GUIDE: How to install Windows 7 or 8 via USB on NP700Z*

Hi, I am planing on installing Windows 7 on my Samsung NP900X4D-A04SE, but I'm a bit confused with all the different information floating around this subject. Hopefully someone can help me.

My laptop has Windows 8 preinstalled and it has a 128gb SSD. From what i gather this means it does not have an iSSD or ExpressCache, correct? I want to install from a USB-stick, so if I have understood this correctly, the only thing I have to do is convert the disk from GPT to MBR.

I've taken two backups of the entire drive using the recovery tools provided by Samsung (F4 during boot). Am I able to use this to restore the entire drive, with all its partitions, even after I've converted the drive to MBR?

 

Hi janock, welcome to NBR.

The Win7 install guide in this post contains everything you need.

You are correct, your model does not have iSSD and ExpressCache, so the guides on the first page of this thread don't apply to your model. You are also correct that converting to MBR is advisable when running Win7 on a Samsung laptop, as described in that post I linked.

The specific backup you want BEFORE performing this conversion (which completely wipes your disk) is a Bootable Factory Image Backup created in F4 Recovery. Use the steps in this Samsung guide, making sure you enable the Create boot disk option. You generally need a 32GB USB stick for this type of backup -- although maybe your model can get away with just a 16GB USB stick.

Make sure the backup completes in a timely fashion. It it proceeds very slowly (taking hours) that's a sign Recovery doesn't like your USB stick, and the backup may not be safe (even if it eventually completes). You should get a another USB stick in that case. After creating the backup, test that you can boot it and it seems to work.

Now you can proceed to convert the SSD to MBR, change your BIOS settings to disable UEFI, and install Win7 -- all as described in that guide I linked.

If you need to restore the original Win8 installation, re-enable UEFI in BIOS and boot your USB backup (again, as described in that guide). This will re-partition the SSD and restore everything as if the PC was new. Note that it is a Factory Image backup that restores the SSD to factory state. Any data should be backed up and restored separately, and any installed programs must be installed anew after the restore.

I hope this helps. Let us know how it goes

 

Hello, im on a NP700Z5C-S03IT which have w8 and express cache... i admit im a bit frustrated with this OS and i was wondering if i should install win7 ...

Any suggestions?

 

Hi fullyZ,

For my part, when I first tested Win8, I didn't like it at all, 99% due to the whole Start Screen / Metro thing. And I still don't like that aspect of it: I don't have a touch screen, and I don't use my PC like a tablet.

But Win8 is by far my favorite OS now: I have both Win7 and Win8 on different partitions, and I can use each with equal ease, but it's months since I last booted Win7.

What made all the difference for me, was using a 3rd party Start Menu, that also boots straight to the Desktop. I use Win8 exactly the same way as I used Win7 before, but with the benefits of some of the under-the-hood improvement (faster boot etc).

As for 3rd party Start Menu replacements, I use IOBit Start Menu 8 which I commented on here. It works OK, but there are several other products too, some cost a few bucks. Some of the free ones are spammy -- Pokki in particular should be avoided, nastybad business, which is now included as bloatware by some vendors.

At the very least would I check out Win 8.1 first. But DON'T go there quite yet, as it's not compatible with the current Samsung drivers and Settings. We expect updates versions to come out after Win 8.1 is released.

If you DO choose to downgrade to Win7, you can use the install guide here, including the MBR conversion steps. But please make Recovery backups first, as I described in my post to janock just before yours.

 

Thanks for the quick reply Dannemand, its much appreciated in this jungle of information. I will definitely try installing W7 now.

Your post about keeping Windows 8 and using a start menu replacer peaked my interest though. There are alot of thing i like about W8, but the start menu is a deal breaker for me. But which partitions should i keep if I do a clean installation of W8, if any? Should I just format the entire disk and let the new installation partition the disk by its default settings? Or are there any particular partitions I should keep? Keeping in mind that I have a full backup of the disk.

Also, do I need to make the backup on a stick, or can I use an external hd too? I don't have a stick that is large enough, so I figured I could use the external and make that bootable.

 

@janock: I'm away from my PC now, so this will be quick: If you have Win8 install media, you can perform a clean install. Within Setup, just format the Windows partition and leave the others be. You may have to disable SecureBoot first, you can re-enable once it's running.

Have to run...

 

The fact is that im in front of a really big problem...

I just flashed my win8 from scratch using the recovery partition and after few reboots/w8 updates and stuff my C: partition starts to hold on 100% usage.. no matter what i do, no matter which process i kill, no matter if i check di I/O there is no sign of problems apparently.

