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

Actually I tried widi with the win 8 provided drivers (not 8.1) and i was able to stream to my Samsung F8000 tv.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the widi drivers were broken when I upgraded to 8.1. I would much rather have 8.1 and working switchable graphics drivers than widi ability. Did you happen to test the input device latency by running a game? How about HD video? Does it stutter or not sync the audio properly? If it does any of these things I'll just forget about it and use an HDMI cable to the TV. That's what I bought a laptop for anyway, so I can use it as a set top box for the TV without a 20ft cable or a loud fan.

 

has anyone gotten widi to work with a sony bravia tv?!

 

It may not be relevant for your situation, however, have you considered using a USB powered monitor? I received a full HD USB powered monitor today and it's very good. The graphics are powered by hardware in the monitor and according to the marketing blurb you can connect up to 5 of these to a pc. It's very slim and very portable. It's a TN panel, and you can only adjust brightness, but nonetheless it's a great display for what it is (USB powered).

The full HD version has only been out a month or two: Asus MB168+.

 

Thought I'd share this absolutely excellent guide, written by a fellow Canadian:
The SSD Optimization Guide - Ultimate Windows 8 Edition
The SSD Optimization Guide Ultimate Windows 8 (And Win7) Edition | The SSD Review

 

Nice link.. have just tweaked my system and am updating the firmware on my SSD (EVO).

 

Used the Intel Driver Update Utility this evening. It picked up a few drivers to update on my Chronos.

 

what about following following steps? I had same problems as you.
so checked these are written on the manual.

1. Right-click on the Desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics from the popup menu.
2. click the Browse button and register the software and click the Apply button.
3. some of the functions of the registered program that require a high graphics performance will
run with the external graphics chipset without additional configuration.

hope it would be helpful

 

I just replaced my Ativ Book 8's super slow HDD with an SSD, by using Restore to clone a factory fresh image to the SSD before installing it. It works, sorta...the thing is, windows is now refusing to update, giving some "failure to configure windows update" error. Wasn't there supposed to be some issue with reusing an OS image with a new hardware configuration (in this case that being the new SSD)? I'm trying to debug and thinking that may be it.

Is anyone else running into this problem when installing an SSD? And is there a way to do a fresh install of windows the real way, not using a drive image (such as in this link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...stall-windows-8-samsung-series-9-laptops.html )? Is that even viable considering all the custom software/drivers the laptop may require? Does Samsung provide the software necessary with a true clean install and does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks for the help!

 

Those are nice to have if you travel a lot and need more screen real estate. My coworker normally works from home in another state, but he has one that he brings with him when he comes to our location to work. Or at least he did until our employers made us convert our laptops from Windows 7 to Redhat Linux.

 

I had this issue just yesterday when I installed my SSD, using the factory image. For me, the solution was to reconnect to the wireless network.

 

Ah thanks, that's good to know. I managed to bypass the issue I think by upgrading to 8.1 and that seems to update fine now. It's still puzzling though that Samsung has no way to do a clean install should the need arise, even if they made the Windows ISO available that would be sufficient.

 

You can clean install alright, but only if you have WIn8 install media (maybe that's what you meant). Some members with Recovery problems have persuaded Samsung to send them a so-called Recovery Disc, which is really a clean Win8 OEM disc.

Once you have the disc, you can use one of several install guides here.

Before starting, you need to consider whether you want an UEFI/GPT installation (like the factory one) or a good old BIOS/MBR installation (which has consequences). Most install guides here assume the latter -- or simply ignore the subject all together. See the posts here and here about that subject.

 

Ah thanks, that's helpful info. I was hoping there would be a possibility of obtaining the install media from Samsung, good to here some have been successful.

Didn't know about the UEFI/GPT issue, will have to look into that.

 

Anyone had any luck installing the new 14.1 catalyst? Since around 13.8 I get a warning after install which informs me the driver install failed I've either been running modded drivers or 13.5 catalyst which installs and is decent, but would be good to get extra features and any further refinements direct from the AMD if possible.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi @ all

First of all: I am a owner of the ativ book 8 and this thread is really a great source of information. Thanks to everyone participating and especially pranktank for beginning this. Much appreciated! :thumbsup:

Now about my input regarding the fps drops in some games:

I personally encountered frame-drops in in CS:GO. It mostly starts during map-change as well. I couldn't tell exactly when it began. Wouldn't say that it began after the installation of the 13.12_WHQL_UnifL_rev_1.2. Would tempt to say it began later – maybe with some game-update. Not sure though. However – I watched my core temps and freq. of the CPU and GPU. But they did not decrease in times when encountering frame-drops. So i thought it might be something else.

