2013 Ativ Book 9 13.3" Ivy Bridge NP900X3E / NP900X3F

deleted, wrong thread

 

Hi guys are any of you running 16gb of ram on this unit? Is it sturdy enough to be close to a business class notebook?

Thanks

 

The 4GB RAM is soldered so 16GB is a dream.

The larger (15.0") X4C / X4D has two RAM slots and has been tested with 16GB but is effectively discontinued (but you may find some remaining stock).

My NP900X4C has done quite a bit of travelling and, in my opinion, is more durable than the Lenovo T420s which it replaced.

John

PS: The new NP900X3G will be available with 8GB RAM (which we think is soldered).

 

My X3F doesn't seem to want to connect to wifi on it's own anymore. Even with "connect automatically" checked on my home network, when I open the lid, I still have to manually connect each time. Any ideas?

 

Install the latest Wifi driver direct from Intel.

John

 

Product Detected: Qualcomm Atheros AR946x Wireless Network Adapter
Current Driver Installed: 10.0.0.263

Why does SW Update not find the latest driver? I found this but I don't know how to install it.

 

Ah! Not Intel (which fixed in the last 6 months a load of similar connectivity issues with the 6235 WiFi) so I had instinctively assumed Intel.

I see that the Softpedia files uses the .cab format and contains .cat, .sys, .pdf and .inf files. Extract these files and put in a folder somewhere. Then two possible ways for installing the new driver are (i) right-click on the .inf file and select Install; or (ii) use the update driver facility in Device Manager, select manual browse and find the folder with the extracted files.

Samsung are very lax about issuing driver updates even though the database approach used by SW Update requires less maintenance effort than updating web pages.

John

 

Thanks for the tips. If Samsung's spec page lists the wireless card as the Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235, why would SW update return drivers for the Qualcomm Atheros AR946x Wireless Network Adapter?

 

The likely reason is because someone who didn't know any better did a copy - paste of the X3E web page.

I would trust SW Update which is based on the software / drivers loaded on the notebook. Furthermore, the X3F is the WWAN-capable model as noted in the first post of this thread so it used a non-Intel wireless solution.

John

 

I've been wondering - how hard is to replace the display in 900x3 series? I own 900X3E with stupid stuck white pixel but it's just one of them, so I won't get it done through the warranty (unless I figure out how to damage 6 more pixels). The panels (HN133WU3-100) are sold by 150$, which isn't awfully expensive. The question is - do I need some sort of tech to do it for me, or is it doable without too much hassle?

 

Samsung's official display part is a complete lid with hinges that has the display panel and other components glued into place. However, I can't find the X3E part on samsungparts.com (knowing the part number helps find other sources of the part). Even if you can manage to get the current display panel out you will trash the bezel which I haven't seen as an available spare part (but maybe someone in China sells them).

John

 

That doesn't sound very optimistic

I wonder if they could replace the display for me for cash since it doesn't exactly fit the warranty.

It's either this, or me getting that 24V shocks to the screen till I have the required amount of stuck pixels, lol.

 

You may try UDPixel - udpix.free.fr - I have no idea if that works, but it's worth trying before spending money

There are also other tools which display special patterns, but I forgot the name...

Edit:
Oh, and you could try on of those physical ways described here:
http://superuser.com/questions/38231/what-is-the-best-way-to-fix-a-stuck-pixel-on-a-lcd-screen

Someone mentioned that he fixed 2 pixels by flicking his fingernail on it.

Edit2:
I just remembered watching a video a couple of months ago. Found it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23rn9VtdjT0
It's a series 7 - but that should work with series 9, too.
If you damage the bezel (which is likely), you may find a replacement on ebay (search for samsung series 9 front bezel)

Or this? http://www.uspcparts.com/samsung-np900x3e-series-display-bezel-p-39834.html

 

63$ for the Bezel, over 150$ for the display.. plus glue, I guess... and I'd obviously lose the warranty which I have up till 2017.

Not so smart, and pretty costly. I don't think I'll be going this route after all...

I'm giving the UDpixel a try right now, I set it up to run all night, and after that, I'll try the poking and massaging since I'm highly doubtful that 10h of seizure-inducing flashes will accomplish anything.

After that, it's nuking the screen with moderate voltage to fry several pixels and get display exchange through warranty, I guess. THanks to idiotic ISO rules, we can't even expect a faulty product to be fixed for free.

