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HP Recommended
Compaq Presario CQ56-115DX
Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit)

I have a Presario CQ56-115DX notebook, purchased October 2010 (5.5 years old), and currently running Windows 7. I am considering the free upgrade to Windows 10, but am concerned about the graphics card (ATI Mobility Radeon HD4250). I cannot find a consistent and straightforward answer as to whether this will work with Windows 10. Some sources say a flat No, while others say No Problem, and still others say it can be done but I will have to jump through many hoops, manually installing upgrades/downgrades of device drivers before, during, and after the OS upgrade.  Maybe a BIOS upgrade, too.

 

So, can anyone give me the straight story? When all is said and done, will I at least be no worse off than I am today on Windows 7, for graphics and video capabilities? I don't do more than very light animated board and card games -- no heavy duty action or VR stuff. This laptop doesn't have the horsepower to do that stuff anyway. If there are clear instructions somewhere for any manual steps that need to be done before pulling the trigger on the Win10 upgrade, I can follow them. I just don't want to risk being bricked during the upgrade! Supposedly, for 30 days after the upgrade I can revert to Windows 7, but that's no good if I can't get on the machine in the first place.

 

I realize that this machine is getting pretty long of tooth, so a hardware upgrade (if that's even possible) is out of the question. If I have to stay on Windows 7, I'll run that until support is gone, and then switch over to Linux or something (maybe dual boot) until the hardware finally croaks.

 

Are there any other known kinks in a Windows 10 upgrade, besides the graphics? I've seen complaints about wireless, optical drives, touchpads, and other stuff not working correctly after the upgrade.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

PPerry57

 

My advice, having done such uprades and seen them fail miserably on the older PCs (like yours) is NOT to do the upgrade.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the problem you're up against is that Microsoft only supplies drivers with the most basic functionality, and what you really need for FULL functionality in laptops is the specialized drivers written for the specific hardware found in laptops -- and unfortunately, there are no HP Win10 drivers for your laptop.  HP only guarantees Win10 compatibility for machines made after August, 2013. HP does not have any schedule indicating when, or IF, they will be producing drivers for the older machines.

This means that your PC is most likely NEVER going to be fully functional under Win10 because the drivers is needs for full functionality simply do not exist!  

 

Also, there are no BIOS upgrades for your PC since it was not built with Win10 in mind.

 

While Microsoft tells you that there is no risk in the Win10 Upgrade, because they let you believe that you can always revert back to your original OS and setup within 30 days, the ugly faction of the matter is that the Win10 GoBack function has proven to be unreliable -- and when it fails, it can leave machines in a corrupted state -- which doesn't always happen, but it does happen often enough to be a problem and you won't get any warning in advance that it is going to trash your PC!

 

So, folks that tell you that you'll be no worse off if you Upgrade are ignoring the reality of the situation -- you'll be no better off, and will definitely be worse off, just how much, no one knows.

 

However, if you are willing to do some work and are determined to try out the Upgrade, then read on ...

 

You need to think about how much work you want to commit to just to run Win10.  Seriously.  Older Win7 machine tend to come in two flavors when it comes to the Win10 upgrade -- really easy, and really hard.

The really hard to upgrade PCs fall into two categories: (1) those that are upgradeable to Win10 and will work OK, (2) those that are not.

HP laptops, especially the older Win7 machines, often came with two different graphics chips -- and Intel and then, either an AMD or Nvidia.  This was known as Switchable Graphics or Hybrid Graphics.  You ran using the Intel chip most of the time, but when you needed extra graphics power, like in Gaming, the PC automatically switched over to using the AMD or Nvidia graphics chip.

Problem is, this requires special graphics drivers to work, and while those came preinstalled on the Win7 laptops, those drivers simply do not exist for Win10.  Those drivers are not available from Intel, AMD, or Nvidia.  A way to tell if your PC has two different graphics chips is to look in Device Manager under Display Adapters.  If there are two different adapters listed, one Intel and one AMD/Nividia, then you have this problem -- and if you force an upgrade to Win10, you will have serious graphics problems and your machine will not work.

