Installing Windows 7 on a MSI GS702OD-409UK STEALTH

TheGift73

TheGift73

TheGift73

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Hi,

I have just bought the MSI GS702OD-409UK STEALTH from OC which came with Windows 8.1 pre-installed along with other software that I don't want/need.

I have been reading this information that states that wiping Windows 8.1 and installing Windows 7 isn't a good idea due to the different BIOS versions.

Can someone let me know if I can just wipe and install Windows 7 on to the notebook (something I have done many other times on laptops that came with Windows 8 pre-installed) without running into issues.

Also, I can't seem to find any Windows 7 drivers listed for this notebook, only references to Windows 8.1.

I would assume that the drivers CD that came with the laptop would have the Windows 7 drivers included?

Link to MSI notebook: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-122-MS&tool=3

Link to information regarding drivers and BIOS for this notebook: http://www.msimobile.com/Downloads.aspx?id=2#All

Regards,

Richard
 
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Most of the hardware in that laptop will have Windows 7 drivers but you may have to go directly to Intel, Realtek, Atheros etc to get them.

What is the reason for downgrading the OS? Windows 7 is almost 5 years old.
 
Hi nightmare99,

Thanks for the reply. I have used Windows 8 a few times on laptops and honestly can't stand it. I find Windows 7 far easier to navigate and get things done which is why I want to install 7.

I have installed Windows 7 now and have just finished installing the chipset.

I am now trying to install the LAN driver from the disk, (Win 7, 8 and 8.1) but keep on getting the occasional BSoD (Bsod 0x00000f4) which I have narrowed down to my external CD drive. I will double check this when I have installed the NirSoft pack to look at the dump file. At the moment I am trying to get the LAN driver from the CD to the desktop so I don't keep on having to access the CD contents. After I have the LAN driver installed I will install all available updates etc.

Regarding the install, I deleted everything from Disk 0 (the SSD which was split into 4 partitions) which had Windows 8.1 plus other software on, and then installed Windows 7 onto that.

I left the 1TB HDD alone (Disk 1, with 2 partitions) as it had BIOS_REV next to it, and wasn't 100% sure if that was required. I assumed that BIOS was hard coded onto the board, and the BIOS_REV on Disk 1 Partition 1 was a backup?
 
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Yes, there is a recovery partition on the HDD.

I am still getting a lot of BSoD's (0x00000f4) relating to ntoskrnl.exe. Would this have anything to do with the BIOS? I had set it to Legacy. No other version will work with W7 (UEFI or UEFI + CSM)

Would anything that was on the HDD be interfering with the Windows 7 install on the SSD? Would it be better just to format both the SSD and HDD to NTFS and then try installing Windows 7 again on the SSD? I am starting to suspect that the BIOS version may have something to do with the BSoD's that I getting.

It is fully up to date via Windows update?
 
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I don't think it will make a difference what is on the hard drive, personally I would have just stuck with 8.1 its really not that different to Windows 7.

Did you manage to get all the drivers on ok?
 
Hi,

Yep I managed to get all the required drivers for Windows 7 and it was working perfectly fine, but I kept on getting BSoD's pointing to the same error.

Have now wiped again and re-installed 8.1 back on it and I have no problems at all.

Strange as this is the first PC/laptop that has ever had an issue when swapping our 8.1 for 7. I was also unable to switch the BIOS back to UEFI as every time I booted it would just return to the BIOS menu instead. So I have left it as using legacy BIOS for now.

Long story short, the notebook is now running 8.1 again after initial attempt to install Windows 7 on it instead of the original 8.1. Too many BSoD's when running Windows 7.
 
Yep, only problem is, is that I didn't make a note of the product key and am unable to find any mention of where this may be in the paper work that I got from OC.

Would they be able to supply me with one or am I out of luck?
 
The product key is stored in the BIOS, you need to use either rweverything or pkui (I think this is what it is called). These tools will allow you to read the key from the BIOS, although when you re-installed Windows 8.1 it should have just read the key from the BIOS for you, did you use the recovery partition or a downloaded ISO?
 
