Samsung 15" Series 9 NP900X4C with Ivy Bridge CPU

Yeah I can't seem to install samsung bluetooth drivers, it always gives me failed -10. I installed everything that sw update gives me, including intel widi, intelli memory, allshare play, but to no avail.
I uninstall default bluetooth driver, tried to install samsung's, still no result. I probably gonna try this one more time before recovery/fresh install. Anybody ever had this problem?

p.s. mine is x4c-a07, updated everything, i tried removing settings aswell, but still no good.


++ I checked system information under support center, it confirms that mine uses generic adapter, I cantseem to install samsung's on sw update, I got one by using 'find model' and another from samsung's support page, it just wont install. Anyone know sources for samsung's bluetooth that work?

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

Is this a clean install of Windows or are you running the factory installation?

If a clean install, which drivers did you install? From SW Update or from OEM sites? I generally recommend to let SW Update install most drivers -- with a few exceptions, as described in this post (slightly different from yours because it's a Series 7).

If you are running a factory installation, do you remember if Bluetooth worked originally?

 

It's factory installation. I updated everything from SW Update. This is my first run with the machine, so I am not quite sure if BT used to run or not. However the device do scan and is scannable with another BT device.

 

Got it, thanks. It should work already with the factory installation -- I mean, without any additional or updated drivers from SW Update.

If you haven't already installed a lot of other software and data, I would suggest a factory restore (F4). If it still doesn't work after that, there could well be an actual defect, in which case you could waste a lot of time trying to diagnose and solve it; better to find out right away. If it DOES work after a factory restore, we know that some driver update or other software broke it.

 

BTW, on my Windows 8 X4C there is a BT on/off control in both Settings and in the Charms.

Perhaps there is a difference in this respect between the 2012 Windows 7 notebooks adapted for Windows 8 and the 2013 models made for Windows 8? With Settings only Fn+F1 away getting to the BT control through the Charms menu is a step or two backwards in productivity.

John

 

After doing some work, I just downloaded the exe/driver for intel 6230, and voila now in windows setting I can turn the bluetooth off. And SW Update recognize the bluetooth driver aswell (I dont have to update it.)

Thank you for the help and suggestions.

I guess I could have just disabled it from device manager in the first place if I dont want it on.

 

It still is in warranty, but since I bought it in the UK probably will be a lot of trouble to get it (even with the allegedly international warranty).

I kept using the computer and something strange happened, with BLE activated it was charging up to 89%. After using it on battery again charging again it stopped in the 80%, I checked and now HwInfo is reporting 14.6% of battery wear.

Since it was reporting 22.3% of wear before (full capacity as 48100) and now at 80% it has 42624 (88.6%) probably 14.6% is the correct wear. What in my opinion is too much after 99 cycles and less than 6 months (using BLE enabled in the most part of the time) .

 

Thank you, John. Your post made me wonder if my memory was failing me (it wouldn't be the fist time). So I installed the Samsung Bluetooth driver, and sure enough, I got a Wireless tab in Settings where I can toggle BT. I don't remember for sure whether it was there in earlier versions of Settings or it only came with 2.0.0.49 (which added several other new tabs).

But it's still not what we had with Easy Settings in Win7. Let me recap now that my memory has been refreshed:

1) In Win8, Samsung's Bluetooth driver needs to be installed in order to have the ability to toggle Bluetooth On/Off; Win8's built-in Bluetooth driver alone won't show this toggle. I personally prefer Win8's driver because it is leaner.

2) Once Samsung's Bluetooth Driver is installed, a Bluetooth On/Off switch appears in Charms - Settings - PC Settings - Wireless AND on a Wireless tab in Settings. The setting sticks between reboots.

3) Whereas turning off Bluetooth using Easy Settings in Win7 completely turns off the BT module (making it invisible to Windows, and presumeably avoiding any power consumption), turning it off using any of those toggles in Win8 will merely disable the Bluetooth Adapter in Device Manager. This means the Bluetooth module is still "hot" and presumably still uses power (otherwise Device Manager wouldn't see it at all).

4) For this reason, I decided to skip Samsung's Bluetooth driver when I first switched to Win8, and simply disable the Bluetooth Adapter myself in Device Manager. I hardly ever use BT, but can still enable it when I occasionally transfer files to/from my phone or tablet.

