Intel draws fire for not writing Win10 drivers for older Sandy Bridge PCs

[Karlston]

Users who bought top-of-the-line Intel-based PCs a few years ago probably won't have Miracast support in Windows 10; video may not work right either

Microsoft stirred up a storm of complaints when it announced earlier this year that effective July 2017 it will no longer support Windows 7 or 8.1 on the newest Skylake Intel processors. Reasons for the decision ranged all over the place, but came down to this:

For Windows 7 to run on any modern silicon, device drivers and firmware need to emulate Windows 7's expectations for interrupt processing, bus support, and power states -- which is challenging for WiFi, graphics, security, and more.

A similar situation -- but in reverse -- is now playing out with older Intel processors and support for basic Windows 10 features. In particular, it appears Intel will not issue Miracast (WiDi) drivers for its second-generation Sandy Bridge systems. The second-generation HD 3000 graphics card has limited OpenCL support, and other Win10 drivers for earlier-generation systems are questionable.

 

This means if you bought a new Intel-based computer four or five years ago -- even an expensive, high-end PC -- you probably won't be able to use it for Intel's Miracast technology in Win10, and video may not work right on Win10. I'm not talking about dated Pentium or Celeron processors; I'm talking about relatively recent i3, i5, and i7 systems.

 

Intel's support forums are ablaze with irate customers demanding to know why their four-year-old Sandy Bridge top-of-the-line PCs won't support Miracast in Win10. The answer, simply, is that Intel won't write the drivers. As Intel employee Bryce@Intel put it thusly:

 

It has always been [Intel's] plan to fully support Windows 10 beginning from 4th Gen (limited SKU's) and newer products

Intel's fourth-generation processors started shipping three years ago. If you have an older system, the existence of Win10 drivers is hit-and-miss.

 

Details are complex, with specific combinations of processors, onboard graphics cards, and network adapters supported and other combinations not supported. Some drivers work fine under Windows 10, others require tweaking. And in several cases Win10 drivers don't -- and won't -- exist.

 

On page 23 of the complaint thread, poster palmiris suggests that everyone concerned lodge a formal complaint with the Intel Corporate Responsibility team by following this link.

 

Source: Intel draws fire for not writing Win10 drivers for older Sandy Bridge PCs (InfoWorld - Woody Leonhard)

 

Discussion: Intel draws fire for not supporting Win10 drivers on “Sandy Bridge” processors (AskWoody.com)

[steven36]

I had the same problem With AMD  i doubt  they will fix it  many people stuck on drivers from 2014 in order  to use many cards AMD in order to use W10.    This a way to try earn money off windows 10 if there not going to charge  for it  the Hardware vendors  are going to drop support and you will have  to buy new units or buy a HW  upgrade to get updated drivers  for w10.

[WALLONN7]

This is why it is so close partner of Microsoft ... By the way, in the case of Intel, this is not surprising stance. It is a well known company by targeting only the profits... That's all...
 

[steven36]

4 minutes ago, WALLONN7 said:

This is why it is so close partner of Microsoft ... By the way, in the case of Intel, this is not surprising stance. It is a well known company by targeting only the profits... That's all...
 

That dont have nothing too do with it, AMD done it too . I can't get updated drivers For my AMD box for w10 that came with windows 8 on it.. its a very good computer too better than my Intel  even . Its the fact they not sold no units much since 2013 and Windows 10 put them in a bind  with it being free for a year.

[WALLONN7]

5 minutes ago, steven36 said:

That dont have nothing too do with AMD done it too . I cant get updated drivers For my AMD box for w10 that came with windows 8 on its a very good computer too better than my Intel  even .

 

We both know you won't cry for lack of Windows 10 support... Or will?!...

[DKT27]

For a while I wondered if CPUs required any drivers. Looks like it's about the build-in GPU on the CPU. I guess people do need these features as media PC users are not necessarily gamers who buy a graphics card for it.

[steven36]

6 minutes ago, WALLONN7 said:

 

We both know you won't cry for lack of Windows 10 support... Or will?!...