 

If you can't get the pixel to behave then you could try to camouflage it with a very small dot of ink so it will appear to be a dead pixel, which isn't so distracting. I have one dead pixel on my NP900X4C which I didn't notice for a couple of months.

John

 

By the way, do you know what model of display it is?

Is it a TN, or IPS? I tried searching for some kind of info, but couldn't find enough data.

Mobiletechreview states it's BOE Hydis with 95% sRGB coverage, but there's no data on other parameters and no info about the model's designation.

if it's a (pretty damn good) TN, that would solve the mystery of the white pixel resisting UDpixel, as for TN displays, dead pixels are actually white, not black.

 

As far as I know, it's some kind of VA panel which is comparable to IPS displays regarding contrast and viewing angles

 

Guys.. I've been wrong. It's not a stuck pixel.. I looked under a magnifying glass and it seems it's half the pixel's size. A bright spot... maybe dust speck that somewhat went behind the bezel.

I know the bezels are glued, so I basically have to order a new one (63$ + shipment) to get rid of it, right?

At least the display is 100% perfect.

 

I would look a bit harder. I think the pixels are made from sub-pixels. A speck of dirt wouldn't cause a bright patch.

John

 

Can someone with a NP900X3F-K model please provide a photo from the internals next time you remove the bottom plate.
Thank you!

 

Thing is, the pixel where the "bright spot" appears works normally. At a red, blue and green background, it shows the respective color without any fault.

 

So perhaps there's a minute bit of display missing and the backlight is shining through. Perhaps that doesn't count as bright pixel but as a defective display. You need a camera with an excellent macro lens to get a photo and send it to Samsung support.

John

 

I came here to ask if someone else had a problem with dead/bright pixels on their screen.
I've had this laptop (NP900X3E) for less than 4 months. After just a month after my purchase I noticed a bright spot (~3mm) on the screen that was visible on bright backgrounds and for me really annoying so I sent it back and got it repaired and everything was fine.

Now after only 2 months after the panel change I've got another bright spot visible on whites and this time I also have a pixel that stay white on dark backgrounds.

Is this a common problem with this model?

I bought it because of the great screen but I'm starting to think that maybe it's not so great because I've never had this problem with other devices.. I'm traveling a lot for long periods of time so I can't keep repairing it every few months.

 

Hey,

Are you sure it's a pixel? I thought that too until I checked under a magnifying glass.
Perhaps you have the same problem as I do? A bright spot on the display which is not a dead pixel.
I've been wondering whether to send it for repairs, but they would probably laugh their butts off at the sight of my "problem" (it's pretty much only visible at night in completely dark backgrounds) and I'd waste time doing that :/

 

Hi all,

Just bought one of these today and I have to say I'm quite happy with it so far.

However, I seem to be having an issue with the right click on my trackpad. Left click works fine, but the right click seems to have more resistant and is making a loud creaking noise whenever I press it (a slight annoyance).

Does anybody know if this is an issue that Samsung would fix for me? Thanks in advance!


Milly

 

That is normal,we all use two fingers tap.Force your self to use two finger tap and after two days you will see how right click is old thing in fact.
You can set two finger tap in touchpad software.Its located in control panel.
Tell me please what exactly model did you buy?

 

Hi Milly, you could try to put some tiny amount of silicone oil (wd40) on the edge: Spray it on the edge of a sheet of paper and carefully pull the paper through the gap, this should help.

 

I'm considering purchasing a used NP900X3E-A02US (i7/4/128) and have some questions for current owners:

1. Are you still satisfied with your machine today?

2. Have you had to get your X3E serviced for any specific reason - if so, for what?

3. Have you found the 4GB of RAM to be limiting in any way? If so, where have you run into problems? For general multi-tab internet, video streaming, and light Excel work, does 4GB suffice?

4. Have any of you tried replacing the Intel 6235 with an Intel 7260 AC WiFi card? If so, was it successful? And what specific part # needs to be ordered (I know there's different versions of the 7260)?


Appreciate any feedback you can provide.

 

I think the 4GB RAM will be OK for your usage. One guide is to run your normal set of programs then use Task Manager to see how much RAM they are using. In my case, Firefox with over 50 tabs heads the table with over 1GB.

You should also budget for a higher capacity SSD, particularly if the one in the notebook is the Sandisk U100. My current recommendation is the Samsung EVO mSATA due to decent performance and low power consumption.

