going back to 7

[Drew]

Recently I upgraded the wife's computer to win 8 and unfortunately it is
too unstable to keep. (a long long story) I am now forced to return it
to win 7. First off I did a complete backup of all before I upgraded to
win 8. The question is since I am forced to take it back to 7 will I
have to download all the updates to win 7 (sp1+) or will it restore that
after installing win 7 and restoring the backup? No sense in discussing
the possibility of a workaround to keep win 8 as Microsoft worked on it
for 3 days before they gave up and advised me to return it to 7. Hell I
got it more stable than they could. The problem is it cannot be
restarted without crashing and cannot be updated without crashing. If I
run it without anything like that it runs fine. Problem is I cannot even
put any protection on it without a serious crash at all.

 

[Scott]

Recently I upgraded the wife's computer to win 8 and unfortunately it is
too unstable to keep. (a long long story) I am now forced to return it
to win 7. First off I did a complete backup of all before I upgraded to
win 8. The question is since I am forced to take it back to 7 will I
have to download all the updates to win 7 (sp1+) or will it restore that
after installing win 7 and restoring the backup? No sense in discussing
the possibility of a workaround to keep win 8 as Microsoft worked on it
for 3 days before they gave up and advised me to return it to 7. Hell I
got it more stable than they could. The problem is it cannot be
restarted without crashing and cannot be updated without crashing. If I
run it without anything like that it runs fine. Problem is I cannot even
put any protection on it without a serious crash at all.

Do not disrespect Windows 8 on this newsgroup

 

[Wolf K]

Recently I upgraded the wife's computer to win 8 and unfortunately it is
too unstable to keep. (a long long story) I am now forced to return it
to win 7. First off I did a complete backup of all before I upgraded to
win 8. The question is since I am forced to take it back to 7 will I
have to download all the updates to win 7 (sp1+) or will it restore that
after installing win 7 and restoring the backup? [...]

AIUI, whether you can use the backup to restore the last state of your
W7 depends on what kind of backup it is. If you backed it up using W7's
backup/restore, you should be OK. It depends on how/what you backed up.
Also, it may balk at restoring over an earlier version of W&.
Backup/restore was quite touchy in my experience with it on XP and
earlier, may still be the same with W7.

A disk-image backup with a 3rd party utility doesn't need to have W7
installed: you just transfer the image to the hard drive, and away you go.

If you backed up file-by-file, then you have your data saved. That's far
more important than the OS or software IMO. In that case I'd bite the
bullet, update W7 completely, then copy the data files. The software is
another issue: if you've installed from CDs. there's no problem. If you
installed from downloaded install packages, you may need keys. I trust
you have them recorded somewhere, and/or have proof from purchase if you
need to retrieve them from the vendor.

Good luck,

 

[Drew]

What do you mean by "backup"?

Alias.. what I did was do a complete backup of win 7 using windows
backup as well as I also did the same using macrium free. At that point
I did a upgrade to windows 8. I have fought with this for 2 months now
and have discovered no other way to keep it stable without returning it
to win 7. I have my original windows 7 disc (system builder) that I
will use to reinstall windows 7 but unfortunately it is a pre sp1 disc.
Hence my question.

 

[Drew]

Do not disrespect Windows 8 on this newsgroup

Who said anything about disrespecting windows 8. The wife likes it but
it will simply not run properly on her computer.

 

[Wolf K]

Who said anything about disrespecting windows 8. The wife likes it but
it will simply not run properly on her computer.

Could be outdated BIOS. Older motherboards don't always take kindly to
new OSs. You could update BIOS, but I wouldn't do it with a flaky OS.
You can do a BIOS update form a bottable CD, too, that's another avenue
to explore.

Good luck.

 

[Drew]

Could be outdated BIOS. Older motherboards don't always take kindly to
new OSs. You could update BIOS, but I wouldn't do it with a flaky OS.
You can do a BIOS update form a bottable CD, too, that's another avenue
to explore.

Good luck.

Hence one of the major problems.. there is no update and will be none.
It sucks that a computer specifically designed for touch does not work
with a op system designed for touch.

 

[Paul]

Alias.. what I did was do a complete backup of win 7 using windows
backup as well as I also did the same using macrium free. At that point
I did a upgrade to windows 8. I have fought with this for 2 months now
and have discovered no other way to keep it stable without returning it
to win 7. I have my original windows 7 disc (system builder) that I
will use to reinstall windows 7 but unfortunately it is a pre sp1 disc.
Hence my question.

