Samsung Series 7 Chronos - struggling to boot.

My model number is NP700Z5A-S01UK

For the last few days when I turn on my laptop it gets stuck on the splash screen and freezes with the progress bar at maximum. At this point I can't press F2 or F4 to enter set-up or recovery as it looks like my pc has frozen

If I press F2 before the progress bar is complete I can get into BIOS set up, however I seem to have forgotten my password!

If I power down and turn on a few times my laptop eventually boots and seems fine.

Anything I can do to stop this happening ?

thanks

 

Is there a manual rest for the CMOS - I think I read some where you stick a paper-clip in a hole underneath to disconnect the battery and then do something with the power switch. But I can't find the same thread again.

 

The CMOS reset procedure is to disconnect mains power, press the battery disconnect switch and then hold down the power button for, say, a minute.

However, I believe your computer has ExpressCache. The built-in (soldered) SSD is prone to dying and since the computer is trying to use that SSD to accelerate the boot process a sick SSD doesn't help. There are several threads discussing this problem. Perhaps the starting place is to disable the ExpressCache software. Unfortunately, there is no facility to disable the SSD in the BIOS.

John

 

I was just trying to follow the guide here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/samsung-series-7-chronos-np700z5a-disassembly-guide.632487

I'm a little confused is the expresscache an SSD or RAM. It talks about 8GB RAM being soldered on but then I have an 8GB drive unmapped in disk management so I presume this is the SSD.

If I disable expresscache, but can't disable the SSD in the bios and the SSD dies. Will I still be able to boot on the just the HDD? If so thinking I'll just replace the HDD with a SSD. I presume the soldered SSD can't be replaced easily?

Thanks for you help John.

If it all falls apart my data's backed up and I got 4 years out of it, so its not all that bad!

 

The memory that ExpressCache uses is not the RAM but a separate chip which is soldered. Fixing it requires a board replacement and Samsung did enough of those under warranty that this innovation was soon dropped. I think your notebook has a combination of soldered RAM and one RAM slot but this is not relevant to the problem.

I don't have first-hand experience of it but either switching off or uninstalling the ExpressCache software should stop it being used. There might also be a switch in (Easy)Settings (Fn+F1) boot options. A proper SSD is the way forward. However, there might be an initial delay if the BIOS is looking for a piece of hardware which has gone sick. Once Windows is running then sleep or hibernate can be a nice way of bypassing the boot checks.

John

 

@randy_baton: I have a NP700Z3A, quite similar to yours.

John is right, the small 8GB SSD (so-called iSSD) is the most likely culprit here. And he is also right that uninstalling the ExpressCache software (using Windows' Programs and Features control panel) is the best way to disable its use.

Depending on which version of Samsung Settings you have installed, there is indeed a Switch in F1, but disabling it won't prevent the ExpressCache software from looking for the iSSD during boot.

Once you have uninstalled ExpressCache, you should disable the iSSD in Windows Device Manager to make sure Windows doesn't look for it either.

If this doesn't solve the boot delay, let us know, so we can look for another cause.

In any case will a "real" SSD do much to speed up your computer -- particular once you no longer have ExpressCache to speed up the HDD.

 

I have express cache in my easy settings. So I'll try booting a few times with it on and a few time with it on to see if it makes a difference.

Just to be clear when I get an issue, it won't boot its not a delayed boot unless the delay is over a few minutes. If I get the issue again I'll leave it booting to see if it eventually manges to boot

 

If the iSSD is defect, booting can indeed take minutes. If is merely starting to fail, I can see the problem being intermittent. In that case you want to stop wearing the iSSD before it becomes permanent.

Edit: Again, merely disabling ExpressCache in Easy Settings does not guarantee that Windows and/or the ExpressCache driver won't look for the iSSD during boot - and this cause a hang or delay.