No  i dont care about it really ,  Ill leave my Intel  box windows 8.1 tell 2023  and I'll leave Linux on my AMD box  as long as it  keeps working . By 2023, i will most likely buy a new unit  but undecided  about witch O/S  a lot can happen by then .

[WALLONN7]

9 minutes ago, steven36 said:

No  i dont care about it really ,  Ill leave my Intel  box windows 8.1 tell 2023  and I'll leave Linux on my AMD box  as long as it  keeps working . By 2023, i will most likely buy a new unit  but undecided  about witch O/S  a lot can happen by then .

 

Those irate Intel users would follow your steps and keep calm...

[mastershake]

unless you need miracast the older systems work just fine. i have installed windows 10 on tons of systems now even older then the first i series chips (like older t9400 etc) and they run perfectly fine with zero issues. the miracast may not work but otherwise there are simply no issues. i even just did a install on a older e8500 x48 system its running perfectly.

[straycat19]

I wouldn't install Windows 10 on my worst enemy's computer, I have too much respect for him.  Who cares what Windows 10 does or does not support, you install the crap, then you get (or don't get) everything you deserve for drinking the Microsoft Kool-Aid.  Forseeing this I made sure I had adequate licenses for 7 and 8.1 on hand to last me a lifetime.  Just because Microsoft doesn't support it doesn't mean I can't run it.  Besides, MacOSX runs fine on PCs too, a lot of times better than it runs on the Mac hardware.  Then there is linux, always a fine OS and many versions to choose from.  There is not one valid argument for a home user to run Windows except on a gaming machine and then I wouldn't use anything but Windows 7 X64.

[heyyahblah]

Very stupid move on Intel's part. Very, very stupid. I just built a new system that is Skylake Gen 6 i5, as I have no other choice because I needed an upgrade and AMD is not releasing anything to compete. Hell I haven't seen AMD release anything new in years. If they fail with ZEN then they might as well disappear like Cyrix did. I don't understand why AMD is loafting on processors, motherboards, chipsets. They used to be a good alternative price point to INTEL for people that did not have top end money to spend.

 

And now my laptop, thinkpad (expensive) Core i5 2520m (Sandy Bridge) is going to have this 10 issue, lmao what a joke. No W7 on my new computer and no W10 on my older laptop with Intel HD 3000 and Core i5 2520m. Its not a bad laptop, it functions quite well actually. 8GB ram and SSD, it flys and does what I need it to do, plus ThinkPad quality.

 

Lol this pisses me off.

 

[tombraider]

Nothing to worry about . . . whatever they may say . . . I'm able to run Windows 10 on my old PC With Intel i3 1st Gen processor also without any issues flawlessly. All drives working gr8 . . .  Just use Windows 8.1 drivers they work on Windows 10. If you get error " this operating system not supported" then just use 7zip or winrar to extract the drivers from exe and install it manually, it will work or at last disable "digital signature verification" and then try. They must work or just download the drivers packs from here http://driverpacks.net/downloads.

 

I have installed Windows 10 on my mini net-top (Intel Atom with 2GB ram and normal HDD). previously having windows 7 which used to kill it. So switched to XP but with Win10 it wont get died. Works flawlessly . . .

[Ryrynz]

7 hours ago, straycat19 said:

I wouldn't install Windows 10 on my worst enemy's computer, I have too much respect for him.  Who cares what Windows 10 does or does not support, you install the crap, then you get (or don't get) everything you deserve for drinking the Microsoft Kool-Aid.  Forseeing this I made sure I had adequate licenses for 7 and 8.1 on hand to last me a lifetime.  Just because Microsoft doesn't support it doesn't mean I can't run it.  Besides, MacOSX runs fine on PCs too, a lot of times better than it runs on the Mac hardware.  Then there is linux, always a fine OS and many versions to choose from.  There is not one valid argument for a home user to run Windows except on a gaming machine and then I wouldn't use anything but Windows 7 X64.

