Hey Guys!
Im pretty new to this, hope you dont mind me picking your collective brains on a problem Ive been scratching my head over for the last couple months and have yet to resolve. Thank you in advance for taking time out to answer to this post. Ill do my best to provide as much information as possible so you can all give informed advice.
This is a graphics card related issue for a Samsung Series 7 (700z5b-s01) laptop, this is a known issue and a widely broadcast one online found in many forums with many suggestions and advice as how to fix the problem.
The two distinct problems that occur with this blessed beast that is the Series 7:
1) Driver Incompatibility and
2) Switchable Graphics function between the onboard HD 3000 and the AMD dedicated graphics card.
I however am unable to determine through thorough investigation online and implementation of the advice given by numerous sources as to why my AMD is still causing me problems. What I am trying to now determine is whether my AMD is failing due to software or hardware issues and this is where I hope you guys can help. My apologies if I have not posted this in the correct place, Im still trying to get my head around how forums are run.
Okay, so, first things first my specs are as follows:
Samsung 700z5b-s01
CPU - Intel Core i7-2675QM CPU @ 2.20Ghz
BIOS Phoenix Technologies Ltd, 15FD
Memory 8.00GB (Bank 0: 4.00GB, Bank 2: 4.00GB)
Disk Samsung 830 SSD 128GB
O/S Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit, Service Pack 1, 6.1.7601 (Genuine)
Graphic Driver Intel HD Graphics 3000 (Version 9.17.10.3062)
Graphic Driver AMD Radeon HD6490M (512MB)
Problem:
AMD Radeon HD6490M
Through trial and error (fresh O/S installs and drivers installs) I was able to determine that installing the AMD driver caused the system to continually crash and produce endless restarts, failure to load windows, system repairs, windows unable to start and fresh o/s installs.
Result:
Unable to install AMD driver without disrupting system stability/ usability.
Drivers:
Genuine Samsung Drivers for model: 700z5b-s01 downloaded directly from manufacturers website/ through SW Update software.
History:
Purchased second-hand from Amazon. Warranty expired by 1 month at time of purchase. In excellent, like new condition outside and in (Logic board, components and fan all clean with sign of very minimal use). No O/S or Samsung Recover Partition on 1TB hard drive. Installed genuine copy of Windows 7 and used OEM code provided on base. Loaded all Samsung Drivers and Software, Microsoft Office and Photoshop, a couple of screenwriting applications, Media/ Video players and a few games (Civilization, Skyrim). Everything functioned perfectly, including the AMD Switchable Graphics, for about 2 ½ weeks. Running design applications on high performance through Catalyst and games.
Side note: The only other addition to the software listed above, was Motion-Joy which was installed to use my PS3 controller with Skyrim. There has been confirmation from other forums that Motion-Joy can corrupt the AMD Switchable graphics/ usability and one has to manually remove the files from System32. I dont believe this is my problem, as I have recently upgraded my HDD to a SSD to eliminate any possibilities of O/S corruption or slim likelihood of a failing HDD being the cause of the AMD problems.
First Occurrence:
The problem first occurred after playing Skyrim for the first time for about 30 minutes which ran perfectly. The next day, everything was still A-okay while working on word documents. It was only when I put the laptop to one side to install a fresh copy of Windows on my sisters laptop, did I notice about an hour later my screen had suddenly gone black and that the system had crashed and frozen. I hard booted, but Windows would not load past the logo screen. Running windows repair couldnt solve the problem, stating Windows was unable to start and my only option was to run a system restore.
After the system restore, in the device manager the AMD card now had a yellow triangle with code 43.
Actions Taken:
Researched forums for advice and followed them explicitly. So when not starting from scratch with a fresh o/s install, I wiped all previous drivers using Driver Fusion and Drive Sweeper and attempted to reinstall drivers. Windows SPs are up to date, Net 4.0 installed, AMD beta drivers attempted even Leshcats drivers but everything attempted produces the same end result.
I then borrowed a genuine copy of Windows 8 and after yet another fresh install, Windows 8 automatically installed the AMD driver with as 7400, with no error codes attached. Reasoning the problem was therefore driver related, and to eliminate any other potential problems that could affect system stability, I installed a Samsung 830 SDD 128GB drive and put windows 7 back on.
But I still have the same problem. Samsung drivers fail to install for the AMD and when they do succeed, it causes a system crash upon reboot followed by the need to do a restore to a point before the AMD driver was installed.
Conclusion:
I have discovered on forums that the Intel Driver and AMD driver must both be AMD signed in order to operate Switchable graphics. However, I have noticed the drivers supplied by Samsung are not both AMD signed. Intel is Intel and AMD is AMD. For this reason, I attempted to install Leshcat drivers (selecting 0116 for the Intel driver). But I have come to the same result. By all reason, the AMD is not working due to a driver conflict not a hardware failure as there is no sign of melting/ burn components but I cant figure out why then every course of action I have taken has ended in the same result. Code 43 or complete failure to install properly.
Furthermore, I have run GPUz and at times I was able to install the AMD (by various driver combinations) it would always show no bios version for the AMD or Memory size or type. I am at my wits end, and could really use some expert advice and opinions on this matter. If it is indeed hardware and the AMD has failed, then Ill put it to rest and keep running the laptop purely on the Intel graphics but if it is driver related and it can be fixed I would really love to know how.
