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

I had problems from the first time I used it, will restoring it definitely work?
Thanks for your advice, it really is appreciated.

 

That blows. Well, It's on its way. I guess I'll find out soon and post the results. Thanks for the heads up.

Interesting read.

And yes, I was happy to see Sykton's post. I just got a hold of a screwdriver small enough. Sure enough, there's an empty ram slot which means there's a 8GB somewhere, but where? It'd be nice to able to have a look at it to see the exact make and model of this "soldered" 8GB piece. Can't see it in the picture of the inside, maybe it's underneath it?

excellent. my SDD should arrive today and I can now mess with my new computer with peace of mind. Getting it in writing... you're a wise man.

 

Ive just installed the latest intel HD4000 driver and now my brightness is completly messed up. Its on the highest setting but displaying the lowest one. Nothing i can do. How do i fix this?

 

Adaptive Brightness is known to prevent brightness from being set to its max. Try and disable it in all the places mentioned in this post and this post see if that helps.

BTW that last post I linked is in a thread entirely about defeating the Adaptive Brightness beast:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...ness-driving-me-nuts-unable-disable-help.html

 

Yeah i knew about that , i fixed it now, i rolled back to older driver after a big hassle. The new one takes over brightness control, and theres nothing you can do about it.

 

It doesn't darken, it gets totally dark. I did an "out of the box" and it seems to be working now, but I'll report back if anything else happens. I'm afraid to put the laptop back in power save/balanced mode in fear the problem will return.

I've noticed the bottom getting hot so if it comes back, I'll write it off as a cooling issue.

 

Dear People,

I need your help with some problems i have.

I currently have the NP780Z5e.

there are some problems with laptop, and im currently thinking to recovery/refersh/reset it. Please let me know which are the best options as i found some below.

-Samsung recover program; which can recover your drive to when you bought it.
-Window Recovery drive- using the refresh.
-Window Recovery drive- using the reset.

if i use the window recovery drive (refresh), do i still keep my current window as i have purchase the window 8 and the cd key is intact in the motherboard now? Or the refresh will wipe my current window (and cd key) and install a fresh one.

I noticed on the window recovery drive, if i unchecked the "copy the recovery partition from the pc to the recovery drive". the usb has only around 256mb. Is that enough to refresh or reset my pc?

What does that copy the recovery partition from the pc to the recovery drive" do?

 

Hi everyone. I recently bought an np770z5e-s02uk (i5 and 8850m) and have found an issue I haven't seen any mention of before.
My wifi connection works perfectly the majority of the time but not when the dedicated GPU is in use. Once I launch a program that uses the dedicated GPU (eg. games) I've noticed that my wireless signal drops drastically and I lose the ability to connect to servers etc. If I set the games not to use the dedicated GPU I can connect fine but obviously get unplayable framerates. I've tried using several intel drivers and the default windows 8 drivers but the problem persists. If I move closer to the wireless router my connection improves and I can connect whist using the dedicated GPU. My best guess as to the cause of the issue is that the GPU is draining power from the wireless card? Has anyone else encountered a similar issue or is it possible that my laptop has a manufacturing fault as it seems to be a very unusual problem?
I know a more powerful router/ moving the router/ moving my laptop closer would be a work around but I feel that this shouldn't be happening so any advice or suggested fixes would be much appreciated.

 

Hello PenguinPlop, welcome to NBR.

Try if some of the remedies mentioned in the following thread help, particularly the Power Profile changes, but also the Adapter Settings.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/727499-wifi-remedies-samsung-laptops.html

Please post your results and any follow-up questions in that thread, as we're trying to gather WiFi related information -- which is common to many models, but currently discussed across numerous threads.

Hi mousefai, welcome to you as well.

If your PC came with Windows 8 (as all models covered by this thread do) your Windows 8 Product Key is stored in BIOS, and you can refresh or restore -- or even perform a clean install of Windows 8 -- it will always pick up that Product Key.

Win8's Refresh feature (Charms - Settings - PC Settings - General) will restore your Windows to the original state (including Samsung drivers and software) but otherwise leave your files alone.



Samsung Recovery (either F4 boot or loaded using the Samsung Recovery app in Windows) is a better choice if you want to completely restore the PC to factory state.

