Samsung Series 7 Chronos and Intel Wifi Card

I plan on attending iu (40,000 students) so they most likely have or will soon have the latest wifi tech. The 6230 is 2x2 vs the 6300 is 3x3. Would not that extend range as well as boost Max theoretical speed? And would I need to add an antenna to take advantage?

 

I've got a 700za3 s01us with the broadcom card as well.

It's taken me a while to realize it, but I'm only having signal problems when the laptop is physically on my lap.

if on a wooden table, signal strength high, throughput good. but if on my lap serious connectivity problems.

The signal strength meter in the task bar on windows 7 doesn't give real time information.

The real test was to run a continuous ping in a dos window:
start, search cmd
ping -t google.com

after about 5 minutes on my lap, the system looses nearly all connectivity, placing it on a table, connectivity restored almost immediately.

has anyone else noticed this correlation?

Where are the antenna in this model? My old dell ran wires up around the display, that 90's era latitude had amazing signal strength.

 

You better buy and replace that with an Intel card. Also, for weak network like B or G network, you might want to buy external adapter. There is nothing we could do or Samsung could fix this problem. The main point is that the aluminum case is not really good for wifi.

 

Hi all,

My first post here. I bought this chronos 7 a while ago on amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Series-Chronos-Windows-Premium/dp/B006ZU55Y0

I actually bought this 1TB, 5400rpm, model because I read that the wifi card of that one was better than the 750GB model, 7200rpm :
Samsung Series 7 15.6 inch Laptop (Intel Core i7 2675QM, 2.2GHz, RAM 8GB, HDD 750GB, DVD-SM DL, LAN, WLAN, Bluetooth, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

BUT still, I have major wifi connectivity problems unfortunately which really sucks I was hoping to find some help and or advice here.

I do have some computer knowledge but am not a pro, I am not familiar for example with dos etc..

To the point:

Major problem I thus have is the wifi connectivity. More specific, when I am about 8 to 10 meters and a wall away from the router my wifi connectivity is really bad. Simple browsing is very slow mostly and sometimes there even is no connectivity at all. While even my 100euros samsung android phone has decent connectivity at the same spot!

Moreover, when I go close to the router, 1 -2 meters, browsing now is ok and similar to other devices, but I still don't seem to get maximum connectivity according to the taskbar and wifi window, while other computers of course do have the maximum level (macbookpro for example). Kind of strange.

I already read most of this thread but still am not really sure about what to do. Can anyone maybe help me a bit with an overview or something where to start and what to do best? This would be really appreciated.

Another minor thing unfortunately is that mine has the spacebar problem, where I already read a bit about. When I push the most left side of the button it does not register a click/space. Although I can cope with this, if anyone would know about a solution that would of course be very helpful.

Next, also a minor problem, when I push the wifi fn button to turn wifi connectivity off, the samsung easy settings menu appears (after 20s !) instead of actually turn wifi off. Any solutions to this maybe?

Lastly, although I tweaked the settings of the ELAN touchpad a bit (had to turn off drag and drop unfortunately) it still registers a click sometimes while I am just starting to move the cursus. I guess I will just have to deal with this (macbookpros seems to be superior in this), but if anyone would know about a (better) solution this would be really appreciated.

To conclude, if these 4 problems could be fixed this actually is a really nice laptop imo, but for the moment I am a little bit disappointed, especially about the wifi.. I really do hope someone can help me a bit with that one.

Thanks a lot already in advance for reading (and hopefully answering to) my post.

Kind regards,

 

1. Wireless Issue:
First, update the wireless driver to the latest from Intel (assuming you have the Intel card), then check the advanced power settings for each of your power schemes. In there, you will find power options for each device, including the Wifi card. Change them all to maximum performance. I kept dropping connection until I did this.
If that doesn't work, try a different broadband router (preferably Wireless N).

2. Spacebar problem:
I haven't had that problem, but I read about a solution on one of the topics on this site that involves slipping a little bit of cardboard underneath the space key (at the unresponsive end, I think). Keep searching this site and you'll find it somewhere.

3. Wifi on/off button:
I don't know of any solution. I think this was Samsung's intention: that key is just a shortcut to Easy Settings, which does take a strangely long time to load.

4. Touchpad Issue:
I have the same problem. The only solution is to tweak the Elan settings as best you can, and just get used to it. I use a mouse as much as possible. You could also use your Android phone as a touchpad instead (with the Mobile Mouse app).

Hope that helps.

 

Do you think it is possible for me to return my series 7 chronos by mentioning all the various issues with the laptop, such as the wifi (i get 2mbps speeds on my 50mbps fibre optic line when i am in my room which is one wall away from router) , gpu switching (causes various issues with opengl), trackpad issues (needed to change regedit and use a older version to make it work as i wanted to) and bad temperatures ( 95 degrees c on all cores ad gpu at 85+)? I mean Samsung should fix this as this many issues is not acceptable... Was anyone successful with their return?