After some research (just look for "core parking fps drops game CPU" ...) i found something about the core parking of unused cores or threads. The OS is parking cores to save power. Good thing but might interfere if you want constant frames during gaming. So i think this might have something to do with our phenomena.

There is a video explaining the core parking and how to use a program that unparks the parked cores. (You could undo if you don't like.) The people in the comments mostly state that it helped them a lot. (However blue-screens seem to be seen as well.)
How to drastically improve your frame rates in Battlefield 4 - Step 1 - YouTube

Have not tried it yet since for now i can't reproduce the fps-drops and i am OK for now. I guess with more used threads the temps of the CPU might raise as well and i am already near 90 °C. However - I want to share the information – might be worth a look.

Some more information about core parking:

bf4 forum about core parking with a lot of members having success:
Getting CPU lag in Battlefield 4? I found a fix that worked great for me. : battlefield_4

approach without the tool – so changing registry by hand:
Windows 7 & Core Parking .... a *better* way to Turn It OFF .... | Cakewalk Forums

 

Hi everyone,

I am getting increasingly frustrated with this laptop and Windows 8...Still getting frequent crashes (especially when I try to wake the laptop from sleep) despite having all my drivers from SWUpdate. The new Task Manager doesn't override all programs, like it did in W7, so I often have to do a hard reset. Has anyone reverted back to Windows 7 with good results?

As well, I believe there's a trackpad gesture that triggers a Win key lock...for example, sometimes I'll type the letter 'p' and my projector settings will pop up, and I can't get past the login screen. Is there a way to disable or undo this? I also can't highlight words backwards (Ctrl+Shift+Left)...

 

Yes - it's very stable... I am not going back to Windows 8.

 

I have experienced this sometimes as well -- but in truth, I never realized it was a Win key lock, I just observed that sometimes crazy things would happen when typing. I always end up logging out and back in, which solves it.

For me it only began after some updates last summer -- never before that. I haven't tested Win8.1 enough to see if it happens there as well. Now that you mention it as a touchpad issue, I may have upgraded my touchpad driver at the time. I'll have to look into whether there is a setting in ETDAniConf relating to this (see this post about ETDAniConf and how to reveal ALL gestures with it).

Other than that, Win8 has been rock solid for me. I don't like the Metro stuff -- and with IObit Start Menu 8, I never use it or even see it. It's just a slightly faster Win7 for me. I should add that I am on an older Series 7 Chronos model (NP700Z3A), not the same as yours.

 

I've just found a very convenient little app.

I was reading Eurogamer's Digital Foundry article about optimising game options for a weaker AMD GCN-based desktop GPU. Basically, they recommended dropping the screen resolution. I was looking at their Tomb Raider benchmarks and thinking "My laptop gets better results than that at 1080p", but of course we're stuck with the problem if you drop resolution down from 1080p in a game that uses DX10 or 11, then it just adds borders.

I discovered some time ago that if you adjust the desktop resolution to match your intended game resolution, then it works as you'd expect. The only trouble is that changing screen resolutions in Win 8 is a faff.

So I did a bit of searching and found Hotkey Resolution Changer.

Now all I have to do is remember to hit a user-defined key-chord before kicking off a game and I can enjoy much better frame rates at higher quality rendering settings at a screen resolution that I think looks perfectly fine on a 15 inch screen.

Hey presto: switching down to 720p for cross-gen games, just like an Xbox ONE

 

New to the forum! I've been lurking since I got mine (NP780Z5E) in August. I update to 8.1 and finally got rid of the frustration of it not getting pass the samsung screen.
But now im just annoyed, I'm not a really computer savvy person. But my battery has been horrible since day one and all I do is homework and watch the occasional HD movie. My computer last at the longest 5 hours of just basic use. Im currently running the AMD 13.10 beta and the Intel 10.18.10.3316 drivers. Seems to be the most stable but I really want to be able to lug my lappy around without taking its cord. Any help?? Thanks!!


EDIT: Ive also had it set to Power Save mode since the day i got it.

 

Does anyone know a reliable website where I can check for a BIOS update?

 

You want to use the official Samsung BIOS Updater program, which checks their database for updates. See the opening post of John's BIOS Update thread here, including the safest way to flash the update.

 

what about following following steps? I had same problems as you.
so checked these are written on the manual.

1. Right-click on the Desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics from the popup menu.
2. click the Browse button and register the software and click the Apply button.
3. some of the functions of the registered program that require a high graphics performance will
run with the external graphics chipset without additional configuration.

hope it would be helpful

 

Thank you good sir.

 

So Leshcat’s Catalyst 14.1 Beta v1.6 UnifL is now online.