5) I have since taken to leave the Bluetooth Adapter enabled in Device Manager since this will at least let Windows Power Management turn it off when I don't use it (which it may not be able to do when the device is disabled). I don't THINK I've seen any difference in battery time either way, and cannot say whether one or the other is better at powering off the adapter.

I'll need to update my Settings/Easy Settings thread to properly reflect this

 

I used the attached announcement as part of my argument for a new battery for my X3B. I claimed (correctly) that Samsung's claims abut the long-life battery influenced my buying decision. You will see that they claimed 80% of original capacity for "up to" 1500 charges.

The design capacity of the X4C's battery is 62160 mWh. If HWiNFO says the current full capacity is 48100 then you have lost 14060 mWh of capacity which is 22.6% of the design capacity. Does HWiNFO report the charge cycles count? (It does for my new X4C but not for the old one although the batteries appear to be the same).

I would rerun the battery calibration yet again (with BLE disabled) and also start making approaches to your nearest Samsung support. You may need some persistence. IIRC the owner of a US-sourced X3B who was in Russia had to try a few times but eventually succeeded in getting his battery replaced.

John
View attachment Samsung U.S. News X3B Battery Claim.pdf

 

I've been ripping a DVD and noticed that my new X4C with the i7 3537U CPU was getting warm. So I fired up HWiNFO which showed that core 1 was throttling. Opening the Sensors tab showed the CPU temperature on the high side of 90C.



It seems that throttling starts once the CPU temperature gets over 90C. I was a little surprised to see the temperature this high. My older X4C with the i5 3317U CPU struggled to get over 80C. I had assumed that the i7 CPUs had been picked because they could run faster at the same power. In reality, it appears that the i5 was running well inside the power envelope (and could have been sold as a faster CPU) whereas the i7 struggles to stay within the thermal envelope.

I put a flash drive under each of the back corners of the computer which improved the airflow slightly so the temperature stayed just below 90C.

John

 

There has been a further update:

joe_intel 28-Aug-2013 16:19 (in response to steve06)
We are sorry for the upset and inconvenience this has caused. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we have been working to create a solution for the connection issues. Intel plans to provide a 15.x software update in two to three weeks that includes corrections to improve connection stability on Windows 8* operating system.

Intel is aware of end-user reports of connection instability (connection drops, applications hang, etc.) with certain wireless adapters using 15.x software with Windows 8 operating system. Recent software releases have included corrections for several issues, but not all. Intel has identified a problem that is believed to be a major contributor to the issues and has a correction in development – this correction is planned to be available before the end of Q3.

 

An update on the DVD ripping problem noted above:

It was suggested in another thread that I change the program affinity to use fewer cores. So I selected only one core. This kept the maximum temperature down to about 80C and doubled the rip time compared with all 4 cores being used. It also made the computer more responsive for other concurrent use but one problem I noted was steady deterioration of the WiFi connection which would eventually stop working (this had also happened when fully loading all 4 cores but I would hope that only loading one core would avoid such problems). I have to wonder whether this is related to the Intel 6235 driver connectivity issue for which Intel are prmising a fix in the near future. If it is, then the issue also affects the 7260 WiFi adapter because I dropped one in a couple of weeks ago to see if it would work better than the 6235 (probably a little better, but not worth the upgrade hassle).

John

 

@John: Did you try the Power Profile change I suggested in the Series 9 Lite thread of setting Max CPU state to 99% ? It would still let the rip use multiple cores, but avoid TurboBoost.

As for the WiFi suffering during high CPU load, that reminded me of the discussion I had with PenguinFlop starting here and continuing in the WiFi Remedies thread. He saw it as GPU related, but we never arrived at a final answer.

 

I didn't try that option since I don't want the program to hog all the available CPU resources. Using one core kept the temperatures more reasonable but the side effect on the WiFi is unwanted.

Thinking back a few weeks, I was getting some similar WiFi connectivity issues which I blamed on an old router but I'm now thinking probably coincided with running some CPU-intensive work (again, only fully loading one core, but that seems to be enough to make the Intel driver have problems).

