CF-31 Windows Experience Index with ATI Graphics

When I tried to run the Windows Experience Index on my CF-31ACNAA1M, with graphics on Performance Mode, I kept getting a BSOD. To rule out the possibility that something was wrong with the "new open box" Crucial SSD I got on eBay, I took that same drive and put it into a CF-31 MK1 without the ATI graphics and the assessment ran fine. Then I put the HDD back into my CF-31 with the ATI Graphics, but I set the graphics mode in BIOS to Selectable. This resulted in the assessment running successfully. That ATI Graphics card is a major boost to the score, your lowest score jumps from 3.9 on the Intel card to 5.4 when the ATI card is running!

If I had to guess, it seems that trying to run the test with the graphics set to Performance Mode must be too big a load for the processor to handle, which likely caused the BSOD. Those of you with much more knowledge of PC hardware than I, though, should definitely chime in on this one...

 

Hi gn7p71,

Two things 1) it's a driver issue, uninstall ATI (AMD) video drivers ,reboot, reinstall try again. (most likely)
2) it's a H/W issue (graphics chip overheating). Check PC Info viewer status for temps, or try something like HW monitor to read temps.

What code are you getting on blue screen? Check under Control Panel ->Perf Info and tools->Advanced tools see whats listed for the BSODs.

How long have you had this machine?, did you clone or do a clean install to the SSD, did you run the WEI from the HDD, and did it complete?

If you have had the machine and the issue began with the SSD (more likely with a clone) you'll probably need to do a clean install to clear things up.

Hope this helps.

 

Great tips

Here is a very helpful article.

How to clone HDD to SSD with Windows 7′s own software
http://www.ssdfreaks.com/content/664/how-to-clone-hdd-to-ssd-with-windows-7s-own-software

 

Yup... The Les Tokar Guide to SSDs says you shouldn't ever clone your HDD to your new SSD. Your performance will start to degrade soon and you can have a host of issues.

With that said.... When I loaded W7 onto the SSD in my CF-31... I had/have the same issue.

 

The original recovery disks are for a HDD not SSD, so we're left with a decision.
Reinstall from scratch or use the OEM recovery disk and tweak it for SSD afterwards using the install guide in the link I posted.

I use the OEM disk and then tweak it afterwards.
The following is the critical step to take. Copied and pasted.

Now that we have the OS image on the new SSD, it is time to reattach any hard disks that were disconnected prior to the restoration. Do not connect the original OS HDD at this time. We start by resizing the OS partition to fill the SSD, have Windows rescore it and if necessary prepare the original OS HDD as an extra storage drive.

Re-attach all HDDs apart from the original OS HDD and boot into Windows.
If necessary, allow Windows to reboot once it finishes detecting the new hardware (i.e. the new SSD).
Go into the start menu, right click on “Computer” and click “Manage”.
Go into “Storage” -> “Disk Management” on the left:
Right click on the OS partition (usually ‘C:’) and click “Extend Volume” and click ‘Next’:
Leave the figures as the are, then click ‘Next’ and ‘Finish’. This will extend the partition to fill the SSD:
Bring up an elevated command prompt: Go into start -> All Programs -> Accessories, right-click on “Command Prompt”, click “Run as administrator” and click ‘Yes’.
Type the following, then press enter: winsat disk
Close the command prompt window.

What this “Winsat disk” command does is have Windows rebenchmark the OS hard disk (in this can a new SSD), so that it knows that it is an SSD and configures itself such as enabling TRIM, disabling defrag scheduling and so on.