I was a little confused about the backup you talked about: If you mean to create a Factory Image backup on a USB stick (which is great for safety) you need a 32GB USB stick for that. Buy maybe you meant something else

 

I'd say yes, it will totally reconfigure your machine. If you continue to have problems after a restore, then you may have a component of the PC which has technical issues and I'd suggest contacting Samsung if that happens.

But for the time being, a restore would definitely be your first and best option.

 

Thanks Dannemand,

Thanks for clarify those refresh/reset/recovery function on this machine.

Let me step a deeper about the question on the usb stick.

Right now, I do not have any recovery drive and plan to set one up. There are a option in the recovery drive function which says "copy the recovery partition from the pc to the recovery drive". Do you know what does that do if i check it.

OK, i tried it myself but UNCHECK that option. After the recovery drive is created, i noticed the drive only contain about 500MB of data. If I used that recovery drive and boot into the advance startup. Does that 500MB of data has enough data to refresh/reset the whole PC?

OR i should check the copy the recovery partition from the pc to the recovery drive since it created a usb is around 20GB. (but still, i don know what is the use for checking copy the recovery partition from the pc to the recovery drive option).

Please let me know.

 

Ahhh, I know what you're talking about now: You're using the Recovery Control Panel in Windows, which creates a Windows recovery disk. That's entirely different from the Samsung Recovery Solution that users in this thread have been discussing.

To be honest, I don't know much about that feature (Windows Recovery). I see that it has an option to copy the recovery partition as well, creating a portable Windows Refresh drive.

I have a Windows 8 clean install, and that option is grayed out for me -- probably because I don't have a Windows RE Tools partition (the first partition on a Win8 factory-delivered disk) or because my Windows 8 installation is not linked to the Samsung Recovery Partition. Maybe others have experience with this which they can share.

Samsung Recovery Solution is loaded either by using Samsung Recovery application in Windows or by pressing F4 after Power On. That's the one used by members in this thread to clone their HDD onto an SSD or to backup the Factory Image to USB.

I hope that clarifies. It did for me

 

I knew once you clean install your laptop, the option will be gray out since the partition is not there.

but thanks yea, u clarify my questions already.

 

Well in my case I actually still do have the Recovery partition (containing Win7) but it's not connected to my Win8 which was installed from a DVD. Same difference

 

btw, i noticed my laptop's sound system wasnt as good as before the recovery. do u know why?

or is there anyway to set the sound for a better quality?

 

If you're in the US and buying the
Samsung ATIV Book 8 - NP880Z5E-X01UB
from best buy. Tell them you're a student - 4 year subscription to Office 365 for free. They didn't even ask/check my student ID. I thought it came without Outlook but it says on the cover "Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook"
"Plus:
Use on mobile devices
Skype world mintes
SkyDrive +20GB storage
Version upgrades included"

I'm assuming I can do trial then updgrade after 30 days to get an extra month?

Additionally, you get a choice of a 1 year subscription to either Kaspersky, Webroot, or Trend Micro (Titanium) virus/malaware protection.

Wasn't sure which one to go with, not even sure if I should use it at all.

Just thought I'd share if it affects which bloatware to keep/get rid of.

I bought mine @ the Northgate, WA (near Seattle) Best Buy, but I doubt the Office deal has anything to do with Microsoft being close by.

 

how did the 7260 AC Wifi go ?

Anyone else with ATIV Book 8 NP880-Z5E, swap their wifi adaptor to 7260 AC ?

Also with regards to backup and recovery options, has there been any developments for software apps besides Samsung Recovery option ? I ask as the Samsung Recovery method of back ups is just too slow at 15-30MB/s.

I have a Crucial M500 960GB SSD and Intel 7260-AC wifi coming next week, so once they're plucked into ATIV Book 8 (fingers crossed), I should be all set and one step closer to the ATIV Book 8 being a 100% desktop work PC replacement. But regular backup options would seem limited in terms of speed with just Samsung Recovery ?

edit: ooh came across SlimImage http://www.slimimage.com/

other interesting tools http://blog.paragon-software.com/?p=2899 - http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/components/migrate-OS-to-SSD/

 

The Ativ Book 8 comes with bitcasa (online storage) 20GB for life, unlimited for 2 months, if you are looking for something automatic to backup your stuff this is not it, it's just storage... Bitcasa Partners With Samsung To Offer Unlimited Cloud Storage On All Of Its Windows 8 Devices | TechCrunch


Also, the 7260 install went smooth, I did it while I swapped my HDD out for an SSD, the network card is right next to the HDD assembly. It's pretty straight forward, unscrew the one screw that holds down the network card and try not to mix up the antennas. I used the drivers from the Sager NP9380 everything is running smoothly and max around 6Gb/s in steam (on wireless N 20Mhz) this is about as fast as my wired connection on my desktop.

