Windows 10 update 1809 breaks my acer switch 11v SW5-173

1235

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    You can follow video below to either reset or refresh your system to factory Windows condition. Then make sure Control Panel system protection is turned on so you can revert to 1803 after 1809 tries to install. Jack E/NJ


    Jack E/NJ

  • Silurian
    Silurian Member Posts: 20 Networker
    I have an update on this issue.

    I have updated Windows 10 Home to version 1903 with the 2019-09 Cumulative Update and the issue of not starting from cold boot appears to be resolved. My current Win 10 OS build is 18362.387.

    I performed a restart from Sleep, from Hibernate and from Shut Down. They all were able to boot back into Windows 10 without having to perform any additional BIOS actions.

    One note: The power up from Cold Boot takes an additional 20 to 25 seconds and the spinning circle does get stuck during this additional time.

    Also one additional point, make sure you update the Intel SATA AHCI controller driver to version 14.8.16.1063. You can get this driver from the Intel web site.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,454 Trailblazer
    That's great! It's nice to know Microsoft finally got it rolled in.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • 1512101
    1512101 Member Posts: 2 New User
    edited September 2019
    billsey said:s
    That's great! It's nice to know Microsoft finally got it rolled in.
    The Only Thing I had windows 10 Pro Build 1511 Microsoft Provided Free Windows 10 Promotion ISOs on my Acer Was Due to Stability once it was released back in 2015 in the CMD it should Say Version
    10586 Without Crashing Most Important Look in C:\Recovery\Customizations\USMT.ppkg DO NOT DELETE THESE FILES Copy it to Somewhere Safe
    What You Wanna Do is Copy Recovery Folder Where You Cleaned Installed Windows And You Should Run Reset This PC
  • 1512101
    1512101 Member Posts: 2 New User
    edited September 2019
     No Issues Here Just Need To Clean Install It Though With The Earlier Versions of Windows However These Installation ISO's Were Free Back then Due to Microsoft Promoting it
  • webzo
    webzo Member Posts: 2 New User
    Kind of fixed- A little complicated with a couple of things happening, but hopefully this helps someone. Read to the end.
    I have the Aspire Switch 11 SW5-173.
    It was working fine until some recent some recent Windows 10 update (the one before 1903). After the bad update, it would get stuck on the Acer Logo with spinning dots. A few things I did and the results of it-
    1. Rebooted multiple times. Didn't help much. It might have managed to start up one time successfully. Anyway, didn't last long.
    2. Hit reset on the side of the tablet (used a paper clip in the hole)- seemed to make it worse. Even the Acer logo with spinning dots stopped. The screen would light up (a dark grey) and remain like that until the battery died.
    3. Created a Windows bootup disk on a USB stick (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10).
    4. Started the laptop and hit the F2 button many many times right after I started the laptop. It went to the Boot menu. Changed the boot order to UEFI (or was it UFEI?) first. Save and exit.
    5. Stuck the USB stick with Windows (into the keyboard USB slot) and started. Important- keep the laptop plugged into the power socket. (The USB stick played no role, I realized later).
    6. Laptop booted up. Seemed to be running fine. However, everytime I shut down the laptop, it wouldn't start back up- would get stuck in the dark grey screen (wouldn't get until the Acer logo with spinning dots). I would have to stick the USB stick in, keep the laptop powered and try to start up and it would start.
    7. And then I noticed one thing when it was booted into Windows one time- the battery was showing 0% charged even though laptop was connected to power for many hours. It was the Battery not charging issue. Also noticed something else- occasionally, it would show some %, like 30% or 50% charged. So battery wasn't reporting the correct life.
    8. I went into Device Manager (in Control Panel) and did the Disable/wait/Enable thing for Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery (look under Battery). That would fix the battery % temporarily. But it always went back to 0% at some point.
    9. So, I basically had 2 issues- Laptop wouldn't boot by itself (stuck at Dark Grey screen before Acer Logo) and Battery life stuck at 0% and not charging.
    10. Noticed something when laptop was booted up- Would show 0%. However, if I unplugged it, it would complain that I was critically low on battery. Ignore and keep using it, battery life would update to correct value 70% or 80% or whatever. So, really a battery life indicator issue.
    11. Did step 5 above and got the laptop started. Noticed Windows update 1903 was available. Downloaded and installed. Before download/install- Important- make sure battery is not showing 0% AND keep laptop plugged into power. 1903 restarted laptop couple of times, but thankfully it didnt get stuck, although I was expecting it to.
    12. Was hoping 1903 had fixed the issue- Put laptop to sleep, it started back up no problems. Tried to restart windows- stuck in Dark Gray screen.
    13. And then I realized something- When the laptop attempts to boot up, if the battery reports 0% charge left, it interrupts the boot up process and the laptop hangs at Dark Gray screen. However, if the battery reports some not zero%, the laptop starts fine. Since the battery life indicator seems busted for some reason, the boot up was getting stuck at the dark gray screen.
    14. Solution, for me- Keep the laptop plugged into power when I attempt to restart the Windows. If the laptop is plugged in, then regardless of battery life %, it will start up. Else, Windows/Bios or something thinks there is not enough power to boot up and hangs midway.
    15. With 1903, the laptop gets stuck in Acer Logo with spinning dots for a lot longer than before. The dots even stopped spinning. Maybe took 1-2 minutes. It started eventually.
    16. Bottomline- 1. install 1903. 2. Keep laptop plugged into power when you restart Windows. 3. Give it a couple of minutes at Acer logo spinning dots screen to let it finish bootup. 4. Battery life indicator is still broken.

