13.3" Samsung NP900X3C with Ivy Bridge CPU

I've been having a lot of issues in the last few months indeed. I followed the advice here and uninstalled the Intel drivers repeatedly until I was left with the Windows 8 driver. After that I definitely had much fewer issues connecting to my WiFi. However, after uninstalling the Intel WiFi driver I couldn't use WiDi anymore, it said it required the Intel driver.

A couple of days ago I noticed Intel has newer WiFi and WiDi drivers so I installed that, hoping that they would improve stability. Long story short, nope. As soon as I installed the Intel WiFi driver, I couldn't ping my router when I got on my home WiFi, unless I toggled airplane mode (or disconnect/reconnect). This was quit repeatable after every reboot.

So I uninstalled the device again with the option to remove the driver but I did NOT uninstall it in Add/Remove Programs. I only removed the device repeatedly in Device Manager until I was left with the Windows Driver. Now WiDi still works, but with the Windows 8 driver I don't have any connection issues.

 

Has anyone ever ran xp x64 on the NP900X3C?

I'm using the drivers from this model for NP900X3E but can't get FN keys for brightness, keyboard backlight & WiFi working. Easy Display Managers systemsetting.exe quits with "DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED" w/o mentioning what driver. According to device manager all devices are working properly.

 

You could try the XP or Vista Easy Display Manager from such as released for the R20 (select the software page) or for the N140 netbook.

That should fix the Fn keys, possibly the WiFi but is unlikely to support the backlit keyboard.

John

 

Anybody have problem with the dimmer on the NP900X3C ?
at low light conditions the keyboard starts to show light but the screen doesnt dim the light down.
of course I have set the dimmer on in both battery and power plug already in the setting. but still have problem.
the sensor is working since the keyboard get light.
I treyed already to updated and reinstall the graphic drivers and the chipset without success...
any suggestion?

 

That could be adaptive brightness at work, or not working in your case. See this thread for where the settings are.

John

 

it didnt solved the problem that topic too.... just doesnt work.

 

We did have one other case (see here) where a member couldn't get Adaptive Brightness enabled (whereas most members can't get rid of it fast enough).

In that case, the member had disabled UEFI and installed Win7 on a unit originally delivered with Win8/UEFI. This prevented him from changing the Adaptive Brightness BIOS setting, because he could no longer access the UEFI firmware settings feature.

This may not be the problem in your case at all (in fact we never got definite proof proof in that other case either). But I would study that discussion for other advice that might help.

Please keep us posted. There are clearly still unexplained mysteries about this feature.

 

What is the latest version of BIOS on NP900X3C?

I only have Ubuntu on this machine and I am not able to check for BIOS updates anymore.

 

Hello everyone - great to see such a helpful and extensive forum for NP900X3C owners!

I would like to explore possibilities to replace the US keyboard in my NP900X3c with a German layout keyboard.

Does anyone have experience with such an operation or can tell me any specific information which might help?

Given the unibody layout of the laptop, I think a keyboard switch may be very difficult (or impossible?), particularly given the different physical layouts of German and US keyboards (i.e. the enter key being a different shape and an extra key next to left shift).

Any help or information on this would be very much appreciated (dont worry about possibilities WHERE to get a replacement keyboard, as the operation would be more likely to swap keyboards from two laptops)

Thanks
macmatt43

 

If your BIOS ends in AAC or ABK then the newest in those series are P06AAC and P08ABK (info from the X4C which, I think, uses the same BIOS family).

The swap is very difficult: The keyboard is an integral part of a complete keyboard / keyboard surround / palmrest / touchpad unit (called the top housing unit). Changing that part involves complete dismantling of the computer.

John

 

Thanks John, that is helpful to know. Two further questions on this:

1) Would you know anywhere on the web that has a service manual / instructions how to dismantle the NP900X3c?

2) Do you think keyboards can be swapped between an NP900X3 C and NP900X3 E? Or are there differences in specs or size or incompatibility when swapping US keyboard for Germany keyboard?

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks
macmatt43

 

SamsungParts.com has service manuals for most models, such as this one.

As for your other question, John is definitely your guy. I know he is travelling today, just give it a little time.

 

The answer to that may also be at SamsungParts.com. Do the upper housing units for the US X3C and X3E share the same part number? However, even if the part numbers are different there would need to be careful side-by-side comparison to determine any incompatibility. The X3B upper housing should be the same as the X3C (there was just a board swap for the Ivy Bridge update) which adds another possibility.

John

 

Thanks John, much appreciated.

