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

Any help with my previous question about the recovery guys? I would appreciate an answer ASAP
Thx
Ok: I managed to get it to recognize it but now i have two options: UEFI: USB name or USB name, which should I choose? The first one took me to recovery (in Korean ).

 

Very nice walk through of the SSD installation process, really appreciate that, man! However this particular sentence or the last part of it is not clear to me - what do you mean by formatting SSD with USB stick? Do you simply copy the contents of the USB into SSD (and that somehow works as a bootable recovery part but this time on SSD, or do you simply keep the stick and use it in case of emergency (when a recover is needed)? Please explain that, thanks

 

I am sorry, I missed your previous posts.

Any Recovery folders or files on your C drive only relate to the Samsung Recovery Solution Windows app. This app relies entirely on the "real" Recovery software which is on the SAMSUNG_REC partition (the smaller of the two Recovery partitions) and SAMSUNG_REC2 (containing the Factory Image and System Software). You can uninstall the Windows app, and F4 Recovery will still work. And you can re-install the Windows app from SW Update -- as long as your Recovery partitions are still intact.

What usually destroys the F4 link (the ability to boot Recovery with F4) is using 3rd party partition managing and partition imaging tools, of which EaseUS is notoriously bad for messing with the partition table (and thus losing that F4 link) even by simply adjusting partition sizes.

It is true that re-installing the Samsung Recovery Solution Windows app has been found to repair the F4 link -- but only on very rare occasions. Generally, once F4 is lost, it can be almost impossible to get back into Recovery. This post contains a list of various things you can try.

The goal is to be able to boot into Recovery again, because that is the only certain way to salvage a broken Recovery. In the case of SRS6 (the version on all Win8 models) by creating a Bootable Factory Image Backup, as described in this post (also included in the opening post of this thread). The Bootable Factory Image Backup can then be booted and used to re-image the drive with working Recovery and F4 link. Such a re-imaging is the only guaranteed way to get Recovery fully working again -- but it does, of course, wipe everything on the disk in the process.

I notice that you already created a USB backup (which is great) and you tested it (even greater).

Assuming you created the right type of backup (as described in this Samsung guide and enabling the Create Boot Disk option), and if you are still unable to boot it, the most likely reason is that your USB stick is of type that is not compatible with Recovery.

Recovery's Create Boot Disk feature requires a USB stick that acts as a USB Removable Drive. Led by SanDisk, USB flash drive vendors have begun producing USB sticks that work as Fixed Disks (USB HDDs), not as traditional Removable Drives. Member bel90 posted that important information here. Unfortunately, Recovery does not work properly with such USB sticks -- and it does not warn about it, which is why testing a newly created backup is important.

Once you have a properly created a backup on a fully compatible USB stick, you should be able to boot it without problems, and use it to re-image the drive. And that's all it does: it doesn't repair anything, it just re-images the currently installed HDD or SSD.

You may have to change the BIOS settings listed below in order to boot the USB -- although we have slightly conflicting reports about whether SecureBoot and OS Mode Selection need to be changed.

Fast Boot/Fast BIOS=disabled
SecureBoot=disabled
OS Mode Selection=UEFI & CSM OS

In any case should these settings be reverted after re-imaging the drive. Following are the default settings:

Fast Boot/Fast BIOS=enabled
SecureBoot=enabled
OS Mode Selection=UEFI OS

Note: Although testing a newly created backup is important, you do NOT want to re-image the original drive if your Recovery and F4 link are still working. If something fails in that restore process, you just lost your original Recovery. Re-imaging a new SSD drive is no problem (of course) as long as the original drive is kept safe. But re-imaging the original drive should only be done if its Recovery partitions or F4 link have been damaged. As long as your normal Recovery is still working, always just use that to restore to factory -- or any other Recovery functions you want to use.

Users looking to save space on an SSD can save a non-bootable Factory Image backup on an external drive (any HDD or flash drive) and then delete the SAMSUNG_REC2 partition (the big one) and STILL F4 boot their Recovery. Bot ONLY do this after also creating the Bootable Factory Image Backup, in case something fails or the F4 link is damaged. See this post for details.