I don't think you're aware of a) how much code 8.1 and 10 share, and b what improvements have been made to the OS since. You're just a typical hater.

[Sylence]

39 minutes ago, Ryrynz said:

I don't think you're aware of a) how much code 8.1 and 10 share, and b what improvements have been made to the OS since. You're just a typical hater.

 

typical haters ain't something new here, haters gonna hate and that doesnt change anything  

[D1v1n3D]

IN MY OPINION MIRA-CAST IS GARBAGE. I have tried it from my 4790k to my New LG WEb OS Smart TV which is an awesome TV and I have tried it on my S6 to my LG both are so unreliable drop out laggy pixelating it's just shit in it's current state.

[PrEzi]

 

18 hours ago, steven36 said:

That dont have nothing too do with it, AMD done it too . I can't get updated drivers For my AMD box for w10 that came with windows 8 on it.. its a very good computer too better than my Intel  even . Its the fact they not sold no units much since 2013 and Windows 10 put them in a bind  with it being free for a year.

 

What are you talking about ? What GPU do you have ? GPUs from 2013 (circa about time W8 was released) are either the 6xxx -series, or even 7-series already. Hell... even 5xxx-Series is supported with the last Legacy Crimson  from January 2016 (official one -> 16.1 but I can find also 16.2.1 which also supports legacy cards)...

All of them have perfectly fine W10 drivers ->

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMD-Radeon-Software-Crimson-Edition-16.1-NonGCN-Products-Release-Notes.aspx

https://community.amd.com/docs/DOC-1435

 

If you mean 4xxx series then it was released in 2008.... I wouldn't expect much support for an 8+ years old card either.

[D1v1n3D]

1 minute ago, PrEzi said:

 

 

What are you talking about ? What GPU do you have ? GPUs from 2013 (circa about time W8 was released) are either the 6xxx -series, or even 7-series already. Hell... even 5xxx-Series is supported with the last Legacy Crimson  from January 2016 (official one -> 16.1 but I can find also 16.2.1 which also supports legacy cards)...

All of them have perfectly fine W10 drivers ->

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMD-Radeon-Software-Crimson-Edition-16.1-NonGCN-Products-Release-Notes.aspx

https://community.amd.com/docs/DOC-1435

 

If you mean 4xxx series then it was released in 2008.... I wouldn't expect much support for an 8+ years old card either.

dude where the hell you find this ty I am so sick of the older drivers i will have to try the new Crimson for my 6950 either way if this works YOU ROCK

[PrEzi]

2 minutes ago, D1v1n3D said:

dude where the hell you find this ty I am so sick of the older drivers i will have to try the new Crimson for my 6950 either way if this works YOU ROCK

Then Wait, I will find you the proper link to 16.2.1 ;-)

 

Well... I'm kinda tech-freak, and like to find things out (also mainly working with AMD cards... since... forever ;-)

 

UPDATE: There ya go - 16.2.1 Drivers from end February/begin March

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMD-Radeon-Software-Crimson-Edition-16.2.1-for-Non-GCN-Products-Release-Notes.aspx

 

P.S. Recommend to perform full uninstall of old Catalyst drivers +cleanup using DDU before installing those new ones.

Display Driver Uninstaller >

http://www.wagnardmobile.com/

[D1v1n3D]

yeah im not a fan of intel or nvidia's practice of strong-arming the market but I had to break down and replace my phenom x6 with the 4790k I was all AMD until they stopped making really good cpu's for gaming. But, I sure can't wait for the Zen that will have real hyper threading and single-core performance even though dx12 and vulkan have ended the need for single core performance in gaming in next gen games that I also can't wait for. I am a huge Battlefield fan and the word on the the street is bf5 is going to blow every game out of the water with graphics, kinda like battlefront's mod that guy came up with that looks life like but you need a gpu beyond 980ti to get over 30fps i hope that gets optimized better. It almost seems like Dice had it hidden in the under layers of the game tho it just looks to perfect.

oh i know the routine of clean removal of cat drivers I had fps drops down to 20 fps in bf4 when I tried to install 15.7.1 over windows whql drivers I had to completely remove those whql drivers and disable driver updates in windows updates to set it to basic display adapter then installed it made one hell of a difference doing that like 30fps difference on average and only have drops to 90fps lets see what crimson will do for the lows.

