Lenovo IdeaPad 110-15IBR Missing drivers after downgrading from Windows 10 to 8.1

[Bear]

Lenovo only lists drivers for Windows 7 and Windows 10.

I managed to find a WLAN driver for 8.1 and install most of the other missing drivers. All but two: SMBus and an "Unknown Device" which is apparently for ACPI.

The laptop is much faster now on this OS. I just want to find the missing drivers.

 

[chris98]

Seems like I'm not the only one who is downgrading from Windows 10 then. I can't stand the thing.

Unfortunately most companies now take the view that they just don't support Windows 8 and don't care, they basically just force you to upgrade to Windows 10 by deliberately and knowingly removing the working Windows 8 drivers from their website.

Particularly if you've got a new machine it's doubtful in my opinion knowing how hard this is that you'll ever be able to get this working. If the drivers aren't there..... they literally aren't there. I'm sure someone with better knowledge than me can probably give better advice but it might be worth just having a search around to see if you can downgrade your hardware at all to any hardware which would have the drivers for Windows 8. You'd obviously need to check this out first of course. I know it's a clart on but realistically speaking the only other way to get Windows 8 working is probably to use an Ethernet cable.

I'm having the same problem with my Ultranote, just bought it, downgraded it and it's basically unusable because of pretty much the same drivers and a few other network ones too.

 

[davexnet]

Can you install the Windows 7 drivers in compatibility mode?

 

[Bear]

...

I'm surprised they don't have drivers for 8.1 considering how Windows 7 drivers are available. I know how it's good practice getting drivers from the OEM but at this point it's not really an option. So if you're okay with getting drivers from other places you can get some functionality at least. It's how I was able to get the wifi to work.

But given how it's a laptop I don't think I can do anything with the hardware. I'll try contacting Lenovo support but honestly I don't think it's going to amount to much, they'll just tell me 8.1 isn't supported and that would be it.

 

[Bear]

...

Haven't tried that yet, but I will now. I'm just wary about BSODs since SMBus and ACPI seem like they would be OS specific.

 

[Bear]

OK, so I've managed to install both of the missing drivers. The best practice is installing the drivers from the actual manufacturer or vendor website. But I'm desperate. So I used two programs to help with finding the drivers. First is 3DP Chip to install the SMBus driver and the second one is Snappy Driver Installer to install the ACPI driver.

EDIT: If you're using Snappy, make sure to use the Origin version or you may have issues with adware and malware on your machine.

I tried my best to read reviews and comments between these two software and as far as I can tell they are one of the more reliable softwares for finding drivers. I'm sure there's someone there who absolutely despises software like these and would rather live with a missing driver. I've read comments that all driver update software are malware, virus, scam, etc. But it seems like those are mostly from people who generalize, not the people who actually tried to use the program to make their own decision. I wasn't able to find someone who specifically said they used either of the two and had problems with virus, malware, etc.

But if you're reading this and you're having the same issue, proceed at your own risk! Create backups and restore points before installing any driver. I'll try to update this thread if I encounter any issues like BSODs, etc.

 

[chris98]

Well I'm mightily pleased you managed to get it all working in the end. As for me..... I'm not sure I'm going to be so lucky, unfortunately. My Wireless adapter is from the Intel AX200 series, which was only released last year. And my Chipset is pretty new too as well, which means I may also have problems installing the PCI Communications Controller & other relevant drivers.

The annoying part for me is that I can find the Windows 10 drivers, but Intel won't even allow you to install them on 8.1, EVEN THOUGH they're almost certainly compatible. The installer just says "nope, this isn't Windows 10 I'm NOT INSTALLING". I'll try 3DP Chip though, thanks for the tip.

 

[chris98]

Well I tried 3DP Chip, and it fixed two of my drivers. I also tried Snappy Driver and even though it has seemed to have fixed 6 driver issues I'm very concerned because it seems to have installed adware on my computer and other unwanted programs. It also attempted to do something with a Trojan as well, which got blocked by MalwareBytes before anything actually happened.
I'd recommend you scan your PC as it's probably done the same thing to you as well. I don't yet know what else it's done.

 

[Bear]

I think I've read people having success with Intel drivers by modifying the .inf(?) file and installing the driver via Device Manager.

I'm sorry about Snappy. There seems to be two different forks now, the one without adware (Origin) and the one with adware ("Not Origin"), which they claim to be optional. Though I did also use the "Not Origin" one and didn't have any problem with adware being installed on my computer.

I'll edit my earlier post to reflect this.

 

[Bear]

I'm not sure if I should just edit the post for this so apologies in advance for the double post.

So I was curious why I had no malware issue with Snappy. And I found a thread somewhere on the internet (I don't know if I'm allowed to post links to other websites) that describes what happened. In short, there are two things that can happen if you try to download the program. First, it will give you the .zip file containing the program without adware/malware. Or second, it will give you a different link that downloads an .exe file which has adware/malware.

I think, what happened is that my installed ad-blocker blocked the script that changes the download link. So it gave me the original .zip file containing the program. If you don't have any ad-blocker installed, you may unknowingly download the file which contains the adware/malware.

I am going to stick with recommending the Origin fork/version on my earlier post just to be safe. But there is a way to download the "Non Origin" version without the adware/malware.

 

[chris98]

No problem about Snappy. It was a risk I took of my own accord I guess, but things seem to be ok. At least for now I seem to have cleared it all.

First, it will give you the .zip file containing the program without adware/malware. Or second, it will give you a different link that downloads an .exe file which has adware/malware.

Yeah, I got the exe application. The other download which I saw was massive and I didn't think it was worth it.

I think I've read people having success with Intel drivers by modifying the .inf(?) file and installing the driver via Device Manager.

This is the link to what I think is the driver I need. As you can see there are only Windows 10 drivers on the page listing all my drivers: Downloads for Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200

Although I'm not sure how to modify a .inf file, that sounds like a good solution. There is only an exe file when you get the download so I'm not sure how that would work.

 

[Bear]

This seems to list drivers for Windows 8.1 in .zip file.

Intel WIFI Drivers

Have you tried that page yet?

 

[chris98]

Thanks for your reply. I’m not sure that page, but I have tried a similar one.

I tried installing the .inf file from the 8.1 one you gave, and while it said the operation completed successfully, the problem still remains and nothing changed. I also have the Proset already installed. It’s baffling.

I only have 5 left to install, one is the network one, the other is the PCI Communications one, and there are three unknown. I suspect they’re the same as your unknown ones.

 

[Bear]

The only thing I can think of is modifying the .inf file to force it to install in Windows 8.1. But I really have no clue how to go about doing that.

 

[chris98]

Well the good news is that I bought a Wireless adapter on a USB and it arrived yesterday. Plugged it in and it worked a treat.

That’s at least a temporary solution for now until I can work towards what you described. Whether or not I’ll ever get the remaining drivers working is questionable but at least now it’s usable. Only other problem now is trying to get my old games working on there, I suspect I’ll need a second older graphics card but that’s a whole new issue .....

Thanks for your help!