If your Recovery partitions are lost, for whatever reason, and you do not have backups (either on the original drive or as a Bootable Factory Image Backup) there is no getting them back. The only way is to have the drive re-imaged by Samsung (which they will do, though sometimes for a small fee). Please do not request copies of factory images on the forum, as it contains copyrighted Windows software, and we have no desire to get Microsoft's lawyers knocking on NBR's door. Our forum rules are very strict about this.

This post speaks broadly instead of answering your questions directly. I DO realize that you did your homework, and that things simply didn't behave as they were supposed to. I hope it still covers your questions. These questions come up again and again and it was time to address them anew.

 

@Ghastn: Just saw the updates in your last post. You want the UEFI choice.

@Andreyash: Just follow the guide on the opening post (which links to this) it is described in detail. If you create the correct type of USB backup, it will re-image your entire SSD and create all partitions for you, including Recovery partitions. No manual formatting or copying of files required.

 

Thanks Dannemand, you answered most of it. It turned out that the Recovery still exists but is "hidden". The F4 link seems to still work. I managed to get the BOOT to recognize the USB, but as indicated in one previous post, I get two USB options, one of them has UEFI in the description. When I choose the first, I get a weird page like the one I posted earlier, could you tell me what's wrong?

 

Definitely performance increase, especially on newer titles. Pretty big bump in 3Dmark11 as well:

3550 on stock clocks (as opposed to ~3400 on 13.10): Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3635QM,SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. NP770Z5E-S01FR

4139 with a pretty high OC: Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3635QM,SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. NP770Z5E-S01FR

Edit: a stock gtx 765m scores 4154.5 on average according to notebookcheck

 

New 13.12 amd drivers out -- be interested to hear if the mobility ones still allow graphic switching this time seeing the previous 13.11 beta's (after 1) stopped it.

 

LeekM's modded 13.12 drivers support it on our laptops .

 

Again, the UEFI choice is what you want --- and should be working. Or you could try and change OS Mode Selection in BIOS back to UEFI OS (assuming you had it set to UEFI & CSM OS on my previous advice). I hope that works.

 

I have an alledged usb boot drive but when I place it in the usb drive and hit f4 the standard recovery program shows up displaying the source as HDD. I am just trying to test the USB boot drive in case the 840 pro SSD fails in the future. Shouldn't I be able to torce boot off the USB to test?

I am running windows 8.1

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

 

If you mean you have a bootable USB backup created with Recovery, then just boot that one directly (by selecting it under Boot Priority in BIOS, or pressing F10 during boot to select a boot device). Don't hit F4. Hitting F4 will boot the Recovery on your HDD (or SSD).

I believe there is an error in the USB backups, where it still displays Source: HDD even when the source is actually the USB stick. But it will have a different UI with fewer choices than when you boot Recovery on the HDD/SSD.

Oh, and good thing you want to test it. I applaud that!

 

Thanks. I had to disable 'Fast Bios' in order for it to show up when I hit F10. And yes, HDD shows up even when the source is actually the USB stick.

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Also I uninstalled Norton utilities and Intellimemory - is there a list somewhere of the bloatware that is trying to hold this scream'in machine back?

EDIT: nevermind - found link in first post...

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So, the best Ati driver out at today it's the Catalyst 13.12 WHQL Leek's version ?

 

I wonder if they would bring better performance than the stock GPU drivers.. But I'm not going to test that myself


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Hi there

This is my first post but i've been reading almost all the stuff you guys put in here and you've helped me a lot. First of all, i'm going to write in the best possible english I can (i'm Portuguese). First let me tell to all of the users here that i've never encountered nowhere before such polite (and helpfull) bunch of people on the internet and this nowadays is rare. But let's talk business... i've installed today the newest 13.12 Leek drivers and altough I own an AtivBook6 it packs almost the same specs (i7 3635QM, HD 8870, 8GB RAM, etc) and after doing all the steps to install it crashes midway (I get a black screen followed by a BSOD). After rebooting, and to my surprise, the driver did install and it's working with switchable graphics and all. As for performance I didn't noticed any improvements (I tested with Assassin's Creed IV, Splinter Cell Blacklist and COD: Ghosts) but I have to run 3DMark to pinpoint any major difference. Anyway, did this happen to anyone?

