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

Did you read Samsung's instructions for doing the upgrade? Link in my post here. However, I don't guarantee that following their instructions will mean there's a successful outcome. It's worthwhile browsing the whole of the 8.1 upgrade thread before you embark on this voyage of discovery.

As for why there's a full (?) set of 8.1 drivers / software. That's for the benefit of anyone doing a clean install of 8.1. It's likely that there's a lot of duplication between the 8 and 8.1 sets.

John

 

Hi Guys,

I use my laptop for a lot of things, large downloads, virtual machines, Sharing files etc. On my old laptop I used to set the windows power options to "Do Nothing" when I closed the lid.

Where the exhaust is on this new Ativ book 8 (between the hinges of the LCD panel) though, I'm just not sure if over time it might have a detrimental effect on the LCD, or possibly even overheat the computer if the fans are still running full speed or the computer is working hard with the lid closed

Does anyone here have any strong opinions on whether or not it is ok to set windows to continue as normal when the lid is closed? I'd be happy to hear some different thoughts on this.

Ps. I tried a windows 8.1 update, had lots of problems with drivers, especially catalyst, so I reverted back again. Going to wait a few months till Samsung support it properly. Think im getting used to not having the start button anymore as well. If your a coder like me, used to using shortcut keys all the time to speed things up, it isn't really that much of a hardship

 

I would also like to thank those who answer questions, but I wouldn't buy this computer if given a second chance. Samsung has terrible support. They make nice hardware, but clearly have no appreciation for software. The sad thing is that there are now over 311 pages here on this message board. There are 311 pages because this machine has so many problems and issues, issues which Samsung hasn't fixed in the six or seven months the machine has been available. And now they didn't even care enough to be ready when 8.1 shipped.

 

Thanks for the reply. The link to the instructions from Samsung ... 7 pages to simply state that you should make sure everything is up to date with respect to SW Update and Windows update prior to installing. I don't really want to read 20 some pages of discussion before embarking on any voyages ... it's only a computer. I read the thread for the first few days but have grown bored of the board. Would rather just see a status ... a green light or a red light.

 

Personally, I still see a red light but that's partly because I haven't yet identified any compelling must-have features in 8.1 which want to make me hurry.

If you upgrade now then you may encounter one or more of (i) graphics driver problems; (ii) touchpad gesture problems; (iii) brightness control problems; (iv) increased fan activity / reduced battery time; and (v) any other problems. Some of these are fixable if you work through that other thread. This very recent post reports an almost successful outcome for a computer similar to yours so read it.

Otherwise wait for another round of driver / software updates and when the update thread goes quiet you can reasonably assume that it is safe to proceed.

John

 

Thanx, John for your answer. I checked IntelliMemory is installed, but I better wait because my RAM usage is fine the third day. Is it possible that my laptop was using high RAM because it was new and I was doing first time registering and the all updates in SW Update?

 

I have a question, when I want put dow the screen(diplay), I can hear somethimes strage noises like creak or something like that, I thik it´s comming from the hinge(joint), but somethimes it is perfectly smooth with no strange souds. My question is, schould I take it to the repair centre, but I need notebook very often I use it every day, so I dont know if this is such a big problem worth to take it to the centre.
Thanks for your advice.

 

THe hinges are made of plastic, they will creak and expand and contract as the heat is blowing directly on it. the creaking is normal. My MacBook pro does the same thing, as with every other computer I have owned. The actual hinge is metal. You are hearing the plastic they put over the hinge creaking, its fine. Mine (ATIV Book 8 Best Buy version) does the same and the hinge is as strong as day 1.

 

Really the macbook does it too?I´m suprissed. This is my first laptop, o I don´t have so many experience, I was always desktop user. I don´t know, if it is made of plastic or aluminum or another metal my model is samsung NP870Z5E.

 

Hi guys! After a long time I'm back here! I've always used Samsung stock video drivers, but I wanted to upgrade to AMD's ones to gain some more performance. What drivers do you recommend? Latest WHQL? Latest beta? Or some previous versions?

