15" Series 9 NP900X4D discussion

The root of the problem is the Intel WiFi driver's handling of the Intel 6235 WiFi card. Intel are aware of the problem but are slow to issue a fix. Or more accurately, they released a 15.8 driver a few weeks back which improved my WiFi performance but the driver disappeared a few days later. There are some other suggestions in this thread.

John

 

I've found this: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...4 bits*&DownloadType=Aplicaciones de software
Which one should I download? Because it offers 4 different versions, although all of them are the 15.8.0
Now I have instaled the driver 15.6.1.0 in the computer.
My Samsung has Windows 8 (I think the 64 bits versión).

 

You want the Driver Only version 15.8 for your OS. It's called Wireless_15.8.0_Ds64.exe for Win7 and Wireless_15.8.0_De64.exe for Win8.

If you currently have the full PROset driver package installed, you may want to uninstall that (Windows Programs and Features control panel) before running this update.

There are several other things you can check that may improve WiFi, as widely discussed in various threads here. When I get to a PC, I'll find some links for you. Or you can Google site:notebookreview.com/Samsung wifi issues -- that's what I do to locate these discussions.

Edit: The post linked here covers a number of the common causes of WiFi issues on Samsung laptops -- including the Power Profile Settings mentioned by Jmarly, which are important in getting good performance on battery.

 

Don't forget power management can be an issue....after all if the driver works for a limited time then drops the link there must be other factors !

 

I'm still Reading all the information you gave me and thinking what to do. I'm not a computer expert, and I'm a bit afraid of "touching" something I am not suposed to "touch"...
Just one question. In the configuration of the laptop, there's also an option to upgrade the Intel Card driver (I've added an image of this option, as it appears on my computer) For those who do not understand spanish, the second button that appears says "upgrade driver". Can I also upgrade the driver to the 15.8.0 version this way, or is it better to download it through the Intel website? Thank you all for your help.

 

I understand, no problem

In that case I suggest simply updating the driver using SW Update, that should be your safest approach. Hopefully it still offers you 15.6.1 which is fairly new.

Alternatively, download and install Wireless_15.8.0_De64.exe from Intel's download center (where you looked previously). Don't uninstall anything, just run it to update your driver. It should work.

If you see worse performance after driver updates (and a few members DID see that) use the feature in Device Manager to roll back the driver. But let's hope that won't be an issue for you.

I still recommend you change the Wireless performance setting in your Power Profile, as described in this and this post. Leave the other settings for now, just the wireless ones.

And finally, if you still have problems with WiFi performance, I suggest you consider changing you router settings to use a different channel. You may need somebody to help you with that, but it can have a big effect.

I hope you get it working well.

 

DONE! Thanks a lot for your help.
First of all, I changed the Wireless performance settings in the power profile to "maximum performance".
http://forum.notebookreview.com/att...0z5e-np870z5e-np880z5e-power-profile-wifi.png
then I updated the driver using SW Update, it told me I had the 15.6.1, that was supposed to be the last versión for my computer.
After that, I downloaded and installed the Wireless_15.8.0_De64.exe from Intel's download center.
To test if it worked, I tried again to download the upgrades of the Samsung update center that I previously couldn't download because every time I tried it the internet connection dropped. And this time I could download and install the upgrade without any problems! I've been "suffering" this problem for about 2 months now (I bought the laptop in december 2012) so I'm very happy it finally works!
I hope this thread will help others and thanks a lot to all of you who have helped me with your wisdom

 

Excellent! Very well done getting this fixed. And thank you for reporting back about what worked for you

 

Hey there!

I just signed up because of that issue:

As I wanted to start my new notebook the first time I noticed a little difference in the gap under the display (left and right hand side of "Samsung").

I just wanted to get sure if this is normal or a quality issue:

http://s14.directupload.net/images/130601/75flpxyn.jpg


Thanks in advance!

 

The joint should be smooth.

The upper part (which contains "Samsung") is glued. Try pushing it with your thumb in the raised portions while supporting the back of the screen with your other hand.

John

 

From what I've seen Samsung quality control on the Series 9 is hit and miss..Disgusting when you consider the money they charge and the parts you notice (Housing frames fit/finish cost pennies, Bad show really.

 

Ok by this you mean just pushing the upper part (which is glued) with the thumb and it should be even then? (sorry Im not a native speaker)

I tried pushing the raised portions but it didnt do anything :/


Btw: But its funny because you dont see that issue when theres no direct light from above.

 

Yes. You understood me correctly. The upper part (which goes around the display) isn't properly stuck down.

