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

I've read many informative threads that you can re-partition the C: drive and removing the D: drive after booting from your USB factory image. Is there a way of doing this without booting from that USB drive and what's the easiest way to remove the recovery partitions. Sorry if this has been asked before but most of the threads refer to the bootable USB drive.

 

Hi Johnbarr,

What is the situation you have? Are you running on the original HDD? And what is it you want to accomplish? That will help us provide useful guidance for you.

If all you want is to change the size of your C and D drive, you can just Shrink and Extend them using Windows Disk Management. Sometimes it doesn't let you shrink as much as you would like, in which case you can use Minitool Partition Wizard instead (Google it).

The bootable USB you are referring to (and which I am often recommending) is simply a backup of the factory Win8 installation and Recovery software from the original HDD. In addition to providing a backup in its own right, it is one of the easiest ways to install Win8 onto a new SSD drive without having to know all the technicalities of the new standards used by Win8 (which can make it more complicated than good old XP, Vista and Win7 installations).

 

I had the HDD successfully cloned onto a SSD. So I'm running with the SSD using the original factory image. I thought it sounded strange to boot from a usb with a factory image onto the SSD running the factory image just to move the slider so that I only have a C:drive. So that's what I'm after, a C: only drive and to remove the recovery partitions. Sorry I didn't explain myself a bit better the first time.

 

I installed win8.1 on my 770z5e.
During driver install i got some blue Screens: AMD Driver 13.10beta, Chipset. After trying 3-4 times I was able to install them. The only trouble I have right now is,
i can’t adjust the LCD Brightness with FN-Keys when I’m on battery Mode. I tried to change some settings in windows 8.1 but it didn’t helped me.
Beside that my Chronos7 runs good with win8.1. But the blue screens during driver installation and the FN-Key Bug gives me the feeling “Something is wrong”.

I think I will switch back to win8 or maybe windows 7
Has anyone tried to install win8.1 on 770z5e???

 

I couldn't find an ATIV Book 6 Owner's Lounge, so I'm asking in here since the Ativ Book 8 is pretty close to my model. Is it possible to open up the computer and replace the battery on your own or do you have to ship it back to Samsung? And if the computer is out of warranty, do you have to pay to have them replace the battery?

 

Sure if you can find a genuine replacement battery. Of course to get the part number you would need to open your laptop or some how find it on Samsung's website.

 

Use samsungparts.com to find the part number (such as this). You can either order directly on that site or look for better deals on that part number elsewhere.

 

i dont get why install a preview version of an OS that is coming out (for free) in two week.

 

@Cboolator: Yeah, don't get me wrong, but I too am getting a little exhausted responding to posts about Win 8.1 not working properly. In short, it doesn't fully work yet on Samsung machines, we're waiting for Samsung to release updated Settings and other drivers. Until then, use at your own risk -- though there are a few things you can do.

If you google site:notebookreview.com/samsung 8.1 you'll see several posts in this thread and a number of dedicated threads.

Oh, and usually the next question is when will Samsung release drivers for 8.1, to which my best guess is when 8.1 is released.

 

It'll be the same issue for everyone in a few weeks assuming Samsung don't release updated drivers in time (Likely)

 

OK, I think I understand a little better now.

1) I understand that you still have that bootable factory image USB backup, but just don't want to use it and start over. You just want to get rid of the Recovery partitions in order to save space on the SSD (which I can understand). Also, I assume you still have the original HDD with its Recovery partitions intact. This post explains why that is important before deleting Recovery partitions on the SSD, and what steps to take for users who do NOT already have both of these.

2) I want to point out that, even if you delete both your Samsung Recovery partitions on the SSD, you will still have several other hidden partitions, as described here. They don't take up much space, but they are there. Just having a single Windows partition is a thing of the past.

3) Needles to say, backup any data you may have on your current Data partition (D) before deleting it. In fact, I would make BOTH an external backup of that data AND copy it to the Windows partition (C) where it is going to end up anyway (assuming there is space on C). Always have two copies of anything important -- particularly before making disk or partition changes.

4) Once you have created your backups (factory image AND data) you can use Windows Disk Management to delete your current D partition as well as as the big Samsung Recovery Data partition (named SAMSUNG_REC2). If you have a full bootable factory image USB backup AND the original HDD, you can delete the small Recovery partition as well (named SAMSUNG_REC or RECOVERY). Then right-click the Windows partition (C) and Extend it to use the empty space.

If Disk Management refuses to delete the Recovery partitions (which is likely), you can use the free Minitool Partition Wizard instead (there are other ways, including DISKPART, but this is one is so easy). Just be careful not to make ANY other changes on the disk.

Once your Windows partition (C) is extended to it maximum size, you can restore any data that was backed up from the Data partition (D). Or if you copied that data to C in step (3) above, you're already done.

