W3 and 8.1

Just updated my W3 to 8.1 through the MS store and a couple of notes:

1) Has to have KB 2871389 installed for the upgrade option to appear in the store. Then it is the first thing you see.

2) After selection it just sat there for almost an hour before the download started (Store may be queuing). Could see updater just sitting there in Task Manager so knew something was happening.

3) Once started it took about 1/2 hour to download (with a 45 Mb/s pipe) 2.7GB and install took another hour. Spends a lot of time just sitting there.

4) After load it logs in and then if you used a local login it really wants you to give them a MS account. To avoid click on "Create new account" and at the bottom of that screen will be a little option to "Use local account". Personally I do not care for the cloud.

5) Before install I had about 9 GB free of 32 GB. Afterwards I had nearly 11.

So took a very long time the first hour of which nothing seemed be happening unlike when I upgraded the W510 at midnight. May be because was in middle of day. Fortunately I could just leave it and work on other machines. On completion everything including touch and wireless were working. No need to reapply any Acer drivers.

In fact wireless speed no longer seemed impacted by an external 1920x1080 monitor & was getting 16 Mb/s down. Much better (4 bars rather than 2 originally) but still a lot slower than when wired (45 Mb/s). Think it updgraded the Targus dock DisplayLink drivers as well.

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Leonid

I just followed your instructions and got the same good results.

One question about the restore disc. Do I just use Acronis or Ghost to do any future backup and restores? And is the Acer disc of any use now that I have 8.1?

Thank you

padgett

Good question since MS wipes the 2.7 GB msi. I downloaded the ISOs from MSDN but do not know if the same.

If you mean Norton Ghost, I don't think I have used that this decade. I always have one "program" partition and another for "data" and keep the "data" drive backed up.

Good thing terabyte drives are cheap because I have seperate back up directories for each major system plus folders for ISOs, Movies, and approaching 10 GB or Music.

Fortunately "Music", "Photo" and "Video" directories are recognised by Windows, Android, iOS, and OS/X so can just move the same directory around via SD card (yes Virginia, iOS will read those parts of an SD drive, you just need a few Adapters. I even have a couple of car radios that will read "Misic" just the indexing is terrible.

Incidently I find that Music on a SD is best read by clear.fi, MS media ceter does not like it being on a "D" drive but can be forced. Xbox is beyond my ability to make work,

Keep in mind that given a chice (and just about alwys have one, I do not use the cloud, I spend too much time not connected so my big devices are all standalone capable (except for updates, email, & web)

rv6amark

I am new to this forum, so forgive me if this has been discussed.

I have now updated 2 of my PC's (a Sony and an ACER W3-810) to Win 8.1, and the download part has been extremely slow both times. It is a pretty big download with lots of people getting it, so no wonder why. The install took a long time as well, even on the Sony (i7 processor, 8G ram).

I updated by W3 yesterday and had a similar successful experience to yours, with a strange difference. I had to keep air flowing over the W3 to keep it cool enough to complete the installation. Here is the story:

During the installation process (not during download) the back of my W3 got very hot, almost uncomfortable to touch. This was with the charger attached but batteries fully charged. I was a bit concerned about that, but let the install continue. Eventually, the W3 screen went blank. After letting it sit for over an hour (thought maybe it was just rebooting), several presses of the power switch was the only thing that would bring it back. I was able to get back to the Win Store and clicked the upgrade again. After a couple of minutes, it skipped the over the Download and went right to the "Gathering Information" part, and then into installation. At that point the back began to heat up again, only to shut down again. This time I started it up immediately, and the installation started up where it had left off, but went blank in about 3 minutes. After waiting a while, I restarted again, and the installation process said it was reinstalling Win 8, which was completed successfully.

I thought about just using batteries to keep it a bit cooler (slower processor speed?), but decided to take a different approach. I set up a fan blowing a strong breeze into the USB and HDMI ports as well as over the back cover. This kept the back cover temperature down to a near normal level, and I was able to get through the entire Win 8.1 installation without any problems.

I really like the W3, and the only problem I have seen under 8.1 is minor. The screen will no longer auto-rotate based on how I hold it. I have to orient it to landscape or portrate manually using control Panel. Under windows 8, there was a checkbox I could check to lock or unlock that feature, but I haven't been able to find that option in 8.1. Strangely, screen auto-rotation worked for a while, but then stopped. I haven't rebooted since that happened, though. BTW, I have no errors in device manager.

I know of a couple of W3's that locked up during a recent BIOS update, and I now suspect they may have shut down (thermal) midway through that process. Mine did make it through that update, but got pretty hot in the process.