[PrEzi]

Also waiting for ZEN... Already upgraded my GPU to Fury X, but still waiting & stuck with ye olde Phenom II 955 ;-)) I know I know.... with this CPU my GPU is more than bottlenecked... but still - everything that I play in WQHD is supersmooth.

 

Anyway - back on topic --- it's a shame that a monopolist with soooo much money doesn't want to throw a few dollars to support their old high-end from 4 years ago.... I'm even not talking about full WDDM 2.0 support... because the hardware can't probably handle it, but at least full WDDM 1.3+ under W10 + working Video acceleration... not THAT hard to fulfill...

[D1v1n3D]

For sure Programmers of a walks of life in this day in age has gotten extremely lazy like how many drivers for both every company have turned to BSOD or lags in the past 3 years or the fact that almost every game released to PC now is so buggy it's like early early early access I bought bf4 premium on pre-order for 120 LAST time i ever do that I couldn't even play the game for the first year I owned it second year I would crash about every 4 rounds then they started offering refund options but only if you owned it for less then 7 days so i was screwed then they were getting class action suit cases brought up over it so EA have to step up and fire the eurupe dice team off bf4 and bring in Dice LA and sure enough they fixed the game so much that it gets 144 tick rate and 3 free maps and they are still working on it to make sure their customers are happy. I just hope Europe doesn't touch bf5 unless they really want to step up and make a solid game false advertisement is illegal last i checked and all these companies are false advertising like batman if the game engine is that crappy you can't even fix your game DON'T USE IT. as we head more towards VR and stuff like that happens it could cause a lot of seizures or even deaths so they can't be fucking around like that anymore or they could be charged with manslaughter if we can get our courts and politicians world wide to step up and start making people responsible for their careless actions.

[Karlston]

40 minutes ago, D1v1n3D said:

For sure Programmers of a walks of life in this day in age has gotten extremely lazy

 

Programmers have little control over the work they choose to do. Their work is assigned by management, to do what management thinks needs to be done.

 

Often though, and I speak from experience, programmers have a much better idea than management of the important things that need to be done.

 

So by all means blame Intel management, but please don't blame their programmers.

[heyyahblah]

A bit off topic but it seems like we have quite a few trolls & 10 fanboii's in here that like to start shit with other users. If you are gonna bother to argue with the regs and suck off W10, do us a favor and bounce to tenforums.com. They love suck-off's like you over there. I should know, I got banned for stating W10 facts and they didn't like that.

 

So chill and STFU.

 

[D1v1n3D]

1 hour ago, Karlston said:

So by all means blame Intel management, but please don't blame their programmers.

 Then how do you explain Warner claiming they can't fix their game engine for Batman that has to do with management? Last I checked the recent update made the game worse then first release, or am I reading that wrong? Sure Intel Management is to blame for their issues but I feel gaming programmers are lazy they rather make their game for consoles then PC's kinda sounds LAZY to me.

[D1v1n3D]

 

4 minutes ago, heyyahblah said:

 bit off topic but it seems like we have quite a few trolls & 10 fanboii's in here that like to start shit with other users. If you are gonna bother to argue with the regs and suck off W10, do us a favor and bounce to tenforums.com. They love suck-off's like you over there. I should know, I got banned for stating W10 facts and they didn't like that.

 

So chill and STFU.

 

An Aggressive Canadian, isn't that an oxymoron? No one was fighting or arguing until you came to the forum saying negative gestures towards other members, we were simply voicing our opinions about w10 and programmers and PC stuff in generaly something the free-world allows last time I checked.

also im pretty sure most of us don't exactly love W10 like we all did W7 so im still holding out for W9 lol.