Aspire One Happy 2 and Windows 10

PeterHodgson · January 16

Hi
I have a ZE6 Happy 2 upgraded to Windows 10, 2GB ram and a Lexar 120GB SSD. Device manager shows no issues with drivers, but the machine runs sooo slowly, especially on Chrome browsing and file copy/move/scan type operations. Graphics performance seems ok. I have tried network connection both ethernet and wireless, same result, slow browsing even though it's connected to a fast fibre router. Other devices on the same router get 60-70 mps.
I've done the usual stuff, unchecked almost everything through system properties/performance, tidied up using Toolwiz. I used AOMEI system clone to install the ssd rather than fresh install of Win10 because I don't have any original media and OEM coa key for Win7 doesn't seem to work with fresh install.
Any ideas, maybe a motherboard issue, or is it just that the N455 Atom is out of its depth ?

PeterHodgson · January 16

BTW, Bios set to factory defaults, so D2D is on, AHCI is on, etc.

Leostat · January 16

I think its just the Atom and the ram im afraid

, you could try tweaking things like turning off the search indexer, and turning down the transparancy effects

PeterHodgson · January 16

BTW, Bios set to factory defaults, so D2D is on, AHCI is on, etc.

PeterHodgson · January 16

As far as I know (I've got no documentation for the ZE6) 2GB is the max ram it will take. Only one slot. I would have thought though that even with 2GB and a SSD Win10 would have been usable. I guess it is usable, just.

PeterHodgson · January 16

Is there a hardware test app for the Happy 2 so I could rule that out ? I've tested the ram without errors, and HDTune reports no errors on the SSD. No idea how to check out the motherboard.

Leostat · January 16

Not that i know of, in proc mon does it show it running at the 1.6ghz? Its also a single core / dual thread so that would hammer it if windows if doing other stuff like updates, or other programs in the background. Chrome is very heavy, you may get a bit more responiveness out of edge which is just chrome slimmed down or something like palemoon, or opra gx which lets you limit CPU / mem use

PeterHodgson · January 16

Task manager / Performance / CPU shows 1.67GHz, 1 socket, 1 core, 2 logical processors. Just running Windows defender doing a full scan shows CPU at 98%
Oh well, I could go back to Win 7 starter I suppose. That's what it shipped with so presumably the performance would be acceptable ?

Leostat · January 16

It looks like the chip is running to speed then so its just the "stuff" windows is doing in the background

, win 7 may run better as there is less going on but its worth keeping in mind its no longer supported / things may just stop working!

PeterHodgson · January 16

Ive updated the bios to the latest v1.15 (was 1.06).

billsey · January 16

Use Resource Monitor to look at what tasks are using the most resources, look especially for anything that takes you over the physical memory limit.

PeterHodgson · January 23

The BIOS update seems to have helped a bit. I think it's the best I can do without a hardware tester from Acer.

PeterHodgson · January 29

Ok, managed to source some Acer recovery cds on eBay, eventually managed to install them (windows 7) after install failed, but found a fix on MS forum, added the card reader, lan and video drivers manually, and hey presto, a reasonably quick machine again. So its not just windows 7, but Acers slimmed down version that allows the Happy 2 to run at a reasonable speed. Cloned the hdd as a recovery disk, jobs a good one.