2013 Series 7 chronos / Ativ Book 8 15" owner's lounge (NP770Z5E / NP780Z5E / NP870Z5E / NP880Z5E)

So, i have done a 3DMark test (Sky Diver test).
Website of 3dmark says : test with AMD RADEON 8870M
Score : 6925
Graphics Score 6608
Physics Score 7748
Combined Score 8663

Detailed results :
Graphics Test 125.95 fps
Graphics Test 236.06 fps
8 threads131.72 fps
24 threads81.24 fps
48 threads48.15 fps
96 threads26.04 fps
Combined Test35.65 fps


So , does that mean that my GPU is working when high performance are required ?

By the way , many thanks for your help

 

Which version of 3DMark?

However, given that the test result reports using the 8870M then I'm sure that was what was used.

John

 

it was the 3D mark demo download with steam , as i was unable to install 3Dmark11 on Win8.1 (i had an error message).

 

Hello everyone, I have a question about temperature. Is it normal for that samsung chronos 7 to have a 70-80s degree C temperature when gaming? I am experiencing pretty high temp even when browsing webs and watching videos, approx 50-60s degree C. Thank you.

I have the NP780Z5E

 

Those look to be very reasonable temperatures and consistent with Samsung's normal rules for fan operation. They could give you lower temperatures but the fans would need to run faster (and be more noisy).

If the temperatures get into the 90s C then it's time to consider cleaning the cooling system. Intel's safe limit for the CPU is 100 C and usually the system is set to throttle the speed as that temperature is approached.

John

 

Thank you John. That definitely eases my worry.

 

The reason of low fps is that ATI Powerplay swithces to battery saver mode from maximum performance. (However you wont see this because all option will show maximum perfomance. This is a serious bug)

To fix this you have to change ATI Powerplay manually to energy saver and than back to maximum perfomance.

This is happening when you plug out and than back in the adapter BUT ONLY if you have different ATI powerplay setting in the different power plan options. if you have the same option it does nothing!

Think about it:

When adapter plugged in the notebook is in balanced or i perfomance powerplan ( which means that powerplay is in maximum performance). When you plug off your adapter Notebook changes to energy saver powerplan ( powerplay also changes) and than when you plug back Ati Powerplay is back to maximum perfomance again. This is solve the FPS problem, however it is very stupid and annoying method.

I stronlgy suggest you to use the following method to fix it:

1. Silent mode button(FN+F11) changes to power plan to energy saving and "current activated mode" (which should be balanced or maximum performance).
2. You have to change ATI Powerplay to energy saver in Energy saver power plan (plugged in).
3. Now you are able to use Silent Mode button to change between ATI Powerplay setting. If FPS drop occurs just put silent button twice and think back to normal.

Alternative option could be to write a script to middle mouse button or stg to do this.

 

where do i find the switchable graphics app in windows 8.1. please note this is a fresh windows 8.1 install, not the official samsung dist, i have installed all the software though.

 

Right click on desktop, there you'll see it.

 

Hey guys,

Recently noticed that my swipe from left to switch app and swipe from top to bring up options does not work anymore. Swipe from the right to bring up the charms works normally. I have the latest elan driver from sw update which is version: 11.7.19.9. The left and top edge swipe options are selected in the touchpad options section of control panel, so I am not sure what is going on. I have rolled back the driver and installed the windows 8 driver from sw update and it still happens. Could this be a hardware issue? The trackpad works fine otherwise, even at the edges. Any ideas?

Thanks

Edit:I feel stupid. My touchscreen input was set to off in the settings. Sometimes I forget I have a touchscreen. Didn't think it affects the trackpad gestures. Works fine now.

 

So i saw this lately, it was a comment to a review on our beloved notebook. This guy is some sort of tech and apprently decrippled this machine to make it work they way it was intended, albeit reducing battery life. However i could not decipher from what he wrote what exactly he did. If someone could take a look at it and maybe shed some light onto it. maybe some people have even done this.

