2013 Ativ Book 9 Plus owner's lounge (NP940X3G)

Right, others have pointed out as well how ETDAniConf doesn't scale. The best solution is probably to temporarily switch to FHD or 1600x900 while you tweak the touchpad.

I personally prefer the older touchpad driver version 11.7.10.4, which has better behavior on my NP700Z3A. Incidentally, that version also has Reverse Scrolling in the regular Touchpad control panel. Again, covered in this discussion (same link as before). In fact, there has been a lot of good touchpad discussion in this thread, if you browse through the last 10-20 pages or so.

 

Hi, I've had my NP940 for a couple weeks now and the touchpad suddenly stopped working.
I tried restarting, it didn't work, so I tried uninstalling and reinstalling.
The problem is that after uninstalling the driver I can't find it anywhere.
The download center on Samsungs homepage doesn't offer it and the SW update doesn't show a touchpad driver for me!
What should I do?

 

Use the Find Model facility in SW Update to manually look for the driver.

John

 

FYI for future NP940X3G users who are playing around with the BIOS, I was interested in testing older micom (which controls keyboard and possibly the touchpad)... it is actually easy to downgrade/update both BIOS/MICOM.

in cmd prompt

afuwinx64 P02ACJ.cap /p /GAN

it will update with a "ie Error: Secure Flash function is not supported on this file" but it is fine.

reboot

then I updated to ITEM_20140224_21319_WIN_P03ACJ.exe, my last BIOS/MICOM which I never had any issues. I am interested to see if the touchpad will be more reliable with this micom.

 

Thanks a lot for sharing this. Although we do not normally allow cross posting, I would encourage you to also post this (or a link) in your BIOS roll back thread.

 

Hey guys wanted to confirm I can output 2 monitors at once making three total with the way overpriced vga adapter. I have the 8gb 13in i5 version which you might need the extra memory if your doing more than web browsing. The only problem is I run the laptop at 3200 full res so some scaling is just way to big on other monitors.

 

3 Monitors

 

I run it with its own display + two 24" Dell monitors. One via HDMI and one via external USB video card to DVI. I have set the HTML 24" as my main screen and others extend it on both sides. Set the resolution as need for each display in the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display\Screen Resolution interface. Have been doing this with older Series 9 models as well for a few years.

The Sony Vaio Z2 had a docking station (PMI) which added DVD burner, video card and extra HDMI interface which was nice as I was bale to run both 24: Dells via HDMI + there was an old VGA port on the Sony as well so you could run 3 external monitors with no external USB video cards

 

***Update 141018, Old BIOS/MICOM does not fix touchpad issues***

I believe my erratic NP940X3G touchpad issues are gone by rolling back the BIOS/MICOM to P03ACJ. I suggest not rolling back yet for me to continue observing my laptop for a week more and report then if still sticks.

I had my laptop since Nov 2013 and didn't stat observing touchpad issues until July 2014. I updated my BIOS to P04ACJ in May or June, and later updated to P05ACJ.

Those with erratic touchpad issues, are you on BIOS/MICOM P04ACJ or P05ACJ?

Those without erratic touchpad issues, are you on BIOS/MICOM P02ACJ or P03ACJ?

Again, I would probably wait on rolling back because BIOS updates are always risky of bricking.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...ps-roll-back-bios-updates-21.html#post9791758

***Update 141018, Old BIOS/MICOM does not fix touchpad issues***

 

Thanks John, I did that and it worked fine for a couple of days
Now I got the same problem again - touchpad not working
What can I do? I can't keep reinstalling the drivers...

 

Yeah I did set the resolution on the other monitors to 1080p which is the max for them but since the main display is 3200x1800 things still don't downscale so like internet explorer the title bars are huge. Hopefully windows 10 can fix this because firefox and chrome work fine no matter which monitor.

 

Did you ever end up trying it? I'm considering buying one of these laptops and might be interested in one of those anti-glare films too.

 

No I did not, was looking for any feedback from someone that did. I guess I will just have to do it. I did get the NP930X5J-S01US its huge comparing to the NP940X3G. Still need to decide between the two.

