NP780Z5E A/C Problem

Posted this in the owner's thread, but received no replies so I thought I'd try my luck with a thread.

I have a NP780Z5E with a 840 Pro ssd and a clean install of windows 8 on it. It boots fine, performs fine, etc. The machine charges normally, but if I plug/unplug the A/C connector when the computer is off, it will turn on and the screen will display "All boot options are tried. Please press F4 for..." Any key I press just brings up the same message. The only way that I can go back to my regular startup is to hold down the power button until it turns off then turn it on again, which I don't think is good for the computer.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

I saw your post and haven't read of other similar problems and I wonder if a UEFI setting is messed up. My three initial thoughts are:

1. Did you install Samsung's Settings program? If not, do so. It does a lot of background configuration during installation. Even if you have installed Settings it may be worthwhile installing the latest version (available under Windows 8.1 downloads in SW Update).
2. Did you try resetting the BIOS to the default settings?
3. Did you explore the options available in Charms > Change PC Settings > General > Advanced Startup?

If none of those work then you may need to put the HDD back to debug this problem. If it still happens with the HDD installed then the problem is in the BIOS / firmware and if not, then the problem is with Windows. For the latter, you could use Samsung Recovery Solution to clone the HDD to the SSD (after shrinking the C partition to smaller than the SSD).

John

 

Problem solved! For anybody else that might run into this problem later on: Step 2 is what fixed my problem; I saw no improvement with Step 1.

Step 1. My SW Update still had Settings 2.0.0.45 and didn't offer any updates even when I selected my model and Windows 8.1. To get the latest Settings version, I followed the Settings thread here to update to 2.0.0.55. Upon turning off my computer and plugging in the A/C adapter, I still received the "All boot options have been tried..." problem.

Step 2. Booted into UEFI, then selected "Restore defaults and reset" Lo and behold, the problem was solved. (The only thing I remember changing throughout the whole life of this laptop was enabling the battery life extender option, and the boot options while installing my SSD. I changed the boot options back after installing the SSD.) The battery sign/indicator now shows up properly when the A/C adapter is plugged in/unplugged when the computer is off! I re-enabled the battery life extender option, and it's still fine.

I didn't try step 3, as the problem was solved (don't fix what's not broken!), but iirc when I was trying to troubleshoot this problem earlier, automatic repair didn't work because of some srt.trail error, but that seems to be a separate problem.
Thank goodness I didn't have to reinstall the HDD and SSD, that would have been bothersome.

Conclusion: I guess it had to be a UEFI setting that caused my strange error, but I have no idea what because everything was default except the battery extender--both before and after I reset. Oh well, the problem is gone, that's all that matters to me

Thanks for your help John!

 

Thanks for the update. I don't understand UEFI (and I don't think Samsung do either ).

John

 

Good job fixing this.

If you updated the BIOS at any point, that has been known to cause inconsistencies in the data tables used by BIOS (UEFI or legacy BIOS). It is generally good, defensive practice to restore BIOS settings to default after an update -- but Samsung don't know about that either and don't warn about it

 

How do you boot to UEFI? I know regular bios is F2...

Edit: Ok - found the long way of rebooting into UEFI settings through Windows but it was the same as hitting F2 at boot time and restoring defaults. LOL

 

Win8 Charms-Settings-PC Settings-General-Advanced Startup

I'm not at my PC now, but something like that.

 

Thanks everybody - loading optimized defaults in the bios worked fine. No more funkiness with power profiles, draining battery while off, or F4 screen on boot!

 

Thanks for the update.

John