Hard on the heels of reports of problems with the latest update to the RT version of Windows 8 for the Surface tablet comes word of troubles updating desktops and laptops to Windows 8.1.
According to Computerworld U.S., there are widespread reports on Microsoft support forums of complaints about the update, which may relate to incompatible device driver.
Typically after downloading the update from the Windows Store the process fails, users get a message that the PC couldn’t perform the update and goes back to Windows 8.
On Oct. 17 a Microsoft support engineer said the issue is caused by a driver bug check during the second boot of the install. He suggests disconnecting all devices except the mouse and keyboard and try the install again. A second option is to try updating all device drivers.
However, several people said that didn’t help, although there are reports that removing drivers for headsets, mice and keyboards made by a company called SteelSeries helped some users. One person who had two video cards in their system uninstalled the driver for the secondary card and the upgrade went ahead. After that the person installed Windows 8.1 drivers for that card.
Several found that uninstalling Nvidia video drivers and immediately installing the update — without rebooting — did the trick.
This follows trouble that users of Microsoft’s SurfaceRT tablet have reported in upgrading to Windows 8.1 RT.