 

I'm currently having an issue with my touchpad being laggy, unresponsive, and very touchy. I have two of these laptops - bought another one after really enjoying the first one and it was on sale. When I am browsing and scrolling down in Chrome, the touchpad will become unresponsive. The cursor no longer moves and scrolling pauses. When it does come back alive, it is all over the place even on the slightest movement and will sometimes resize my zoom setting in Chrome as if the right click was stuck. I have adjusted the settings, uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers, and have done countless restarts to no avail. There is definitely something wrong with the touchpad as the first laptop experiences no issues at all. Any other options do I have before I have to return and exchange the second laptop?

 

Hi forum,

I am new here to this forum (Hi everybody!) and a 940X3 owner since late June 2014.

My 940X3 came with Windows 8.1 core. I bought it in Germany because I like to have a German keyboard. When I used the Notebook the first time, it had problems with Wlan connections; it found 5 hotspots, my router with the strongest signal could connect but the connection was shown as “limited” (“Begrenzt” in German). Lan worked fine.

Furthermore I recognized the typical yellow-problem which I could solve by disabling the LCDModeChecker in the Task planner (basically the same what the Samsung patch does).
While I used an external mouse, I did not recognize touchpad problems at the first stage.

I travelled to the US for 2 month with the 940X3 and the Wlan problem showed up from time to time. Also I noticed the touchpad problem which is discussed in this forum. Back in Germany I returned the 940X3 to the dealer, mainly to fix the touchpad problem. After 3 weeks it returned, just 5 days before I returned to Thailand, where I live. The technicians said that they could not find any problems with the touchpad and the Wlan works fine.

Back in Thailand I still have problems with the touchpad: after some time of using it, the cursor cannot be positioned any more. After a reboot or exiting sleep mode the touchpad works some time to fail again later on. So, I have all the symptoms of the misbehavior of the touchpad described here in the form. I have tried all posted hints so far but, but no cure!

Since I also own an Asus Zenbook UX31A so I know how smooth a touchpad can work. I wish I would have bought another Asus instead of the Samsung.



Edit 10-17-14

I booted Acronis backup & recovery from a USB stick as well as a linux mint edition.

After a view minutes working with the touchpad it stopped working, the cursor went wired as under windows.

I assume a hardware problem rather than a software issue.

 

Just picked up my i7 ATIV 9 Plus last week!! So far im loving the machine!! I sort of wish the power adapter plug was a little bit larger and more durable but everything about this laptop just screams quality!! Not sure why but my machine didnt seem to come with any bloatware? Did Samsung stop loading the machines with bloat after some point? I also noticed mines didnt have the white script at the bottom of the palm rest either...

 

Wow 167 pages later and this thread still going...
Typing this message on my Ativ book 9 + bought close to one year ago next month.

Not a single problem in that one year and the screen is spectacular especially after using other low ppi screens for many months.

Hope all other users are satisfied with their ATiV book 9 plus.
Enjoy..

 

Never had issue with mousepad.
On bios P04 if this helps.

 

To those who have touchpad issues: There is a vast amount of discussion about the Elan touchpad on the Samsung forum, including many tips and suggestions for dealing with erratic behavior, different driver recommendations, more advanced control panels, and even some hardware tricks. Much of it is in the thread linked below (which covers all models with Elan touchpad, despite the thread title).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...hronos-np700z5a-trackpad-discussion-only.html

But this AB9+ Owners Lounge thread also has many relevant suggestions -- particularly in recent months. I suggest you scan backwards page by page, until you see relevant posts, then use the little arrow in the Quote boxes track back the start of those discussions.

 

Thanks. After over a week with the older BIOS, the touchpad issues came back. Do NOT roll back BIOS for touchpad only.

Good or bad, I can now manually reproduce the touchpad issues on the NP940X3G :-/.

In the Mouse/TouchPad settings, I enable "display dynamic icon."

When the erratic touchpad issues start, you will see green dots/movement on the touchpad tray icon while you are not touching the trackpad.