So this is what he wrote:

I made the mistake buying this model, however I did a bit of research on the cause of the slow downs. Well it turns out Samsung is a great electronic engineering company but software is not in their portfolio as demonstrated in the poor performance of otherwise what could have been a killer machine. The spec's should have this as a mid- to high tier gaming notebook but it is crippled by Samsung's utilization of Intel's power management system, this Intel driver also limits the bus speed on the SATA controller as well as the CPU . Samsung for some reason put its own garbage performance killing drivers in it, which is piggybacked on top of Intel. That said uninstall the Intel ME manager and Samsung's performance monitor package and reboot to what it should be albeit at the cost of battery life, which will fall in 1/2 put still that's pretty damn good for a notebook with these spec's ... But I agree no one should pay this kind of money and receive a crippled machine...I spent hours tracking down the problems ... no one should have to do that ... I will be returning it BTW I bench marked in Cinebench before I stripped out the drivers on multi Rendering 4.5; OpenGl 24 without those drivers it smoked it the test @ 6.9 and 52
You will need to set the notebook to performance mode by going into windows 8 power management system and reset all the properties to max performance ... this is the only reason the machine gets 8 hours

As I mentioned you provided a great review, good job. After spending so much blood and treasure
diagnosing and then removing the culprit drivers I now have the Ativ Book 8
operating at peak performance. At this point it is behaving the way I think it
was originally designed for (High-end development/business and yes even
gaming). Just to clarify I work as a software developer.

The whole reason I purchased this machine is that I am
currently working remotely on location out of a hotel room, my workhorse for
the past few years has a been a Dell Z600(modified with 2 256 samsung SSD
drives). My dev requirements dictated a few VM’s and the Z600 with a core duo low
voltage cpu would not even be a
consideration. There was a sale at a local BB so I picked it up as it was one
of only a few full i7 machines that they were selling with all cores(Not low
voltage). I was going to pull the trigger on the Toshiba with the Haswell based
cpu 4700MQ over this 3635QM i7 . The Toshiba was just too big(17 incher) The Ativ 8 had all the right specs for my
work.

One caveat is I am a long time gamer and love to break up
the long hours of dev time with some interludes of gaming. I can attest that
after the corrections and reconfigurations this notebook is perfect for gaming
at medium settings at full HD, the AMD 8770 really shines under DayZ or even Sniper
Elite2. Those are the only games I pulled from Steam to test. They both perform
very well on the Ativ 8.

The only other observation I can provide is that Windows 8’s
metro side will always use 15 to 20% of the hardware, the installed hard
mounted 8GB the Ativ 8 has will be used up very quickly especially when
operating VM’s or while gaming, so another 8GB stick is definitely required for
optimal use in these scenario’s . Just my 2 cents, now the decision to return
it or keep it

 

Hey everyone!
I've got a NP780Z5E-X04DE model nad am having poblems figuring out what graphic cards driver I should use. I sifted through a lot of these pages and tried some versions. Some driver make all my fonts all blurry, some perform very badly. Now I've downloaded the Catalyst 14.4 from the ATI website and everything seems to run smoothly but the card is now listed as AMD Radeon R9 M270X instead of HD 8000M in my device manager. Is that a problem I should take care of?

 

It's not a problem, these driver perform well. At least in my case with 8870m.

 

Could you link me the original comment please? I couldn't find it. This is really interesting.

 

Thanks, lowspace, that's good to hear. Haven't encountered any problems so far.

 

@ pranktank : here you go, found it randomly when looking for ways to improve this machine: Samsung ATIV Book 8 review: a costly, underwhelming laptop | Gearburn

On another note, ive installed msi afterburner. I didnt overclock anything, jst to view temps, so its saying when im playing diablo 3, it reaches temps of 97 degrees Celsius. Im not sure wether this is acceptable or not acceptable at all as it will ruin the gpu lifespan.

I also found no way of increasing the fan speed to regulate this.

Any gamers here have any tips on whats safe for the gpu temp and what can be done about it.

(another thing i noticed, the sensor in msi afterburner (or any other program) only shows temp for the card when its being used by an application, otherwise it will show 0 degrees.

Thanks

 

I'm interested in this performance boost thing too. Let's see if pranktank can come back with some useful infos

 

95

Thank you, I don't really get what he means with the intel management engine. I can't find it on the system. I sadly can't contact him either but I'll try and do some more research.

95°C is said to be more than acceptable by AMD but in my opinion 97 °C is a bit too hot. It seems there's something wrong with the cooling system. Make sure no vents are blocked, a great tip is to lift the rear of the laptop a bit, by putting something underneath. If that doesn't help maybe you need a repaste.