    HTH.

  • Silurian
    Silurian Member Posts: 20 Networker
    webzo said:
    Kind of fixed- A little complicated with a couple of things happening, but hopefully this helps someone. Read to the end.
    I have the Aspire Switch 11 SW5-173.
    ...
    16. Bottomline- 1. install 1903. 2. Keep laptop plugged into power when you restart Windows. 3. Give it a couple of minutes at Acer logo spinning dots screen to let it finish bootup. 4. Battery life indicator is still broken.

    HTH.


    I have not come across the gray screen either with or without the laptop plugged into power.

    It seems to me that maybe your battery is starting to fail on your laptop. I know mine drains quite fast now if not plugged in. These laptop batteries can have a short lifespan of 3 to 4 years. 

    I thought of replacing the battery since it isn't that hard to open the case. I have already replaced the original 64 Gig SSD with a 250 Gig SSD without any issue. Looks like you can buy a replacement battery from $25 to $40. But I am already planning on buying a new laptop soon so I am not sure if it worth the time and cost.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,454 Trailblazer
    I had to replace my battery last year, no big symptoms but it was starting to bulge. Mine has been through a rather nasty car wreck though, so that might have started the battery damage.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Silurian
    Silurian Member Posts: 20 Networker
    billsey said:
    I had to replace my battery last year, no big symptoms but it was starting to bulge. Mine has been through a rather nasty car wreck though, so that might have started the battery damage.

    My battery is bulging as well. It bulged enough to push the screen away from the chassis. I just ordered a replacement battery from Aliexpress for about $31. I will replace it myself as it is a fairly easy repair.
  • Sha_Chan
    Sha_Chan Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    Thank you very much for your update Silurian.  
    I had Intel SATA AHCI controller driver to version 14.8.16.1063 at my Switch 11v already.
    Then, I upgraded Windows 10 1803 to 1903 with 2019-09 Cumulative update (KB4517211).  The Switch 11v is able to reboot correctly with cold boot.  It is very good.  I do not use this machine more than 3 months but I am now able to use this machine again.  
  • BorisZX6R
    BorisZX6R Member Posts: 20 Networker
    Silurian said:
    I have an update on this issue.

    I have updated Windows 10 Home to version 1903 with the 2019-09 Cumulative Update and the issue of not starting from cold boot appears to be resolved. My current Win 10 OS build is 18362.387.

    I performed a restart from Sleep, from Hibernate and from Shut Down. They all were able to boot back into Windows 10 without having to perform any additional BIOS actions.

    One note: The power up from Cold Boot takes an additional 20 to 25 seconds and the spinning circle does get stuck during this additional time.

    Also one additional point, make sure you update the Intel SATA AHCI controller driver to version 14.8.16.1063. You can get this driver from the Intel web site.

    Thank you @Silurian
    This is great news. In the meantime I had Ubuntu 19.04 running on it and it was quite good but not as polished as it should be.
    I had to wipe everything and try a clean Win 10 1903 install and am happy to report that everything works as it should.
    I have followed your tip regarding the SATA AHCI driver.