Again, sorry for any error or bad grammar.

Cheers

 

Hey guys,

With your help I got back to Windows 8 on my SSD, using the original HDD as a source, but I am having serious issues with my 8870M I have a NP880Z5E-S02CA. I must have updated the ATI drivers on the original HDD.

I installed the graphics driver AMD 13.10 like recommended at the beginning of this post. It failed once, then I rebooted, uninstalled, then I reinstalled it again.
It installed fine, then the computer froze. had to hard reset.

The problem is the ATI video card If I try to run anything like a game it BSODs saying my computer has encountered an error.
The other thing that it does is not always boot up Windows 8. It goes to that black screen with intermittent mouse cursor most of the time and boots up Windows maybe one of every 5 times. Even when it boots up like that, if I start doing things, it will freeze image within a few minutes.

This is with Windows 8 and SSD cloned off of the original HDD.

What would be the proper steps to ensure I get my video card working again?
If I remove the ATI drivers everything works well, but the Intel HD4000 can't really play any games. Black Ops 2 Multiplayer is horrible even at low settings.

I have an annual LAN Party with my friends coming up.
It's a nice tradition going on 8 years now where we travel across the country to see each other, catch up and play some games.
We all have serious, professional and fairly important jobs, so we get to be kids together again once a year at least.
We agreed it will continue until we are old so it's really important that I get this card up and running even with the Intel one off.. lol.

Starting to be desperate as I will be going across Canada in a few days for it and to see relatives and it has to work.
Please help; I will seriously send a boatload of sweets to whatever address to whoever helps me.

 

Hey guys, I'm also a new one and also with a problem to solve. ; ) I've read many pages of this thread, but there seems to be no answer to it yet.

I bought 770Z5E and immediately sent it to Samsung Service Centre to have my hdd swapped for 250GB Samsung SSD. It's the only way here in Poland to have it done and not to lose the warranty. Anyway, I just got it back and I discovered that there is no recovery partition on the SSD (I cannot install Samsung Recovery). I suppose the old 1TB HDD has an intact Windows with Recovery Partition on it, but I wanted to use it as an external storage drive. Is there a way to create a bootable factory image backup on USB with Samsung Recovery from the old 1TB HDD?
Thanks!

 

It seems you do have a serious issue there, but in order to help I think we'll all need a bit of extra info.

Did the BSODs happen even before the SSD installation?
Did you spend enought time with the HDD to check everything is working fine? (No BSODs back then?)
Did you test 8870M with stock drivers under Win8? Before going to 13.10 did you install 13.9 WHQL driver?
The source of a BSOD can be anything so a bit of history will definitely help!
I truly hope you get this resolved ASAP!

 

If you are willing to go into the computer (now it has been opened up) then you can put back the HDD and run Samsung Recovery Solution and create your backup.

However, I would also not move or delete the recovery partition(s) on the HDD. You can still use the HDD as external storage by shrinking the windows partition as far as it will go (Minitool Partition Wizard will do this) and creating a Backup partition in the empty space. Then, if you ever hit a problem with the SSD you can put back the HDD and get your computer running.

John

 

Thank you guys, but you forgot to answer my question about the page I get when selecting the right option: I get a blank recovery page then stuff in Korean, did I do something wrong?
View attachment 106326
View attachment 106327

 

Anyone have a suggested guide to the BIOS settings on this? I would like to set them to best possible for gaming and general plugged-in use.

Searching this thread for BIOS = 15 pages of random topics

 

Today I played Assassin's Creed 3 for a while - performance was quite disappointing.. I already knew that from the reviews I've been reading prior to purchasing the machine, but I'm now wondering if there is anything I can do to manage to play at 1920x1080, even at the lowest level of detail.

If I wanted to try out the latest 13.12 modded drivers I've heard of (in the previous pages), to see if I could get any improvement, how should I proceed? (Backup of current working stock drivers, download of new drivers, clean uninstall of stock drivers, installation of new drivers, etc).

