GotNoRice
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2001
- Messages
- 11,724
The computer is an HP a6710t. It originally came with Windows Vista, Dual-Core Intel Pentium E2200, 2GB Ram, and a Mechanical HDD. Motherboard uses an Nforce 630i chipset with Geforce 7100 integrated graphics. After digging through the spare-parts bin I upgraded it to a Q6600, 4GB Ram, and a 256GB Samsung SSD.
Windows 10 works great on there, with all current updates.
Windows 11 21H2 works great on there, with all current updates.
Windows 11 22H2 will NOT work on there, despite everything I've tried.
While upgrading to Windows 11 22H2 (from either Windows 10 or Windows 11 21H2), it will generally freeze at some point during the setup process - though it varies as to exactly when it will freeze; sometimes it almost makes it all the way through.
I've also tried taking the SSD and putting it into another computer, performing the update to 22H2 in that other computer, and then putting it back into the a6710t once 22H2 is already installed. In that scenario, sometimes it will freeze during boot. Often it will make it all the way to the desktop and seem to work mostly normal, but freeze within a few minutes at most. It's not usually a hard-lock. Usually the active window will freeze first, with the mouse cursor still able to move and interact with other elements of the UI to a limited extent until the computer soon becomes completely unresponsive.
It usually will work long enough to let me into the Event Viewer, where I'm not seeing much that is noteworthy, with the possible exception of multiple Event ID 6155 Warnings ("The LSA package is not signed as expected"). I've googled just about everything about that I can find, and experimented with multiple group policy changes related to Credential Guard, Virtualization-based security, fully disabling Windows Defender, etc. Nothing made any difference.
Other things I've tried:
I managed to find a BIOS update, and updated it from 5.22 to 5.27, which I believe is the latest version. This didn't change anything.
I tried using a PCIe ASMedia SATA controller instead of the integrated SATA controller. This didn't change anything.
I tried using a small Nvidia Quadro PCIe videocard instead of the integrated video. This didn't change anything.
I tried using several different SSDs. This didn't change anything.
I disabled the integrated Audio, the Parallel ATA controller, the PS2 ports, basically everything that was optional. This didn't change anything.
I tried installing various Release Preview, Dev Channel builds, and others (22624.1470, 23419.1000, 25330.1000, etc) beyond the current 22H2 build (22621.1413) to see if maybe this is an issue that might be fixed in the future. No changes.
Now, obviously this is not a particularly valuable computer. My motivation to solve this is more for academic reasons and driven by curiosity. This is basically the only 64-bit x86 computer that I have not been able to install Windows 11 22H2 on so far, and that includes computers that are even older, including single-core 64-bit Pentium 4 computers. It's not simply incompatible with Windows 11, since 21H2 (22000.1761) runs fine on there, so whatever is causing the issue is unique to 22H2. My best guess at this point is that it's something related to (or conflicting with) the Nforce chipset. I don't specifically recall working on any other computer with an Nforce 630i chipset, and even though I have other Nforce-based PCs that have been successfully upgraded to Windows 11 22H2, overall Nforce chipsets have always been POS chipsets, even when they were new.
Any ideas that might help shed a light on things? Also, if Windows 11 22H2 is simply not an option, then I'd guess that Windows 10 would be a better option than Windows 11 21H2, since Windows 11 21H2 will actually reach EoL before Windows 10 does (assuming that future Windows 10 updates don't cause the same problem).
If you're still reading this wall of text, thanks.
Windows 10 works great on there, with all current updates.
Windows 11 21H2 works great on there, with all current updates.
Windows 11 22H2 will NOT work on there, despite everything I've tried.
While upgrading to Windows 11 22H2 (from either Windows 10 or Windows 11 21H2), it will generally freeze at some point during the setup process - though it varies as to exactly when it will freeze; sometimes it almost makes it all the way through.
I've also tried taking the SSD and putting it into another computer, performing the update to 22H2 in that other computer, and then putting it back into the a6710t once 22H2 is already installed. In that scenario, sometimes it will freeze during boot. Often it will make it all the way to the desktop and seem to work mostly normal, but freeze within a few minutes at most. It's not usually a hard-lock. Usually the active window will freeze first, with the mouse cursor still able to move and interact with other elements of the UI to a limited extent until the computer soon becomes completely unresponsive.
It usually will work long enough to let me into the Event Viewer, where I'm not seeing much that is noteworthy, with the possible exception of multiple Event ID 6155 Warnings ("The LSA package is not signed as expected"). I've googled just about everything about that I can find, and experimented with multiple group policy changes related to Credential Guard, Virtualization-based security, fully disabling Windows Defender, etc. Nothing made any difference.
Other things I've tried:
I managed to find a BIOS update, and updated it from 5.22 to 5.27, which I believe is the latest version. This didn't change anything.
I tried using a PCIe ASMedia SATA controller instead of the integrated SATA controller. This didn't change anything.
I tried using a small Nvidia Quadro PCIe videocard instead of the integrated video. This didn't change anything.
I tried using several different SSDs. This didn't change anything.
I disabled the integrated Audio, the Parallel ATA controller, the PS2 ports, basically everything that was optional. This didn't change anything.
I tried installing various Release Preview, Dev Channel builds, and others (22624.1470, 23419.1000, 25330.1000, etc) beyond the current 22H2 build (22621.1413) to see if maybe this is an issue that might be fixed in the future. No changes.
Now, obviously this is not a particularly valuable computer. My motivation to solve this is more for academic reasons and driven by curiosity. This is basically the only 64-bit x86 computer that I have not been able to install Windows 11 22H2 on so far, and that includes computers that are even older, including single-core 64-bit Pentium 4 computers. It's not simply incompatible with Windows 11, since 21H2 (22000.1761) runs fine on there, so whatever is causing the issue is unique to 22H2. My best guess at this point is that it's something related to (or conflicting with) the Nforce chipset. I don't specifically recall working on any other computer with an Nforce 630i chipset, and even though I have other Nforce-based PCs that have been successfully upgraded to Windows 11 22H2, overall Nforce chipsets have always been POS chipsets, even when they were new.
Any ideas that might help shed a light on things? Also, if Windows 11 22H2 is simply not an option, then I'd guess that Windows 10 would be a better option than Windows 11 21H2, since Windows 11 21H2 will actually reach EoL before Windows 10 does (assuming that future Windows 10 updates don't cause the same problem).
If you're still reading this wall of text, thanks.
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