 

i think most of us are waiting for ones that will simply work as they should for windows 8.1

 

You should be able to just press F8. However, owing to the fact that this laptop uses UEFI instead of BIOS it will POST and boot much faster than a machine that uses BIOS. This is further exacerbated if you have installed an SSD. In fact, Microsoft put out a bulletin recently stating that if you have UEFI and an SSD that most machines will POST and boot so fast that you cannot hit F8 in time to get into safe mode. In those cases they list boot options to be configured from within the OS that will allow you to boot into safe mode on reboot. Unfortunately, if you are having trouble booting into Windows to begin with your only option is to use to some sort of repair/recovery media.

 

Indeed. It seems that Samsung still has some hoops to jump through to get us ready for Windows 8.1 On all of my other devices the upgrade process was painless and required no fiddling around. On my NP780Z5E it's driver hell, and I ended up rebuilding from scratch. Now we're playing the waiting game...

 

I just received my ativ 8 book and i noticed that the screen had a slight bend. This means that when the laptop is closed the screen doesn't touch in the middle. Please see the pictures View attachment 104029 View attachment 104030 .

I am thinking about returning it since i assume it must be production fault but i just wanted to check with you guys first, if your ativ book 8 have this bend in the screen...?

 

Who is having problems with configuration gone after ELAN touchpad driver version 11.7.18.2 update. It uses now the simplified (wrong?) version of the GUI.

Just run c:\program files\elantech\ETDSimpleUI.exe which runs the GUI to see the additional options.

 

I tried 8.1 and din't find any remarkable feature which makes me rush for updating, so I think I'll stick with Windows 8 until everything gets fixed. So, for Windows 8, what drivers would you recommend?

 

I recently sent in my notebook for repair (NP780Z5E) for the following issues: dead pixels, poor hard drive performance (w/ stock hard drive), and poor video card performance (no official AMD drivers). I know that the last two items are just wishful thinking on my part, but I'd also like to make sure Samsung knows about those two fairly universal problems.

It's scheduled to arrive back to me in a few days, but here's the repair summary for anyone who's interested. Looks like they replaced the screen and the motherboard, with the symptom "no power".

View attachment 104058

Does anyone know if the newer model (NP880Z5E) has better video driver support? I might push for a swap if so.

 

Hello,
I wanted to upgrade for a SSD, so I disassembled the back plate very carefully without breaking anything.
But the strange thing is that now I am not able to open the lid at all, it's just like the hinge is locked.



My notebook is a NP880Z5E-X01HK (IPS / Touch screen).
Did anyone ever encounter similar problem?
Regards,
Bruno

 

Try using Charms > Settings > Change PC Settings > General > Refresh your PC.

Or if you want to revert to the factory installed Windows then run Samsung Recovery Solution. However, this will most likely wipe your C drive.

The Windows 8 key is stored in the BIOS and should be automatically detected.

John

 

Just a quick question for owners of this laptop, particularly the NP780Z5E-T01UK version.

What's the sound quality like from the speakers on this laptop?

 

so has anyone tried those new AMD drivers on 8.1 yet?

 

Ok so I got my vengeance 8gb ram 1600Mhz and i look at CPU-ID and it says the ram is running at 667.. which is 1333MHZ..... Anyone else have this issue. I'm also wondering does the ram over clock itself or something? On the 3 "SPD" it lists it's different speeds and latencies. On the box/website it says "Auto-overclocking (no bios configuration required)." This is annoying, because it shouldn't drop to 1333MHZ and no where on cpuid can i find the other 8gb of ram built in. Could this be because the stock latency is 11-11-... @1600MHZ and the corsair's is 10-10-.. @ 1600MHZ

 

Do you think the refresh will bring back the lost data? Does it refresh my windows 8.1 pro or could it downgrade me to windows 8 pro? Is it possible, that i will be asked for a key or to put a recovery volume into the notebook?

 

Refresh, if it works according to the description, will leave your user data intact. Using SRS may reinstall the factory image which will wipe everything on the C drive (which is one reason why I try to keep my user data in a different partition).

If your Windows 8.1 is half working then I would try to debug it. Read through the Win 8.1 upgrade thread. A lot of people have had problems and some have found fixes.