However, if you do not have this problem, to CAN upgrade to Win10, but you must be prepared to do four things:
1) Make a complete image backup to external drive or large capacity USB stick,
2) Make changes to the reserved system partitioning scheme on your hard drive,
3) Use a different approach, and maybe more than one, than Windows Update to do the Upgrade,
4) Prepare for a clean-install.

---------------------------------
1: Image Backup:  
This is VITAL because the machine is likely to fail the upgrade, and when it does, you will learn that the Win10 GoBack function is NOT reliable, and that can leave you with a corrupted machine that will require factory reset, and losing everything on it, to get it working again.

You avoid this by making an image backup to an external drive or USB stick using Macrium Reflect (MR) which provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR)
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.
---------------------------------
2: System Reserved Resizing:  
There is a small partition on the hard drive of Win7 preinstalled machines known as System Reserved.  This holds something known as the boot loader code.  It is 100MB in size -- all that is needed for Win7.  But Win10 needs 350MB, and, in some cases, is NOT able to resize this on its own.  IF that happens, you have to manually use a partitioning tool to resize it yourself.
---------------------------------
3: Use a different Upgrade approach:  
Windows Update is the easiest, but least reliable, way to do the Win10 Upgrade.  A much better, and more reliable way, is to use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10   Choose the Upgrade this PC now option.

After all that, you need to know that MS installs drivers with only the most basic functionality.  Since HP does not have Win10 drivers for your PC, this limited functionality is the best you're going to get.  HP is not actively writing new Win10 drivers for the old Win7 PCs.  To retain full functionality of your PC, your best move is NOT to upgrade to Win10.
---------------------------------
4: Prepare for clean-install:
If you do all this, and after the upgrade, your PC is only partially functioning, that means that the Upgrade did not go well and stuff is still there from the prior OS corrupting the functionality of Win10.

You MIGHT be able to fix this by doing a clean-install of Win10. Problem is that a clean-install often does not recognize the prior activation, even though it should. So, BEFORE you do the upgrade, follow these instructions from the community Win10 forums about creating a genuineticket.xml file:  http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/23354-clean-install-windows-10-directly-without-having-upgrade-fi...

You will need this later to activate your Win10 pc after the clean-install.

-----------------------------------------------

Good Luck

========================================================================
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor do I represent, HP.
---------------------------------------------------------------
If my posts helped you, please click the Thumbs-Up symbol on the left of the Reply button to say thanks.
If my posts solved your problem please click "Accept As Solution" -- to help others find the solution.
========================================================================

 

 



I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3
HP Recommended

PPerry57

 

My advice, having done such uprades and seen them fail miserably on the older PCs (like yours) is NOT to do the upgrade.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the problem you're up against is that Microsoft only supplies drivers with the most basic functionality, and what you really need for FULL functionality in laptops is the specialized drivers written for the specific hardware found in laptops -- and unfortunately, there are no HP Win10 drivers for your laptop.  HP only guarantees Win10 compatibility for machines made after August, 2013. HP does not have any schedule indicating when, or IF, they will be producing drivers for the older machines.

This means that your PC is most likely NEVER going to be fully functional under Win10 because the drivers is needs for full functionality simply do not exist!  

 

Also, there are no BIOS upgrades for your PC since it was not built with Win10 in mind.

 

While Microsoft tells you that there is no risk in the Win10 Upgrade, because they let you believe that you can always revert back to your original OS and setup within 30 days, the ugly faction of the matter is that the Win10 GoBack function has proven to be unreliable -- and when it fails, it can leave machines in a corrupted state -- which doesn't always happen, but it does happen often enough to be a problem and you won't get any warning in advance that it is going to trash your PC!

 

So, folks that tell you that you'll be no worse off if you Upgrade are ignoring the reality of the situation -- you'll be no better off, and will definitely be worse off, just how much, no one knows.

 

However, if you are willing to do some work and are determined to try out the Upgrade, then read on ...

 

You need to think about how much work you want to commit to just to run Win10.  Seriously.  Older Win7 machine tend to come in two flavors when it comes to the Win10 upgrade -- really easy, and really hard.

The really hard to upgrade PCs fall into two categories: (1) those that are upgradeable to Win10 and will work OK, (2) those that are not.

