I bought a new HP laptop with windows 8. How do I install Vista 64!

First,... I bought a HP Envy DV7-7212NR which is pretty new because because I can't really find to much on it on the web. I found out that it's a "Built For Windows 8 PC" and HP doesn't recommend downgrading or even upgrading!!!! That basically means they only have drivers on their website for Windows 8.

Anyways,... I don't want to use Windows 8. I want to use Vista 64. But it's not installing properly. I got the Intel drivers F6 drivers. When I get to the drive screen where I am to choose a drive, initially no drives are in the list. I click load drivers and and point to the usb flash drive where the drivers are. Vista selects one that being the Intel(r) Mobile Express Chipset Sata Raid Controller from the iaSTOR.inf file. It loads. My drive shows up. I select it and then shortly after Vista starts doing what it does I get an error, "Can't install required file make sure required files are there" or something like that. So i lcose that out and I'm brought back to the repair or custom install screen. I hit custom install again. This time my drives are already there meaning the driver is still loaded. So I select the drive and click install. This time,... it actually works! Vista expands all of it's files and it takes about the right amount of time to do this. But when it comes to everything after that,... it doesnt seem right. It's way to fast and not enough reboots. It checks off the upgrades and features and then checks off installation complete and then reboots.

When the computer reboots and vista tries to start up I get a quick flash of the blue screen and it reboots again. If I boot from the cdrom,... it does the installation again. I had to record the flash of the blue screen to see what it says because it's so fast. Basically said I problem has been detected and windows has been shutdown to prevent damage.

Anyone know whats up here?

I tried installing XP. I did the slipstream stream thing using nlite and the same driver is loaded but just before XP starts installing,... the computer shuts off.

Can anyone help me?

 

welcome to nbr
firstly download who crashed from my signature below and post the bsod dump report on here.

the driver you highlighted above. how many hard drive have you got on your lappy and have you got a msata hard drive as well.

hopefully someone else can advise if you can actually load vista or 7 on it if it says built for windows 8. ive never used 8 so would have no idea if there would be a conflict to downgrade.

 

Sorry what?

Vista :|

 

why would you want to downgrade to vista!!! ??? vista is one of worse MS os.if you would downgrade your best choice would be windows7! or stick
to 8.

 

Win XP is a better choice than Vista

 

I'll agree that Vista is pretty shabby. Even with the latest service packs, it's inferior to 7 and 8 in many ways.

However, if you really can't stand 8, have a Vista license, and don't want to pay for a 7 license, your easiest option is to reformat the hard drive and install Vista afresh from a DVD or USB installation medium. You shouldn't run into any problems apart from the fact that you're using a dated OS that was considered an unequivocal failure even at its best.

Personally, I think 8 is terrific. It takes some getting used to (hate the idea of evolving in your usage? use ClassicShell), but it's well-optimized and includes some new interface stuff that can be fun to use and may eventually become part of my regular interaction with the OS. Would I like my OS-embedded start button back? Sure. But in computing it's adapt or be left behind. Whether it's DOS to Windows 3.11 like in my household, 3.11 to 95, XP to Vista/7 (there was a huge outcry about losing the classic defrag GUI so we couldn't watch our hard drives get defragged in a huggable interface. Seriously?), 7 to 8, people are going to dislike new Windows features, and then they're gonna shut up and get used to them.

My recommendation is to stick with Windows 8 - you'll gain the added benefit that HP's Windows 8 optimized drivers will be at their most efficient that way.

 

Ok well,... I never had a problem with Vista 64. I had and used it for years. I installed the eval version of Win8 and have been using it for a day or two now. I actually kind of like it. It's not that bad. There are some annoying things about it but its not that bad. It's pretty damn fast. It really all depends on how you look at it. It's basically a desktop OS with a tablet style home screen I rather call is a home screen rather a start screen because I really dont "Start" there. It's more like my screen saver Anyways. I think I will skip on installing Vista.

I do have another question though. I do have the SRT thing going on here with the HDD and SSD used as the cache. I noticed within "my computer" there a small 8gb drive along with my main 700GB drive. Within the SRT software I noticed that the 8gb drive is a partition of the 30gb SSD. SRT says its a data volume and the remaining 22GB of that SSD is the cache volume. What is that 8gb drive for? For me to use for whatever? Meaning that only 22GB is being used for cache? Im wondering because if htats the case I'd like to install the programs I use that are the most taxing onto that partition for maximum performance. You know what I mean? Thats for all the replies. I appreciate it. Thanks.

 

Not knowing anything about it, I would deign to guess that it might be left idle in order to ensure that the SSD doesn't get filled up too much with cache. SSD's work best with lower utilization; an SSD that's overfilled can sometimes run even slower than a mechanical hard drive. With older SSD's (pre-TRIM?) I believe the drive was pretty much toast if it was overfilled even once (i.e. the performance drops persisted even after you cleared up the extra space), but I don't think it's that bad anymore.

TL;DR - Guessing that it might be a buffer to preserve SSD performance - utilize at your own risk unless you've done the research first.

 

Make sure to go to your BIOS Options and disable UEFI boot if it's there. having UEFI boot is the worst thing ever as 1) it forces the installation to create an extra GPT partition during installation, which makes it very tricky to create partition backups/images using programs like Acronis True Image and the likes... and 2) It sometimes will not even allow you to install the OS as Windows Installation Disc will not even see your parition.

Once UEFI boot is disabled, you can easily install Windows Vista or 7

Windows 8 is the biggest mistake Microsoft ever made! I tried it for 10 minutes and quickly formatted my laptop and installed 7 back.....

My personal Experience with Windows 8

Windows 7 Drivers:

Intel Chipset Driver v9.3.0.1025

Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver v11.6.2.1002

Intel USB 3.0 Driver v1.0.6.245

Intel Management Engine Interface v8.1.2.1318

nVIDIA GeForce Drivers Choose your display adapter, make sure to select the M versions not the normal ones

Intel Turbo Boost Technology Monitor v1.0.400.4

 

You want to use Windows Vista?? If you are going to downgrade, get Windows 7. I really think you should give Windows 8 a fair shake, it is fantastic once you get past the learning curve. The only reason to downgrade would be compatibility issues, but your machine is built for Windows 8, so that wouldn't be the case.