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

Most definitely defective.

 

Okay, thanks for the reply. I may give the device another chance, then. But the sparkle on the screen and the seemingly poor quality control make me rather hesitant.

This is the only available laptop that met all my requirements (on paper), so I really want to like it. I guess I'll await pricing/configuration details (and reviews, of course) on Dell's new XPS 15 before making any final calls.

 

Keep hoping we would see the driver updates ready for the Windows 8.1 by now - seeing as its out tomorrow. I'd recommend no one upgrade until they are out otherwise you are in for a whole bag of hassle.

 

Help please, I searched but did not find the answer to my question. I installed an SSD last night with Paragon Drive Copy 12 and made an exact duplicate of my hard disk. The partitions on Disk 0 are an exact duplicate of my original partitions except of course C:. I see the partitions exist but when I try and access them by pressing F4 or with the Samsung Recovery software they are not recognized. What can I do to have the Samsung recovery system recognize them? Thanks

 

Hi, please advise the power supply of 120-150W for overclocking Radeon 8870?
FSP NB 120 fit?

 

I have installed Windows 8.1 Pro in my 870Z5E-X01PT, but now the SW Update is very diferent. Can someone tell me how can I solve this?

 

hello jrouss, welcome to NBR.

We get one or more of these almost every day here. Check here for discussion from today. Or here in this very thread a few days ago.

Basically you have to use Samsung Recovery Solution to clone, either directly, or via a bootable factory image backup on a USB stick. It's covered in the opening post of this thread, with a link to this post.

You're in good shape because you still have your original HDD. You can try the tricks in this post to see if you can boot Recovery on the SSD. But you most likely will have to swap the HDD back in and follow those Recovery procedures in order to get Recovery working on the SSD. Or just live without it on the SSD.

In any case, be very careful not to disturb the Recovery partitions or the partition table on the original HDD when you use it as external storage.

Check byron_hinson's post just a few before yours. You'll have to wait until Samsung releases 8.1 compatible drivers, Settings and SW Update. Since you already installed 8.1, I would just try to get by the next few days without working Settings and Fn keys. Really it couldn't be long before they release them now.

 

I don't know if this has been discussed before but I stumbled across this site which explains how to create a bootable USB recovery drive for those that have done a fresh windows install and don't have a samsung recovery partition.It has series of pages that discuss making an image first then making a recovery USB drive. I haven't tried it (on my old notebook) yet but will and report back.

 

Anyone's fan getting much louder after months of use?

Been having my notebook on about 18 hrs a day for the past 6 months.....

Previously, I will only notice the fan powering up when playing games. Recently, the fan will power up to quite an audible intensity for no reason..... even when just surfing the net.....

Merged:

Also, one issue I can't solve with the Series 7 Chronos is Adobe Photoshop CS6 shows a totally black image when I try to 'Liquify' an image......

This does not happen on my other nVidia based laptops.....

Googling the problem, some 'experts' say its a ATi issue, while others say its an Intel HD4000 issue.......

Anyone else has problems with Photoshop?

 

I wonder if you are collecting some fluff in the cooling system which is gradually blocking the air flow. This problem is more severe where the computer has air intake vents on the bottom and the computer is used on soft surfaces. This photo (taken from this post illustrates the problem.



See this thread for discussion of cleaning options.

John

 

ok... windows 8.1 is upon us.... what do us ATIV Book 8 users do?

 

I suggest waiting for something from Samsung similar to this. Maybe Win 8.1 will even get its own driver category in SW Update.

 

Well, I downloaded the update which is finishing installing right now. Keeping my fingers crossed. Aside from a new wifi driver through SW Update, there was nothing available prior to install this morning. I already have the newest version of Settings. Hopefully the bios update from a couple of weeks ago will have fixed the black screen issue I had when 8.1 went RTM and I restored back to 8.0.

 

please let us know as soon as you can, much appreciated

 

SWUpdate doesnt support 8.1 yet. Ive updated too and just typed in my model number and check the software version, it all matches so im not reinstalling the apps, i only need to install my HD4000 graphics driver to get brightness control back. Just search your model number and search your software version, if it matches, then you are good.

