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

Thanks John for your reply, I've got the latest P04ADH BIOS version but nothing changed really. Since the laptop is off I can charge it normally till 100%, but when is on, using it and need to charge it I've got the same charging problem, the charge stops after few seconds.
Probably I'll get a new samsung battery but not sure it will sort the problem

 

BatteryBar or HWiNFO will show the battery condition and wear. I also wonder whether the PSU has a problem and can't deliver enough power.

Whether or not the battery has a problem you should still be under warranty and get Samsung to fix what is anomalous behavour.

John

 

I'm back to the thread. I got so pissed off of my laptop (NP780Z5E) that I stopped using it for a while hoping that when I come back here in some months Samsung would have fixed their crap.

I have read some pages here and now I am not sure how to proceed to get W8.1. Right now I have a fully functional W8 with everything working, but I want to upgrade.

So today I turned on my laptop after some months and I got a BIOS upgrade (as some others mentioned already). The first change I saw was that the font in the BIOS page changed completely... it's funny. Otherwise I do not know what are the real changes.

My question is, should I make a clean W8.1 install and install everything through SW Update now? The first page of the thread seems a bit outdated so now I don't know how should I proceed...

 

A word of warning for anyone wanting to upgrade Windows to pro: dont do it, as it will break F4 and the ability to restore to factory defaults. Luckily I had the original drive and was able to to clone the orginal image back to the Samsung 840 pro using Samsung recover. This meant having to open the laptop up, which isn't easy.

I basically had a key of windows 8 pro around and I thought I could use it in the "add features windows". Dont do it!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

A kernel of good news: Sleep was previously an issue for me, but as of the latest BIOS update it seems to have been fixed. I can now put my computer to sleep (and hibernate) and wake it without any issues such as the blank screen, which is what happened before.

 

SW Update released a 'settings' update today. I foolishly updated, thinking Samsung has their act together. now i have no brightness control, and my screen is far too dim for my liking. I cant even open up the new updated settings app

Also, the keyboard brightness shortcut doesnt work. Shocking, i know... Bravo samsung!

edit: was able to get in when i ran as administrator. Turned auto brightness off, all works, including the function brightness keys

 

Hi !!

after upgrading my NP870Xe5-X03DE to the latest offered BIOS Version (P04ADH) through Software Update, my added 8GB of Ram was not recognized anymore :-(
Before everything was ok.... (Ram is Kingston KVR16S11/8, which was offered in the shop i bought the Computer as compatible RAM)
Before the Bios Update i always had 16GB and no Problems ?

Does anybody have similar experiences or ideas ?

Thx

Kroeni

 

A BIOS update for my NP900X4C took away support for 1.35V RAM which I had put in (the update appeared to brick the computer and I put back the original RAM ready to call for warranty service whereupon the computer came back to life). However, that Kingston RAM is 1.5V, so your problem is not the same bug.

Historically, Samsung don't have a record for creating RAM issues but they seem to have made some during the past six months.

There's little I can suggest except to revert to the previous BIOS.

John

 

Hi John,
Thanks for Your help.
I will contact Samsung about this issue.

Greetings
Kroeni

 

can anyone recommend a ram module to expand the memory of my ativbook8? (On amazon, if posible). Thanks in advance.

 

I've spent many hours trying to get my speakers to work on my NP780ZSE and can't help but think this is a hardware problem.

Quick recap
- I got this computer with Windows 8 already installed, but speakers did not work.
- Sound does come through headphones and HDMI
- Did the Samsung SW installer to bring everything up to date
- Uninstalled/reinstalled drivers
- Upgraded to Windows 8.1
- Did the Samsung SW installer to again bring everything up to date
- Uninstalled/reinstalled drivers again
- The currently installed driver is the Realtek High Definition Audio version 6.0.1.7055

I haven't been able to verify that that is indeed the correct driver - it's just what SW updater is telling me is the right driver.

Is there anything else that I should be trying?

Thanks for the help!

 

My first NP780 had sounds for about a day, then nothing. I thought it was software, so I reinstalled everything. No dice - I don't know for sure, but based on the fact that it worked, then after a simple reboot no longer had any sound via speakers i suspected mine was hardware related. Swapped it out w/ another at Best Buy.

 

Read the posts a few above yours which suggest that Samsung may have broken support for some 8GB modules in the latest BIOS update.

We need further clarification about this issue before being able to make a recommendation.

John

 

OK, so responding to myself. I got W8.1 working without any issue so far. This is what I did (beginning with a fully functional W8 installation):

a) Ran SW Update and found a BIOS update, so I installed it, everything went fine
b) From SW Update, I searched for my laptop model (NP780Z5E-T01UK) and I found all the drivers to export (so I can install them offline)
c) Got my W8.1 copy and did a clean install. Almost everything was working without installing drivers (WiFi was ok, sound ok... not trackpad or switchable graphics obviously)
d) Installed all the drivers that I exported before
e) Rebooted a couple of times as required
f) Absolutely everything works like a charm. Switchable graphics works. 3DMark11 gives ~150 points more with SW Update drivers (you may get more if you install other drivers as mentioned in this thread)

I have to say that I did exactly the same months ago (around Dec 2013) and I had a good bunch of problems around, so I had to get back to W8. But it seems that Samsung fixed their so far...

 

Hi NBReviewers!

I have got Ativ 8, NP880Z5E. I run windows 8. I have big doubts about W8.1 thanx to all who advise to wait. Since I bought my laptop, I have not done optimization. Each time I switch on my PC I have to wait for a while, and some programs are not enough fast in the opening. Do I need to switch off unnecessary programs in task manager? If so, please who have a full and correct info, would you write or send me a links for doing that. For info: I use web browser, Coreldraw, Office programs, Norton security, USB…
I am a poor user, so I worry to do fool mistakes.
I have screenshots, sorry it is in Russian. They are in attached files.

 

Hi, I would like to perform a clean install of Windows 8.1 on my laptop which is now equipped with Win 8.
Since 8.1 still has a few possible bugs, I would like a little help to find some tutorials about:

- How to clean install Win 8/8.1
- How to downgrade to clean Win 8 in case Win 8.1 didn't work well

Hope you guys can send me some links

PS we should give the first post a little refresh on the latest news!

 

I suggest you start by reading rob3rt's post two above yours.

John

 

У тебя бук в стоке (ты же не менял hdd на ssd) - поэтому скорости запуска не жди. Диск, который идет в буке медленный и задумчивый. Заменишь - и придет тебе восторг, а если еще 8Гб оперативы воткнешь то вообще ракетой становится

If you want speed - change HDD to SSD and add 8Gb Ram. Samsung stock HDD very slow.

 

upgraded yesterday to latest samsung update app "settings" that it bring after that, other 6 update (touchpad, intel, etc...)
after all these autoupdates, no sound at all !!! into Hardware settings, none of the listed devices has broken driver... :-O
Thanks Samsung, this evening I will spend hours to fix your bullshi* software !!!
Windows 8.1 64bit before the update of yesterday, all was ok...

@byzantium , I think it was broken by the latest updates...

 

Sorry, I missed that. Shame on me xD

So I guess Win 8.1 can be downloaded straight from Microsoft and then installed on a USB? I will have a look later on this afternoon anyway.

hi, could you explain what exactly you mean with "got my 8.1 copy and did a clean install"? Microsoft store would download and install the update over the existing software, but would this be a clean install? Since my lappy (like all the others) came with lots of bloat installed, I'd like to erase all this stuff and start with a CLEAN 8.1, ready to install the needed drivers only. How should I proceed? (I already have the setups saved on disk, I need to know how to clean install the OS)

Thank you

 

AMD Catalyst 14.1 Mobility BetaV1.6 SG. Fix Drivers (intel & APU) - Guru3D.com Forums is giving me error display drivver has stopped responding -.-
also why does my NP770Z5E have P04ABZ bios version and there is no update available in windows 8.1 sw update????

 

Hi Obyboby,

There are a few gotchas to look out for when clean installing Win8.1 on models pre-installed with Win8. Check this recent post for guidance. As John pointed out, member rob3rt just posted about his experience a few posts earlier in this thread, but that was an update, not a clean install.

Personally I am not going to spend more time on 8.1 with the new 8.1 Update (8.1.1 or whatever it's called) just having been announced. I'll give Samsung a week or two to (hopefully) announce something officially about their support, then try it out on my test partition when I have some time.

 

Спасибо за совет.

Google translation added by mod: "Thanks for the advice"

Because English is the official shared language on NBR, our forum rules require that translations be provided for non-English posts.

 

I guess I'll just reinstall win 8 then! Not much that I will be missing anyway

Now I need to find a tutorial for that xD


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Or wait a little while longer and see what 8.1 Update brings. That said, Win8 has been working very well for me, using a 3rd party Start Menu.

Everything mentioned in the post about 8.1 clean install I linked applies to clean install of Win8 as well -- except that it should pick up your Product Key automatically.

Beyond that, use this post for guidance on driver installation.

There is advice here on how to get Win8 or 8.1 install media from Microsoft, using your Win8 Product Key.

 

I have the model NP880Z5E-X01SE (Ativ Book 8). On Samsung web page you can now read that Windows 8.1 can be installed in this model. In same place the process is also explained shortly. I made the installation and so far I have not seen any problems.

I do not have an external antivirus software in my laptop, but in case I had such, it should have been uninstalled before this update.

I did the install in the following way:
1) I checked in SW Update any new updates, none. The BIOS was updated a couple of days earlier. I think it was important for W8.1
2) I selected the W8.1 in Windows Store and the download started. After 45 minutes the user was needed for confirmations. In detail settings I selected that Windows Update is not automatic, because SW Update must be run first
3) After 2 hours from starting W8.1 was in use. I checked that all 16 GB RAM was there, sounds were ok, mousepad was working, keyboard backlights were ok, etc.
4) I started SW Update and it proposed two drivers: Win 8.1 Brightness Patch Program, and Graphic Driver 10.18.10.33. I hesitated a bit with the latter but let both be installed and finally restarted the laptop. The black display scared several times (one of them for 5 minutes) but finally I had the Metro display again.
5) I asked Windows Update to check updates a couple of times, and installed them, except for Bluetooth driver which I think SW Update should give
6) Finally I checked if SW Update finds anything more. Bluetooth Driver 3.1.1309.386 and Touchpad Driver 11.7.19.9 were waiting. I installed them.

Most of the settings remained same as before the update. I am now happy with the result.

The startup time was first minutes, but after 3-4 reboots the startup time was again the normal short. One big change took place: in Task Manager the CPU time is 0-2 % when I do nothing, when earlier it was around 10 %. Lets see if this situation remains.

 

I am so tempted to try and upgrade to win 8.1 right now. The only thing that stops me is that atm I have CCC crashing each time I boot the machine. I was hoping to be able to clean install and then install those few needed drivers only. Might try to update straight away and then replace the drivers with those offered by SW update?

 

CCC is an application which lets you change video settings, and it is not necessary unless you have changed the basic options. If you does not start CCC you may lose some of your settings. I have disabled CCC from starting when W8.1 boots - but only for reason of faster boot. But note that I have not fiddled with different display drivers, I have kept the Samsung recommendations. If I want to change settings, I can start CCC manually later.

 

Is it not necessary to properly switch graphics in 3D applications and so on? I tried to disable it now, let's see what happens.

 

Are there any working graphic drivers for Windows 8.1? The one that is being provided by Samsung causes a black screen on start.

 

anyone install the 8.1 update that came out today?

 

I did it. nothing interesting and one hour for 5!! reloads. All working


30 min later. Yes i know that this forum not about MS Surface - but 2! BSOD during update

 

hi folks,

I have a big problem with my 770z5e. Last month I restored win8 due to bad performance. Back then, the installed amd 13.10 beta and the catalyst control center etc. worked. After I restored the computer (to win 8) everything worked fine, except for the amd graphics driver (13.10). The catalyst center didnt work, but switchable graphics seemed to be ok, so that wasnt a big issue. Last week I installed the bios upgrade (P06ABU, which seems to be odd, because lots of users wrote they got the P04ADH update but my samsung bios update program suggested the P06ABU) and after that the amd graphics began to crash randomly, saying that the amd card isnt working properly..so now, even when I try to whatch a movie in mozilla, the browser crashes everytime and i get the warning "amd not working properly..." so I decided to uninstall amd graphics..what a joke... Installing other drivers also failed, the drivers from the amd site (13.12) didnt work, so should I try the 12.9?
Do you have any suggestion what to do? Maybe the bios upgrade ruined the system? Can I downgrade the bios or will it downgrade itself when I restore the machine once again? I also have the feeling that the batterylife is shortened after the update.