I think that some w8 updates are messing up with my laptop so now ill try to reflash everthing back and disable w8 updates to check if it goes better

 

If you mean you performed a clean install of Win8 (from Win8 install media, as opposed to Samsung factory installation) then which drivers did you install? And from where? You want to let SW Update install most (but not all) of the Essential items it offers. Check this post for guidance on that.

If you restored the Samsung factory installation, you can use this post as guidance to clean out bloat.

Do note that on a new installation, both ExpressCache (if you installed that) and Antimalware Service will keep the system more busy than usual. The same is true of some Windows .NET updates. You have to just let them finish, and don't interrupt them.

You can preload ExpressCache by defragging C: then run BOOTOPT.BAT in the ExpressCache programs folder. Check the ExpressCache thread for more info (but don't do the steps in the opening post, they are outdated).

For lots of discussion of your particular model (which was one of the most popular last year) check the NP700Z5C Owners Lounger.

Finally, note that you can find relevant posts across the Samsung forum by using Google searches such as site:notebookreview.com/samsung NP700Z5C high CPU utilization.

Hope some of this helps

 

I forgot to say that i reflashed for the first time because of this load bug... it's not that it came up in the clean one... actually with a full format is not present anymore ( for now) .. so your fixs cant do much

 

Hey, just checking back to let you know that installing Windows 7 went without any problems when I followed your guide. I made a backup of the entire disk first, then converted the disk to MBR and just installed W7 as normal.

Now that I've tried W8 and gone back W7, I am noticing the small differences in performance though. W8 is just more smooth, there are hardly any small "hickups", which there are more of in W7. Also W8 seems to improve battery lifetime somewhat as well. So I'm probably going back to W8 soon, especially now that 8.1 is out and there seems to be several good options to replace the default startscreen.

Anyways, thanks a bunch for your help Dannemand, it's greatly appreciated!

 

I'm on my way to pick up my NP900X3C later today and I'll be changing its SSD as soon as possible (it's preloaded with W8 etc but as far as I know they all still come with the same crappy SanDisk as always) so I'll be needing a fresh install of Windows as well. I'm not going with Windows 8 and reading back and forth here I'm quite sure I know how to get Windows 7 up and running, but just to check: When I swap in a brand new SSD with no partitions whatsoever on it, do I need to 1) disable fast BIOS (what's it for anyway?) and why, 2) disable secure boot (what's that as well?) and why, 3) switch between UEFI and legacy BIOS setting before and after installation and - if so - why?

edit: Also, regarding 1 & 2, are those something I can or should enable once I get the OS set up?

 

The Fast BIOS option skips checking for other bootable devices when the computer initially boots so it cuts a few seconds off the boot time. It also prevents the computer being accidentally / maliciously booted off an external device. It's worthwhile having Fast BIOS enabled unless you need to boot off an external device.

I'll be interested to know if your X3C does have the U100. if so, when was it manufactured (the date is on the bottom of the computer)? Reports of people receiving the U100 have substantially reduced during this year.

John

 

Fast BIOS figured out then, thanks! Any idea about 2 & 3? And yes, I'm stuck with U100 (manufactured Nov. 2012) for now... Until I get my hands on a 525, that is

 

1) Fast Boot: As John explained, to speed up boot and protect from unintentionally booting an external device that might contain malware.

2) SecureBoot: More protection against malware and rootkits, by only allowing a trusted OS to be booted. If you clean install Win8 (but stay in UEFI/GPT mode), you will have to disable SecureBoot while you install (in order to boot the install media), then you can re-enable SecureBoot afterwards. SecureBoot requires an UEFI/GPT OS.

3) UEFI provides a partly software based alternative to the good old Legacy BIOS. Its most visible benefits are slightly faster boot time and support for GPT partitioned disks (which don't have the limitation of 4 primary partitions of old fashioned MBR disks). UEFI and GPT are related: GPT disks MUST be booted with an UEFI enabled BIOS and OS. Windows determines at time of installation whether to install in UEFI or Legacy mode, and cannot be changed afterwards.

Read more in the following Microsoft articles:

Secure Boot Overview
Understanding Disk Partitions
Windows and GPT FAQ

Users considering downgrading to Win7 should read this post before deciding. The downgrade involves converting their HDD/SSD from GPT to MBR (for smoothest Win7 operation) which will wipe the disk. In fact, I recommend two backups in those situations, for the reasons described in this post.

Users who will be swapping in another SSD don't have that concern, as long as they keep their original HDD/SSD safe.

Those wanting to clone their factory Win8 installation onto the new SSD should follow the steps in this post, which will also give them a nice, self-contained, bootable Recovery backup in the process.

Those simply wanting to perform a clean install of Win7 (on an existing or new disk) can use this Win7 install guide. It also includes steps for converting the GPT disk to MBR and changing BIOS settings on models delivered with Win8.