Here's the link: leshcatlabs.net forums • View topic - Release: Catalyst 14.1 Beta v1.6 UnifL

 

Some things to check:

- What display brightness are you using? The backlight can use a lot of power so you have to use a dim display for maximum battery time
- What is the CPU utilisation shown by Task Manager? Under light usage it should be no more than 5%.
- Are you keeping your web browser open and the WiFi connection running?
- Bluetooth can also use significant power and is best turned off unless you are using it.
- USB devices (except for a nano mouse dongle) can use significant power.

It is informative to watch the power drain while changing anything that affects power consumption. HWiNFO's sensor tab should show the power drain. 5 hours run time represents a power drain higher than 15W while you should be aiming to use less than 10W. You can also check the battery properties in HWiNFO to see if your battery has significant wear (loss of capacity).

John

 

Hi guys! If I'm not mistaken the new Samsung Chronos 7/ATIV Book 8 has been out for 10-11 months now, with the different names 770Z5E/870Z5E/780Z5E/880Z5E...
I'd like to start a little statistic about your battery wear level in the first year with and without BLE, to see if Samsung's claim about it being unnecessary was realistic.

I have been using my 870Z5E (no BLE available) for just 6 months, every day for all the day (rarely at night), almost always plugged to the PSU. I didn't run a battery calibration because I still can't see any sensible difference in battery life, but HWinfo shows
Cycle Count: 40
Wear level 0.8%

which looks good to me. What about you?

 

Hi,

mine's been bought May 2013. presently its counting a wear evel of 2.5% although it usually indicates 0.8% - today's wear might have to do with yesterday we've had quite severe weather and the electricty went down a few times so he charged partially about 2 ou 3 times always near 100%...
mine doesn't have BLE imo.

 

Well to answer one of my own questions, it seems that uninstalling Samsung Support Center completely solves the page loading problems. So that's a bonus.

Still struggling with the trackpad though.

 

The latest one as far as I can tell, 11.7.10.4.

 

Version 11.7.19.9 is available through SW Update for the German NP870Z5G (and other notebooks). It should work on the 870Z5E but create a restore point first in case it's a step backwards.

John

 

Well, reconnecting to the network help with some updates; but I'm now getting the same error as Emmet994: while shutting down to apply the updates, there is consistently a "Configuration Error", and the updates are reversed.
Unless someone has a suggestion, I'll try to install Win8.1 without these updates.

 

i havent seen any new updates in SW Update in a couple months now. should i have by now? im on 8.1 and since i upgraded, i have seen VERY few updates available in SW Update

 

Hi,

thanks for the info. Looked into the "core parking" thing a littler further and finally came across this Bitte nicht parken! article by renowned German computer mag c't (the German text should be easily translatable by Google in case of need). As it turns out, a hidden registry change unveils an additional option in the extended power settings, so that the number of possibly "parked" CPUs can be set directly in Windows and not only via some third-party tool of unknown origin or registry hack. Note that the article is about Windows 7, but the registry key also exists in Windows 8.1, with "Attribute" set to "1" too. Changed that to "0" as advised and checked power plans.

As it turns out, though, core parking seems to be altogether disabled in Windows 8.1, as all settings already are at 100% in any power plan I examined. Didn't try to change anything because of that, as I suspect things could only get worse from here Resmon does not show any parked cores on my Ativ 8, at least.

HTH,
-- Chris.

 

hey,

thx for the how to. i have a question though as the automatic translation wasn't very clear - i followed the guide and indeed the parked processor option now appeared, but I assume that to keep them ON i should set to to a lower percentage like 10% right? Because what was predefined on all power schemes was 100% (either on battery or plugged in)...

thx

 

I've got the 770Z5E if that makes a difference?

Also, how do I get hold of this driver if SW Update doesn't offer it to me?

 

That shouldn't make a difference. The Elan driver should work with any Elan pad, both Windows 7 and 8 (and maybe older versions). However, as various options get changed between updates different people find different versions work best for them on different notebooks.

SW Update includes a Find Model utility which you can use to look through the whole database of different versions of different models. The newest drivers are usually found listed for the most recent released.

In spite of setting up a database system for issuing software updates which has lower maintenance needs than updating web pages, Samsung tend to not update drivers once the models are out of production unless there is a major bug that can cause the notebooks to stop working. You can safely get the newest WiFi driver from Intel (it will provide a noticeable improvement in connectivity) but not the Intel graphics driver, which needs Samsung customisation to work with the switchable graphics). Use the separate BIOS Update program (see link in first post here) to check for any BIOS updates.

John

 

I have the Elantech 11.13.3.3 WHQL Driver which I've been using since day one of my fresh install Windows 8.1 Pro. I never had issues with my touchpad. Hope it will help those who are facing issues with it.

