Windows 8.1 battery life dramatically lower

ThomACE
ThomACE Member Posts: 12 New User

I have a new Acer Aspire V7 touch (i7-4500, GT 750M, SSD-Cache, 750gb HDD)

Before the update to 8.1 my battery-life was awesome and I could get without tweaking the settings almost 5houres of battery-life. Now after the update to windows 8.1 I can barely get 2houres. My laptop also gets much hotter than before (CPU-fan and GPU-fan)

Are there any solutions for my problem? Are there other people with the same problem?

I already updated the lastest drivers for my GPU but this brought little change to battery-life.

Answers

  • ThomACE
    ThomACE Member Posts: 12 New User

    Am I the only one with this problem?

    I've already updated every driver I could find and it is a little better, but still only half the batterylife of what it used to be..

  • dbcalo
    dbcalo Member Posts: 13

    Tinkerer

    My battery life decrased after upgrading to W8.1, but it isn't as bad as yours. Seems to vary between 3-4 hours now; would get at least 6 before. My fan almost never runs.

     

    My V7 specs are slightly different than your's though: i5-4200U, GT 750M, 500gb HDD + SSD cache, etc.

  • ThomACE
    ThomACE Member Posts: 12 New User

    Thanks for the reply!

    So I'm not the only one ACER! Do something about this please. I was very happy with my V7 and 5hours of battery life on high power usage. 

    I hope a technician will give a solution soon. 

  • dbcalo
    dbcalo Member Posts: 13

    Tinkerer

    I did a complete reinstall using a Windows 8.1 RTM disc. My battery life seems to be much more stable now.

  • ThomACE
    ThomACE Member Posts: 12 New User

    What's a RTM disc? I updated my Windows 8 to 8.1 via the store..

    Do you miss the new (and mostly better) features off windows 8.1?

  • dbcalo
    dbcalo Member Posts: 13

    Tinkerer

    RTM stands for release to manufacturing. W8.1 has all the features as it should; nothing missing. It is a slightly less anoying way of reinstalling windows as it directly installs 8.1 (no upgrade necessary), and doesn't ask you for an install key until after the installation. You have to use a key viewer to get your windows 8 key from your bios (critical step), as they've stopped printing the install keys on the bottom of laptops. if you try it, make an image of your hdd just in case.

  • ThomACE
    ThomACE Member Posts: 12 New User

    I did not receive such a disc when I bought my Acer Aspire V7.. 
    *Edit : you already gave your batterylife stats. 

  • dbcalo
    dbcalo Member Posts: 13

    Tinkerer

    Acer doesn't give out RTM discs that I know of; they were released directly by MS. You'll have to track down an RTM disc and download it. I was getting about 3-4 hours before, now I get a solid 6-7 hours, depending on what I'm doing.

  • ThomACE
    ThomACE Member Posts: 12 New User

    So in summary 

    1) Find windows OS key with a key finder (check)
    2) Find an RTM version of windows 8.1 (not yet)
    3) Put this RTM on a HDD? Because I can't burn it on a CD cause my the v7 doesn't have a DVD-drive
    4) What should I do next? 

    Is it the same as 'formatting' ?
    Do you update your drivers immediatly after reintalling 8.1?

    Thanks for the reply! I think this could do the trick if it worked on your (almost the same) laptop.

  • ThomACE
    ThomACE Member Posts: 12 New User

    I'm a student and my faculty says I can make an account on dreamspark. 
    I read that you can download an ISO-file of Windows 8.1 RTM from there, is this true and is this what I need?

    EDIT : I've downloaded an ISO-file of windows 8.1 from dreamspark. I presume this is the RTM-version you are referring to? 
    Whats the next step?

    EDIT 2 : Is this a good 'how-to guide' : http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/ss/windows-8-clean-install-part-1.htm
    Does the small SSD-cache still work after a clean install of the OS ? 

    Thanks!

  • dbcalo
    dbcalo Member Posts: 13

    Tinkerer

    That's pretty much the gist of it.

     

    You can install from a usb flashdrive using the Win7 USB/DVD tool; it's made for W7, but it works for W8 too.

     

    After installing I just installed the drivers off the acer site. If you want to keep expresscache (one of the things acer installs by default) you can find that in a hidden OEM folder on the C drive prior to formatting. In addition to the normal drivers, I also installed intel rapid storage drivers. And, yes, the SSD part of the hybrid drive works as it should.

     

    Also, I've never heard of dreamspark, but maybe. I downloaded the RTM off one of the various ***** sites out there.

  • dbcalo
    dbcalo Member Posts: 13

    Tinkerer

    That guide seems good enough.

  • ThomACE
    ThomACE Member Posts: 12 New User

    This is a post from an employee of Acer (who speaks in his own name) :


    "

    hi....
     
    You have two option to restore the factory shipped operating system, drivers and application shipped with your computer.
    First option is to create the USB recovery media before replacing the hard disk
    Second option is to purchase the recovery disc to restore the factory shipped operating system, drivers and application shipped with your computer.
     
    Here is the steps to create the recovery disc :

    You will need to disable power management settings before creating your backup drive.
    Use the following steps to create your backup drive:
    Press the Windows (Image: icon_Windows8_key.png) key + Q.
    Type Recovery, and click Acer Recovery Management.
    Click Create Factory Default Backup.
    Select Copy content from the recovery partition to the recovery drive, and click Next.
    Select your USB Flash Drive, and click Next.
    Click Create. When asked to delete the recovery partition from your computer, click No.
     
     
    Here is the weblink to purchase the recovery media : https://store.acer.com/store?Action=DisplayDataValidationServicePage&Locale=en_US&SiteID=acerna
     
    "

    Isn't this a good way to give my pc a clean install to windows 8? 

  • arslaanhaider
    arslaanhaider Member Posts: 1 New User

    i have acer v5-571G and i also have the same issue with my laptop battery. Acer should take notice of this...

  • saulo
    saulo Member Posts: 24 New User

    This patch released yesterday on Windows Update should help you:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2903939

    Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, or Windows Server 2012 R2-based computer never enters a DRIPS (Deepest Runtime Idle Power State)

    "When a device that is reported by the power engine plug-in (PEP) is not registered with the power management framework (PoFx), the computer cannot enter a Deepest Runtime Idle Power State (DRIPS)."

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