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

I've tried your previous suggestions but I can't get into the Windows 7 command line prompt before I lose visibility of the HDD.

I've tried using f10 as early as I can to get into it before any of the set up choices, I've been through and checked the BIOS settings, I've used f9 to reset the BIOS to defaults then gone through again following your instructions, I've also tried the boot sequence set at you suggested and use f10 to temporarily choose to boot off the DVD. So I'm a bit stuck as to how to change the drive format.

I have a Windows XP disc - could I use that to get into DISKPART or will I end up with the same problem?

Can I down load a bootable patch to be able to in a different way?

Not sure what to try next - any suggestions?

Thanks

 

Got it, thank you for the update. I got home late and didn't get near my computer, so this will be very brief:

I am beginning to think the problem might be something else. Maybe the HDD has a defect in one of the early sectors that hold the MBR and partition tables. Unfortunately getting to the drive is a pain in these models (though doable).

It's great that you're not having problems entering BIOS or booting Windows Setup. When users have NVRAM corruption, that's often what fails.

I suggest you google "Gandalf winpe" and download one of his Windows PE images (preferably non-UEFI), put it on a USB stick and boot it. That should allow you to inspect the HDD using Windows Disk Management and convert it to MBR.

As always please keep us posted.

 

My issue is disk 0 is the C drive and it will not change, when I try to change it from the diskpart it tells me failure to switch I am sooo tight right now!! I have a samsung np530u3b

ok.....i successfully copied the boot files AND I STILL HAVE THE BOOT LOOP!! UUGGHTHTHHTHTHH!!!

My drives are backwards....drive 0 is the 16gb partion and drive 1 is the hdd

 

GREAT NEWS!! AFTER HOURS OF NOT GIVING UP....I FINALLY GOT IT TO WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALTERNATE METHOD #2 WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey, welcome to NBR.

I am glad you got it working, well done being so persistent. And thank you for posting your results here.

All of the approaches described by @hanime in the OP and by others in post #2 generally work to circumvent this issue with installing Windows on models with ExpressCache. But small differences in each user's setup (disk numbering in particular) can affect the outcome of each procedure.

One thing is worth repeating for anyone who may see this: The procedures described here are all for legacy BIOS installations, NOT for UEFI installations. Most Samsung models with ExpressCache were delivered before UEFI, but there was a 6-month period after the release of Win8 (Aug 2012) when Samsung continued delivering ExpressCache models with Win8 -- and those are generally the tricky ones which are also prone to UEFI bricking.

 

I would like to add my two cents to this, I spent two days trying out all the methods and none of them worked. I wanted a clean install since the old HDD was totally corrupted and I couldn't perform Recovery. This is not the best method since I sacrificed a portion of the main drive for booting linux, but this was the only method that allowed my Windows to boot at all.

This was my final solution that worked fine with Samsung NP700Z3A-S02HK (it has a iSSD):

1. Prepare a Ubuntu (tested 16.04) bootable LiveCD/USB
2. Prepare your bootable Windows Install USB (please refer to other posts for this)
3. Configure BIOS to boot from USB and boot with the Windows install USB
4. Install Windows 7 or 8 into your main new SSD/HDD
   As others have mentioned, Msft installs the bootloader into iSSD, and in my case, no matter what it tried to load from there (all the bcdboot config didn't work for me... not sure if it's BIOS or whatever)
5. After install, it will be stuck in bootloop (if not, then congrats to you...)
6. Unplug the USB and plug in the Ubuntu USB and Reboot
7. Install Ubuntu on the same disk as Windows (you can config the partition size, I just gave it 50GB)
8. After installation, it will boot into Ubuntu (GRUB may or may not show windows)
9. If windows is not in GRUB, run sudo update-grub
10. You should now be able to dual boot into both linux and Windows, you only sacrificed small portion of your drive

GRUB will actually point to the iSSD disk when it scans for Windows. This actually worked well against the BIOS... I am not sure what combination of ugly Msft+Samsung config that made windows not boot from the main SATA.

