Windows 8.1 on the fit-pc2 z550

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vtailor
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Windows 8.1 on the fit-pc2 z550

Post by vtailor »

I already had a clean re-install of Windows 8 on my z550, so I took a chance and went into the "Store" applet, downloading Windows 8.1. I have my fingers crossed, but the Intel gma500 mobile graphics driver already demonstrated the ability to run Windows applets without crashing, and that means it can run the new Windows 8.1 Internet Explorer, which behaves like an applet without crashing.

So, this is coming from Windows 8.1 Internet Explorer running on the z550 in 1440x900 resolution.

There is an awful lot of audience participation involved in the download, you may get a surprise change of password to your Microsoft account, my but they do kitzel and kitzel as they approach the initial apps screen. Etc.

vtailor
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Windows 8.1 on the fit-pc2 z550

Post by vtailor »

As usual:

(1) Absolutely essential to re-install the Compulab chipset driver for the fit-pc2. If you use a flash key to re-install the chipset driver, do not use the Windows removal procedure, as this will corrupt your flash drive. Instead, turn off the machine and remove the flash drive. Make sure you wait until the chipset driver announces itself and goes to completion before you restart. When you restart, the Device Manager will show that the chipset driver was installed, and hard drive transfers will work at correct, rather than very slow, speed.

(2) You need to use the backdoor method to install the gma500 driver, meaning that you go to the Device Manager and update the Microsoft Graphics driver by pointing it to the unzipped gma500 driver sitting in the Downloads directory, or wherever you put new drivers to install, and having Windows do the installation.

vtailor
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Windows 8.1 on the fit-pc2 z550

Post by vtailor »

Re-did the installation, starting with Windows 8 and downloading Windows 8.1. The chipset driver remained, so that you could find it in the Device Manager. If you go into the Control Panel and search typing in "Performance Options", somewhere before you finish typing, you will get the Windows "8 Performance Options", which you set for maximum performance. Or, you could pin the Windows 8 "Performance Options" to the taskbar and it will stay. Otherwise, you will get all kinds of gyrating and leaping apps, but poor performance.

The next thing you do is to uninstall the gma500 driver and delete it using the Device Manager, and install the IEMGD Intel driver using the automatic compatibility settings. This is light years better than the gma500 for streaming video, experiment with 1920x1080 if you like.

If you prefer a local login that uses local name and passwords, you can try several strategies, the simplest being to search the internet for instructions on how to revert to simple Windows 7 login.

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