 

Also can someone tell me if it is worth getting the intel 6230 in order to replace the broadcom one? I have read through the whole thread and it seems to work with some and not with others :S

 

See here for my response in the other thread you posted: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...implement-fixed-mode-bios-53.html#post8691471

 

I am about to purchase a 6230 intel wifi card, is there any other card I could consider? or is that the only option?

 

I am having much the same problems with respect to bad wifi connection. I had considered a signal booster like the Zyxel WRE2205 Wireless N300 Range Extender/Repeater until I found this site which has now push me in the direction of checking my wireless driver & power settings,
do you have any advice or opinions
Notebook
Samsung Chronos 700Z5C-S01 Laptop, Intel Core i7, 2.3GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB+8 SSD,
Purchased 11th September 2012 from John Lewis

 

hi guys, 1st post here, I've just installed the Intel 6230 replacing the broad-com adapter, no problems installing drivers and Bluetooth is working fine, anyway i am now watching full 1080p videos with no interruptions. I will update you guys with any problems but so far so good.

P.S i got my drivers from the Samsung website http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/NP700Z5A-S01UK-downloads?downloadName=UM

 

Hello all,

Replaced the Broadcom with the intel 6230 a few weeks ago... the itel 6230 is light years ahead of the Broadcom! Driver was downloaded from intel's site.

 

Has anyone used the intel ultimate N card on this laptop? I'm having wifi issues with the broadcom and want to replace it with another card and everyone on here seems to replace it with the 6230 N whereas the ultimate N seems to be a superior card to it and I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to use it.

Just wanted to see if perhaps I was overlooking something. Any help is appreciated.

edit: nvm, just saw that the ultimate N uses 3 antennas whereas the 6230 has 2.

 

Also, I think the 6300 WiFi card doesn't have the integrated Bluetooth of the 6230 or 6235 (and presumably the Atheros card that came with the computer).

John

 

This almost fixed my problem. check it out. Its mainly a power saver setting issue that turns the wifi off. Samsung Series 9 Wireless Issues - TheITBros

 

I would add that Intel have issued some newer drivers as noted in this post.

It seems that the Windows 7 version haven't yet surfaced but the Windows 8 driver only package installed OK for me and has given the 6235 card in my NP900X3C a welcome boost in performance.

John

 

I am going to commit the offense of cross posting this:

I just found, like John, that Intel's Wireless_15.8.0_De64 package for Win8 DOES install under Win7, and the driver version updates to 15.7.0.3.

I was surprised that it installs, since previous versions of the installer ONLY installed on their intended Win version. Windows 7 displays a verification error, but even if you choose NOT to proceed with the installation, it proceeds anyway. That's an outright bug in the installer.

I noticed that Intel pulled the 15.8.0 package from their download center yesterday. Probably to fix this installer bug of the the Win8 package, and hopefully to release a proper Win7 package. You can still download 15.8.0 from a direct link, like this one from nMIK-3 (same as posted by John above).

This is reminiscent of what happened in March with 15.6.0, which ALSO had install problems, and was soon replaced by 15.6.1. It seems whoever does installation software at Intel must be doing an even worse job than those who do the actual drivers

 

Has anyone tried adding a third antenna to a NP700Z5C? I do want to upgrade to a 3x3 Intel 802.11ac WiFi card once they are out,

 

Hello, I have a NP700Z5B-W01UB and bought a centrino 6235n wifi card, I've tried all the drivers that I could and also tried in Linux with no result. Did somebody managed to make it work? Also read that updating the bios would help but I have the latest BIOS (15FD) so I don't if this would help

Thanks

 

What WiFi card did the notebook come with? I suspect it was the Intel 6230. Samsung don't whitelist WiFi cards in the BIOS so the system shouldn't be blocking the installation.

I recall that when I tried putting a 6230 in my X4C instead of a badly performing 6235 then I couldn't get the 6230 to work. Windows seemed to be unable to detect that it was a completely different card, probably because both WiFi cards use the same driver. I therefore wonder if you have encountered the same problem. I didn't pursue a solution to the problem but removing the WiFi card and doing a full uninstall of the Intel Wifi software followed by a registry cleanup before putting in the new card might trigger a proper driver installation.

John

 

Thanks John for your response. I think it came with Intel 2200 bgn but I'm pretty sure it wasn't 6230, when I tried Linux using hciconfig never brought any info that's what make me think it's not compatible. I've read that the laptop should have a pin that enables bluetooth but didn't checked that.

 

If it came with the 2200 WiFi that didn't have Bluetooth then your diagnosis might be right.

Given that my Sandy Bridge NP900X3B has the Intel 6230 card I had assumed that the NP700Z5B would be the same.

John

 

Some sandy Bridge models had Broadcom WiFi. I had a version of NP700Z3A which had that -- and it was terrible, so I got a different model with Intel 6230. If that's what your model has (Broadcom WiFi) installing Intel WiFi drivers obviously won't work.

Device Manager should tell you which brand of WiFi adapter you have. The name of the device can be misleading if a wrong driver is installed, but the Manufacturer or Hardware Ids string on the Details tab should give a clue.

