Samsung Series 9 - Windows 8

I first upgraded to win 8 from win 7, but it worked out horribly so I had to do a clean install. Works better.

However, my fan fans A LOT. It's on max most of the time, even when CPU is at ~20% and not moving up. The noise drives me crazy! I also lose my WiFi almost daily. I still see the router in the list, but I can't connect. It doesn't affect my telephone's or iPad's WiFi connections.

 

Under Task Manager is there a process stuck? or using a lot of system resources? As for the WiFi have you adjusted the power settings for the card away from Maximum Power Saving?

 

Thanks for the info. I may give a try to the older Easy Settings with compatibility mode. So your FN_F7/F8 do work for keyboard backlit ? Did you install anything else than the file that I listed above ?

Yes I can change the action there from sleep, deep sleep or shut down, but none will restore the original behaviour under Windows 7. For example there is no way to turn on the computer by opening the lid.
It looks like you used an older Easy Software version before using the updated one, does that help regarding this behaviour ?

 

I have a synaptics touchpad on mine, i am using the last driver from SW

 

As far as lid close goes, I have no action set for lid close as I often plug my laptop into a USB 3.0 docking station, so I want to keep it running. I can't help you there.

I'm at work so don't have the laptop in front of me but I'm certain that the keyboard backlight works fine with the new Settings program. If you do have to go with Easy Settings here's instructions that someone wrote earlier in this thread on how to install. Sorry but I can't find the link that I used to download the older version of the software. Perhaps someone else can help? If you go through this thread earlier as well some people talked about having to update their graphics driver directly from the Intel site to get things to work correctly. That could also be the issue.

The answers to these issues are to be found earlier in this thread. Let's not play Groundhog Day!
Let me restate for anyone new to Win 8...
(These instructions work with x3b and x3c models) Easy Settings is installed by renaming Setup to Setup2 and then running the installation. Once it's installed, you need the app to run in Win 7 compat mode. Simplest way is to go to the icon that the installation placed on your desktop, right click and select troubleshoot compatibility, then troubleshoot program, then select top option (the one that says it worked with earlier version of Windows) pick Win 7. You'll now be asked to test the setting. This will start Easy Settings (it takes longer to open in nWin 8 than previously). Now, SAVE THE COMPATIBILITY SETTING. Easy to overlook. You now have Easy Settings installed and working. All the functions work, with two exceptions. First, the "open lid" setting reverts to "off" whenever you reboot. Simply run Easy Settings and turn the setting "off"" (it'll still be showing "on") then back on and close Easy Settings. Keyboard backlighting does work. You need to turn it on and turn up the level. The only issue is that the auto off timer doesn't work. Once the ambient level's dropped and the backlighting's come on, it'll ignore your auto off setting and stay on. That's it.​

 

No, nothing stuck or eating a lot of resources. It's pretty irritating, so I run it in silent mode a lot of the time. I wonder if I could OC it a bit with SetFSB?

I haven't adjusted any of the power settings.

There's another odd thing: when I was using win 7 the system would occationally crash when watching a movie - VLC or on YouTube or embedded video. I would hear a chopping sound for a second or two and then it would blue screen. New graphisc drivers didn't help. However, installing windows 8 did help. I still get the chopping, but it doesn't crash. It's not often enough to be a real problem, but still odd and a bit worrying.

 

Is this the X3 (two fans) or X4 (one fan)? The fan on the latter has to work harder.
And one thought: Did you install the Intel ME Interface driver? The description in SW Update indicates that it handles the heat management.

John

 

Thanks for the tips, although it's got two fans - 900X3C. Got Intel ME Interface driver 8.1.0.1263 installed.

I'm seriously thinking about OC:ing the no fan mode. Either that or going back to windows 7, where it seemed to me that it fanned a lot less. Right now it's running on max pretty much if I do anything to make the CPU go over 5-10%.

