This page is a collection of various issues I have observed with particular hardware/software and/or combinations. Please assume that unless otherwise stated, these solutions will NOT help unless you have that specific combination.
Software issues
Windows 10 installer error 0xC1900101 – 0x20017 §
Solution: Create a different user profile, even if temporary, for performing the installation/in-place upgrade.
Comments: Also known as “The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during BOOT operation”
Windows 7 Updates Extremely Slow/Broken §
Solution: Download these update packages from the Microsoft Update Catalog, disconnect from the Internet, then install them in this order: KB3020369, KB3102810, KB3125574, KB3172605.
OpenGL apps (e.g. Minecraft) not working on Windows 10 1709+ with old graphics cards / Windows transparency effects causing graphical artifacts §
In short: If there are no newer graphics drivers that you can try, then unfortunately, there is no solution for this problem.
In my testing on an HP Pavilion dv9000 with GeForce Go 7600, Windows 10 1507 thru 1703 has working OpenGL and doesn’t have graphical artifacting with transparency enabled. Windows 10 1709 on this hardware has broken OpenGL, and the same goes all the way to 22H2.
A common formation of this problem is Minecraft not able to run at all in Windows 10 on Intel HD 3000 onboard graphics – there are many posts about this online, dating back to 2018 – right in line with the 1709 update.
The Windows 10 1709 update made significant changes to OS internals which, in turn, broke compatibility with drivers from the Windows 7 era & prior. The only way to use such systems is with an older Windows version, or using Linux.
Here is a download for Windows 10 1703, with checksums I have verified as an authentic download.
Driver/Firmware Issues
Dell Latitude E6410 on Windows 10 – 0% screen brightness keeps turning off the backlight entirely §
Solution #1: Install Dell OEM Intel graphics driver – do not use Windows’ inbox driver.
Solution #2: Should Windows Update keep reverting the driver, use wushowhide.diagcab to block the broken driver. To do this, disconnect from the Internet, install the good driver, turn on your Internet connection, have Windows check for updates and then quickly press “Pause Updates” to stop the installation. Then, use wushowhide to hide the Intel driver update.
Comments: Unknown if the Nvidia model suffers the same issue. If you have an Nvidia GPU model and it is doing this, give this a shot, just replace all instances of “Intel” above with “Nvidia”.
Systems on AMD A4/A6/A9/etc. “Stoney Ridge” APUs – Screen artifacting while starting Windows 10 Installer §
Solution: Update BIOS via Windows 10 1909 or older. You can download previous Windows 10 ISO versions with Heidoc.net’s Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool, or this Archive.org link with checksums I have verified as an authentic download.
Comments: I have observed this issue largely in 2021 with the Dell Inspiron 3565, some Lenovo IdeaPads, and HP laptops all with the above AMD Stoney Ridge CPU architecture. BIOS updates resolved each case and I have never seen the systems come back with problems for Windows updates or otherwise.
Toshiba Satellite (Win7-era) Hotkeys Non-functional on Windows 10 §
Problem: Hotkeys don’t work (often the mute key)
Solution #1: Disable “dynabook Function Key Control Service” under msconfig.
Solution #2: Failing this, replace ALL dynabook hotkey/system function drivers via Device Manager with older Toshiba versions from MS Update Catalog. You may afterwards also need to play with enabling/disabling services as above, especially if this is an upgrade and not a clean Windows 10 install.
Comments: Has worked on Satellite A505/L505 and L775 for me. Quite likely affects many other Windows 7-era Toshiba laptops – potentially all.
Dell Inspiron 15R 5520/SE 7520 (Radeon 7730M GPU) – Random BSODs on Windows 10 §
Problem: Random GPU errors (usually sporadic BSODs)
Solution: Install OEM Dell Intel & AMD video drivers – Windows’ own do not work properly on this system.
Comments: Other similar-era Dell models may also be affected. I personally have repaired at least two 7520s this way, and never saw them come back. If this does not work for you, your system’s GPU has likely failed. This does not apply to systems using exclusively Intel HD Graphics. However, this is a good practice for any switchable graphics system before diagnosing it with a failed GPU.
Intel 82855GM Graphics – Windows 7 §
Solution: Download and extract (do not install yet) this driver (855gm_vista_driver.zip, SHA1: B86C0D4EAF9ED022E848A1A4D591234A) and reboot into Safe Mode. Prior to installation, hijack the stock VGA driver:
- takeown /f c:\windows\system32\drivers\vgapnp.sys
- cacls c:\windows\system32\drivers\vgapnp.sys /g :F
- notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\vgapnp.sys
- Type literally anything into there and save the file. Yes – anything.
- Uninstall the Standard VGA driver from Device Manager. Ignore any possible errors.
- Update the driver of “Video Controller (VGA Compatible)” to the INF file of the above Intel driver
- Pray and reboot. Should work!
If you are experiencing a 7E BSOD on bootup caused by ialmnt5.sys:
Windows 7’s splash screen forces a video mode which can cause this driver to crash.
To disable the splash screen: open msconfig in Safe Mode and check off Boot > OS Boot Information. Reboot.
I had to do this on a Motion Computing M1400 tablet PC before it could work.
Intel ICH10R AHCI Driver §
Years ago I remember having a big struggle trying to get AHCI working on an old Acer Aspire M5620, in order to get full performance out of an SSD. It required a driver that was difficult to find. Maybe I can make such a job easier for someone, if anyone’s still got such an old system left.
The driver you need is called f6flpy-x86_11.2.0.1006.zip / f6flpy-x64_11.2.0.1006.zip depending on architecture. As of April 2023, Intel still has this available for download here.
SHA1 checksums for these files for x86 and x64 respectively are 31ED12CB5472845B6ED40821D29909745D7B4A4B / 45744822454B5CFAD5A027A61807665451A71A34.
Newest Driver for Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Card Readers (for reading SDHC) §
The newest driver I’ve used is PCIxx12 2.0.0.19, which you can download straight from my site here. It’s normally packaged by Sony (TIDMSC-14215300-1041.EXE, if I am not mistaken), and as such has to annoyingly be extracted from their proprietary VAIO installer. I used Universal Extractor to do this, and you can too if you’d rather not download it from me (which is fair!).
I see a PCIxx12 2.0.0.20 driver out in the wild, but I haven’t tested it. It’s probably good too, but I’m vouching for the older version as I know it works for me.
HP dv9000 ACPI DSDT Modding §
Over at Burt’s Developers Blog – How I Fixed My Overheating HP DV9000 Computer, there’s a detailed walkthrough for modifying the ACPI DSDT, allowing for more aggressive fan control for these laptops that love toasting themselves (or, loved back in the day). But, equus.exe is difficult to find! Well, here you go – your search is over.
Hardware issues
Windows XP freezing when plugging in USB flash drive
Solution: Use an older flash drive. At this time, I lack a firm determination of what characteristics make it more or less likely to work. Anything pre-2010, and/or smaller than 8GB should work, as far as I’ve seen. USB 2.0 is more likely to work, 3.0 are less likely albeit possible.
Comments: The immensely-popular Sandisk Cruzer drives work great in my testing, including (but not limited to) the SDCZ36-004G and SDCZ60-032G, as should most any generic flash drive made prior to 2013 or so. I never recall having this problem back in 2015 when most of my flash drives were older ones like this. USB 3.0/3.1 drives of 64GB+ always seem to fail on XP for me.