Windows 8.1 Update Issues and Discussion

Does anyone knows how to disable the volume warning that you get when trying to get volume over 42% on windows 8.1? For what I've read it seems to be a Samsung thing but I haven't found a solution yet.

Sorry, the warning is in Spanish but you will get the idea.

Thanks!

 

Hello,
I have a Serie 9 (NP900X4D-01ES) and since I've updated to Windows 8.1 I'm also having some problems...
Everytime I start the computer it appears the message error that you can see in the image I've attached to this message. Though it seems to be a Bluetooth problem, the bluetooth works fine, though the error message keeps popping up everytime I start the computer.
Somebody has had the same problem? and has anybody found a solution?
Thanks,

 

Can someone tell me if there is a way to DOWNLOAD/SAVE a BIOS update, so I can run it 'local' instead of live-wire? I would much prefer taking the risk that way

 

Yes there is, and it is indeed the recommended way to update. We have a thread specifically about BIOS Updates where it is covered. I'm on my phone now (Tapatalk), which makes linking difficult. But if you check the sticky with popular threads, it's in the general section. Easy to find.

Edit: Here is a link:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/698094-samsung-bios-update-problems.html

 

Hello

I bought a new Samsung Series 7 Ultra Notebook 128GB SSD 13.3" (Model: NP740U3E-S04UK) in September (2013). It has a AMD Radeon HD 8570M graphics card. About 2 months ago I upgraded from Win8 to Win 8.1, before reading this thread. I got a completely black screen and had to revert to a disk mirror. How can we discover when/if it is now safe to upgrade to Win8.1? Or will we have to wait for 8.2?

Or have AMD / Samsung / Microsoft abandoned us forever?

J

 

many thanks Dan!

 

Yesterday I took a bold step, I made a complete backup and then updated to Windows 8.1. It actually went very well. Although it took quite a lot of time and many restarts and running SW Update, (almost) everything looks normal. As always there was one snag: SW Update failed to update the Sound driver:

Sound Driver Essential Installable 463MB Failed(-10)

The sound still seems to work though.

Model: Samsung ATIV 7 NP740U3E-X01NL

 

my guess is it had little to do with amd. they're drivers are working well with 8.1 imho.
it would have been very helpful if you had captured anything in the win system error log at that time.
there are a lot of things that could have stuck the system in a boot-wait condition.
if it were my own, i'd save off the valuables and load 8.1 from scratch.

 

Well, it took some time, but I found the problem. I modified the Setup.ini file of the Sound driver in order to get an interactive install instead of the silent install I had before. In the interactive window I saw the error message:

An error (-5009 : 0x8002802b) has occurred ...

Some Googling took me to the following page:

Error 0x8002802B: Element not found

A fellow called RikMar advised to delete or rename Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Professional. Renaming the directory to Professional.old and running the install again indeed solved the problem.

For added fun note that this post dates from October 4, 2003 and the advice still works. So much for progress in Windows software in 11 years!

 

I have been checking on this thread off and on because I have a P550 and the first time I accepted the upgrade (early November, the Windows store offered it to me a couple of times) it was a total fiasco, and after trying over and over to sort it out, I just reinstalled Windows 8 after Christmas. Now I'm wondering how things stand.

My problems were that it wiped out the recovery partition (I have no idea if it's possible to get that back), and that something either in the upgrade or in the Samsung Updates wrecked my boot sectors. The computer worked fine, except for the fact that to get it to boot, I had to press F4 at startup and let it tell me that I had an invalid recovery partition. If I didn't do that and let it tell me that, it told me that NTLDR was missing, or some such thing, and demanded a restart.

There was not any way around this, nothing I found online worked in terms of tweaks and hacks and bootrec commands.... So now that I have a nice working computer, I am hesitant to try again, even though now Samsung says they're supporting it and I had fewer weird behaviors such as hanging up when rousing from sleep.

I bought the computer refurbished from Best Buy and it had Windows 8 on it. Samsung's web site, if I enter my serial number, only offers me drivers and stuff for Windows 7. When I contacted Samsung tech support they told me this machine was definitely meant to have Windows 8 on it. It is really a nice machine and works much more smoothly than the old Dells I used to have. I don't want to mess it up.

Is it safe to upgrade? Is there a way to get my recovery partition back? I have the Windows 8 recovery media from Samsung. What I am afraid I don't trust is the Samsung Software Update thing application.

 

Hello fotyc, welcome to NBR.