Funnily, the BOTTOM housing unit for X3C and X3E has the same part number on samsungparts.com but the TOP housing unit does not. Given, the above fact and identical chassis specs in both models, however, there is still a good chance I think the top housing units are also exchangeable.

Unfortunately, samsungparts has massive shipping charges for service manuals across the Atlantic (they want to ship USB stick rather than let me download PDF!?) so I only got hold of a brief and dodgy "service manual" from nodevice.com. Do official service manuals by Samsung even exist for these laptops and/or can anyone share dismantling instructions?

Thanks
Matt

 

@macmatt
just curious, what's the point in getting a German keyboard? I have been using Japanese and US keyboards to write German (including Umlauts, of course) and you can tweak a few things with remapping programs. Is it really important to you what is written onto the keys? If you have a really bad memory, you can assign a jpg of a German layout to a shortcut (e.g. win-...) and have it pop up when needed. It's also easy to remember the signs on German keyboards:
1 and ! look alike;
2 and " -> two strokes
then remember "§3 is a 4$ fine"
5%-> 5%-Hürde (hurdle in German elections)
6 can be found within &
7 and / both have a square stroke
) can be found in 9
it follows 8 must be (
and it all sums up to nothing... = 0....

 

Hi Matthias,

Thanks for the info and for the "donkey bridges" ;-)

I am not thinking about buying a separate new keyboard, just swapping keyboards from two laptops. This is mainly because my girlfriend (German teacher) would prefer typing on a German layout on her NP900X3C-A01US, as she has done on her old laptop, while I would prefer to have a US layout on my NP900X3E-A06DE, as I am used to US keyboards from work. And I thought if there is an easy/medium hard way to do it, I might as well get the screwdriver out and fill a Saturday afternoon with some technical fun...

 

<off topic>
That's amusing, teachers too inflexible to memorize keyboard layout eselsbruecken, and boyfriends coming to the rescue sacrificing their weekend... (No offense, being offspring of a teacher family myself...) </off topic>

 

I have seen online stores which listed the same part number for both X3C & X3E. I'd double check this prior to purchase though.

there you go:

 

Just FYI, for me upgrading to the P06AAC BIOS (on NP900X3C) disabled the ability to wake from hibernate/IRST just by opening the lid.

 

I recently purchased a new NP900X3C-A04US. i7, 256 GB Samsung SSD. It is a much nicer machine than my previous MBA in almost every way. But I'm just having one small problem.
It takes 8 seconds for it to wake up when I open the lid as opposed to the advertised 1.5 or 2 seconds. It came with BIOS P06AAC. I have Windows up to date and in running I ran SW Update all drivers are up to date. I went to the web and downloaded and installed Intel Rapid Start Technology 2.1.0.1002. AHCI is set in BIOS to Automatic, which with Windows 7 apparently means it defaults to AHCI. In Easy Settings Boot Management I have Samsung Fast * set for all 3 items.
I've read the vast majority of posts over the last few weeks before making my purchase and setting it up and I know I've read some stuff about this but I don't recall what I should try to make it wake up within 2 seconds.
Please advise.

Update: I am thrilled to say that I've discovered the solution - strange as it may be. I went into the Settings of the Intel Rapid Start Technology Manager and noted that I had all 3 items set to on, with the timer set to zero, so in theory, this means that it becomes active immediately. For kicks, I set the timer to off, realizing that should do the same thing. When I did that (I may have also exited after that before seeing the following) I noticed the notification in the tray that IRST was active, or something like that. I didn't remember seeing that notification prior to that. From that point on, it works like a charm.

Back to my opinions about my MBA vs this New Series 9, when I got the 2nd gen MBA years ago it was nothing short of incredible of course. But my intention from the start was to dual boot with Windows 7 Pro. But the problem was that the drivers for the touchpad were always horrible for Boot Camp/Windows 7, whereas there was nothing on the market comparable to the touchpad when browsing in the Mac OS. I booted to Mac OS just to browse the Internet. But then went back to W7 if I needed to do real work.

Now, the form factor/weight/professionalism of the New Series 9 blows away the MBA and the touchpad is very nearly just as good. So close to being just as good that the difference is barely noticeable and not worth worrying about. I've always despised using a touchpad on any of my laptops (high end Lenovo, HP and Dell workstations) but now it's not a bother at all with a nice touchpad.

Thanks to all that have contributed to this forum and of course especially to John, it was a huge help in making me decide to buy this unit as opposed to the new Ativ 9 Plus that is on its way, and to understand technical issues.

