5 am, time to head to bed.... Damn I forgot how frustrating setting up a new machine can be.

First thing trying to create a recovery usb stick, failed 3 times with a general error, no details. First tried a different usb port, then when it failed at the same percentage twice I tried a different usb stick. That worked, that cost 3 hours. I can't find anything wrong with the first usb stick (brand new) passes all tests, filled all 32 GB up and checked all files, no problems, just fails at 92% when trying to create a recovery drive. One of those things.

Second, I started with my ms account, so win 10 used that as my user name for file structures ugh. So I made a new user, deleted the old one, restarted and it just hung there forever. I looked online for solutions, then live chat with ms support (didn't have to wait long, very very helpful person!) Crash force rebooted the laptop 4 times, the ran a full recovery diagnostic followed by installing the windows 10 update manually. After all that some more updating, restarting and some more updating and restarting, then removing all the crap left behind from updating, 28 GB of left overs on the 256 gb SSD, wasteful! The clean up process hung again but was easily redone and I manually cleaned up the rest.

Next mapping all the system folders (Desktop, Documents, Pictures etc) one by one to the data drive. I don't want my data on the SSD, that's for games! Copying all my files over at least didn't take that long with usb 3.0. I didn't bother trying to get win 10 to communicate with win 8.1, simply used a usb stick.

Then getting rid of the useless stuff like Norton free trial, Office trial, Acer collection etc etc. So much crap.

Next installing firefox, which was already on the machine (a critically outdated version) which then ofcourse failed and I got left with 2 Firefox installs. Removed all of the crap again and installed it directly from the web. It took a while to figure out how to synch all the settings from my other laptop, worked!

Next the headache with font sizes. Display scaling is UGLY, without display scaling, text is miniscule. Setting font size to 125% only works in some places. After half an hour I gave up. The text in system dialogs like device manager is barely readable, oh well don't need it that often. At least pinch to zoom works in firefox and firefox is smart enough to use bigger fonts instead of ugly scaling.

Then scratching my head how to update nvidea drivers. Why is that not in the nvidea control panel or I just could not find it. It was possible through the device manager, just couldn't find it initially cause the font is only 6 pixels high... Updated the geforce experience stuff as well.

Finally time to install Steam! No problems there. I installed Ori and the blind forest as a first test. Hmm why does my gpu show as idle. Whatever I tried, forcing it to get used through the nvidea panel etc, the predatorsense software would have none of it. Discreet gpu idle. It did show up in the task manager. Online it seemed to be a common problem with many non solutions. Just more confusion. After disabling fast reboot and another restart it worked!

Meanwhile I signed up for xbox gamepass (1 dollar for the first month) and started the download of Forza Horizon 4 :) (still downloading 44%) It could have been further by now, I didn't know it doesn't automatically resume after a restart doh.

So try some Ori and the blind forest with a DS4. Triggers don't work, butons all scrambled argh. More endless support pages with tons of (old) different solutions and more problems. Finally downloading DS4Windows fixed the problem. It looks amazing on the 144hz ips panel!

I desperately need some sleep now, just have to make sure the laptop doesn't go to sleep and keeps downloading Forza!

Man tell me about it.

I spent 3 hours trying to work out why my Logitech camera working without slow downs in 1080p. Turns out Microsoft part of their 10th anniversary patch did something weird with h264 within webcams. It would work in the Logitech capture app but not my streaming app. Then a last desperation i decided to install the windows 7 software lol. Like magic it works haha.

Second issue my bloody old Monitor Samsung BX2450 for some reason the brightness was low and shit on hdmi. So when i went into the settings it would not let me change them. The option was greyed out. In the end i reinstalled the onboard video drivers, the rtx nvidia drivers and then the samsung driver lol. Wasn't working. After a few reboots and enable disable driver it started working lol

Forza Horizon 4 starts, however the menus are very glitchy, not responding to mouse clicks and it either doesn't recognize the ds4 at all or things get very glitchy with ds4windows, can't steer just make the view and brake likes flicker. Off to google again. It looks pretty, why can't things just work!

Selecting hide DS4 fixed the mouse input, yet now the DS4 is not recognized at all anymore. Unhiding it, it's still gone, grrr.

Anyone have any clue how to fix this, no controller in Ori anymore either.


I'm currently working with MS support live chat again. Windows will only use the DS4 as an audio device now. I'm beginning to think I'm not suited to PC gaming :/ Played all off 10 minutes out of 16 hours of trying to get things to work lol. Damn FH4 looks pretty, can't drive through.

I have a Dell Inspiron 7577 (I think they're called G something now). It's pretty powerful for a laptop, but the battery life and drivers are garbage. It's been a year since I bought it, and the battery health is almost 50%. In hindsight, I probably would've preferred a light, thin laptop, rather than this brick :S

I got a ASUS ROG Zephyrus S with 1070 max Q and I'm loving it, I don't care much about battery time and noise (because its fans are fan-wait for it-tastic)

Live chat has turned into quick assist and has taken over my laptop for now while re-installing windows after finding corrupted drivers. It's going well lol.

I did get to see the fans working at full speed during the FH4 intro, that thing has some serious air flow, rivaling the ps4 in fan noise. It was a good idea to elevate the back a bit to make it easier to suck in fresh air

I hope the re-install doesn't remove FH4 as I can't afford to download that 70 GB again. $3 per GB overage and I must be getting low by now.

Finding the right online vendor can get you around the sales tax problem, in most states.  It makes a real difference when you're talking about a couple grand.  Make sure to keep it in mind when shopping around.  

I already bought it, has been quite the nightmare the past 24 hours. However windows is reinstalled, programs are still there, and I'm back to my original problem. DS4 is not working correctly with Ori and not at all with FH4. The only 2 games I have tried so far. At least windows is recognizing it as a controller again instead of just an audio device.

It might be a lot easier to pick up a refurbished xbox one controller. MS clearly does not like the DS4 lol.

Yep, that's the only solution without risking breaking windows again. MS Support tried different drivers in a different remote assist app then send me off to Sony support to get better drivers from them. Sony support had me test PS4 remote play, then apologized that they can't guarantee their products working with windows correctly outside of remote play. XBox controller it is then. That should save a lot of headaches in the long run. It's a struggle every time getting a DS4 to work with games, although never as bad before as corrupting drivers needing a re-install. Beware before following online help.

20 years later, windows is still plug 'n pray! I can't say which customer support is better. Sony was a bit faster to answer, MS tried for hours to get the problem resolved, even going to sony support sites to look up the model of the controller I'm using.

Anyway do not follow advice from this thread :/
https://forums.forzamotorsport.net/turn10_postst131792_-INVESTIGATING--DS4-controller-not-working.aspx

Success! I picked up a wired 360 controller, works flawlessly. Should have done that in the first place.

The benchmark test looks pretty promising as well. Good time ahead.

Sucks your having issue's with the DS4, but I can't help but laugh at the irony of you basically having to buy into XB in some manner to game. lol. At least it's just a controller. This is a great example of why so many people buy consoles. Many couldn't or just wouldn't go to the hassle you have and would just go to the store, buy the cheapest laptop possible for their computing needs, have the stores tech support transfer everything over, and also buy a console/hybrid. Way less headaches all around. They just wouldn't end up with the all in one solution you will have when you've got everything functioning properly. The more complex you make something, the more kinks your going to have to work out. That's just life. Gotta fight the little battles to win the war. Seems like the sea's are starting to settle a bit for you though.