I hope you guys may have some good ideas

 

Go back to the factory installation in all details: Windows 8, graphic drivers etc. Do not yet install third party antivirus software or any games. Then get updates from SW Update, Windows Update (several times) and SW Update again. Then update to W8.1 as guided here.

Note that the bios version depends on laptop model, I am quite sure that SW Update finds a right version for you. The bios update should be installed in an "old-fashioned" style as described here some pages earlier, or on page 1 of this thread.

After the last bios update I also had performance problems and for instance explorer and Chrome behaved oddly. I think that the bios update was prepared for update to W8.1. After the update my laptop works excellently. - Good luck!

 

thanks for the info!

I will try your advice in a couple of days. Do you think it will be possible to install other graphics driver than sw update will suggest under win 8.1?

I've looked up the power consumption. Before I installed the bios update Samsung settings displayed a value of 8.0W-9.0W in idle mode and with samsungs power plan. As you can see in the picture, the power consumption doubled..(CPU usage is 0-1%..). Even when I change the power plan to power saver, the power consumption does not change..

 

Its so nice when every single post is answered and mine is ignored like i am some kind of black sheep, so i post again:
AMD Catalyst 14.1 Mobility BetaV1.6 SG. Fix Drivers (intel & APU) - Guru3D.com Forums is giving me error display drivver has stopped responding -.-
also why does my NP770Z5E have P04ABZ bios version and there is no update available in windows 8.1 sw update????

 

I don't think you're being ignored on purpose. Maybe no one knows the answer to your questions...

That being said, I'm not sure what drivers those are. I would try using LeeKM's drivers as those seem to work fine. LeshCat's drivers work for me as well, but it looks like his website is not up at the moment.
As for the BIOS, I have no idea.

 

It may have something to do with the fact that we can't really understand what you're asking. I would suspect the attitude might also hinder a helpful response.

jfletcha

 

I understand how that can be frustrating. But do remember this is a forum where owners of Samsung laptops discuss and exchange information at their leisure and according to their interests. It's not a service site with support staff being paid to respond to every "customer".

Member thatoneguy is absolutely correct: Most likely nobody has an answer -- among those members who have participated here since you asked. This particular thread, while still quite active, doesn't have nearly as many daily followers and posters as it used to.

As moderators, John and I see all posts coming through the Samsung forum, and we often try to provide answers where we can and when we have time. But we are not Samsung support staff, and we do this on our own dime and time, so we cannot guarantee answers to everything and everybody. None of us own the 2013 Series 7 / Ativ Book 8 -- and none of us game -- so bleeding edge AMD drivers is one of those subjects where we rely entirely on other regular members to share information.

The only general answer we can give is to use the Samsung provided drivers from SW Update. And if you have problems with a Win8.1 update, roll back to Win8.

Regarding your BIOS: This thread covers different models, including the 2013 Series 7 (NP770/780) and the Ativ Book 8 (NP870/880). While the two are very similar, they DO have different BIOS features (NP770/780 has Battery Life Extender, while NP870/880 does not) and it is possible that only some models have new BIOS updates.

 

Well thanks for help. I am sorry but english is not my main language so sometimes i type realy bad. Is anyone up here who has samsung np770z7e-s01hr

 

No worries. I am not native English myself, and I can easily relate to that. NBR has members from all over the world, and nobody here will (or should be) judged by their command of the English language.

 

This is not an official support forum. This is a forum of enthusiasts. You are entitled to nothing. If you ask questions clearly and politely and someone knows the answer then they will usually respond. If nobody has an answer for you then they probably won't. But complaining about people not answering your posts isn't going to endear you to anyone.

The best course of action is to ask the question again...politely.

 

Hey guys, first-time poster here, long time reader whenever I had a question, so I'm hoping you guys can come through again with some actionable advice.

I had my still-under-warranty NP770Z7E sent off to Intelisol to have the ubiquitous faulty stock hard drive replaced. They expediently fixed it and sent it back, only there was now physical damage done to the laptop (like the it had been dropped or bumped on one of its corners). The box they returned it in was undamaged and the laptop was securely packed, so it could not have occurred in transit back to me.