 

Hello Dannemand, actually its rather Intel 5150 or 6150 wifi cards with wimax (Best Buy model) also I've checked the mobo model and its HM65 there's no signs of incompatibility between them, maybe if I found the service manual or the motherboard manual can confirm compatibility

 

Got it, thanks. In that case I don't know why it wouldn't work.

 

Thank you Dannemand, for your support, actually I give up, installed Win8 because I read that has MS native bluetooth driver support and the adapter is nowhere to be found. I will use this as a work machine since its an old laptop but has proved to have all I need (my new Ativ 8 is staying safe at home) the only solution to my problem is buying a usb bluetooth adapter.

 

Hello everyone,
I have a Samsung Series 7 NP700ZAH (Italian Version) that comes with Broadcom card , I have the latest bios 15FD and Windows 7 x64. I wish to upgrade the wireless card to the new "Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260" that is the latest Intel card compliant with AC standard, WIDI and Bluetooth. Does anyone know if it works (or at least it may work) with this configuration?

Thanks

 

Hello,
The only way is to check if the mainboard has bluetooth support enabled, I think if the Broadcom card has wifi + bluetooth working, the AC intel card should work

 

I'm not sure about WIDI, but the Bluetooth will probably not work when using easy settings. I put an AC 7260 in my NP700Z7C and Bluetooth shows up in device manager for a second prior to easy settings starting up. It has something to do with the WLan option in easy settings.

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk 2

 

Are you running V1 or V2 of Easy Settings? The latter contains numerous changes and can be tracked down using SW Update and checking newer models for which windows 7 is offered. I found Settings 2.0.0.54 a few days ago.

John

 

Thanks, I think I will remove all Samsung customization included easy setting, installing a new and plain version of win7 or 8. In this way I hope to solve Bluetooth problem.

The only problems should be with battery life extended, power over USB and silent mode, but I think that there are other software that enables the same stuff. As these options
are also available through BIOS. And latter using an SSD loose the express cache shouldn't be a problem.

WIDI I hope works as it should be related only to CPU and WiFi card.. both enabled.. so.. finger crossed

As soon as I will receive WiFi card and SSD I will post the results

Battery LifeExtender sobstitute: http://batterylifeextender.software.informer.com/


Update: I received the card and installed without any problem. I hadn't to uninstall any driver of previous card. As told by Jocelyn84 Bluetooth has some problem.. even without Easy Setting.. btw I will dig deeper to discover if it is possible to solve the problem. WIDI software has been correctly installed and recognise both CPU and Wireless card.. Today I hope to try this feature.

 

Thinking about the same upgrade myself, from broadcom to a ac-7260 card, have a similar series 7 as you. Did you find any solution for the Bluetooth problem?

 

A few members have replaced their Intel 6235 WiFi cards with 7260 cards (N and AC) and discussed the Bluetooth issues here. Members go45cvi and aamsel have led this battle. As I recall, Win8.x works OK, whereas Win7 is a no-go (and not for lack of trying). But you will have to read up on it in the threads here, as I could remember wrong.

I googled site:notebookreview.com/samsung 7260 bluetooth to locate this discussion which I believe is the latest. go45cvi also shared some here in our [Easy] Settings thread, among other places.

 

Dannemand thanks! Read through those post and lots of others. Seams like pin 51 is the key. The card I got says Intel WLAN module AC-7260 mini-PCIe Rev.2, I'm not sure if the revision change has any impact on this though. Will give it a try and see whats happens, otherwise I just switch back to my old broadcom card. Some questions. Is it necessary to remove the broadcom driver when trying the Intel card, will the drivers interfere in some way? And what about bluetooth drivers. From what I understand, the Intel drivers includes Bluetooth, do I need a specific Samsung Bluetooth driver as well? You have to excuses my questions if they are dumb, I'm not much of a hacker =)

 

These are very pertinent questions, not dumb at all!

I have not performed the WLAN module update myself, hopefully others will chime in. But I will say ABSOLUTELY uninstall both WiFi and Bluetooth drivers first, using Windows Programs and Features control panel. I would even do a full roll-back and device cleanout as described in our WiFi Remedies thread (linked below) so that Windows can install clean drivers afterwards.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/727499-wifi-remedies-samsung-laptops.html#post9315847

For WiFi, I have generally had good experience with Windows 8.x built-in drivers or Intel's Driver Only package (the latest as of a few days ago was Wireless_17.0.6_De164.exe). Samsung's WiFi drivers contain the ProSET bloat which I prefer to avoid. But I seem to recall some members who installed 7260 adapters chose Samsung WiFi drivers from models factory delivered with 7260 (such as this year's NP930X5J or NP900X3G). Again, it's in those discussions somewhere.

For Bluetooth, I always used Windows built-in drivers -- I don't use Bluetooth on my laptops and prefer to keep the installation as slim as possible. However, you generally need Samsung's (very bloated) Bluetooth driver in order to toggle Bluetooth On/Off using Windows Charms menu or Samsung Settings. In Win7, this would actually power off the Bluetooth module completely. Unfortunately in Win8.x, it merely disables the Bluetooth Adapter device, which you can do yourself in Device Manager.