Elantech Touchpad v11.13.3.3 WHQL

 

Still incredible that after months of Win 8.1, Samsung has yet to to provide an updated AMD switchable graphics driver for win 8.1....incredible. Is Samsung or AMD to blame?

 

Hi,

well, the text says that the default settings they found were 10% on most systems (Windows 7) and should be set to 100% to disable parking. That seems to be the default value in Windows 8.1 now, as it's already at 100% everywhere and I didn't change that. The text furthermore says that resmon.exe shows the "parking state" in the CPU view, and in the picture, some of the cores (CPU1 and CPU3) are marked as "parked". When running resmon.exe on my Ativ 8, none of the cores are marked that way, so I assume they are not parked at all by default, which AFAIK is the recommended setting here. Note there also is a small hint when hovering the cursor over the new option in ext power settings.In the German version, it says something like "minimum count of unparked cores". So, i presume, a value of 10% would mean all cores except one can be parked, while at 100%, all cores have to be in unparked state, and thats the default now?

HTH,
-- Chris.

 

I personnaly upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1 without a full re-install ,I was having the brightness problem so I uninstalled both AMD (I only try with the 13.12 but I think that newer versions might work) and Intel graphics drivers thanks to DDU and re-installing them manually (no SW update, i got the Intel one from this site ,a french site gathering drivers) now i can switch from my graphic cards and change my brightness . It seems that Samsung offer a brightness patch ,I installed it as well but i am not sure of its effect and believe the problem was fixed with re-installation only.​

I saw that more an more user upgraded successfully to W 8.1 ,and it works but need a lot of tweaking so prepare a little time after the upgrade to fix your install .​

Under W 8.1 i now have a 3392 score in 3ds mark 11 (stock- no OC-13.12) and the only problem I have is a light image retention only visible on dark grey screens while i didn't notice any with Windows 8 (either it's due to driver or I didn't notice it before). I hope my experience helps somebody.​

 

Where did you get version 13.12 of the AMD drivers?
Also in what sequence did you install the drivers, Intel or Amd first?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

I downloaded the AMD driver from the same site then I un-installed both drivers,reboot and re install first the Intel one ,reboot ,install the AMD one and reboot .
I'm not a 100% sure about the sequence but it might solve your problem anyway .

[EDIT] to anyone following the link ,look for "Telechargement" it means "Download" in french and click the hard drive icon .

 

Wow, I hope I'm not speaking too quickly but this seems to have cured my touchpad issues.

Don't know whether to be thankful for that, or furious that I wasn't offered the newer driver through more obvious channels. Updated to newer wireless drivers too which has clearly made an improvement.

Thanks John

 

Had this laptop for several months now and, well, it was exhausting. It lagged so much and nearly cost me some work as a result. Nothing I've owned in the past was this slow. The hard drive usage sat at 99%, even with heavy bloat removed and a few Windows 8 tweaks. So, I finally got around to buying an M500, and now it flies. I know it's been stated before, but if you own this laptop, you owe it to yourself to get an SSD. The hard drive in this thing was significantly slower than my old Sager, and crippled what is, otherwise, a decently powerful machine.

Anyway, to my question. After installing the SSD, I didn't want to deal with any of Samsung's recovery options, so I got some Windows 8 media and did a clean install. I then installed some drivers through SW Update and some manually, and then just left it at that. No bloat, whatsoever. My question is, do I have any reason to save the recovery files? I intended on saving them, but I did not have a large enough flash drive. My intention is to format the old hard drive and hook it up to my home network, so I'll end up losing the files in the process. Considering I have the Windows media on hand (and the key is in the BIOS) and have the drivers downloaded, would I be missing out on anything?

Thanks!

 

The advantage of having a full working backup of the recovery partition is that you can reinstall the original Windows should you want to sell the computer in the future (and consideration for the purchaser should include giving them the recovery media as part of the package).

Do you need to format the old HDD in order to use it on the home network because of file system incompatibility or would just formatting C: give you what you need?

John

 

Hey all I have the NP780Z5E, and I'm wondering if any of you guys have tried overclocking this thing? Or if anyone else has overclocked their ATIV book? If so, did you notice any significant changes?

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi guys, i was wondering if anyone has the ac 7260 implemented and has the same connection issues as before with the 6235. I really dont know what to do anymore. i tried drivers: 16.8.0.6 and 16.7.0. but nothing helps. Anyone know anything on how to fix this? Sometimes i get interruptions and sometimes it will switch to limited and i gotta restart everything.

This is my Router: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0067Z2P6E/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have heard it can be an issue with the router aswell. I really dunno what to try anymore.

Thanks guys!

 

Run InSSIDer and check the signal strength and other signals on the same channel. Sometimes moving to a less crowded channel can help.

John