Acer Swift 3 and Windows 10 incompatible updates

ferares
ferares Member Posts: 16

Tinkerer

edited November 2023 in 2018 Archives
I've bought an Acer Swift 3 (SF315-41) 2 months ago and I've not been able to use it to my satisfaction given a number of problems.

TL;DR:
  • The latest versions (plural) of Windows 10 are incompatible (according to Microsoft support) with the latest drivers available for this laptop.
  • Acer support won't tell me if the issue is known by their technical team or when a solution will be available if ever so I'm posting this here.
  • The latest Windows 10 version compatible with this computer is (again according to Microsoft) 1703 (Creators Update), the next version after that one (1709 (Fall Creators Update)) was released to the public on October 17 2017 so it's going to be a year next month, to add to that Microsoft has released another version this year and is planning on releasing 2 more before the year is out.
Complete history:

1st thing I did was install Linux on it and that prove to be imposible to get working in a stable manner (see my posts here, here and finally here in which I convince myself it won't work)

2nd After failing with Linux I went back to Windows 10 (the OS I was forced to buy when I bought the laptop and the only OS Acer customer service would care to give support for), it worked fine except it updated itself as Windows likes to do and now the computer would freeze after doing some seemingly unrelated things:
  • It freezes if I open the default "Photos" app that Windows 10 has for viewing images.
  • It freezes after some time if I open the BattleNet app and decide to install a game.
  • It freezes if I open a specific chat on WhatsApp web.
  • I'm pretty sure the list goes on.
I contacted Microsoft support about this and this is what they had to say about it:
Your device is compatible with 1703 build not with the 1709 & 1803 build update and that is the reason your device is crashing again and again.
We need to install the older build of Windows 10 which is 1703 and we can disable the updates.
After that you need to contact with the Acer to get the latest and compatible drivers to install the further updates and run your device smoothly.

After going back to Windows 10 1703 and disabling the automatic updates by turning off some services the computer finally works fine, except now I get no updates nor fixes from Microsoft at all so I contacted Acer to ask them if they where aware of the issue since according to Microsoft support:

It's not only who is facing this issue with Acer laptop there are lot many other customers also those who have the Acer Laptop they are also facing such issue because of the drivers.

The Acer customer service, both over chat and on the phone (30 min long distance call), utterly failed to answer me and they said they couldn't tell me when the issue was going to be resolved if ever and not even if the issue was known and as widespread as Microsoft claims.

I'm posting here as my last resource and to let people know that my 2 months old computer has become "Incompatible" with the latest Windows 10 version and as a result is unable to receive updates for the only OS it has official support for and it actually works with.

Best Answer

  • Commodore_1995#
    Commodore_1995# ACE Posts: 97,695 Trailblazer
    edited September 2018 Answer ✓
    I do not think your model is incompatible with version 1803 of windows 10! If your model is incompatible with version 1803, then my notebook, which is a v3-571 of the year 2014, should not even be able to install this version of windows 10! However I can install windows 10 1803 on my notebook by updating the drivers!
    I recommend you upgrade your notebook drivers by downloading the latest version of the video driver from the amd site! You also try to update all the drivers of your notebook using the driverbooster program! However the drivers offered by Acer are optimized for your notebook, but are not often updated!
    If you really need to install 1803 version of windows, make a backup of your personal files in case something goes wrong and then update the drivers using the driverbooster! Go in windows update and download the latest version of windows 10! However, version 1803 still has incompatibilities with some drivers and so it is important to back up your files first!
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          

               
      egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 

Answers

  • Commodore_1995#
    Commodore_1995# ACE Posts: 97,695 Trailblazer
    edited September 2018 Answer ✓
    I do not think your model is incompatible with version 1803 of windows 10! If your model is incompatible with version 1803, then my notebook, which is a v3-571 of the year 2014, should not even be able to install this version of windows 10! However I can install windows 10 1803 on my notebook by updating the drivers!
    I recommend you upgrade your notebook drivers by downloading the latest version of the video driver from the amd site! You also try to update all the drivers of your notebook using the driverbooster program! However the drivers offered by Acer are optimized for your notebook, but are not often updated!
    If you really need to install 1803 version of windows, make a backup of your personal files in case something goes wrong and then update the drivers using the driverbooster! Go in windows update and download the latest version of windows 10! However, version 1803 still has incompatibilities with some drivers and so it is important to back up your files first!
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          

               
      egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • ferares
    ferares Member Posts: 16

    Tinkerer

    egydiocoelho said:
    I do not think your model is incompatible with version 1803 of windows 10! If your model is incompatible with version 1803, then my notebook, which is a v3-571 of the year 2014, should not even be able to install this version of windows 10! However I can install windows 10 1803 on my notebook by updating the drivers!
    I recommend you upgrade your notebook drivers by downloading the latest version of the video driver from the amd site! You also try to update all the drivers of your notebook using the driverbooster program! However the drivers offered by Acer are optimized for your notebook, but are not often updated!
    If you really need to install 1803 version of windows, make a backup of your personal files in case something goes wrong and then update the drivers using the driverbooster! Go in windows update and download the latest version of windows 10! However, version 1803 still has incompatibilities with some drivers and so it is important to back up your files first!

    Although version 1803 is "incompatible" according to what Microsoft support told me it seems to work fine out of the box (haven't done any thorough testing though).

    I've installed 1803 from scratch and disabled automatic updates, after that I've installed all the drivers available on the Acer support page for my laptop:
    • Audio
    • Bluetooth
    • Card Reader
    • Fingerprint scanner
    • Touchpad
    • VGA
    • WLAN
    I've tried downloading the video drivers directly from AMD but they don't have them, seems like you have to go trough the laptop manufacturer. Anyway I've left the automatic updates on for the Radeon drivers and it didn't find anything so I guess those are the latest drivers available.

    Then I've enabled automatic updates on Windows and it installed "Cumulative updates for Windows 10 Version 1803" (KB4464218), "Update for Windows 10 Version 1803" (KB4100347) along with some Windows Defender updates and an Adobe Flash security update.

    After that it seems to be working fine now  =) so thanks for the advice I was kinda down after talking with Microsoft and later Acer support not being helpful or direct with me at all.
  • Although the drivers provided by the manufacturer are optimized for your notebook, I use the driverbooster program to update the notebook drivers! However if your notebook is working perfectly you do not need to use this program!
    Glad you could solve your problem! If you enjoyed my reply, click I liked it!
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          

               
      egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :)