Downgrading to Windows 7, Problem with Hard Drive Driver (AHCI settings)

[kolumbo]

I really need help with this one. I got a HP Envy dvt-7300 Quad Edition which came with Windows 8, which I despise. I have already downgraded a few laptops with Win 8 to Win 7 without problem. Now I finally get myself a laptop and have an issue.

When installing Windows 7, I already deleted all the partitions, so I have no operating system. When I originally started to install windows 7, I received this message:

“Windows Setup could not configure Windows on this computer’s hardware”

Then I found out that its a problem with the hard drive settings, so I attempted to load the driver from HP's support site for my model and received this message:

"The [Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller (D:\iaStorAC.inf) (x64)] device driver could not be installed. Contact your vendor for an updated driver."

So my final option was to go into my BIOS and change the AHCI settings but HP limits the BIOS options and this option isnt visible.

Can anyone help me figure out how to get Windows 7 installed successfully please!!!!????

Right now my laptop is a big paper weight collecting dust!

 

[J_E_D_70]

Have you tried different drivers directly from Intel?

 

[kolumbo]

I dont know what drivers to use. I did attempt to download drivers from the Intel page,
http/www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-031502.htm
and attempted the Intel Rapid Storage drivers but Im not sure if they are the correct ones. Can you help me find which ones I should try?

 

[J_E_D_70]

That's the one I'd use - that failed too?

 

[kolumbo]

Yeah, I get this message : "The [Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller (D:\iaStorAC.inf) (x64)] device driver could not be installed. Contact your vendor for an updated driver."

 

[J_E_D_70]

So that's the same message you got from the HP site version (that's how the post reads, to me anyway ><). If that's the case, I'd open a ticket with HP Support and ask them to point you to the correct driver.

There is a small chance that the laptop chipset and drivers are customized with a specific Win 8 driver and no Win 7 driver exists. Vendors do some crazy stuff.

 

[kolumbo]

HP will say the laptop isnt capable of Windows 7, because they have a license agreement with microsoft to only deal with Windows 8. But I know this can handle Windows 7. Im thinking my only option is to mod the BIOS so I can change the AHCI settings, but I cant find a modded bios for my laptop.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Hate when they do that... I had a laptop that came with Vista and I moved to 7. When I did that, the sound stopped working after sleep mode, but a reboot brings it back. Never been able to find a driver that works right.

 

[kolumbo]

I just read somewhere that you can downgrade from Windows 8 to 7 by just inserting Windows 7 media in on a system with 8 on it and it will downgrade, so right now Im going thru the process of doing a system restore and then Ill try a downgrade to 7.

 

[kolumbo]

This didnt work, again received an error about not having the proper hardware for win 7, which is not true.

 

[taffakarri]

Did you ever get to downgrade from win8 to win7 on your HP ENVY? i am having the same problem, can you help?