Pavillion G6 - Lack of support / drivers

[Jos76]

Hi, I'm trying to reinstall Windows 8.1 (or 10) in a g6 laptop (Ivy Bridge, 3rd intel generation). 

And I cant' believe HP has removed the drivers from the website as it has decided to consider this laptop as outdated! :-Ot

I've lost two days of my life trying to use the recovery option (F11) but it does not work, I don´t know the reason why. 

So, I've decided to install Windows from scratch, a new USB. And to my desesperation, now it does not work as the HP only detects the USB drive with ISO image in BIOS legacy mode, and the same with the new internal SSD disk, apparently.  I want to discard the "Legacy" mode as CMOS-BIOS battery is discharged and default BIOS settings is "no legacy mode". 

I´m desperate after 3 days of fighting. Is there a way to get BIOS updates and drivers for a model like this? (D0Z16EA)

Thank you! 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

HP retired support for that model series since it is more than 10 years old.

I don't like that policy one bit either, but it is what it is.

HP never supported the g6 model series for W10, so there were never any W10 drivers released by HP for your notebook.

The good news is this reputable 3rd party driver website has the W7 - W8.1 drivers you need for your notebook.

HP Pavilion g6-2356sa drivers (driverscollection.com)

As far as reinstalling W8.1 you can download the ISO file from the link below.

You want the plain W8.1 64 bit installation media.

Download Windows 8.1 Disc Image (ISO File) (microsoft.com)

Use the free Rufus utility to transfer the ISO file to a USB flash drive so that it is bootable.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Set up the Rufus menu exactly as you see it in the illustration for Windows installations.

That should allow you to boot from the USB flash drive in UEFI mode.

Since your notebook came with W8 from HP, you can't install W8.1 unless you enter a generic W8.1 product key.

Here is the generic key for W8.1 'standard:'

334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT

After you get W8.1 installed, you will have to change the generic product key to the W8 OEM product key in your notebook's BIOS, so you can activate Windows.

Use the free Showkey plus utility that I zipped up and attached below and it will show you the W8 product key in your notebook's BIOS.

[Jos76]

Thank you very much, Paul. 

What you said was the key: with "Legacy mode" disabled, it only boots from USB devices if the device is formatted as UEFI. 

That's how I could finally install Win8.1. 

I was lucky that it detected my old license and it was automatically activated. No need to put any serial. 

And most drivers were automatically installed. Only card reader (and something that I don't need/care) needed manual drivers installation. 

On the other hand, it's just unacceptable that HP deletes the drivers of older than 10 years computers. I´m not asking they provide support. I´m just asking they leave a repository of old files, with BIOS and drivers. Just that. 

I could not even find the correct model based on what the BIOS says. 

Thanks to you, now I know that this model is also g6-2356sa. Thank you!!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.