To manually cause the touchpad issue, use your fingers and press under the laptop base where the touchpad is located, specifically closer to the left side of the touchpad (easiest way). You can sometimes cause the problem if you press hard down on the palm rest left and right of the touchpad (takes more time). The pressure will manually make the touchpad tray icon go erratic :-/. Weird thing is, that if you put to sleep and turn back on, it goes away. It looks like this could also be a hardware issue. Something is shorting the touchpad??? If I have time, I will open the base to see if any wires coming into contact with the little pressure.

 

Interesting, thank you for sharing this - including about the BIOS version NOT being the because.

It does indeed sound like something mechanical triggers the issue, but the next power cycle (incl sleep) resets and/or recalibrates it back to working order.

If this is what other AB9+ owners are seeing, we may have an issue unique to this model.

 

I could not cause the touchpad issues manually as isosunrise did, even if I have to report the same erratic touchpad behavior on my 940x3G.

@ isosunrise
Where could you enable "display dynamic icon” in the touchpad settings? I run Ver. 11.7.19.9 and cannot find where to enable this item.

The fact that the touchpad works after a reset / restart / next power cycle may be related to a hardware defect (i.e capacitor) problem). But this is highly speculative as I am not an engineer.

Thank you folks for jumping on this thread after so long time!

 

Hi all,

Been away for a while for some surgery and, boy, do I miss the daily "fix" from these threads.

Before going under the knife I purchased (pure impulse!) a Sony Flip 13A (open box: $400!) - which has virtually the identical Elan click pad and driver as the Samsung AB9+ and all recent NPs - and I'm having a problem with the Sony that I have not had with either of my Samsungs but could swear it was a problem for some, and one which was solved, though I can't find the reference to it, as active as I've been on this thread and touchpad issues. The problem is simply that all touchpad settings revert to default settings each time it reboots. I was hoping someone who either had this problem with their Samsung - or someone who remembers it coming up in discussion could point me in the right direction.

EDIT: PROBLEM SOLVED! I combed again through the Samsung touchpad thread and found this suggestion for a somewhat similar problem: simply uninstall the Elan program and driver, reboot, re-install driver (or more recent if you can get - I couldn't) and, Voila! Problem gone!

EDIT: Still seeking input on the following:

Also, as Sony has sold snd shuttered it's Vaio PC business (sound familiar?!!) the latest touchpad driver is from August 2013; does it seem reasonable to try a more recent Elan driver for, say, the AB9+? If so, any suggestions as to how to get my current AB9+ driver into the Sony?

Btw, despite some early reviews that were mixed, there were sufficient driver and firmware updates before Sony turned off the lights on Vaio to turn the Vaio Flip series (Ultrabook with full digitizer screen - MS SP3 pen compatible) and into a pretty marvelous device. If you have a need for a low cost, high end Haswell device with full digitizer and convertible form factor a la Yoga series, look for a closeout steal like mine: i5/8GB/128GB/FHD (SONY "Triluminous" - gorgeous! - $400.

Thanks for any pointers. Jeff.

 

Yes! This is exactly what I noticed sets off my touchpad issues! I noticed last week that my touchpad issues only really arise when I have the laptop in my lap, which is when I guess I put the most pressure on the underside of the touchpad. I rarely ever experience the issues when I have it on a flat surface like my desk. Please let me know if you found anything that can be fixed on the inside of the computer to limit the wackiness.

 

I tried this with two ativ book 9 + units and can confirm this does not occur with the two units.

Speculation is that there could be some dust or hair in the mousepad edge vicinity(not visible)? & that as you press this area the mouse pad becomes sensitized and responds intermittently???
Suggestion would be to take apart and inspect but this would void warranty.... A further plausible hypothesis could be that there is a wire/cable underneath the mousepad which is causing the issue when you press in this area but that would require large overhaul which again is a warranty issue.

Good luck with your findings and dealing with Samsung support. Seems like a hardware issue around the mousepad.


EDIT: 2 A further hypothesis is that heat could be causing your unit to expand in the area of the mousepad area as evidenced when you turn it off and back on again the issue disappears? Have a look at dannemand and my discussion back on page 47 about power profiles and using the fan when required. Just a suggestion.