 

Yes, make use of the trial month before putting your license key in to activate, might as well - although you might find that the trial version installed on the laptop is not the same version as 365 (mine came with the Office 2010 trial, which isn't the same as the 2013 version that I bought with 365!

I'd avoid all those Antivirus programs, personally (other people's mileage with these products will vary, but) in my opinion, they're not that good. The Microsoft Windows 8 integrated Antivirus and firewall offer as much as these do, for real-world usage and use much lower overheads on the machine.

 

I thought I'd update, I've not yet followed your advice as yesterday went without issue, but it seems the problem has returned, I'll follow your advice tomorrow, as I want to use the laptop tonight.

Anyway: after restoring I had the sleep mode problem so I contacted support... they then fixed the issue but the graphics card issue returned (games not being able to run at all on high settings, I believe this is caused by the integrated graphics being used).I contacted support and they fixed that, but sleep/hibernate still didn't function as intended (the laptop would go into a weird state where the fan was on when I put it into sleep/hibernate/shut down, but when I held down the power it would turn on normally as if in that mode) so I have made the decision to do a full restore.

If the computer doesn't work afterwards I will seek a replacement as you advised, as I love the laptop so I hope it can be fixed.
edit: I didn't quote the person who told me to restore... sorry.

 

Added DamoUK's very good WiFi-problem solving guide to post #1. If I missed other posts that should be there or if you have another suggestion regarding post #1 please let me know.

 

Thank you very much for keeping the OP updated, it's really a great service!

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

So I got my RAM and SSD in my computer. This kind of stuff is beyond the scope of my computer knowledge. Thank you all for your informative posts, especially Dannemand and those who were kind enough to make the guides. Thank you.

I put in a significant amount of effort to try and get the Win 8 ISO image without success. This is very frustrating (Please PM me if you can help remedy this). So I went ahead with option 2 / Plan B and used my USB key, exported the image and did a "factory restore"? Anyway I'm stuck. Despite my best efforts to piece together bits and pieces of posts, there are gaps in my knowledge of how computers work and it'll help immensely if you can connect the dots for me. Please forgive me if these questions are very basic or answered, but I have made an honest effort to search these forums.

1. The extra partition that takes up ~30GB; if I delete it what is functions are lost? I have the USB key, also I intend on keeping the partition on my original HDD. The USB key only has ~16GB of content which is <<30GB. Is that okay?

2. Can I move everything on the USB Key to a folder on my backup hard drive, and move it back to the key when I need to use it? If no, can I still use the rest of the space on the USB key to store and move stuff?

3. I would like to use the extra HDD as an external hard drive, whilst keeping the extra partition on it just in case. If my SSD fails can I swap the HDD back in (with whatever crap I put on it) and it'll boot up the way I had it? I'm asking whether there's anything special I need to aside from leaving the content that's already on the drive alone in order to use it as an external storage HDD that can double as a quick backup if my SSD fails.

I'll continue to do more searches and googling.

Thanks ahead of time people.

 

I am having the issues with the wireless, but this fix didn't seem to work for me. I've gone thru the steps twice now and continue to get the 'limited access' or no connectivity at all. I won't get it for days and then it will happen a dozen time in a couple hours. I know my router is fine because I have at least 6 other devices that connect just fine. Any other ideas to resolve this? It's driving me crazy!!!!!!

 

I just swapped out my hard drive with an SSD but it isnt bootable. I tried using an adaptor for my old hard drive to plug it into the usb port but it wont show up as a boot option. Also tried plugging in an optical drive and a windows 7 install disc and it also wasn't bootable. I have no idea where to go from here, it seems like my bios isn't picking up any usb devices. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Hope you might find better luck with one of these remedies:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=9315847

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

I restored my computer to factory settings and the issue seems to be fixed, Samsung seem to have got rid of the BIOS update though, and there was an update for SW update which I don't think I needed before.

 

Is the only fix for the brightness issue to reinstall both the graphics drivers?