If you imaged your C: and System Reserved partitions with Macrium,
you'll have a full working Windows 7, minus about two months worth
of Windows Update (since your backups are from two months ago).

I don't see a reason to do a clean install, unless it makes you feel better.

Macrium may prompt you, what partition to put the data in and so on.
You may need to "clean" the disk before-hand. I don't know if Macrium
has any capability there.

I might use a Linux LiveCD and GParted for a quick look at the disk,
if I was unsure. But since your Windows 8 is still working, you
can use Disk Management to see how close to the same partition
setup it is. Maybe Macrium will blow it all away - I don't know
if Macrium can figure stuff like this out or not.

If you had another working Windows OS, you could use diskpart and
use "clean". Or, use Disk Management and delete partitions you
didn't want.

Just be sure to plan your restoration, before doing it.

Also, when you post an article like this, you should refer
to the original hardware config. Is this the IQ804 with
dual video ?

It's almost like the two GPU, one cable hardware setup,
wasn't tested or something. Typically, this video setup,
has a low performance GPU used during "non-gaming" activity,
and a better GPU that is called on during 3D, and somehow
they both get to drive the same cable. (In the old days,
they implemented that using frame overlay, and the video
out of one chip, was a video input on the second chip.
I don't know how this generation works.) The drivers could
be provided by two different companies, and the odds of
the companies actually working together is slim. Which
makes it more likely to use pure hardware trickery.

(Example of passthru cabling for connecting two GPUs in series...
The second GPU can replace the original video content, while
keeping the original sync signals. This is the connection
of a 3DFX Voodoo2 to an ordinary video card, for gaming
performance improvement. Back in the Quake II days...
The gaming card is the bottom one, with one connector
being video-in, the other video-out.)

http://www.rautasaitti.com/artikkelit/muut/kuvat/legendat/s3/liitos.jpg

Paul

 

[Ken Blake]

what I did was do a complete backup of win 7 using windows
backup as well as I also did the same using macrium free. At that point
I did a upgrade to windows 8. I have fought with this for 2 months now
and have discovered no other way to keep it stable without returning it
to win 7. I have my original windows 7 disc (system builder) that I
will use to reinstall windows 7 but unfortunately it is a pre sp1 disc.
Hence my question.

If your backup is a backup of files, yes, you'll have to reinstall all
the updates. But if your backup is a clone of the drive, no you don't;
in fact you don't have to reinstall Windows from the original windows
7 disc; just use the clone to put to back the way it was.

 

[Drew]

If your backup is a backup of files, yes, you'll have to reinstall all
the updates. But if your backup is a clone of the drive, no you don't;
in fact you don't have to reinstall Windows from the original windows
7 disc; just use the clone to put to back the way it was.

I created a system image with both windows backup, and Macrium free.
Not totally sure what you mean by not using the disc.Believe me at this
point all would be helpful. Thanks Ken!

 

[Wolf K]

Hence one of the major problems.. there is no update and will be none.
It sucks that a computer specifically designed for touch does not work
with a op system designed for touch.

YIKES! Can you return it to the vendor?

Good luck,

 

[Drew]

If you imaged your C: and System Reserved partitions with Macrium,
you'll have a full working Windows 7, minus about two months worth
of Windows Update (since your backups are from two months ago).

I don't see a reason to do a clean install, unless it makes you feel
better.

Macrium may prompt you, what partition to put the data in and so on.
You may need to "clean" the disk before-hand. I don't know if Macrium
has any capability there.

I might use a Linux LiveCD and GParted for a quick look at the disk,
if I was unsure. But since your Windows 8 is still working, you
can use Disk Management to see how close to the same partition
setup it is. Maybe Macrium will blow it all away - I don't know
if Macrium can figure stuff like this out or not.

If you had another working Windows OS, you could use diskpart and
use "clean". Or, use Disk Management and delete partitions you
didn't want.

Just be sure to plan your restoration, before doing it.

Also, when you post an article like this, you should refer
to the original hardware config. Is this the IQ804 with
dual video ?

It's almost like the two GPU, one cable hardware setup,
wasn't tested or something. Typically, this video setup,
has a low performance GPU used during "non-gaming" activity,
and a better GPU that is called on during 3D, and somehow
they both get to drive the same cable. (In the old days,
they implemented that using frame overlay, and the video
out of one chip, was a video input on the second chip.
I don't know how this generation works.) The drivers could
be provided by two different companies, and the odds of
the companies actually working together is slim. Which
makes it more likely to use pure hardware trickery.