BTW, the only thing I don't care for too much on this machine is the keyboard and part of this is because my main machine is a Thinkpad and part of the reason is the short travel that can't be avoided. But it is a shame that they've not fixed the loose key feel - in particular with the spacebar as everyone has complained about. The big problem - and it isn't huge but it is noticeable, is that the keys are not preloaded with spring pressure all the way to the top. So the keys float loosely at the very top position. The spacebar is much looser than the rest in fact. But this is this machine's worst problem and for me it is one that I can easily live with for all of its other benefits.

Update: One last thing, I did just test this once more by turning the timer back on and set to zero in the Rapid Start Technology Manager and this in fact does definitely make it take 8 seconds to wake up instead of 1 or 1.5 seconds with the timer set to off.

 

You could try fiddling around with the steps mentioned in this thread, disable IRST and re-enable it based on the command lines from Intel's PDF of it.

The steps I remember doing were installing the latest app, (ignoring the message that my computer wasn't compatible), removing windows hibernation partition, rebooting, and then using the command line instructions from the PDF to create the hibernation partition. If your drive is set up as GPT, then you should follow this PDF instead.

Many of the steps in John's guide didn't apply to me for some reason, but it's a good reference point. Hope this helps!

 

IRSTRT is now at version 3 and fixes most of the configuration issues I had nearly 18 months ago.

When the IRSTRT time is at zero then it's straight to hibernation on the SSD (but note that the 8 seconds gets you back to where you were, not just booting to a Windows welcome screen). At any other timing then the computer is sleeping until the time to hibernate is reached. This comes at the penalty of using about 1%/hour if running on battery. The transition from sleep to hibernation is invisible because the RAM contents have already been written to the SSD and the RAM just gets powered down.

John

 

For the 7 months that I have owned the Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C browsing the web with either Chrome or Firefox with multiple tabs I always encountered stuttering and lag scrolling through webpages (tech sites like The Verge, Cnet, Anandtech, etc) with the CPU usage less than 25% and the Memory hovering around 60-70%. I always thought it was due to the power setting I have set (balanced) but it doesn't seem to make a difference what power settings I have enabled. Perhaps the high resolution of the screen has something to do with the performance? Although, by comparison my work laptop an HP Elitebook Folio 9470m has comparable specs (4GB of RAM, 180GB Intel SSD, and a Core i5 3427U) albeit with a 1366 x 768 resolution screen runs very well with no lag or stutter no matter how many tabs and browsers I have opened even with two 20" monitor connected to my work laptop on a balanced power setting. Any ideas?

 

Same thing occurs with my x3e telim. It seems like the ultrabook processors are just not as capable.

 

Have you got the Sandisk U100 SSD? This http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...100-frequently-no-reason-cripples-system.html may be an extreme example of this problem. Even though you haven't filled all the RAM, Windows may still be using the page file. One way to see is to open up Task Manager and go to the Details tab. Then ruight click on the column headers and select "Select Columns" then select "Page Faults". Then watch the page faults score for your web browser. The count for my Firefox is currently at 273 million and that's with only just over 4GB of the 8GB RAM being used (with at least 50 tabs open my Firefox is using 1.3GB). If, as usually happens, Windows is trying to write something to the page file at the same time as reading something else then the U100 may be temporarily choking.

I doubt the CPU is the problem - they are fast as a normal voltage CPU of a few years ago. However, what SSD is in your X3E?

Also, some time back we found that one of the Samsung software packages (either Support Center or Help Desk was causing Chrome to lag badly). Make sure you haven't got those two installed. Also, IntelliMemory seems to do more harm than good with an SSD.

John

 

My x3e came with the lite-on ssd. Its plenty fast, but having multiple 1080p youtube tabs open or browsing tumblr pages with gifs is just not a pleasant experience on an ultrabook. This isnt a problem on my acer timelinex 5830tg with and ssd.

 

1. Does the Acer have more than 4GB RAM?

2. It may be interesting to look at the Page Fault count as suggesting in my previous post. Although the Liteon is a good performing SSD, if Windows keeps dumping parts of your browser software to the page file then there will be delays in access.

John

 

Thanks John. Yes, I do have the Sandisk U100 SSD. I will have to give your suggestion a try and see if that is the case for my X3C. I'm guessing the only way to fix the problem if it does exist is with a different mSATA SSD?

 

Another issue with slow web browser performance is the amount of unwanted junk running in the background.

I use the FlashBlock and AdBlock Plus add-ons for Firefox plus a Custom Hosts file to reduce this.