Do NOT use the guides on the first page of this thread unless you install from USB on a model with ExpressCache.

I deliberately included answers beyond your questions and your situation, in case others might see this post.

 

Whoa, that was... comprehensive at least Thanks! However, just to double check:

1) Fast BIOS - Enable and disable however seen fit just to allow boot device selection if required, doesn't affect anything else.
2) Secure Boot - Not supported with Windows 7, has to stay disabled or the OS will not boot if re-enabled afterwards.
3) UEFI vs Legacy - If set as UEFI (as it should be whenever supported), a newly installed Windows 7 will function properly as long as it's not switched to Legacy after installing.

Assuming those are correct I believe I'm on a right track

edit: The scenario above is meant for a clean Windows 7 install on a new, empty SSD where there are no previous partitions or data to save.

 

Yeah, I know, it was kind of a mouthful. But I answer individual questions like these several times a week in different threads (sometimes several times a day). Occasionally I just decide to post a more general response, in the naive hope that it will help more people than just the one who asked the question

I am struggling a bit to understand your follow up question, but let me try:

1) For normal operation, leave Fast BIOS enabled, since so it will just boot straight from the HDD/SSD instead of spending time looking for other boot device. When you DO want to boot another device, you can either press F10 at boot time (Esc on some models) or you can change Boot Priority in BIOS. But Fast BIOS must still be disabled in order for it to even see other boot devices.

2) In theory, SecureBoot can be used with both Win7 and Win8 (as far as I know). But only on UEFI/GPT installations (see below). And SecureBoot must be disabled while installing -- otherwise it won't boot your install media. After completed installation, SecureBoot can be re-enabled -- again, assuming it's an UEFI/GPT installation and UEFI is enabled in BIOS.

3) In theory, Win7 and Win8 both support UEFI/GPT installations: In order to happen, UEFI must be enabled before loading Windows Setup, and installation must be to a GPT drive. However, Samsung laptops have been known to struggle with Win7 and UEFI, so we generally recommend switching to Legacy BIOS/MBR before installing Win7. Again, that install guide I linked covers all that.

In your situation, clean installing Win7 onto a blank SSD, I recommend leaving the SSD as MBR (or convert it to MBR if needed), disable SecureBoot and UEFI in BIOS (OS Mode Selection=CSM OS) and use the install guide I linked. But you will not be able to subsequently enable SecureBoot on such an installation.

 

Great, thanks! I'll live without Secure Boot, but regarding #3 now I'm wondering how the BIOS default settings are with older X3Cs shipped with Windows 7. I mean does Samsung see the UEFI stable / reliable enough to have it set on by default.

 

The older X3Cs shipped with Windows 7 didn't have UEFI enabled. I think you will find that the Windows 8 versions also have a different BIOS so there are more changes than could be achieved through a normal BIOS update. (The Win 7 X4C uses BIOS P**AAC while the Win 8 X4C has BIOS P**ABK and, I think, the X3C uses the same).

The thread here describes some of the headaches caused by the change to UEFI. that thread has gone quiet so it seems like Samsung have fixed the underlying issues.

John

 

"[*]Now you want to copy the system reserved files from the temporary iSSD's partition over to the 350MB partition. Type in bcdboot d:\windows /s c:. You should get a "Boot files successfully created" prompt if successful.

Code:

X:\Sources> [B]bcdboot d:\windows /s c:[/B] (make sure [B]d[/B] and [B]c[/B] drives matches YOURS)

"

Everytime i attempt to use bcdboot i get "Failure attempting to copy boot files". Is there anything i can do to force it to do so?
Thanks!
- Gageinater

 

Hi!

I need help to fix my Samsung Chronos 7 NP700Z3C-S02PT. I didn't find any solution that work for me (I read about 4 different threads here).

The problem starts when I installed Windows 8.1 upgrade through Windows Store (I didn't know about these problems).

Initial status before start upgrade to Windows 8.1:
- I replaced HDD with SSD and used HDD on a caddy;
- On SSD I only have 2 partitions (system partition and a normal NTFS with Windows), cloned from HDD;
- On HDD I don't have anything (only storage) BUT I have a backup done with Paragon Backup & Recovery. On this backup, the Windows partition is wiped but all others are intact.

After the first reboot of Windows 8.1 upgrade installation, the system entered in bootloop with bluescreen. The post logo was from Samsung but the next was from Windows (and not from Samsung like before). The error was ACPI_BIOS_ERROR.
I have a new folder Windows.old (with old system, I presume) and a Windows folder.

Then I tried to restore HDD from backup but after that, the F4 key doesn't work anymore (I already read about it ).

I tried to install Windows from DVD but I get the same bluescreen. I tried again with SSD (after wipe Windows partition) and get bluescreen.