Also, do you know if there is a way to show an FPS counter with HWiNFO + RivaTuner Statistic Server WITHOUT having to install MSI afterburner? (I don't want it on my laptop)

Thank you

 

I thought even the plain vanilla drivers would work now as I thought this was only a glitch and not a removed feature from the AMD drivers for switchable graphics?

 

Dannemand, could you also explain this point more: what do you mean by "let the USB re-partition and image the new drive"? And further about automatic initialization... - will there be an option to "re-partition and image the new drive" or will it start automatically? If so how does this differ from the actual Recovery operation? I am afraid it will be easy to launch the recovery by mistake in this process. I am receiving my SSD in a day or two and want to fully understand the things I need to do to ensure the recovery option works on the new drive. Thanks!

 

Bit the bullet and bought the machine.

So far - I like it, though the 6235 (wifi) is as crap as it is described on these forums. In my case it does not drop the connection. It drops the whole machine into BSOD (BAD_POOL_* error messages).

Ordered 7260 right away.

 

Be sure that when you go into Catalyst Control Center powerplay is set to maximum performance when plugged in as well as in switchable graphics settings. then in switchable graphics application settings assign it to high performance.
You can download fraps, as far as I know AC has no internal FPS measurement features or commands.

Disable power saving in the CPU options (can't remember what it's called off had).

 

I am sorry, I thought I already answered it by saying to choose the UEFI option when booting, OR by changing OS Mode Selection back to UEFI OS in BIOS (which should force the UEFI option, assuming it boots the USB alright).

I haven't heard of others report this issue: getting a blank screen or a Korean one when booting the USB backup. I would try to create it again, maybe initialize the USB first. I don't doubt that you did it correctly, but it definitely doesn't sound right. Also see my answer below to Andreyash.

What I mean is that the USB Bootable Factory Image Backup will take a blank disk, set it to GPT style (if it isn't already) and re-create all partitions on it, including working Recovery and factory Windows installation. The normal Recovery (F4) has a number of other options to backup and restore the current Windows state.

I don't have this model myself, so I am merely gathering and relaying information reported by other members. My impression is that you will get a chance to choose options and start (confirm) the re-imaging process after booting the USB.

It would be great if members who successfully did this on their 2013 S7 / AB8 can confirm.

Alternatively, you can use the Disk Copy feature in Recovery to clone to the SSD (after shrinking your Windows partition on the HDD so that all partitions fit on the SSD). This won't give you that great "Recovery on a stick" but it clones your current Windows installation if you have a lot of stuff already installed.

The User Manual covers this in Chapter 5, and this online Samsung guide covers some too. And this wasn't an attempt to say RTFM, I genuinely just wanted to point out that Samsung provides some useful guides

 

Hey guys, I could really use some assistance. I have the ativ book 8 with an 8870m gpu, and while the laptop is silent and cool, and lovely designed, I have so many issues finding a driver that works for my gpu. I have tried basically all drivers, and so far I can only get 13.5 beta 3 to work decently. I'm using plain win 8 on it, and when I install 13.10 beta 1, CCC doesn't work. For every driver it's either CCC that can't open or the driver gives really really bad performance. Anyone know a fix for the CCC problem?

 

If you haven't tried whatever is recommended in the first post in this thread then do so.

John

 

Hey there, I've tried the driver options listed in the first post. I'd love to try the 13.10 beta 1, but when I've installed it, it says that CCC could not be launched.

 

Hello again. I am having a terrible time with random black screens while playing some games on the 880z5e.

Windows 8.1 partition, and Windows 8 pro partition (using the Windows 8 pro partition for this)
840 EVO 500GB SSD (was a clone of the original drive with Windows 8.1)
AMD Stock driver from Samsung
All factory drivers on Windows 8 pro
Plantronics Gamecom 780 headset, did not install the driver for it just let Windows pick one out

When playing games like SWTOR, Pay Day 2, Sleeping Dogs, the screen will go black and audio continues to play. For example I can have Spotify running and it will keep playing. When it goes blank like that I can hear the Windows PnP chime for unplugging something. This happens randomly, it could be hours or minutes. I can't isolate it to anything specific and have gone through the Windows Event logs to see if some driver crashed or anything.

