Samsung laptops bricked by using UEFI

That's bad news if your model was originally delivered with Win7, and doesn't have SecureBoot. That means it's NOT the Win7-8 tweener UEFI code that causes this, but the old UEFI code -- which involves far more units. But thank you for sharing that.

Why the heck we haven't heard reports of this before the Win8 deliveries started is a mystery to me. Maybe BIOS updates since around the same time (August 2012) began causing this.

And yes, I may be naive, but I choose to hope that Samsung will make users whole. With previous bricking reports here, they have so far, though admittedly within warranty. I've experienced other vendors go beyond their official obligations when a design flaw showed up, even after warranty expiration. Of course I've also experienced the opposite.

In your case, since they said they would cover it, I would just go with that, and keep thinking happy thoughts. Sometimes things do go right.

 

Maybe the laptops are not designed for Linux, but they say in his FAQ that we can change te OS without loosing our warranty.

 

How long does it usually take Samsung to repair it? Someone mentioned sending it on Monday and receiving it on Friday. I've sent it last week and it was delivered on Monday. Today is Thursday and it still in "repair in progress" status with expected repair date is Friday. I need to get it by mid of the next week the latest and worry that I will not(beside that they might still refuse to fix it under warranty).

 

I've never had to use Samsung repair myself, but based on reports here, I think it varies a lot. Some have reported several weeks (a few cases even several months) others a week or two. You could call them and check. Couldn't hurt.

 

They did fixed it on Friday as they were expected originally and send it back via UPS 2 day, so it should arrive on Tuesay. A week and one day since they received it.
As far as I recall the options for UEFI were UEFI,Legacy and Auto. Should I put it in legacy(bios) only mode to be safe? I will have Win7 which runs in bios mode only.

 

That's good that Samsung was able to repair relatively fast. And they are covering it under warranty, right?

I can definitely understand if you're feeling a bit gun-shy after this. Since you have one of the older models (before Win8) the benefits of using UEFI are minimal: Faster boot time (dunno how much) and the ability to have more than four primary partitions. The price is higher complexity and the risk.

I would just disable UEFI if it were me, particularly if you're going with Win7. Even before the first bricking reports, we advised members to avoid UEFI with Win7, because of frequent issues.

That said, several members DO have perfectly working UEFI installations -- even on these older models and even with Win7.

 

Yes, it was repaired under warranty (I have couple of months left), although I had to pay for the shipping to the service center.
I decided its not worth the risk it and gonna keep it away from UEFI. The whole experience was a total nightmare. Also during the repair they damaged some plastic close to the corner(probably used metal screwdriver to take the cover off), so now there is a noticeable gap. I know it's only cosmetic, but just another small thing which pisses me off.

 

Similar case here. When I got my laptop back from Intellisol (Samsung's repair center), I found a couple of dents and scratches at the corners of the laptop. They were cosmetic only too but they were noticeable enough. I could not sell my laptop for a good price on eBay for that particular reason.

A few days ago, my laptop would not function without the charger, as if the battery was not connected. The power LED would alternate between orange/red and blue. I use BatteryBar Pro and that gave some weird readings, like half the battery capacity and wrong charge rates. Everytime I would plug the charger out, the laptop would shut off. So I opened up the laptop by myself and found out that the battery connector on the motherboard was not connected fully. There is no way that it could have slipped out, so I am guess they didn't apply enough force on the connector. :|

 

Is this an issue with the Samsung Ativ Book 8's? my version is the 880z5e. I'm wondering because I need linux for my computer sciences courses, so it wouldn't be the best choice if there is a possibility of bricking a new laptop

 

We haven't had reports of bricking the 2013 models. It looks like Samsung fixed the UEFI issues which beset the 2012 models originally designed for Windows 7.

This thread is recent and relevant. You can find other Samsung Linux threads by googling "site:forum.notebookreview.com/samsung linux".

John

 

Can anyone confirm that this bug did not affect the Samsung Series 3 (370R5E)?

It has been 2 (or 3, can't remember) BIOS updates since the release of the laptop (of course, changelog's has not been provided), and I wonder whether this is fixed now, or just do not have this bug.

I can not find any information on the internet about 370r5e (users only talk about the 300/350 models).