Samsung does not post any updated drivers on their web site, not for over a year. You have to use SW Update to pull them from Samsung's database, and either install them directly, or save them on your computer and install them manually. It is actually a pretty decent tool, once you get to know it.

I am still hesitant to declare the 8.1 update safe, although many have succeeded at this point (myself included). Check the last few pages of this thread for a more elaborate answer to that specific question.

Unfortunately, from your description, your Recovery is gone. The only way to get it back, is to have Samsung re-image the drive -- which they will do for a small fee, or free if you're within warranty.

If you have Recovery Media, that is most likely a Win8 Setup DVD -- which is great, most owners don't get that with their computer anymore. In your situation I would just use that to clean install Win8, then update to 8.1 (if that is what you choose).

Alternatively, there is a trick to download the 8.1 ISO from Microsoft when you're doing the update. I forget the details, but there is a link in this thread to a CNET article about it.

 

Hi, I have a similar laptop (NP740U3E-X01AU). I also did the 8.1 upgrade along with the Samsung S/W update but like other people my function keys are not fully functional and my backlight keyboard is kind of not working. Do yours work properly? Does pressing Fn + F1 bring up the Samsung config/preferences options? How about Fn + F9 or F10 - does that work for adjusting back light option?


I spent a long time trying to find out why the AMD Radeon was not working properly using a fresh Windows install and in the end i followed the procedure below which worked for me:

In Samsung BIOS disable secure boot and fast boot
change boot to CSM OS

1) Boot from USB created from Windows 8 ISO
2) Update with Windows updates (DO NOT INSTALL Intel Centrino WiFi or AMD Radeon Graphics options)
3) Install Samsung SW updates (DO NOT INSTALL Intel WiFi or AMD Graphics!)
4) Install Windows 8.1 from Windows Store
5) Install other drivers:

• AMD Radeon 8570m lechcatlabs version download from (leshcatlabs.net forums • View topic - Release: Catalyst 13.12 WHQL UnifL) to make switchable graphics work - (as of Jan 2014 : Catalyst_13.12_WHQL_UnifL_rev_1.2.exe)
• Intel Centrino 6235 - from Intel website (as of Jan 2014 : Wireless_16.7.0_De164.exe)
• TouchPad (win 8 version NOT 8.1) - (Touchpad Driver_11.7.10.4 - i did this one because i found the version for windows 8.1 to have less functionality! So far i have had experienced no problems running the Windows 8 driver in Windows 8.1)
• Realtek Memory Card Reader - from Realtek website - (as of Jan 2014 : RtsUVStor_6.2.9200.39052)

Hope this helps other people...

 

After months following this thread, I decided to give it a try. I wanted to upgrade my Samsung Series 7 740U3E-S02DE. After all, I was successful.

Here's my step-by-step guide:

0) I created a full recovery image (look for Dannemand's post on Page 1).... I also created a backup image of my hard disk using Macrium Reflect
1) Update everything in Windows Update and SW Update (only the 8.0 driver updates). I used only drivers provided by Samsung, exception: Intel Wifi/WLAN Drivers.
2) Upgrade to 8.1 via Microsoft Store
3) During Upgrade I disabled the automatic installation of driver updates via Windows Update
4) After the upgrade process, I waited about 15 minutes looking at my Desktop. It seemed like SW Update installed some 8.1 updates without being asked. Actually I didnt care, but my Intel drivers and the backlight fix were automatically installed
5) I followed TurtleMonkeys post on page 50 to clean install the VGA drivers ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...msung-has-updated-drivers-50.html#post9524422)
6) After a restart, I installed everything on SW Update. Only Audio Driver didnt work, but anyway there was no need to update because the driver was already installed.

Now everything seems to work. I kept my Original Settings Version 2.0.xx. But maybe I'll try 2.2.0.5 if its necessary.

I'm finally happy again

 

Hi Monza,

The Fn key seems to work perfectly in my case, settings menu comes up and backlight can be adjusted just fine.

I haven't tried everything yet, in particular I have to look into the working of the AMD video card. I think it's working, because Catalyst works normal, but I need to run some benchmarks to be sure. If not your suggestions may come in handy.

Jan

 

Hey there,i installed Windows 8.1 and everything works ok for now.
Only two problems that i have is
First,my letters are somewhere ok and somewhere bold and blury.
When i open control panel and after that Administrative tools everything is fine,but when i open Services in Administrative tools my letters are blury insade Services.I hope you understand what i try to explain.
Second ,after i installed Settings for 8.1 from 900X3F (because 900X3C dont support Windows 8) when i clicking on buttons for backlit keyboard i dont see anymore that icone on screen.I hope they didnt move it because i miss it.

