Installing Win 8.1 on Aspire 5253

Chris_C
Chris_C Member Posts: 24 New User

I've clean installed Win 8.1 three times on a friend's Aspire 5253. It came with Win 7 but that was corrupted and I wanted to install the latest software. The first two times I installed Win 8.1 the laptop worked for a few days, then refused to boot up. I was unable to repair it with the Win installation disc & reinstalled the software instead. I'm waiting now to see if I have the same problem.

 

It was suggested that the drivers might need to be updated. When I visited the Acer website I noticed drivers for Win 8 for this laptop but not 8.1. According to the information I read, Acer supports Win 8.1 upgrade or clean install for certain computers, but Aspire 5253 is not on either list.

 

My first question is whether I'm understanding this information correctly. If so, then Win 8.1 should not be installed on this laptop.

 

My second question is whether I should reinstall Win 7, for which I have disks purchased from Acer, or would it be advisable to purchase Win 8.0 and install that, if the laptop owner prefers?

 

My third question is about updating the BIOS & drivers, whichever version of Windows I install. I think I understand how to upgrade then drivers but I haven't figured out how to update the BIOS yet.

 

Thank you for your help!

Answers

  • code65536
    code65536 Member Posts: 10 New User
    Doesn't it seem strange to you that the W7 installation became corrupted, and then two subsequent W8 installations developed problems, too? Drivers are not the issue (especially since 8.1's bundled drivers have such good coverage) and a lack thereof is incapable of causing the kinds of problems you observed. Given what has happened, the first thing you should be doing is running diagnostics on the hardware--specifically, the RAM and the disk.
  • Chris_C
    Chris_C Member Posts: 24 New User

    Thanks for your reply! I replaced the original 2 GB RAM chip with a new 4 GB chip because I was told that Win 8 would work better that way, so I don't think RAM is the problem with this computer.

     

    I'm not sure the hard drive is the problem either, but wouldn't mind checking it out. How do you run a diagnostic on the hard drive?

     

    The laptop belongs to a friend. When Windows 7 became corrupted a relative of hers installed a copy of Win 8 Professional but didn't give her the installation disk. It worked for a while but then started going real slow. I asumed it was his own copy of Windows, activated on his own computer, and that she was having problems because she wasn't receiving Windows updates & because her antimalware was out of date. The computer would start to boot up - you were given a choice of accessing Win 7 or 8 - and you could access Win 8 but not Win 7.

     

    I bought a copy of Win 8.1 at Best Buy, which I nstalled as an upgrade. At first it worked fine but after several days it wouldn't boot up to the screen where you had a choice between Win 7 & 8. Windows repeatedly tried to diagnose the problem automatically but was unable to repair it. At one point I was able to correct the problem by entering Safe Mode but the problem reoccurred & I was no longer able to access Safe Mode.

     

    Someone said Win 7 might be conflicting with Win 8 so I clean installed Win 8.1, completely erasing Win 7 from the computer. The same problem happened so I clean installed again. Right now it works but I'm waiting to see what happens. I purchased the Win 7 recovery disks from Acer so I can reinstall that if need be, but I'd like to see if Win 8.1 will work first.

  • Chris_C
    Chris_C Member Posts: 24 New User
    I forgot to mention that I also installed Norton 360 each time I installed Win 8.1. Someone on a Microsoft forum said that might be causing the problem. I'm waiting to see how it works without Norton. Are there any compatability issues with Win 8.1 on this laptop. If you're not sure, which Acer forum would you suggest?
  • code65536
    code65536 Member Posts: 10 New User

    You can use something like the UBCD. Download it, burn it to a CD or DVD, and boot using it.

     

    Run memtest86+ under "Memory" for the RAM diagnostics. (It will keep running until you exit, so once you complete a test pass without error, hit Esc).

     

    As for hard drive diagnostics, I usually use the free edition of HD Tune, which is a Windows program. But since Windows isn't booting, you could try one of the diagnostics under HDD/Diagnosis on the UBCD. Specifically HDAT2 is pretty good. Select the HDD, and then under the SMART menu, select Read Attribute Data and make a note of any errors (highlighted in red), and then under Device tests, do a Detect bad sectors. Either read or verify should be fine.

     

    Also, it seems highly unlikely Norton could cause something like this--a corruption of the boot record.

  • Chris_C
    Chris_C Member Posts: 24 New User

    Thanks, I won't have time for a few days, but I'll download the programs and try them.

  • Chris_C
    Chris_C Member Posts: 24 New User

    I just looked at UBCD. According to the website, it works with Win XP, Vista, and 7. Does it also work with Win 8? HD Tune says it works with Win 8, would that also include 8.1? (I'm assuming it would.)

     

    I seem to remember that there are memorey & hard drive diagnostics built into the OS if you boot up using F8 or F10. Would that also work? I've previously bought 3rd party tune up & repair software such as System Mechanic & System Suite for older computers of my own. Do you recommend any of those?

     

    According to your earlier reply, Win 8.1 should work on this laptop even though Acer doesn't supply drivers specifically for it. I could reinstall Win 7, which it came with, if it works better that way, but would prefer to keep Win 8.1 if possible. Do you know of any specific ways performance might be affected if I keep Win 8.1 on the computer?

  • code65536
    code65536 Member Posts: 10 New User

    I have no idea why the UBCD would claim compatibility with a particular OS, since that's a non-sensical claim. It's a boot CD. I.e., it boots its own OS and it works regardless of what OS you have (even if you don't have one).

  • Chris_C
    Chris_C Member Posts: 24 New User

    Ok, thanks! I won't have time to try it for a couple of days but will let you know how it turns out.

  • Chris_C
    Chris_C Member Posts: 24 New User

    I reinstalled Windows 8.1 over a month ago, along with Norton 360, and downloaded all the available updates. So far the laptop is still booting up and working okay.

     

    Last night I scanned the hard drive with HD Tune. It shows 40 bad sectors out of 2500. Is that enough to affect laptop performance? Is there any way to repair the bad sectors? I actually ran the scan twice and got the same results except that one of the bad sectors was in a different location the second time I scanned.

     

    I downloaded the UBCD program but haven't used it yet. The laptop battery isn't charging up right now and is running low. there may be something wrong with the cord. This has happened before but it always starts working again after a few hours.

  • Chris_C
    Chris_C Member Posts: 24 New User

    I reinstalled Win 8.1 and so far it's working okay, but I have another problem. I checked the hard drive with HD Tune, as you suggested. It found 40 bad sectors.

     

    I started a new thread asking if there's any way to fix the bad sectors. I received one reply, which works for Win XP & 7, but not for Win 8.1. If you can help with this problem, that thread is located here: Hard drive has bad sectors 

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