Seems like a lot of work to me, and it didn't work at all for me on 13.6, so I'm hesitant to try it again.

Also Borderlands 2 was completely unplayable for me on both 13.6 and 13.5 beta, but 13.8 seems to be working fine, in case anyone else is having issues.

 

Before re-installing, try the Adaptive Brightness fixes described in this post and this post.

I believe consensus is you need to re-install the HD4000 driver AFTER the AMD beta driver -- as described on the opening post. Also, that you need to use the Samsung provided HD4000 driver.

Correct me if I am wrong, guys.

 

It sounds like you swapped in an empty SSD, is that correct? If you wanted to clone your Win8 installation from the HDD to the SSD, you would have been better off doing that before swapping the drives -- as described on the opening post of this thread.

However, you should be able to make a clean install of Win7 onto that new SSD. If that's what you want, make the following settings in BIOS (F2):

Fast Boot / Fast BIOS = disabled
SecureBoot = disabled
OS Mode Selection = CSM OS (this will disable UEFI)

Now you should be able to boot your Win7 DVD. Follow the install guide in this post. Do NOT follow the guides on the first page of that thread, they're for earlier Series 7 models only.

Let us know what you want to do, and we'll try an help you.

 

So there are models which have 8gb soldered and the ram slot is free? if so, which model is that?

 

1. Not sure what your extra partition is, there should be no 30GB partition. You should have the following (an 870Z5E or 880Z5E might have slightly different size recovery partitions, but not double):



Anything else, you should be able to delete.

2. You can back up the USB key files, but won't be able to boot from it again. For the cost of a USB key these days, I'd highly recommend keeping the key safe somewhere. Of course, if you keep the recovery partitions on the drive, you can still use F4 or re-create the USB key - and if you kept the original HDD, then you can re-use that without deleting the partitions so it can go back in if it needs to in an emergency.

3. Yes, by all means use the old HDD in an enclosure, it works perfectly. Just use the main partition (what would have been the C drive - basically the only one you can see, though it now won't be C as you already have that in the form of your SSD). Make sure to leave the recovery partitions well alone and you can swap back if needed and recover from those or build a USB key again if needed using F4. You don't specifically need to keep the windows files/folders on the old HDD as you can just use the recovery element if you need to - but if you'd feel safer, it's not like the drive is that short of space, so you can also just leave them alone - create a folder for all your storage, if you go down this route, so you don't end up with the drive in a mess!

 

Try it again, make sure you remove every wifi driver mentioned. I suspect you've missed one (or some).

If you still have no success, navigate over to the Intel page and download their drivers, then follow the steps again, but install the Intel drivers instead. Some people have had more success with these than the Samsung ones.

Unfortunately this is really hard to say. In some countries there are models with 8gb soldered, in others only 4gb - and the model numbers won't tell you which they are as they're very generic and don't tell you the specifications of the laptop. Which country are you in? Your best bet will be to look at the Samsung pages for this laptop in your country or on your suppliers website. With any luck they will make mention of either the onboard amount, 4+4, 8+8, 8+0 etc or a maximum installable 12gb, 16gb etc

 

I'm from germany and there is one version available only: 870Z5E-X04DE
This version isn't listed on samsung

 

It is only 4 on board, according to Samsung, here

The touch version is also only 4+4.

You can upgrade to 4+8 = 12.

 

I just found it on samsung(seems to be new) and they say: Onboard 4 GB + 4 GB

Edit: yea thx. I think I'll just buy it and when the haswell upgrade come I sell the laptop and buy the new version(in the hope they have 16gb ram)

 

I just had a thought on my problem...could someone post a pic of their power supply that came with this laptop?

 

thank you so much, I can finally boot windows 7 on my laptop now. However, I am stuck. I dont know where to get the drivers requried to configure the switchable graphics and where to get the drivers for the graphics card itself. Ran windows experience index and got a 1 for graphics because the graphics card is not active.
Thanks

 

Good, thanks for the update.

Did you follow the Win7 install guide I linked? It includes a download link for SW Update, which should offer the drivers for your model. If it doesn't (because you're on Win7) then just click the Find Model feature to look up your model and download Win7 drivers for manual installation.

The install guide also contains a general list of drivers to install using SW Update (and a few to install manually). There are a few additional ones specifically for your model, as listed in this post (it's for Win8, only install the ones offered by SW Update for Win7).