 

Yeah i tried writing to him as well, doesnt really work -.-

so yeah thanks for the advice pranktank i finaly worked out how to run d3 on max settings with no throttling (only took 1.5 years,) so simple really. installed 14.4 whql, this enduro fix patch that gets applied with the .exe,
from that point on the graphics is working, however cpu needs to be forced to stay at 100% all the time. can be done in power options. maybe 90 could be alright, didnt try it.
then it works.
after cleaning all vents from the inside, max temps for cpu and gpu are now at about 85-90, but usually they stay at around 85. (celsius), must add though that im in a hot country atm, playing outside with 30-35 degrees.
Maybe u can add that as ive tried every single driver and millions of solutions but this one did it for me in the end.
I monitor all sensors with HWinfo64.
Now if i could just get the wireless to not disconnect anymore this laptop woud truely be perfect xD

p.s. is this repasting thing hard to do? as in is it easy to break parts or such? thanks

 

Here's Intel ME. It's not installed on my laptop! It says it helps manage the motherboard's heating for improved stability and performance. I wonder whether this might be responsible for my laptop's random freezing issue. But on the other hand, that guy is saying that this software will dramatically reduce the overall performance and should be avoided/uninstalled.

Omg... So confusing..

More about Intel ME:

http://intelmanagementengine.com/intel-technologies/all-about-intel-management-engine-interface.html

 

That's great to hear. I'm happy you got it all working! Sad to hear about your Wi-Fi problems. I never had an issue with it so I wouldn't know how to help.

Those are very safe temps, so a repaste is not really necessary. It involves removing the heatsinks, which is just carefully unscrewing the screws in the right order, cleaning everything with rubbing alcohol, applying the new paste (careful to not use too much, they can be conductive) and screwing everything back together, in the right order, without applying too much pressure. You have to be very careful with the heatsinks though, if you bend any of the pipes it won't work properly. Also, keep in mind that this can void your warranty. So it's doable if you're a bit careful. If the temps are really high you can maybe make samsung do it for you, under warranty.

Good find, thank you. I really think I got the gpu running at max performance though. Maybe there is indeed room for improvement on the cpu.

 

There was this "PX PROFILE LIST" update on SW Update that I let just sit there for a while (it was dated 30/07/2014) and today, by reading its description, I found out it was about switchable graphics. I installed it and after that the laptop just ran fine without any performance drop. I really hope this has fixed those freeze issues as well. I will report back in a few days


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I just got this blue screen error while playing Might & Magic X. Google says it's probably graphic driver related. So maybe I still don't have the right one installed? (14.4 right now, showing my HD8000M as a R9 M270X)

 

Guys. In case I had to send my lappy in for assistance for the image retention issue, would you recommend swapping the stock HDD back in before? I'm a bit lazy and worried because I feel like it will mess up the whole system (which I got working properly) but if you tell me that I can just swap the drives and nothing will be changed, then I'd definitely try and get my screen replaced. The HDD was not formatted and it has a full system image made through Samsung Recovery prior to SSD installation.

 

I recommend you restore the hardware to the supplied condition before sending it in. This avoids the risk of Samsung claiming that you had changed the hardware and therefore invalidated the warranty and also makes sure that they either don't mess up your SSD or pilfer your personal information. There would be no harm done if either they or you preload the factory image.

John

 

Thank you. As soon as they give me a computer at work (yes, I'm using my own machine until I get a full contract with the company -.- ) I might send it in for service.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hey guys, I have two problems with my 770z5e, which runs on 8.1 Update 1.

Once the laptop is going into standby mode the first time, it wont go into standby mode a second time (after I used it in the meantime). I already reseted the energy profiles, but that does not work.

Second problem: all videos stutter in an irregular period of time (for instance every few seconds, every 5 minutes or sometimes it occurs 1-2 times within a whole movie). There is no difference in drivers I use, or the performance mode I chose..games for instance run smooth..At first I thougt there might be a hardware problem with the intel hd, but when the laptop is plugged in, the lapotop should use the ati-card, where the problem also occurs.

I hope anyone has an idea what to do

 

Guys would a 120w psu (still19v) harm the laptop in any way? I read that more Ampere can shorten recharge times but also battery life. Is it true? And are there other downsides in using such a psu?