Are you planning to replace the 6235 WiFi on account of the connectivity issues (which have been fixed, in my experience, by the drivers release in the past 6 months) or because you have an AC router and plan to use the extra bandwidth?

John

 

Good choice, i7 is quite powerful.

Users have reported the 128GB model in X3E/F are of the Lite-On M6M series, which doesn't perform bad as the Sandisk U100

Still in deep love after 7months or so

Nope, no flaws at all and it's been running a good amount of time.

It'll do those tasks with ease.

go45cvi has done so on X3B (I can't recall if it was the AC model though)
You will need the "HMC" version of the card (Half Mini Card)

 

John & oled - thanks for your replies.

The question about installing an AC WiFi card was just to get an idea if it's actually possible should I want to do so in the future. I don't even own an AC router, but may be interested in pursuing that option if others have successfully swapped cards and have noticed dramatically increased speeds.

What has me potentially worried about the X3E is the RAM. I've been working on an HP Haswell ultrabook with 4GB of RAM and keep having Memory issues. I'll have one Firefox browser open with only like 5 tabs and that takes up 3GB to 3.5GB of the RAM according to the Task Manager. The Memory % is always running between 75% and 100% and I'll often get the "Not Responding" error msg in Firefox when I try switching between tabs. I'll eventually have to close and restart Firefox when this happens. I've tried factory resetting and am always cleaning the browsing history, cache, malware/virus scanning, etc. but nothing helps.

For the life of me I don't know what's causing this memory problem I'm having on this HP, but I don't want it happening on the X3E if I get it (which I want to). I've attached some screen shots of my Task Manager. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Something on the HP is using a big chunk of RAM. Does it have a caching program similar to IntelliMemory which Samsung loaded onto the Series 9 (and is best uninstalled at the first opportunity)?

Firefox with 6 tabs open on my X3B is using just under 500MB but the physical memory usage is at 53% (and that's with WinTV and PaintShopPro using about 250MB between them).

John

 

Yes, somewhat successful on my X3B. That is, I'm still using it. I've noticed improved reception in my wifi-congested apartment compared to the 6235, I can watch HDTV over DLNA fairly reliably now. The one drawback is Samsung's Settings program. I could not get it to recognize the card properly and in fact it will disable its bluetooth. My workaround is to use a standalone version of settings, though I do have to toggle fast start back on after every reboot. I bought the half mini AC card for about $30, but I'm still on an N router.

If it was me, I'd wait for the X3G. You should be fine with 4GB, but 8GB doesn't hurt and Haswell should give you longer life.

 

No caching program that I can find, but it's good to know that with the X3E it can be easily identified and uninstalled. I won't have to fuss with this HP for much longer, just more generally concerned if 4GB of RAM is sufficient on the X3E.. just seems like there's a lot more memory hogs out there these days.

Thanks for the reply, good hearing from someone who's done it.

I've actually been waiting for the X3G for a long time now and have been pretty much dead set on getting it, but I may be able to get this used X3E for $600 out the door, so that's why I'm really considering it.

The new i7 X3G version would run me about $1,850 with tax. Of course, it comes with 256 SSD, 8GB RAM, and AC WiFi. So those are some nice improvements over the X3E, but are they really worth an extra $1,250 over this used X3E? That's what I need to decide for this unique situation.

 

The 4GB RAM is the only key difference since you can upgrade the X3E's SSD and WiFi or replace the battery if necessary.

I'd get the X3E knowing that an SSD upgrade would improve the swap file performance on those occasions when 4GB RAM is not enough. Haswell is more frugal on power during very light usage but there's not so much difference under load. If, in 6 months or a year you decide that you would still like the X3G then you can probably sell the X3E for $500 and pick up the G for nearer $1,000.

John

 

Whoa, $600, where at if you don't mind me asking. Yeah I can't justify buying any of Samsung's products at launch prices. I paid $800 for my X3B almost 2 years ago. In that time the MSRP of the AB9 has not gone down at all, while I think the MBA is $300-$400 cheaper. Pretty outrageous considering these are just incremental upgrades in the same package, Samsung is actually increasing their margin.

John is probably right. Buy the X3E and ebay it 6 months from now when the X3G is closer to $1000. Just save the factory partition or better yet clean install on a new EVO SSD.

 

Thanks guys, I ended up pulling the trigger on this used X3E from eBay and it'll be delivered tomorrow. Just couldn't pass up on the price despite thinking I was set on the X3G. Pretty excited and I'm sure I'll have some questions for you folks once I've had the chance to play with it for a bit.

