Samsung laptops bricked by using UEFI

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