Thank you everyone for being so patient with me! Youre all rockstars! :)
Im pretty new to this, hope you dont mind me picking your collective brains on a problem Ive been scratching my head over for the last couple months and have yet to resolve. Thank you in advance for taking time out to answer to this post. Ill do my best to provide as much information as possible so you can all give informed advice.
This is a graphics card related issue for a Samsung Series 7 (700z5b-s01) laptop, this is a known issue and a widely broadcast one online found in many forums with many suggestions and advice as how to fix the problem.
The two distinct problems that occur with this blessed beast that is the Series 7:
1) Driver Incompatibility and
2) Switchable Graphics function between the onboard HD 3000 and the AMD dedicated graphics card.
I however am unable to determine through thorough investigation online and implementation of the advice given by numerous sources as to why my AMD is still causing me problems. What I am trying to now determine is whether my AMD is failing due to software or hardware issues and this is where I hope you guys can help. My apologies if I have not posted this in the correct place, Im still trying to get my head around how forums are run.
Okay, so, first things first my specs are as follows:
Samsung 700z5b-s01
CPU - Intel Core i7-2675QM CPU @ 2.20Ghz
BIOS Phoenix Technologies Ltd, 15FD
Memory 8.00GB (Bank 0: 4.00GB, Bank 2: 4.00GB)
Disk Samsung 830 SSD 128GB
O/S Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit, Service Pack 1, 6.1.7601 (Genuine)
Graphic Driver Intel HD Graphics 3000 (Version 9.17.10.3062)
Graphic Driver AMD Radeon HD6490M (512MB)
Problem:
AMD Radeon HD6490M
Through trial and error (fresh O/S installs and drivers installs) I was able to determine that installing the AMD driver caused the system to continually crash and produce endless restarts, failure to load windows, system repairs, windows unable to start and fresh o/s installs.
Result:
Unable to install AMD driver without disrupting system stability/ usability.
Drivers:
Genuine Samsung Drivers for model: 700z5b-s01 downloaded directly from manufacturers website/ through SW Update software.
History:
Purchased second-hand from Amazon. Warranty expired by 1 month at time of purchase. In excellent, like new condition outside and in (Logic board, components and fan all clean with sign of very minimal use). No O/S or Samsung Recover Partition on 1TB hard drive. Installed genuine copy of Windows 7 and used OEM code provided on base. Loaded all Samsung Drivers and Software, Microsoft Office and Photoshop, a couple of screenwriting applications, Media/ Video players and a few games (Civilization, Skyrim). Everything functioned perfectly, including the AMD Switchable Graphics, for about 2 ½ weeks. Running design applications on high performance through Catalyst and games.
Side note: The only other addition to the software listed above, was Motion-Joy which was installed to use my PS3 controller with Skyrim. There has been confirmation from other forums that Motion-Joy can corrupt the AMD Switchable graphics/ usability and one has to manually remove the files from System32. I dont believe this is my problem, as I have recently upgraded my HDD to a SSD to eliminate any possibilities of O/S corruption or slim likelihood of a failing HDD being the cause of the AMD problems.
First Occurrence:
The problem first occurred after playing Skyrim for the first time for about 30 minutes which ran perfectly. The next day, everything was still A-okay while working on word documents. It was only when I put the laptop to one side to install a fresh copy of Windows on my sisters laptop, did I notice about an hour later my screen had suddenly gone black and that the system had crashed and frozen. I hard booted, but Windows would not load past the logo screen. Running windows repair couldnt solve the problem, stating Windows was unable to start and my only option was to run a system restore.
After the system restore, in the device manager the AMD card now had a yellow triangle with code 43.
Actions Taken:
Researched forums for advice and followed them explicitly. So when not starting from scratch with a fresh o/s install, I wiped all previous drivers using Driver Fusion and Drive Sweeper and attempted to reinstall drivers. Windows SPs are up to date, Net 4.0 installed, AMD beta drivers attempted even Leshcats drivers but everything attempted produces the same end result.
I then borrowed a genuine copy of Windows 8 and after yet another fresh install, Windows 8 automatically installed the AMD driver with as 7400, with no error codes attached. Reasoning the problem was therefore driver related, and to eliminate any other potential problems that could affect system stability, I installed a Samsung 830 SDD 128GB drive and put windows 7 back on.
But I still have the same problem. Samsung drivers fail to install for the AMD and when they do succeed, it causes a system crash upon reboot followed by the need to do a restore to a point before the AMD driver was installed.
Conclusion:
I have discovered on forums that the Intel Driver and AMD driver must both be AMD signed in order to operate Switchable graphics. However, I have noticed the drivers supplied by Samsung are not both AMD signed. Intel is Intel and AMD is AMD. For this reason, I attempted to install Leshcat drivers (selecting 0116 for the Intel driver). But I have come to the same result. By all reason, the AMD is not working due to a driver conflict not a hardware failure as there is no sign of melting/ burn components but I cant figure out why then every course of action I have taken has ended in the same result. Code 43 or complete failure to install properly.
Furthermore, I have run GPUz and at times I was able to install the AMD (by various driver combinations) it would always show no bios version for the AMD or Memory size or type. I am at my wits end, and could really use some expert advice and opinions on this matter. If it is indeed hardware and the AMD has failed, then Ill put it to rest and keep running the laptop purely on the Intel graphics but if it is driver related and it can be fixed I would really love to know how.
Thank you everyone for being so patient with me! Youre all rockstars! :)