Windows 8.1 trouble (loop) covered by warranty?

So I tried to install windows 8.1 and long story short my laptop is stuck in that restart loop. My keyboard doesnt seem to respond when I it boots up so there seems to be no hope of recovery. I was just wondering if this problem will be covered by their warranty as so many people have had this problem.

 

Maybe?

What type of computer is it and where did you buy it from? I'd like to think a reseller would work with you on it, thinking you're gonna have a more difficult time going through big company "have you tried restarting your computer?" tech support.

 

While Samsung are trying to blame Microsoft for all the 8.1 woes, I think they will cooperate in resolving the problem if it is a model / version that is meant to work with 8.1 (ie those originally shipped with Windows 8 and will, just about, be still within the 1 year warranty). Have you been through the Win 8.1 update thread to see if any of the suggestions there work for you.

Which model / version of notebook do you have? If Microsoft have forced 8.1 onto a notebook that is not supported by the manufacturer then perhaps Microsoft should be responsible for fixing the mess they created.

John

 

I have a NP700Z5C-S02UB and it did ship with Windows 8. I only bought it in March this year. I have gone through that thread but all the answers either involved booting back with a Windows 8 disk but I cant enter my bios menu/any recovery menu as the keyboard doesn't seem to respond. I saw a person who had the same problem with me but to solve it they had to open up the laptop and remove the hard drive in order to boot it. I not sure if opening it up will revoke the warranty so that's why I'm asking.

FYI I bought it at Best Buy.

 

If you ask Samsung they will say that removing the base will void the warranty. However, there are no seals and if you do no damage they will never know.

First, a couple of things to try with the unresponsive keyboard. (i) Start tapping F2 two or three times a second immediately after you press the power button (the period the BIOS is checking for keyboard input is only about one second when fast boot is enabled) and (ii) hold down the shift key, then press the power button, then press F2. If either of those get you into the BIOS then the same should work with F4 to get you to the recovery menu.

If you have a nearby Best Buy with some tech people then you could take the computer there. Otherwise contact Samsung.

John

 

Will try those suggestions.

The problem is that I don't live in the US (I bought it there). I have relatives that are from the US that are here right now and willing to carry it back for me so I was just trying to make it as less of a hassle for them.

 

Samsung notebook have one year international warranty as standard so you can contact Samsung support (if they exist) in the country you are in. But, if you have got a good quality screwdriver and an old credit card then follow this guide to get inside.

John

 

I have the same laptop model as your from Best Buy and experience the exact same problem ..

What I did to get out of it is to keep trying tapping F4 at boot up but make take several attempts to bring up the recovery screen. It will probably telling you that it cannot find the recovery but click on Cancel button then it will bring up a screen that there a problem with your bootloader then it will ask you if you want it to fix it. Click Ok.

Then it will boot up Windows 8.1 ...

If you managed to boot to Windows 8.1 then first thing is go to directly to the SW Update and upgrade all your drivers right away because Samsung already released the 8.1 drivers for this model laptop.

I am running now on Windows 8.1 with the newest drivers directly from SW Update and have no issues since new drivers was released for this model.

Good Luck

Bill

 

Well I had somebody look at the computer and they said the HDD is pretty much gone through and that the graphics card is overheating so I will definitely be sending it back to Samsung.

 

I too had this issue and was concerned about voiding my warranty. Nothing I did would let me get into a BIOS or other type of recovery option. I ended up opening it up anyway.It really isn't that difficult and only took me about 10-15 minutes of my time. There is no indication that it was opened so I'm not concerned about my warranty. I didn't feel like shipping my new laptop thousands of miles away for them to do the same thing.

Basically, remove the screws on the bottom and use an old credit card to release the tabs along the edge. Start along the back-edge and work your way around. Take your time. The tabs seem pretty sturdy from what I saw.

After the bottom is off, remove the hard drive cable. I removed it from the HDD itself, NOT where it connected to the controller, as it was easier to get to. Be sure to remove the 4 HDD screws first. I had the laptop sitting on its side the whole time. Anyway, once it's disconnected, power it on. It'll complain about not being able to boot and prompt you to recover using F4. At this time, plug the HDD back in and enter recovery mode. Now, I ended up doing a factory reset, as I've had no other backups so this was my only option. I'm sure I would have popped in a Windows disk and did another type of recovery, but I was tired of messing with it. I eventually got it to recover with success.

After it recovered, I did a Win 8 refresh and updated to 8.1. I've been using it for a couple weeks now and no issues at all. It even fixed a couple wifi issues I had where it would take a long time to connect at boot.

Here are some photos I snapped when I had it open when I did these steps: Samsung Chronos NP700Z5C-S02UB bottom cover removal - Imgur.

Hope this helps.