Does anyone have this laptop, and have you had experience of installing on it two OS's (Win8 + Ubuntu)?

 

Thank you!

 

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum since 2009 .
Stumbled upon this forum when I was researching about how to install Win 7 on my Series 5.
I just bought my Series 5 about one week ago (NP530U3C-A01ID) and I'm planning to use ubuntu on this machine but then I read about this bricking case.
Yesterday I just updated the bios to the latest version.
FYI my laptop ships with Windows 7 Home Premium.

Is the problem still exist? how can I make sure that I won't brick my laptop by installing linux? (other that disabling UEFI)


Thanks.

 

Hi gutzz, welcome to NBR.

If you read this thread (which I think you absolutely SHOULD before taking the plunge), you pretty much know the status on that bricking. In summary:

1) We haven't had many reports of it since early this year.

2) Most reports (except a few) were from tweener models originally designed for Win7, then updated to Win8. It appears that Samsung went to a completely different BIOS family for later models which doesn't have this issue.

3) Samsung has been very accommodating in replacing motherboards on bricked units -- even outside warranty in some cases.

4) All that said, I don't think anybody is likely to give you a procedure guaranteed to avoid bricking.

5) We have a few other Linux threads here (such as this) though admittedly not many. I recommend googling site:notebookreview.com/samsung linux NP530 to locate relevant discussions.

Hope some of this helps.

 

One can never be 100% sure but if the notebook is shipped with Windows 7 (assuming that UEFI is not enabled) then there should be a much lower risk of problems when installing Linux than with those notebooks shipped with Windows 8.

The first test is to look in the BIOS: On the Boot page is UEFI enabled or disabled?

John

 

Thanks for the information.

Yes my laptop is shipped with Windows 7 and UEFI is currently disabled.
Yesterday I tried Windows 8 for one day and switched back to Windows 7, is it going to be a problem?

 

If the laptop shipped with Win7, you can install either Win7 or Win8, without concerns about switching from UEFI/GPT mode (used by Win8) to BIOS/MBR mode (used by Win7) -- which would have required wiping and converting the disk and losing your Recovery. Both Win7 and Win8 should install and run just fine in the current BIOS/MBR mode.

However, if you want to install Linux i UEFI mode (which is where the entire bricking question comes in) you will have to convert to UEFI/GPT, and also install any dual-boot Windows in UEFI mode. Win7 does (in theory) support this, but many owners have found that Win7 and UEFI can be unpredictable on Samsung laptops. Win8 should be a more stable bet if you want to pursue an UEFI installation.

Of course as long as you remain in non-UEFI mode, you are shielded from any potential UEFI bricking.

Whether Win7 or Win8 is better for you is a matter of preference. Win8 has clear benefits, but is a taste that probably needs more than one day to be acquired. If you get one of the 3rd party Start Menu apps, you can ignore Metro and use Win8 pretty much the same as Win7, except it has some improvements under the hood and a "leaner" user interface style (not referring to Metro GUI but to the visual style throughout).

 

Hi everyone,

I recently had this same issue on my NP300E5C notebook. What I did was installing Win 8 with UEFI option, then I could never enter BIOS again, preshing F2 constantly on boot wouldn't do anything, the laptop would boot directly into Win 8 without opening the BIOS. So I decided to plug off the hard drive and boot again. Then I could got into the BIOS screen and I turned the UEFI option off. Unfortunately right after that my laptop could never boot again. Each time I power on, it would show the boot screen (with the instructions "press F2 to open BIOS") and restart right away, which would go on an infinite loop whatever I tried to do.

So my question is: Will reset the BIOS by plugging off the CMOS battery help fix the problem? And where can I find the CMOS battery on this model?

Thank you in advance for your guidance, and please excuse my bad English.

 

Hi ldkv,

First of all, don't worry, your English is fine. Besides, nobody here is judging you on that

From what you describe, I don't think your laptop was bricked at all. Bricking generally means the PC is completely dead (it's like a brick) and you won't be able to turn it on or boot into BIOS.

