Anyone here have the NP550P7C 17"?

Cheers mate that would help a lot I've explained the situation again and again and they don't really take it serious, The repair center told me to phone customer service and I was pretty much told as it only happens on one game then that's the cause of the issue... even though I gave them the link to this thread, I recorded videos I even sent it with a letter explaining in great detail what was happening, but they did nothing.

They pretty much make it out like I'm being a bit OTT and its not a problem even though I've got 2 of these laptops and they both do the same thing

 

Hi the SO number is 4123401425. HTH RM

 

Are you from the UK or in a different country? as they gave me a 5 digit work reference number 17602, they stuck a sticker on the side of my box when I picked it up

I've currently made a video showing two NP550P7C's having fps lag one after 15 mins, will upload it on youtube in a bit and put up the link.

 

I'm afraid that's all I have. I sent it from the UK. I'll try and the phone digicare and see what exactly the problem was.

 

NP550P7C FPS LAG - YouTube

I think more ppl on this thread should post videos of just how bad the laptop runs, I know I've made all this effort to record and document the problem but I know they are going to over look it again

 

Good work soulus85. Was going to buy one of these for my son, as they seemed the best spec for the intended budget (£800-£850). From his 15 year old point of view, for gaming (Minecraft & others) and from his parents, for school work for at least the next 3 years.
May hold fire on this purchase for a week and see how this pans out.
Thanks again,
Nige

 

I'm glad I can help To be honest, its an amazing laptop and I love it, the sound is amazing, the keyboard feels perfect and it looks lovely, but the whole GFX card FPS lag just really let's it down big time. I was thinking of buying a Dell XPS 17 but I waited almost 8 months for the new Ivy bridge processors and I didn't like the GFX card inside the Dell I wanted something a bit powerful, So when I saw this laptop I knew it was perfect for me.

I choose Samsung as they are a very good brand and I still stick too it, I don't know wether this is a problem with a bad batch or its a problem across the line. It just annoys me when they say they've never heard of this problem before when this forum is living proof.

The laptop runs perfectly doing normal task's running off the onboard HD 4000 intel GFX but as soon as the 650m kicks in the temp is going to raise from 45c to 85c even if your just making a video on windows movie maker. At the end of the day I bought this for the 2GB graphics card and for mid-level gaming, but saying that I can run battlefield 3 on ultra at about 28fps so the GFX can handle visually demanding games but due to poor ventilation its causing all these problems.

 

How is your laptop running? I took my laptop back to Samsung again and was told it would be pointless to get them to look at it again, even after being told by customer service to bring it in again!

 

Hi,
I'm sending this back to PCWorld. The FPS is cured but the GPU and CPU are running so hot that I don't think it's going to last to long. Ran the following tests:

HardReset (FPS) CPU 97C GPU 87C
Metro 2033 CPU 98C GPU 90C

Prime 95 (prime number cpu test) made the CPU exceed 100C.

My laptop cooler is making minimal difference. They did an excellent jog is keeping the casing cool, but the CPU/GPU are too close to the maximum settings for my liking.

I'll either try an acer with a 650M or build one from PCSpecialist.

Shame as it's a lovely laptop.

 

Anybody using an Crucial M4 , I have the 128GB version and i get a BSOD every-time i come out of sleep mode, I have the latest firmware on the M4, the only way i can use the sleep mode is to use the standard Microsoft SATA controller drivers.

John.

 

If you've had the laptop for over 21 days they wont give you a refund, I spoke to both curry's and Samsung. I'm going around in circles trying to get this issue sorted out

 

So has this issue been resolved then, or is there still lag spikes when going into turbo mode while plugged in?

 

@Soulus85, Yep, 28 days with PC world. Shame they took 16 days to deliver the laptop in the first place. So it's off to samsung for another repair. Apparently 3 repairs and I can get a replacement. That probably won't work, but I'll request a different laptop. Pretty sure it's a design flaw.