 

There is the possibility that, if the computer is aware that the PSU has a higher rating then it might use the extra capacity to recharge the battery faster. However, as far as I know, Samsung PSUs don't report their power rating in the way that Dell PSUs, for example, do via a centre pin the the power plug. You can visually check this aspect.

Unless this PSU monitoring exists (you can visually check the plug and socket) then I would expect the computer to be blissfully unaware of the PSU rating and behave as normal. This does raise the question, however, of what does the computer do if connected to a 65W PSU which might be unable to deliver the full load power requirement. I suspect that if this happens the voltage provided by the PSU drops sufficiently for the computer to note that something isn't right but the only way to find out for sure would be a controlled experiment.

John

 

Or it could also be that, not being known the rating of the psu, the computer requests the max given. I mean maybe the limit is in the psu and not in the hardware driver of the power circuit inside the computer. Otherwise, I would conclude that in case of a 65w psu the computer still would ask for 4.34A, more than produced by the psu therfore burning it.

 

Unless there is a pin for communication between computer and PSU the only way for the computer to know that the PSU can't provide enough power is to watch for the voltage dropping as the current increases. This probably happens as the PSU reaches its capacity limit before it cuts out (I would expect it to include some form of cutout). However, the only way to be certain is to try.

John

 

Has anyone sent this laptop model to the warranty due to the image retention/persistence problem and after getting back the problem never happened again? I'm thinking of sending mine to warranty but I would not like to send it away for nothing.

In all the posts I could found online about this problem, people that sent their laptops to warranty had the problem comeback soon after receiving their laptops with the screen replaced. Has Samsung fixed this problem already? Do they currently replace the faulty screens with improved ones? Or they are just replacing the faulty screens with other (newer) faulty screens?

Thanks in advance for any feedback

 

I sent mine around February this year and got it back like two months later (long story short I bought it in the USA but sent it to warranty in Germany and therefore it took a lot longer). The new screen is of course the same model and, as such, will probably develop the same problem again. So far the problem seems to be very mild, but it's still there to some extent, for sure. Last time it took around 10 months before it got so bad that I really started appreciating it, so I can't assess anything yet. I'm using a darker background and a screen saver hoping it'll keep the screen unaffected a little longer.

I wouldn't count on getting a "fixed" model, I looked around for a while and found out that a lot of laptops with similar screens (especially AUO IPS-equivalents) have the same problem, for example some of the Alienwares if I remember correctly. I think it comes with the technology being used, and I suppose it gets more or less noticeable depending on how often you use the computer.

 

Hi.

Two years ago, I bought a Samsung laptop that was very similar to this. It had very similar specs (I'm sorry. I don't know its precise name, though I can find out). Unfortunately that laptop broke and I'm having to get a new one.

I'm basically looking for the same machine and this seems to be the closest I can come up with.

I am concerned, however, about the image retaining problem that I keep seeing on amazon reviews and in here. I was wondering: how big a problem is this?

I never noticed this burning in problem with my old laptop, even though I did quite a lot of stuff with it in photoshop. Basicaly I'm wondering if this problem occurred before and I just didn't notice it or if it's a new thing. Is this something to do with the fact that this model is now touchscreen?

Also, if this is a new and somewhat noticeable thing, can I fix it by playing a special video on it for a while, one with flashing colours?

Basically, I adore my old Samsung but is this burning in problem something that should stop me from buying this new one? If so, are there any alternatives I should be looking into?

Thanks.

 

After a little bit of research, I have found that my previous model was a Samsung NP700Z5C-S01UK. I looked it up and apparently they both have a screen called "X-Rite i1Pro 2". Is this what's supposed to cause the image retention?

Also I believe that I used the term "burn in" incorrectly and meant image retention. Apologies. I'm still learning!

 

I think you've been looking at the notebookcheck reviews. They use the X-Rite Pro 2 display calibration equipment. Notebookcheck says the NP700Z5C uses the Samsung SEC0006 panel (it's listed under specifications). The newer models use displays with higher resolution and better viewing angles. The current model, the NP870Z5G is reported to use the Samsung 156HL01-801 panel while the preceding NP770Z5E used an AUO9003 panel. I think this was the one with image retention problems but I hope some owners can confirm or correct this.

