Windows 7 Pro 64-bit erractic performance after clean install

My small scientific consulting business runs on Ubuntu except for a few legacy applications that requires Windows. I built two desktop PCs last Fall based on Intel i7-4770K processors and MSI CSM-B85M-P32 motherboards. These are dual-boot Ubuntu 14.04.2 64-bit and Win XP Pro SP3 on one and Win 7 Pro 64-bit. Both have 8 GB RAM and SSDs. XP machine runs fine, Win 7 machine has been a disappointment. I just did a clean install on a new Intel 730 series 480 GB SSD (previous brand X SSD failed). Have same problems though with garbled audio and poor performance. They seem to go together. Performance monitor sometimes runs, bot most of the time it is "Not responding". Also will not shutdown properly or complete all the updates. Have run chkdsk /f c: but no errors. Have done all the usual checks. Win 7 drivers came from CD that came with motherboard as well as what Win may have downloaded. Device manager does not show errors. Do not think it is hardware problem as operation under Ubuntu is flawless. Another factor is the VIPRE internet security, if installed, will not work. Threat Track support has recommend another version of same software, but want to get issues resolved (have Windows defender in place) before trying VIPRE again. I just got an hp dc5800 off-lease with Win 7 Pro 64-bit installed and VIPRE runs perfectly.

Where to start on troubleshooting?

Thank you,

John

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LVL 17

pjamCommented: 2015-03-06

always run: SFC /scannow to determine if you have all the correct windows files installed.
You said Device Manager showed no errors? No yellow exclamation marks, correct?

cigtoxdocAuthor Commented: 2015-03-06

Thank you for your reply. No Yellow exclamation marks in Device Manager when run in normal or Safe Mode. Only thing funny about device manager is that when run in Safe Mode there are far more HID entries than there are devices.

SFC /scannow reports, "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations."

john

LVL 20

marsiliesCommented: 2015-03-06

Try installing the latest drivers for all devices on the motherboard from the manufacturer. The ones on the CD may have been out of date, and Windows sometimes installs generic/out of date drivers that don't work well:
http://us.msi.com/support/mb/CSMB85MP32.html#down-driver

Also, try make sure the BIOS is fully updated.
http://us.msi.com/support/mb/CSMB85MP32.html#down-bios

In which order did you install the OSes on the drive? Did you try installing Windows 7 64 first and testing it, then adding Ubuntu to it?

Thank you for your help. All problems seem to have disappeared with the BIOS upgrade. Interestingly, it did not affect Ubuntu, just affected Win 7.

John

marsiliesCommented: 2015-03-07

I'm glad it worked. It is interesting how the BIOS can mess with an OS, and even a particular version (I'm guessing XP was working fine even on older BIOS firmware on the other PC).

Did you have any more questions, or are you ready to close out the question and award points?

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cigtoxdocAuthor Commented: 2015-03-18

Thank you very much for your assistance. I installed the BIOS and chipset updates and all performance problems went away. Interesting as motherboard was new within the past 6 months, and chipset is Intel. Ubuntu performance was unaffected. I have an identical PC that is Ubuntu/Win XP. XP side works fine except for USB mouse. MSI does not offer BIOS upgrades for XP.

BTW, standard approach for setting up Win/Ubuntu dual-boot is to load the Win first, make sure it is running okay, reduce the size of the NTFS partition to size needed, and then let Ubuntu load into the free space. I use 480 GB Intel SSDs to provide enough space for OS, applications software, and data files.

Ready to close out the question and award points.

john

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit erractic performance after clean install

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