 

Easy Update announced today that their was an Nvidia driver update, I was on the latest stock 295.55 , so the update downloaded 215mb and installed, then the notebook re-booted and it said it was installing the standard vga driver, not the new Nvidia driver, so the update messed up my notebook, luck i had made a restore point before, but easy update is still nagging me to do the update, anybody else had problems.

EDIT : easy software manger was crashing when the Nvidia driver was installing, I re-installed it then everything went fine, the new Nvidia driver is 296.87

John.

 

How is your laptop Runningman? To be honest I've almost given up hope, I made an offical complaint and they said its been looked into by Samsung HQ but I highly doubt that, I'm gonna wait september then I'm going to kick up another fuss

Tinderbox you should go on geforce.com and get the drivers from that site, they are more up to date

 

I love this notebook but a few things i dont like.

It hits over 90c for both cpu and gpu while gaming why only tiny air vents on the bottom, though no throttling, there is a odd popping noise from the right speaker when i click to open an app now and again, I keep getting blutooth using 15% of my cpu usage even though it`s disabled, and i have to re-boot to remove it.

I dont like trackpads i use a mouse plugged into the top right usb 2.0 port, but for some reason the port is not activated till 20 seconds or so after the notebook has fully booted.

I dont like that stupid right angled sata connector for the hdd.

 

It's back with Samsung, hit 100C playing Just Cause 2 on medium settings. It can do ultra settings but who knows how hot it would get. Going for the 3 repairs and replacement and try and get an extended warranty from Samsung. I can't see this laptop lasting for more than a couple of years before dying.
There's another thread on this issue at The Samsung Series 5 550P Laptops Thread - Page 58. One fix is as follows,

step 1: go to control panel
step2 : go to power options
step 3:tick on samsung optimized
step 4:change plan settings then change advanced power setting
step 5:click on processor power management & then minimum processor state
step 6:adjust the plugged in to 50% or 60% i did 50
step7:go to maximum processor state plugged in 70% or 60%
use this profile & run games on normal mode no turbo

but not too happy with this, I bought an i7 and 650 and want to use it too it's max ability.

I'll report back when the repaired lappy returns.

 

Samsung needs to increase the fan speed, even at 90c+ the fans on this notebook are very quiet compared to other notebooks i have had.

John.

 

Had this laptop for about a week now, though I haven't really done much with it so far. I do have a couple of minor complaints, though: the trackpad isn't sensitive enough for my liking. Sometimes I have run my finger all over the trackpad in order for it to move. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this. And second, something must be wrong with my keyboard layout. I bought this in Canada, so the keys have extra functions for symbols and accents. Usually the way to make them work is by using the AltGr key, but it doesn't appear to work on most of them. It works on random keys, though. I'm not sure if that's normal or not.

Overall, I don't really have much to complain about so far, but I'm still wondering if this was a worthy purchase. I'm still mulling over the Toshiba P870.

 

I've got the np550p5c-S01 IN model, and also faced throttling and high temps, I believe a driver and BIOS update can fix the issue. I set the cpu max to 70% and underclocked the GPU using msi afterburner....I played GTA IV for 2hrs 30mins, and faced no throttling, max gpu temps was 84C, CPU temps 87C, underclocking the gpu didn't effect the performance/fps at all. here are the results.....

 

Anybody tried re-pasting this notebooks cpu/gpu , i wondered if it would make much of a difference.

John.

 

I'm considering having a go at doing this myself, just need someone else to take one apart first and stick it on youtube so I don't bust mine dismantling it.

I've just updated the bios on mine to P05AAA. Has anyone else tried this version? And has it sorted the throttling issue for them?

I'm gonna run the Furmark benchmark now and see how it goes.

 

I'm interested in this model mainly for the processor power as I very rarely do any gaming these days. The remarks about it being quiet are great but I have concerns that the cooling above and beyond the GPU is an issue.

Also someone mentioned that putting in an SSD and RAM would void your warranty, surely that can't be the case? Heck that would be the first thing I would do!!

