Series 5 NP530U4C-A01US Win7 clean install

Got this Ultrabook a week ago (not interested in touchscreen or Win8 at the moment) and since then have added another 4GB of memory, replaced the 750GB HDD with a 128GB SSD, upgraded the BIOS and did a clean install of Win7 Ultimate 64bit. In the interest of saving space, I decided to install only the drivers and software that appeared to be necessary for my use.

Did not install these drivers;

ExpressCache
HECI
Touchpad

Only installed the following software;

Easy Settings

Everything seems to work fine based on my requirements and am quite prepared to leave well enough alone but think it prudent to run this by more experienced Samsung users in terms of ramifications and functionality that may be missing. Any thoughts/comments regarding this somewhat lean install?

 

1. You may not get the full touchpad functionality without installing the driver (see this thread assuming it is the Elan pad that Samsung uses on most models).

2. Did you try installing the Intel Rapid Start Technology? If so, this thread may help with tweaking it.

John

 

You may not get the full touchpad functionality without installing the driver

Never really required anything more than basic touchpad usage in laptops so I'm fine there. Furthermore, the 345MB size of the extracted touchpad driver folder wasn't exactly appealing in terms of space.

Did you try installing the Intel Rapid Start Technology?

Yes, but it never worked properly until I saw your thread. In fact, it was that thread that got me to join this forum. Thanks for that.

However, something useful is missing from the lean install in terms of automatically creating/resizing the hibernation partition on the iSSD....Removing the original hibernation partition allowed me to use "powercfg -h" (on and off) to test standard Windows hibernation but I couldn't install the Rapid Start driver without first manually recreating the HP. Also, nothing to do with Rapid Start appears under General in Easy Settings. Maybe Easy Software Manger takes care of these things but I can live with these minor shortcomings.

 

Hey,

I had a quick question... I'm interested in adding more RAM but this is the first time for me so I'm not sure what to buy.
I opened the hatch to check the RAM out and I see a free spot, do I add a 4 GB stick or an 8 GB stick (system specs specify 8GB is max supported by system).

The reason I'm looking into this is because I'd like the extra memory. not to mention there's a memory leak from one of their drivers I believe in the kernel memory (non-paged eats up to 1250 MB).
By any chance did you get this problem too? Gonna try to contact their support ASAP.

Thanks!

 

The Intel chipset supports 8GB modules although Samsung may not have verified that that work in this notebook.

John

 

I added another 4 GB stick in the free spot for a total of 8 GB. Checking Task Manger while typing this indicates that usable memory is 7.79 GB, Kernel Memory usage is 178 MB (Paged) and 107 MB (Nonpaged).

 

A bit off-topic but, ameridian can you post your exact step as to installing Windows 7 on your machine?

I'm having a difficult time with my installation. Laptop won't boot as in thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/631630-installing-windows-7-pro-keeping-express-cache-4.html

Thank you.

 

Replaced the 750 GB HDD with a Samsung 830 128 GB SSD and installed Win7 on it. The NP530U4C-A01US has a DVD drive so it was smooth sailing.

Series 5 14

Anything specific you had in mind?

 

Thought you had the same problem i did. I have both HDD and SD. Tried installing Windows on each and the laptop does not boot on either case.

 

If it's due to the lack of a DVD drive then blame Apple and the "Airy" look for turning your M$ world upside down

 

Indeed, after many hours of research i have come to many conclusions and one is that the lack of DVD drive is part of the problem. Supposedly when installing Windows from a USB DVD Drive, the original issue does not occur...

 

Also, if Win8 falls off a cliff, as Vista did, then blame Apple for convincing M$ that the PC (desktops, laptops, notebooks etc) was dead and tablets were the way of the future. Seriously, and back OT, no one here has made Windows installation from a flash drive an exact science yet? Did you search the forum thoroughly?

 

The steps in this post will fix the problem of being unable to boot after Win7 USB install, due to the SYSTEM partition being created on the iSSD (which isn't bootable).

Works on Series 5 and Series 7.

There is also this new thread by hanime from a few days ago on the subject.

 

I tried to replicate this issue on my NP530U4C and couldn't....Replaced the 128 GB SSD with the original 750 GB HDD and recovered the Win7 Home factory installation. This also recreated the original iSSD configuration.

The iSSD (disk 0) was untouched after choosing disk 1 for the Win7 Ultimate 64-bit installation (custom not upgrade) from USB flashdrive. The system partition is on disk 1 as one would expect and Windows works and boots normally. At no time was the DVD used during the installation. Also, FWIW, at no time was the USB flashdrive removed during the installation. I used F2 to change the boot device from USB flashdrive back to HDD during the first installation restart.

 

@ameridian: Yes, I noticed that not everybody has this issue when installing from USB. Don't know why.

Certainly I was never able to install Win7 from USB on the Series 5 I had this summer (NP530U3B), and neither on my current Series 7 (NP700Z3A), because Windows Setup creates its SYSTEM partition on the iSSD. Lots of people have reported the same problem. Maybe samsung fixed it in later models, I don't know.

Anyways, for those who DO run into this problem and are unable to boot after Windows Setup has finished copying files, the two methods I describe in hanime's thread (that was a link) will take care of it. I look forward to hanime posting her guide, maybe she found an even easier way.