I think you just ran into two different common issues regarding Win8 and the new UEFI/GPT standards:

1) When you were unable to enter BIOS after installing Win8, it was probable due to the new Fast Startup feature, which means Windows merely hibernates whenever you choose Shutdown. When you turn it back on, it just quickly resumes, making it very hard to catch that F2 to enter BIOS. To help this, You can temporarily disable Fast Startup in Win8 power options (see this post) or you can use Win8 Advanced Startup (see this post)

2) The reason Win8 stopped booting on your PC was most likely that you disabled UEFI after you had installed Windows in UEFI mode. When installed in UEFI mode, it must RUN in UEFI mode, otherwise it cannot boot from the disk. Try and go back into BIOS and enable UEFI, that should allow Windows to boot -- unless something else is wrong.

Lots of users have run into these issues. In fact, we answer questions about them several times a week (sometimes even several times a day). Many users underestimate the differences between Win8 installation and the simple XP, Vista and Win7 installations of the past. Anybody installing Win8 (or downgrading to Win7 on a computer delivered with Win8) should read the following Microsoft articles first to understand these changes:

Understanding Disk Partitions
Windows and GPT FAQ

 

Hi Dannemand,

Thank you for your reply. However, my problem is that I cannot access Windows nor BIOS now. Would a BIOS reset fix the problem? And how can I do it on this model?

Concerning the Win8 Fast Startup, I did try disabling it before, but it didn't fix the BIOS inaccessibility, just FYI.

 

Oh, I am sorry, I understood that you were still able to access BIOS. First try and turn it off by keeping the Power Button down for five seconds. then turn it on, and see if you can get into BIOS. Start pressing F2 immediately after power on. Don't hold F2, just keep pressing it about two times per second. Try this a few times and see if you can get it.

If that still doesn't work, you can try some of the steps earlier in this thread to reset the CMOS. But please understand that, unfortunately, we do not have a clear and well documented procedure for this. Disconnecting the battery for some time by inserting a paperclip into hole in the bottom cover, then keeping the power button pressed, is definitely something to try. Others have had luck opening up the laptop, removing the CMOS battery and/or locating a CMOS reset jumper. Again you will have to read the posts in this thread as I don't remember it all. Following are a few more links which I located by googling site:notebookreview.com/samsung cannot f2 bios:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/712977-how-i-can-fix-uefi-samsung-notebook.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...my-samsung-series-9-wont-boot-enter-bios.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...efi-cant-access-bios-problem-please-help.html

In any case will I say it is still a good sign that your laptop turns on. It's not fully bricked.

 

Hey thank you for all your reccommendations, I forgot this page for a while .

Concerning my problem, I decided to took the HDD to another PC and reinstall Windows 8 in non-UEFI environment, then I put it back in the Samsung one. It can boot to Windows normally now. However, the BIOS is always unaccessible and I don't know how to bring it back. Maybe reset the CMOS battery is the only way, but I haven't dared to try it yet.

 

OK, thank you for the update. Good solution there!

Now that you have Windows running, try and disable Fast Startup as I originally described here and see if that helps you get F2. Alternatively, try Charms-Settings-PC Settings-General-Advanced Startup.

 

You can access Bios using this method:
This method works great for the Samsung laptop too.

 

I had seen that option but not tried it. It does avoid the challenge of tapping F2 at the right moment.

I would note that this option probably only works for notebooks shipped with Windows 8 and a UEFI BIOS. It may not work for Windows 7 machines upgraded to Windows 8.

I would also warn to close all the open programs before exploring the restart options.

John

 

Sorry I am a little late to this party. Indeed, Advanced Startup can can only be used to access BIOS options on UEFI installations. But even on non-UEFI installations, it can be used to fully Turn Off the PC, making it easier to catch F2 on next Power On. It's just an alternative to disabling Fast Startup.

 

See my post here about an apparent bricking of my NP900X4C after a BIOS update. The cause appears to be nothing to do with UEFI but that Samsung left out support for low voltage RAM in the new BIOS so it wouldn't start the boot process with the RAM I had put in.

John

 

I have a Samsung NP700 g7a which I bought in the UK in March 2012. I have Windows 7 & 8.1 installed and running as a dual boot system on the first hard disc and want to install Linux (from an ISO) on the second hard disc (currently blank). The two discs will each have their own MBR's. Am I likely to come across the same problems as described in previous posts?

