Cosmos 2 Very slow boot up after windows reinstall

C

ChrisH48

Member
Hi all,

I'd be really greatful if anyone can shed any light on a problem Im having with my new cosmos 2. (Spec below)

My laptop was initially booting in around 6 secs (although admittedly I didn't actually time it).
I then had a problem with a shutdown loop of IE - Reinstalled IE and still had the problem so reinstalled windows 7.
I started installing drivers and when the LAN one didnt work realised I had been sent the wrong drivers disc (windows 8 instead of 7).
I called PCS and they advised me to download the drivers from their website.
I wasn't sure on exactly which ones I needed but thought I had all the crucial ones.
My problem is that the laptop is now taking around 1 minute to boot up.
Ive also noticed that the graphic windows displays on start up has changed from the flying clours to the microsoft corp and sliding bar.
I seem to be going through 119 windows updates at the time of writing for the second time.
Worryingly when i called PCS and explained my boot time had gone from 5 secs to 1 min I was told "that is still quite fast" by a chap who sounded very impatient despite not seeming to know how to identify the problem.

Is anyone able to help at all?
Please let me know if any more info is required.
C


Chassis & Display
Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-4310M (2.70GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 840M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive
120GB Kingston SSDNow mS200 mSATA (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Cosmos Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
COSMOS SERIES UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
:(
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Pagey

Pagey

Bright Spark
From what I can remember, there are a metric craptonne of Microsoft updates on a fresh Win7 install. I've done fresh installs of Win 7 and could take anything up to about 6 or so hours to complete every one. I'd keep checking to see if all updates are done, once they are I would image the boot would speed up again.
 
Pagey

Pagey

Bright Spark
I'd suggest doing a fresh install again, but make sure you only install drivers for internet connectivity, nothing else, then work from there.
 
M

mrducking

Bright Spark
first, make sure you installed windows in the SSD, if so, did you reformat before reinstalling or not?
about the updates: they are a pain, they are a lot, you can only bear with them unless you dont want them
 
C

ChrisH48

Member
In explorer it says c:windows and when I click on properties that is the ssd - no I didnt reformat before installing.
The windows updates are currently failing. So I dont think they will download however long I wait (error message pasted below)
Part of the problem I think is Im not confident downloading the updates from the website as there are more there than I need.

I also think that given that Ive been sent the wrong drivers disk I should now be sent a correct one (they send windows 8 drivers instead of windows 7)- but when I asked PCS to send me the right drivers disk I was told this wasn't possible.

Has anyone else experienced this or does anyone have a view?

On the technical front the advice sounds like reformat the ssi and then do a fresh windows install and then try to install the drivers again?

Thanks for the advice - tomorrow will be my 3rd night of spending hours trying to fix a laptop Ive only had for a few days...
 
Pagey

Pagey

Bright Spark
From my personal experience I would normally install drivers to get internet connectivity, install all your Windows updates through Windows itself. Once all updates are installed, install only the drivers you need to finish off.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
This is from long experience of installing Windows....

1. Always do a clean install, ie. do a Custom install and delete all partitions on the hard disk, then create a new one(s).

2. Use the latest Windows 7 installation DVD, if you can find one with SP1 integrated then use that, it will save you a lot of time.

3. During the install when it asks about automatic updates, select the "ask me later" option (you don;t want updates installed until you're ready for them).

4. Always install drivers supplied to you by PCS first, usually the chipset driver should be installed first, the order after that doesn't matter. As a general rule don't use drivers found by Windows Update in preference to ones supplied by PCS. If the PCS ones are wrong go to the Clevo website and download the drivers for your chassis and OS from there.

5. Then run Windows Update. Select only important updates (ignore recommended for now). Do Not apply all updates at once, over 100 updates (or more) will quite likely cause issues. Install them in groups of 10. Start with misc stuff (like IE 11, Active X, stuff etc.) then do all the security updates (in groups of 10). Leave the Net Framework updates to last and do those in groups of three or four, they're the ones that seem to cause the most problems.

6. Only once Windows Update has no more updtaes should you start installing application programs.
 
C

ChrisH48

Member
Ok thanks a lot for the advice - Ive blocked out a few hours to have a proper go at this tomorrow - so Ill follow your advice and report back - thanks again.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
ChrisH48 said:
Sorry one more question to Ubuysa - do I need to format the SSI drive first?
Click to expand...

Yes, Windows requires this. It's a quick format though, it just sets up the NTFS file structure, it doesn't check the entire disk so there is no "excessive write" issue with your SSD.
 
C

ChrisH48

Member
So this has been going ok - have follwed above advice so far.. but I'm halfway through downloading the drivers and the screen has now been displaying "Now Installing CISCO EAP-FAST" for about 20-30 mins - which seems too long to me - any ideas on what to do? Im popping out for a half hour and will check this - and the download when I get back. Thanks
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
ChrisH48 said:
So this has been going ok - have follwed above advice so far.. but I'm halfway through downloading the drivers and the screen has now been displaying "Now Installing CISCO EAP-FAST" for about 20-30 mins - which seems too long to me - any ideas on what to do? Im popping out for a half hour and will check this - and the download when I get back. Thanks
Click to expand...