 

This is puzzling: I'm wondering if it is something very subtle such as the CPU not dropping into the lower power states when idle. I'm sure there used to be a way to monitor which sleep states the CPU went into, but I can't find it. The best I can offer is this HWiNFO64 sensor info for my X4C. If all the temperatures are below 60C then the fan should be very quiet.



John

 

I also have the X4C, but I am running Win8. I have thought that the computer runs cooler now, but wasn't really able to compare it with anything. This comparison I find interesting.

 

My numbers looks close to yours - higher than Mervyn's for sure.

If I start fresh it's silent. I start a bunch of YouTube videoss to get the CPU going to max. The temperature is a bit over 60. I then close all the videos - but the fan stays on max even when the temperature drops. It doesn't drop as far down as on Mervyn's picture, but around 50-52. The fan stays on max until I change to silent mode. If I switch back right away it stays silent.

So yes, it seems you are right - it's not dropping down when it should.

 

To be fair, I had only been typing in Word before I took that snapshot. Here is one after some more normal multitasking. The numbers are definitely higher.

 

From memory, the temperature has to drop around 10C below a trigger that causes a fan speed increase (this is to prevent frequent changes in fan speed) but that threshold should be reached very quickly once the CPU load drops. If that fan rule no longer applies then I wonder if Samsung changed something in a BIOS update (was there one at the same time as the Windows 8 update?).

Your first temperatures looked positively frigid. The second set look more plausible as the whole system warms up.

John

 

My laptop has been under no or mild use since the last post, but the temperature didn't drop below 50 once. (51-55 min/max). Maybe that's the problem then? It's running a bit hotter than it should for a number of possible reasons, and it has a problem dropping below the 50-line. Could be, like you said, that the last BIOS update changed it just a tiny bit and that's the big difference. Still - running at max for a long time should get the temperature under 50, you'd think.

I could try to go back. I guess they fixed something in the new bios, but no matter what it was it can't possibly be more irritating than this

EDIT:
It's been idle for quite a while now with CPU ~6% and it dropped down to 48 C without fan leaving max mode. Not until it after a very long time left alone dropped down to 44 did it start to fan at a significantly lower rate. Maybe 45 is the "secret number"? Either way, it seems my laptop is running a bit hot. At least compared to what Samsung thinks it should.

 

I have my 900X3C updated to Windows 8 and everything seem to be working quite well. I saw this post about being able to re-create the recovery partition on the harddrive so that you can use the F4 button on bootup to restore the computer to the recovery image if it ever messes up. Does anyone know if I can make an image of my computer as it is now (with Windows 8) and then put that image on the recovery partition so if I ever screw up my computer I can restore it with F4 key?

I think it would be nice to have a automatic restore option with my computer now that I've set it up the way I like. If it's not possible to update the recovery partition image, I might just go ahead and delete it as it doesn't make sense to me to keep a backup with the old OS.

Thanks in advance!

 

I think the wifi problem has been fixed with a windows update. When resuming from sleep your notice the wifi icon has a cross on it, wait a sec then it will show full bars, log in as normal and it works perfectly fine!

 

For all the WiFi issues I had when I first bought this laptop, I have not had any problems with it for a long time. None since I installed Win8.

 

So I installed Windows 8 on my NP900X3C, doing a clean install and deleting all the previous Windows 7 partitions.

All I did was go to the Samsung site and install the Software update app, and installed all the drivers and useful utilities it told me to get (I only skipped WiDi or whatever they call it now and Support Center). Then I ran all the Windows Updates.

Despite all I read in this thread, I don't have any issues at all with the display driver, trackpad or anything. I didn't go to Intel or Elan to install their drivers, just installed whatever Samsung told me to and they work, all gestures are supported etc.

The only thing I can think of that's worse than before is that using sleep/hybernate I lose some battery power overnight, about 4%. I'd like to get Rapid Start to work but I understand no one has been able to do that yet. Not so much for the rapid part, just so I don't waste battery while in sleep mode.