 

For all those that can't get SW Update working in Windows 8.1, I chatted with Samsung support today, and they provided the following link for my NP900X3C-A04US:
SW Update

I uninstalled the version of SW Update that was installed on my NP900X3C-A04US and then installed this version. SW Update is now working, along with everything else in 8.1.


Post Script: When I rebooted the laptop, I got a notification that a newer version of SW Update was available. I foolishly updated. Then, SW Update no longer worked! So, I uninstalled, and re-installed the version from the link above, and it's working again. Now, everytime I start SW Update, I get a notice to update (which I won't do again!).


bert

 

Do you see backlit icon on screen when you press backlit buttons.

 

My keys are back-lit, and pressing Fn F9/F10 does decrease/increase the key backlighting as expected.

There is no icon on the screen when doing this.

 

@bert: That's silly Samsung's part. But good info, thanks for sharing.

 

Who can help me to solve my problem in my lapi(samsung series 5 ultrabook touch screen, model: NP540U3C-A01AE)..It can't power on even directly connected to power supply. The last time I used it, I leave the lapi on sleep mode unplug to supply and the nxt day I want to use it, IT WON'T TURN ON. I charge it for couple of hours thinking the battery was drain but still the same. Also before it happens I upgraded my lapi to win 8.1 also and now i cant open it and I dont know what to do.

Somebody knows how to fix it up!

 

Does the power light come on when you plug in the PSU? Do any lights come on (even temporarily) if you press the power button? Did you try holding down the power button for, say, 30 seconds?

If there is no sign of life then you can try following the rejuvenation suggestions in the bricking thread.

John

 

@robertdaveson18 try a micom reset iif thats possible with that model or call samsung customer servuce for repair

Gesendet von meinem GT-I9300 mit Tapatalk

 

Upgraded from 8 to 8.1 on my NP700Z5C-S04US. I have been using it for a week now. Everything works properly. Some of the things actually got better, for e.g., changing networks whether its wired or wireless would cause explorer.exe to stop responding for about 20s. That lag is doesn't happen anymore on 8.1. Plus boot times seem to have gotten slightly better.

 

Better WiFi might be due to a newer Intel driver being pushed out with Windows 8.1. Had you previously updated your Intel WiFi driver to a version issued within the past 4 months? This finally fixed the connectivity issues but you needed to get it from Intel.

John

 

I have recieved a graphic driver update from SW Update. Should I install it? I need suggestions before installing the update. anyone please? thanks!

 

Is this for the AMD graphics? what laptop do you have?

 

Is there really no solution to the lack of an AMD drivers on Win 8.1 other than turning of the signed driver checking and using hacked drivers?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

I'm using a Samsung np370r5e. I recieved the update last 3 days.

 

A few days before I actually finally upgraded to 8.1, I noticed Intel issued a WiFi driver, which I could not install for some reason. The installer would launch for a few seconds and disappear in the background. Later on, I upgraded to 8.1. I still see that update on Intel's site

I will try installing later today.

I actually had problems with the wired connection too (with WiFi turned off). I thought that suggested a problem with networking in general, rather than the WiFi card specifically.

UPDATE 2: Nevermind, it actually got updated this time.

UPDATE1: This installer icon shows up for around 5s and disappears. Nothing else shows up.

 

@sabrefresco: That's normal for the Intel WiFi installer when using the Driver Only package: It only shows that animated icon for awhile, and doesn't display a confirmation dialog when it has completed.

Checking the driver version in Device Manager is the best way to verify that it actually installed; but do note that the physical driver version often doesn't match the version of the installer package. You have to check driver version in Device Manager before and after installation to verify that an update happened.

The full PROset installation package from Intel includes a full installer GUI -- along with all the bloat it installs. I recommend the Driver Only package.

 

Hello.

I would like to install Windows 8.1 Pro on Samsung NP-Q35. The notebook in question has T5200 and 1.5GB RAM (most likely to be upgraded to 2.5). The HDD is most likely to be dropped in favor of cheap SSD.

Is it a good or a bad idea? Will it suffer from low performance (browsing and office stuff, occasional movies) in comparison with outdated XP?

 

There are two big unknowns:
(i) How well Windows 8.1 supports 7 year old hardware - Samsung won't have prepared Windows 8 drivers although Windows 7 drivers might be available for the basic hardware; and
(ii) Whether Samsung's Settings program (which you for the Fn key controls if nothing else) supports such old hardware.