The CISCO EAP-FAST module is not normally required and I am not at all sure why it's being installed. EAP-FAST is a network security feature first developed by CISCO (but now publicly available). It is very much an option and is generally only used if you are using CISCO routers or other CISCO networking equipment or if you are using a domain controller to manage authentication. I doubt you're doing any of those things.

It may be that some networking component you have is trying to install the EAP-FAST module, I believe that some Intel wifi cards can use it but I have the same N135 wifi card that you have and I don't have EAP-FAST installed. However, I don't use the Intel Pro/Set wireless tools I let Windows manage my wifi connections. Perhaps the Intel Pro/Set tools use EAP-FAST, does anyone know?

So I'm not at all sure what's going on here. If it were mine (and since you're going to be doing a reinstall anyway) I'd be tempted to just kill the install, reboot and try downloading the drivers again.
 
C

ChrisH48

Member
So Ive managed to get the laptop running ok now following the help so thanks very much.


I do think the PCS service I received with respect to drivers has been poor though.
I was sent the wrong drivers.
I asked for a disk to be sent to me and was told it wasnt possible.
I asked someone else the next day for disk to be sent to me and they said that was fine - but it hasnt arrrived.
I then go to the website to download the drivers - and end up downloading stuff that causes issues - that i dont even need.

The assumption that laptop buyers will know (or be able to easily determine) which drivers they should and shouldnt put on their laptop is likely to cause issues for others I'd imagine.
 
Pagey

Pagey

Bright Spark
Good thinking, this is the exact logic I use and it's damn near 100% foolproof.

1) Format drive OS is going to be installed to, (guarantees all old crap will be eradicated.)
2) Install OS only, once OS is completely installed go to step 3...
3) Install ONLY WIFI drivers.
4) Perform Windows Updates, keep doing them until there are no more Windows Updates left.
5) Ideally I'd install only graphics drivers once all is done, and the Hotkey drivers if you want all the buttons to do their jobs correctly.
6) As for installing any other drivers, don't bother... If things work, don't break it by installing more drivers.
7) Use PC as normal, allow Plug and Play to install drivers, at least you're getting the right ones.
8) Enjoy trouble free computing...
9) Profit$$$...
 
C

ChrisH48

Member
Ok - thanks - Ill follow those instructions when reinstalling windows and drivers.
Unfortunately I now have a new issue - Ive tried to google the error message but the trouble shooting steps look a bit complex for me and mention that this could be a hardware or software error - and talks about reseating memory and other things i wouldnt be confident doing.
Does anyone know what causes this? I dont have all of the error details - just what i got from a screen grab this morning. Ive also noticed that once again - the graphics displayed when windows boots have changed following this error - I used to get the swirling colours and "starting windows" - now I get a white progress bar and "microsoft coporation".

So my questions:
1. Can anyone explain to me what is causing the blue screen error?
2. Can anyone explain why the windows graphics have changed during boot?

Problem event name - Bluescreen
OS Version - 6.1.7601.2.1.0.786.3
Locale ID - 2057
BCCode - 24
BCP1 - 00000000001904FB

Thanks in advance.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
ChrisH48 said:
Ok - thanks - Ill follow those instructions when reinstalling windows and drivers.
Unfortunately I now have a new issue - Ive tried to google the error message but the trouble shooting steps look a bit complex for me and mention that this could be a hardware or software error - and talks about reseating memory and other things i wouldnt be confident doing.
Does anyone know what causes this? I dont have all of the error details - just what i got from a screen grab this morning. Ive also noticed that once again - the graphics displayed when windows boots have changed following this error - I used to get the swirling colours and "starting windows" - now I get a white progress bar and "microsoft coporation".

So my questions:
1. Can anyone explain to me what is causing the blue screen error?
2. Can anyone explain why the windows graphics have changed during boot?

Problem event name - Bluescreen
OS Version - 6.1.7601.2.1.0.786.3
Locale ID - 2057
BCCode - 24
BCP1 - 00000000001904FB

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Is that BCCode in hex or decimal? If it's hex (as I suspect it is) than that indicates a file system error on your disk. Run the chkdsk /r command from the command prompt (but backup your data first). If it were mine I'd be doing the reinstall again, something is clearly not right there.

BTW. I'm afraid I disagree with Pagey on the drivers. Windows drivers are generic drivers for your devices, it's not uncommon for the vendor supplied drivers to be specific to your build and subtly different to the generic ones. I always use the vendor (ie. PCS/Clevo) supplied drivers and never the Windows Update ones. I do rarely update drivers once installed though, only if I have a problem or if I need a feature supplied by the new driver. I certainly agree that if the drivers are working ok for you then leave them alone.
 
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