Solved AERO themes causes severe lag in the web browsers.

[gregrocker]

One other thing: I see this is being referred to our piracy expert who will not be fooled by any obfuscation and finds questionable points in your mgadiag file.

If after the reinstall another mgadiag confirms piracy we will be unable to help further and you'll be subject to permanent ban. So you should install only the OS you have a known-good license for. There is zero tolerance for piracy here so we will be unable to help further without a clean mgadiag as soon as reinstalled.

 

[DARKWORLD]

The test doesn't eliminate hardware as the cause and in fact points somewhat to the second GPU. Can you try a disk to see if you can truly rule out the hardware?

What do you mean by "try a disk"? Sorry I didnt get it.

Slartybart, gregrocker
So what's wrong with those reports? Are you saying that this copy or key is pirate one? Or they potentially sold me a pirated windows? Why I can activate it then?

I just need to know, so I can call in that shop where I purchased windows or contact microsoft support about it if that's so serious.

essenbe
Okay, here goes:

 

[gregrocker]

Disk, not flash stick, to see if Peppermint boots and runs doing everything normally with either or both GPUs. You said it wouldn't boot with one. This does not absolve the hardware which is the point of the test.

I've asked you twice now why two GPUs.

Please pics of the win7 disk and COA sticker with Product Keys masked. The sticker normally is how one knows its Genuine.

 

[essenbe]

Please tell us where you bought the Windows 7 Ultimate OEM product key from?

 

[Slartybart]

.....
Slartybart, gregrocker
So what's wrong with those reports? Are you saying that this copy or key is pirate one? Or they potentially sold me a pirated windows? Why I can activate it then?

I just need to know, so I can call in that shop where I purchased windows or contact microsoft support about it if that's so serious.
.....

The MGA reports have oddities in them that make it difficult to say if the install is genuine or counterfeit.

Sometimes shops "do you a favor" and 'upgrade' your OS license. I'm not sure what the shop will do, it's up to you if you want to call them and explain that Win 7 installs and activates, but the genuine advantage utility raises some concerns. They might give you another key - but ... would it be another suspect key? Win7 Ultimate is expensive and not as common as Home or Pro - if the shop is handing out these keys like candy, then you should ask hard questions.

Did you buy the machine and Win7 from the same shop?

---

What I'd like to do is move beyond the current state of things and try to get your system nice and neat.

Your objective is to have a Windows 7 machine that doesn't lag with an Aero theme.

Each path has some roadblocks.

The Windows 7 key is suspect.

The Windows 8 Pro might not be covered by the OEM downgrade rights. You'll have to call Lenovo and ask them. Explain that the machine came preinstalled with Win8 Home and that you later purchased Retail Win8 Pro and you would like to downgrade to Windows 7 Pro. I don't know what they will tell you, but they are the only ones who can give you the downgrade information (key).

Here's what I suggest until anything more is known

Backup you personal data

Reset you BIOS to defaults

Install the Retail Win8 Pro as the only OS on the machine - NOT on a separate disk or drive.

Update Win8 until there is nothing more offered.

Use Windows Updates to install hardware drivers - listed in the optional offerings.

Update to 8.1 update 1 - you'll have to go to the MS store for this.

The MGA report is not very useful on Win8 machines, so don't worry about that

Check your hardware drivers against the Lenovo support page
- DO NOt update drivers from other vendors (NVidia, Realtek, Intel, etc) at this point.
- Get the drivers from Windows Update or Lenovo

That gives you a very good base... it also changes the troubleshooting - but you need a solid base.

Bill
.

 

[gregrocker]

Did WIndows 8 Pro come with the PC? I thought you said before it came with Home. It should have the OS which came with the PC reinstalled to auto-activate.

 

[Slartybart]

Did WIndows 8 Pro come with the PC? I thought you said before it came with Home. It should have the OS which came with the PC reinstalled to auto-activate.

Sorry Greg, I might have confused things.

The machine had Win8 home pre-installed

Darkworld purchased Win8 Pro afterwards

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Disk, not flash stick, to see if Peppermint boots and runs doing everything normally with either or both GPUs. You said it wouldn't boot with one. This does not absolve the hardware which is the point of the test.

I've asked you twice now why two GPUs.

Please pics of the win7 disk and COA sticker with Product Keys masked. The sticker normally is how one knows its Genuine.

Greg the two GPU's mate you can "tie" them together if they are the same model - I stand to be corrected though.

See this How to trick out your gaming PC with multiple graphics cards | PCWorld

 

[gregrocker]

And it would therefore be the first suspect, especially when it won't even boot Peppermint without one GPU disabled.

Need to use the specified boot disk to make sure that's not a flash stick anomaly.

 

[DARKWORLD]

Slartybart
Unfortunately I have a ton of work this week, gonna travel a lot, so wont be able reinstall anything until weekend or something.