John

 

I must say, I am also experiencing noticeable lag when browsing the net with chrome. Not just with navigating web pages, but also when typing an email or typing a web address. The letters do not appear instantly. I have the np900x3c. This is really frustrating for such an expensive laptop and it makes me want to go with something like the macbook air instead, but that could have its own set of problems.

 

Sounds like a typical chrome problem to me. Have you tried another browser?

 

Might be related to go45cvi:

My laptop is very unresponsive at times. Usually when i download something. I cannot even play videofiles without stuttering.
I noticed that the disk "Hightest active time" is very high (70-100%) at these times. From what i´ve read this is very unusual, and for a SSD should simply not be.
I read that disable using harddrive when computer run out of ram should fix this, but didnt fix it for me.
Before i had win 8 installed and the problem was even more serious. I didnt use to have this problem when i bought the laptop a year ago...
Model: NP900X3C

 

The problem seems to be the crap SSD installed in these. I have heard much improved performances replacing with large and better Crucial drives even Samsung drives.

 

The SSD is the prime suspect. However, the problem is exacerbated if IntelliMemory is installed, so if it is running then uninstall it because it causes additional disk activity because, by using spare RAM it increases the use of the swap file on the SSD.

An SSD upgrade should help. See here and here.

Something else to check is that you have not enabled Silent Mode or Eco Mode. Both of these lock the CPU down to minimum speed.

John

 

Hi,
I have problem with touchpad in my NP900X3C (win 8). I saw that lots of people are having problem with it, but not like mine (or at least I didn't find anyone who has it).
Few times a week, sometimes more often; cursor suddenly starts to stutter for 1s (jumping from 1 place to another when I move it) then it freezes. Everything else is still working great, I can change windows (Alt+tab) and everything what was opened works smoothly, but cursor is not moving. When I close the lid (laptop will hibernate) and open again the cursor is gone (so I still can't move it obviously). One thing that works is restart. After this cursor is ok.

I don't know if its drivers fault (I have version 11.7.10.4 ) or laptop, or windows or something else. Somebody had similar issue? Or read about it?
I would be appreciate if somebody will help me.

 

Try a newer driver. I'm also running 11.7.10.4 on my X4C and it's 99% reliable. If you use SW Update to rummage through the downloads for the various recent models you should be able to find something newer. Installing it may clear your problem.

John

 

My girlfriend copied me and bought herself a series 9 (X3B) second hand and it exhibits this problem too. I spent a while messing about with drivers, but the actual problem lies with her power adapter. When it is on battery the cursor is fine and when it is plugged in its stutters across the screen. It must be an early power pack issue, as when it is plugged in to my power pack it is fine. Not 100% your problem, but worth testing on battery power to see if you notice a difference.

 

Last time it happened, laptop was on battery :/

 

So I've been lurking around this thread for since I first got my Series 9 x3c(-A05) around the beginning of spring this year. I really like this laptop but it's been giving me many issues. I've gotten the standard wifi connectivity problems, the unresponsive touch-pad problems but I've gotten a dead pixel line on my screen and I feel as if I've even gotten a faulty CPU or GPU. My windows experience index is

Processor: 6.9
RAM: 5.9
Graphics: 4.5 (!!!!) This should be 6.4 like all other S9 x3c models.
Gaming Graphics: 6.1
Primary hard disk: 7.5

Why is that everyone else's Graphics is up in the 6.4s when mine is 4.5? Aside from that I've been getting extreme choppiness in video and audio playback (scrolling too but it's less of an issue) even when I only have 2-3 tabs open in chrome and nothing else. My CPU usage isn't even 100% with only 3 tabs open. The choppiness issue only happened when I first got the laptop and drivers were not updated. When I updated all the drivers, everything was mostly running smoothly, no choppiness or static-y noises when CPU was heavily used. But I recently had to my ship my laptop back to the manufacturer to fix the dead pixel line and when I received it again, the choppiness was back. My settings haven't changed for I'm using high performance on everything. I don't have eco-friendly turned on, I uninstalled intellimemory. I'm debating reformatting my computer just because of this issue but it seems like such a hassle to back everything up and reinstalling everything. Does anybody have this issue as well?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

My graphics is also 4,5 - I have exactly the same numbers (only 7,4 on disk, not 7,5), but I didn't experienced any problems with it.

 

You have excluded the Silent mode and Eco mode which cripple all the performance (but note that high performance is still slower when running on battery) so I wonder if it is a graphics driver problem.

If you are using the newest driver offered by Samsung then you can try using the Intel driver update facility. Installing a newer driver might clear any configuration problems.