John

 

Wow! I feel like a doofus but thank you so much for clearing that up for me! This is very helpful and gives me some hope! I'm currently considering the NP880Z5E as it seems to be the only one I can purchase that comes with a warranty. If I'm understanding correctly, there's a possibility that there won't be any image retention problems with this model because of its updated panel?

Thanks

 

The NP880Z5E was introduced over one year ago and may not have the newer display panel (plus there's the possible difference in manufacturer between touch and non-touch displays). It has been superseded by the NP880Z5G (which also uses the less troublesome but not so potent Nvidia GPU). However, the newer touchscreen version (NP880Z5G) didn't reach the UK while the non-touch version (NP870Z5G) is hard to find. You might want to consider alternatives such as the Dell XPS 15 9530 which, although the list price is high, has more reasonable pricing in Dell Outlet (when there are any there) on on ebay UK (which is where a lot of the Dell Outlet stock seems to go).

John

 

Thank you so much for this information! As someone who's been looking really hard for an alternative to my old NP700Z5C and not finding much, you're a massive help! I'm going to see if I can find a store with with the Samsung NP8705G (though I suspect my chances are slim) and the Dell XPS 15 9530.

If I'm not interested in a touch screen, are there any other laptops that I should also be looking into?

Basically I'm looking for something as powerful as my old machine, that has a sturdy keyboard and trackpad, good colours, a bright screen with no image retention and is quiet (ideally silent when not running anything excessive). Does such a pc exist in the UK?

 

Are you needing 3D graphics performance? If not, you have a much bigger choice. This is what I've just spent my money on.

There's one NP870Z5G on ebay UK. There used to be 3. I did consider it but didn't want (i) a keyboard including a numpad (I'm used to a centrally located keyboard) and (ii) I don't like the silver finish which increases the glare. There's more discussion of that model here. It's a quiet thread which suggests no big issues. However, in case you haven't noticed it, I would draw your attention to this discussion.

Otherwise, make a list of (a) the features you need; (b) the features you would want but are not completely essential and (c) features you want to avoid. For example, I wanted a very good display but didn't want a separate GPU. Then, go to this sub-forum and fill in the form (remember to indicate you are in UK).

As I mentioned above, Dell Outlet is a good place to prowl because of the big discounts available. Plus you can send something back if not fully satisified or get Dell to fix anything that isn't right.

John

 

I would like to be able to play some 3D games, yes, though I was very comfortable with the graphics ability of my NP700Z5C. Is the NP870Z5G worse than that one was? I mainly play Second Life and a few steam games. I would like them to function, but I don't need them to look hyper gorgeous.

That ebay listing is very interesting indeed! I'm nervous about buying something that I haven't seen in person (and I'm a bit nervous about the warranty) but I might have to bite the bullet and go for it anyway.

Either way, I'll likely definitely post to that subforum. Thank you!!!

 

While I cannot speak to any games in particular, the Nvidia GT 750M of this year's NP870Z5G is newer and faster than the GT 640M of your current NP700Z5C -- although not massively so, to my understanding.

What disappointed many, was the fact that it is quite a bit slower than the AMD HD 8870M of the NP870Z5E and its siblings (NP770/780/880Z5E) which where all released in 2013.

See the attached comparison from NotebookCheck.net:



Following are Owners Lounge threads for other Series 7 / Ativ Book 8 models:

2014 models
http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/742671-np870z5g-ativ-book-8-2014-refresh.html

2013 models
2013 Series 7 chronos / Ativ Book 8 15" owner's lounge (NP770/780/870/880Z5E)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...3e-np740u3e-amd-hd-8570m-optional-4g-lte.html

2012 models
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...ries-7-lovers-here-s-np700z5c-ivy-bridge.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...00z7c-s01us-laptop-i7-3615qm-650m-review.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...g7c-amd-radeon-hd-7970m-geforce-gtx-675m.html

Other models and common threads
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...icky-list-find-most-popular-threads-here.html

 

Hello fellow Samsung users,

I have the ativ book 8, which I purchased back in june of 13'. Since buying the laptop, I've enjoyed it a lot, but it also gave me quite a lot of headaches: random bsod's, driver issues.

The past couple of months, I've been noticing that the screen is suffering from screen burn or image ghosting. It's rather annoying and I will soon return the laptop to demand a new panel.