John

 

Got it. It kind of seems like the Intel WiFi drivers depend heavily on the CPU to always be available for interrupt processing, causing problems when it's busy doing other things. This could point to a design flaw in the adapter itself (buffer capacity, for example). I am just speculating...

But if that is the case, lowering priority of the the ripping software should make a difference.

 

is this user upgradable ram/hdd?

 

RAM is 2 x SODIMM slots and can be upgraded to 16GB.

The HDD is an mSATA SSD and can be upgraded to the highest capacity mSATA SSD that you can find.

John

 

This relates to the fan, the CPU and Samsung AllShare/Link.

Basically I don't like the sound of the fan spinning too much i.e. all the time under normal load, so I check the Resource Monitor (under Task Manager, Tab - Performance, Resource Monitor), and the highest Average CPU hog is by far AllShareFrameworkDMS.exe which averages around 20-30% of CPU, even after I exit Samsung Allshare/Link whatever you call it.

Therefore I manually "suspend" AllShareFrameworkDMS and lo and behold the fan stops spinning.

Here's the thing, AllShare/Link is useful when I watch TV and stream files from my laptop to the TV but it's useless when I'm working. So I still want it on my laptop but I don't want it running in the background hogging all my CPU, activating the fan etc. And it cant be stopped by just exiting program, you must stop AllShareFrameworkDMS.

Anyone else see this?

 

I wonder whether the software is broken or just gets stuck in a loop due to bad programming. This will give 25% CPU utilisation.

Did you try reinstalling it? If that doesn't fix it then take it up with Samsung support.

John

 

I think you've nailed it John, ITS DEFINITELY BAD PROGRAMMING! Yeah Samsung have really let themselves down with their streaming software, Allshare, Link, Kies etc etc it's a freaking nightmare. But still I persist as Link used to work relatively good for me in the past, but then I changed my router because of a new Internet medium (fibre optic) and I had to reset all the Link connections...

I use an external drive for my media, and as I'm too lazy to continually connect/disconnect said drive to the SmartTV - so I want it streamed via my laptop.

I've reinstalled several times.

Complain to Samsung. Now that's funny.

 

You could try adjusting the program's priority in the Details tab in Task Manager.

It might make a difference.

John

 

Could write a bat to run a few minutes after startup to terminate the program/service.

 

Hey, i called to samsung support and asked what ssd are they using in Samsung NP900X4C-K01, they just sent me a picture with the part numbers, are those SSDs good or not? Don't know why "HDD" is written in descripiton.

 

MZM is Samsung and LMT will be Liteon which is at least as fast as the Samsung. I would be happy with either.

The Sandisk U100 that they were shipping last year (predominantly 128GB version) has fortunately disappeared from the supply chain.

John

 

Oh my god, how many more years will it take them to put a Haswell CPU in that thing?

 

It's such a great machine.

A powerful computer with a large screen that you can actually carry around.

Perhaps the best kept secret in the PC universe!

A refresh with Haswell and improved screen would be so nice!

 

The Link Fiasco has finally been resolved. Phew and I thought it would never end. To cut a long story short, the more I persisted with that excrement-ware, the deeper in its self-fulling excrement I got - ENUF I say. So I succumb to the charms of 3rd party DLNA server software and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. There is definitely something wrong with Link/AllShare whatever you want to call it (at least in my home network configuration anyway).

I downloaded Serviio and my Buddha is it a charm compared to the behemoth that is Link/AllShare whatever you want to call it. I'm even going to upgrade to the pro version once the trial runs out. The bullet point summary of Serviio versus Link/AllShare whatever you want to call it;

*Serviio works
*Serviio does not need 30% of my average CPU all day every day
*Serviio does not keep my fan spinning all day every day
*Serviio Go for Android means I can also stream to SmartPhone and Nexus7 without Samsung crapware.
*I was hesistant about its interface with the Smart TV interface but its seamless, appears as just another "Input" where AllShare/Link WEYWTCI.

One happy camper. Motto of the story, be weary of Samsung's software, they got issues.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for the update. I wonder whether the Sync software with the new Ativ Books is any better.

John

 

Better absolutely, as they created a donkey in AllShare/Link/...

