windows 8.

I simply wish to downgrade it, however, booting from the MSDN Windows 7 DVD results in it freezing at the "Starting Windows" screen. It won't even get started installing it. There's many other forum posts of people having this issue, but no solutions in sight.

Does anyone here have any suggestions? I'm at a standstill. I've tried everything:

- Disabling Secure Boot (what the eff is that anyway?)
- Changing SATA behavior from AHCI to IDE
- Disabling USB 3

Nothing seems to work.

Please help -- I need to get rid of Windows 8 for the love of all that is sacred.

 

I don't know of a solution, but here are two threads that might give you some leads:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/697991-asus-r500a-windows-8-windows-7-nightmare.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...ard-oem-your-new-win8-certified-notebook.html

 

Thank you for this link. Very helpful, it seems as though the issue lies in a BIOS update that actually prevents the install of Windows 7 or earlier.

I have copied the relevant excerpts below for anyone else who might have this issue. I'll report back if this fails:

***
"Looks like you nailed it, ALLurGroceries. Found this thread while looking to downgrade an Asus N56VZ from Win 8 to Win 7. Asus website includes all drivers for Win 7, but I too was beating my head against the Secure Boot configuration. Decided to download the original BIOS for this unit and use the command prompt for winflash /nodate. It allowed the reverse flash with no problems.

I imaged the drive first, just in case the Win7 install failed. Booted right to the Win7 Pro DVD, and it moved right along. No more hanging at the pulsing Windows logo.

Next step was choosing "Custom Install" and deleting all the GPT partitions (this is why I imaged FIRST, just in case).

FTW! Windows 7 Pro installed!

As an aside, these computers come with Windows 8, NOT Windows 8 Pro; so technically the downgrade to Win 7 Pro is not supported by MS. However, you can upgrade to Win 8 Pro for $39 and get a license that way. All of that being said, you can enter ANY Win 7 Pro key and validate it through the automated phone service."
***

"I think the BIOS was 204 or so. It was the first of three releases for that model. I was still able to boot into Windows 8 at the time.

If you are unable to boot to Win8, try going into the BIOS and setting defaults, then go to Boot Secure and get it out of Setup and back into User mode. To do this go to the PK section and have it use the Standard PKs (I think), or something like that. This takes it out of Setup and into User mode. Then see if you can boot to Win8. All of that being said, this is why I imaged (or actually cloned to another drive) prior to tackling the project. Nothing like bricking a $1400 laptop b/c a client wants Win7. I didn't want that.

Also, I had to fight a little with MS to get an activation code afterwards b/c I used an OEM Win7 Pro disk from another mfr. Next time I will stick with official MS media, and any MS product key. They really don't care what the key is, as long as you are using an official MS media (or download from Digital River via MyDigitalLife). I will then use a product key from one of our machines which has a non-OEM, official MS Win7 Pro install. It will save lots of time and phone juggling with MS."
***

 

Yes, the problem lies with the current OA to aid in circumventing piracy. Thanks to MifuneT for his post on the workaround.

 

- What does OA stand for?

- Who is MifuneT?

 

OA stands for OEM Activation (and OEM stands for 'original equipment manufacturer). OA is roughly identical to SLIC, which is the 'System Licensed Internal Code', or rather, Software Licensing Description Table.

MifuneT is this helpful user here that found a workaround: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/698920-installing-windows-8-pro-over-standard-oem-your-new-win8-certified-notebook.html