Samsung laptop boot problems

A friend's Samsung laptop would no longer boot, and startup repair would run and failed several times.

We planned to restore it to factory original, but wanted to boot to a Linux disk to copy his files first. In order to allow that, we went into Setup and disabled Fast Bios mode, disabled Secure Boot, and changed the OS mode from UEFI to CSM. We booted the Linux disk, copied his files, then reset all the Setup settings back. But now the computer will not boot at all, it shows the Samsung logo screen, then shuts itself off. We reset Setup to Optimized Defaults, made no change.

There does not seem to be any hardware failure since I can still boot to the Linux disk and see the hard drive if I make all the same changes that we made the first time around in Setup. Any ideas what to try next? Thanks


edit: corrected some BIOS terms

Samsung probably has some documented method to troubleshoot while booting. Something like holding down a key or two while powering on. Then, beep codes could be heard that tell what the problem could be, when looked up. I'd check into that.

Check if the bios is set to AHCI or not.

I know people like having their recovery partitions - but - if this was my machine, I'd use Killdisk on the hdd. I'm the type that disables System Restore and never has any backup whatsoever for the OS itself besides install media, and since I am very knowledgeable, it's always been smooth sailing for me like this. Others perhaps not.

(My Windows 7 on my main machine has been the same install since early betas. I just recently was given a motherboard, memory and cpu which were all better than what I had - so I bit the bullet and clean installed Windows for it, heh.)

But, ya. If you have an install disk, then Killdisk might not be a bad idea for ya.

AHCI mode is set to Automatic the other available choice is manual.

And no install disk, just the recovery partition.

Make sure Windows Boot Manager is first boot device.

no install disk, just the recovery partition.

Click to expand...

How to make Recovery disc:
Support - Laptops NP700Z7CH | Samsung PCs



You can order the Microsoft official OEM Recovery disks from your OEM manufacturer's website.

How to Order Recovery disc.
Support - Laptops NP700Z7CH | Samsung PCs

Windows Boot Manager is the only boot device, once I tell setup to load Optimized Defaults.

I think I can get the recovery utility to run by pressing F4 at boot, but I am trying to understand why making those changes in setup, then putting them back the way they were, would cause the computer to no longer boot. UEFI seems like a strange animal to me, trying to understand what I am allowed to do without causing problems, and what I should not do. Is making those changes so I can run a Linux disk and then changing them back not a good idea on a UEFI machine? Thanks

Theog,

Thanks for the suggestion. I've just made a recovery drive.

There were some problems with Samsung laptops - the UEFI implementation was faulty and you could 'brick' certain models if you're not careful:
http://www.eightforums.com/windows-...laptops-bricked-booting-linux-using-uefi.html

OK thanks for that information.