Link below

www.samsung.com /global/ ativ/

homesyne/

Remove spaces as for some reason the link keeps changing automatically! For the life of me this is weird. "homesyne" keeps coming up in place of home sync lite (All one word)

 

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. I just bought the Samsung 900X4C-A03 (i7-3517U/8GB/256GB SSD). I just opened it and noticed that even though the advertised SSD capacity is 256GB I actually see 211GB as the actual capacity in C: drive. Then due to Windows and preinstalled programs I have "175GB available out of 211GB". Is this "211GB" normal or is it some kind of problem?

 

The 256GB, like all storage devices, assumes that 1GB = 10^9 bytes but the computer thinks that 1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes (1024^3). Hence the actual capacity is about 238GB.

Then there are the hidden partitions such as the recovery partitions. Use Disk Management to see their size. The 211GB remaining for the Windows partition is quite plausible.

John

 

After running out of time in getting the ATIV 9 Plus and having the personal feeling that 8GB are a better choice, I am now considering a ATIV 9 15 inch version.

My questions concerning this notebook are:

1. Is the only difference between the NP900X4C-K01US and NP900X4C-A07US the processor and is the speed difference by any kind noticiable at all?

2. Is it a better choice to operate the laptop with windows 7 if no touch screen is available or is windows 8(.1) easy to use even without that?

3. Is it right that the battery life of this product should be around 7 hours with normal usage (wifi, surfing the web, using office) (Amazon mentions only 4.8 hours) and thus only slightly below the new 9 Plus version? Additionally, would there be any difference between the K01US and A07US version?

4. I am most hesitated about this laptop concerning the display? The resolution is more at the lower end but I think I can live with that (I have anyway not the best eyes) but when I saw a series 9 15 inch at a Best Buy last year, I was not really happy about the viewing angles. As I will have to read quite a lot on the screen for my thesis the upcoming year, can someone comment on readability and comfort of the screen in general?

5. As I will spend most of my time in the library and I do not want to take my laptop with me for every restroom stop, I am considering a Lock for the laptop.
Do you think that the following should work?
Product page: PNY
Video with explanation: PNY ThinkSafe Portable MacBook Locking system - YouTube

6. Anyone knows a high end protection case for the laptop and is there any kind of docking station for the device (price is a bit secondary as my employer will buy it for me, thus also the tradeoff concerning the process)?

Sorry if maybe some of the questions have already been asked.

Thanks for your help.

 

@Disappointer:

If the larger, lower res screen of the NP900X4C is not to your liking (and you wanted the smaller AB9+) then why not consider the NP900X3E or NP900X3F, which have excellent 1080p 13.3 inch screens.

OR, if more RAM is a must, I would definitely consider the Series 7 Ultra, which ALSO has a 1080p 13.3 inch screen and up to 16GB RAM. And make no mistake, even though you're dropping from Series 9 to Series 7, it is a very elegant little machine that gets great reviews.

I just wanted to mention it. Following are the Owners Lounge threads for those models:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...book-9-13-3-ivy-bridge-np900x3e-np900x3f.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...3e-np740u3e-amd-hd-8570m-optional-4g-lte.html

 

Thanks for your reply, Dannemand.

My priority in case of a laptop is:
1. good screen for reading-comfort
2. handling 50-100 open tabs (mainly for research)
3. good keyboard
4. thin and lightweight
5. long battery life
6. nice design

Price is secondary as I would like to take advantage of my budget of up to 2000 Dollar as it will be bought for me.

In the end, I have to come up with a compromise. The Series 7 Ultra would be a loose of my budget and I do not need any dedicated graphics card that needs space, battery and produces heat. But thanks for bringing it up.

The Series 9 13.3 inch are for sure attractive to me but then I can even wait some more days longer and go with the 9 Plus version.

Thus, it's more:

9 Plus:
Pro:
- display
- battery life (Haswell)
- Kensington lock

Con:
- Ram (50-100tabs doable with 4GB?)
- Storage (probably expansion with microSD and Mac SD Slot adapter, semi-optimal)

9 15inch:
Pro:
- Storage (256GB)
- Ram (8GB)
(- slight tendency for 15 inch for writing and reading comfort but not quite sure)

Con:
- Comfort to read screen (8-12 hours a day)
- no kensington lock
(- no Haswell)

Due to the backordering status of the 9 Plus and my pressure to get a notebook by the end of the month, I have a slight tendency for the 9 15inch, but would be curious about some reports from long-time users and their feelings in particular about the screen plus the other questions.