Now, the problem was worse: I get ALWAYS the recovery screen (blue too), even if I remove all disks and I can't boot from any other device.
I think this problem is related to iSSD.
The error is:
The aplication or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contained errors:
File: \Windows\system32\winload.efi
Error code: 0xc0000225

I disabled Secure boot on BIOS, selected "UEFI and CSM OS" (tried others too) and for every order I choose on boot order (device priority), none takes effect and SATA HDD goes always to first, even if I disconnected the drive or disabled devices (with SHIFT+1).
I tried to follow Alternative Method #2 to fix this but the system doesn't boot from nothing. I already disconnect the battery (with switch in a tiny hole) and removed CMOS battery, but the system always tried to boot that way.

Is it iSSD problem? Any hints to solve this mess?

Thank you all, any help will be much appreciated.

 

Hi fearbrain, welcome to NBR.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Unfortunately (and as you discovered) you got hit by several different issues here: (A) The 8.1 upgrade not being compatible with Samsung laptops yet; (B) The F4 link for your Recovery was destroyed when Paragon restored your partition image backup; and (C) there is probably some mismatch now between your disk type and your UEFI settings, causing the boot problems you are seeing. It is also possible that your Win8 installation media is corrupt.

The iSSD CAN be an issue when installing Windows on your model, but only when installing from USB (not from DVD as you tried). And it will not prevent you from booting the Setup media. The iSSD problem only shows up after Windows Setup has completed copying files and tries to boot the first time. (Although UEFI mismatch can also cause an iSSD issue during setup itself).

I think I already gathered that your laptop was delivered with Win8 originally. This is important because Win7 and Win8 delivered models have completely different BIOS and disk configurations.

Also, I assume the Windows version you are now trying to install, is Win8 -- NOT Win7 or Win 8.1. Is that correct? It is good that you install from DVD (as opposed to USB). And you want to make sure your Win8 install media is not corrupt (no download errors etc).

Did you swap the HDD back into the SATA drive bay and put the DVD drive back in the optical bay? Or do you still have both the SSD and HDD installed and use an external DVD drive? Did you make any conversions of your drives from GPT to MBR (or vice versa)?

First we need to straighten out so that you can boot your Win8 Setup DVD. Try and make the following BIOS settings (you may not have all of them):

Fast Boot / Fast BIOS = disabled
Legacy USB = enabled
AHCI = Automatic
SecureBoot = disabled
OS Mode Selection = UEFI & CSM OS

Save this and reboot back into BIOS. Now make sure that you can see both the target SSD/HDD and the source DVD under Boot Priority. If not, try another save and reboot into BIOS. Once you have this working, you're looking at a classic clean install of Windows -- which should be possible.

For simplicity's sake, and since you already lost your Recovery anyway (the Paragon backup is pretty much useless) I would recommend you convert the disk on which you are installing Windows (SSD or HDD) to the good old MBR style (instead of the original GPT style), and switch to Legacy BIOS mode (instead of the original UEFI mode). It's just simpler.

Try and use the install guide here (earlier in this thread). It's mainly for Win7, but it mentions where Win8 installation differs. Most importantly, BEFORE you begin the actual installation, use the steps to convert from UEFI/GPT to BIOS/MBR, and change your BIOS settings to Legacy BIOS mode.

Please post your results here. Unfortunately it is several days between me having time to work here, so I may not be able to respond as quickly as I would like. But there may be others who can help you when/if they see your post.

Edit:

The post here provides some background on the UEFI/GPT issue -- which sounds as the main gotcha in your current situation.

 

Thank you for your fast reply!

Yes, it came with Windows 8.

Correct, I'm trying to install with DVD, a good and already tested media.

Yes, like it was new

No.

Unfortunatelly, this doesn't work. Even if I disconnect HDD, ODD and USB pen, I always end with this screen: link
There is anything I can do to reset?!?! How the BIOS know the path \Windows\system32\winload.efi? This is odd, I want it to forgot that info :/
ENTER and F8 keys doesn't do nothing, ESC reboots to BIOS.

Ok, soon I'll try to change disk layout to MBR and give feedback.

Thank you!

 

Thank you for the update and additional information. Clearly it is getting halfway through an UEFI boot, then failing because the Windows partition is gone.

If you change OS Mode Selection to CSM OS (no UEFI at all) it should stop looking for the UEFI loader.

 

I already tested that configuration and, oddly, the recovery screen appear every time, for every configuration I choose

 

Now I converted SSD drive to MBR with diskpart (in other PC) and everything is the same: recovery screen "searching" for the Windows path, in CSM OS mode.

Should I look for after-sales service?