I called Samsung customer service, who spoke with Intelisol, who said they received the laptop that way and "documented the damage", even though said documentation does not appear anywhere on the Service Repair Statement they enclosed in the box with the laptop (it only indicates they replaced the hard drive, nothing more). The obvious problem with that statement though is that any kind of physical damage done to a laptop voids the manufacturers warranty, thus making the free repair I received to be impossible. But now it's basically my word against Intelisol's, since I can't see their supposed documentation.

My conclusion is that somebody at Intelisol is either lying about the fact that they damaged the laptop before or immediately after it was repaired or didn't follow company policy by allowing a laptop that arrived damaged to be repaired under the manufacturers warranty in the first place. I told the Samsung rep this and they of course hummed and hawed in the incompetent and infuriating way that only a Samsung customer service rep can do and said they were going to file a damage claim with UPS, which is ridiculous because it's not their fault, it's Intelisol's.

So what should I do in this case? Call Samsung back and hope to talk to a different rep who might know what their doing or be able to escalate this to someone who can, or should I call Intelisol and talk directly to someone there? I kinda feel like this one is on Samsung, since they contract Intelisol out to do these repairs and I'm a Samsung customer who shouldn't have to jump through hoops when it's not my fault. Has anybody else had to deal with a similar situation, and if so, how did you handle it? Honestly, I'm still too angry to be thinking rationally about this as I'm pretty sure the only way to "repair" the damage done is to replace the laptop altogether, as the aluminum shell and plastic underbelly are both dented and chipped where they meet in the corner of the laptop by the power jack and the monitor hinge makes a plastic-y clicking sound whenever I open the laptop.

I also noticed that none of the Samsung bloatware is on my laptop, but also neither is SW Update or Samsung Recovery (was that what it's called, the FN-F1 command?). Is that a cause for concern? I see that it can be downloaded again at Samsung's website, but I just want to make sure they didn't screw something else up.

Anyway, thanks for any help advice that can be offered.

 

Hi,
I have had my Ativ book 8 for a few months now and I totally love it.
I followed this thread from before buying it and did everything recommended for the drivers and SSD and all.
But now that Microsoft is making the windows 8.1 update required, do you guys know if the issues with the drivers still persist on Windows 8.1 or does Samsung now support 8.1? I am mainly afraid for the graphics since I play a few demanding games and I need as much performance as I can squeeze out of the card.
Thanks

 

For me i have 8.1 but i still get fps drops under 60 when fight comes in league of legends, i am still trying to fix it but no luck, i dont have ssd thou.

PS: i have my hard disk on 100% so meny times, but i cant afford ssd, so i am asking what do you suggest i do? buy a faster hdd?

 

I got a Seagate SSHD, because I wanted to keep 1TB storage and couldn't afford £400 for it. After installing that and getting rid of Intellimemory (which tries to do a similar job to the SSHD using free RAM), all of my performance and responsiveness problems have gone.

Fast Laptop SSHD: Thin HDD 1TB Hybrid SSD | Seagate

 

Hey guys! I wrote in this thread about a month or so ago about battery life.
I checked and I'm usually at 15v-16v with not many programs running, and I just noticed I'm unable to lower my brightness and my sleep settings done work. I know there's a fix to the brightness issue but I've dug and searched through the thread and couldnt find anything. Ive also noticed that my battery life remaining fluctuates greatly. An example is one minute itll say 3 hours left then go to 1 hour left. If you guys could please help me out

And also if you dont mind telling me which drivers you guys use for the best performance and battery life. That would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks =)

 

Evening guys,
i've just bought and plugged in a 8GB Kingston KVR16S11/8 DDR3-1600 to upgrade my ram to 16gb, but when i start my laptop the screen goes green and the laptop shuts down. What do you think it might be? (i havent disconnected the battery before pluggin in the new 8gb ram, my bad -.-)

ehm, i got a NP870Z5G-X01IT (samung ativ book 8, 8gb ram, i7 4702, nvidia 750m)

 

very usefull information thank you, i think i wil ltry with this too

 

try only with new ram first, then try both