Thanks for your help.

 

@Disappointer: Got it, I can see you already have your priority lists in in order. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of those other options, but you're clearly way ahead of me

It's not often buyers here have a fixed budget and don't want to save a few hundred bucks. That's a great problem to have. And I understand your priorities, they make sense. If you were able to wait for the 8GB AB9+ that would be perfect -- but let's not repeat that discussion here, it belongs in the AB9 haswell thread.

I think those Owners Lounge threads (and this one for the X4C) are your best resources for reports from other members.

 

First I would note that the the Best Buy version of the Series 7 Ultra has integrated graphics and two SODIMM slots. There's a review by one of our members at Samsung Series 7 Ultra Review - Ultrabook Reviews by MobileTechReview.

However, as someone who often accumulates 12 hours per day sat in front of an X4C display I can safely say that the generous size makes it easy on the eyes compared to the smaller displays without having the bulk associated with 15.6" notebooks. It would be nice to have have wider viewing angles but they aren't essential.

The separate navigation keys on the X4C's keyboard are a useful bonus.

The X4C's 60Whr battery gives it a long potential run time away from the mains. Mine has forecast more than 10 hours on occasion.

There are more detailed observations on my X4C at Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C User Review although what that doesn't tell you is that I was happy enough with it that, when i came across an X4C with a 512GB SSD (I needed more space) and i7 CPU (a bonus about which I have reservations since it runs hotter under load), I bought it rather than sit in a state of uncertainty about the future of this model.

John

 

Thanks, Dannemand and John for your advice.

I remember reading your detailed test quite a while ago and it was definitely worth reading it again.

Considering that I will sit directly in front of the screen with the right angles in mind, I am now confident that the screen should be acceptable especially as I think that 15 inch is more comfortable for a long time use.

I would be now only curious about my questions 1, 5 and 6.

1. Concerning the different versions:
I guess that the balance between performance and battery life might be slightly better with a i5 but on the other hand, operations are slightly quicker done with the i7 and the CPU can go quicker into idle mode. Additionally, I'm fine with the i7 option.

For me it is more the question between the two different i7 models. The version with the 3537U seems to be over half a year younger than the 3517U one but just from the data sheet I only see the higher clock rate as a change. If the 3537U is just an overclocked 3517U that consumes proportionally more power, it is maybe not the best choice but I am not too knowable in that point and would look forward to some advice.


5. Considering the different metal plates that are provided with that lock and the opening mechanism of the Series 9 laptop, do you think such a lock would function with the device (I am aware that I might cause some scratch on the device).


6. Are there any kind of docking stations or nice cases for the 15 inch version available. I could only find a leather case offered by Samsung.


Thanks again for your great help.

 

Re 1: I've now got the i7 3537U and used to have the i5 in my original X4C. I've noticed that the i7 runs hotter under load to the extent that it starts to throttle (and the whole computer gets noticeably warmer). Whether this is due to it pushing the limits of the power envelope or due to inferior mounting of the heat sink is uncertain but I suspect the former and am not very happy about this trade-off for a barely noticeable improvement in performance. The i7 3517U might be a better choice if it runs cooler.

I support the theory that it's better for power efficiency for the CPU to do its work and get back to sleep. The i7 X4C did show slightly lower minimum power consumption but not enough to justify paying a lot more money (but there's variation between individual chips).

Re. 5: That security lock looks like it should work. You might want to post about it in the http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/659271-series-9-accessories.html in case anyone else has used it with another Series 9. Update: I've just seen a remark on Amazon UK that the PNY lock doesn't work with the Series 9. However, given the lack of alternatives I wonder how much engineering is required to modify that ock so it will work with the Series 9.

Re 6: People have mentioned USB 3.0 docking stations. Check the above thread. For cases, look at what is sold for 14" notebooks. Samsung sold this model as being a 15" notebook in a 14" chassis and they were just about right.

John

 

Great and at the same time disappointing finding.
Thanks, John, for the update.
I had in mind to buy the product on Thursday but maybe have to reconsider it now as I really need an option to secure my device.
If there are other options known to secure your device, I am thankful to hear about it but I might post it in the Series 9 Accessoires Thread as it better fits into it.

