Solved Windows 8.1 Preview; I hate it - I love it - I hate it.

MhzManiac

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Location
Washington State
I got nervous after 3 failed attempts to install the new preview, so I pulled all my Intel C600 HD controller drivers and let Windows install native drivers (read it on another forum). Guess what? It did not do squat. Hate it!

So now I'm thinking what if I have a hardware issue? I need to be sure so I did a Factory Refresh on my Win 8 installation. Run thru the update hoops again and the preview took, Yea! Love it!

But let's not celebrate yet folks. All my programs are now gone. MS said it would leave Windows apps alone and kill the 3rd party stuff. So I guess MS Office Enterprise is 3rd party because it's GONE! Hate it.

Spent hours rebuilding my programs (Steam games were a real joy with over 20 to download again, Thank god for 40 Meg DSL)

Got Chrome installed again and did a test drive with my wife's corporate email, and it works! Never worked with Windows 8. Love it again!

Then I ran Just Cause 2 to run the benchmark program and the video strobes like I have it in 3D mode (non 3D monitor) Hate it again.

I had this problem before in Win 8 but it somehow went away. Now it's back again. I thought nVidia might be trying to double the refresh rate for 3d, so I uninstalled all nVidia 3d drivers, but it did not help.

I'll keep trying until I figure it out, but I like to know what other are experiencing with this upgrade; Please share good or bad.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Preview Pro 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built w/ EVGA Intel board
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3820 @ 4.5 Ghz
    Motherboard
    EVGA X79 FTW
    Memory
    16 Gig Kingston Quad channel XMP-1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia 2X SLI Geforce GTX 460's
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Westinghouse 26" HDMI HD-TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2X Crucial M4 SSD in Raid 0 256 Gig, 2X Western Digital Caviar's in Raid 0 300 Gig, 1X Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB, Rosewel 3.0 USB external drive 500 G WD Blue
    PSU
    Thermaltake 850W Black Widow 80+ Bronze
    Case
    Antec 900 modified
    Cooling
    Liquid Cooled Corsair H50 modified push/pull fans
    Keyboard
    Azio KB505U LED Backlit keys
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518 / Belkin n52te Gaming Pad
    Internet Speed
    DSL 40 Meg Down / 5 Meg up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    System Mechanic Pro
    Other Info
    4.5 Gig overclock is 24/7 365
I did a Factory Refresh on my Win 8 installation. Run thru the update hoops again and the preview took, Yea! Love it!

But let's not celebrate yet folks. All my programs are now gone. MS said it would leave Windows apps alone and kill the 3rd party stuff. So I guess MS Office Enterprise is 3rd party because it's GONE! Hate it.
I think the Refresh probably says that it will leave Windows Store apps alone. Windows Store apps being the full-screen 'Metro' apps but not 'Desktop' apps like MS Office.

However for future reference, if you've got your PC in a state where you like it, you can create your own Custom Refresh image which should keep apps that you've installed. Note that you will still lose quite a lot of settings when you use it to restore though.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/3610-refresh-windows-8-create-use-custom-recovery-image.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
Thank for the replies so far. I actually bought Acronious 12 backup just before switching to Win 8, only to discover it was not compatible. A discount for for 13 version was all they would do for me.

A custom refresh, now that sounds sweet. I will look into it and also download one of the freebies mentioned. So I should make one now so that when the real 8.1 comes out, I can get back to basics just in case, right? Will I be forced to uninstall 8.1 preview or will it just upgrade?

Now I just need to figure what's up with my SLI configuration. What I recall last time is it only strobed in SLI and only with JC2.


Update: I looked at the program list Win 8 left on my desktop when it did the refresh. The nVidia driver was 320.49, so I installed that version. JC2 now works just fine. Funny thing is I did a custom install and opted out of the 3D software, but when I went to look at the Add/Remove Programs all the 3D stuff was there . :confused:
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Preview Pro 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built w/ EVGA Intel board
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3820 @ 4.5 Ghz
    Motherboard
    EVGA X79 FTW
    Memory
    16 Gig Kingston Quad channel XMP-1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia 2X SLI Geforce GTX 460's
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Westinghouse 26" HDMI HD-TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2X Crucial M4 SSD in Raid 0 256 Gig, 2X Western Digital Caviar's in Raid 0 300 Gig, 1X Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB, Rosewel 3.0 USB external drive 500 G WD Blue
    PSU
    Thermaltake 850W Black Widow 80+ Bronze
    Case
    Antec 900 modified
    Cooling
    Liquid Cooled Corsair H50 modified push/pull fans
    Keyboard
    Azio KB505U LED Backlit keys
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518 / Belkin n52te Gaming Pad
    Internet Speed
    DSL 40 Meg Down / 5 Meg up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    System Mechanic Pro
    Other Info
    4.5 Gig overclock is 24/7 365
Ok so I created a custom refresh on my spare drive using this command: recimg /createimage F:\CustomRefreshImages\Image1

My question now is how do I tell Windows which refresh image to use if I need to refresh it?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Preview Pro 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built w/ EVGA Intel board
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3820 @ 4.5 Ghz
    Motherboard
    EVGA X79 FTW
    Memory
    16 Gig Kingston Quad channel XMP-1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia 2X SLI Geforce GTX 460's
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Westinghouse 26" HDMI HD-TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2X Crucial M4 SSD in Raid 0 256 Gig, 2X Western Digital Caviar's in Raid 0 300 Gig, 1X Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB, Rosewel 3.0 USB external drive 500 G WD Blue
    PSU
    Thermaltake 850W Black Widow 80+ Bronze
    Case
    Antec 900 modified
    Cooling
    Liquid Cooled Corsair H50 modified push/pull fans
    Keyboard
    Azio KB505U LED Backlit keys
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518 / Belkin n52te Gaming Pad
    Internet Speed
    DSL 40 Meg Down / 5 Meg up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    System Mechanic Pro
    Other Info
    4.5 Gig overclock is 24/7 365
Thanks David.

I did some digging and found you can use this command if you need something besides the default:
recimg.exe /setcurrent <folder>
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Preview Pro 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built w/ EVGA Intel board
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3820 @ 4.5 Ghz
    Motherboard
    EVGA X79 FTW
    Memory
    16 Gig Kingston Quad channel XMP-1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia 2X SLI Geforce GTX 460's
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Westinghouse 26" HDMI HD-TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2X Crucial M4 SSD in Raid 0 256 Gig, 2X Western Digital Caviar's in Raid 0 300 Gig, 1X Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB, Rosewel 3.0 USB external drive 500 G WD Blue
    PSU
    Thermaltake 850W Black Widow 80+ Bronze
    Case
    Antec 900 modified
    Cooling
    Liquid Cooled Corsair H50 modified push/pull fans
    Keyboard
    Azio KB505U LED Backlit keys
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518 / Belkin n52te Gaming Pad
    Internet Speed
    DSL 40 Meg Down / 5 Meg up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    System Mechanic Pro
    Other Info
    4.5 Gig overclock is 24/7 365
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