(Example of passthru cabling for connecting two GPUs in series...
The second GPU can replace the original video content, while
keeping the original sync signals. This is the connection
of a 3DFX Voodoo2 to an ordinary video card, for gaming
performance improvement. Back in the Quake II days...
The gaming card is the bottom one, with one connector
being video-in, the other video-out.)

http://www.rautasaitti.com/artikkelit/muut/kuvat/legendat/s3/liitos.jpg

Paul

I am not sure whether it contains both cards or not. and yes it is a
iq804 and you are right I should have used that in the title.I have just
downloaded all the HP updates for win 7 and put them on a second drive
in case they are needed. I created a system image using both win backup
and macrium free before I upgraded it. Not sure how to proceed yet.

 

[Drew]

YIKES! Can you return it to the vendor?

Good luck,

If you are asking about the computer then no it is too old.. as for the
windows 8 dvd's I will use them for coasters or something LOL
or look at building a new box for it

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

If you are asking about the computer then no it is too old.. as for the
windows 8 dvd's I will use them for coasters or something LOL
or look at building a new box for it

Maybe keep Windows8 and use the computer as a Frisbee. )

Happy Holiday's, Rene

 

[Drew]

Maybe keep Windows8 and use the computer as a Frisbee. )

Happy Holiday's, Rene

Thought of that but Desktops do not make good frisbees! Now a laptop on
the other hand travels quite far..

 

[Ken Blake]

I created a system image with both windows backup, and Macrium free.
Not totally sure what you mean by not using the disc.Believe me at this
point all would be helpful. Thanks Ken!

You're welcome. Glad to help. If you've got a system image, that's
great. That's all you need and if you use that, you will get all the
updates you've already done and won't have to redo them.

 

[Paul]

I created a system image with both windows backup, and Macrium free.
Not totally sure what you mean by not using the disc.Believe me at this
point all would be helpful. Thanks Ken!

This series of pictures, is me using Macrium to restore Windows 7.
I restored System Reserved and C: partitions to an empty drive.
Maybe this will restore your confidence. The cursor on your browser
should show a (+) symbol, and clicking should result in a
"zoom in" so you can read it. The colors are terrible looking,
because I stored in 8 bit color (a mistake).

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/4512/macriumrestore.gif

The boot media used, was the Macrium built-in 15MB ISO image
they provide. You were supposed to burn a CD with that on it,
so you'll have something to boot from. That is what the second
half of the images I've captured, was using for the restoration.

All of that was tested in a virtual machine, which is why I was
able to take pictures of it.

Macrium saves things in a VHD format, and with a small amount
of effort, you can mount those and have a look around. But
totally unnecessary in this case, as you're just blowing away
the destination disk.

Paul

 

[Paul]

This series of pictures, is me using Macrium to restore Windows 7.
I restored System Reserved and C: partitions to an empty drive.
Maybe this will restore your confidence. The cursor on your browser
should show a (+) symbol, and clicking should result in a
"zoom in" so you can read it. The colors are terrible looking,
because I stored in 8 bit color (a mistake).

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/4512/macriumrestore.gif

The boot media used, was the Macrium built-in 15MB ISO image
they provide. You were supposed to burn a CD with that on it,
so you'll have something to boot from. That is what the second
half of the images I've captured, was using for the restoration.

All of that was tested in a virtual machine, which is why I was
able to take pictures of it.

Macrium saves things in a VHD format, and with a small amount
of effort, you can mount those and have a look around. But
totally unnecessary in this case, as you're just blowing away
the destination disk.

Paul

And I see the battle with Win8 and the IQ804, continues...
One guy has half of it working, another guy has half of it working.
What... fun...

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/TouchS...ro-64-Bit-on-HP-TouchSmart-IQ804/td-p/1988241

Paul

 

[Drew]

My Thanks to Paul and Ken. As usual you guys rock!! Wife's computer is
back to windows 7 and running like it was never touched. Amazingly
simple with your direction. Thanks again.

 

[Ken Blake]

My Thanks to Paul and Ken. As usual you guys rock!! Wife's computer is
back to windows 7 and running like it was never touched. Amazingly
simple with your direction. Thanks again.

You're welcome. Glad to help.