One question about the screen. Notebookcheck are pretty down on it with regards to contrast. How have people found it?

Cheers.

 

You can upgrade the memory and hdd yourself without voiding the warranty, Samsung even shows you how in the user manual.

John.

 

Upgraded from P04AAA to P05AAA myself last night.

Differences the fan now sees to turn off completely when the notebook cpu is idling, i thought the fan sounds louder/faster but running prime95 the cpu still hits 91c with the notebook sitting flat on a wooden table with no additional cooling, room temp 22c , I have not tried a game yet, to see what the combined cpu/gpu temp will be like.

Samsung defensively dropped the ball with the lack of cooling vents/air intakes

John.

 

I've just been playing GTA4 for the last hour and a half and despite the GPU and CPU getting up to 91°C I haven't had any throttling.

What I have noticed is the GPU core is changing more dynamically once the core got up towards 90°C. I't now changing between 950Mhz and 875Mhz in small steps, and I assume it is doing this stop the temperature from climbing to high.

It's looking like this problem is now sorted.

 

I use a gadget called topfive to monitor my top five cpu processes , since i bought my 550p i have been getting devmonsrv.exe using 12.5% for no reason, it just pops up and continues to use my cpu for hours at a time, and i can only get rid be re-booting , now taskmanger says it`s a bluetooth process, but i have bluetooth disabled, I even disabled wifi&bluetooth it still using 12.5% of my cpu , I have done clean installs it keeps comming back, I updated my wifi and bluetooth driver it does not fix the problem.

Also when you press Fn+F12 to enable wifi/bluetooth it says please wait and then gives you no cycle though option, I have had a few samsung notebooks and this seems broken.

John.

 

I cant seam to find the bios update, I went on easy software manager and it doesn't give me any bios options any more, and also I went on the Samsung np550p7c driver page and they don't have any bios updates anymore.

I've been playing guild wars 2 on my laptop, I've had to run it on low settings, set the game to 30fps, and put the battery settings on balanced, set the GFX card to the run on performance via the slider and Ive only had a few throttling problems, it does suck that I could easily run the game in the highest settings but after 20 minutes I would have to put up with the bull throttling problem, so as long as I play the game and make it look like a piece of crap I can play it lol.

I've had no word from Samsung since I made an official complaint but will let you know if I hear anything

 

Bios update does not see to be part of the software manger, you have to go to the samsung website, and download the software updater 2.12mb , from the firmware section, it will down load the newest firmware and do the update automaticaly, do not interrupt it, even if it looks to have stopped working, it takes about 5mins, but give it 15mins.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/NP550P7C-S02UK-downloads

John.

 

I got a 404 not found when using the BIOS update tool (download button)

The direct link seems to be

http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_20120825_637_WIN_P05AAA.exe

Though this is for a NP550P5C so YMMV. If you get a 404 when getting the BIOS for the P7C, you can figure out the URL easily enough using the above information

 

1. Populate a list of BIOS updates (XML file): http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/BUWebServiceProc.asmx/BIOSItemList

2. Search for P04AAA or P05AAA (latest) and locate the "FileName"

3. Download the update from:
http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/<FileName here>


Anyways the BIOS update version "P05AAA" is release on 08-25-2012 and has a timestamp of "20120830" in its filename. If someone has a version downloaded 2-3 days back, please compare the executables.

 

How to underclock GPU with MSI Afterburner v2.2.3
? I tried to set down to 900 Mhz only but without result, GPU-Z always says that GPU has 950 MHZ. PLease help.

 

Hi.

Has anybody had any popping sounds from the speakers, and sometimes some weird increasing feedback sound, I fixed this by stopping the realtek software from starting, by disabling it in msconfig, the soundalive still works.

John.

 

OK, problem solved. Before downloading fresh vnidia drivers /easy software menager has been used/ MSI Afterburner had started from 405 Mhz and only increasing was possible. Now it started from "0" and I can increase or decrease GPU clock

 

Anybody upgraded to 16gb cpu-z says i have 4 slots but i can only find 2 under the trapdoor.