 

Can someone recommend a program for me to run so I can see the current CPU clock settings and determine whether the fans are working properly? And are there any suggested settings within such a program that can help things run a lot cooler?

I've had the machine for about a week now and it's always running warm - bottom, palm rest, really the entire chassis.. even under light usage. And it'll run quite hot (to the point where it's almost unusable) the moment I begin to stream audio/video. I've updated to Windows 8.1 with all the latest drivers since receiving it, but that's all.

 

I would suggest you try HWiNFO. The animated CPU speed graphic on the summary page shows the current speed of each core and the Sensors page shows the CPU speed and CPU temperature (current, maximum and minimum since last reset).

The first thing I would check is whether the CPU is spending most of its time at minimum speed (800 MHz) with bursts of higher speed when work requires it. If the CPU never drops to the minimum speed then check whether (i) you are using the Samsung Optimized power plan (recommended) and (ii) then look in Task Manager to see if the is a process with 25% or more CPU utilisation (25% = 1 core fully loaded). If so, try to identify what program is responsible for this process. It is probably corrupted and fixable by reinstallation.

If the CPU is spending most of its time on idle and the CPU temperature is more than 60C then it is likely that there is a problem with the cooling system. You should be able to detect whether the fans are running by listening (you won't hurt anything by tipping the computer on its side and putting your ear to the bottom) and checking the exhaust air at the back of the computer. If the fans are running then perhaps the heat sink isn't properly mounted. One test for this is load the CPU using wPrime and check the CPU temperature. If it gets significantly over 80C then in the cooling system needs servicing. It's not a big challenge to get the base off and repaste the CPU.

John

 

Okay this is my first post so please be gentle

I tried to read this thread, use search etc but still cannot get any better guide how to get bigger battery life under linux.

I installed Ubuntu 14.04 couple of days ago (and reinstalled windows after that because... well, battery life) and could get only 3 hours of life under it. I saw that CPU never hit 7xxMHz, it stayed higher and fans we're always on. I tried manually force governor (didnt change), manually change CPU frequency, didnt either. Tried also intel_pstate ja thermald but all those didnt do a thing. TLP gave couple of minutes more time but that was it. I even tried without UEFI so samsung_laptop was used but still no.

Under crunchbang (debian wheezy based distro) things we're better. CPU throttled down on idle like should and it gave 4 to 5 hours life in total idle stage, but that distro doesnt support LTE module in this laptop so its no-go until debian jessie will be finished.

On powertop both Ubuntu and Crunchbang showed that audio was eating 100% time, dont know why. On ubuntu i managed to get rid of it, but it didnt affect battery life almost at all.

Sugggestions? Different, 100% working distro? Ideas?

Any good ideas what to do next? Or am i doomed to use Windows 8.1 until this computer is old?

 

First make sure ACPI runs fine. Samsung laptops have a bug which gets triggered if you suspend to ram. If the bug occurred you will see that battery/AC state (among other things) will report false data or don't even work no more.

Workaround if bug occurs:
- shut the laptop off
- remove it from AC
- poke the little button in the pin hole on the bottom of the device to reset the battery
- replug the AC cable
- switch on again
- don't use S2R until Samsung has patched that bug (which will never happen, so just don't use it). S2D is fine though.

Any recent kernel should make use of intel_pstate, so don't mess around with other things. Even with scaling activated the CPU hardly hits the bottom of 800MHz, but that does not mean it'll consume more power when idle. Mine usually sits between 1.2 - 1.3 GHz

To activate scaling set:

Code:

echo 25 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/min_perf_pct

No upper limit:

Code:

echo 100 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/max_perf_pct

turbo on if on load

Code:

echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo 

You definitely want samsung_laptop to be loaded. This will enable you to run the machine in 'silent mode' (among other things) which makes the fans spin slower and even shuts them off at low temps. Silent mode does not affect CPU speed, so I recommend to just always stay in silent mode.
Keep in mind that some Samsung laptops have a bug which causes the machine to brick if samsung_laptop gets loaded in an UEFI environment.

Activate with:

Code:

echo silent > /sys/devices/platform/samsung/performance_level

Code:

echo Y > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller
echo 1 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save

There are a lot more power tweaks I've described here: Linux powersaving

Why not just use the kernel of the distro which supports it? You can add the repos of other apt based distros (ubuntu, debian, crunchbag all are). If you run wheezy you can also find the testing kernels (currently jessie) in wheezy-backports
Keep in mind that pretty much all power related settings are configured within the kernel, so the distros themselves don't add to performance unless they patch or configure the kernel for you.