I hope this helps.

 

Since Samsung will be delivering PCs with Win 8.1, we have to assume they will have working drivers at that time. That has been my assumption anyway, and the reason I haven't been in a hurry to install 8.1 (not since my original test in June).

The dilemma is for anybody who have to make a new clean install between now and then for other reasons. Understandably, nobody wants to install Win8 now, then upgrade in a few weeks. I would probably do the same in that situation (assuming I had access to 8.1 RTM) then try to get by with the latest Settings version 2.1 (available by using Find Model in SW Update to look up model NP940X3G).

 

Hi there:

I think the same, Samsung eventually will launch fix for windows 8.1

HOWEVER, i am not a Metro fanboys (in fact, i use windows 8 as a desktop) and 8.1 is giving nothing to the desktop user : a lousy button, a boot-in-desktop option and nothing else more.

Also the fact that 8.1 is also incompatible with some software (specially antivirus), gives me a second tough if we (desktop user) will really need to install it or not.

Right now, Windows 8.1 is using the "Carrot and the Stick" approach but the carrot is small and already bitted while the stick is big and spiky.

 

That's two drinks I you now!!!

 

LOL

I got so many overlapping discussions going on, I'd already forgotten about that first drink. But now I remember!

 

RTM is not preview ....
I was playing with my samsung and installed win8.1 just for fun.
Today i will switch back to win7.

 

Has anyone had the same problem as me? I've updated the Intel drivers and deleted the AMD install software like the first post says. but when i download the AMD 13.10 drivers it says the version of my graphics adapter is not supported?

 

You are right about that; and of course there is nothing wrong in testing 8.1; I did the same back here; and I strongly encourage anyone to try things out and post their findings. Much good information gets posted here that way.

I will say, though, when a Windows update breaks compatibility (as clearly this one does), it is reasonable that 3rd parties need some time after RTM to update their software. And in this case Samsung has a deadline when 8.1 is released publicly and they are expected to deliver laptops with it.

For anybody running 8.1 now (either on a test partition or as daily driver) I suggest getting the latest Settings 2.1 as described in the thread linked below:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/729139-settings-easy-settings-what-you-need-know.html

Also (again) googling site:notebookreview.com/samsung 8.1 will bring up many of the past discussions and observations made here about in 8.1.

 

I have seen this issue when trying to install the 13.10 x64 drivers.

I used the general "Windows" package, which let me proceed to the installation stage, but I've got another problem there:

No matter what I try, I have not been able to get the 13.10 drivers to install on my system using the "Windows" package available or 13.9 drivers either. I was previously running 13.6 beta3, but decided to upgrade. After an hour of failure, I checked to see if my graphics card was borked by installing the Samsung provided driver. That went off without a hitch. Now, I'm repeating the process to use non-Samsung drivers (as far as SW Update tells me, my Intel HD 4000 drivers are up to date), and while the installer runs, the driver isn't installed. What am I doing wrong?

For the record, I have the NP770Z5E.

 

Hey guys, long time no post. College has been busy as heck. Anyway, I'm finally encountering a new problem.

Out of nowhere, I noticed my Random Read/Write Speeds on my 840 Pro got really slow. Just last week they were perfectly normal, and now this. Any ideas?



EDIT:

Oh dear god it's so much worse than I thought. Idk if anyone remembers, but about a month ago I had this huge issue with faulty memory. I went from 8GB to 16. After a long time of no problems, I check my task manager to find this.

It says I only have 8 now, but under Committed it says 2.4/9.8? What the hell is going on?
I took out and put back in the 8GB stick I put in about a month ago and still nothing. It's like it disappeared. Someone please help I'm freaking out.

EDIT: Just checked my BIOS. It says there's no RAM in Slot 1 and 8GB in Slot 2. Could that mean the RAM I installed is fine and the on board RAM isn't? Could someone check which slot the onboard RAM is in?

EDIT: Took my RAM out and tried running the computer, it worked fine except a few weird things being different like not booting up right to the Desktop like I have Classic Shell set to do and other weird personalization stuff like that. So it's a problem with the separate RAM again . It's not even faulty this time, it's just not detecting it. Could it be because of the BIOS update I just installed? It kinda did some weird stuff during installation.

EDIT: I will seriously dedicate my life to anyone who can fix this for me. I don't know if my SSD and Memory issues are related, I don't know why my seperate RAM isn't being detected anyone out of absolute nowhere, I don't know why random personalization settings were different when I turned the computer back on after taking out the RAM, I don't know .