But now, a new issue has arisen, namely that the laptop is getting ridiculously hot whenever I play a game. I'm not talking about demanding games, but games such as Civilization 5 or Diablo 3. And next to the laptop getting hot, oh so hot, I've been perceiving faint, ever so soft, clicking noises emanating from the lower right corner of the laptop. This is most likely where the HDD is, is it not? The laptop has also getting slower than usual. I'm scared buddies, petrified even!

Anyone else had these same issues?

Will Samsung replace the panel? And how about the HDD? And how long does it normally take until you get your laptop back? One of the reasons why I couldn't send the laptop back earlier was because I couldn't let go of my laptop due to work. Now, I have some weeks, months even, off.

I've been pondering on getting a SSD for this contraption, as I've heard that it's all the rave. Regretfully, I'm not the greatest of tech wizards, so I am slightly held back by the prospect of replacing it and transferring the data, etc. And how about warranty? I bought it in the Netherlands.

Cheers friends!
Ralph

 

@Ralph
1. There have been occurrences of the image retention problem and some people have had their displays under warranty.

2. What is your advertised warranty duration? I recall Germany is 2 years but UK is 1 year. However, in UK I could persue replacement under the "latent defects" provision in consumer legislation. This effectively extends the obligation of the manufacturer / supplier for defects that are inherent in the original manufacture but only become evident after a longer period.

3. The computer getting hotter is often a result of dust and fluff being sucked in through the vents on the bottom (a particular risk if the computer is used on soft surfaces) and gradually blocking the airflow through the cooling system. It's probably time to carefully remove the bottom from the computer and clean it out inside.

4. An HDD making strange noises is always worrying. It is meant to keep its own log of problems called SMART data. It is best to check the drive using the manufacturer's diagnostic utility. For Seagate drives this is called Seatools. If you are not sure about the manufacturer put the HDD model number (from Device Manager) into your favourite search engine.

John

 

Thank you for replying John.

1. That's good to hear.

2. My warranty duration lasts 2 years.

3. Will I void the warranty if I open the laptop up? Regarding this, I spoke with a salesman at the store I bought the laptop at, and he told me that if you replace the HDD for an SSD, you will lose the warranty. Is Samsung truly that draconian?

4. I will try the diagnostic utility out immediately.

 

Well, I give up on Samsung that they'll release another bios to fix the 8GB extra memory problem and will order a new module.

Could anybody who has a working 8GB module installed with the latest bios update share what type of memory module you have?

 

Hey guys, looks like the PX PROFILE list update (dated 30/07/2014) that I recently downloaded for my NP700Z5E has fixed the poor performance issues with the AMD video card while drafting in AutoCAD.
The perofrmance drop was occuring after the laptop randomly crashed (and I'm still investigating the cause of this). Now, even if the crash occurs (happened once in two weeks so far, since the update) the machine will keep running at full speed (OMG using AutoCAD is a pleasing experience now). I only have one issue to fix now (the random crash) so happy

 

Hey guys. My dog accidentally pulled on the HDMI cord plugged into the laptop, I feel stupid for leaving the cord exposed. The HMDI metal frame is now bent out of shape and separated at the bottom. The HDMI does work when plugged in but it needs to be done at a certain angle. Once its in there it sits in place firmly and works fine. I was wondering if anyone has broken their port and if it would be worth fixing it, since i'm assuming it is attached to the motherboard. As long as I am careful with the HDMI being plugged in, will it be ok? I'm worried i could eventually damage the connection which would be worse than just soldering the frame? I'm not too sure. Any help would be appreciated.

 

First be thankful that the whole computer didn't go flying.

I would look inside to see how the port is fixed. Some of the ports on some of the models are on a separate daughterboard which would be less expensive than a mainboard.

Otherwise I would recommend some sort of repair to support the damaged port. Resoldering anything broken is the preferable course of action but a dollop of epoxy resin glue would be another way of holding everything in place (but make sure the port is working before the glue sets!).

John

 

Me again. I figured my Radeon is only working when an application directly calls it. Otherwise everything is being processed by the Intel Chip. I read that I could press Fn + F11 or Fn+F1 to be able to switch the graphics mode but nothing happens. I tried disabling and uninstalling the Intel driver but that didn't work out well.

Anybody got a suggestion?

P.S.: I got almost as lucky as dcolaco, my cat ripped my audio socket and it would cost me at least a hundred bucks to have it soldered :|