Good luck...

 

Which is better, this or the x1 carbon?

 

Note - the quoted post (mine!) includes edits/updates that may help some but I think it's buried being older - and too long, for a change for me - so if you are having touchpad problems with settings reverting to defaults with esch reboot, check out easy solution I finally found ^ above in quote. Thanks, Jeff

 

In the Windows search bar, search for "mouse" ... display dynamic icon is there

I can reproduce this is on my laptop 100% of the time within a few seconds of pressing around the general vicinity on the base of the laptop by the trackpad, around the "do not trash" icon. If I have time, I can make a video. At work I have it on a desk so I never have the problem. Usually when I am traveling or moving around where I pick up the laptop and move around a lot where this happens.

My laptop is super clean, don't think it is dust.

This happens even on fresh boot. My laptop at work is on cooling fans... don't think it is heat issues either.

There is a huge battery underneath the touchpad... getting to the touchpad will require removing the battery... Maybe the battery expanded with time causing the extra pressure?? That is another hypothesis. Anyway, I am too busy right now with deadlines to deal with disassembly or Samsung Support. In the pass, Samsung Support has been great... they usually replace the whole part (I had them replaced a screen once and send me an extra battery w/out proof). Not sure when my warranty is over though.

===============

More update... this is getting super weird. When my touchpad has the issues, I was able to reproduce it 100% of the time by pressing the base of the laptop (10/10 times).

Well, I just did something that "fixed" it "for now."

I started firming pressing down the touchpad slowly across the touchpad until every location has been pressed down. Now, when I press the base of the laptop, the green dot indicating stuck touchpad responses has gone away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know what is going on. Did I push something back to place? Did I push the battery down? I will keep you guys posted if it comes back. I will press the base every day to see how long it sticks. I am 100% sure it is a mechanical problem. This is just getting silly.

===============

I carry my laptop in a messenger bag... laptop back side towards my back... with stuff in between. So when I walk (I commute mostly by walking), I think that adds more pressure to the back of my laptop. When I got home last night, the erratic touchpad problems came back. Firmly pressing down on the touchpad again fixed it. I now carry my laptop in a messenger bag with the screen/top side towards my back. Got into work this morning and the touchpad is functioning fine. So I still believe that pressure to the back side of the laptop causes some kind of malfunction to touchpad.

 

I do not have time to participate as much as I would like these days. But I am following these touchpad reports with much interest. Even if it turns out the issue reported by isosunrise and others requires a hardware adjustment (or even Samsung repair) it sounds like we are on the verge of finally isolating an issue different from the usual driver and settings issues.

It also bears repeating the old advice not to tolerate an erratic touchpad that won't seem to resolve, even after trying the various drivers fixes and tweaks described in this thread and our general Elan touchpad thread. These Elan touchpads are excellent when they work right. So when they don't, and they won't resolve, I would generally assume something is wrong and ask for an exchange or repair. Don't live it, thinking it is normal. You'll end up throwing the machine against the wall some day!

I returned two units (older series 7 model) due primarily to poor touchpads, before getting my current unit -- which has the best touchpad/trackpad I've ever had on a laptop.

All solutions start with isolating the problem, so thanks to all for sharing your findings here.

 

I know this is an NBR no-no but I am kinda desperate and limited in what I can do physically (like even take photos at the moment) but unforeseen, uninsured medical expenses are forcing me to consider parting with the finest notebook computer I ever owned: the AB9+ in my sig below. It is in absolutely mint condition, I mean flawless, has all original box and packing and 12 months left on an original 15 month wtty (you get 3 months extra for registering online). I'.looking for around $975. Please PM me if you are interested; I will provide more details and even pictures, but I will provide an unconditional 10 day return/100% refund to de-risk any purchase. (Even if you are not interested in purchasing, would you kindly PM me if you think that price is either too high or too low? Thanks