 

AMD 13.10 Beta 2 is released. http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/amd_catalyst_13_10_beta2_(13_200_11_september_20)_download.html

 

SSD speed will be impacted greatly by the amount of data running on it, try running disk cleanup. Out of my 2 840 pro drives io speeds that low have never occurred to me so rest assured, your drive is fine. You can try re-updating the bios or reseting the bios to defaults (there should be an option for this in the bios) otherwise you can accomplish this by (if the bios storage is not nvram [i didn't see a cmos battery when i opened my laptop]) by disconnecting your power cord, turning the pc off, and press the button on the bottom to turn off the battery completely, hold the power button for 5-15 seconds or let your laptop simmer over night to insure the cmos memory has no power.

If a bios reset does not work try re-updating your bios (there are instructions somewhere in this thread), if that doesn't work and it was definitely registering correctly before the update then maybe it is an issue with the new bios, other people should see problems as well if it indeed is.

 

your SSD read/write speeds takes a major hit depending on usage/wear n tear or even how much space is being occupied

i have a samsung 840 250gb, and its read/write varies but then again i wouldnt look too much into benchmarks. delete out massive files or back them up to an external hd, and rerun those test again.

use desktop tools such as CPU-Z to see if your memory is registering

these laptops are a bit funky on bios. I had a 780z5e which came with 4x4 memory.. and it showed up as slot 0 / 8gb on bios if i remembered correctly.

I acutally couldnt stand the ghosting and purchased the "newer 880z5e" ATIV Book 8. It is essentially the same laptop as 780z5e, down to the metal and everything included. I even had pictures when i took both apart. After doing the exchange from the 780z5e to 880z5e, the weird thing that changed was the PANEL on the ATIV Book 8. Free of image ghosting, ya im sure 99% of you guys had it, because i had. It goes away after a reboot, and i always kept my brightness to 30%. Also this "880z5e" had 1 [8gb] memory pre-installed, leaving the other slot open for upgrade

was worth the exchange... hope it helps

 

Awesomely enough, this download actually installed the driver for me (as opposed to going through the motion but not installing anything, as I mentioned earlier)! Thanks!

 

Tried the power button thing, didn't work. Reset the BIOS to default settings, didn't work. Googled forever trying to figure out how to rollback BIOS, didn't work. Downloaded the most recent BIOS with BIOSUpdate.exe and it wouldn't let me install it since it's the same as the one I already have.

I'm beyond confused. It seems like it stopped detecting the RAM out of absolutely nowhere.

 

Hi guys, thank you all for a great thread

Just ordered one, will probably receive it on friday

Best regards from Norway (the land of oil and taxes)

 

Heisann Torflo, welcome to NBR

And congrats on your great new toy. Which model are you getting? And are you looking to swap in an SSD, as many here have done?

 

Thank you, Dannemand

I got the 880Z5E with the 8870 graphic card and mineral ash black color. Almost every 880Z5E sold here in Norway are the silver one.

I got a 128GB samsung 830 SSD from my work, so i will install this right away when i get the laptop Thanks to your great tutorials, that will be a easy task. (i hope)

 

I hear you. I would go for the mineral ash as well. And sounds like you're well prepared for the HDD/SSD transplant

 

i hope it will go well, i work with IT so im used to handle IT equipment

i was a little concerned about the warranty. But we have a 5 years warranty on 99% of all consumer products in Norway by law, regardless of what the manufacturer warranty is. So i was glad to find out that this law also applies if we choose to upgrade HDD or memory in our laptops/desktops.

I will post my first impressions after i get it.

 

Don't break anything and restore the computer to the supplied condition before calling for warranty service (should you need it). Samsung service staff don't make a forensic examination of computers sent for service but do check for obvious problems such as spilled drinks.

In reality, it's useful to be able to put back in the original HDD and restore the factory image as part of any trouble-shooting. Then if service is needed you can send the computer knowing that your personal files (on the SSD in your drawer) are safe.

John

 

Hey guys, is there a way to prevent SAgent to automatically startup with Windows? I'd rather starting SW Update & co. only when needed, not everytime I boot the laptop.. (I'm trying to reduce the startup tasks to the mininum possible)

edit: found answer in this thread.

Thanks

Also, I've been looking for a tutorial on how to launch an application when another is launched. It doesn't seem to be possible using Task Scheduler.. Any words on that?

 

I'm having a weird feeling that Windows Power Options, PCI Express Link state power management has something to do with the 8870 throttling, didn't realize that I have it set at moderate power savings, not sure is that the reason why even the latest 13.10 beta 2 has the major drop in FPS whenever I Alt-Tab out of a game to desktop and back in... Going to have it disabled and see if I can reproduce the scenario.

 

If Norway had a warmer climate, it'd be utopia. What a freaking awesome country.

Sorry, OT, lol.