John

 

Since XP wont be supported after March 2014, you should consider buying a new notebook or reinstalling the old one with either a newer Windows or Linux (e.g. Ubuntu or Mint). In my experience, a linux install can provide new life to older hardware. And there is always somebody that solved device-specific issues like using FN-keys.
If you rely on Windows, you can give it a try to install Win8.1 or Win7. If there will be to many problems in 8.1 you can try 7 afterwards.

I don't think it's a bad idea. It depends on your time budget and your personal motivation to play around with your old hardware. you can try both Windows versions, or migrate to Linux (preferably something based on LTS Ubuntu.)

The worst idea is to stay on Windows XP, since there won't by any security updates after March.

 

Thanks for your answers, might give it a try.

 

Hi

A few days ago, after what is now nearly 4 MONTHS of waiting, I phoned Samsung Technical Support about my new Samsung laptop and they told me NOT to upgrade to Windows 8.1.

Please can someone tell me, now that the dust has started to settle, who is responsible for this upgrade fiasco. Samsung? AMD? Microsoft?

I really need to know who is responsible, because I am serious about not buying ever again from whoever is responsible. In fact for the first time ever, I am now seriously considering defecting to the (much despised by me) Apple. For a couple of months now, these upgrade problems have been making my blood boil, but now it is starting to look like they will NEVER fix the problem. I that happens, I'm genuinely not sure what to do. Sell the laptop? I am keen not to because I have paid over the top money to upgrade the SSD.

Or perhaps we will need to wait until Windows 8.2.

My problem is that I am extremely unhappy with Windows 8 because of the well documented text sizing issues on small, higher resolution screens...

J


P.S. My new laptop is a Samsung Series 7 Ultra Notebook 128GB SSD 13.3" (SSD upgraded to 512GB) Model: NP740U3E-S04UK which includes an AMD Radeon HD 8570M graphics card.

 

Hey ship69,

I managed to upgrade my 740U3E. I wrote a guide how to successfully upgrade to Win 8.1 on "our" model. You can find it here ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...msung-has-updated-drivers-52.html#post9531992)

 

Hey! I have a Series 5 Ultra (NP540U3C-A01UK) after upgrading to 8.1 I thankfully didn't have too many problems. Today I decided to reformat just to refresh things. However SW update isn't installing the touchpad driver (it's just not appearing in the list!). I also can't seem to remember how to get to the menu where you can see all models of laptops and os's .

I was wondering if someone could access that and upload the latest touch driver (even if it is just for 8). I can't stand not being able to use multi-touch gestures on the trackpad!!!

Or if someone could at least show me how to access that menu again!!
Hope that makes sense!
Thanks
Amishra123

 

Hi amishra, welcome to NBR.

It's under Find Model in SW Update. Even if it doesn't properly detect your model (due to Win8.1) you should be able to use Find Model to look it up (or any other model) and download drivers from there.

 

I felt compelled to respond because I share ALL of your sentiments and would like to offer a precaution.

I have practically the same exact laptop: Series 7 Ultra NP740U3E except I bought mine when it first came out in the US June 2013 so it only has an integrated graphics card. I've gradually went from feeling neutral to HATING my purchase. I can't believe I gave up the opportunity to buy a Macbook Air or smaller screen Macbook to spend around the same money buying this junk. I don't have anything on this laptop except stuff needed for work (Office and Adobe suites) and it lags so much.

I recently went back to Win 8 after not being able to withstand 8.1 any longer. For one, be warned that 8.1 will take certain functionalities away from your laptop. For example, the touchpad in 8.1 FORCES you to have time delay when dragging and dropping files. My brightness adjustment couldn't work after upgrading so I had to work with Samsung Support for 2 hours experimenting with different drivers to get it to work. This and other omissions lead me to believe Samsung just didn't care about fully complementing 8.1 with new drivers.

Did I mention how unstable the laptop is? At times, if your CPU usage is moderately high, the touchpad will freeze completely, forcing you to navigate with the touchscreen and restart. This has happened with me just web browsing (10-15 tabs open in Chrome, some of which include flash heavy sites like ESPN or multiple Youtube - nothing a $1000+ laptop shouldn't handle). Along with the touchpad freeze, other issues include the touchpad pointer jumping EVERYWHERE with oversensitivity when CPU usage is moderately high. If you're listening to music on headphones, there are static sounds every time the computer 'thinks' (for example, when scrolling. The computer just lags so much with activities I consider very basic. So many more nits and bits I'll avoid listing.