Gonna call into that shop and ask about their windows copies/keys, and Lenovo for the downgrade options as you suggested.
And in Windows 8 I have some compatibility issues so that's just switches problems... Although this way at least I will be able to tell if those lags are gone or not.

Now I am totally depressed, my windows is shit, laptop is faulty and there're no solutions... Just plain amazing.

gregrocker
Its called SLI (double video cards), enhances video performance by about 30-40% in most cases.
But eventhough it wont boot Peppermint, lag in windows continues even with this card ejected...
Also Peppermint might not be compatible with SLI setups.
I got to buy an external DVD drive to test it with disk though.

 

[gregrocker]

If Win8 came with the PC I'd reinstall that exact same version so it auto-activates in BIOS.

Do you remember if WIn8 had these Aero issues at all?

Then we can help you work through any compatibility issues with http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html if necessary.

 

[ThrashZone]

Window 8 does not have aero

 

[DARKWORLD]

If Win8 came with the PC I'd reinstall that exact same version so it auto-activates in BIOS.

Do you remember if WIn8 had these Aero issues at all?

Then we can help you work through any compatibility issues with http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html if necessary.

I cant, it was preinstalled Win8, they supplied no disks with this laptop.

And no, I dont remember this was the case in W8. Although I was saddened with another bug, basically VSYNC in games doesnt work like it used to in W7 (NVIDIA told me its totally a microsoft issue and they cant fix it), that's why I switched back to 7.

 

[gregrocker]

Ask our friends at eightforums.com for the media to reinstall your licensed version and for help resolving any Eight issues. Clean Install - Windows 8

 

[Slartybart]

Slartybart
Unfortunately I have a ton of work this week, gonna travel a lot, so wont be able reinstall anything until weekend or something.

Gonna call into that shop and ask about their windows copies/keys, and Lenovo for the downgrade options as you suggested.
And in Windows 8 I have some compatibility issues so that's just switches problems... Although this way at least I will be able to tell if those lags are gone or not.

Now I am totally depressed, my windows is shit, laptop is faulty and there're no solutions... Just plain amazing.
.....

Ok, post when you get a chance to follow up and please let members know what you find out from the shop and Lenovo.

Don't let it bring you down, SF members are well versed in finding a solution to many PC issues. Sometimes though expectations exceed a machine's true capability - this is normally borne out through the trouble shooting exercise.

It's a busy weekend for me, so I'll check back next week after you've had a chance to gather information and take the next step.

Bill
.

 

[Slartybart]

Ask our friends at eightforums.com for the media to reinstall your licensed version and for help resolving any Eight issues. Clean Install - Windows 8

To get the media Greg suggests, you'll need to find the product key
See OPTION THREE, FOUR or FIVE in Product Key - Find for Windows 8

Then you can download the ISO (I think the embedded key can be used in this process) by following OPTION TWO in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO - Download or Create

BIOS install

OPTION ONE: Create Bootable USB or DVD with Windows 8 ISO
Clean Install - Windows 8​

---

-- OR --​

---

UEFI install

OPTION ONE: UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with​

Questions about the specific process in the tutorials are best asked on the tutorial page. Many SevenForums (SF) members are also Forums (EF) members, the tutorial author knows the answers.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

In addition to the other answers and to save me digging right back through did you wipe the drive? if not then I am thinking re a factory restore install??.

Otherwise it means you will have to plod on with the other advices - sorry.

 

[DARKWORLD]

Hey, a little update here.

Had some talks with colleagues at work, one suggested to try and set Power Management Mode in NVIDIA control panel from "adaptive" to "prefer maximum performance", though I said to him that I already tried that, he then proceeded that I should add DWM.exe and Explorer.exe to the 3D programs list and set their PMM's to "prefer maximum performance" just as well.

So I tried it and so far it works, not a single lag. Cant say 100%, because I am not at home and dont have time to thoroughly test it.

But it most likely just a workaround not a solution since now I have a major drawback from this. In "prefer maximum performance" mode laptop work's for about an hour only, instead of usual 3 and a half hours (its like more than 70% decrease in battery life...), since both GPU's are at their maximum clock rates all the time and it consumes A LOT of power, it also raises temperature by a moderate amount so it becomes pretty hot...

Well, anyway if this work's then it most likely a fault on NVIDIA end with poorly optimized energy management.

I'll post some info if something changes.

 

[ThrashZone]

Kind of interesting you put explorer.exe instead on iexplore.exe for Internet explorer :/

 

[DARKWORLD]

Kind of interesting you put explorer.exe instead on iexplore.exe for Internet explorer :/

Well, I've been advised doing so. And I tried like a lot of thing's with iexplore.exe and chrome.exe, changing power options, turned on/off VSYNC, SLI, buffering etc. etc. Nothing worked.