 

I did the same thing yesterday. I only installed the bare minimum of the device drivers and software. It's working very well so far though I haven't tested battery life. The machine I am referring to is my NP900X3D-A02US.

 

Here is a quick guide to getting IRST working on a Win8 machine. I have not had time to try it out yet, but give it a shot.

 

Is it just me or the problem seems to have disappeared? Chrome recently got an update and there were bunch of win 8 updates too so I'm not sure what did the trick but I haven't cleared my cache for couple of days now and it's still working fine.


Edit: and it just got corrupt again. I'm going to install windows from scratch.

 

Hello. I'm back with a question.

My question is about the custom color profiles. In Windows 7, i could just do this to get my custom color profiles to work: Custom colour profiles and Intel graphics chipsets that is posted by EarX.

Now in Windows 8, i can't get that to work.

Is there any new ways of doing that in Windows 8 to get it to work?

 

Anyone else on Series 7 or Series 9 with Windows 8 facing problems with Chrome not displaying the page correctly till you refresh. This seems to be an issue many are facing according to the following thread:

Google Groups

Does anyone know how to report it so Samsung?

I am on a Chronos 7 with the same problem and the following solution suggested on the thread worked for me:

1 - Click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar (3 horizontal lines).
2 - Select Settings.
3 - Click Show advanced settings.
4 - In the "Users" section, click Add new user.
5 - The confirmation dialog Appears, choose a picture and enter a name for the new Chrome user.
6 - Click Create.
7 - A new window for the user Appears, with the picture you've chosen for the user in the top corner. Here, you can sign in to your Google Account with Chrome to associate the account with the user. Once signed in, all your bookmarks, apps, extensions, theme, and browser settings will Appear in the new user you just created.
8 - Now that you have all your stuff in the new user, you can simply go back to the settings and delete the first user.
9 - If all goes well, the problem should not return.

 

I tried chatting with Samsung online support and they believe that problem is with chrome and firefox. Personally, I think it's an issue with ssd as even visual studio sometimes gives weird file errors that resolve with restart.

 

I confirm to have exactly the same problem with Firefox AND Chrome. Clearing the cache solves the problem temporarily. I did not try the procedure of creating a new user, if anyone can confirm that it solves it definitely I will go for it.

 

I can confirm I don't have this issue with FireFox 16.x. But I don't have Chrome installed either.

 

My problem was solved too. I tried to delete the chrome user profile. (didn't create new, just deleted the existing one from settings, user). Then chrome asked me to sync again with my account, so all my settings came back and the good news the problem disappeared... it's about 6 days now.

 

I wonder if one of the Windows Updates fixed the problem. I haven't had a web page loading issue anymore, for about a week either.

 

I also have the problem with my series 7 from BB. Same problem in firefox and chrome. Have tried multiple reinstalls, changed hard drives, made new profiles and still the problem returns. I spoke with samsung via twitter and they pretty much refuse to acknowledge the problem exists. From what i can tell it's affecting almost all samsung machines that have win8 as standard or an upgrade.

 

Let me repeat my previous comment. I do not see this issue. I have a Samsung Series 9 running Windows 8 Pro x64. I am currently using FireFox 16.02 but getting ready to install FF v17.0

It seems to me the issue is likely Chrome.

 

Sorry but no, it's not just chrome. I don't have chrome installed and i have this issue. I had it in FF 16.02 and i have it still now i've upgraded to v.17. When i had chrome installed on a previous 'test' hdd, both chrome and ff were affected. If you don't have the issue you are one of the lucky few my friend.

 

I'm using Chrome with no issues on my Sammy but I have the same issue on my work hp running xp pro. Started about a month ago maybe it's chrome

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

How long does this issue take to manifest? The Windows 8 Pro x64 install I did was on Saturday. FireFox was installed the same day.

Samsung Series 9 NP900X3D-A02US.

