EPTMy problem is that I was assigned to reformat an Acer V5 laptop. It was previously running Windows 8, it got hit by a virus, and when my friend opened it, it displayed "Operating System Not Found". Now, we didn't have the recovery disks and whatnot so my option was to reformat.
I only had a Windows 7 DVD installer so I went on with that. I had to switch from UEFI to Legacy Boot because for some reason, the UEFI Mode wasn't saving my boot sequence, I put the CD/DVD Boot highest but it still booted from the Hard Drive first. Saving the boot sequence and checking it again before the laptop goes though the boot sequence confirms that the boot sequence was NOT saved. After switching to Legacy, it booted from the DVD and I installed Win7 without any hiccups (of course after reformatting the hard drive partitions). However, when I was installing Chrome and MS Office and the regulars, the laptop was unbearably slow and BSOD-ed a lot. This set of alarm bells since freshly reformatted laptops should act good as new.
Now, I haven't been around Windows laptops for 4 years ++ (I've been using a Mac for work) so I asked my friends. They were also puzzled why it was the case. Possible culprits are as follows:
- Driver Errors: I personally doubt this one because drivers would usually affect graphics performance, sound, and WiFi capabilities and NOT general performance
- RAM Problems: I don't think this was the cause because the BIOS menu reads 4kiB RAM properly
- Hard Drive Errors: The Windows 7 installation went smoothly so I doubt it was Hard Drive errors
- BIOS Rootkit Virus: Kind of far fetched but still a possibility
- Laptop was meant to run Windows 8 onwards: Elementary hypothesis but still a possibility
I attempted to install Windows 8.1 via a bootable Flash Drive. However, the boot order problems persisted. UEFI and now the Legacy BIOS are NOT saving my boot order. Now it narrows down things and I have the following options:
- Burn an .iso file to a DVD: This will rule out if the laptop is capable of booting from a flash drive or not
- Do a BIOS Flush: Not sure how to do this. I tried loading the defaults but it helped with nothing. Opening the laptop and sliding the CMOS battery is an option but as much as possible I don't want to get there
Now I have 2 main questions:
1. If I burn the contents of my bootable flash drive to a DVD, will the DVD be bootable? Or do I have to "acquire" a Windows 8.1 iso and then use a software to burn that iso to a DVD?
2. Is it advisable to replace the hard drive?
I haven't had such a difficult time reformatting a laptop before and I'm so lost right now. Any help will be very much appreciated. Thank you.