Can you feel the unevenness when you run your finger along the joint? If not, I would accept and forget the problem. Oblique lighting makes slight unevenness stand out (a technique used by archaeologists to see ground features using aerial photos taken when the sun is low in the sky).

John

 

Think you will find the top bit is bonded to the screen and the lower part is plastic which has been pushed in to far in those two places, try pressing lower to "rock" it out.

 

I think that theres no room for the upper part to be too low. The two lower portions are probably "too" stuck down.

When running the finge along the joint I cant feel any uneveness.

Could you do me a favor and place also lighting from above? Im curious if it happens for you too. If not Im thinking about to send it back and get an other one.

 

I have the X4C which is black so any shadows don't show - I have looked hard and can't see any.

If you aren't happy then use your photo as the evidence to request replacement.

John

 

I just requested replacement.

Thanks a lot!


Update:

They made the offer to allow a discount for 100€.

Since you dont see that issue without the exact lightening Im wondering even more now if all the other models have the same issue. Because then it would be a win for me - getting it cheaper

 

Personally, I would accept the discount. It's a cosmetic problem (probably caused by some unevenness in the glueing) that doesn't affect the functionality.

John

 

+1, I will stop at saying they are all like it but the silver ones I have seen are like it !

 

I don't normally do this, but the following seems to me to be a good deal on the previous generation NP900X4D-A05US (Ivy Bridge i5-3317U, 1600x900 15", 128GB SSD).

$898.50 AND $250 in credits towards the next purchase (bigger SSD or whatever). The description says Sandy Bridge, but that's just an error.

Samsung Series 9 Intel i5 15in 900p Ultrabook (3.6lbs) + $250 Buy.com Credit $898.50

The deal is on Buy.com (Rakuten), posted on techbargains.com, and the actual seller is Adorama.

Of course there is no doubt this is a clearance deal prior to something newer coming soon. This is for anybody looking to save a buck on older gear.

Oh, and this is a new unit, full Samsung Warranty. Not a refurb or open box.

I apologize if this is trivial. I don't follow Series 9 pricing very closely

Update: And here is a way to use some of that $250 Buy.com credit: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD for $200 -- with another $60 in credit.

Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB Solid State Drive + $60 Buy.com Credit $200

So AFTER buying the NP900X4D for $898 AND getting the 840 Pro for free (using $200 of the $250 credit) you should still have $110 worth of credit towards some other toy.

OK, I am sorry. I'll stop now.

 

Thanks for this: Why can't we Europeans get such good deals?

Personally, I would sit on the credit until a 256GB mSATA SSD appears on buy.com. That's the upgrade that the X4D needs.

John

 

Oh, of course. Goes to show how much I have yet to learn about the Series 9

For Series 7, the 840 Pro is almost the holy grail of SSD upgrades, and getting it for $140 (effectively) is quite a deal.

I wondered after posting the deal (and going to bed) if there is a delay in posting the credit, so that you cannot use it right away. I am afraid I didn't dig into that. If that turns out to be the case, just sit on those $250 -- as you said.

 

That is a really tempting deal. Must step away from the keyboard.

 

LOL

(10 characters minimum)

 

Im very happy with my NP900X4D. However two things are bothering me a bit:

- the metal surface gets scratches VERY easily. Thats a real pity on this beautiful notebook. (btw: cases are 15,6" - can anyone recommend me a solid 15"?)
- the sound is quite bad compared to my old samsung notebook (RV720). Any tricks to enhance the audio output? The sound is quite flat and doesnt have much energy.)

 

I thought an attraction of the bare metal is that it doesn't show scratches as much as the black paint finish.

You will probably find that the computer will squeeze into a bag made for a 14.1" notebook.

Try out the various enhancements offered for the playback device.

John

 

I've just installed my new memory, SSD, etc. I've updated the drivers on everything. And now I find the wireless is unacceptable. Not slow, but barely working. I didn't really notice until I started downloading files to install. The speed test is 10% that of my other laptop from the same location in the house. I've disabled bluetooth, uninstalled and reinstalled the latest intel wifi drivers (the samsung tech said you had to uninstall not update). I've used the inSSide tool to scan my network (I'm on a good channel).

Are there any more options before I return this laptop? I can't possibly develop on such a subpar signal. I'm not sure a usb wifi adapter would give me a better signal or not.

 

Is that the latest 15.8 WiFi drivers direct from Intel? It gave my X4C a noticeable boost in WiFi performance although some people have reported that the new Intel driver didn't give any improvement. Also try the suggested settings here while someone recently reported that disabling n mode noticeably improved their WiFi performance. However, the antennae location along the back edge of the metal chassis means that the signal will never be as good as with antennae mounted in the top edge of a plastic display.