HP laptops, especially the older Win7 machines, often came with two different graphics chips -- and Intel and then, either an AMD or Nvidia.  This was known as Switchable Graphics or Hybrid Graphics.  You ran using the Intel chip most of the time, but when you needed extra graphics power, like in Gaming, the PC automatically switched over to using the AMD or Nvidia graphics chip.

Problem is, this requires special graphics drivers to work, and while those came preinstalled on the Win7 laptops, those drivers simply do not exist for Win10.  Those drivers are not available from Intel, AMD, or Nvidia.  A way to tell if your PC has two different graphics chips is to look in Device Manager under Display Adapters.  If there are two different adapters listed, one Intel and one AMD/Nividia, then you have this problem -- and if you force an upgrade to Win10, you will have serious graphics problems and your machine will not work.

However, if you do not have this problem, to CAN upgrade to Win10, but you must be prepared to do four things:
1) Make a complete image backup to external drive or large capacity USB stick,
2) Make changes to the reserved system partitioning scheme on your hard drive,
3) Use a different approach, and maybe more than one, than Windows Update to do the Upgrade,
4) Prepare for a clean-install.

---------------------------------
1: Image Backup:  
This is VITAL because the machine is likely to fail the upgrade, and when it does, you will learn that the Win10 GoBack function is NOT reliable, and that can leave you with a corrupted machine that will require factory reset, and losing everything on it, to get it working again.

You avoid this by making an image backup to an external drive or USB stick using Macrium Reflect (MR) which provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR)
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.
---------------------------------
2: System Reserved Resizing:  
There is a small partition on the hard drive of Win7 preinstalled machines known as System Reserved.  This holds something known as the boot loader code.  It is 100MB in size -- all that is needed for Win7.  But Win10 needs 350MB, and, in some cases, is NOT able to resize this on its own.  IF that happens, you have to manually use a partitioning tool to resize it yourself.
---------------------------------
3: Use a different Upgrade approach:  
Windows Update is the easiest, but least reliable, way to do the Win10 Upgrade.  A much better, and more reliable way, is to use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10   Choose the Upgrade this PC now option.

After all that, you need to know that MS installs drivers with only the most basic functionality.  Since HP does not have Win10 drivers for your PC, this limited functionality is the best you're going to get.  HP is not actively writing new Win10 drivers for the old Win7 PCs.  To retain full functionality of your PC, your best move is NOT to upgrade to Win10.
---------------------------------
4: Prepare for clean-install:
If you do all this, and after the upgrade, your PC is only partially functioning, that means that the Upgrade did not go well and stuff is still there from the prior OS corrupting the functionality of Win10.

You MIGHT be able to fix this by doing a clean-install of Win10. Problem is that a clean-install often does not recognize the prior activation, even though it should. So, BEFORE you do the upgrade, follow these instructions from the community Win10 forums about creating a genuineticket.xml file:  http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/23354-clean-install-windows-10-directly-without-having-upgrade-fi...

You will need this later to activate your Win10 pc after the clean-install.

-----------------------------------------------

Good Luck

========================================================================
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor do I represent, HP.
---------------------------------------------------------------
If my posts helped you, please click the Thumbs-Up symbol on the left of the Reply button to say thanks.
If my posts solved your problem please click "Accept As Solution" -- to help others find the solution.
========================================================================

 

 



I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP
HP Recommended

Hi @WAWood,

 

Well, I was afraid I might get an answer like that, but I had to make the attempt. I guess nothing's changed in the industry -- force consumers to scrap their not-quite-new machines if you want the latest and shiniest OS. I hate waste like that, so I'll just stay on Win7 until support is withdrawn, and then (try to) run Linux until the hardware croaks. Anything to keep working hardware out of the landfill and out of Chinese bonfires melting them down for "recycling".

 

I think it has only the single graphics adapter, but it sounds like an upgrade is still quite risky and likely to fail, so rather than risk turning my notebook into a brick, I'll just pass on Win10. By the time I'm in the market for a new notebook, they'll probably have Win12 out.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to lay out my options.

 

Phil

HP Recommended

bro ive upgrded to windows 10 on the same laptop and it work ok only thing is that there are too many background services being ran feels like it slows down the laptop at time but i do have to agree with the other guy with the drivers its hadr to find the withthe 3rd part apps

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