Windows 10 Upgrade

[morens]

Is the HP Compaq 6005 Pro Small Form Factor PC capable of running correctly on Windows 10, 64 bit?  I have nothing but trouble on mne since I did this upgrade from Windows 7.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Officially it is not supported by HP to run W10, since it was buile prior to August of 2013.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05195282

What problems are you experiencing?

If it is graphics related, then you can install the AMD Radeon HD 6450 low profile graphics card which has W10 driver support.

[morens]

Paul, thank you for your response.  This is kind of lengthy, but I will make it as brief as I can.  I purchased this as a refurb unit in October 2015 because the hardware on my old PC died.  It was around a 2008 Compaq.  This new one came with Win 7 installed.  No problem setting it up.  This was during the period that Microsoft was offering the free upgrade to Win 10 and I took it.  In hindsight, it was the worst computer decision I have ever made.  I should have asked about it first.  I could not get it to download correctly and finally installed the utilities to cut a DVD with it.  This worked on the second or third try.  It then installed and updated OK.

I have two monitors, but the HP 6005 only comes with a single on-board video port.  It's interesting that you mention the AMD Radeon HD 6450 low profile graphics card because that is what I bought to obtain two video ports.  I discovered during the install process that this card disables the on-board video port, but I was able to use the two ports on the add-on card.  So far, so good.  The problems began when MS started to install updates down the road. Every single time, the video setup would get confused and forget I had two monitors.  Both displays would be identical, cursor movement, desktop, etc.  I'm a little fuzzy on it now, but I managed to fix it each time.  I would get notifications from AMD about Radeon updates.  As I recall, each time I did these updates, it would either give me the problem of not recognizing two monitors or it would so terribly wreak havoc on getting a functioning display, I would have to back it down to the previous driver version.  I finally stopped doing the Radeon updates.

Now, getting to the present, about a week and a half ago Windows did an automatic update.  When it rebooted and installed, I had the duplicate monitor issue again, and was not able to resolve it.  The wheels started turning again in my head (they say a little knowledge is dangerous) and I kind of reluctantly went to AMD and accepted the latest update. That's when the 6005 blew up and destroyed itself from a Windows System perspective.  It would no longer boot up at all.  I will leave all the details out about how many reboot options I tried.  It wouldn't fix, it wouldn't go back, it wouldn't do anything except put me in an idiot loop.  

I use the Carbonite cloud service for both file backup and also local mirror drive restore.  This qualified for a mirror drive restore. Again shortening the story, it wouldn't work.  It looked like it worked, but when trying to reboot, it was back in the idiot loop.  I threw my hands up in disgust and bought a new computer.  I decided to see if I could reinstall Win 10 with my install disk I had originally made on the 6005 and set it up in another room on my router.  After formatting (and only after formatting) the System and Windows partitions, Win 10 installed and updated on-line.  I had removed the AMD Radeon HD 6450 low profile graphics card and used a single monitor on the on-board video port with no problem.

The problems I am having now are:

When the computer goes to sleep it will wake with mouse movement, but upon key depression or mouse click to get the login entry line, nothing happens.  I have a solid display background screen and mouse cursor movement, but that's all. When I changed settings to NOT require sign in upon waking from sleep, it comes back on functionally,but would lock up upon trying to launch anything.  When I go to the Start Button and then user icon and sign out, it does so.  I can then click and sign back in and it launches apps and seems to be OK.  When I go to lock, I can also sign back in and launch OK.  

The problem seems to be primarily concerned with sleep mode.   I just now let it time out on its own, and I was able to log back on OK.  Then I clicked power and sleep, waited until the monitor indicated no signal, clicked, and this time it let me sign on, but then, it never fully completed it.  The monitor goes off, I click again, it comes back on and I have the background screen with the dots spinning in the center.  Eventually it will go blank and tell me "no signal".  The only way out of these lock conditions is to power down with the hard power button and then turn it back on.

I apologize for what still ended up being a long-winded speech.  Do you think there is a fix for this with Win 10 or do you think I shoud go back to Win 7 by wiping it again?  At this point there is nothing on there to lose.  Thanks for any suggestions!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, and thank you for the detailed response.

I have the HP business desktops with the Intel hardware, and ones even older than yours such as the dc7800, work fine on W10 with the addition of a W10 capable graphics card.

The only suggestions I can offer for the situation you are experiencing is this...

Try the easy fix first.  Disable fast startup in the power options menu.  That sometimes plays havoc with resuming from sleep.  Everytime you update to the newer version of W10, fast startup is enabled again.

http://windowsable.com/how-to-enable-or-disable-fast-startup-in-windows-10/

If that does not resolve the problem, see if installing the AMD Chipset drivers resolves the problem.  Install and restart the PC.  You want the first file listed on the webpage.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=legacy4&os=Windows%2010%20-%2064

If neither suggestion resolves the problem, then I guess you will have to revert to W7 to eliminate those issues.

[morens]

I tried both of those, but no dice.  It strikes me now that I did not have this sleep awakening problem when I had the Radeon card installed before the crash.  Also, I have just noticed that I have a 5450, not a 6450.  I believe BIOS  and all drivers are updated correctly.  I am going to try the 5450 now and will let you know.

[morens]

Well, I still have the "unable to wake from sleep" problem, but I think it did speed up the display response.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Sorry that nothing was able to fix the resume from sleep issue.

You could report the bug to Microsoft using the W10 feedback program in the all programs menu.

Feedback Hub under the 'F' alphabetized program listings.

[morens]

Thank you for your help again.  I was considering going to the Microsoft Support Forum.  Never know.  If I find anything out, I will post it.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

That is a good idea to post over there.

[morens]

I have scoured not only the HP Forum and the Microsoft Forum, but many other freelance forums on the web.  This W10 issue seems to be very prevalent not only on HP's, but other makes as well.  I have tried every solution out there with no success.  Some users say that certain fixes worked and others say, as I have, nothing works to fix this.  I tried "hibernate", but what happens there is that it simply turns off and then about 30 seconds later, it restarts and comes up normally with my app screens as I left them.

I have finally resigned myself to the conclusion that indeed this is a W10 bug that affects some PC's but not others. Some are able to implement fixes on their hardware and others are not.  I have become accustomed to the W10, and since this HP 6005 Pro Desktop PC is actually running very well now otherwise, I will keep it and not revert back to W7.  I have removed the "sleep" option from the "Start-Power Button" and now just let the monitor go off after 10 minutes.

The only weird thing still in the back of my mind is that this "not waking correctly from sleep" issue did not exist on this PC before W10 crashed on the last update.  It only started after a new clean install.  I will periodlically check the sleep function after updates and monitor the W10 MS Forum.

Perhaps other things I have learned from all of this is:

Only install driver upgrades from your PC OEM

Do not use a third party app to check for and install drivers

Do not use a non-OEM recommended Windows registry test and fix app

Thanks much again, Paul, for your assistance and advice!