Can't install Windows 10 x64 21H1 on new Laptop HP 15s-fq2031nq

[tjbuc]

Hi Everyone

I just purchased a new Laptop HP 15s-fq2031nq with Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor which has FreeDOS installed.

My serial number brings up this product on the help / drivers pages :

HP Laptop PC 15s-fq2000 (2D120AV) Product 3A8U0EA

I have the latest Windows 10 x64 21H1 installation on a USB stick (created from Windows Media Creation Tool) and I am running setup from that. However, after setting language / keyboard layout etc. (while still in phase 1 "collecting information") I get a "load driver" popup window with this message:

"A media driver your computer needs is missing. Thsi could be a DVD, USB or Hard Disk driver. If you have a CD, DVD or USB flash drive with the driver on it please insert it now."

I have already read these articles:

How to install a new Windows® 10 Operating System on a system with drives managed by Intel® VMD

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058724/memory-and-storage.html

and

HP PCs - No Drives Can Be Found During Windows 10 Installation (Intel 11th Generation processors)

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06983517

but these talk about the storage drivers needed to find the SSD when choosing where to install windows and I haven't even reached that stage. However, I tried puting the storage drivers from both Intel and HP on another USB drive and browsing to those but it seems that these are not what is needed - no compatible drivers are shown. I selected those drivers anyway but they are not accepted (after a short time it says "no new devices drivers were found". I did the same with the Intel Chipset drivers from the HP downloads page for my laptop  - 11 compatible items were found, I selected them all but with the same result "no new devices drivers were found".

Just in case there was a problem with the Windows install USB stcik I reinstalled a fresh copy of Windows on it from the media creation tool. Nothing has changed however.

In case it is relevant, my BIOS is F.09 Rev.A. The latest one on the drivers page is F.12 Rev.A but I don't want to update this yet unless I have to. In any case, the BIOS updater need to be launched from Windows!

So I am in urgent need of a soultion.

I hope someone here can help.

Thanks

Tony J

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

See if this works.

Go back and download the ISO file instead of having the media creation tool make the bootable USB flash drive.

Then use Rufus to create a UEFI bootable USB flash drive.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Rufus: How To Make UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive | FoxLearn - YouTube

[tjbuc]

Hi Paul

I may try that if nothing else works but I never had any issues like this before and I've done quite a few Win 10 installs this way (on other laptops / desktops).

Thanks for your suggestion

Tony J

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Tony.

I'm stumped too.

Usually you get that initial error because there is a problem with the installation media itself.

But since you have already tested that out and it worked, I have no idea what the problem could be, so I am grasping at straws.

[tjbuc · Accepted solution]

Hi Paul

Based on your comment about this issue usually being related to the installation media, I thought I would try using a  different USB port before re-creating the boot stick (I considered the fact that sometimes the USB ports use different chipsets). This laptop has two USB 3.1 ports (one of which I was using before) and one USB-C port. So I put an adaptor on the memory stick and plugged it into the USB-C port and everything worked fine. Many thanks for your input!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Tony:

That is great news.

I'm glad that changing to a different USB port resolved the problem.

I was thinking of the USB issue too, because W7 has that problem of not having USB3 drivers as part of its driver database, and generates that error, but W10 does have the USB 3/3.1 drivers, so I ruled that out as a potential issue.

Paul