Series 7 Chronos All Models: Push for SAMSUNG to implement "FIXED MODE" in BIOS

Mine has similar issues. No matter how you reformat, reinstall AMD drivers, it will not kick in.

 

So I will return it tomorrow.

Any other laptop similar to this one without this issues??

 

Try going the NVIDIA route. The Optimus switching is much more seamless.

Try the ASUS N45SF or N55SF (1080p anti-glare screen) with i5/i7 and GT555M if they are available in your country.

 

I don't know how, but I made it work...

I did so many changes that I don't know what it was. I finally could use the 6750m in some games.

Now I'm trying to reinstall Skyrim and see...

 

Same problem here on the low-end/US Best Buy model. I've been twice promised a call back from Tier 2 (still waiting on that call.) I've tweeted at Samsung's accounts. Now I'm off to post on Facebook.

This is a real problem for me. I bought this laptop specifically on the representation that it had functioning discrete graphics. Never in a million years would I buy a laptop with Intel graphics only, because of the work I do in Photoshop and Aftereffects. My 30-day return window to Best Buy has passed, so my only option now is to make a lot of noise at Samsung I guess.

 

I have the Spanish version with ssd express cache and the gpu works...but it was hard to do it (I don't know even how I made it).

It's a shame because the laptop is nice overall without this issue...

 

Hello joeonsunset. Don't even bother with tier 2 reps. When they do call back, they will just insist that the BB model does not have dual graphics at all; just the Radeon and that BB made a mistake listing the specs (which is all obviously bs... view my previous post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...implement-fixed-mode-bios-16.html#post8231613)

As far as the 30 day returns period, you're still ok if you bought it after bf 2011. If not then just take it back and explain it's a known issue (the truth) or go with the official samsung story that they made a mistake in the specs (bs) and thus you should be able to return it as it was not your fault. In any case, they are lenient with returns so you should have no problems.

(P.S. the loudest noise will be higher than expected return rates... they'll quickly realize there's something wrong with the product)

 

Series 7 Chronos Fix Broken Switchable Graphics Campaign page on Facebook. Please like it and comment to show your support!
Series 7 Chronos Campaign for Samsung to Fix Broken Switchable Graphics - Wall | Facebook

 

I just got off the line with a Samsung CS rep. She says the issue has been escalated to Samsung HQ and tomorrow they will give an answer whether to fix or not. Will update all of you again.

Series 7 Chronos Fix Broken Switchable Graphics Campaign page on Facebook. Please like it and comment to show your support!
Series 7 Chronos Campaign for Samsung to Fix Broken Switchable Graphics - Wall | Facebook

 

Yesterday i have returned my unit to the shop where I bought it.
No refund.
They will send it to Samsung as my unit is within the DOA time frame. The technician at my local shop said he will try to explain the issue to Samsung. I also have included some screen prints of Brink not starting because of OpenGL and Photoshops OpenGL settings saying its running on the IntelHD video card though the card is configured to run on High Performance profile in switchable graphics settings.

I have also attached a printout of the first page of this thread, which thanks to yknyong1 describes the problem and a possible fix for this.

I'll keep u updated on this.

 

I have been following this discussion for a while now. I have recently received this laptop, but haven't played around with it yet - so I am thinking if I should even bother opening it, or send it straight back? Sorry if my question is immature, but I don't seem to get the core point of this problem. So if any of you have comments on the thinking below, please write.

AMD Radeon doesn't support OpenGL which means it doesn't run software like Adobe CS5 and some games with this GPU and uses the Intel one... Radeon doesn't have a manual switching tool, which means you can not tell it which GPU to use - Intels integrated or the AMD... Correct? So by default it only uses Intel.

Which basically means that this laptop comes with an OK dedicated graphics card, but it is never used! Instead the laptop only uses the Intel GPU? Which means that Samsung has totally failed to make use of the dedicated AMD GPU and all the laptops of this series should be recalled, because the specification doesn't match the product.

Please correct me if I am wrong, and which part of this doesn't make sense.

It is hard to believe that the AMD GPU is for no use in the laptop.

Cheers.

 

The AMD GPU in my CPU is used all the time, and it works very well. It's just OpenGL which doesn't work as it should, and it not very many applications that uses it. DirectX applications work fine.

 

Battlefield 3 does not run without problems... either window mode or broken fullscreen. Directx game.

 

Many older Directx games cannot work (even when high performance is selected) because the AMD Dynamic Switching simply isn't smart enough to use AMD 6750M for these old games.

The OpenGL ones... run like a slideshow.

 

I tried Counterstrike and Counterstrike:Source. Both were running on the Intel card. Even setting them to the high performance profile made them use only the intel card.

 

I can play battlefield 3 just fine with windowed mode. online i play on low settings and campaign i play a mix of medium/high. I believe the full screen issues are because of the radeon mobile drivers if i read correctly and not the samsung chronos(this was a few weeks ago that i had read about)

 

I cant seem to get Shogun 2 total war to use the amd card, it just uses the intel even with setting the app to high performance =/

 

I got an answer from Samsung today after I sent them an email yesterday.(translated from German):

 

Could be related to drivers as it didn't work with leshcats drivers either.

@energized
Thx for this info. At least we are getting some feedback from Samsung.

 

A case in point is the game Runescape. It's a JAVA based MMORPG and in the graphic options you can choose either direct x or Open GL or software. Everything works fine except for open GL.

Everyone make sure to keep on calling samsung and tweeting and facebooking them!

 

We will hopefully have an answer by this afternoon.

 

Test. .

 

Samsung Series 7 Chronos - Notebook Reviews by MobileTechReview

Skip down to the section on Switchable graphics. This guy does a good job of summarizing the problem and you can reference this when talking to Samsung people as an example of how HP implemented a solution while we wait for AMD to catch up to NvIdia.

