Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5A/ Windows 8.1: ATI Graphics Card NOT USABLE

Hello there ,

I recently upgraded my Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5A-S04DE from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1. Unfortunately I saw the thread WIN 8.1: DON'T upgrade until Samsung has updated drivers AFTER I installed Win 8.1 (which took several days ...) .

My biggest problem so far is that I cannot use my decent ATI Radeon 6750M, because Windows 8.1 cannot cope with the switchable graphic cards setup (Intel HD 4000(?) and ATI Radeon 6750M). So I tried following solutions (all without success ):

1. Install current Samsung ATI drivers --> didn't do anything
2. Install current ATI BETA driver --> worked only if I deactivated Intel Graphics via BIOS, however (see next point) ...
3. Deactivate Intel Graphics via Device Manager --> Activates itself after a while or at a restart.
4. Try to disable onboard Intel Graphics via BIOS --> no such option available
5. Uninstall and delete Intel Graphics driver in Safe Mode --> Reinstalls Driver in normal mode ...

So ... I want to use my ATI Radeon 6750M under any circumstances. I don't care for the switchable graphics option or the added power consumption, just give me control of my Radeon .

PS: A Downgrade to Windows 7 should be the very, very last option, since this is an enormous time consuming process ...

Thank you all for your help !

 

1. Uninstall AMD Drivers using control panel, select the express uninstall all amd software.

2. Reboot.

3. download AMD Catalyst 13.11 BETA1 (13.200.16.0 September 26) Download

4. Rightlick, and run as administrator.

5. When it opens, select CUSTOM

6. Make sure all boxes are checked, and make sure Display Driver is listed.

7. Proceed with the installation and reboot when it is finished.

8. All should be working, DO NOT UPDATE AMD DRIVERS BEYOND 13.11 Beta 1. You should also now have switchable graphics and all.

 

While that Catalyst 13.1 Beta driver may work fine on 2013 Samsung models containing AMD 8xxx GPUs (Enduro), it most likely will not work on Jack's older NP700Z5A, which contains the AMD PowerXpress 6xxx generation GPU. The switchable graphics is very different on these 6xxx GPUs and requires a driver package from Samsung that contains both the Intel HD3000 driver and the AMD driver.

@Jack: I have an NP700Z3A myself (14 inch, i5-2450M, AMD 6490M, but architecturally very similar to the Z5A). I have been able to run Win 8.1 using the AMD 9.2.0.0 driver package for Win8 from SW Update ( AMD PowerXpress WIN8 Graphics Driver 9.002.0.0000_WHQL). However, even before the Win 8.1 debacle, some Z5A owners had problems getting that driver working correctly. Still, it is your best bet. Uninstall any other AMD software you may have tested before installing it.

Samsung does not officially support these Sandy Bridge models (2011 and early 2012) for Win 8.1, as you may have discovered when you found the Win 8.1 thread (if you clicked the link to this Samsung page in the opening post and looked up your model). So you are at the mercy of Microsoft to ensure backwards compatibility. Fortunately for you (and me) the Sandy Bridge models seem to be more compatible with 8.1 (ie working with Win8 drivers) than some of the 2013 models.

 

I went to AMD's website, while they don't have an 8.1 driver listed for his HD6750M or my HD8770M, the 13.11 beta drivers were there for both cards by selecting windows 8 64bit. That driver should still recognize his card.

 

Download

Note if you download this, it will download the latest beta, and as you said that wouldnt work.

 

The problem is how the graphics switching works on those older models vs the new ones, not the AMD graphics driver itself.

With Enduro (the new switcheroo) you can install AMD and Intel HD drivers independently; but with the old 6xxx there is a hack required in the Intel HD driver to make the switching work, which is why Samsung (and other vendors) had to provide both drivers in a combo package.

 

Ahh I see. Sorry about that. Maybe he can try uninstalling BOTH set of drivers and just install the samsung package

 

No worries, if it weren't for that switching problem, using the latest AMD drivers would definitely be the way to go.

And yes, using that Win8 package from Samsung is his best bet. Unfortunately, some owners of the same model have had problems with that package (9.2.0.0) even in Win8 where it should work. He may have already tried it and found it not to be working. In that case, going back to Win8, or even, Win7 is the only choice.

@Jack: I am surprised that you were able to use the AMD with full functionality after uninstalling the Intel driver. Which drivers were you using, when you were seeing this? Also, did it really use the AMD for desktop (non-games) as well? I've never seen that on these GPU switching machines.

Update:

There is also this which some users have found success using. But again, I think it's only users of the newer 2013 models.

Update2:

If you are able to get the AMD working by disabling the Intel HD3000 (or uninstalling it) but you find that Windows keeps installing it automatically, you can try disabling that auto install behavior in Control Panel - Devices and Printers, right-click the Computer device and select Device installation settings. See screenshot below.

 

I just tried those LeeKM drivers myself on a Win 8.1 test installation. They have been modified to support switchable graphics, and I'll be darned, it actually works on my old NP700Z3A (HD3000, AMD 6490M) even in Win 8.1. Switchable graphics and all

The AMD stays dormant, then kicks in when I start a game or other app designated High Performance -- as verified in HWiNFO64.