Is the choppiness only when playing through a web browser or does it occur with other video playback such as Windows media player?

John

 

All the drivers are up-to-date and silent mode & eco mode are not turned on. The choppiness applies to everything, not just video playback in web browsers. I think I will just reformat my computer when I have time. This choppiness is too frequent. I've been avoiding video and audio playback because of this.

 

This thread may also be relevant and I'm sure that there's discussion somewhere which identified that one of the Samsung software packages such as Easy Support Center caused some unwanted side-effects. It may be worthwhile going through the Programs and Features list in Control Panel and uninstalling anything you don't use.

John

 

Hello. I just have a really quick question. Sorry for not browsing 220 pages to get the answer, it's just too much Is the laptop any good? Any defects, reoccuring issues? I plan to buy an ultrabook as a portable office, costumer support, and want a good value for money. I was considering getting this or yoga 13, or xps 13. Any ideas?

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

There are no recurring hardware defects. The fixed 4GB RAM might be a limitation (depending on usage) while much of the 2012 production of this model shipped with the poorly performing 128GB Sandisk U100 SSD (which is best swapped out for another model with higher capacity). The WiFi is also sub-par due to a weak signal because of the antennae location along the back of the chassis (no room in the very thin metal-backed display).

At the right price the X3C is still a good choice although, on paper, it is superseded by the X3E and X3F (which have higher resolution displays) and the new NP940X3G (even higher resolution display but also fatter and heavier).

John

 

Nothing major, but a couple of things I'd nevertheless classify as recurring hardware issues:
- Sometimes the body goes a bit creaky due to the small screws on the back going loose. You can tighten the screws to fix that. At least one person said to glue them, I didn't since I want to be able to get at the SSD.
- A few people (myself included) have reported that some sounds (e.g. Windows chime) are occasionally accompanied by a loud high pitched noise. This happens rarely and I really don't know, why, it could be a software issue, I'm not really sure.
- Some people have reported their touchpads not working properly. I haven't had any issues with my touchpad, although it does go wonky when I have my eBay power adapter plugged in - but to fix that I can rest my palm on the body to ground myself. Not an issue with the Samsung power adapter and generally speaking the touchpad has been fantastic for me, after changing some of the options.

None of these things is a deal breaker.

 

Hello
Can someone please explain me this:
- 6 Zellen Li-Poly Akku (3610mAh); Laufzeit bis zu 10h
- 4 Zellen Li-Polymer Akku (5880mAh); Laufzeit bis zu 7h
This is from Amazon.de but i think you dont need translation.

 

One is a 6 cell battery which can deliver 3610 milliamp-hours of current. The other is 4 cell which delivers 5880 milliamp-hours of current. However, to calculate the actual capacity you need to know the voltage (Watt-hours = Amp-hours x Volts. Lithium cells are nominally around 3.7 volts although the fully-charged voltage can be around 4 volts.

The voltage will depend on how the cells are connected: I would guess the 6 cell with the lower current has a higher voltage (eg 11.1 to 12 volts) while the 4 cell is 7.4 to 8 volts.

In fact, the label on the replacement battery for my X3B (which is the X3C battery) says: 7.5V ~ 44Whr (5880mAh) while the label on the original X3B battery said 11.1V ~ 40Whr (no current indicated) but 11.1V *3.610mAh = 40.07Whr.

I therefore assume you are comparing two possible batteries for the X3B (or perhaps the X3C since they are inter-changeable in spite of the different voltage). The 4 cell has about 10% more capacity. Ignore the hours ratings - they depend on specific hardware and usage conditions.

John

 

Here it is
- 6 Zellen Li-Poly Akku (3610mAh); Laufzeit bis zu 10h, is:NP900X3C-A02
and
4 Zellen Li-Polymer Akku (5880mAh); Laufzeit bis zu 7h , is:NP900X3C-A06

but is it possible that battery with less mAh and more Cells last longer or same time like battery with 4 cell and more mAh.
Thanks

 

The 3610mAh battery is probably the same as used in the X3B. Some of us had problems with relatively fast wear (perhaps a bad batch). When I sent in my X3B to have the battery replaced it came back with the 5880mAh battery because the 3610mAh battery had been discontinued.

It is possible that the X3C-A02 was originally shipped with the same battery as the X3B but I would expect more recent production to use the 4 cell battery. The unknown is how long the X3C-A02 has been sitting on the shelf since production. The other feature of older production is the higher probability of having the Sandisk U100 SSD.

John