 

I agree. Although I have the HD8770M version, I turned OFF PCI Express Link State Power Management (Plugged In Setting), and my fps increased on Dead Space 3, completely maxed out from 49 FPS to 57 FPS. I also booted faster. On the battery settings I put maximum power saving for the PCI Express Power Management, and still booted just as fast as plugged in. I hope this helps others

 

Could it help with the stock AMD drivers from Samsung?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

Hi folks! I'm trying to install Windows 8.1 Pro in my 870Z5E and i´m not been able to. I'm receiving this error: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk the selected disk is of the GPT Partition Style."

I'm using a 8GB USB in FAT32 format with Windows 8.1 Pro x64. I have already disabled Fast Boot, Legacy USB Boot and SecureBoot, and even selected UEFI and CSM OS in the OS Mode Selection.

How can i solve this issue?

 

Did anyone try to daily use the laptop with battery disabled through the button at the bottom of the chassis and plugged in to the power supply?

 

I don't think that will work - it is designed to automatically reconnect the battery when the mains power is plugged in.

Don't lose sleep over the battery being left continuously on charge. Once it is fully charged then the charging stops and won't resume until either the charge has dropped by several per cent or you disconnect / reconnect the mains power.

John

 

Yes this is what I'm doing, although I'm limiting the max charge at 80% with BLE, and actually it seems to work atm, battery wear luckily is still limited at 0.8%. But I was wondering if there was a method to completely avoid this.

 

That's good you have a model with BLE (it seems to have been dropped from the Ativ Books). Using BLE as much as possible (I used to occasionally charge up to about 95% if I thought I would need more battery time) meant that my NP900X4C had negligible battery wear after one year.

John

 

Where is that setting? I can't find it in the power settings.

 

I like most people who have installed a SSD, have created a bootable, factory backup USB stick and have used the old HDD in an enclosure. Just to feel safer, in case the USB stick fails, can I do another F4 factory backup, not bootable, but this time to a partition on the old HDD? Is that a good idea or am I over reacting? Will this wipe the HDD?

 

Under advanced power settings (Control panel, hardware and sound, power options, edit plan settings) look for "PCI EXPRESS". Mine settings are set to off, and I still throttle sigh.

 

You got the right idea: What if the USB backup fails, should I have second backup? But I think in your case you're safe with what you got. You already succesfully used your USB backup once, so you know it works. And you have the original HDD to fall back on.

Where I recommend exactly what you're suggesting, is for models who come with an SSD, and the owner (understandably) wants to delete the recovery partitions to get more space. Even if they create a USB backup, they don't get to use it right away to restore on another disk, so they don't know for sure that the backup is good. If they DO decide to test the USB backup on their SSD, and it turns out to be bad, they'll destroy the working Recovery on their SSD.

That's why I recommend those owners to (i) test that their USB backup will boot (so they know the software part is OK), and (ii) create a second factory image backup on any external media (USB drive, USB stick, memory card) which doesn't have to be bootable. Once they have those, they can delete JUST the big Recovery Data partition and leave the small Recovery Software partition (thus preserving their F4). That way they still have a fallback if one should fail.

In your case, I'd say just enjoy your wonderful new machine. You're safe

 

UPDATE:

So referencing my previous problem with the SSD IOPS speeds, I kinda fixed it. Turns out my power settings were on Power Saver. Turning it to Balanced and then Samsung High Performance helped a lot.

Power Saver


Balanced


Samsung High Performance


I have no idea what they're changing that helps so much, but it works.

 

May I ask why you don't have RAPID Mode activated? I myself don't know what it is, just wondering if it's better not to activate it or something, but it does seem to help, these are the results I get from my EVO

 

I used a corsair USB stick for my backup because I thought it was better quality than the cheap ones found in supermarkets. A friend of mine also bought the book 8, 880 and asked if it matters whether you use a USB 2 or USB 3 as your bootable factory image backup. Does it matter? What about the brand?

 

Great questions, which I wondered about myself, but I cannot answer definitively. We do not have enough reports to say for sure.

My impression from posts here in the Samsung forum is that more expensive drives with higher speed class are not necessarily guaranteed to work better with Recovery backups. We had one member post about how a higher rated drive failed while a cheaper one worked fine, but I forget which thread -- and I am too tired to try to find it right now

The signs of a bad backup are when it takes a very long time. Some members reported many hours to backup, and it eventually failed when copying the software (bootable) part -- or the restore never worked. I have suggested if it takes an hour or longer, you should try another stick. But other than that I think fast and slow drives can both work OK.

I would love to hear from other members who performed (and used) USB backups report which brand and type of USB stick and whether they used USB2 or USB3.

 

Hi folks,

Got mine yesterday, and i love it! First thing i did was to replace the HDD with a SSD, i used the cheapest USB3 stick i could find and it worked perfectly. (It was the kingston data traveler 100 G3 USB3)

Only thing is, when i turn off the automatic display adjustment, it turnes on after a while.