 

I can think of some things to try if I had the laptop here, but they are all experimental. Basically you need your disk re-imaged with a genuine Samsung image for your model and your BIOS fully reset (which gets you back in UEFI/GPT mode). I hear Samsung will do this for a $40-50 fee. 3rd party repair centers probably don't have such an image, but may have some other hacks they can try.

Just to make sure: I understood that your Paragon backup did NOT contain the Windows partition, correct? Otherwise of course restoring that (using another PC) and reverting BIOS to UEFI mode, would be the first thing to try.

Other things you can try or check to boot the Windows Setup DVD:

1) Selecting the DVD drive under Boot Priority in BIOS (I am sure you did that).

2) Pressing F10 or Esc immediately after power on to select a different boot device.

3) Using Restore Defaults in BIOS (I forgot if there is such an option).

4) Use the CMOS/BIOS reset procedure described in the UEFI bricking thread.

If and when you manage to get the BIOS to snap out of this and/or load the Windows Setup DVD, you could try and restore the Paragon backup of your Recovery partitions. We know it won't restore F4, but you can try the things suggested in this post to trick it into loading Recovery after all. If you get that, you can create a bootable USB Factory Image backup -- which in turn can be used to fully re-image the drive on your own.

 

Correct, Windows partition on my backup was wiped (I wiped it purposely, never thought this would happen so).

1- Done
2- Done, but nothing happens
3- Done
4- Done

Tomorrow my PC will be catched by authorized assistence, under warranty... They tell me, by phone, that Windows 8.1 are causing problems on almost all Samsung laptops... I think they will repair my PC without problem and under warranty.
Everything I've done when opened it, was done with very very very careful.

Thank you very much with your amazing help!

 

And finally, here I am again!
Only now I was able to try all of the above options, as I didn't have the time to do a full backup of all my things in order to be at ease while messing with the laptop.

Dannemand and John, thank you for all the help provided, really!

About the problem istelf:
Except for the BIOS update, none of the above options worked to restore access. Only when I tried updating (and there was actually a new BIOS update available), and the procedure was quite normal and straightforward. As soon as the update finished, I could normally use F2 again.

But now I have a new adventure ahead: reverting back to the original Win8 factory installed state, with all of the original partitions (recovery and all).

- I have the USB Admin Tool that I had originally created before;
- I have a complete Initial Factory State Backup created with the Samsung Recovery (a folder called "SamsungRecovery");
- I have the original contents of the RECOVERY AND REC_2 partition, backed up as normal files and folders;
- And I have the Windows RE Tools + SYSTEM + Remnant original partitions saved as image files by Clonezilla.

I have searched the forum and found many different guides and posts (especially by Dannemand) with help in reverting the Samsung back to its original factory installed state but I still can't manage to get everything back and working... So far I have only managed to get the partitions back to it's original positions, with the help of the USB Admin Tool.
I have restored the contents of the RECOVERY and REC_2 partitions through parted magic, but I can't restore the contents of Windows RE Tools nor of any other partition, as Clonezilla apparently does not recognize the original images created. So, it seems, I am stuck with a bunch of backups, an empty partitioned GPT disk and a non-working F4 key.

I thought of installing Windows 7 in one of the partitions and trying to run Recovery from there in the hopes that maybe it would recognize the original Recovery Backup made with the application or recognize what is already in place and auto-magically reset things back to shape but... HDD now is GPT again; I can't install Win7 without deleting the partitions. And I can't install Win8 because I don't have any disc or ISO.

So, once again, any help?
Thank you a lot, in advance!

 

Hi Cris, it's been awhile.

Most of the posts and guides you have seen that talk about USB Admin Tool, were based on the older Samsung Recovery Recovery Solution 5, since this was the only known way to re-create working Recovery back then. Samsung Recovery Solution 6 (used on Win8 models such as yours) has a feature to create a bootable factory image backup on a USB stick, which can be used to automatically re-image the entire drive. I recommend all owners of Win8 models (with SRS6) to create a backup like that, and I am sorry if we didn't give you that advice.

The way to re-create working Recovery for you (using USB Admin tool) is similar to the procedure described here for SRS5, but with the difference that SRS6 uses two Recovery partitions (as you know):

1) Re-enable UEFI i BIOS: OS Mode Selection=UEFI & CSM OS.

2) Convert the disk back to GPT: USB Admin Tool probably does this automatically, but if it complains, use the steps in the Win7 install guide here, except use DISKPART CONVERT GPT instead of CONVERT MBR.

3) Boot Admin tool and use the option to completely re-partition the disk and re-create Recovery partitions. See this post for details and settings to use. This should re-create the two partitions, install the Recovery software on the Recovery Boot partition, and create the infamous F4 link. I think you should be able to F4 boot Recovery after this, but there will be no images to restore yet.

