# Gateway NV55C49U Windows 8.1 Problems



## chasep (May 7, 2012)

Hello. Soon after I upgraded to the windows 8.1 preview, my laptop got a few viruses. O removed them, formatted my drive, and reinstalled the preview. Now my computer is so laggy that I'll be lucky to finish setup itself. It did this on two drives, after 3 formats, and reinstalls, one of which even being to 7 which failed. Is there a fix for this?


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Are you installing from a disc or recovery partition?


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

I used a bootable usb for the 8.1 preview, and a disc for 7. But both operating systems, when installed, were very slow and nearly unusable.


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Strange that the Windows 7 DVD failed. What error?

Just to rule out the "crazy timing for hardware failure" possibility, can't hurt to run Memtest+ diagnostics on your system memory & hard drive diagnostics on your drives. I think the free UBCD disk is the easiest & quickest source for diagnostics. Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

You might also visit the Gateway support site & flash the bios, in case some malware presence is mucking up anything in there.

You could also check to see if any Bios settings just don't look right, or try a reset to Default.

Seems that the Windows 7 DVD has the strongest odds of success. If the disc developed scratches over time, you can try making a copy of it with your best DVD writer: some drives can read the damaged areas better than others, and the copy might work better than the original.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[and Hi Corday ... I'm visiting this week because of the 8.1 update... So far, it has its rough edges]


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

Well, come to think of It, they were x86 operating systems. Could running x86 operating systems on a x64 processor cause it to run very slowly?


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

The answer is yes because of the way processing is being done. Also the total amount of RAM is limited in 32 bit OSs.


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

Ok then, that must have been it. But now that you answered that, another question arises. If a laptop with 4 gigs of ram and an x64 processor, why did a x32 bit Windows 7 installation work? Could it be that it was installed on another physical computer?


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Install works. Just the mentioned problem exists afterwards.


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

Ok so I got the 8.1 pro update, and it is still running unbelievably slow. Could it be the hard drives?


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi again


It's possible that it's just the setup of 8.1 that seems dreadfully slow, since it has to inspect your system quite a bit. See if things are quick enough once the install is finished.
__________________

I'm typing this on a Gateway NV55C series laptop (I inherited it when I bought my wife a newer laptop ... we try to make sure she has the best one in the house) ... and it's quick as anyone could want, in both Windows 7 and in Windows 8 (I set up a multi-boot). It had 8gb of system memory for a while, but I donated some of the memory to a friend, and now have 4gb - just the same as yourself. And I can't tell the difference, really, between the performance with 8gb and 4gb -- some of that depends on how you use your computer. My processor is no great shakes, either, an older Pentium P6100 @ 2ghz. But both my Windows 7 and Windows 8 versions are 64 bit.

I don't think the bit-depth is your main issue, however. I see computers with slower and older processors still performing quite well, even with Vista 32-bit versions. Windows 7 32-bit should run well with 4gb of system memory. So should Windows 8 (that's what I'm typing this in now). Even in a 32-bit Windows, most of the 4gb of system memory can be put to use (about 3.5gb, at any rate).

It puzzles me that you have 32-bit versions of the two Windows. All the NV Gateways that I've worked on shipped with 64-bit versions of Windows. If the Gateway shipped with a 64bit Windows & you lost the DVD, you can get a replacement from Gateway, and perform a clean install with that. You'd have to set it all up and migrate programs and data from backups, of course.
______________________

If things still seem slow after the install has finished, and you've rebooted a few times: can't hurt to run the diagnostics. And a couple of malware scans from the bootable optical discs. 
_______________________



Best of luck
. . . Gary

P.S. ... the "bootable optical discs" I referred to: AVG Rescue CD, Avira Rescue System, Windows Defender Offline Scanner (32 bit version, for your installed 32 bit operating systems)


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

The install was finished before I posted and finished just fine. It was when I got to the first setup screen that it just slowed down to a barely usable state


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

And by the way... I got an x64 windows 8 installation


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

See if it speeds up eventually or not.

The 64-bit will at least be able to use all of the 4gb of system memory.

I'll guess you did a clean install (since you usually can't upgrade 32-bit to 64-bit unless going a clean install route).

Just in case things are still crazy slow, in addition to trying the diagnostics, check that the Bios settings are OK, and that your virtual memory settings are OK. You can let Windows automatically manage the virtual memory if you'd like - it usually works well enough that way.

I'll check back in the morning (it's late here in California)
. . . Gary

P.S. .... In fact, in the morning I'm updating an NV55C laptop to 8.1, so we'll be able to compare the installations.


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

Ok, so I shut down the computer, and now I get a black screen after the boot screen


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

Never mind, it logged in. But it is still slow as can be, and I cant open anything without waiting what seems like an hour


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

On another computer download the ISO image for Seatools in my signature. Burn the image to CD using IMGBurn in my signature or burn it to USB. 
Boot off of the newly created disk and run the Short and Long tests on the HDD. If either test fails, the HDD will need to be replaced.


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Late reply today = yesterday was busier than I expected.

Does seem like it's time for diagnostics. Both SeaTools & Memtest86+ are on the latest UBCD, too. But SeaTools does seem to run better when run from its own CD. I didn't notice that your drive is a Seagate... If it happens to be something else, simply use whatever manufacturer's diagnostics are available - or the IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, which works on most any type of drive. 
______________
Just so you can compare, the 8.1 update went fairly smoothly on my NV55C. I'm not thrilled with Microsoft's undoing of several of my Win8 settings (irritating to have to redo them), and not impressed by their latest clumsy Metro app versions. ... Several of the apps generate permissions errors almost immediately, but those can be solved. Really silly is that some of their apps don't uninstall well. Heavens. No major issues, just small aggravating ones that can be dealt with once (by ridding the system of the useless MS Metro app causing issues), and then blissfully forgotten.

One 8.1 note: there is some time just after installing 8.1 that will cause the system to run slowly for a while: during the installation, if you OK the use of SkyDrive as the default location for saving Pictures & Documents, you might find your system uploading a great deal of data to SkyDrive immediately after your install, as it synchronizes the folders.

If your drive is still under warranty, it can be replaced at no cost. If not under warranty, the good news is that it is a fairly easy repair to replace a laptop hard drive, and new drives are available on sale from around $50.

Best of luck!
. . . Gary


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*IBM/Hitachi* HDD's are now owned by *W*estern *D*igital and they now support *Drive Fitness*, which you can download the ISO image of also in my signature.


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## chasep (May 7, 2012)

Well its not under warranty, but I got it running, by making a new user account and deleting the old one. Ill check back if there are any other problems


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