500-509c install window 7 failing

[psearles]

Helping a friend who purchased a Pavilion 500-509C but it came with windows 8 ... He cannot stand windows 8 and has asked me to downgrade to windows 7. I have got a windows 7 bootable USB booting but when it tries to access disk it finds nothing. I believe I am missing drivers to support disk controller used. I cannot seem to find a working driver for this. What driver is required and where can I find it ... Thanks 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I have zipped up and attached the 32 bit sata controller drivers that model needs.

I note that it will be extremely difficult to find all the 32 bit drivers you will need.

That PC was designed to run on a 64 bit operating system, not to mention the specs indicate that it comes standard with 8 GB of memory.  A 32 bit operating system can only use up to 4 GB, resuting in a complete waste of 4 GB of system memory.

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=c04556792

To install the sata drivers...

Download, unzip and Extract (copy) the files onto a usb flash drive without the folder.

With the flash drive and W7 installation media in the machine, boot from the W7 installation media.

After you select the install now option, select the Drive Options - Advanced menu, then select the Load Driver option.

You should now see the storage driver files listed.

If you check the box, it will only include the compatible driver.

Follow the prompts, and hopefully, W7 will install.

[psearles]

Thanks, that is excellent. ... I was planning on 32bit win 7 for general compatibility but if you believe the 64bit bit version would work better for the hardware within the PC I can use that. Will these drivers work on 64 bit aswell or are a different set required?

Thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

You will definitely better off all around by installing W7 64 bit.

You will need the 64 bit sata drivers, which I have zipped up and attached below.

The instructions for installing them are the same.

And fortunately, HP supplies the W7 64 bit drivers for that model...

http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Pavilion-500-500-Desktop-PC-series/7477729/model/...

[psearles]

Thanks for the help ... I will be working on this tonight ...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.

Hopefully that is the reason W7 isn't installing.

[psearles]

Hi, tried those drivers and they do not seem to like the controller installed .. attached are pictures of what displays when not applicable drivers are hidden and what shows up when the driver select is displayed. Also I include the system summary image.  ... Suggestions as to what I am missing is greatly appreciated.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Sorry that installing W7 is giving you such a hard time.

Couple pieces if info, if you can provide...

1. What is the BIOS' drive controller set to?  IDE, RAID, or AHCI?

The default should be AHCI, unless the PC has two or more hard drives (in which case it may be set on RAID).

2. If the BIOS is set to AHCI, what is the complete name of the drive controller listed in the device manager under the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device category?

You would select the exact same name drive controller from the sata files I attached that is listed under that device manager category.  That would be the driver you need.

[psearles]

OK, So I have tried every possible SATA controller I can think of. I checked the original Windows 8 shipped driver and it was 13.2.0.1016. I also tried this driver I again it says it cannot load the driver when I boot from a windows 7 install CD/USB. I really do not understand why this is soooo hard. Why can the pavillion just do a basic boot and install from a vanilla windows 7 CD. ... Anyway, Any suggestions on how to get around this ... I really find it hard to believe that it is impossible to install windows 7 on a pavillion pc. Do you have access to a HP Install CD for Windows 7 that may work ? ... I am at a total loss here.

Thanks

[psearles]

To be clear on answering your questions from before ... BIOS is set yo AHCI and the driver being used on windows 8 install is "Intel(R) 8 Series/C220 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" Version 13.2.0.1016.