4) Restore File and folder contents to the Recovery Data partition (the big SAMSUNG_REC2 partition) from the backup. That will restore the factory image and SystemSoftware folder (drivers etc). Do NOT use Clonezilla or other partition level tools at this point, as that will destroy the F4 link.

5) Optionally restore the file and folder contents of the Recovery Boot partition (named SAMSUNG_REC or RECOVERY on various models). I don't think this should be necessary, as Admin Tool already installed the Recovery software. It is even possible that it could have a bad effect, I don't know.

6) Don't install any other partitions. Windows RE tools shouldn't matter.

7) F4 boot Recovery and perform a full Restore with Partition Settings enabled. This should re-create the Windows partitions and get the disk back to factory state.

7a) If that restore doesn't work for some reason -- or as an alternative -- use Recovery to create a bootable factory image backup on a 32GB USB stick (now that you have the chance to do so). Use the steps in this Samsung guide, making sure to enable the Create Boot Disk option. Avoid Sandisk USB sticks, as they behave like HDDs, not like remove flash drives, causing problems with SRS.

7b) Use that bootable factory image USB stick to completely re-image the drive.

8) Once everything is working, set OS Mode Selection=UEFI OS in BIOS. You should also be able to enable SecureBoot (maybe a save and reboot is required first).

Following are a couple more links that may be useful (in addition to the ones included in the steps above):

Overview of Recovery backup and restore in SRS5 and SRS6, respectively.

Using Admin Tool in SRS6 instead of bootable factory image backup.

More technical discussion of Admin Tool and choice of USB brand for backup.

I am not very active on the forum at the moment, but this is my beat, so I'll watch for your response

 

I was delighted when I read your post. I did the exactly step by step as yrs instruction until step 18. When i tried to copy reserved system files from iSSD to 350mb partition: bcdboot "d:\windows /s c:", it always replied "Failure when attempting to copy boot files".

Still get stuck at this step. Do you have any idea?

Thanks.

 

I'm sorry not to define my case: samsung ultra series 5 with pre-installed windows 7 (64 bit).

Thanks for any help, really frustrated with this case.

 

Thanks again hanime, I spent hours reading your posts, finally i could find sollution for my case. If someone got trouble with copy boot files, just use simple syntax Xcopy /e /h /r. It's charm.

 

Just wanted to thank the OP for this thread. It helped me install Windows 8.1 on my NP700Z5A-S0AUS. I even got my ExpressCache working!

 

Hi, I've read the sticky and I've tried all four methods and I'm not able to load windows without my usb drive. It only loads if i have my usb drive in my computer. Is there any way to load windows without the usb drive? I've tried everything. Anyone else having the same problem?

Here's a picture of my disk management.

http://i.imgur.com/wY9dJCj.png

 

Hi bouncyz, welcome to NBR.

Are you sure that the HDD is set as the boot drive under Boot Priority in BIOS? I know that's trivial, and I apologize if you already checked that.

The 350MB System Reserved partition on in Disk 1 (the iSSD) is a clear sign that Windows Setup was confused and thought it was the boot device. What you want, is basically to have the exact contents of that partition copied to the HDD (either to the 350 MB partition you created there, or to the WIndows partition). And the partition containing it (on the HDD mush then be the active partition.

If there is any way you can install from a DVD drive instead of from USB, that completely eliminates this issue.

There is one other possible explanation, if your BIOS is in UEFI mode. To diagnose that, we need to know the following:

1) The model number of your laptop.

2) Whether your laptop was delivered with Win7 or Win8.

3) The UEFI settings in your BIOS (SecureBoot and OS Mode Selection, if you have that).

 

Hi,

My 700z5c s01 is driving me crazy.

I purchased it from my employer (used). When it was bought a few months ago, it hat Win7 pro installed, but it was replaced immediately by Ubuntu - so all recovery partitions are gone, no recovery DVDs or anything else are available.

I now have both a Win7 DVD and a bootable USB stick with win7 available.

Booting from the usb stick into the Win7 pro setup works perfectly fine.
I can see 2 disks in the setup menu:
a) the 8GB iSSD
b) the ~1TB harddrive

Setup is telling me, that WIN7 can not be installed on this disk because of EFI, so I converted the 1TB disk it to GPT using disk part, as described in your how-to.

I can now install Win7 from the USB drive....but once the setup has finished, the notebook can not boot from the hard drive. It remains in the well known 5sec bios-boot loop and turns on and off repeatedly. what did I do wrong?

When I run the setup again, I can see the iSSD partition, the 100MB system partition and the big ~1TB partition. IMHO that should be fine.....?!

How can I get my notebook to boot properly into Windows?

 

Did you carry out step 18 in the first post of this thread?

