I've got one to stump you - new install of OS from recovery disk caused loss of all drivers, hardware info, and functions

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nicoleprescottaz

Apr 26, 2018
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Hello. About 3 weeks ago my 6 year old hard drive suddenly started exhibiting symptoms of demise. I checked through startup utility and the hard drive failed the test, so I removed it and installed a Crucial SSD. It is an HP Pavilion DV6-6C35DX.

I originally decided to switch to Linux, but unfortunately my AMD chip is not supported so I had no brightness control, even after many modifications to Linux, as well as the struggle to cool and control the chip efficiently using the generic open source driver. So, I ordered a Windows 7 recovery disk and did a fresh install of Windows 7 Home Premium.

Afterward, nothing worked right. I had to manually download some HP drivers to an SD card and then use my Linux boot disk to install the drivers to the SSD in the computer. I then loaded Windows and manually executed each driver (there were several - AMD, network adapter, Realtek, IDE controller, etc).

I was then finally able to connect to the internet through Ethernet (still no Wi-Fi adapter found) and did an update, which corrected some issues, but not all.

Some of the hardware is listed as generic, like the screen and some adapters and such. Oddly enough, I am experiencing the same issue with Windows that I had with Linux - no brightness control. The F keys sort of work, but when I use the brightness keys, there is no icon on the screen showing brightness, nor does the brightness change - but after I attempt to turn the brightness down, the backlight shuts off entirely, just like what happened in Linux without the proper driver. However, this has the correct driver, AMD CATALYST.

I am completely stumped. I wasn't able to test the volume controls through actual audio, but when pressing those F keys there is no icon on the screen indicating the volume is changing, and that was there before.

One more odd thing, every time I try to install one of the HP drivers I got from HP, I get an error message saying Softpac isn't installed, and then the installer just closes.

Here's what I want to do: clone everything except my personal files (so the 3 partitions HP placed on the original drive, SYSTEM, HP TOOLS, RECOVERY) to the new drive and overwrite what's on there. However, the old drive will not function well enough when in the computer and running the OS. I can access it through a SATA to USB 3.0 cable like it's an external drive, and it functions fine. I assume this is because there's less demand on the drive by not running Windows, but that's just conjecture. ***But what happens if I run cloning software, currently loaded on the installed SSD, to clone the external HDD to the SSD?

Any help is appreciated. I'm losing my mind here.
 
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Barty1884

Barty1884

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Apr 16, 2015
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It seems like you went an overly complicated route....
Are you not simply able to download all drivers from here:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-dv6-6c00-entertainment-notebook-pc-series/5191856/model/5210864

Add to a USB flashdrive or external HDD and then transfer them over to your new OS install on the SSD and run them??


The addition of Linux to add the drivers (seems unnecessary) probably didn't help matters.

SoftPaq is an HP download utility - also not necessary, so it's interesting there's a dependency when running the drivers.
Wouldn't hurt to try downloading/installing it and then seeing if the drivers "work" for installing afterwards:https://support.hp.com/ca-en/document/c02860501


The cloning route *could* work..... but if your plan is to then clean install your OS, it won't matter. Anything you cloned will be wiped.

FWIW, you can't *clone* to the drive that's currently running Windows.
If the old HDD only "works" as an external drive, you'll need a third drive to actually allow you to clone.
3rd Drive to be running an OS, SSD and old HDD attached in order to clone the HDD to the SSD.

But, like I said, that's a waste of time if your end goal is to reinstall the OS on the SSD.


Is there any reason you're sticking with Windows 7? Windows 10's driver 'finding' would probably assist with 90% of these issues thus far. Not a perfect solution, but an option to consider if all else fails (or you don't *need* W7 for any particular reason).
 
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TJ Hooker

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Download all the drivers from the HP support page for your computer and put them on a USB stick.
Wipe your SSD and do another clean install of windows.
Install all drivers from USB stick.

As said above, I don't understand why you felt it was necessary to use linux to install drivers for your windows installation?
 
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nicoleprescottaz

Apr 26, 2018
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Linux was the only route I had available to get the drivers on the drive. There were literally no drivers in Windows, so I could not connect to the internet either wirelessly or via Ethernet, and the USB, CD, and SD slots were not being recognized. Linux was the only thing that gave me the ability to get online to download drivers.

As I said, I originally wanted to switch to Linux anyway, so I happened to have the bootable USB for that, and I used it to be able to transfer the driver executables, all of which I did download from HP website for my machine.

The computer would boot from USB but if I went into Windows, none of the ports were recognized, so the only option I had was to use Linux as an intermediary to get the drivers on the computer.

HP also does not offer a recovery disk for my computer. I downloaded every driver available and installed all of them except the one that says Softpaq isn't installed, which I believe was one of the HP tools. I'll see what it was when I get home this afternoon.

I did a reinstall of Windows again this morning, with the stick in that contains the drivers. When I select custom install and then to add the drivers, Windows says there's no compatible drivers on the stick (the drivers were downloaded directly from the HP site, for my exact model, and my exact edition of Windows).

I will try the suggestion to wipe and reinstall, but it's very likely that the ports will not recognize the storage medium with the drivers on it, just like last time.