As for a USB WiFi dongle, I bought one of these last year as a backup for when I needed to use my X4C in weak signal conditions. It's been useful on a few occasions. One advantage of that particular device is the stand and the extension cable - sometimes having the dongle a couple of metres away makes a significant difference to the signal quality (it's also come useful for a 3G dongle for the same reason).

John

 

Yes sir. Those very same ones. I've done tests before and after and notice no difference.

I tried those as well. They are mostly the default settings.

Its very hit or miss. I just restarted the wifi driver and speedtest.net showed 29Mbps (woo-hoo). Now, 2 minutes later, its 0.61Mbps (and falling). Usually I see the test timeout or speeds around 2-3 Mbps.

Sadly, I guess I am shipping this back to amazon. My wife thinks I should test other routers (like in Starbucks), but we have a brand new router - and our other machines work fine with it. Uggg...

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

@dbh21: Before you return it, you could try and revert to the built-in Win8 driver (assuming you're on Win8). Use the procedure in this post to make sure you properly flush out all other drivers that may have been installed. It should also clear any stuck issues in the adapter's registry entry.

This post sums up other things to try for addressing WiFi issues. But I think you already did most of those.

 

Well this is interesting... I didn't try this before. But now that I have, i seem to consistently get 1/3rd to 1/2 the speed that I get on my other laptop (which is better than it was previously). The upload speed is maxed out. Its only the download speed that's an issue. But it is waaaay more consistent than before where I would get 26Mbps, then 4, then 12, then timeouts.

Yeah, I tried all these. This was helpful (even if it didn't solve this issue).

I'm bummed as I really liked the form factor of this laptop. I'll try upgrading the driver once more, and I'll monitor the speed throughout the day. Otherwise, that zenbook might be calling my name.

 

@dbh21: Oop, almost missed your post there. That's too bad you couldn't get it working despite all that effort. Different users have different experiences with this.

Beyond the established issues with the Intel 6235 WiFi adapter and the possible antenna challenges with some of these Sammies, I believe there has to be some production variance between units: If you happen to get a particularly poor 6235 unit AND a particularly challenged antenna or cable connection, it's never going to be good enough, no matter how much you try. And vice versa, if you get a good unit, it will be amendable to driver and settings tweaks, and acceptable to most users -- even if not stellar.

If I were you -- since you otherwise like the laptop a lot, and the WiFi performance is significantly worse than other devices -- I would press Samsung for a solution. You can almost only get something better. And with some luck, you may even benefit from whatever improvements that have devised for the upcoming Haswell refresh.

But you'll have to endure some hassle first before it gets better

I wish you luck, whatever you choose.

 

Yeah. I don't want to be wasting any more time with Samsung support. But I am looking forward to seeing if they make changes on Jun 20. I'd be dumbfounded if they didn't make some change to fix the wifi given all the complaints.

Otherwise Asus Zenbook or the Carbon X1 look solid enough for a development machine.

 

Hi all,

I recently brought the 900X4D-K01AU (this is the Australian/NZ zoned version) and it is a beautiful machine and will a development box at some stage. I love the look and feel, some people said the keyboard was quite shallow but I think it is quite responsive and easy to type. I was initially keen on the Lenovo X1 Carbon, but Samsung's 15" screen, small form factor, "Mineral Ash Black" finish and 8GB RAM were probably the main selling points for me.

The 900X4D-K01AU came with a Samsung MZMTD128 128GB SSD, which I thought was a little small for my liking, and brought a ADATA SX300 256Gb replacement drive from trademe (NZ's version of ebay). I replaced it using the steps:
1. Cloned the Samsung SSD to SX300 SSD using Macrium Reflect - I selected all partitions minus the 20Gb recovery partitions (you can also exclude the other 1Gb partition here too if you want, that way it will make it easier to extend the main partition if the new disk is larger).
2. Swap out the SSDs - removing the bottom cover was a little tricky, removing the screws was easy but the base it connected to the back between the hinges. But firmly and carefully working one corner up unclipped one of the 6-7 connections and from there is as easy to get off. Now that I have done it once I would not be afraid to do it again.
3. Start up Windows 8, run diskpart and remove the 1Gb partition (I had to do this as I didn't deselect it as part of step 1)
4. Extend the main windows partition (or add a new partition if you want)

I will probably store the old SSD incase I want to sell my laptop on in the future - or need to send it in for service (hope not!).

