[SOLVED] Windows 7 No Keyboard/mouse on i3-8100

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ZV505867

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Apr 1, 2022
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So I have this Dell Inspiron 3670, with a Core i3-8100. Windows 10 performs terribly, Windows 8.x doesn't look good, and Windows 7 is the real logical alternative for me (Probably since that computer still has an old-school SATA HDD). But regardless if I use ISO image or USB, the keyboard and mouse won't work once the thing reboots (or when the language section shows up).

Here are the specs:
8 GB DDR3 RAM
Intel Core i3-8100 (quad core) @ 3.6 GHz
Some sort of HDD from Toshiba
Intel UHD 630

I'm assuming it's an issue with the chipset and/or USB 3.x. However, there aren't things like "Legacy USB" or "xHCI Hand-off". However, everything else works fine as long as I disable RAID and enable legacy option ROMs (which is pretty much CSM). Please don't suggest adding expansion cards or disassembling things. I know that I'm being a bit stubborn and not using 8 or later, but it's just slow.

I can get that thing to run correctly by mounting an ISO, but when I get to the setup part where you set your language and a username, the keyboard and mouse just freeze. They also froze in the screen after the first reboot (when about 20% of the installation files have been expanded).

Back to the whole USB 3.x thing, I have a USB 1.x wired mouse, and there aren't really problems with it when using a more modern edition of Windows. Just a Win7 issue.
 
Solution
Unfortunately, that tool did not work. There was still no responding mouse/keyboard upon booting to the USB. Also, when I plugged in the USB HDD, it showed up in explorer, but not in that Gigabyte tool.
Im also using Gigabyte B360 D3H motherboard, i5 8400 and running windows 7.

The first thing you need to do is to go on another pc or if you already have Win 8 or later on this pc use this, then get a clean Windows 7 SP1 ISO, without any other updates on top of it, then write it on an USB drive with the program "Rufus".

Make sure to select "MBR" and "BIOS" in rufus settings, Win 7 requires CSM to work properly.

After that if you try to boot you will have no usb, now you need to go into the BIOS and enable legacy op rom and CSM...
Technically, even the 7th gen CPUs and 200 series chipsets were allegedly beyond Win7's native support....

So, short of some special driver patch or workaround....no 8000-series CPU/WIn7 for you? :(

But, as anyone can freely download/install Win10, this hardly seems worthy of much investigation. (Your 'WIn10 sucks with my hardware' is likely by virtue of using a spinning drive, or, relying on MS' default chipset drivers, which sometimes results in 800 MHz operation until proper chipset drivers loaded, but certainly using a spinning drive has rivaled watching paint dry for more than a few years...; get an MX500 or, better yet, a 970 EVO (at least 250 GB, 500 is better) on sale...
 
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Math Geek

Titan
Ambassador
not sure what is going wrong, but either of the methods should have worked.

i have done this many times and not had any issues with it working. the other method suggested seems to also work fairly well. not sitting there with it in front of me, but at this point it has to be some type of user error. i have not had a single system not install win 7 when i wanted it to using my updated installer. it has never failed me and i have used it many many times over now the last few years
 
May 21, 2022
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Unfortunately, that tool did not work. There was still no responding mouse/keyboard upon booting to the USB. Also, when I plugged in the USB HDD, it showed up in explorer, but not in that Gigabyte tool.
Im also using Gigabyte B360 D3H motherboard, i5 8400 and running windows 7.

The first thing you need to do is to go on another pc or if you already have Win 8 or later on this pc use this, then get a clean Windows 7 SP1 ISO, without any other updates on top of it, then write it on an USB drive with the program "Rufus".

Make sure to select "MBR" and "BIOS" in rufus settings, Win 7 requires CSM to work properly.

After that if you try to boot you will have no usb, now you need to go into the BIOS and enable legacy op rom and CSM, then make sure "legacy usb support" is enabled,
After this get this driver:

Link: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/9J_0K1f0PtRI3A
Password: xiaofengmod

Extract it

You have 2 option to install Windows 7:

Method 1:
1: Get a PS/2 Keyboard or Mouse and install Windows 7
2: Put the driver above on the machine with Windows 7 using a CD / DVD or by connecting the hard drive in another computer
3: Open DPInst64.exe, you should have fully working USB after installation

Method 2:

Download the NTLITE Program: https://www.ntlite.com/download/ and open it.
1: Press on ADD, the Image file (Wim, Esd, etc)
2: Go to your USB Drive, open the "sources" folder and select "Install.wim"
3: You should get a list of Win 7 version available in that iso, just double click the one you want to use
4: Go to "Driver" section on the left, press "Add" on top and add "Driver File"
5: Navigate to the folder where you extracted the driver, and add all the inf files that are present in "Hub Driver, Switch Driver and XHCI Controller Driver folder"
6: Go to "Apply", press on "Image process queue",
7: Tick the box that says "Integrate - Drivers"
8: Make sure ALL .wim files are selected, also the Boot.wim and Winre.wim
9: Press "Process" button in the Top Left.
10: Boot from the USB and your keyboard should be working during installation
 
Solution

ZV505867

Prominent
Apr 1, 2022
58
1
535
Im also using Gigabyte B360 D3H motherboard, i5 8400 and running windows 7.

The first thing you need to do is to go on another pc or if you already have Win 8 or later on this pc use this, then get a clean Windows 7 SP1 ISO, without any other updates on top of it, then write it on an USB drive with the program "Rufus".