 

Thanks for the suggestion John. I've been running HWiNFO for the past couple weeks and both the average CPU speed and CPU Temp have been within their normal ranges. I've also periodically checked the fans by putting my ear to the bottom and I can hear both moving at times, so I don't believe I'm having any HW issues. I'm running the Samsung Optimized power plan too with a couple minor customized settings.

Guess I just wasn't expecting the machine to run on the warm side, and occasionally a bit hot. Considering the super thin design and aluminum chassis however, I probably shouldn't be that surprised however.. the heat has to go somewhere afterall.

I have some questions about battery preservation:

- Does it hurt the battery if I always have the computer plugged in despite the battery being 100% charged?

- If the computer is turned off and already charged 100%, should I unplug it?

- If I'm running off the battery, should I let the battery drain all the way down to around 5% before I start charging it again?

I've read conflicting things about the best way to take care of these batteries, so I'm a bit confused. Thanks again

 

You said earlier you have a NP900X3E- A
"A" models still have BLE. Activate it and run the laptop at the 80% BLE limit on AC. If for some reason there is no BLE leave it on AC at 100% when running.

yes, at least when it's for longer periods of time

No, try to not let the battery go down that much and do not store if it is that discharged.

Best way to conserve battery life would be having it at a constant level about half way charged. As you can neither remove the battery easily to store it or keep that charge, a full battery is still better than an empty one.
Avoid frequent charge cycles.

Heat btw is another enemy of batteries, so I hope you fix your temperatures

 

Thank you Oled for complete answer, really! I will print this out as soon as im in home and test in couple of days. Thank you!

 

Can somebody with 900X3F-G01 please comment WWAN that is integrated in it.
We need thoughts about wwan signal and speed compering to smartphone ,wifi signal and speed and can this laptop cache EDGE signal?

 

An earlier post asked about the Intel 7260 AC card, so I decided to order it via Amazon (link is here) and just finished installing it. So far no issues and it works great. Windows 8.1 picked up the new card and installed it right away but I went ahead and installed the latest Intel drivers. Connecting at around 650Mbps to my router and Samsung settings sees both the wireless and bluetooth portions and allows control of both. Definitely a nice upgrade for the 30 dollars and 10 minutes spent.

 

Any idea why (echo 25 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/min_perf_pct) doesnt stay? I tried crontab (by root) and rc.local, but it reverts back to 100 after reboot and needs to be manually inserted again.

Also, fans are running all the time and laptop seems bit hot, but battery indicates 4-5 hours of usage.

After fresh install powertop gave 8-9W power consumption and after updates it's 10-13W... normal in ubuntu?

 

That's what they do unless you activate silent mode

Well that means your CPU runs at full clock all the time. Unfortunately I have no idea how ubuntu handles the power configuration.

Do you have sysfsutils installed? This is a boot time configuration tool for /sys

Code:

apt-get install sysfsutils
echo "devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/min_perf_pct=25" >> /etc/sysfs.conf

In my case I have udev observing the AC state, so it automatically changes all my power configurations by a little shell script when switching from battery to AC and vice versa. It looks like this:

 

oled - Thanks much for the reply, but I'm confused on some areas:

Great, thanks. For some reason, the default setting is Off for this setting, so I turned it on. Can I now feel safe to always keep the computer on AC regardless if it's running or turned off?

How do I keep it at a constant half way charge if the vast majority of the time I'm using it when plugged in?

Does a 'charge cycle' mean charging via AC to 100%, then running off battery all the way down to 0%, and then recharging via AC to 100% again?

 

BLE (Battery Life Extender) is a feature available on older Samsung models, which limits charging to 80% in order to prolong the usable life of the battery (as described by member oled). The feature is enabled/disabled in BIOS or Easy Settings (for Win7) or older Settings versions 2.0.x (for Win8). I don't know if there are controls for it in Linux. You cannot specify the percentage.

Samsung stopped providing the feature mid 2013, claiming that their new battery technology (and possibly improved control firmware) made it unnecessary.

Anytime the battery has discharged more than than a few percent, it will charge again once plugged in -- thus incurring a new charge cycle, which wears the battery down.