And I'm sticking with Windows 7 for two reasons: I can't afford the upgrade, and more importantly, I hate both Windows 8 and 10 for that nonsensical "tablet" feel they tried to achieve. They use it at one of the places I work and I've gotten used to it, but I don't like the platform. I preferred Vista over every edition they've made, but the computer came with 7 and it was close enough. Personally, I really want Linux, and I enjoyed it for the 3 weeks I had it, but since my hardware isn't supported, I can't do what I need to do with the computer. So I'm stuck with Windows.

 
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nicoleprescottaz

Apr 26, 2018
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I will check that link this afternoon. I also remembered what may be the issue surrounding the backlight. The thing that says Softpaq is not installed was HP Quick Launch. I have the link for that now so I'll try that to and report again this evening.

I figured there'd have to be a third drive. I guess I'll just have to live with a clean install instead of a clone, just wanted to go the lazy route and have everything set up for me already from my old drive. But since the drive won't run correctly (hangs for minutes at a time if there's any command, click start menu...wait... Click a program... Wait... Program loads... Wait...etc) I can't run the clone from the original drive, and I have nothing nor can afford anything large enough at this time. The SSD was a gift, otherwise I'd still have a dead computer!

Thanks for the help, I'll look into that and get back to you tonight!
 
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TJ Hooker

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Wait, so nto even the USB ports worked after a clean install of windows?

When attempting to install drivers, I would copy them to your local drive first, unzip (if necessary), and then try running the installers directly.

As an aside, I've never heard anyone describe Win 10 as having a "tablet feel" before. MS did away with that after the backlash Win 8 received.
 
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nicoleprescottaz

Apr 26, 2018
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You read that correctly - not a single port worked after the install. No USB 2 or 3, no SD, and the CD/DVD showed up under My Computer but if something was in it (like the Windows disk) it would not open anything on the drive until boot when it would spin up the disk like normal.

It is certainly strange. Everything worked with Linux except the backlight and the AMD stuff didn't work perfectly without the proprietary driver, but it functioned. I cannot understand what's happening.

When I install Windows, I have the laptop hooked up to the modem with Ethernet cable so it can do whatever it might need to do to install properly (I don't know if it even needs the connection for drivers or whatnot but I figure it doesn't hurt to hook it up). I am running a Windows reinstallation disk and have a valid OEM product key that has worked both times I've installed since it's on the same machine that the key was assigned to. Everything seems to install normally, but no drivers, wrong screen resolution, no brightness control, and more than half of the hardware is labeled "generic" (generic PnP monitor, generic network card, generic audio, generic graphics card, etc).

As an aside to your aside, I suppose Windows 10 isn't as bad as 8. But I still don't like it. I like the "feel" of the traditional Windows interface. I don't like the weird menus on 8 and 10. But if it really comes down to it, since it seems I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place with 7, I might see if I can't swing the upgrade. Worst case scenario, I should be able to roll back, and then maybe I'll have all my flipping drivers!
 
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nicoleprescottaz

Apr 26, 2018
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To put this in a little better context:

Put a new battery in back in December after two cells died in my old battery. Worked fine for a couple months, then started the unexpected hard shutdown like the battery was dead at around 22-28%. This happened probably 10 times. The last time, when I turned the laptop on after plugging in, it took forever to load Windows, and it was running very very slowly. I restarted it, thinking maybe it would help. Same problem.

Used HP Support Assistant to check battery. Tests good. Check hard drive. Failure. Restarted computer, ran disk check from boot menu. Hard drive failed SMART.

Slowly transferred most important files to a 4GB flash drive. Tried to migrate everything to new SSD but the system kept hanging up or freezing entirely for so long I gave up. Removed old HDD, installed SSD. Used a work computer to download bootable Linux Mint 18.1 to another 4GB flash drive.

Booted from flash drive. Installed Linux. Struggled for days trying to get AMD drivers only to find AMD doesn't support the newer versions of Linux. Tried to live with it, but staring at a full brightness screen in the dark really hurts, and the brightness cannot be changed. Eventually decided I had no choice but to go back to Windows. Ordered reinstall disk.

Used Linux to reformat SSD to NTFS. Booted from Windows disk. Installation procedure, format drive, erasing Linux.

Installation done. No drivers, all hardware listed as "generic". No ports working. No network access. Found no drivers, so Booted from Linux flash drive, downloaded drivers to small partition on SSD. Booted to Windows, installed the drivers (except one requiring Softpaq). Restarted. Things look better, but still no brightness control, some icons distorted. No HP tools or utilities of any kind. Check regedit, no brightness control keys. Modify regedit to include brightness control. Doesn't work. No Wi-Fi, but Ethernet connection working now with HP driver for the network card.

Fresh install again. Same issues.
 
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nicoleprescottaz

Apr 26, 2018
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Update: after painstaking work, I have a brightness control icon, audio is functioning, WiFi is working. BUT: brightness is still either 100% or black. Every time I try to adjust the brightness down from 100, the screen goes black after about a 5 second delay. Backlight is still on, I can barely make out edges of stuff on the screen, but it's like the display shuts off while the backlight stays on. I have tried installing some things from AMD, reverting to legacy versions of Catalyst, uninstalling/reinstalling drivers, uninstalling the "Generic PnP monitor", scanning for hardware changes, playing around with power options, etc...I have nothing. It's literally all or nothing when it comes to screen brightness. Any suggestions?
 
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