Note:

• I would skip the expresscache from the Samsung downloads and only install the essential drivers.
• You may consider other smaller linux builds (i'm just used to ubuntu myself)
• I actually tried installing linux into the iSSD, but it was only 8 GB and it really isn't good for frequent writes, so I rather cut a slice in the main drive

Hope this helps!!! My 4 yr old laptop is now good as new with a EVO 850 SSD, that boots in 2 seconds and I can have a small linux that I can boot into any time XD XD

Good luck to the rest of you!

 

Hi all,

I've got same problem with my NP530-U3C. Ultrabook won't boot cause of that iSSD (24GB in my case). I've tried to all of 3 solutions on the first page, none of them worked. On my primary disk there are 500MB partition and the second for whole system, on iSSD same. Even if I copy all files from one partition to another - bootloop. I've tried also copy boot in clonezilla but it's giving me a mbr/gpt mismatch, i cannot convert boot partition on hdd to mbr because i'm getting another error.

Can anyone explain how to copy that crappy thing properly?
Should I convert 500MB on hdd to MBR? how without deleting another partition with rest of the system?

From diskpart:

Volume 0 C NTFS 500MB
Volume 1 F NTFS 465GB
Volume 2 D NTFS 500MB
Volume 3 G RAW 21GB

 

@rtj71: Welcome to NBR.

If your drives (both HDD and iSSD) are not already MBR, then that's your problem right there -- assuming you are installing in legacy BIOS mode, not UEFI mode. And this entire thread only applies to legacy BIOS mode installation.

I'd say just install from a DVD drive instead, that's by far the simplest solution to this issue. If your model doesn't have one, you can buy an external USB DVD drive for less than $20. When you get to the Advanced Windows Installer screen, follow the steps from the guide in post #40 to open a Command Prompt and convert both drives to MBR. Then proceed with the installation from there, making sure you select your HDD as target for the installation.

 

I've tried with external dvd drive, it won't boot too, because only thing in boot section was that creepy 'boot manager'. Finally figured it out: had to update BIOS ( http://www.filemissed.com/biosupdate.exe/m-download-75971.html), after that I've followed steps from first page and it worked

 

Good job!

What you experienced there is beyond just the usual problem with the iSSD. Very likely, your NVRAM had also been corrupted, which is a vulnerability on some Samsung models, and which usually causes problems booting and/or inability to access BIOS settings. The issue is discussed at length in many Samsung threads, particularly in this one (that was a link).

Updating BIOS (as you did) is the easiest way to clear that NVRAM and solve the problem (except when BIOS is already at the latest version).

We generally recommend that members download the Samsung BIOS Updater directly from Samsung ( here) and follow the safe update procedure described in our BIOS Update thread.

But you already fixed it, so well done!

 

Hey guys, im having a lot of trouble and really tried every solution given here.
my setup WAS:
Series 5 530U3C A0E which came with win8
2 usb sticks, one with win 10 and one with gparted.
now i have an external dvd drive +usb stick with gparted.
okay im using usb now again.
i install windows 10 on SSD and get the boot partition on issd,
i tried to copy that partition into the 500mb partition on the SSD and market it as active. doesent work. any ideas?

 

okay, ive got my solution. the cable from SSD> mainboard was defective. the joke is, and i really cant call it anything else, i was able to INSTALL it without the drive ever crashing. it just didnt boot. i cleaned the cable and it worked. i spend about 30h trying to find that thing.

i used to work in a computer repair store and im so unbelievable mad lol

 

I have the same laptop, I am installing from a window 7 DVD, do I need to worry about this?, will it utilize iSSD properly?, this is very useful guide, thanks,

 

When installing from DVD, you should NOT have this problem with the iSSD, and thus you should NOT need the workarounds described on the first page.

And if you follow the comprehensive Windows install guide here (post #40 in this thread) ExpressCache should work after completed installation.