John

 

That is correct, memory will ALWAYS default to the lower speed of memory installed. The builtin memory is only 1333 MHz, so no matter what type of super memory you put into the expansion slot, it will down clock back to 1333 MHz.

 

I'm currently on 8.1 using the drivers from SWUpdate (with exception to the AMD drivers which I used the ones from AMD site), so far the only issue I've encountered is that sometimes FPS in games just drop (over 100 to under 20) for no apparent reason and I have to tab back to desktop, do some silly stuff like open windows explorer or something and tab back and the game will go back to the high FPS (over 100)...

 

No joy on that driver, computer management reports that the driver install is causing a problem and refuse to start it, I'm currently back to 13.9 WHQL from AMD.

 

I have 2 specks of dust behind my NP880Z5E glass, anyone know how to either move them or remove them?

 

My default ram is 1600MHz, it makes no sense that by adding another 1600MHz ram stick the system under clocks to 1333MHz. I have the US touchscreen version that comes with 8gb soldered 1600MHz ram I checked CPUID before installing the expansion ram. The ram I added was Corsair Vengeance, I already filed a return claim on amazon, because the product should work with my computer, im going to test my friends ram from his weird Sager thing, its Samsung ram 8gb at 1600MHz, if that doesn't work than I don't know.

 

My bad, I just checked mine, its 1600 Mhz... Guess the Corsair memory is not compatible... Try Kingston, they may not be the best performer, but the best in compatibility, and its cheap. =)

 

Do you get the switchable graphics panel still? noting the programs to force high performance, etc? i upgraded yesterday, and cant get vid drivers to play well. my web browsers also display web pages much larger too. its distracting. any easy fix for this?

it seems like the AMD card is working. i tested a couple games out and those are defintiely running the 8770. However, i cant seem to get the switchable graphics panel up, and i cant tell what card is being used at any given time. im still getting the web browser issue. everything is scaled up. Not just the webpages, the address bar and bookmark bar too.

 

I have a couple of questions on speed issues. I have a NP880Z5E-X01UB BestBuy USA model Ativ book 8, which is upgraded to 16GB ram. I just finished installing a Samsung 840 EVO 1TB SSD, which I did through the Samsung migration software, with the SSD in a USB 3.0 external enclosure. I also made a bootable USB image just in case of issues.

The migration took a long time, about 2 hours, but I was copying a lot of data files in addition to system files. Total was about 320GB, and average transfer rate, according to the Samsung software was just above 50 MB/sec. Is this a normal transfer rate for the 5400 rpm HDD on this laptop? Just curious if I am missing a setting somewhere in the setup for the HDD/file transfer setup of the laptop

The other question I have on speed issues relates to the Windows 8.1 upgrade - for those of you who have installed this update, did you notice a serious increase in bootup time for the computer? Mine with a relatively clean install under Windows 8 was booting up in 18-20 seconds with the 5400 rpm hard drive. When I installed 8.1, boot up was now taking 40 to 60 seconds to the log in screen. After installing the SSD, I am back down to 16 seconds or so, but this is a bit frustrating as I was already almost at this load time with Win8 and the slow hard drive. Anyone have any insight as to whats going on with the slow boot times for Win8.1? The SSD is definitely running quick - application load times are almost instantaneous, and file tranfser rates have increased dramatically.

My last point was with the built-in SD card reader. This thing is relatively slow. I am guessing this is a hardware issue with the reader itself? I only get about 35-40 MB/sec with this reader. If I plug my Lexar USB 3.0 reader, I am getting 95-100 MB/sec on the same cards (Sandisk Extreme). Is anyone getting any faster speeds with the internal card reader?

 

Dust or a couple of dead pixels? Dust shouldn't get in there and you might be able to persuade Samsung to replace the panel. However, they might not be so cooperative if they are bad pixels. I haven't seen a recent statement of their policy.

1. 50MB/s sounds reasonable. The fast part (the other tracks) of a 2.5" HDD peaks at over 100MB/s but the transfer rates reduce towards the inner tracks. Then one has to allow the system overheads.

2. You can look in Device Manager to see how the USB reader is connected. It is probably a USB device and will, no doubt, be connected to USB 2.0, not 3.0.

