My month old laptop is performing a lot worse than the one I got rid of

[Tom Dyal]

I switched from the Lenovo Y410p to the Lenovo Y50 after an unfortunate accident. I had extra money so I decided to get an upgrade. But when I try to play games on the new Y50, it performs a lot worse than the old one. Such as game freezing, entire system freezing, low fps at times in game, and weak wifi connection (I've had to restart at least 6 times today because the entire system froze). Some people say the fps problem was from the resolution change (the Y50 has a bigger screen) but when I change it, it really does nothing. As for the constant freezing, it is a new laptop so overheating from dust blockage shouldn't be that big of an issue. This never used to happen with my old one. Can anyone help, or did I just make a bad choice for my new laptop?

 

[darkbreeze]

Screen size has nothing to do with resolution. Any size screen can run higher or lower resolutions, up to whatever the supported maximum is. If the older unit had a 720p resolution and the newer one has a 1080p resolution, then yes, you might take a hit on FPS. That doesn't account for any of the other issues though.

The Y50 is known to have overheating issues during intense extended gaming sessions, so it could be related to that, but doesn't necessarily have to be.

I'd start with doing a clean install of the GPU drivers, by which I DON'T simply mean installing the latest ones over older drivers or just uninstalling and re-installing the drivers. Following the steps in the CLEAN driver installation section at the following link, which does also apply to notebook GPU drivers as well as desktop versions:

http/www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2492424/laymans-simple-guide-solving-graphics-card-issues.html

Make sure you have the latest BIOS and chipset drivers installed per the Y50 product page. Make sure you reference your FULL model number as there are many sub-models of the Y50.

Run an SFC/Scannow to reduce the possibility of it being an OS issue:

http/www.eightforums.com/tutorials/3047-sfc-scannow-command-run-windows-8-a.html


Run Seatools for Windows, run the short drive self test and long generic, to determine if it's related to the storage drive:

http/www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/


If none of that resolves the issue it may be a more serious hardware related issue such as a bad motherboard or faulty RAM module. You can run Memtest to check the RAM, but it doesn't always mean the RAM is ok just because it passes. In almost every case however, if it fails to pass memtest, there is an issue with one or more modules. If your laptop has more than one memory module installed, test them individually as testing multiple modules often results in false errors:

http/www.memtest.org/


Last but not least, make sure you don't have an infection by following the directions outlined in this tutorial. Simply "having an antivirus installed" may and usually is not, enough:

http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/8263-63-simple-free-guide-removing-malware


It may even be necessary to repair, refresh or reinstall windows, but I'd leave that as a last resort.

 

[Tom Dyal]

Thanks I will do these tests and get back to you.

 

[darkbreeze]

Sounds good.

 

[Tom Dyal]

Hey i'm sorry for taking so long, I just finished running SFC and it found some corrupt files

 

[Tom Dyal]

It couldn't fix some of them so im going to run it again.

 

[darkbreeze]

If SFC/Scannow finds files that cannot be fixed, doing a clean install is probably the best option. I'd back up any important files and then install using the following method.

http/www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2299-clean-install-windows-8-a.html

 

[Tom Dyal]

Ok I will try that tomorrow, I need to get some sleep. Thanks for all the help !

 

[Tom Dyal]

So should I just refresh my laptop or fully delete everything and re install?

 

[darkbreeze]

Do you have installation media or just a recovery partition?

 

[Tom Dyal]

I'm not even sure what either of those are. ( You can see how computer savvy I am )

 

[darkbreeze]

Installation media means the original Windows installation files on disk or USB etc., or just a factory partition on the hard drive that allows restoring the windows installation to how it was originally, including any crapware/bloatware that was part of the installation as it came from the factory. Doing a clean install using the disk or USB image is always preferable to the alternatives, but a renew or refresh are ok if that's the only option.

 

[Tom Dyal]

Ok let me try a refresh then I will run the SFC again and see if there were any changes.

 

[darkbreeze]

If you run a refresh, you will lose all your installed applications, settings and saved files. Be sure to back up anything that cannot be replaced before you do this. In order to save the OS as is, with the exception of damaged OS files, try a restore or repair instead. Refresh and reset both reinstall the OS and wipe the existing partition.

What is your OS version?

 

[TomDyal]

I was at windows 8.1 I just refreshed. Don't worry I didn't lose anything important. But I did just finish running the sfc scan and it said my computer was fine. (BTW this is a new account for some reason I couldn't get into my old one)

 

[USAFRet]

Every new laptop I've run across in the last few years has been virtually unusable out of the box.
Far too much preinstalled crapware. Last month, a friends brand new Toshiba (1 day old), was so choked up with crapware the best, fastest way ahead was a full wipe and reinstall of the OS. Not the factory recovery, but a clean OS install.

After that, it was just fine.

 

[TomDyal]

Maybe I should just do a full wipe of the OS... Will that get rid of all the crapware that it auto installs?

But when I do a full wipe, will it ask for a disc or something? Because I don't have it. I only have the windows product key.

 

[USAFRet]

Maybe I should just do a full wipe of the OS... Will that get rid of all the crapware that it auto installs?

IF you have the proper install media, yes. It will not auto install anything.
You also need to find installs for all your software, and drivers for the hardware.

If you rely on the Lenovo Recovery set, then it will reinstall all that crapware.

Alternately, you go through the whole thing and completely uninstall whatever junk it comes with. Probably take longer, though.

 

[darkbreeze]

Plus, once it's on there, it's almost guaranteed to leave crap behind even if you uninstall unless you manually go through the registry removing everything related, in which case you run the risk of creating trouble if you are unfamiliar with registry editing.

The best bet is to clean install.

The bright side to this is that since you have a legitimate version of windows, you can easily do a clean installation whether you have media or not.

You can use the following tool to recover your product key, if you don't know it or in the case that it's even necessary as many laptops simply have it tied to the BIOS these days or the Microsoft account you originally registered your unit using. It's simply easier to use this to find your key if it's not printed somewhere:

https/www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/


And then use this to download and create installation media specific to your needs. And no worries, this is a Microsoft tool (100% Microsoft created and approved.) and will allow you to create either installable disk media or USB media, as you prefer:

http/windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media


After completion, perform a clean install as per these instructions:

http/www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2299-clean-install-windows-8-a.html

 

[USAFRet]

And then use this to download and create installation media specific to your needs. And no worries, this is a Microsoft tool (100% Microsoft created and approved.) and will allow you to create either installable disk media or USB media, as you prefer:

http/windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

I've not had to try it, but apparently that does not work with an OEM license. Must be a Retail license.
OEM, they refer you back to the manufacturer.