This is my first post on the forum so please bear with me if you think the question has been answered before but I have searched for hours without finding an answer to the question I pose.

 

I believe that the G7A would have been shipped without UEFI enabled. Did you enable UEFI then reinstall Windows 7? If not, then your risk is negligible.

Samsung produced BIOS updates about a year ago to address the problem (fixing bricked computers being an unwanted cost) and I understand that Linux also got updated. This thread has been been quite quiet for most of 2013 so I think your risk, even if you enabled UEFI, is low. People have successfully installed Linux on their Samsung notebooks. There is no critical mass to keep an active Linux thread in this forum but if you google for

Code:

site:http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/ Linux

you will find some threads. Several relate to the Series 7.

John

 

Hi John

Many thanks for your advice. I will check the situation with EUFI this evening (when my other half has finished with the laptop) but in the meantime I will have a look at the link you suggested.

If I decide to go ahead with the installation I will post the results to the forum for the benefit of other subscribers.

Mike

 

I believe my wife's Samsung Series 3 305E 17.3 inch Laptop running Windows 7 was bricked a couple of weeks back by something called "SW Update" - hung at 83%, end of laptop.

Just over 1 year old Samsung agreed to repair it, and it came back today with a note to say it had a new motherboard. As a precaution to prevent the same thing happening again, we have uninstalled "SW Update."

 

SW update is very good tool for updating all drivers, but BIOS you should update with other application, because in SW update you can have problem like you write above

 

It's very likely that it was a BIOS Update. I'm wary of doing BIOS updates within SW Update so I use the Standalone BIOS Update program as described in the first post of this thread. Once the new BIOS is downloaded then the actual updating is done outside of Windows where the risk of other programs blocking or interrupting the process is minimal.

It's a mystery to me why Samsung can't configure SW Update to set any BIOS update to take place at the next reboot.

John

 

So can we assume that linux/samsung did a big step forward in improving UEFI and SecureBoot compatibility ? If so what's the best way to install a dual boot? trial and error method of UEFI? what about the recovery boot?

 

I believe the linux kernel was patched in version 3.8 so that it doesn't trigger the bug of older Samsung machines anymore.

 

So can i install it the normal way with Secure Boot (UEFI) activated or what?

 

Hey!

I experienced the UEFI brick on my NP900X3C-A02DE a couple of months ago, during May/June. I've sent my notebook to samsung, they replaced something and afterwards it worked fine.

Some days ago, i tried to recreate my disk images with the latest clonezilla software and the macrium reflect software. Afterwards, i am not able to access UEFI via F2 any more.

It seems like UEFI is bricked again! My notebook boots normally to Windows 8.1, but UEFI access does not work!

Could this be the UEFI brick again? That would mean that Samsung was so stupid to repair my notebook and give it back to me with the same faulty UEFI...

Do you have any ideas about this? Is my notebook bricked again? Can i do something about this other than RMA?

Thank you!

Ps.: I tried 10 000 times to press F2. It's definately not a timing issue...

 

Try updating your BIOS to get back your F2 functionality. That is what worked for me.

 

The alternative route to the BIOS setup in Windows 8 (and, I assume, 8.1) is: Charms > Change PC Settings > General > Advanced Startup. Then select the option about boot settings which will reboot the computer straight into the BIOS.

Which BIOS does you X3C have? Is it P88AAC or P**ABK? AAC was used for the earlier notebooks with Windows 7 and ABK was used for those shipped with Windows 8. I was surprised to discover that there were two different BIOSes for one notebook and presume that Samsung found that modifying AAC for full Windows 8 and UEFI compatibility through a BIOS update was too challenging. If, however, Samsung put ABK on your notebook during service then I would note that two BIOS updates have been released during the past month. I recommend using the standalone BIOS updater (link in first post of this thread) instead of letting SW Update do this.

John

 

Hi John !

The latest AAC bios seems to be P06AAC but you mention P88AAC, is it a typo ?

 

P88AAC is a typo. It should be P**AAC (ie I omitted to press hard enough on the Shift key).

P06AAC is the latest in that BIOS family (the X3C has the same BIOS as my X4C).