I have included the benchmark tests for each SSD below (Samsung 128Gb on the left, SX300 256Gb on the right)
CrystalDiskMark


AS SSD


ATTO (quite an impressive improvement with SX300)


Main issues that I have currently:
1. I have noticed that my WiFi adapter cutting out a few times a day (not enough to be annoying yet) - the connection goes to Limited connection, disconnect and re-connecting gets me back on. This has been in recent posts in this thread and appears to be a common issue, that does not appear to be fixed. My 900X4D is running the with troublesome Advanced-N 6235 and I am running TP-Link TD-W8960N firmware 1.3.6. If it becomes to be an real issue for me I may look at installing the Windows driver which apparently fixes the drop outs, but disables widi (which I don't even know what it is, let alone use it),
2. I wanted to dual boot with Ubuntu and subsequently found that another common issue (discussed at length online and in this sticky thread) around booting Ubuntu from UEFI-based drive may brick your laptop! It may not be an issue for my machine as it is a 2013 model (my BIOS firmware is P07XXX), but I have not read anyone successfully installing a dual boot Ubuntu/Win8 so I may wait on this.
3. Although very minor, when booting up Windows 8 it sometimes takes a bit longer that I expected - instead of 5-10 seconds when I first started it, it is more like 2 secs - could be my new SSD or that I upgraded SX300 firmware from 5.0.2a to 5.0.7a... or possibly any other number of possibilities :S

Hope this information is helpful to anyone out there.

 

Hi Possom, welcome to NBR.

Congrats on your new computer. And thank you for sharing that nice post.

You're probably already aware of the steps you can try to improve the WiFi situation, but otherwise they're mostly summed up in this post.

Too aggressive power saving settings in the Power Profile can cause disconnects and slowness. I keep it on Maximum Performance (both battery and plugged in) in the Samsung Optimized profile. In the Power Saver profile (used during Silent Mode) I have Maximum Performance while plugged in and Low Power Saving on battery.

That said, I found that cleaning out and rolling back to the built-in Win8 driver, as described in this post, gave a more stable connection with my TP-Link WDR3600 router.

Please stick around, and keep posting good stuff like that

 

I'm impressed that you can get more than 600MB/s through the SATA 3 interface which has a theoretical limit of 600MB/s and most SSDs only reach about 550MB/s. If you can reproduce that turbocharged effect then you could become famous!

BTW, I thought the X4D is bare metal and the X4C is the mineral ash black.

Did you try downloading the latest driver direct from Intel?

There haven't been many bricking problems during recent months. Perhaps this thread may help (the Series 7 has much in common with the Series 9).

John

 

Hi guys, thanks for the replies.

I will see if the power profile minimises the issue...

Haha, I was a little taken back by the test, perhaps it is the test giving very favorable results, surprized the manufacturers don't use this as a selling point...

Mine comes in the same mineral ash black as the X4C that I saw in the showroom - the box the laptop came in has photos of both bare metal (silver finish) and mineral ash black, so I guess they come i

Yes I downloaded 15.8.0 and installed sometime last week, so the drop outs are still occurring (albeit not that frequently).

Ok will take a look, and report back with any updates (if I have the guts to attempt it on my machine)...

 

From what I've read the two benchmarks with the high throughputs use compressible data. This might be a factor but somehow it appears to be getting compressed before going through the interface.

Typical Samsung: They like to keep us guessing. In addition to your exceptional SSD performance you are the rare (unique?) owner of a black X4D.

Someone offered a fix of disabling n mode. Give it a try. And if you have a dual band router then make try disabling one band in case the adapter is hopping from one to the other and dropping the connection while it does so.

John

 

Yes I feel very privileged that mine is black

I disabled N-mode on the adapter. My router has the 'modes' 11b, 11bg, 11bgn, 11n only - which would you suggest?

 

Do you have any other devices that use the router. Normally the router has to be set up to support all the possible modes used by other devices some of which don't support n.

I would first try if disabling n on the adapter makes a difference.

John

 

@possumnz: I've been given a theory that you enabled NTFS compression which then results in the high transfer rates when compressible data are used. Are you able to check this aspect?

John

 

I don't think compression is on for this drive, screen shot below shows is disabled, and I have not added compression for any other folders/files.

Although the bottom property 'allows contents to be indexed...'?

 

Hi all,

To follow up on my attempt to setup the notebook on Windows 8/Ubuntu dual-boot, it was successfully setup and did NOT brick the laptop, so I can confirm recent 900X4D models should work fine.

Firstly, I have a 2013 900X4D (purchased 3 weeks ago), BIOS version P07ABK (BIOS options below are based on my version, if you have a recent 900X4D then they should be the same options for you). If you have another model or older Series 9 then this install may not work for you, YOU MAY BRICK YOUR PC (as covered by this thread).
PC was pre-installed with windows 8 with around ~250Gb space left on the GPT NTFS partition (I have a 265Gb SX300 SSD).

