A couple of weird problems with Windows 8

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Rasheed187, Dec 4, 2014.

  1. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Hi,

    I wonder if I'm the only one that noticed this stuff:

    1 Some apps will not autostart (registry---> user/machine run + Startup Folder)
    2 Keyboard does not power off in standby/sleepmode

    About 1, is it perhaps because Win 8 needs to load a lot more services and drivers than Win XP, so apps do not get a chance to run? Is this normal?

    About 2, I'm using a 18 year old IBM PS/2 keyboard, and Num Lock does not turn off. I did not have this problem with my old HP desktop. Does this mean that the PC is not actually turned off? I'm asking because on some other Win 8 machine the fans kept running in sleepmode.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2014
  2. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Why 8 and not 8.1.1?

    Are you running full startup or selective?

    Win8X shutdown is hybrid shutdown, like sleep.

    If fans are still running reset the bios by popping the battery for 5-10 min, replace battery, then restart system, load bios defaults, and try again. Fans shouldn't be running with any Windows version.
     
  3. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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  4. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Actually I'm running Win 8.1, and to give some more background info: Earlier this year I bought 2 desktops (from HP and Asus) but I had to return them because of several problems, including them not being able to shutdown correctly. The Acer desktop that I'm running right now, does seem to shutdown correctly, and it also starts up very fast.

    However, in sleep-mode the keyboard does not power down, while the machine does seem to go into sleep-mode, the fans stop running I think. Is this a problem, shouldn't the keyboard stop receiving power? To clarify, I can power up the system with both the keyboard and mouse.

    Weird, I have had this problem on all 3 Win 8 machines, perhaps I should try a startup delayer app. And like I said above, hybrid shutdown seems to actually work correctly for a change.
     
  5. Mortal Raptor

    Mortal Raptor Banned

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    Perhaps you need to stop buying such bad brands of computers like ACER or ASUS ;)

    If I start telling you about my experience with both , I can write pages
     
  6. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Depends on vendor, model of components, lots of variables. Many MOBOS leak power to USB even when off, you can see a light on MOBO sometimes.

    Also, are you running Normal or Selective Startup? I asked and you didn't answer, as this really probably is why there are startup variances.
     
  7. Lucius

    Lucius Registered Member

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    When windows starts, some programs does not autostart if you try to run them as administrator (you can check this --> right click program .exe that does not start when windows loads --> properties --> compatibility --> run this program as administrator - do you have checkmark there? If yes, take it off). If you want to run apps as administrator when windows starts then run them via task scheduler by making task there.
     
  8. siljaline

    siljaline Registered Member

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  9. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Yes sorry, forgot to check this, but apparently Windows runs in Selective startup, so that should not cause it I assume? And if I'm correct you're saying that it's not a big deal that the keyboard does not power off? The only reason why I'm paranoid about this, is because of the shutdown problems with the other 2 machines, those machines would act like they were sleeping but the fans kept running. I don't think that's the case with the Acer desktop.

    I will do some more testing, but I think this might be the problem!
     
  10. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    I'm highly impressed with this Acer Predator G3 desktop, especially after the ordeals with HP and Asus. I didn't expect it from HP, because I used my old HP desktop for 9 years, with only minor problems (had to replace the GPU). But it was time to replace it because it kept crashing, probably because of bad RAM.
     
  11. Mortal Raptor

    Mortal Raptor Banned

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    interesting, never seen a quality acer machine myself but my experience with it is.....

    I wanted to buy a cheap laptop for my mother to use. So I picked up an ACER Aspire V5 Touch laptop which had Windows 8 on it....

    The problem with it was, randomly, the screen would change resolutions and you would have black borders on the left and right as if the resolution wasn't right....

    it appears that it was errenously detecting an external monitor being connected via the HDMI port but I don't have any external monitor connected. This keeps happening randomly it keeps going from the right resolution to some other smaller resolution as if a monitor was connected....then back to the correct resolution, and so forth.

    This being a brand new laptop, left a bad first impression for me with ACER. I formatted it, did a clean install of 8.1 and downloaded the 8.1 Drivers from Acer's site under my serial number. no luck.....

    then I sent it for repairs.......the service center which is approved by ACER only did a factory restore and that took them 14 days!!! I told them not to do a factory restore because I have already tried that and also did a clean install.....but they just did a factory restore and sent the laptop back with a message "factory restore done, no problems"

    the moment I turn it on the problem is back! LOL

    So I take it back again and told them to not use that same service center......this time the shop where I bought it from sent it to a diff. service center who this time, changed the motherboard, that was the right thing to do from the start......another 10 days and I get the laptop back and now the issue is fixed.......

    now it's good, just left a bad impression for me and I won't buy ACER in the future for this...... if it was my system, I wouldn't be able to live without it for 1 day, let alone 14 days..... that's why I bought an Alienware coz they offer on site 1 business day support....

    Anyway, it might have been a sour lemon....... that's why this is *my experience* so I won't say it's the same for all ACER computers. Just not my brand you know what I mean......
     
  12. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Run MSCONFIG, then select Normal Startup vs Selective, see if that fixes it.
     
