Samsung RF511 - problems with upgrade to Windows 10

[br1anst0rm]

I have a Samsung RF511 notebook.  I have just done an in-place upgrade from the OEM Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 10 Home.  This preserves the existing apps and settings.

I have encountered a few problems, and wonder if others who might have similarly upgraded have had similar experience and found solutions.

1. boot-up is slower under Win10 than Win7.  I am trying various ways of speeding it up, but any suggestions would be welcome;
2. it will not make a wifi connection.  I know my internet and router are working well.  But with Win10 now installed, it simply says "cannot connect", and the Win10 wifi troubleshooter says there is a problem but offers no diagnosis.  The adapter is a Broadcom 802.11n and the driver is apparently working properly.  Any solutions?
3. the Synaptics Touchpad will not scroll in certain Win10 apps, notably the important ones of Start Menu and Settings.  This is apparently because those two apps are now - in Win 10 - redesigned using Microsoft UWP (a new software architecture).  Any ideas on how to get the touchpad to work properly with this software?  Is a newer driver one option, and if so, which version?

Any helpful advice would be welcome.

[antikythera]

Boot speed will reduce as and when W10 gets a chance to build the fastboot cache.

Broadcom adaptors are picky at the best of times, even if the adaptor is recognised it doesn't mean the generic driver power management is suitable for your Samsung notebook's adaptor.

The ultimate way to speed up your laptop would be a clean install of W10 to an SSD instead of the mechanical drive if you are still using one. Preserving existing settings from W7 isn't really wise anyhow. Yes it may be a pain reinstalling the programs but it really is the better way to upgrade an old machine. Either that or install Linux Mint or Kubuntu.

The touchpad won't be supported by anything other than the generic one supplied by Microsoft. You can't download a newer Synaptic driver from a different laptop model. Loss of certain functions when migrating from W7 to W10 on hardware that old is to be expected. You may need to get a USB wireless adaptor

[br1anst0rm]

Hello Antikythera!  A name I recognise from the Linux Mint forums where I'm a regular....

Thanks for your comments.  Maybe i need to provide a bit more background.  The Samsung RF511 laptop is my main but not only computer.  It is dual boot Windows/Mint - managed using EasyBCD within Windows, which keeps the Win MBR bootloader and Grub separate.

I went for an in-place upgrade from Win7 to Win10 partly because of that setup, and also because I had various apps and settings in Win7 and didn't want to have to re-install everything.  So I was ready for at least a few glitches once Win10 was in place.

On all three issues, there has been progress (after a fashion).  On slow boot-up, I have indeed noticed that it's getting quicker.  You have just explained why - which is useful.

On the wifi/Broadcom issue, it seems unpredictable.  There are forum posts across the internet and YouTube videos saying that Win10 does not play nicely with the OEM Broadcom wifi adapter installed in Samsung (and other?) laptops, and that it's not just a driver-update issue, but that the solution is to physically replace it with an alternative adapter like the Intel 7260.  That may be so.  But - strangely - after two days of steadfast refusal to connect, today with the same hardware, drivers etc,  the wifi connection was instant, solid and secure!  Tomorrow, who knows?  I don't really want to rely on an external USB wifi dongle.

Third, the Synaptics touchpad scrolling problem seems to be sorted.  The explanation is that the scrolling (with original Synaptics driver) did not work on those Win10 apps which have been redesigned using what's called UWP architecture.  They include the Startup menu, the Settings pages, and the Microsoft Store app.   I hunted for alternative drivers and found a more recent Synaptics driver 19.2.17.59 which is listed as correct for the particular touchpad in this Samsung laptop.  It now enables the touchpad scrolling to work perfectly in all apps.  The odd thing is that the driver details label it as a "Dell Touchpad"now.

Looking at the broader picture, I could have opted to wipe the drive and do a clean install of Win10 and a re-install of Mint.  But - with the dual boot setup, quite a few apps and settings, and a separate Data partition on the 750 GB HDD as well, that would be a massive task.  And if I were to be that radical, then replacing the HDD with an SSD would make sense.  But if I'm to go that far, I might as well shift my entire computer contents on to another machine (I have a Lenovo T430, also dual boot Win10 and LMDE, which is a joy to use.....).  Right now, I would like to keep this Samsung RF511 going, if I can make it work reasonably and reliably under Win10 as well as with Mint (which is already installed and works well).

[br1anst0rm]

A quick follow-up - also about keeping the RF511 up to date.  The upgrade from Win7 to Win10 was necessary because Win7 is at end-of-life.

The Samsung Support software program originally installed on the RF511 does not work under Win10.  I have checked the Samsung website support pages to see where and how to download updated drivers.  The downloads list appears only to offer the apps, drivers and manuals as originally installed back in 2011/12.

I found an alternative suggestion:  to download and install "Samsung Update" from the Microsoft Store.  However almost all the reviews in the Store say that this app is useless, won't install, doesn't work and in one or two cases has crashed the computer.  This isn't exactly a glowing recommendation!

 Any comments on where and how to get driver updates for the RF511 reliably and safely would be welcome.