Thanks again, John.

 

Members might remember that I was recently grumbling about my X4C with the 3537U CPU getting hot enough (>90C) for it to start throttling. Someone suggested I reapply the thermal paste which I have now done. The factory had been quite generous with the paste as shown by this photo (the CPU is the rectangular component on the left) so I cleaned it off and applied a thinner layer.



I then ripped a DVD using WinX DVD ripper and had HWiNFO running so I could see the maximum temperature. On this occasion it reached 89C. However, the ambient temperature is now several degrees lower than 4 weeks ago so that might be the reason for the slightly cooler CPU, not the repaste. But I should also note that I could previously get the throttling with the back of the computer raised by a could of flash drives to improve the air flow. For this test there was no additional raising.

John

 

^
Yeah... I too would have hoped for a little more improvement after that repaste. But of course the machine is still new, so original paste must have still been effective. I also think the tilting of the back of the laptop could make a significant difference. It always did on mine (different models) whenever I have been running them hard.

 

I've now done a further rip with the back of the computer lifted up by a couple of flash drives (which previously wasn't enough to completely to stop throttling) and the maximum temperature was 81C. Therefore, allowing for a lower ambient temperature the repaste has probably dropped the CPU temperature by 5C.

Something else I have just noticed is that there isn't much of a drop in temperature when the fan switches to noisy mode (CPU temperature > 70C). I'm currently running a long single-threaded task where it took several minutes for the CPU temperature to creep above 70C and the temperature only dropped a few degrees when the fan speeded up. Given all the extra noise that the fan makes I would have expected to see a bigger drop in temperature. In reality all that extra speed doesn't seem to have caused much of an increase in airflow and I have to wonder whether a lower speed increase would have been just effective (and less noisy). Unfortunately, there's zero chance of getting Samsung to tweak the fan rules.

John

 

OK, that was a nice drop from lifting the back. So the repaste did have some effect after all.

As for controlling the fan, and knowing your inquisitive nature, you could look into whether there are hacks available to edit the fan control DSDT tables. I did a few Google searches ( samsung bios dsdt fan speed) but didn't dig very deep.

 

I've noticed that the fan on my laptop has basically stopped running - I'm not entirely sure why.... I haven't got silent mode or anything loaded on - but the laptops fan doesn't seem to start spinning even when hitting temperatures of around 80C. Does anyone know why this might be happening?

Thanks!

 

The fan should be very audible once the CPU temperature gets over 70C. I would be worried that either it has died or a bit of dirt is stopping it spinning. Under full CPU load something is going to overheat.

Are you willing and able to get the bottom off the computer and make an inspection. You need a good quality Philips size 0 screwdriver (I use this which is a convenient size) to remove the 10 screws. Then rotate the base about the back edge by about 20 degrees and unclip the plastic hooks starting at one end - once one goes the rest will follow.

Or if you are in warranty and willing to spare the computer for a few days then pass the problem to Samsung (you may still need to do that if the conclusion from the inspection is that the fan has died).

John

 

Thanks for your help John. But, as far as I could see - there was nothing blocking the fan. So off to Samsung I guess.

 

It would be interesting to run wPrime with the HWiNFO summary and sensors tabs open. You should see the CPU rise to 90C and then start to throttle itself to limit the further rise in temperature.

If the fan isn't working at all the CPU should experience serious throttling.

John

 

I was just wondering if there's meant to be a difference in the different sensors temps in HwMonitor. There are two sensors TZ00 and TZ01. TZ00 keeps changing i.e. gets to 70C and 80C but TZ01 is pretty much stuck at 30C. Is it meant to be like that?

Thanks!

 

So, Samsung are being a pain... My laptop has to shutdown from overheating from them to say its a fault with the fan.

 

Don't you have Core #0 and Core #1 temperatures? The other sensors may be elsewhere on the board. 70C should have the fan running at medium speed (my X4C fan goes to fast when the CPU temperature exceeds 70C (ie 71C)).

What happens if you run wPrime 1024M - that usually runs for long enough to get the system warmed up properly? (But I'd back up everything first).

Is HWiNFO showing that the CPU speed is going up to the maximum? If not, check if you enabled Silent Mode or Eco Mode.

John