 

If you set the SW Update program to run in Windows 8 compatibility mode it will detect your model.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

By the way, I got the black screen on rebooting after reinstalling the AMD graphics drivers. I uninstalled the intel graphics drivers then tried to install the latest intel drivers from safe mode but they wouldn't install. Rebooted but my desktop now appears with the AMD driver stopped and no sign of the graphics switching. Going to install the latest catalyst betas and see if the graphics switching utililty kicks back in. What a pain.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

 

Shame on Samsung for not providing an update of SWupdate BEFORE w8.1 release, therefore letting user to face malfunctions and various issues of compatibility. As Samsung was aware, w8.1 update is pushed to everyone, regardless SWupdate updated or not. Release date of w8.1 was well known since several months, beta and rtm have been provided to manufacturers on this purpose, just to fix compatibility in time for this day, but they missed it.
SHAME ON SAMSUNG.

 

I did tthe same thing. If you use another software it won't work. With the orginal drive in the computer....use recovery to make an image to the new drive using an SSD caddy connected via USB. that's how I got it to work, includinmg the ability to restore to factory defaults/

 

Ok - installed the latest Catalyst 13.11 beta 1's from AMD and rebooted. All is currently fine graphics wise. Switchable graphics is back. The Intel driver version is 10.18.10.3316 and AMD Catalyst driver version 13.200.16.0. Haven't tried any games and probably won't for awhile. Just glad to have my desktop graphics back. Stupid Samsung.

 

It's indeed a shame, I would expected an update to make the software compatible. I'm holding on to 8 and waiting for the updates. I had to restore to factory deafults seeing that nothing works.

So the standard ATI drivers support the dual graphics solution on the NP770?

 

I just installed 8.1 and on the first boot all of the setup options displayed but after the setup closed the screen went black, but i could see my cursor. Rebooted and it automatically restored to windows 8.0. I'm on the 13.11 beta drivers if t matters.

 

Hi all,

Im new here and a very, very happy owner of an NP770Z5E-SE. Never had a single problem until I installed 8.1 today.

Observations: Loss of screen real estate, current max resolution 1920x1080. No control over screen brightness. key backlights constantly on.

Currently running latest Mobility Radeon and Intel graphics drivers.

Help and suggestions greatly appreciated,
Peter

 

Yes - once the new ones were installed over the old ones, in conjunction with the Intel HD4000 drivers installed by 8.1, graphics switching is working (at least the utility works).

 

I did a lot of reading before buying this computer, been lurking here a lot. I've now had this computer for 3 months and this laptop is a big heavy pile of . It sometimes take over 10 min to start up and sometimes it won't even power off when I shut it down. What kind of crap is this. I haven't installed anything on weird on it. I have only used this laptop for browsing the net like maybe one time every week. I have no viruses on it either.
And there's so many bugs. I wish I had bought another laptop. Don't buy this computer, waste of money.

I'm going to upgrade it with a ssd. Hopefully it will get better. But SSDs are not cheap, so I've wasted a total of 1500 euro for this crappy laptop. I could have just bought one of the other ones in that price range instead.

 

On the subject on Win 8.1, please see the sticky thread we just posted about it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...pgrade-until-samsung-has-updated-drivers.html

Even though there is likely to be some issues unique to individual models (particularly relating to graphics drivers) the basic incompatibilities between Win 8.1 and existing Samsung drivers, Settings and SW Update are common to all Samsung models. We're trying to gather experiences and updates about that instead of having it mushroom across all the individual threads (as is currently happening).

 

Hi,

May i know which Intel HD4000 drivers did you install after updatingn to 8.1 ?

 

hmmm.. same issues as others, installed 8.1 on 880z5e-x01ub (BestBuy Model), intel drivers no longer work, but uninstalling, and reinstalling it brought it back to life

catalyst drivers seems to be broken, haven't tried the beta drivers

functions keys/backlights also no longer work

 

Intel driver is version 10 18 10 3316

Peter

 

hmmm where'd you get 10.18.10.3316

the one i exported off swupdate, is 9.17.10.2963

even ran intel auto update, and it was the same as above

 

I think it was installed with win 8.1

Peter

 

These are the ones updated by Windows 8.1.