    The only issues I had were on the initial install booting from the 1903 version using USB stick - but once I had booted to bios and exited it worked fine.

    Awesome - now this is again a usable laptop/tablet.

    Next experiment would be to install some lightweight OS such as Chrome OS... Hopefully there will be a version in the future.

    Thanks again for trying 1903 and reporting back on the issue.

    Regards,
    BorisZX6R
  • BorisZX6R
    BorisZX6R Member Posts: 20 Networker
    Acer also makes the Spin, a touch screen chrome book.
    It would be interesting to see if its operating system can be installed on the switch...
  • omarr
    omarr Member Posts: 4 New User


    Silurian said:
    I have an update on this issue.

    I have updated Windows 10 Home to version 1903 with the 2019-09 Cumulative Update and the issue of not starting from cold boot appears to be resolved. My current Win 10 OS build is 18362.387.

    I performed a restart from Sleep, from Hibernate and from Shut Down. They all were able to boot back into Windows 10 without having to perform any additional BIOS actions.

    One note: The power up from Cold Boot takes an additional 20 to 25 seconds and the spinning circle does get stuck during this additional time.

    Also one additional point, make sure you update the Intel SATA AHCI controller driver to version 14.8.16.1063. You can get this driver from the Intel web site.

    Thanks for the heads up,  I reinstalled Windows 1903 via media creation tool, and can confirm that it does boot properly now.  Not only that, but it does seem to run very smoothly now, with no signs of the bugginess that my previous 1903 experience had.  I've long given up on Windows running on my Switch 11v ever again, so this is a very welcome surprise.  I ran Ubuntu for a while, and for a few months prior to reinstalling Win 10 I ran PrimeOS (Android).  PrimeOS was a very interesting and enjoyable experience, although there were some compatibility issues with about 20% of the apps/games I installed. I'm glad that this got sorted out.  Although I'm glad it happened in a way, since now I got to experience  installing and running other OS's.  In any case, if this gets borked by another update in the future, at least I know I can try other options.  My Switch 11v became a "laboratory" for installing and running other operating systems, in other words.
  • Saadonov
    Saadonov Member Posts: 1 New User
    I had the exact same issues, changed the windows 10 version to 1709 (Google and download iso). Now it's running like brand new, very fast with no blue screen on boot up or windows getting stuck after a while. Just need to disable windows update before I enable WiFi. I think the bios isn't compatible with Windows 10 versions 1803 and above.
    Hope this helps. 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    edited October 2019
    Saadonov>>>I think the bios isn't compatible with Windows 10 versions 1803 and above.>>>

    This must mean you also think 1803 & above isn't compatible with the bios.   :)   Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Silurian
    Silurian Member Posts: 20 Networker
    I am glad to hear that others can confirm that the Windows 10 1903 with the 2019-09 Cumulative Update is starting up normally from cold boot on the Acer Switch 11v. Thanks for everyone that confirmed this as well.

    I can also confirm that 
    with the latest 2019-10 Cumulative Update (Win 10 1903), cold boot is still working correctly so hopefully this issue is permanently fixed. Well, at least with Win 10 1903.

    I guess we will find out if Windows 10 1909 (Nov 2019 update) will once again break the cold boot or not. It will probably be not too long before this update gets pushed out.

    One other update is that I have successfully replaced the battery in my Acer Switch 11v. It took all about 10 minutes with the hardest part of removing the old battery since it was taped down to the chassis. The screen bulge has now been fixed. The new battery has breathed fresh life into my Switch 11v allowing for about 5 hours (or so) of use on battery. I was barely getting 1 hour previously.

    I still have plans to replace my Switch 11v in the near future but for now I am pleased with both being able to use the latest Windows 10 and having decent battery life again. 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Silurian>>>   The screen bulge has now been fixed.>>>

    Thanks for report. Was this due to swelled battery pack? Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Silurian
    Silurian Member Posts: 20 Networker
    JackE said:
    Silurian>>>   The screen bulge has now been fixed.>>>

    Thanks for report. Was this due to swelled battery pack? Jack E/NJ

    Yes, the screen bulge on the Switch 11v was due to a swollen battery pack. It was swollen up to 3 times thicker than it should have been. I am glad it didn't burst or something worse.