I downloaded Windows 8 Pro and used the included installer to attempt an upgrade from Windows 7 64 bit on a dual core HP computer with 4G of RAM. Everything went smoothly to the 100% point. During the automatic restarts I first noticed a problem when the words on the welcome screen appeared garbled. Then the system crashed and automatically reverted to Windows 7. After 3 installation attempts I called MS and talked to the Philippines for about two hours before being disconnected. Then I talked to India for another two hours. Both agents were courteous. After 3 more installation attempts Windows 8 finally loaded, but the screen was still garbled. Updating the video card driver appeared to solve the garbled problem, but then the system crashed again. The agent suggested that I needed to contact HP to do a BIOS update.
Numerous times during the installation I heard the Windows sound of hardware being connected and disconnected, like when plugging, or unplugging, a device into a USB port. I mentioned that to the MS agents and then disconnected all USB cables except the USB mouse to minimize problems caused by hardware. I continued to hear the sounds after pulling all of the USB cables.
I tried two more restarts on my own looking for any other symptoms. On the second attempt there was a garbled but readable “incompatibility” message and an automatic repair attempt, which led me to believe that there probably was a hardware problem. As a last resort before contacting HP I replaced the OEM video card with a newer one purchased for another computer. This permanently solved the problem. The OEM video card had worked fine on Windows 7 but crashed Windows 8, even with a new driver.
Numerous times during the installation I heard the Windows sound of hardware being connected and disconnected, like when plugging, or unplugging, a device into a USB port. I mentioned that to the MS agents and then disconnected all USB cables except the USB mouse to minimize problems caused by hardware. I continued to hear the sounds after pulling all of the USB cables.
I tried two more restarts on my own looking for any other symptoms. On the second attempt there was a garbled but readable “incompatibility” message and an automatic repair attempt, which led me to believe that there probably was a hardware problem. As a last resort before contacting HP I replaced the OEM video card with a newer one purchased for another computer. This permanently solved the problem. The OEM video card had worked fine on Windows 7 but crashed Windows 8, even with a new driver.
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My Computer
System One
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- OS
- Windows 8 64 bit