 

I'm not running win8 pro, just win8 so not sure if that matters. I recall it started about 3-4 days after i bought the laptop. Chrome was good for a while but then corrupted also. I'm chatting with another member who has the same machine but no issues. They haven't upgraded the bios to the latest version yet like i did, i'm wondering if that may be the root of it. Grabbing at straws really, can't figure out the cause of this.

 

No problems after 2 days here (Win 8 Pro x64 - NP900X3A).
I did the full procedure from a few posts above instead. Note that your extension settings are not automatically restored.

 

I'm still getting the problem with wifi not working after sleep, if its within a few hours then its fine but leave it overnight and it just doesn't work, needs a reboot. anyone else experiencing this? any settings I've missed?

 

Does anyone here use IntelliMemory with Windows 8? Does help with anything, and are there any drawbacks?

I'm afraid to install it since it sounds like snake oil, it reminds me of that "RAM doubler" software that was popular years ago.

 

It's not a problem with Chrome or Firefox. Some driver is causing it.
If you use Win8 without all the drivers from SW Update, there is no internet rendering issues in Chrome or Firefox.

Although I'm not sure which driver is causing the issue.

 

I still need someone to find a solution to this.

Anyone have any clues about this?

 

Here is a picture of SW Update and the installed software for my NP900X3D-A02US.

 

Are you using a sensor and calibration software to create a color profile?

 

No, i'm using a custom made color profile made by another person on this forum.

So all i'm doing is to load the color profile into the Color Settings in Windows 8 and to stop some Intel processes to start on boot-up. This works on Windows 7, but not on Windows 8.

The color profile i'm using is getting loaded after the boot-up, but it resets back to default color profile after some seconds.

 

Hey Guys.
Need some help here. Auto brightness again... damn that feature is more like a bug...
Anyways, I've been through many forums looking for a solution how to turn it off. When I was running win7, I could turn it off through the power settings. I recently installed win8, and now the problem is back, however it only manifests when I play movies. The brightness changes and also makes the colors washed out. I don't know hat's going on, but it's annoying as hell. Skin tone fade away and everything looses detail.
As far as I know I have every setting off, but maybe one of you knows something that's switching thing in the background.
All the power setting have auto brightness off, I turned it off in the Intel driver setting too, "movie color" also off, and in the Samsung settings panel also.
I cant figure out what could be causing the screen to adjust it's self on it's own.
Oh yeah, an other thing: can someone please advise me how to get the laptop to boot from a USB stick? Since the win8 install and the BIOS update that came with it, it won't boot from USB. If I could get it to work I'd just put Linux on it and forget this windows madness
Thanks for the help...

 

1. In the intel graphics control panel under Media, is there an Image Enhancement section? (You will need the Advanced mode). If so, try disabling Adaptive Contrast and Film Mode Detection if they are enabled.

One of the features of Windows 8 is the Secure Boot. I think you have to turn this off to be able to boot from a non-authorised device.

John

 

I have similar color saturation problem that appears while switching between metro apps and desktop but it adjusts itself within seconds. Any ideas on how to turn it off?

 

Hi guys - has anyone managed to resolve the issue with the chrome cache on Windows 8? I've tried several things including uprading to Chrome 24 beta, and even moving the physical location of google chrome cache, but still happens. Samsung support suggested it was an issue with Windows 8, which I doubt because it only seems to be happening on the Series 9. So annoying.....

 

FireFox 17 is now on my NP900X3D and I still haven't seen the issue. I have not installed Chrome and have no plans to do so. Sure sounds like a Chrome compatibility issue for Google to fix. What do the Google devs have to say about it?

 

Try the fix in post #223. Has worked for me for about 4 days now without issue.

 

Hi people.

I am trying to upgrade my Samsung Series 9 from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 8 Pro.

Windows8 Upgrade Assistant recognizes Broadcom BCM2070 Bluetooth 3.0 + HS USB Device, but shows Widcomm Bluetooth Software is not compatible.

Can anyone help me?

 

What model is your WiFi card? I thought all Series 9s used an Intel combo WiFi / bluetooth adapter.

John