  13. Lucius

    Lucius Registered Member

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    Yep.. From Windows 8 microsoft changed the way how windows handle startup applications and for security reasons when windows loads windows doesn't let applications run that tryis to autorun themselves as administrator. I had this problem like 2 years ago and investigated it then. You may find good articles etc. about this thingy with google search.

    One change is to run these applications via task scheduler or you could try startup delayer from r2 studios (or similar softwares).. it's free small software but I dunno does it help in this case. :doubt:
     
  14. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Yes I think this is the problem, almost all apps autostart now, except for apps that run in "compatibility mode", so I will need to test that.

    It' probably not necessary, see above. BTW, I opened up my PC and all fans do power off in sleep-mode, so all is good.
     
  15. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Yes that's the thing, we have one bad experience with some brand, and suddenly all of their product sucks. That's human nature I guess. BTW, I went from heaven to hell, from out of nothing the Acer is now making a strange noise, just like some engine is running. I'm not sure if it's a big technical problem, but it's annoying as hell. I can't believe my luck, how the hell is it possible that I buy 3 high end machines, and they all start to malfunction within 2 weeks? I'm telling you, 2014 is the worst year ever. :thumbd:
     
  16. Mortal Raptor

    Mortal Raptor Banned

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    might be a simple fix bro, clean the fans with compressed air and see if it helps. unless ACER's policy about opening the internals would void the warranty, then don't do it
     
  17. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    I agree with you on Acer, but traditionally Asus has been one of the most reliable brands of laptops you can buy. There have been some problems with some models as of late, but I'd still own Asus ahead of Toshiba, HP or Dell to name a few brands.
     
  18. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    Same here.. mine has been great for 6 years now, not one single problem.
     
  19. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    I always consider laptops in the following way;

    Gamers: MSI, Dragon series is fantastic. We have a GT70 Dragon in the house for gaming on the road, it's a powerhouse.
    Business/Productivity: Lenovo, I own several, they are almost flawless once the Lenovo bloat is uninstalled. They take a beating. My work buys them by the dozens, and we never have issues.
    General Consumer: HP.. Why HP? They aren't costly for what you get, and HP actually uses very pretty LCD's on their laptops. We have a couple HP Envy's in the house and LOVE them.

    I won't touch ASUS laptops, their QC has taken a dump, and apparently anyone worth anything at ASUS has been transferred to their router division. Which by the way - their routers are absolutely awesome. (RT-AC87U all the way) I've had success giving younger kids Acer laptops, they can be like tanks depending on the model. Toshiba used to be good, now they are a JOKE, and all they do is end up in the RMA chain. Dell's are a joke. I deal with companies that have 100+ Dell's deployed, and it's a constant cycle of RMA's with them. The expensive XPS ones especially, very prone to overheat.

    I have 9 laptops/notebooks in the house. Slowest one is a Dual Core 3.2Ghz, all have SSD's, and 8GB ram or better. Most are Quad Cores, a couple are 8 cores.

    x2 HP Envy
    Acer Mini
    MSI Dragon GT70
    x2 Lenovo Thinkpad Twist (My personal fav, love the Twist)
    Acer 4700 Series
    HP Pavillion 17.5" (for wife and her graduate stuff, she loves big bright screen and expansive keyboard)
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2014
  20. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    No, it's not the fans, I opened up the PC once more, and everything seems to be running just fine. The strange thing is that at first the PC was so quite that you wouldn't even know it was turned on. I think the weird sounds started when I first used the DVD drive, perhaps I should unplug it. The sound seems to come from the front side where the DVD and HDD/SSD are installed. It might also be the PSU that's acting funny, but I doubt it. BTW, I see that they manufactured this PC in 2011, what the hell?
     
  21. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    BTW, to remain on topic, another thing I noticed on all three Win 8 machines: apps crashing on shutdown. Sometime explorer.exe crashes, never had this on Win XP. But I think this problem was solved mostly by uninstalling the atrocious McAfee Internet Security, what a piece of garbage. It installs tons of drivers and services, and keeps stalking you to turn stuff on again. It also interfered with Sandboxie. I would be ashamed of coding such a tool. But anyway, I'm going off topic again.
     
  22. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    That's interesting to hear. I have witnessed some unacceptable problems on recent models. An ultrabook with keyboard which woudn't always register keypresses unless the keys were pressed firmly. A Google search revealed this was a design problem with the laptop rather than an indiviual faulty keyboard. Another laptop had a touchpad which was not very responsive, and it appeared to be a design fault rather than a faulty touchpad. Yes another issue is a friends high end ROG gaming laptop has issues where the screen sometimes won't turn on becuase of a faulty magnet in the magnetic sensor switch.

    As for Toshiba, due to a serious design fault the hinges crack on some 17" models and case comes apart.

    I agree with you about Lenovo, I've owned several Thinkpads and the quality is awesome. I'm not so sure about Acer though.
     
  23. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Never seen an app crash on shutdown in Win8.

    But yeah, Mcafee is absolute rubbish. That, and Avast cause the most horrendous system issues, and uninstalling them are usually our first action when faced with this.
     
  24. siljaline

    siljaline Registered Member

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  25. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    A minor update: this seems to be the problem indeed. As soon as you choose to run apps in "admin/compatibility mode", they will not autostart. The only app that refuses to autostart even when this mode is turned off, is KatMouse, so that must be some other problem.
     
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