Hmm updated drivers slower computer

[quixotiK]

I tried to update all the drivers on my acer preditor ag3620-ur14 and now everything is slower ie opening folders and programs takes longer. It was really bad until i uninstalled the audio card. Now its better but still not as good. I would like to recover to a an earlier time instead of having to figure out what I did exactly but that may not be possible.

When I go to control panel it says system protection is turned off. to turn it back on so that you can use system restore configure system protection. So I go to system protection under system properties and click configure it gives me a Yellow triangle exlamation point symbol and it says "using system protection on a drive that contains system image backups will cause other shadow copies to be deleted faster than normal." So I am afraid to turn it on because I dont know what that means. I don't want to lose my windows backup copy incase I have to reinstall windows. Also, I dont know if there is any restore points even if I were to turn it on. Under available drives system settings it says

Acer (C (System) Protection Off
Push Button Reset Protection Off
Acer (C (Missing) Protection On

I was wondering if someone could help me understand whats going on here and give me advice on what to do. It seems to me it would be easier to restore than to figure out what driver I installed that messed things up.

Acer Predator AG3620-UR14

• Intel Core i7-3770
• Microsoft Windows 8
• 12GB DDR3 RAM
• 2TB 7,200RPM Hard Drive
• 16GB SSD
• AMD Radeon HD8760
• 12x Blu-ray Disc/DVD SuperMulti Double-Layer Combo Drive
• Multi-in-One Digital Media Card Reader
• 10/100/1000 Network
• 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless
• Bluetooth 4.0+HS
• Display Not Included

Another Question I had, was an option came up to install windows 8.1 for free. I clicked ok and it said it would download it, but nothing ever happened. Would it fix the issues if I just installed windows 8.1? I think most of the new drivers came from that update, and updating might install them right?


Thanks for your help,
Cody

[renegade600]

if your restore points are turned off, then you do not have any. Turning them off deletes them.

as far as if win8.1 would help. It should give the option to do a clean install. If it does, it will wipe your drive and install 8.1 so it could help if you installed some bad drivers. It would not hurt to try win8.1 as long as you are getting it from the microsoft store. It should also give the option to save as an iso file when you download it. Do that so you will have a copy. Be sure to save any files you cannot afford to lose prior to installing.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ows-8-tutorial

one other thing you should do, if you have not done so, create a set of recovery disks for win8 so if you decide to get rid of the computer later, you can restore to factory. Go to acer eRecovery Management and there should be a selection there to create the disks.

[quixotiK]

Cool, thx man ill try that

[Murf]

If you updated drivers, depending on how you did it, you may have a faulty driver? How did you update? You use some kind of program? If so may of picked up some malware. I would update the following drivers directly from the manufacture.

Video;
http://www.amd-drivers.com/download-...ws8-64bit.html

Audio:
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

Chipset, found on same page.

Before upgrading to 8.1 you must have all the Windows updates for 8 first installed.

[quixotiK]

Hey Murf, thank you for your reply. The link to the audio drivers is where I got all my drivers from. I installed them all at once and didnt restart after each install, dunno if this matters. Here is a list of drivers I installed from the acer site.

I put an x by the ones i installed
A question mark by the ones I couldnt figure out how to install
put an f next to ones I forgot to install or thought were already updated

Predator G3620

Category Vendor Description Version Size Date

AMT Intel Intel iAMT Driver 8.1.0.1265 269.6 MB 2013/02/21 (?)

Audio Realtek Audio Driver 6.1.8400.39030 163.9 MB 2013/07/08 (x)

Bluetooth Atheros Bluetooth Driver 8.0.0000.0206 185.9 MB 2013/02/21 (f)

CardReader Realtek Card Reader Driver 6.1.8400.39030 16.8 MB 2013/02/21 (x)

Chipset Intel Chipset Driver 9.3.0.1021 2.9 MB 2013/02/21 (x)

Lan Intel LAN Driver 9.15.17.0 153.9 MB 2013/02/21 (x)

Others Intel Other Drivers 11.5.4.1001 11.2 MB 2013/02/21 (x)

Others condusiv Other Drivers 1.0.98 12.3 MB 2013/06/14 (x)

VGA AMD VGA Driver 13.251 279.5 MB 2014/08/21 (f)

VGA Intel VGA Driver 9.17.10.2792 150.4 MB 2013/02/21 (f)

VGA NVIDIA VGA Driver 9.18.13.0614 231.1 MB 2013/02/21 (f)

Wireless LAN Atheros Wireless LAN Driver 10.0.0.75 37.0 MB 2013/01/21 (x)

Wireless LAN liteon Wireless LAN Driver 10.0.0.75 37.0 MB 2013/02/21 (f)


Note: I installed the high definition audio codecs during the mass install session I had. From here http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/

I haven't updated windows yet, I think I will wait for your response to see if there is a way to fix the driver issue before I do. Also, it a good idea to update to 8.1?

Thanks again Murf!
Cody

[Murf]

You should always reboot after installing a driver. But yours may of installed them anyways.

Right click "My Computer then to Properties then left column Device Manager see any yellow/red marks next to any of them? If not then all your drivers installed.

I would definitely upgrade to Windows 8.1 it will also update any drivers its need.

Before updating I would run a Malware program to ensure you didn't pick something up. Malwarebytes is free and a good one:

Malwarebytes

Once you are at the point of installing, if you have the option select CUSTOM, as it may want to install other stuff like toolbar extension. Or just say no when asked.

Once install run a scan let it remove anything it finds.

Reboot

Updating from 8 to 8.1 the best way is through Windows Store
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ows-8-tutorial

If that doesn't work then you can update manually from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=42327

If you do in manually turn off any anti-virus before installing but keep it connected to the internet.

[quixotiK]

I found an option to reset the system without losing my files in acer recovery. I am now going to update to 8.1. Will I lose my backup to windows 8 if I do this. Its stored someone on my hard drive. Also should I do a defrag after the update is accomplished? Thanks murf your awesome!

[renegade600]

Originally Posted by quixotiK

I found an option to reset the system without losing my files in acer recovery. I am now going to update to 8.1. Will I lose my backup to windows 8 if I do this. Its stored someone on my hard drive. Also should I do a defrag after the update is accomplished? Thanks murf your awesome!

that is why I suggested in my previous post to create recovery disks. There is always a chance you will lose it. as far as doing a defrag, there is no reason too. besides there are all kinds of updating that will need to be done to bring win8.1 up-to-date. If you are going to do any type of defrag, it should be after everything is up-to-date, you have all your programs installed, and you have deleted all the temporary files created during the process.

If anything, you may want to create disk image of the drive so that you won't have to start from scratch if the drive crashes. I would suggest clonezilla.
http://clonezilla.org/

One thing, you can always purchase recovery disks from acer if you don't create them and you lose your recovery partition. The last set I purchased from them a couple of years ago was only 20 bucks.

[quixotiK]

Aight, that clarified it for me, thanks a bunch man!