Of course installing from DVD is always the easiest fix; again, for those who have this problem -- AND who have a DVD drive

Update: Wait a sec, I just re-read your post: Are you saying you did a Factory Restore from Samsung's Recovery? If so, that won't reproduce this boot partition issue that I refer to (and which I think may have been Nutty's problem). This problem only happens when installing a clean Win7 straight from a USB flash drive onto models with an iSSD. And (of course) it is particularly annoying on models that have no DVD drive.

 

Are you saying you did a Factory Restore from Samsung's Recovery?

Yes, brought the HDD back to the state when received with Win7 Home installed.


This problem only happens when installing a clean Win7 straight from a USB flash drive onto models with an iSSD. And (of course) it is particularly annoying on models that have no DVD drive.

I then installed Win7 Ultimate straight from a USB flash drive.The 4C has a 24 GB iSSD. What's your definition of clean install? Did Windows list the disks and ask which one should be used for the installation in your case? The iSSD was listed as disk 0 and the HDD was listed as disk 1 in my case.

 

@ameridian: Yeah, merely restoring the Factory Image using Samsung Recovery Solution will not reproduce this issue. Otherwise SRS would never work

My Series 7 has an 8GB iSSD and 750GB HDD. The Series 5 I had this summer had 16GB iSSD and 500GB HDD. On both of them, the iSSD shows as Disk 0 during Windows Setup and the HDD as Disk 1. That's why Setup assumes the iSSD is the bootable drive and creates its SYSTEM partition there, even if you choose a partition on the HDD to install Windows.

If the original partitions are intact on the HDD and you simply choose to re-install on the Windows partition, you also will not reproduce this problem: That existing SYSTEM partition on the HDD was flagged Active to begin with and it will boot -- even if Windows Setup thought that the iSSD was the boot drive.

Most people who make clean installs either do so on a new SSD or they chose to re-partition their HDD. That's when this problem arises.

If this doesn't happen on your 4C, even when running Windows Setup from USB and installing on a re-partitioned HDD, then possibly Samsung found a way to prevent Windows Setup from being tricked by the iSSD. Don't sweat it in that case, just be happy

 

Yeah, merely restoring the Factory Image using Samsung Recovery Solution will not reproduce this issue. Otherwise SRS would never work.

Where was this even insinuated? SRS was only used to bring the HDD back to its original received state. That's how "everybody" would have received the drive.

 

When you said the following, that's what I thought you meant:

I apologize if I misunderstood you. I DID understand that you subsequently performed a clean install, and I was providing my suggestions on how to reproduce this issue by deleting HDD partitions first.

Listen, I am sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread here. I was merely responding to Nutty's post with a link pointing him to a solution, because he found himself stuck after performing a clean install from USB. As has many, many Series 5 owners without DVD drives.

If you look around in various threads here, you'll see hundreds of posts with that problem over the last year, and even conclusions from very experienced members saying that USB install on Series 5 is simply impossible, you have to go buy an external DVD drive.

The title of this thread would lead members here who have that problem. I was just trying to be helpful to them. I realize that you made it clear you never experienced the issue.

Once again, I apologize. I'll leave you to it.

 

Once again, I apologize. I'll leave you to it.

Hey, no big thing, no need to apologize. I went on to replicate the problem and solved it using a partition tool. Steps were posted in another thread here;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/698488-win7-clean-install-flash-drive-steps.html

 

Great you got it working (or rather succeeded in reproducing it not working )

And yes, I did the same thing the first few times, copying the partition with an imaging tool. I briefly mentioned that approach in hanime's thread.

BTW she posted her guide in that thread now, using bcdboot to add system files to the Windows partition. Very nice job there.

AND, I saw your newly posted thread and guide as well. Very nice too. So I guess we now have an abundance of different guides on how to overcome this issue.

 

Great you got it working (or rather succeeded in reproducing it not working )

It was just a matter of deleting any existing system partition on the target drive.

So I guess we now have an abundance of different guides on how to overcome this issue.

One that prevents Windows from ever using the iSSD for the system partition would be the "Holy Grail". Windows insists on using the iSSD, in the absence of any preexisting system partition, during a USB install. This is not the case during a DVD install.

 

Yes, that would indeed be great. I think a BIOS update could actually do it. The problem must arise from the way drives are enumerated by BIOS when booting from USB.

The easiest fix by far is to leave the original SYSTEM partition alone or copy it to a new HDD/SSD before installing; then after installation delete the redundant SYSTEM partition created by Windows Setup on the iSSD.

 

The easiest fix by far is to leave the original SYSTEM partition alone

Agreed, those who are USB installing to the same drive that came with the laptop/ultrabook should take note of this.

 

Hey ameridian, i just bought this laptop, it has to arrive in the next few days, i read a lot of bad reviews mainly reffering to wifi or wireless adapter issues in this laptop. Did you have any related problems? What do you think about the laptop? What about it performance? THanks!
Pablo.

 

The Intel 6235 WiFi adapter has caused a lot of problems for many notebook users. See, for example, this thread in the Intel forum. Intel have final woken up to the problem and the updated WiFi driver issued about a month ago (got to the Intel support site) improved the situation for many users.

John