NP530U4C / No "UEFI Firmware Settings" option in Windows 8.1

I have a Samsung NP530U4C, that originally came with Windows 7, so in MBR mode. Then installed windows 8 still in MBR mode.
Now, after seeing that UEFI BIOS problem in these notebooks was solved, I installed windows 8.1 from scratch in UEFI mode. Erased HDD, converted to GPT, installed with all the correct partitions (windows does that automatically) and voilá. Everything is working fine, no problems whatsoever.

But the other day I tried to access BIOS hitting F2, to change a boot order, and I can't enter BIOS that way. Tried then the Windows 8 way, pressing shift while rebooting, entered recovery mode, but when I go to the UEFI Firmware Settings button, it isn't there. So, I'm having a hard time entering BIOS. Not that it's that important for now, but what I really wanted to know is with isn't there a UEFI Firmware Settings button...? Is it something that comes only from factory? Like its embeed in samsung windows image/instalation?
I thought it would be a windows feature, available to all UEFI compatible computer. Is there anything I can do to enable that menu? I tried re-flashing BIOS, but still no go...

 

The other possible route into the BIOS settings is Charms > Change PC Settings > General > Advanced Startup.

Or maybe you have just discovered one of the reasons why Samsung doesn't appear to be supporting Windows 8.1 on the notebooks that shipped with Windows 7 without UEFI.

John

 

Probably, but I'm not going to install Windows 8 just to see if the "UEFI Firmware Settings" button appears...
Even the Samsung Update has to be ran in Windows 8 compatibility mode to identify the laptop and detect/install the update, only found that out yesterday.
I still have faith that this is only a minor delay from samsung.

 

The only way that worked to get into BIOS was removing the HDD. Other than that, pressing F2 didn't work. Had to remove HDD, and turning on the pc forces it to go into a sort of a boot-loop, so I only had to keep pressing F2 while it was going in circles, and eventually I got in. Maybe samsung will eventually release a better BIOS firmware and software 100% compatible with windows 8.1.

 

I had a similar problem, with the missing "UEFI Firmware Settings" option, but in Windows 8 on an NP900X3C-A02US, that was also originally shipped with Windows 7.

I wrote a (long) post over in another Samsung forum thread here, in case more details are wanted.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/706510-samsung-laptops-bricked-using-uefi-15.html#post9465274

My own conclusion is that something that is needed to fully support UEFI 100% on Windows 8 / 8.1.is apparently not present on older model revisions of certain Windows 7-era Samsung laptops. You can still run Windows 8 in UEFI/GPT mode, but you might end up missing an important UEFI settings edit screen.

Sadly, I also note that when reading Samsung's Windows 8 upgrade FAQ, that the laptop hardware release date they mention as supported for Windows 8, for the NP900X3C is not met by my laptop. My laptop was built in May 2012, 5 months before their minimum "October 2012" date. SAMSUNG PC Windows 8 Upgrade

 

I discovered when I got my Windows 8 NP900X4C that the BIOS is a different family (P**ABK) to the BIOS in the older Windows 7 version (P**AAC).

This suggests that fixing some Windows 8 compatibility issues could not be done by a simple BIOS update. And, while Samsung were able to paper over the cracks with running Windows 8 on the older BIOS, 8.1 has broken the paper and the cracks show again.

The underlying problem is that while we users thought that 8.1 was released to address usability issues, Microsoft have made more fundamental changes (and haven't fixed the usability).

John

 

Probably its really a hardware limitation and I wont ever have that UEFI menu, but thats not a big issue after all... Everything is working perfectly, even the IRST, which was givinf a lot of issues in the beginning, but now I have version 2 installed and never fails. Thinking about updating to version 3...
Flyer192, got a look at your post abd saw you had the same issue, but I'm not thinking about.moving back to MBR. I just left DVD and USB to boot first if I ever need them, and UEFI regarding viruses and malware, so I guess it will take more time untill I need to format it.
Thank you both

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I was trying to correct "UEFI is safer...", hence the double post...

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