I've run Coretemp to log the CPU temps and it never hits above 80. I have even set this thing on top of a box fan and run games at 60-65, still happens.

Any ideas on this? Next step i'm going to install the AMD beta driver and see if that helps.

Anything that could help me log what's going on and possibly recreate the failure like intensive 3D testing?

 

Ok, I think I will re-do the backup. But how should i format the bootable disk before creating a bootable factory image: FAT32 or NTFS? does that even matter?
Thanks

 

When you use the factory recovery program to do an image for bootable recovery, it will just overwrite(!) and manage the format on it's own.

 

You shouldn't have to, as Recovery should do it as part of the backup. But you can try and format it. Use FAT32, not NTFS. I believe UEFI mode requires FAT32 when booting from a USB stick.

Edit: tft1024 beat me to it

 

Who knows the better md driver for windows 8.1?

 

AC3 is horribly optimized for AMD cards. There sadly is not much you can do.

Check the first post of this thread for amd drivers installation instructions.

How about fraps?

Cool, I should test that.

 

Just tried it - worked fine just like the previous older beta versions. Seems it was correct, it was just a glitch with the older 13.11 beta drivers.

 

I've got the NP780Z5E and stupid Windows Update is offering a driver for the 8870 dated 12/12/2013. I hid it because MS-provided drivers are usually poison. However, i'm wondering whether anyone tried it. Thanks!

 

on windows 8.1 i installed a GPU update resulted in a blinking black screen, after a force power down restart the GPU gets an exclaimation mark requiring me to reinstall the operating system, don't update the amd GPU via MS update, only install the intel GPU updates via MS, it works.....

 

Thanks for your reply. That's really sad, tho. I could play it on xbox but I like playing on my laptop, lol...


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I tried the LeekdM drivers and followed the installation guide but, even though the app is installed correctly, I get an error with the driver: Driver Installation Failed. Anyone know why that would happen?
FIXED: Forgot about the Driver Signature Enforcement

 

Guys, it might sound strange, but I am lost in finding the right SATA to USB cable to migrate data from HDD to SSD - can anyone please help? There are cables with 2 USB ports, some come with adapters an a whole bunch of other cables, some say eSATA ,some have USB 3 (will it work in this case?) A link to the right cable for this operation or just a name/brand would help me a lot. Thanks!

 

If you want to swap the HDD with an SSD it could be a good idea to buy a USB HDD enclosure. You can use it at first to migrate data from HDD to SSD and later put the HDD in and use it as an external HDD. Any USB 3 2,5" enclosure will work great. Just search "USB 3 2,5" enclosure" on the webshop of your choice. It will set you back around €10.

 

Hi folks - I have noticed this on a few occasions over the past month but up until now thought it was just a quirk. When I shut down (not sleep) the laptop and then transport it in my backpack to and from work, the battery continues to drain and the laptop heats up. I just made a 3 hour trip and the battery went from 100% to completely drained in spite of it being turned off (I actually verified that it was turned off before closing the lid and putting it into my backpack). Thoughts? Thanks!

 

Look in Event Viewer's System log to see if anything happened within Windows while the computer was "off". (However, this won't record if the computer booted into the BIOS).

Your problem has some similarities to this one.

John

 

hi guys! nice thread!

My parents in US bought the Samsung ATIV Book 8 Touch 880Z5E X01 for as a Christmas gift. But, in US is there only 8770 or does 8870 exist? and how much of a difference is there?

I live in Norway so i can buy it at home but and get the 8870. But so higher price...

Thanx!

 

Today I have experienced exactly the same thing and I am very curious to hear some opinions.

By the way I appreciate if one of you can share me side to side screeshots of both Intel and AMD graphic drivers.
here is mine


I highly doubt that SWupdate works properly

 

Maybe a 10-15% difference as the specs are the same just the 8870 has 2gb and a double the shaders. what I did was just over clock and run games at 1600x900. I got it stable at 950/1300 and matched an GT750M

 

I actually formatted, and went back to Windows 8. My games work better. and yes use 13.11 Beta 1, very stable.