The Lenovo Z580 Notebook I just read a review by a Fortune Magazine writer, Cyrus Sanati, Â who describes trying without success to install Windows 8 on a relatively new Lenovo Z580 laptop. The results. Â Failure. Â Step one was a straightforward attempt to install the OS following which some hardware failed to work properly, specifically the touchpad and screen dimmer. As Windows 8 did not find and install drivers, Sanati downloaded drivers individually and attempted to install them. Â Still no success. Â Cyrus despairingly added;
After installing a few, there was no change in how the system ran. Then the computer crashed. On reboot I just got the new teal Windows logo saying it was “trying to repair or refresh” my system – I let it run through the cycle many times but it was apparent that my computer, a three-month old laptop, was on its deathbed.What followed was a desperate call to microsoft, where he was elavated to a “Level III” Support Manager. This reportedly did not help. A fresh install ended up killing his Solid State hard drive. Obtaining a new IDE drive didn’t help, even after Microsoft engineers spent 5 hours trying to complete the install without success. Sanati continues;
So, for now, my new computer is one heavy paperweight. My friends remind me of how obstinate I am about sticking with my PC instead of being “cool” and getting a Mac. But beyond the social humiliation, this problem I am having in installing Windows 8 should be a huge red flag for Microsoft. It is one thing if some programs might not run on Windows 8 just yet. It’s another if users can’t even get it to work.Microsoft had blame apparently for Intel and Lenovo, claiming that there were some non standard issues and that 200,000 people would likely suffer the same problems. Apparently, this hardware compatibility problem is wider than Microsoft would like. Its own hardware compatibility forum has hundreds of users reporting hardware issues from running Windows 8. Microsoft must quickly address these issues before they become a major public relations disaster.]]>
Article Tags:
Compatibility · Cyrus Sanati · Drivers · hardware problems · Microsoft · Public Relations · Windows 8 · Windows 8 Deployment
All Comments
Just seems to me based on this and other stories that Windows 8 may have been rushed. The compatibility issue is just inexcusable on such a wide scale.
This situation points to a major communications problem between Microsoft and an experienced hardware developer. I am sure there is a lot of finger pointing going on. I successfully installed the Windows 8 pre-release on an MSI AMD/Nvidia gaming laptop, a DELL Mini 9 netbook and a built-by-me AMD powered gaming desktop with trouble only finding drivers for some of the more obscure motherboard components. They all ran any application I wanted, even STEAM and Windows Media Center. They all installed almost hands off and booted and ran faster than Windows 7. Makes you wonder what’s going on.
Yes, that seems to be the common thread among many hands-on trailers, including myself. The code is more efficient and apps run faster, startup time is faster also. The drivers issue is real, but I see it being worked out before too long.