ATIV Book 9 NP900X3G Bios update resulted in no boot devices

I just update the BIOS on my ATIV Book 9, and ended up with a BIOS that has no boot devices identified.

The model is NP900X3G-S01US, running pre-installed Windows 7 Professional, and came with a 256mb SSD. The BIOS update was from P04ADU to P07ADU. Belatedly, I noticed that P07ADU is the version that ships with Windows 8.1, which may have contributed to the problem.

The update was installed via Samsung’s SW Update, after the service prompted me. (I don’t accept all of their updates, but I generally take it on faith that the BIOS should be up to date.)

After updating, I received this message when the system failed to reboot:

“ All boot options are tried. Press F4 to recover with factory image using Recovery or any other keys for next boot loop iteration.”​

Pressing F4 only re-cycles this message; I cannot access Samsung Recovery.

I can however, use F2 to access the Samsung BIOS Configuration, which confirms that my current BIOS version is P07ADU (the new version). But when I navigate to “Boot Device Priority”, the screen is blank…not even Windows Boot Manager.

So I can’t re-boot using a flash drive or DVD.

I reset the BIOS to default settings (F9) and then rebooted (F10), and it still failed to boot.

I also tried disconnecting the power supply and the battery (seen elsewhere on this forum) and got the same result.

I’ve seen other threads on this forum where people were able to roll back the BIOS version…but they were able to boot the machine and the OS.

Is there any way to roll back the BIOS with no boot device or OS? Or any other way to get the machine going?

Thanks,
Lee

 

See if that helps:

 

Also, make sure UEFI is disabled in BIOS. We have some reports that BIOS updates on Win7 models caused a new Win8.x style BIOS which defaults to UEFI being enabled.

Win7 models need UEFI disabled (unless Windows was previously re-installed in UEFI mode and the disk converted from MBR to GPT).

On old-style BIOS'es (with limited UEFI implementation) set UEFI Boot=disabled.

On newer BIOS'es (with full UEFI implementation) set SecureBoot=disabled and OS Mode Selection=CSM OS.

Ordinarily, you want to keep AHCI=On/Auto, but several Series 9 users have indeed reported that toggling AHCI helped when their SSD dropped out -- as described by @uberbook.

 

Thank you for your responses, uberbook and Dannemand. Unfortunately, I entered the "Samsung BIOS Configuration" and neither the UEFI nor the AHCI are available to be set. In fact, neither is mentioned.

The BIOS Configuration screen is not like any BIOS setup I've seen. Rather than the DOS-looking blue screen that works with the arrow keys (like I have on my Samsung Series 7), it's a graphic screen that works with the touchpad. My Series 7 BIOS can set these options...the new Series 9 BIOS does not.

Both of your answers make good sense. Do you know of a way to set these options?

Lee

 

I've edited the thread title to mention NP900X3G and we'll have to hope that one of the other owners of this notebook will pass by and be able to offer some help.

John

 

It is indeed a UEFI graphical bios, but I can remember how much I've messed around in there and what options are available. I know I'm running W8.1 on an EVO upgrade, but stuck with MBR (UEFI/GPT does not work with Windows Image Backups). I agree the bios update has probably switched on UEFI and killed the W7 partition at least temporarily. I am still on whatever bios came from the factory so I may not even have the same options as the OP, but I'll check this evening.

 

As go45cvi pointed out, this is the graphical UEFI Firmware Settings page. UEFI is not a menu item in there, but a choice under OS Mode Selection.

Look for SecureBoot, it's gotta be there somewhere, I think in the Boot section. Once you disable SecureBoot, you should be able to set OS Mode Selection=CSM OS. That will disable UEFI.

Don't worry about AHCI for now: It's probably already enabled by default, and UEFI is the more likely cause of your problem.

 

This is what it looks like on mine.

Mms_img-827206704 by go45cvi posted Feb 17, 2015 at 8:57 PM

 

Yes, when I disabled Secure Boot, CSM OS was the default selection. I saved the change, and the computer started normally.

I then did a restart, and SW Update notified me that it was finishing the BIOS update, after which it notified me the update was finished...the update I started a few days ago. The next restart was normal.

Since the BIOS update had completed, I thought I'd try to turn Secure Boot back on...but that caused BIOS to lose track of the boot devices again, so I returned it to CMS OS.

You have no idea how much I appreciate your help. I'm traveling for a month in the middle of Mexico, and there was no way to return the computer to Samsung.

I was disappointed that Samsung rolled out this BIOS version.

But even more disappointing was their tech support. The first agent kept telling me to navigate to Control Panel, and then asked if she could assume remote control of my computer. Then she asked me to go to Samsung Recovery. She must not have understood the idea of "no boot devices" or "cannot boot computer". A wasted hour. The next agent was better, but could only tell me to return the computer.

Again, thank you. Great to be back in business.

One other question. Should I leave the setup as-is? Is there any down side to leaving Secure Boot off? I could attempt to roll-back the BIOS when I get home, but I'm thinking I should leave well-enough alone...

Lee

 

@Lee H: That's excellent. Well done getting your laptop back in business!

SecureBoot prevents non-certified operating systems from being booted and can help protect the boot sectors from rootkits and other malware. So it is a good feature.

But it only works in UEFI mode on a GPT disk. You run legacy BIOS mode on an MBR disk.

Check the post here for some overview and links to more detailed articles.