Samsung Series 7 Chronos Laptop + Ubuntu Live CD = Brick
Posted: 27 Dec 2012, 15:25
Hi All this is my first post on this forum, and I wish to warn people about the dangers of Samsung UEFI and Ubunru 12.10
Those who know me know of my love of Samsung products and Ubuntu
Well I am sad to report the two do not play well together .
2 weeks ago I bought a great Samsung Series 7 (NP 700Z5C-S01AE) 15" laptop which works(ed) well is nice, light and a great performer.
Initially, with UEFI / Fastboot disabled I installed Ubuntu, With the help of this site I was able to get most of the annoyances solved (Manual keyboard back-light, and wireless control from the Fn key remained. Everything was fine and the machine was 99%, I had just one minor annoyance that I wanted to clear.
I then upgraded the firmware to the latest version (004) and enabled the Fastboot which also enables UEFI (BIG Mistake)
UEFI = That horrible M$ invention to stop you installing anything other than M$ products on the computer YOU own.
Everything was still fine and I did several reboots as I played and tweaked my applications
In an effort to fix that final 1% annoyance, I put in a Ubuntu live CD, set the system BIOS to boot from the CD forgot to disable Fast-boot, and then after a few seconds of starting the boot process, a wirring CD and a brief flash on the screen to say UEFI enabled:-
NOTHING...... It did not boot from the CD, it would not eject the CD, and would not even let me in to the BIOS. The machine was now a brick. I could not even enter the BIOS to change the boot order.
I had read about people bricking this same model of Samsung on the Internet by trying to install Ubuntu from a flash drive, but in my case , I did not even get as far as seing the Try / Install menu. All I wanted to do was boot up the CD to extract some files from it.
The computer is now back with Samsung and I am told it will be 2 weeks before they can get me a new motherboard.
Please warn others NOT to enable UEFI / Fast-boot on their Samsung Laptop and hopefully Samsung will soon bring out an updated firmware that allows a LIVE CD to play and any potential UEFI conflict will not brick an otherwise great machine.
I am now wondering if I should sell my new Samsung and buy another brand of laptop. Going back to Windows is NOT an option.
Those who know me know of my love of Samsung products and Ubuntu
Well I am sad to report the two do not play well together .
2 weeks ago I bought a great Samsung Series 7 (NP 700Z5C-S01AE) 15" laptop which works(ed) well is nice, light and a great performer.
Initially, with UEFI / Fastboot disabled I installed Ubuntu, With the help of this site I was able to get most of the annoyances solved (Manual keyboard back-light, and wireless control from the Fn key remained. Everything was fine and the machine was 99%, I had just one minor annoyance that I wanted to clear.
I then upgraded the firmware to the latest version (004) and enabled the Fastboot which also enables UEFI (BIG Mistake)
UEFI = That horrible M$ invention to stop you installing anything other than M$ products on the computer YOU own.
Everything was still fine and I did several reboots as I played and tweaked my applications
In an effort to fix that final 1% annoyance, I put in a Ubuntu live CD, set the system BIOS to boot from the CD forgot to disable Fast-boot, and then after a few seconds of starting the boot process, a wirring CD and a brief flash on the screen to say UEFI enabled:-
NOTHING...... It did not boot from the CD, it would not eject the CD, and would not even let me in to the BIOS. The machine was now a brick. I could not even enter the BIOS to change the boot order.
I had read about people bricking this same model of Samsung on the Internet by trying to install Ubuntu from a flash drive, but in my case , I did not even get as far as seing the Try / Install menu. All I wanted to do was boot up the CD to extract some files from it.
The computer is now back with Samsung and I am told it will be 2 weeks before they can get me a new motherboard.
Please warn others NOT to enable UEFI / Fast-boot on their Samsung Laptop and hopefully Samsung will soon bring out an updated firmware that allows a LIVE CD to play and any potential UEFI conflict will not brick an otherwise great machine.
I am now wondering if I should sell my new Samsung and buy another brand of laptop. Going back to Windows is NOT an option.