John

 

Yes.

Problem solved: I installed Win7 from a DVD, which solved the "boot-loop" problem.

 

Good, that's always the easiest solution - when you have a DVD drive (not all models do).

Otherwise (if you MUST install from USB ) you have to use one of the tricks on the first page of this thread to overcome the problem that Windows Setup mistakenly places its boot partition (the so-called MSR) on the ExpressCache drive (which cannot be booted) instead of the HDD.

That step John mentioned is the critical one, which will create new boot files on a manually created MSR. Of course that MSR also needs to be marked Active.

But installing from DVD is always the easiest on models with ExpressCache.

 

Hi,

I'm trying to install win7 again for hours but everytime I install the win7 on HDD, there's 100MB system partition is creating on SSD(disk 0) and when I open the disk management I cannot delete the partitions on SSD because there's that 100 MB on SSD!

I've been told that there shouldn't be any partitions on SSD if I want to use my SSD as an expresscache, but everytime I install win7 there's this 100 MB system reserved on SSD(which is 24GB) I assume it's because SSD is Disk 0?

What I should do? Even if there's 100 MB system reserved partition on SSD I can still make my SSD expresscache? Or should I change my disk order? And how?

I'm really lost here..

 

Hi tygn,

The guides on the first page of this thread are specifically written to address the problem that Windows Setup (both 7 and 8) places that 100MB system partition (so-called MSR) on the iSSD, thereby causing Windows to fail on the first boot after Setup has copied files. Hanime's guide in the opening post and the alternative guides in the second post all work around that problem in different ways.

I understand that you were able to install Win7 successfully and are currently running it, which means you probably followed one of those guides -- or figured it out yourself. Either way, good job on that!

It is true that you want to delete any partitions from the iSSD before installing ExpressCache. If WIndows Disk Management will not let you do it, you can either use Minitool Partition Wizard (excellent free tool, Google it) or you can run DISKPART (from a Command Prompt or the Start Menu Run command), then the CLEAN command there (after carefully selecting the iSSD). Anyone not familiar with DISKPART should use Minitool, so they don't accidentally wipe their main HDD/SSD.

After that, just install ExpressCache 1.0.0.94 which is the latest version available for Samsung Laptops.

If you have any problems getting ExpressCache working after that, I suggest uninstalling both ExpressCache and Easy Settings (or Settings in the case of Win8), reboot, wipe the iSSD again, then re-install first ExpressCache, then Easy Settings.

You will find much more discussion and advice about ExpressCache in the thread linked below. Just don't follow the MacDisk steps in the opening post, they are for old versions of ExpressCache.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...ache-i-want-my-expresscache-back-edition.html

Please keep us posted on your progress

 

Hi Dannemand,

Yes there was a problem with my SSD which was keeping that 100 MB part on it. Finally I've succeed to install win7 on HDD without 100MB part on SSD and my SSD left unallocated. After finishing drivers I installed expresscache driver here is my values:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>eccmd.exe-info
'eccmd.exe-info' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Windows\system32>eccmd.exe -info
ExpressCache Command Version 1.0.86.0
Copyright⌐ 2010-2011 Diskeeper Corporation.
Date Time: 1/10/2014 21:8:27:199 (TILBC-PC #2)

EC Cache Info
==================================================
==================================================
Mounted : Yes
Partition Size : 22.36 GB
Reserved Size : 3.00 MB
Volume Size : 22.36 GB
Total Used Size : 84.25 MB
Total Free Space : 22.28 GB
Used Data Size : 10.13 MB
Used Data Size on Disk : 77.88 MB

Tiered Cache Stats
==================================================
Memory in use : 0 Bytes
Blocks in use : 0
Read Percent : 0.00%


Cache Stats
==================================================
Cache Volume Drive Number : 0
Total Read Count : 28765
Total Read Size : 581.20 MB
Total Cache Read Count : 2
Total Cache Read Size : 55.00 KB
Total Write Count : 7574
Total Write Size : 122.92 MB
Total Cache Write Count : 1
Total Cache Write Size : 24.00 KB

Cache Read Percent : 0.01%
Cache Write Percent : 0.02%


C:\Windows\system32>



But it feels like I still don't use the expresscache, not sure but it doesn't feel like my laptop is working faster. I assume there should few more steps to finalize expresscache?

Thanks,

 

@tygn:

Thank you for the update. Your ExpressCache is working as it should based on the INFO display you posted. Once again good job!

But it takes some time to populate the cache: Only after using it for some time (where it caches frequently used files) will you begin to see the benefit.

You can force a partial pre-loading and optimization by doing the following (quoted from another post):

 

Thanks for the tips Dannemand,

I will follow but I don't need to do anything with `Intel Rapid Storage Technology` ? Or setting up somethings on disk management screen? I remember some tutorials about that, am I wrong?