Steps I took to install Ubuntu along side Windows 8:
1. Download the Ubuntu ISO image (bittorrent was quick), I used 12.04 being a recent and stable version with Long Term Support - since running Win8 I use the x64 (AMD64) version which would be for most new PCs
2. Before installing Ubuntu make sure you read the installation notes so you are aware of the process (for 12.04). This is also a good read on UEFI.
3. Create the bootable USB using Universal USB Installer (or similar software), instructions are in the installation notes in step above
4. Reboot and press F2 to enter BIOS
5. Disable Fast BIOS Mode, disable Secure Boot and set OS Mode Selection to "UEFI and CSM OS", I also changed boot priority so that USB devices were first before 'Windows loader/booter'
6. Insert bootable USB and exit BIOS saving changes, Ubuntu install should startup
7. For Installation Type, I choose "Install Ubuntu alongside Windows 8" (I first tried using the "Something else" but re-partitioning my existing NTFS partition was not super user friendly), if you are happy with Ubuntu in only one partition then using "alongside" option is good enough. It also automatically created a 8Gb (equal to my RAM size) partition for Hibernation (you may be able to skip this, or otherwise you may have to try "Something else" install type to skip this partition)
8. Complete Ubuntu installation, and reboot
9. Loading Ubuntu through GRUB worked fine, but when loading Windows 8 it came up with an error 'Invalid EFI file path', this is a known bug and is easily fixed using boot-repair

I need to look at fixing up the GRUB menu removing the unnecessary Windows boot options (left there from before the boot-repair fix), and other minor issues in Ubuntu such as function keys/back lighting etc.

Another change I did was to hide the ext4 Linux partition from Windows as it automatically loaded as a drive letter (D: in my case) and the user had the option to format which was a little dangerous. You can remove/hide the ext4 partition using gdisk discussed here.

One question: Should I re-enable the Fast BIOS boot and/or Secure Boot and/or UEFI mode now that I have dual-boot working?

Hope this is helpful for the X4D owners out there!.

 

FYI, a new BIOS update P08ABK was released yesterday. I've downloaded it using the standalone BIOS Update program but didn't yet install it. Samsung never issue a changelog so we won't know without trying what's added / deleted / fixed / broken.

John

 

Hi,

I just thought I should contribute to this since this and other threads about Samsung Series 9 have helped me so much. So, I had problems with the previous BIOS update so that the laptop just wouldn't boot at all after the installation was done. I know that some others had the same problem too and I had to send my laptop for maintenance and it lasted over a month.. Well it worked after that fine but lately it again started having problems booting although I didn't update anything. Strange thing, I noticed that it would only boot when I plugged in something in different USB ports randomly. Only then it booted. Now I noticed the new P08ABK BIOS update through SW Update and though I would give it a shot. And first time update failed but tried it again and the update was successful and know laptop runs and boots like it should! At last!

 

Yesterday I put P08ABK on my new X4C but I used, as always, the stand-alone BIOS update program described here.

I couldn't see any obvious differences but it's quite likely that there were some bug fixes. Fast BIOS mode and the Battery Life Extender got turned off by the update, but that happens heach time so I know to turn them on again.

John

 

Hey guys!

A couple days ago I spilled some water on my keyboard of my NP900X4D.

I thought it wasnt that much and I got the most of it with a towel so I continued to use it.

After I realized that some keys are not working anymore I switched if off and put it face down for two days.

Now the whole keyboard is not working anymore - the rest is fine.

Hopefully when I change the keyboard everything should work fine again.

Do you know where I can buy a new keyboard? Or can I try the Samsung customer service and just tell them that my keyboard stopped working?


Cheers

 

Hi Pepper, sorry to hear about that.

Personally I would give Samsung a call to see if they will help, though I cannot in good conscience recommend that you lie to them.

As for buying parts, there is a website called SamsungParts.com which allows you to look up parts based on your model number. You can order the part right there, or, once you found the exact part number, you can search other web sites (including eBay) to look for a better price.

It's possible when John sees your post, that he may have suggestions for some things to try out first.

 

Plain, clean water shouldn't be too dangerous - unlike other drinks there should be no deposits once it has dried.

I would first take the bottom off the computer (Philips size 0 screwdriver + 10 screws), remove the battery and give it more time to dry out. If you can see that the water spill has left zero traces then you could try the warranty route, but spillage is one aspect where the service staff tend to check: Some people have had warranty repair declined due to reported spill damage even when they don't remember it happening.

John

 

Hey!

Thanks for the site (SamsungParts.com) but I couldnt find the keyboard for the notebook (my model: 900X4D A03).