Windows 7 on Inspiron 5458

Question

Greetings everyone.

I have an Inspiron 5458 that came preinstalled with Windows 8.1. I downgraded the OS to Windows 7 as I am more familiar and comfortable with the interface.

Installation was really smooth however when I tried to install the drivers, I got plenty of errors. Video and audio drivers for one don't work.

Was I wrong in downgrading to Windows 7? I mean is this OS not supported for this laptop?

Checked the driver downloads section and found that the drivers for 5458 were mainly for Windows 7 32 bit and that made me all confident that such OS is supported.

I'm not able to fully use the laptop after the downgrade and I sort of regret that I did it as almost all drivers failed to install. Help me on this one, please. I'm literally pulling my hairs out!

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

You should stick with 64 Bit Windows. Do not use 32 Bit Windows.

Windows 7 64 Bit drivers are available but I'd recommend installation of Windows 10 64 Bit instead:

http://downloads.dell.com/published/pages/inspiron-14-5458-laptop.html

To clean install Windows 10 64 Bit see here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-windows-10-oem-and-retail-iso/

And here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycGr3MBcAnw&index=5&list=PL1RkaknDn7v-Ucth4gt0U3BHVSY7oNkWr

theflash1932 · Accepted Answer

Windows 7 64-bit drivers are available at support.dell.com, as are Windows 7 32-bit. If you are trying to use 32-bit drivers on a 64-bit OS (or vice versa), most of them won't work (although some of them use the same package so some of they will work).

As nat said, there is no reason to use 32-bit, unless you have very specialized software that won't work in WOW.

Install the chipset drivers first.

jiand1987 · Answer

Thank you very much, @

natakuc4 and @theflash1932.

I am confident by your concurrence that Windows 7 will work on Inspiron 5458. I won't be upgrading to Windows 10 just yet since the internet connection at home is not that good.

Will go ahead and install Windows 7 64-bit and will let you know at once how it pans out.

Thanks again!

jiand1987 · Answer

Hello again.

I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit as I have no other licensed version of Windows to install at the moment. I was able to pretty much install all drivers off the Download Drivers area specific to Windows 7 32-bit, with the exception of Intel Management Engine Interface (Error=No String ID Found) and Audio Driver (Error=Installation was not successful).

Checked Device Manager and found this:

It appears the Audio Driver (Realtek ALC3234) won't install on High Definition Audio Device under Sound, video and game controllers. Shouldn't it show Realtek before I even install the driver? Or is the hardware for sound not recognized by the laptop thus the unsuccessful driver installation?

EDIT: I was able to install drivers for those with exclamation marks on Device Manager, including the NVIDIA video driver.

There is only one driver in the Downloads area for Audio regardless of OS, which means it should work on any Windows version. I checked Realtek website but found no drivers specific for my laptop.

I have installed all necessary files when prompted by Windows Update and have also tried scanning for hardware changes in Device Manager as well as updating the audio driver from there. Have checked that Audio is enabled in BIOS as well.

Does the sound hardware need to be detected first in Device Manager before I even attempt driver installation? If so, how can I make this happen? What else do I need to do to successfully install the Audio_Driver_50GPH_WN32_6.0.1.7433_A00 driver?

Here is the error log I have received upon installation:

[View:/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3518/Audio_5F00_Driver_5F00_50GPH_5F00_WN32_5F00_6.0.1.7433_5F00_A00.txt:550:0]

Please help. I'm running out of workarounds. I really want to run Windows 7 on my Inspiron 5458, not Windows 8.1. :(

Thanks in advance.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Windows 7 on Inspiron 5458

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