 

Bad piece of news

Samsung support said that the HQ has decided that they will not push a 'Fixed Mode' BIOS for the Series 7 due to the large amount of tech resources required and technical limitations which will require a redesign of the mainboard.

She says that the new gen of Samsung AMD switchable graphics notebooks however, will include powerXpress 5.0, which will support OGL.(SIC as per phone conversation)

She has offered a refund for my S7, which I accepted.

 

@yknyong1, thank you for all your perseverance, organisation and support. What a shame it has ended like this.

I know fixed mode has been held up as the ideal solution. But does this latest decision mean that the S7 does not and never will support OpenGL?

Thanks

 

Thank you yknyong1 for all your efforts.
Dou you get the refund from Samsung or from your trader? Samsung mailed me that in case of a refund I would have to contact the reseller but I think he isn't responsible for that, as I bought this laptop back in November.

 

I just received the email from the Singapore Samsung CS Manager

"Dear Mr Young,

We refer to your feedback dated January 10th.

We have done a series of check with our HQ and about the NP700Z5A openGL supporting issue.
At the moment we are unable to implement this function as this is not a simple BIOS update work. This will definitely include a hardware revision causing our mainboard design to be changed.

Our next model might have the PowerXpress5.0 support for openGL in dynamic GPU mode, and in addition, current NP700Z5A design also support openGL but with intel internal GFX mode.

We will be doing a refund for your Samsung laptop. Digital Asia will be in contact with you for the refund to be done.

We thank you for your feedback.

Please feel free to contact me for any further enquiries that you have.





Thanks & Regards,
Mithya Saminathan - Manager
Samsung Customer Care 1800-7267864"

So if any of you wants a refund, just contact your local Samsung and quote them on this post. Samsung needs to liaise with the reseller to do the refund for you.

 

@yknyong1

Would I also be eligible for such a refund ? Should I be mailing Samsung US support for this ?

 

Anyone who wants to refund should ask the local Samsung to do so by quoting them this thread.

 

It seems crazy

I do not understand how they came to take the decision not to support OpenGL with the AMD card in the first place?

 

Well this was my last samsung product (and AMD), I cant believe they f***** everyone like that. The mediocre build quality is to be expected from a PC but the open insult isn't.

We should have seen this coming with this comp not being released in korea.

I guess we can expect quite a few games and applications not recognizing the amd card and therefore being unusable.

This is exactly why people think mac are better machines, no bull involved.

If someone from France manages to get a refund please post it here.

 

I seem to have fixed my issue.
1st I removed the installed drivers using Driversweeper, I then installed leshcat blog IT Tips & Tricks leshcat's Catalyst 12.1A UnifL's for Switchable Graphics.

Now Photoshop works fine detecting Open GL support, and comic rack that wouldn't open is running without issue.

http://imm.io/eOt2

 

Even if we could rely on Leshcat to make drivers for the next few years that we own the laptop, this is not completely a fix and is unacceptable coming from Samsung.

 

Well, it does mean that a BIOS fix is not needed. Samsung just need to sort their drivers out.

Don't get me wrong, I think you're totally correct in your statement that this is total BS from Samsung.

The problem is I really like my Series 7 and don't want to return it...

 

Of course it's normal to like something. Anyway the new S7 IB will come out anytime soon, that's why she mentioned the new gen.

 

A new Series 7...any idea when that might be? a month, six months?

 

No idea how soon.

 

I would expect it to be more like 6 months. CES was fully of UltraBooks, not IvyBridge machines.

John

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

Damn.

 

Me too. While fixed mode is preferable, it seems it is not the only solution. If leshcat can do it, why not AMD?

 

why can hp do it?

 

Mux vs muxless. HP probably had designed the motherboard with a backup plan. I just felt that Samsung can do it, but they did not want to.

 

Problem is AMD drivers have licensing issues when bundled with Intel ones, and Samsung needs to verify and certify the drivers, hence hindering the pace at which they are put out. Hence the AMD drivers Samsung provided were the AMD 11.09 ones, while Leshcat's were already 11.12 or 12.1a.

It seems that even Leshcat's drivers do not solve the issue of switching for certain games.

 

What is mux?

I'm gonna miss this laptop. It's perfect otherwise, but I need OpenGL too much. I am within my timeframe for a return though, so that's a positive.

 

Flowbyte:

Have you tried any 3D-modeling programs after installing that 12.1a driver? Maybe Rhinoceros or Solidworks? And is the whole CS package supported by the AMD graphiccard now or is it just Photoshop?

Amazon are willing to take my computer back because of this issue about the switchabledrivers. But as you, I really like this computer. The alternative for me is to get a Macbook Pro. Apple seems to be the only manufacture who are able to make a complete and functional comptuter. But the price of it is a problem.

So I thought I will give a last try, by installing the driver you mentioned. If Adobe CS package, Rhino and Solidworks - works. Then I will keep it.

 

ChristianL: please post an update when you finish.

 

So I contacted Samsung again about the issue and they redirected me again to the retailer saying I wont't get any money by Samsung itself. Hopefully my retailer accepts to give me a refund.

 

Let's say if the retailer refuses to refund, then call up Samsung and ask them to liaise with the retailer.

 

I'm gonna keep my S7, but it's really weird that they say that it isn't gonna happend. Especially since we have alternate drivers that work. I'm not sure the final word on this has been said yet.

 

hey everyone, been following this thread for quite some and basically wanted to thank you all for your efforts!

Anyways, as I also grew kinda fond to it I dont want to return it. I dont have much experience with those leshcat drivers, is there anything I should know before installing them? Do I lose any kind of warranty (like it would be the case with overclocking?)

greets from Germany!