John.

 

I think CPU-z just accommodates the generic condition of 4 RAM slots (sometimes provided on desktops and perhaps a few mobile workstations). Quad channel RAM may offer some performance advantages. I know that my X4C has only two RAM slots which CPU-z calls slots 1 and 3.

If you want 16GB RAM then you can use a pair of 8GB modules.

John

 

First of all, sorry about my english, and please correct me if there's something misspelled.

Reading this and many other forum i've found a solution, now my gpu is 79°c at full load.
Like someone said before in this forum, you need to underclock the gpu.
(this is an image that i took from his post, in the page 12)



Underclocking it didn't affect the performance in games like WOW, Diablo 3, APB Reloaded, all of them at ultra graphics, i don't know yet how the perfomance will be in games like Battlefield 3.

Next you have to install Gamebooster or you can create an energy plan (?)if you know how to, i used the one on game booster cause i have it installed. If you install it, please don't change the configuration if you don't know what you're doing.

In the advanced configurations of the energy plan, you have to change the maximun state (?) of the processor, it has to be at 99%. At not reaching 100% the turbo boost does not activate, this prevents a lot of heat.

So instead of using the turbo mode, that seems to have a glitch (i didn't get the lag problem on normal mode), i use GameBooster to play, i've played wow in ultra setting for 4-5 hours, with max temp of the GPU, 79°c. Also with 70 fps, average. Then i locked the fps to 60, so the temp decreased a few degrees, but nothing important.


That's it, please if someone want to correct something, like i said before, a misspelled word or a bad translation, feel free to do it, i know some translation are bad cause i use my pc in spanish, and my english is not the best.

 

Hi.

Will this memory work OK in my notebook, this is what cpu-z says about the memory i currently have.

CT2KIT102464BF160B - 16GB kit (8GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM , DDR3 PC3-12800 from Crucial.com

thanks

John.

 

DDR3 SODIMM, PC3-12800. I can't see why it wouldn't work. In fact, a different speed rating would also work (but 12800 is probably optimum) - the BIOS reads the SPD data (that list at the bottom of the data) and works out the appropriate timings.

John

 

According to the Intel website 1600MHz is the maximum speed of memory that my i7-3610QM supports

ARK | Intel® Core

thanks

John.

 

I recall that the i5-2520M in my T420s actually supported 1600MHz although the CPU specs said 1333Mhz. However, what you gain in MHz you lose in increased latency so there was precious little difference in the memory bandwidth.

John

 

Got my laptop back from repair. I asked for them to use some thermal paste when repairing the CPU. The core CPU temperatures seems to be better so I presume this helps. "Hard Reset" ran at 5 degrees cooler. I lowered the power for the processor to 70% and am getting CPU temperatures of 80C. However, the GPU still throttles after 30 minutes if I play at 900P. Running at 720P avoided the throttling and the GPU seemed to run at almost 10C cooler. I've updated the BIOS and ran using the latest beta drivers, so unless I underclock the GPU am unsure what to do.

 

Please inform where is available bios update for NP550P7C ?

 

Download and run the Samsung BIOS updater program. It will check for the latest version and then download and install it.

John

 

Go to http://http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/NP550P7C-S02UK-downloads and follow the instructions given under the description icon.

 

OK friends, I made this ! Bios updated, thanks for Your help !

 

I also have a 550P5C-S03, and i'm getting throttles in games like sleeping dogs and future soldier while i didn't have any throttles/slowmotions playing battlefield 3 and max payne 3 on high graphics...is there any solution to this so far other than underclocking? anyone tried updating the bios?

 

Hi.

Is there a F button to bring up a boot menu, i want to boot from an dvd without having to enter the bios.

thanks

John.

 

F10 does the necessary on the Series 9 while Esc worked on the older Samsung notebooks. Give both of those a try.

John

 

If was F10, even the user manual did not mention it, thanks +REP

John.