So, if you are having trouble getting through the 8.1 install, and your W3 gets hot, try a strong wind (fan) directed at the back cover and into the two ports. It worked for me, and I will probably do it for any large upgrade. BTW, the only other time I have experienced a similar heat related shutdown was on a hot day while playing videos. The W3 had been in a hot car, and I didn't give it much time to cool down. I suspect the W3 is protecting itself from more dangerous damage.

padgett

Interesting. Mine was in a closed ACER case on top of another tablet and connected via USB to a powered Targus dock and through the HDMI to another monitor during the two+ hour upgrade. The download was through a wired connection and did not appear to start for almost an hour. I checked periodically & it felt warm in the region of the rear camera but not hot.

Once soon after purchase I noticed the back getting hot and always use a powered hub for anything more than keyboard, mouse, and flash drive. Did you have anything non-powered connected to the USB ? Was there any error message ? Apparently the USB port is marginal on power.

Incidently I find the Targus dock needs to be turned on 5-10 seconds before the W3 to work properly. I wonder if it must boot also.

ps the autorotate checkbox is under Screen Resolution. I usually get there with a long press to a vacant area of Desktop and select it there.

rv6amark

Thank you. I did find the auto-rotate button. It is also available from the SETTINGS charm (swipe inward from screen right side), under the SCREEN button. It didn't show up until I did that extra reboot following the successful installation of Win 8.1.

There were absolutely no warnings or error messages associated with these "thermal shutdowns". The screen would simply go blank. I think it happened a week or so earlier when I had left it in my car on a warm day. It was pretty warm (about 90 deg. F in the car), and I started it up to play a video. The video played for about 3 minutes and then the screen went completely blank. Restarted it (power button) and it went blank a couple of minutes later. Let it cool down for about 15 minutes in the cooler outdoor air, restarted it, and everything was OK for the remainder of that session.

I normally keep my W3 in a leather case, but I had taken it out of the case for the upgrade because I had noted the heating problem mentioned above. It was sitting on the dinning room table throughout the process except when I picked it up to feel the back. The room temperature was probably around 75 deg. F. The fan was amazingly effective at keeping it cool. Every time I took it out of the airstream, the back would start to heat up again.

So far, everything I have tried under 8.1 has worked well.

Mark

rv6amark

Forgot to mention that NOTHING was connected to it except the power cord.

Mark

padgett

On second thought I had the internal display turned off and was using an external monitor. Guess I use the tablet display only occasionally. When I do, the display power is usually at 60-80% & seek shade. It is brighter on mains power.

Did notice that the download/install screen just has a small graphic in the upper left and screen is mostly white (max power) otherwise. Probably not a good choice for something taking that long.

So a word to wise: when installing Windows 8.1 you may want to turn the display power down to about 50%. Enough to see what you need to without consuming much power.

Just another example of the W3 being on the limit of technology (and may be a little over).

rv6amark

Re: "Just another example of the W3 being on the limit of technology (and may be a little over)."

Absolutely! I didn't post my "thermal message" to "badmouth" the W3. This tablet has an amazing amount of computer power in an extremely small package and may, therefore, need some special care from time to time. I applaud ACER for taking this step forward and offering full Win 8 in a tiny tablet.

Even with its thermal limitations (at least my particular unit), I love this little computer. Full Windows 8 capability (now Win 8.1) in a very small package. I just ordered the keyboard that goes with it.

<rant>

On the other side of the coin, Sony wouldn't even discuss the 8.0 or 8.1 upgrades on my very expensive, Sony i7 laptop. I wasn't asking them to do the upgrade for me, or even to expend any manpower to investigate it, but to simply support a knowledge base, such as this, so we could discuss the upgrades with other users. Their only comment was, "Sony does not support Windows 8 upgrade on this computer". I admit that it is a little over 2 years old, but it also cost 8 times more!

</rant>

Thank you for listening. I look forward to ACER's next technology step.

Mark

Leonid

Padgett,

I had a question about backup image, Have you tried the "recimg" command line to make an image file for WIN8?

Thanks

padgett

First I partition all of my machines into "C" (program) and "D" (data) drives. If I cannot partition I use SUBST. When loading new programs I configure them to store data on "D" (most are easy but have to configure each OFFICE element individually). I have .ISOs and program disks for most of "C" and use XXCOPY for the rest inc. "Users" and "Program Files" directories.

I use this method because there are many computers and some directories (like MUSIC) are common to all but is most definately not for someone who wants a one-button backup.