John

 

Thanks for the response, John. The card reader is listed in Device Manager as 'Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader' - that explains things on this one. Its still nice to have a built in card reader for convenience sake, but I will probably carry my external reader if I am doing any serious file transfers for SD cards.

 

That's the same device as in the Book 9 Lite which I had already noticed is faster than the no-name reader in the X4C.

John

 

One point about the card reader speed issues noted above - unless you are using really high speed cards (>45 MB/sec), this whole thing is a non issue. With slower cards, the internal reader will probably work just fine.

I am using Sandisk Extreme cards for photography (16GB 90MB/sec cards), and with the SSD upgrade to my Ativ 8, I am seeing 95-100 MB/sec on transfers with the external reader - this is better than my desktop, so I am happy.

 

Is there a particular reason I should not consider buying the NP780Z5E for $850 refurbished from Best Buy? It hits all my requirements (15", 1080p, less than 6lb and 1 inch thick, can play games, has good battery life, decent build materials) and fits well within my current $1000 budget. I'd use the leftover budget to stick an SSD in it.

 

The only downsides I saw to this model were the grey on silver keyboard (hard to see in some lighting situations) and the fact that it may not be able to upgrade to 16GB. If you like the keyboard, the first is a non issue. If you don't need more than 8 or 12GB of RAM, the second is also a non issue and this makes that laptop a very good buy. Is this a touchscreen model? The $350 difference is a lot to pay for these couple of items.

 

Thanks for the reply, it is indeed the touchscreen model. The 16Gb is very insignificant to me, I rarely do anything that requires 8Gb. I didn't have any issues with the keyboard either when trying it out in person. Seems to be very good bang for the buck overall while not sacrificing battery life and portability too terribly.

 

AMD Mobility Catalyst v13.11 Beta 8 is out! Going to give it a try. =)

 

You might be able to do better with that price. See if you can haggle them down some. It seems weird for a place like Best Buy, but you'd be surprised.

I got a new in box clearance Denon 1712 AVR that was listed at $250 down to ~$170 just because I asked something like, "can you bring that price down?"

 

umm.. how about this way? cuz i completed Win8.1 update now.
there are two steps. first, before w8.1 install, Update BIOS, drivers to the latest ones.
then, Do windows Update and Install w8.1
second, after installing w8.1, By SW Update, Install the latest BIOS, drivers same as before.
then, Do Windows Update.
hope it helps

 

Waddup ATIV 8 brethren. I never really figured out my RAM problem from awhile ago, luckily college has been hectic enough that it hasn't bothered me too much. I'll figure it out soon enough. But I've noticed the overall performance of my machine has gone down recently. Just things like moving windows around too quickly being laggy/glitchy/etc, windows taking longer to maximize, Photoshop being slower, stuff like that. I kinda fixed my SSD IOPS problems by changing my power settings to high performance (still not sure why that makes a difference) but even then it still feels clunky. Anyone know of some possible problems or how I can find them? I took out the faulty RAM already.

 

guys got a little problem,since the bios update the amd fan is always on even when you are doing nothing.

np770z5e

 

Did the 8.1 upgrade last night (ativ 8 np880 Australia) without a problem. The new touchpad driver (as mentioned in earlier posts) removes the 3 and 4 finger swipes. Did the suggested fix by going into c:\programfiles\elantech and running etdsimpleui BUT they don't remain when I reboot. I have to set them each time I boot. Any ideas on how to lock these settings in?

 

Hi with anything above beta 1 i lost switchable graphics anyway to fix that? I havent try beta 8 yet
Regards

 

let us know how it goes

 

Well you can read the changes in the changelog. Nothing interesting there.

 

My Catalyst driver is misbehaving. When the screen turns off due to idleness, and I push something to get it back on, occasionally I get the error message that the AMD driver has crashed and recovered. However, one time the driver did not recover and crashed. Has anyone else experienced this problem and/or found a solution?

 

nothing in changelogs note anything about samsung specifically, or their awful driver support. theyve kind of sent us out into the wild to experiement with drivers on our own for 8.1