First I uninstalled all other AMD drivers (as zlThomaslz pointed out) so that Win 8.1 reverted to its built-in drivers (HD3000 driver version 9.17.10.3347, AMD Radeon HD 7400M Series driver). Then downloaded LeeKM's latest AMD driver ( AMD_Catalyst_13.11_Mobility_BetaV9.4_SG_Fix as of this posting).

Before installing the driver, you have to disable Driver Signature Enforcement, as described on his site. Also, use an unzipper unless you speak Korean (I use 7-Zip).

I am sure these drivers are common knowledge to all gamers around here -- and certainly everybody in the Ativ Book 8 Owners Lounge. But I didn't know about them until I saw pranktank's post here earlier today.

I am still sticking with Win8 for now, though, since my installation runs so smoothly. But once Microsoft and Samsung are done fixing their mess, I'll probably update to 8.1 as well, seeing that everything is working (despite the fact that Samsung doesn't support it on my model).

 

Hoping a bump of this thread will work - I'm having a similar issue where my Radeon 6750m doesn't seem to be working on Windows 8.1 using the latest LeshCat drivers. The problem is that after installing Windows 8.1 and the graphics card wouldn't work (games, even simpler ones, were playing at what seemed to be 1/4 speed), I went back to Windows 7 with my original installation disc from Samsung and all the official drivers and still experienced this issue. I've used LeshCat drivers, the official drivers from the Samsung site, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 (and subsequently annoyed Microsoft with having to call in to reactivate my old free Windows Media Center upgrade twice now because I can't find my original Windows 8 key). I'm really hoping it's not a hardware issue, as the laptop is now out of warranty, but if anyone has any advice on this type of problem, I would be extremely grateful.

I'm not even sure how to diagnose the problem, in this case, to see if the dedicated graphics card is performing properly, other than trying to play games on it which isn't working at all.

EDIT: Grammar and run-on sentences are terrible tonight - it's been a long day. Sorry.

 

Hello dev_00 (not to be confused with div/0 )

The Win 8.1 drivers I installed successfully on my NP700Z3A (similar to yours, but AMD 6490M) were from LeeKM (another NBR member) not Leshcat. Just Google it. I had to disable Driver Signature Enforcement.

And the way I verified Switchable Graphics as working was using HWInfo's Summary Screen, as described in this post. But others have reported that they are not able to see the AMD in the Summary Screen like I am. I don't know why that would be.

But in your case it sounds like the AMD simply won't work, even with the standard Samsung drivers. Note that they stopped posting driver to their website back in 2012, you have to use SW Update to get the latest.

If you still have Recovery, you could F4 boot it and perform a Complete Restore. Otherwise I suggest you try one more Win7 installation with the Samsung provided disc (it's a plain Win7), using the exact steps in this Win7 install guide (NOT the guides on the first page of that thread, but the linked post). In particular, make sure you install the chipset driver and Windows patches & updates as described. Do NOT install any other graphics drivers than those from SW Update, neither from Intel nor AMD nor Leshcat nor LeeKM. Now see if the AMD will kick in.

If you still cannot get the AMD working with a standard installation (or after Complete Restore in Recovery) then I suppose there could be a hardware problem.

Of course I assume you've set your games to High Performance in Configure Switchable Graphics... sorry, I just had to mention that for completeness

Please keep us posted on your progress.

 

Thanks for the reply. I am beginning to think it's a hardware issue because I did try the graphics card with as many different configurations as possible (including the factory restored Windows 7 state). I did take your advice and run the HWiNFO program (and set it to High Performance in switchable graphics) and although I do see the Radeon card there, it shows that the processor clock is 100.0 MHz and the Memory Clock is 40.5 MHz, which seems a bit low. Is that below the results that you achieved?

 

Did you see any movement in AMD clocks (in HWiNFO) when you were starting and stopping games or other 3D apps? On mine, the AMD stays completely idle (but still visible) until I start a game, then the clocks ramp up.

The reason I suggested another reinstall was to make sure you have the right drivers installed -- and in the right order, which could, in fact, impact switchable graphics. If you already tried a factory restore (from F4 Recovery) and it still doesn't work, then I'm afraid it sounds like a hardware issue.

But if you merely re-installed Windows from the recovery disc (which is just a blank Win7 with no drivers) then I would suggest you give it one more shot following the install guide I linked.

 

I have the same card like yours, ATI Radeon 6750M + Intel HD 3000. I'm on Windows 8.1 Pro and this is the working driver officially from HP ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp59001-59500/sp59407.exe . But only 1 problem here. This driver was designed for ATI Radeon 6770M but from what I've been told here that the card is actually the same just the difference is the clock speed. You might want to look at this thread too (opened by me). http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...deon-6750-switchable-graphic-windows-8-a.html

 

Hello, do you have the Samsung NP700Z5A or something else? Do you think I can try to install the driver you have provided even if they were designed for and HP laptop?

 

For this Samsung model, I would first try with the driver that comes with Windows 8.1. I ended up using that on my NP700Z3A (very similar, but AMD 6490M). The thread linked below has general discussion of Win 8.1 update issues, including much about graphics drivers, which I tried to sum up in this post.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/734915-windows-8-1-update-issues-discussion.html