I've had my GS70 Stealth Pro for nearly 3 weeks now, last weekend I totally had enough of Windows 8.1 and therefore I backed up all of the partitions on the SSD & the recovery partition on the HDD, afterwards I cleared everything on both drives and installed Windows 7 from scratch. Thankfully it did install without a problem besides totally forgetting that as the main drive is SSD, the other HDD has to be disconnected first as it will throw up the check disk every time you book up (to which it did!) and as it's on a laptop the HDD cannot be disconnected easily but a simple reformat of the HDD once again sorted that out.

After a day of installing drivers & the required MSI utilities and tinkering with a few things to make sure it all runs properly, I have got my laptop happily running Windows 7 X64 without a problem.

Since last weekend, I have not had any problems at all and it runs great. I've finally got round to installing some of my games and they have so far been running without a problem. Some people have reported BSOD's while gaming on these with having Windows 7 installed but these were early reports and it was down to the NVidia drivers and since then their have been newer versions of the drivers.

As you have mentioned and what I initially discovered before installing Windows 7, Windows 7 doesn't like the recovery GPT partitions at all because it doesn't recognize it due to them being only compatible and built around Windows 8 - hence why it's best just to complete wipe everything on all drives beforehand.

I must admit, it was a bit of a pain getting the laptop to install Windows 7 from my USB stick due to the stick itself being USB 3.0 and the laptop only having USB 3.0 ports so therefore I had to copy the USB 3.0 Drivers onto the USB stick for the laptop to recognize the Windows setup on the USB stick properly.

Liam
 
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nightmare99 said:
The product key is stored in the BIOS, you need to use either rweverything or pkui (I think this is what it is called). These tools will allow you to read the key from the BIOS, although when you re-installed Windows 8.1 it should have just read the key from the BIOS for you, did you use the recovery partition or a downloaded ISO?
Click to expand...

Re-installed Windows 8.1 from ISO. Recovery partition wiped.
 
LEK-89 said:
I've had my GS70 Stealth Pro for nearly 3 weeks now, last weekend I totally had enough of Windows 8.1 and therefore I backed up all of the partitions on the SSD & the recovery partition on the HDD, afterwards I cleared everything on both drives and installed Windows 7 from scratch. Thankfully it did install without a problem besides totally forgetting that as the main drive is SSD, the other HDD has to be disconnected first as it will throw up the check disk every time you book up (to which it did!) and as it's on a laptop the HDD cannot be disconnected easily but a simple reformat of the HDD once again sorted that out.

After a day of installing drivers & the required MSI utilities and tinkering with a few things to make sure it all runs properly, I have got my laptop happily running Windows 7 X64 without a problem.

Since last weekend, I have not had any problems at all and it runs great. I've finally got round to installing some of my games and they have so far been running without a problem. Some people have reported BSOD's while gaming on these with having Windows 7 installed but these were early reports and it was down to the NVidia drivers and since then their have been newer versions of the drivers.

As you have mentioned and what I initially discovered before installing Windows 7, Windows 7 doesn't like the recovery GPT partitions at all because it doesn't recognize it due to them being only compatible and built around Windows 8 - hence why it's best just to complete wipe everything on all drives beforehand.

I must admit, it was a bit of a pain getting the laptop to install Windows 7 from my USB stick due to the stick itself being USB 3.0 and the laptop only having USB 3.0 ports so therefore I had to copy the USB 3.0 Drivers onto the USB stick for the laptop to recognize the Windows setup on the USB stick properly.

Liam
Click to expand...

Ugh, completely forgot about disconnecting the HDD whilst installing on the SSD. I am always reminding people to do this.

When I first attempted to install Windows 7, I still had the Windows 8.1 recovery environment on the HDD, so this may have, as you said, been one of the causes of the BSoD's as could have the nVidia drivers which were on the CD that came on the CD and may not have been the version that had the fix.

Going to have another go at Windows 7 now. Thanks for explaining how you did yours and what issues you had along with workarounds.
 
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