 

I would recommend installing Rapid Storage, but to my knowledge it should not affect whether ExpressCache will run. Check this complete Win7 install guide earlier in this thread for recommendations on which drivers to install and how.

You're right, there are some steps in in the opening post of the ExpressCache thread that involve creating an HFS partition using MacDisk (or doing it manually using DISKPART). I have never had to do that and assume it was an issue with earlier ExpressCache versions (that post is two years old). I just uninstall/re-install Easy Settings and ExpressCache, reboot, delete all partitions on the iSSD, then re-install ExpressCache and Easy Settings.

One thing that can seriously mess up ExpressCache is if you start playing with UEFI on 2012 and 2011 models. We have several cases where this caused the iSSD to vanish. Sometimes it can be fixed by initializing the iSSD and converting it to MBR (if the WIndows installation is non-UEFI and the iSSD was accidentally changed to GPT layout) or converting it to GPT (if the Windows installation is UEFI and the iSSD is still MBR layout).

If you have not messed with UEFI mode, this should not be an issue at all.

 

Thanks for all those tips,

Well I feel like this laptop and express cache things is built for Win8 or higher, at least it work better under Win8, I might be wrong but that's what I feel. So I think I will go back to Win8..

Is there any tip that you would like to say about win8 during the install?

 

Are you saying your pc came with Win8 originally? In that case UEFI was enabled when you installed Win7 (unless you specifically disabled it before). Win7 generally runs better in non-UEFI mode on Samsung laptops.

For Win8 you can use the same install guide I linked previously, it contains notes for Win8.

 

Only registered to say THANK YOUUUUU a milieeee.

Keep it up.

 

Welcome to NBR, givato. Glad it worked out for you... whatever it was

 

First of all: Very big thanks for the great information in this thread, especially to Dannemand and John.

Recently I got my bricked NP700Z7C back from repair. It comes with express cache and Windows 8 out of the factory,
I changed it to Win7 + Linux mint 13 dual boot. Worked for a more than a year, then Windows started to show long blackscreens
(~1 min) during boot before actual log in. I did something called a clean system start, which wiped the GRUB boot loader.
Problem here was that also F2, F4 and F10 were non-functional, so I couldn' boot from CD. Using the Windows boot loader,
I in the end still managed to boot the linux cd and repair grub. This gave me the option to access bios by GRUB, where I changed
the boot order to cd, usb and network boot first, disabled fast boot and switched from CSM+UEFI to CSM ( I hope I remember correctly
and this is all I've done).

This left me with a (unconventionally) bricked laptop, showing Samsung bios splash (F2 and F4 notion), trying to boot a media and
instantly powering on and off again => infinte boot loop, F2,F4,F10 not working, not able to boot cd (although I noticed it tried to), usb
or anything (didn't try network...). (It is actually possible that I installed something from linux, maybe Swap, on the iSDD).


I will try to (again) install Win7+linux mint 16 (not 13, although it is long term support version and I'm used to it, explanation in my questions).

I'm now backing up the System, I have a bootable factory recovery on usb, a normal factory recovery on netwerk (Desktop Pc) and
I'm right now backing up my whole hardisk to an image file on the Desktop Pc out of a linux mint 16 life cd via raw data copy
(issued on the laptop):

sudo dd if=/dev/sda bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror | gzip -c | ssh username@ip_of_desktop_pc 'dd of=/media/hdd_on_desktop/Samsung_dd.gz'

(to all: be cautious with this dd command, it can wipe your partitions of you mess up with it, e.g. interchanging if=source with of=destination)



Now my questions:

+ The bootable factory recovery on usb (16 GB seems sufficient for me, it boots, even on the Desktop ?) is enough right? I don't need the admin tool if
I have the bootable factory recovery?

+ Should the raw data copy in principle be sufficient to restore the GPT back with full functionality (F2, F4, F10) after I wiped the system converting to MBR?

+ Do you think that the switch from CSM+UEFI to CSM did brick my Laptop (I now know it was naive to do it while still running GPT =( )? I hope this doesn't happen
a second time =(

+ I know threre can never be a guarantee, but after switching from GPT/UEFI to MBR/CSM, installing Win7 first I should be safe from the Mobo bricking bug right,
or are their counterexamples?
(linux mint 16 should be anyway safe of it due to a Kernel update (3.11, are there counterexamples?), but how about an older like my lovely mint 13=) or Win7)

+ Do I need to backup the iSDD also and convert it to MBR?

+ Any tips and/or reminders before I proceed with Dannemands guide would highly highly be appreciated =)=)=)


Thanks in advance,
Maxerl