Make sure to select "MBR" and "BIOS" in rufus settings, Win 7 requires CSM to work properly.

After that if you try to boot you will have no usb, now you need to go into the BIOS and enable legacy op rom and CSM, then make sure "legacy usb support" is enabled,
After this get this driver:

Link: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/9J_0K1f0PtRI3A
Password: xiaofengmod

Extract it

You have 2 option to install Windows 7:

Method 1:
1: Get a PS/2 Keyboard or Mouse and install Windows 7
2: Put the driver above on the machine with Windows 7 using a CD / DVD or by connecting the hard drive in another computer
3: Open DPInst64.exe, you should have fully working USB after installation

Method 2:

Download the NTLITE Program: https://www.ntlite.com/download/ and open it.
1: Press on ADD, the Image file (Wim, Esd, etc)
2: Go to your USB Drive, open the "sources" folder and select "Install.wim"
3: You should get a list of Win 7 version available in that iso, just double click the one you want to use
4: Go to "Driver" section on the left, press "Add" on top and add "Driver File"
5: Navigate to the folder where you extracted the driver, and add all the inf files that are present in "Hub Driver, Switch Driver and XHCI Controller Driver folder"
6: Go to "Apply", press on "Image process queue",
7: Tick the box that says "Integrate - Drivers"
8: Make sure ALL .wim files are selected, also the Boot.wim and Winre.wim
9: Press "Process" button in the Top Left.
10: Boot from the USB and your keyboard should be working during installation
Okay. So this particular computer (Inspiron 3670) does not have legacy boot support. Yes, there is support for legacy option ROMS (CSM), but there is no technical legacy boot - only legacy external devices, meaning that the internal HDD can only be run in UEFI mode. However, I've had no problems deploying the WIM and making the computer boot with Windows 7 in UEFI mode. It's just a chipset problem. I've tried both MBR and GPT, both work fine on this particular computer. Also, that computer does not have that legacy USB option. Will that have any effects?
 

ZV505867

Prominent
Apr 1, 2022
58
1
535
Method 2:

Download the NTLITE Program: https://www.ntlite.com/download/ and open it.
1: Press on ADD, the Image file (Wim, Esd, etc)
2: Go to your USB Drive, open the "sources" folder and select "Install.wim"
3: You should get a list of Win 7 version available in that iso, just double click the one you want to use
4: Go to "Driver" section on the left, press "Add" on top and add "Driver File"
5: Navigate to the folder where you extracted the driver, and add all the inf files that are present in "Hub Driver, Switch Driver and XHCI Controller Driver folder"
6: Go to "Apply", press on "Image process queue",
7: Tick the box that says "Integrate - Drivers"
8: Make sure ALL .wim files are selected, also the Boot.wim and Winre.wim
9: Press "Process" button in the Top Left.
10: Boot from the USB and your keyboard should be working during installation
I tried that, and it worked. Now, I have a functional copy of Windows 7. However, I am still lacking many of the drivers. That's gonna be a problem.
 
May 24, 2022
8
2
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First of all, I don't recommend using Windows 7 on a system with an i3-8100. It does not work stable.

You need to install the drivers. Of course, if you can find a Windows 7 compatible driver. Even if you install the drivers, I think there will be stability issues because that processor is not designed for Windows 7.
 
May 24, 2022
8
2
15
It's plenty stable.
Where do you get those nonsense ideas?

It's more complicated to install windows 7 on a modern hardware. This is true.
But there are no stability issues.

As I said, it's hard to find Windows 7 drivers for those hardware. Even if you find it, it is very possible that you will experience stability problems. And again, as you said, it's complicated to set up. I myself experienced stability problems when Windows 7 was installed on new systems. I think it would be better to install Windows 10 or Windows 11 on that system.

Good evening :).
 

ZV505867

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Apr 1, 2022
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I got most of the drivers that I needed from DriverPack Offline pack (the 30 GB one). However, I am still missing the network drivers. So, I can't access the internet on that thing. I can't use a wired connection either, because the Ethernet controller is also missing.
 

ZV505867

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Apr 1, 2022
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The problem with this is that none of my parents or relatives will let me use their phone for this purpose. Is there a way to just bypass the driver problem? I doubt that could work. Are there any alternative ways?
 

ZV505867

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Apr 1, 2022
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Okay - I managed to get a wireless driver for Dell 1707. I used the Windows 7 64-bit drivers that were meant for the Vostro 3561. Installing it gave me errors, but I used device manager to circumvent it. I updated the network drivers, selected the 64-bit ones, and I was able to connect to the internet.
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=2chx9

Basically, I went into device manager, and updated the missing network drivers. I browsed for the drivers, and navigated to the 64-bit drivers, and after some time, Windows 7 told me that the driver installed successfully, and I was given the option to connect to the internet wirelessly.
 
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ZV505867

Prominent
Apr 1, 2022
58
1
535
As I said, it's hard to find Windows 7 drivers for those hardware. Even if you find it, it is very possible that you will experience stability problems. And again, as you said, it's complicated to set up. I myself experienced stability problems when Windows 7 was installed on new systems. I think it would be better to install Windows 10 or Windows 11 on that system.
  1. It wasn't that hard. You just had to find some older drivers, or search through forums.
  2. It's pretty stable.