I will post this in NBR and ultimately eBay if nec., but right now I can't even do the photos necessary for such formal advertising and I am, frankly, feeling desperate to sell due to severe cash flow issues. I've babied this like it was my new puppy; it's just like a new one, but I've got all the right drivers and all the kinks worked out. Mods: compassion if you can. I will have a Marketplace ad up by the weekend. Thanks, Jeff

 

I have figured out my issue. The touchpad senses that I have more than one finger on the touchpad on certain spots even though I only have one finger on it, and it is usually on the same spot every time. The strange thing is that the spot that thinks I have another finger on switches between the left side to the right side of the touchpad after I put the laptop to sleep (close the lid) and turn it back on. I have uninstalled the drivers, reinstalled them, and the issue still persists.

I only found out about this issue after turning on the Display Touchpad in the taskbar that shows if the touchpad being touched and how many fingers are on it.

 

hey guys.. i'm just having some strange issues with my pretty 940x3g these days.

If i send the notebook to sleep from my xubuntu or windows 8.1 it will power off correctly but won't wake up. well, it wakes up with the status-leds (power/caps-lock/wlan) kinda flashing and pushing the fans to 100%. i've got no output on screen and i can't do any interaction, even pushing the power-off button for 20+ seconds won't turn it off. i have to open the case and disconnect the battery. the notebook will boot then after a few tries and everything seems to be back and working.

i first thought the newest bios update (P05ACJ, sept. 2014) could may be the cause and flashed some older bios'es (P02ACJ, P03ACJ) but after a few tries, i get again stuck in the freezed-sleep mode. i am now running a few memory and harddisk-checks and report the results. but that is quite a strange behaviour.

any other ideas?

update#1:
Well, i think there is a problem with my mainboard or the bios checking the internals on startup. I thought the problems only happen when the computer is put to sleep. But sometime i can't start the notebook even if it was properly shutdown. The power-led will start but no other thing is happening. I have to power-off/power-on the devices 10-20 times, then all works again. I will try to send it back, i have i should have plenty of warranty time (bought 60 months)

 

After isosunrises hint, I could monitor the touchpad behavior of my 940x3G. About five minutes after starting the system, a blue dot appears on the touchpad symbol and the touchpad itself works erratic only. Reducing the sensivity does not help.

I contacted Samsung Germany and they told me that my notebook is covered by a two year warranty so, when I am in Germany in July next year, they will fix the problem.

My best guess by now is, that this a hardware problem caused by whatever, defective or misassembled elantouchpad.

 

I believe I have remedied the issue of my erratic touchpad where it would think there were multiple fingers on the touchpad. I have not confirmed it, but I went out and bought another laptop (going to return the defective one). I made sure the Silent Mode was off as I originally had it on auto mode, and the touchpad has not experienced a hiccup yet. I am not sure if this has fixed the problem, but it has not come up for the past ten minutes and this is when I begin to notice trouble. Either way, I will be returning the defective one in case and keep the one I recently just purchased as there are no issues with the new one.

 

Seems your backpack maybe the issue?

 

I've tried an anti-glare film with the Ativ 9+. The screen's pixel density is so high that the film acted a bit like a distorted prism. It diffracted the light causing it to be mufti-colored when it should have been solid. It wasn't really needed though or I have grown accustomed to the laptop without it.

 

Help me please!
I have NP940X3G- MS1 notebook (I didn't find any information about this model)
It has bios E00acj version.
Bios updater downloading P05acj version (but I also download 02 and 03 v.)
but I cant install it cos I have an error "Model type does not match with system"

 

^^
What country are you in?
Is that ms1 Malaysia?

 

Im thinking it from Canada.
Index is -MS1 not -K01DE or K02US
Can it be a prototype or something ?




PS: My configuration: QHD+, i-5, 4 gb, 128 gb

View attachment DebugAppLog.txt

Now I have a brick

Was trying to update bios with afuwinx64.exe and P05ACJ bios

Code:

afuwinx64 P05ACJ.cap /CAF

command was executing successful
after restart display didnt on.

I have a backup of my bios, any possibilities to restore it from usb?