John

 

Yes, that's what I thought. At least, you gave me hope for a few minutes lol.

 

I doubt if any notebook manufacturer ever reached the 88th revision of a BIOS.

I think one of my Dell notebooks (E6400?) reached 20 a few years back.

John

 

Lol, true, but at least I hoped there was a new P 08AAC ...

 

In case it helps others, I just want to share my experience with switching my NP900X3C-A02US (May 2012 manufactured) to UEFI mode, and the nasty problem that then occurred:

My Series 9 was originally shipped with Windows 7, and I wanted to try out Windows 8. I upgraded the BIOS to P06AAC, changed the BIOS settings to enable UEFI support, and then installed Windows 8 in UEFI/GPT mode. Windows 8 worked great.

Everything was fine, until I remembered that my boot order settings had been left to boot from CD first, and for security reasons I wanted to change it to boot HD first.

Well, that is when I discovered that you cannot re-enter the BIOS settings screens after you switch them to UEFI mode (as mentioned above in this thread, F2 just doesn't work).

The alternative to solve this issue should be as John mentioned above, which is to change the settings from the special UEFI settings app in Windows 8, but......(wait for it)..........

That app to change the UEFI settings was MISSING from my build of Windows 8.

I don't know why, but it just is not there. I followed all the instructions online on how to navigate to that UEFI settings app in Windows 8, but it's just... missing. Only thing I can figure is that for some reason, Windows 8 just doesn't think my laptop is supposed to have that UEFI screen available.

So, I was stuck with BIOS/UEFI settings that were more or less, permanently set, with no way for me to get back into BIOS screens to change any of the BIOS settings.

In my case, my solution out of this mess, was to take several steps, which also involved reloading Windows (aargh):

1. Reflash my BIOS, from within Windows 8 (using same version P06AAC). I had to use sflash64.exe from command line, to "force" the "upgrade" to same version that was already present (P06AAC).

2. Open up laptop and disconnect battery and CMOS battery for a few minutes (reconnect back up afterwards). This enabled F2 access to BIOS again. I set the BIOS settings back to their original settings, with UEFI support disabled. This has the unfortunate side effect of preventing a Windows 8 GPT disk from being able to boot up anymore, so the following major step was also required.

3. Re-install Windows 8 from scratch, but using BIOS/MBR mode.

This solved my issue, and I have been happily using Windows 8 on my NP900X3c (P06AAC BIOS) since.

(Standard disclaimer of: your results may vary, I am not responsible from any difficulties that following this process may cause anyone...).

 

anyone had the issue with NP940X3G-K01? I do not see any battery reset hole at the back and I would rather not open the machine since I am under warranty... Any option left but calling Samsung?

I tried all the F key but nothing comes up on the screen, only bleu power button, not even fan noise.

 

Hello, does anyone have a 700z5c Series laptop? I Bricked my BIOS because of UEFI + Linux Live and I want to reflash it. I desoldered the EEPROM and I am looking for BIOS dump from a working PC. (The laptop is a 700z5c-s01uk with Windows 7 ). I was able to extract the bin file from Samsung Updater but the filesize is smaller than the memory of the chip, so it cannot be written unless if I add data .Can someone provide this file? Thanks

 

Why isn't this thread sticked anymore?

Have you found the dump? I have the z3c one so i can't help you, but i would like to hear if you have been able to fix your laptop.

Is it one of those BIOS safe? Mine is AJB, do you know where I can read about this?

 

There have been very few reports of bricking for almost a year now - since the 2013 models came out, and possibly since Samsung updated some of the worst hit BIOSes. Also, I believe Linux (which had the most brickings) was updated to better handle Samsung laptops.

There have been other cases of semi-bricking and boot problems, but few had the symptoms of UEFI bricking.

We prefer to only have two stickies at any time, so when the Win8.1 train wreck happened last fall, we decided it was a more urgent public service message.

 

That's what i'd thought, but i think that still a serious problem, we are talking about bricking our laptops, and nobody knows if we are safe...

I'm still thinking about change to CSM and MBR mode to be safe, but I want Secure Boot and all that stuff...

And this is the worst part:

http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchae...-to-linux-user-uefi-bios-bug-not-our-problem/