Hi guys/gals weird one here, but i'm kind of stuck. Basically, my friend bought a ASUS X552C Windows 8 laptop for work. He needed windows 7 32 bit so I attempted to install it. I wiped the Windows 8 partition (left all other partitions, including recovery). But when I tried to install Windows 7, it kept saying it couldn't due to the drive being GPT, and the only way to make it work would be to format the whole drive to MBR, which I didn't want to do, because I wasn't even sure if the drivers from Windows 8 would work for Windows 7. So I took out the hard drive, installed a spare one, installed 32 Bit Windows, tried to install Windows 8 drivers, and they didn't work. Probably because all the drivers are 64bit as well as being for Windows 8. Fair enough, now the problem I put the old hard drive back and tried to recover the Windows 8 installation from the Advanced Recovery menu, and it fails to load. Quoting something to do with missing partitions? The laptop didn't come with a recovery CD or COA sticker (I later learnt, this was built into the BIOS) So I have tried to download multiple versions of Windows 8, just to get it working so I could recover the official Windows 8 built into the laptop, but all attempts fail, as the CD Key associated with the downloads, don't match the CD key built into the laptop. So currently, I have a expensive paper weight. Any ideas? The idea is to get it back to stock, and then file for a Distance Sellers Act (Bought from Ebuyer) as the laptop is basically no good for him, he needs windows 7, 32Bit. Sorry about the long post, tried to include as much detail as possible. Any ideas on what to do?
I'd say the Windows 7 route is possible, it's just gonna take a bit of researching for the drivers. Looking at the specs (is this the model?) I think I can help track down the drivers for you. I think the Windows 8 route is lost now simply because the recovery partition has been deleted unless another bit-techer knows of a way to recover it.
Hi Lancer, thanks for the quick reply. I'm guessing I can get a recovery disk from Asus, at a cost and that should restore the laptop back to stock? Also, that is the laptop in question, it'd be great if we can source the driver. The drivers I used from the ASUS site obviously didn't work, but going directly to the individual manufacturers might work
The recovery media was my first thought but unfortunately, this is the first thing you see when heading to Asus' eShop: If your happy to give the Win 7 route a go, here's some drivers to get you started (all should be direct links unless stated): Intel Graphics - Took a guess on your unit having the HD4000 graphics. Let me know if it doesn't work and i'll get the link for the HD2500. They also may not be needed if the Nvidia ones install ok. Intel Chipset Nvidia Graphics - May not install without the Intel Graphics being installed first. If you have two graphics cards listed under device manager then both will be needed. [URL="http://www.realtek.com/default.aspx]Realtek HD Audio[/URL] - Click the "HD Audio Codec Driver" on the right, tick the box and then click next. The driver you need is at the top but you need to try the different servers and some are dreadfully slow and others are ok, it's a bit of pot luck really.
Realtek Gigabit Ethernet - Same as above but click the "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Series Drivers" link instead. The drivers you need are the 5th ones down. Again, pot luck with the servers I'm afraid. Intel USB 3.0 Intel Management Engine Interface ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities - Install this before the Smart Gesture below. ASUS Smart Gesture (Touchpad Driver) Realtek Card Reader - This may not work but I'm not 100% sure if it's needed in the first place... Right, that should do 99% of it all. What's left should be just the wireless driver but I'll need some info from device manager before I can find the drivers for it. Let me know if you have any issues with the drivers so far
if you have any devices which still need drivers but can't work out what they are, use pcidatabase to find them.
thanks for the help guys, ill get a chance to mess around with the laptop on Monday and ill let you know how I got on. I rep'd you both
Try DriverPack Solution (via torrent) and burn it to disc. Then run it on the 7 installation and it'll likely put most if not all of the drivers in for you. Just make sure you choose to install drivers only not programs as well. If some are missing, then as Rich said try pcidatabase or devid. There's 10s of thousands of drivers on it (about 30GB or so). I use it nearly every day at work. Should you want to return to 8, PM me
Thanks for all that, all of these drivers worked on the 32 Bit What information do you need for the WiFi drivers? That is all thats missing. I managed to get the 64 Bit drivers as well based on the 32 bit drivers you provided. Thanks again for everything
I know you're beyond this point now and you're not looking to get 8 back up and running, but for future reference when you boot a Windows 8 installation disc on a PC with a W8 UEFI, there are usually two options in the boot menu. You can either use standard boot from DVD, or you can use UEFI boot - this essentially injects the correct product key and manufacturer details into the installation procedure, and the net result should be fully activated Windows directly after installation. I can confirm that this has worked on several W8 rigs I've reinstalled recently, all using the same HP 8.1 Pro intallation media, despite not all of the rigs being HP...
I'm glad they worked out for you For the WiFi, head into device manager, right click the Wifi card (probably called network controller), click properties, head to details and select "Hardware IDs" in the drop down box. What I need is the VEN and the DEV numbers.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/scbfu3pg3m3g3e3/2014-04-28 18.48.55.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/pn4wqyqm6mneqef/2014-04-28 18.48.42.jpg
that's an Atheros AR9485 wireless adaptor the driver is available from here the other is a realtek pcie card reader and driver is available here
Thanks Shirty, Ill keep that in mind, its always good knowledge. Yet again, I can't thank you enough for all the leg work you did Tried it and it worked, thanks for this
Shirtys advice is ever so slightly wrong (sorry mate ) retail and OEM 8 discs do not seem to do this only recovery discs. At least none of the ones I've used have. Nor UEFI booted WDS servers (which use the same boot images as OEMand rretail discs).