 

Unfortunately, I'm having problems with a touchpad as well (X3B). Not sure if these are software or hardware, but I think the later. Erratic symptoms include right click instead of left click with single finger, left touchpad click not registering, highlighting as if ctrl key is locked. After a few minutes of hitting ctrl, esc and clicking it sometimes returns to normal. Any ideas? Would a hard bios reset help at all or is it time to replace the unit. I will try a clean windows install, but I have doubts it is a driver issue as I restored an image from month ago that should have been ok and the problem appeared immediately.

 

This thread might be relevant.

There are also some other BIOS and bricking related threads in the Sticky List.

John

 

I'm pretty sure it's hardware. You just described the same symptoms I have, in addition to mine freezing up completely a few times per day. Ridiculous that Samsung allowed this to happen. I don't really know what to do as I don't have time to send it in and get a new computer.

 

Almost positive the touchpad/controller has died. Even in the W7 installation the physical left click does not work. I removed the unit and cleaned it off to no avail. So I ordered a used unit from a teardown off ebay and will try that. I think the bottom plate does not provide a lot of support for the touchpad, so in my overstuffed backpack the compression must have caused the damage or else the unit was defective from the start and just got worse over time. Kinda lame, I don't think a mba would need to be babied like these samsungs.

 

I have what I think is a nice opportunity for anyone who has been lurking on this thread and undecided about a purchase of this very special Ultrabook (all be it with some problems of the like that all computers can have). Now that I have formally published an ad in the NBR Marketplace I can be straightforward and announce that:

I am selling my mint condition (barely used) Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus (NP940X3G-K05US) for what I believe to be an attractive price (can't state here, but see my ad) If you read the history of my posts on this thread you will see that, like others, I had some trackpad issues initially but thanks to the wonderful support of people on this thread all were fully corrected with software. Also, when I first got the notebook, the battery capacity was reading 94% and I almost returned it, but I found that if you run the battery calibration routine in the BIOS, it quickly normalizes and, as some of the experts on this site indicated may occur, it now shows that my battery capacity when full is 102% (!) of mfr. stated capacity.

It turns out that I have done little with this computer since I bought it in June except set it up and tweak it. At one point I was considering giving it as a gift to my daughter and then I had some medical problems and needed surgery, so the AB9+ stayed inside its box, gathering no dust, sustaining no scratches, burning no electronics. I own 5 other wonderful ultrportable/ultrabook devices (hence, my screen name!), and finances are an issue with my 3+ month absence from work and though this is my newest and by far most favorite computer - ever! - it is also the one that will produce the most "bang for the buck" for me, so, alas, it's the one I'm first putting on the block. It makes me sad, but I have had more than my share of tech indulgences, and one day I will buy another AB9+.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I'll pay a 5% finders fee for anyone who can refer me a buyer. :thumbsup:

Check out my NBR Ad and let me know if you have any interest.

Thanks,
Jeff Bellin

 

I think my touchpad has pretty much completely stopped working today. Every time I try to click, it registers as if 3 or 4 fingers are pressing down on it according to the dynamic taskbar icon thing.

What number do I call to go about potentially exchanging this defective unit for another one?

 

Assuming you are in US: The support page on samsung.com has contact info:

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/contact

They may ask you to first try restoring the factory installation (from F4 Recovery) to make sure it's not just a software problem. So you can check that yourself before calling them. Make sure to first backup ANYTHING important on an external drive. Both of those (backing up and restoring to factory) are good precautions anyway, to protect your data and privacy before sending it in for service.

 

Thank you.

 

Hey guys,
i searched a lot on this forum and a lot on google but i did not find a tutorial at how to replace a key from the keyboard. I mean especially the space bar. i wanted to dissamble it, clean and assembly it again but i did not find anything. anyone already did this and got some pics or tips for me? would be very nice
regards

 

I´m rocking Windows 10 on this thing. Everything working pretty good. Have not updated to build 9860 thou, witch seems to contain a lot of goddies.

 

See this. Most likely the NP900X3G and the NP940X3G have keyboards of similar construction but, until you pull a key off, we won't know for sure.

John