Eventually, for some reason, the driver for the touchpad gestures decided to stop working altogether so I couldn't scroll with 2 fingers or anything. Not even restarting the laptop restored the functions. Resetting drivers didn't help. I contacted Samsung and all they said was the generic "you should refresh your laptop" line. By this point, I got so sick of troubleshooting all the time I just brought back Win 8.0. Obviously, Win 8.0 has significant flaws of its own that I can go on for days, but at least I can scroll now since I can't take even basic functions for granted with Samsung+Microsoft.

I've been a defender of MSFT for so long, but no more. I've had the iPhone 4 and now 5: if the Macbooks work anything as perfectly as my phones, than I was a fool for believing that AAPL is overhyped. Apple products just work - software, hardware, everything. It just feels so integrated and backed by ONE company focusing on a FEW quality products. I originally bought the Samsung because of the amazing specs on paper compared to the Macbooks at the same price range. Never will I buy based on specs. Great individual hardware pieces don't matter if they're not integrated efficiently with complementing software.

 

I have a Samsung NP350V5C and have also reset the computer back to Windows 8 after experiencing the "8.1 hell".

Graphic card didn't work properly (and I still can't switch graphic mode for some applications, the option is disabled for some apps every since), DVD drive didn't have any driver whatsoever, and a bunch of other issues. I got some "help" from a MS support agent on a forum who told me a few things to try to fix my computer, by repairing Windows components.

After running the diagnostic tools he told me, trying to run SW Update and install the video driver resulted in a hard crash and reboot instead of just giving an error message, and things got much worse from there.

So yeah... scraped it all and went back to Windows 8

I'm surprised I'm not seeing any driver updates and it has been MONTHS!

 

I've recently noticed that the screen on my ativ book 6 flickers like crazy. It's sporadic but it happens frequent enough that it annoying and hard to use. I'm not sure if it is driver or hardware issue from upgrading to win 8.1. I've search and found that this is quite a common problem on the book 9 haswell but I didn't see much on the side of the book 6.

 

Hey guys, havent posted on here for a while (mainly because i wasnt aware of any issues with my computer, but lo and behold, I've just realised something terrible).

I have the 780Z5E model, 16gb ram, 8800m graphics.

But, and this is really embarrasing, I tried playing GTA4 on here and beforehand, i could max out all my settings but today, all of them were only on medium.

It was at this point that I realised something was wrong with my graphics card.

I've downloaded HWINFO and it simply isnt detecting the 8800m. It's only showing the built in intel 4000 card.

Whats happened?

I can't right click on my desktop and choose switchable graphics like i used to.

Can someone please help?

I remember the graphics going crazy following the udate to 8.1 and samsung being behind on drivers, but to LOSE my graphics card.... what the hell is going on?!

 

Check the post linked below and see if that fix applies.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...us-owners-lounge-np940x3g-12.html#post9398686

 

I tried that, but there's nothing like the post mentioned in my hd graphic panel. There are only options to maximize battery life, balanced, performance for either on battery or plugged in

 

Got it, thanks, it was worth a shot.

I still think a driver or settings issue is most likely if you didn't have it before Win8.1. But a loose connection to the display cable (or a weak spot on the cable) could cause sporadic flickering as well. If you made a backup before the update, I would roll back (or even factory restore) to establish for sure whether it's a hard or soft issue. Samsung will likely ask the same if you contact them for warranty.

 

Thanks for the reply. I force-installed the latest intel driver from intel.com and it seems to have fixed the flickering. I'll see how it goes.

 

Ok. Did you see if that new version by chance should have the Panel Self Refresh option mentioned in lagos' AB9+ post?

 

negative. aside from a new start-up animation, everything seems to be the same as the one provided by samsung. I have to note that force installing through device manager will mess-up auto brightness settings resulting in extremely dark display. This issue has been noted when win 8.1 first came out in this thread. But I installed the brightness fix from sw update and it is working. The amd driver that came packaged in sw update is working and recognizing my card. So, I think it is definitely an issue with samsung sanctioned intel driver.

 

Got it, thanks for the update. Let's see if the new driver makes a difference.

 

I've got everything working on my Samsung Ativbook 7 ultrabook (aka series 7 ultra) which has an upgraded 480GB Crucial harddrive.

Only exceptions are the autobrightness leaves laptop looking too dim which is no big deal cause I just turned the auto feature off so can manually adjust fine.

Also, widi/miracast doesn't seem to work properly which is a HUGE deal to me.

Thoughts of switching to apple have passed my mind too and I absolutely hate everything apple stands for.

With Sony and Samsung both no longer making windows laptops in the future, I'm afraid Windows really is dying.