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    Decided to upgrade my X230 to Win8 - having some issues

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by hotsauce, Feb 15, 2013.

  1. hotsauce

    hotsauce Notebook Evangelist

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    Well, after a large Chimay last night, I finally built up the courage to upgrade my X230 to Windows 8. The process was relatively painless, but the after affects are becoming a bit annoying. I'm having two issues:

    The upgrade kept the Lenovo Power Manager app - happy about that. After the upgrade last night, I was able to open the manager and view changing thresholds, cycles, etc. It worked fine. Today, it will not open at all. It just freezes and errors out, forcing me to close it. What changed? I did run a bunch of Lenovo updates, but I'd be surprised if they broke it.

    Also, my wireless has flat out disconnected two times already. Just no signal. Repair connection does nothing. The only solution is a reboot, and it works fine after that. It's more of an annoyance at this point, but I fear there is something wrong.

    Anyone else having little annoyances? Any tips/solutions for my two problems?

    Thanks

    Edit: I'm going to upgrade my wireless driver from Intel (I have the 6205)

    http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=22429
     
  2. hotsauce

    hotsauce Notebook Evangelist

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    What a mess. The Intel driver update kept timing out, so I uninstalled the older (Lenovo) driver, rebooted and finally installed the two Intel updates.

    It's still flaky. Wifi never automatically connects after a reboot despite being checked as "connect automatically." I have to manually connect every time. What in the world?
     
  3. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    Unless this act brings you additional income, a pre-Chimay rollback is a good idea. :D
     
  4. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    What's the error that Power Manager gives you? For the WiFi driver, did you fully uninstall the old drivers from Device Manager?
     
  5. hotsauce

    hotsauce Notebook Evangelist

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    Lol, the Chimary was tasty and good. My decision to go Win8 not so good (so far).

    No error, it just won't load. It sits there, almost frozen for about 30 seconds then a shadow box shows behind it and it just freezes. When I click on it, I get a dialogue to force close or wait. If you choose wait, it sits there indefinitely. As for the wifi, I did uninstall from the control panel...that not enough?

    I'm off work today so I have time...time to go back to Win 7 if needed. I never once had a single hiccup with this machine. Now, after Win 8, issues are popping up. Not good.
     

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  6. hotsauce

    hotsauce Notebook Evangelist

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    Doing a full refresh (akin to a clean install I reckon). If this doesn't do the trick its back to 7. Especially considering the fact that the refresh is wiping my data, so it doesn't matter.

    Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
     
  7. hotsauce

    hotsauce Notebook Evangelist

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    Last post. The full refresh was like a breath of fresh air. Everything is smooth now. Contrary to what the internet tells you, an upgrade via Win8 DOES leave junk from your old install around, which is bound to cause issues. My advice? Do the upgrade, then immediately do a full wipe refresh in settings. This basically wipes the drive and images it with a clean Win8 install and doesn't cause issues with licensing (since it's already activated).

    Quick question: I didn't let the wifi driver from Lenovo install. I am just using the default driver from Win8 and it's working flawlessly. Instant connection and doesn't drop.

    Is there a compelling reason why I should install the Lenovo driver?
     
  8. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    If the default WiFi driver works flawlessly, I just go ahead and have another Chimay.

    I wish to highlight your finding: Do the upgrade, then immediately do a full wipe refresh in settings. This basically wipes the drive and images it with a clean Win8 install and doesn't cause issues with licensing (since it's already activated).
     
  9. hotsauce

    hotsauce Notebook Evangelist

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    Haha, thanks. Cracked open a Bohemian Brewery Pilsner (local beer in UT).

    I honestly think everyone should do just that - upgrade then do a full wipe refresh. It's smooth as silk and I feel better knowing there aren't remnants of Win7 hanging around. Just a straight upgrade will eventually cause issues for sure. Thanks for the help.
     
  10. Quanger

    Quanger Notebook Evangelist

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    I too have an x230 and ordered it with win8. I am having poor wifi performance (reception) as well as unexpected disconnects that can only be resolved with a reboot. I'm hoping for a fix from lenovo.

    I have not been using power-manager as it is not yet compatible.
     
  11. hotsauce

    hotsauce Notebook Evangelist

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    I'd recommend either a full wipe reset (after backing up your docs) or completely uninstalling the Lenovo Intel version of the wifi driver and just let Win8 handle it. I cannot stress how flawless the built-in Win8 wifi driver is. I have the 6205 and it is leaps and bounds better than the Lenovo driver. I'm not sure what the Lenovo driver tries to improve on vs. the Windows one, but all I know is it gave me fits. I have it on "ignore" in the Lenovo software update.

    FWIW, I also had issues with the newest driver from Intel's site. It's as if the integrated one in Win8 is better than all.
     
  12. Thors.Hammer

    Thors.Hammer Notebook Enthusiast

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    That may not be entirely true. Several of the folks in my office are running the latest power management driver and Power Manager on several different ThinkPads with Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise. We just started experimenting.

    See Re: Windows 8 - Power Management Software - Lenovo Community