win8.1x64 update is no-go on laptop

[Comdrpopnfresh]

I eagerly attempted to update to 8.1 on my ASUS U43jc-X1. When I restarted, I got a driver-related BSOD and then was informed that the OS was rolled back + 8.1 was not installed. I think the issue may revolve around the Intel Centrino WiiFi Wireless -N 1000 and associated driver... I have had similar BSODs when trying to install Intel's latest driver for this wireless card. Bummer...
Is there any way around the forced windows/oem driver install when updating? On my desktop, I had to go through and over-install the manufacturer drivers on top of the OEM Atheros drivers for both the wireless adapters I have installed.
I'm doubtful ASUS will be of any assistance... as soon as they decide to EOL a model (quickly and widely, as they do), there is little in the way of support for technical issues, and you're better off buying a lottery ticket than wishing for BIOS or other SW updates.

 

[Elixer]

About the best you can do is do a clean install of 8.1 and hope that will fix your driver issue.
If that isn't a option, then your only other option is to enter safe mode, and uninstall the bad drivers.

As long is you don't have custom hardware tweaks by Asus, and it is all intel gear, it should work out OK.

BTW, you should also disable automatic install of updates when you first boot into windows.
That will prevent windows from installing anything, then you can pick what it should install.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

Hmmm.... unfortunately, a clean install is not an option I can act on for a few months... my current installations and configurations for a project I am working on would be too involved to put black into place with a clean install.

I am contemplating pulling the wireless card, but am worried that 8.1 will install okay, but not boot if I reinstall it. I have seen forum posts of others replacing the 1000N adapter with another, but I think that may be a bit too involved for me ATM too.

Really lamenting why things as simple as this cannot simply just work.

 

[Berryracer]

I once did a Win 8.1 clean install installing the drivfers from ASUS on my G750JX which are not very old but not the latest as well,

the moment I installed MEI v9.0.0.1287 I couldn't reboot any more and Windows says it has encountered an error so I had to do another clean install and install the MEI 9.5.XX drivers then everything worked perfect

If you don't have the latest drivers before you upgrade to Windows 8.1, you will face trouble

Important things are Intel chipset drivers, IRST, MEI, VGA, Bluetooth, WLAN

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

I have the latest drivers for everything but WLAN, as the Intel installer causes a blue screen and I can't get windows to install them. However, if I check in device manager for an update, it says I have the latest.

I read around on MS support/community, and it seems people having this and similar issues trend along the pattern of either having the same wifi card my laptop does, or having multiple graphics in their systems. I posted a support request w/ MS... not getting my hopes up. I'll wait until I can get an iso of the install (win8.1 pro w/ MCE), try that and see if it works. If I can grab details from the dump when the BSOD happens, I'm thinking I may be able to add the device ID to the list of devices/drivers to skip or ignore during install. My NVidia driver is the latest WHQL driver, but I wonder if I can install the 8.1 driver while still running 8.0.