Now, if you want the latest AMD drivers instead of the ones offered by SW Update, you'll have to install the beta drivers as described on the opening post of this thread. Those steps are meant for Win8, but I assume they must similar for Win7. I believe consensus is to re-install the Intel HD4000 drivers (from SW Update) AFTER you have installed the AMD beta drivers. But now I am merely reciting what others have posted, not from my own experience.

On my (older) Series 7 I right-click the desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics to override the automatic selection of which GPU to use. I have to believe it's the same (or similar) on yours. But I'll have to leave it to others with the same model as you to advise on that. I don't game myself and hardly ever use my AMD, so I don't remember posts on this subject as well

Hope this helps at least some.

 

Unfortunately I still cannot get the graphics card to work. I did look at the install guide and download the drivers that were linked. The graphics card still didn't work, so I went into device manager to see if it was detecting it. It just said there was something wrong with it so windows couldnt run it (error 43). I tried rebooting, enabling and disabling the card, and I just uninstalled the drivers. I am going to try reinstalling them because I believe the drivers are the issue.

Also, this hard drive originally had windows 7 on it, it wasn't blank. I had installed windows 7 to it using another pc. I tested the hard drive on that pc and downloaded some drivers onto it that match a desktop PC. Another problem I have is that I don't even have the program Switchable Graphics so I can't switch it on. I've looked on the samsung website for drivers and programs, however, for the Ativ book 8 there are no downloadable drivers.

Thanks

 

Nevermind, I downloaded SW update and it gave me the drivers I needed.
Thanks for your help

 

I'm guessing you've only installed the drivers for the AMD graphics?

To get switchable graphics and the AMD working correctly, you have to also install the Intel HD 4000 drivers AFTER the AMD ones - this is true in both win 7 and win 8.

If you've used a previous win 7 installation, it's also possible that there's a clash between drivers for the old machine and these! A clean install would probably be wise!

 

I've installed 13.8 CCC, and loaded up Dota 2. Straight increases in fps, very happy. However, when I closed one game and started another (this is all inside Dota 2's client), what was constant ~50fps now dropped to ~20. Removed 13.8, installed 13.6, same problem. Downgraded to 13.5 beta 3, problem is gone, but so is the fps increase. Anyone know a fix for this?

 

one in sig = Samsung ATIV Book 8, NP880Z5E

 

Cheers thanks for that info, i also have Crucial M500 960GB and 7260-AC planned to be swapped in at the same time

 

I'm considering the Ativ Book 8 from BestBuy and have a question. The few reviews I've read seem to be a little all over the place, as far as screen brightness and colors. Some say the screen isn't all that bright and colors are washed out. Others say the opposite. Do all the Ativ Book 8 variations use the same panel?? For those who have the BestBuy version, what's your impression of the screen??

 

Please indicate the version and country code (the last 5 digits of the full model number). Not all versions of the NP880Z5E are made the same.

John

 

Samsung ATIV Book 8 NP880Z5E-X01AU

 

Thanks. That shows that someone in the Samsung Australia office had the good sense to order the 8GB on board from the factory (which probably cost a bit more).

John

 

hi everyone just wanted to ask another question..has anyone had problems sending e-mails? For some reason i can't attach all the files i want to send they're only like 2mb size excel files..i copied it using a flashdrive and sent it through another computer and sent it just fine also i tried sending the files that it managed to attach but it wouldn't send either (used chrome and explorer). btw I also dropped my laptop from about a height of 2ft and there's a crack now at the back where the hinge is, more of a chip actually, already asked to replace the back cover from the store but it costs 250usd i'm gonna have to live with it all i'm saying is watch you don't drop yours. I'll post a picture soon for y'all to see the laptop is fine though i haven't experienced any problems with anything other than the emails i can't send..appreciate any responses about the email problem..thanks

I don't have the bestbuy version but the screen works fine for me it's bright enough and real crisp in my opinion, i do have the matte display though it doesn't perform the best in direct sunlight, in a room next to a window with some sunlight hitting it it does alright. I also find the colors to quite accurate i haven't tried the glossy touchscreen yet so maybe you could just try them out for yourself to see what suits you best. hope i helped.

If you're going to game with this laptop in my opinion it's a good alternative to a desktop, hopefully with updated drivers it'll perform better i still use stock drivers.