 

I can't update my AMD driver to 13.11. When I use the Catalyst Downloader, it doesn't show up when I customize the installation. How do I fix this? I tried uninstalling from Device Manager, but then when I reboot it automatically reinstalls.

 

The beta drivers link is just below the link to the driver downloader utility.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

 

So has anyone been able to fix the screen brightness problems without rolling back the installation? I've tried installing the latest beta AMD drivers, and disabling and reinstalling the Intel drivers, but I haven't gotten it to work.

Samsung claimed in support chat that new drivers would be released in a few days, but this is pretty incredible that they don't have their act together. They've had plenty of time to test out the OS update.

Samsung needs to replace my screen (for dead pixels), so maybe now's a good time.

 

same here. my scree is now fixed at max brightness and I am unable to adjust it in any way. its killing my eyes

 

Just woke and having installed all updated yesterday, I got a new update for SW Update. (Win 8.1 not installed). So based on that update I think they are working on it. But yet no other updates pushed through swupdate

 

I've installed the SW Update and now I can open SW update as usual in windows 8.1. Also, when you select the device it states Windows Blue as operative system so I think soon we will see new drivers!

 

What you are seeing is abnormal.

I would recommend that you first backup your user files and then use Windows 8 Refresh Computer option (Charms > Change PC Settings > General > Refresh Your PC. Also scan the computer using (i) Spybot S&D and (ii) Malwarebytes in case their are nasties that the AV program doesn't detect. If that doesn't work then try reinstalling the factory image.

John

 

SWUpdate_2.1.19.0 on samsung site. Work, but no drivers and util for 8.1 updates yet.

10 min later. NOT WORK. Not see any drivers and utils except all share play, intelymemory and itself))))

 

Why the title of this thread is changed?
Now is called "tb"

 

Patience!

It's the first evidence that Samsung know that a new version of Windows has arrived.

I can't explain what happened so will blame the forum software.

I've put it back to the previous name.

John

 

Mine was stuck at the lowest brightness which was also hurting my eyes. After putting the computer to sleep it came back at max brightness which is what I usually use. The bright side for me is that I'll use the opportunity to put back the old hard drive, do a full recovery, and send the unit back to Samsung to have the screen replaced for dead pixels. I was wary about leaving in the good hard drive in case they ended up replacing the whole unit.

 

At least they now have sections for "Windows Blue" drivers.

 

I want to buy a power supply FSP NB 120W, where the specified output current: 6.32 A. This does not damage the laptop or the battery?
In the review, said that the output current is automatically selected, but this is not confirmed.

 

I hope the drivers come out soon... I feel empty in my heart ;(

 

So, my laptop was collected on Tuesday at 16:30. I received it back today (Friday) at 14:30, with a nice new battery, new DC jack and fully working. Less than 3 days to turn that around is Amazing service - just to prove it, check out the wear level (and design capacity/Full charged capacity):



I think I will continue to monitor the wear, but if you're experiencing issues, I'd highly recommend contacting Samsung to sort them out (in the UK at least!), it really was an easy, painless and efficient service. Well done Samsung - now where are those Windows 8.1 drivers?

 

If voltage is the same as the original charger there is no problem. A constant voltage power supply as these, supply as they name suggest constant voltage, the current delivered to the computer will be determined by the computer itself. In other words, what the 6.32A mean is that the power supply can give the computer up to 6.32A not that it will give that current always.

 

That's service as it should be.

That high battery capacity is a bonus: It's effectively -5.7% wear. The actual capacity will gradually drop as the battery wears but, if you are lucky, may still be more than the design after a year of use. My X4C batteries and the replacement X3B batteries came with the actual capacity about 3% more than the design.

John

 

Hey guys,

I am new owner of an Ativ Book 8 and I pretty suprised and I really like it.

However, I have a question. When I watch streams on my notebook, the fans get decent loud. If I turn on the Silence Mode(which is the Battery save mode I noticed), it gets quiet for 5-10 seconds and then it turns on the Fans again.

Another thing I noticed is, that the bottom left part is cracking, when I press it together. Is that normal?

 

Wow, that's a great battery you got there. And great service too. We always hear of the bad experiences here, it's great to get stories like this as well. Good people deserve good things happening to them