F4 recovery no longer works?

I own a Series 5 and tried reinstalling Windows from a USB drive but it wouldn't work (didn't realize that until I saw other threads). Now I"m unable to finish installing windows because the computer just keeps looping to the beginning of the installation screen. I don't have an external DVD drive, so my only option is to restore to the original factory state by pressing the F4 key, but this would take me to a boot menu that shows the Hitachi HDD on it, selecting it wouldn't do anything. I'm stuck and have no clue what to do next.

 

I should add that the installation screen still shows the reserved Samsung recovery partition (I didn't delete it). Pressing the F4 command now takes me to the Windows setup screen (wont' work anyway with a USB stick), but I can't find the recovery option.

 

Sounds familiar. Did you delete the system partition on the HDD before/during the reinstall?....Bad move if you did.

Otherwise, did you ensure that the HDD is first in the boot order after the first install reboot?...The flash drive is no longer needed and can be removed. Whatever, see this thread;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/700859-series-5-crucial-m4-128g-install-step.html

 

The loop is the system either trying to boot in IDE or ACH where the OS and bios are in different modes. Go to bios and force one or the other and try boot. Try each method until one boots. Once you are there you can adjust the registry for either method if you prefer one or the other.

as far as recovery, as mentioned, the drive having bad partitioned has removed the recovery area on the drive.

 

the system res partition is still there (shows a 21GB Samsung OEM rev), but for some reason the F4 command won't work anymore.

 

It is possible to lose the F4 link even when the physical Recovery Partition is still there. Unfortunately the process to fix it is quite elaborate -- and requires a Samsung specific USB Admin Tool, which can only be created by booting a working recovery. Yes, I know, chicken and eggs. Again, it's doable, but elaborate. Check this thread for starters.

If you want to pursue that, I'll be happy to help you. But first, please make absolutely sure that F4 isn't already working:

1) Disable Fast BIOS Boot in BIOS (if you have it). Can be re-enabled later.

2) Disable UEFI Boot Support in BIOS.

3) Set AHCI Mode Control in BIOS to Auto

4) From Power Off, start hitting F4 repeatedly 1-2 secs after Power On. If it fails, Power off and try again. Catching F4 from a soft restart can be difficult.

You can also try installing Windows again, following the guides in this thread to work around the issue of Windows Setup getting confused by the ExpressCache. It shouldn't be an issue, though, as long as you haven't deleted the original SYSTEM partition (that's the small 100MB one; the 21GB one you mention is probably your Recovery Partition).

 

Thanks for advice, but I didn't want to deal with all the hassles so I just went out and got a $20 external USB drive instead (will need it for future purposes anyway), now problem solved and finally I was able to reinstall Windows without problems.

I do have a question, during installation this partition screen pops up, it shows Disc0 (3 partitions) and Disc1 (2 partitions). Disc0 is obviously the 500GB hard drive that contains the system files partition, installation files partition, and the Samsung Recovery files partition. But what about Disc1? it shows two partitions in it with a total size around 23GB, and it says "Windows can not be installed to Disc1". Is this the ExpressCache hard drive? can I delete it or should I leave it alone? If I install a new SSD later, will this Disc1 also appear in the partition window?

 

Great, good choice. DVD install is much, much simpler on Series 5 and Series 7.

Correct, Disk 0 is your HDD and Disk 1 is your iSSD.

The two partitions on the iSSD are for ExpressCache and hibernation (Intel Rapid Start) respectively. (Others please correct me if I am wrong; my current Series 7 only has 8GB iSSD and doesn't support Intel Rapid Start.)

There are all kinds of advice out there about formatting those iSSD partitions as Mac HFS and what else. I have re-installed countless times and always just delete partitions on the iSSD. They will be re-created automatically when you later install the ExpressCache and Intel Rapid Start software modules.

But you don't even have to delete them now. If you have problems getting ExpressCache or Intel Rapid Storage working later, you can delete them then.

Update: Correct, if you install an SSD later, it will replace the HDD and should become Disk 0. The iSSD will remain, it is soldered to the motherboard. BTW, if you install from USB, the iSSD will show as Disk 0 -- that's what gets Windows Setup confused so it creates its SYSTEM partition on the iSSD.

 

If I install a new SSD, what do I do with the iSSD? delete it or just leave it alone and do nothing? will the iSSD stop working after I install a new SSD? Will the computer boot from the new SSD instead of the iSSD? Do I still need to install the ExpressCache driver as well as the Intel Rapid Start/Intel Rapid Storage drivers? the ExpressCache drive makes things too complicated.

 

I understand, I was also a bit confused about it at first. But it is really very simple: The iSSD doesn't do anything by itself. All it is, is a small SSD that behaves just like any other disk you might have. It's soldered, so you cannot remove it; but it's mostly harmless.

ExpressCache isn't even a driver, it's just a software utility that creates its own partition on the iSSD and uses it to cache frequently read HDD files. If you replace the HDD with an SDD, just don't install ExpressCache -- because your SSD will be faster than the iSSD anyway.

Intel Rapid Start is, again, just a software utility, allowing Windows' hibernation file to be relocated to a dedicated partition on the iSSD -- making hibernation and resume faster. If you don't install it, Windows will just use its normal Windows partition on the HDD for hibernation. If you replace the HDD with an SSD, hibernation/resume will automatically be faster like everything else. You may still want to consider Intel Rapid Start, either to use a dedicated partition on your new, faster SSD (thus speeding up hibernation/resume even further) or to use a hibernation partition on the iSSD (thus saving space on your precious SSD). Check this link to John Ratsey's thread on Intel Rapid Start for more details.

If you don't install ExpressCache and Intel Rapid Start, you can simply use the iSSD as any other disk. It's faster than an HDD, but slower than a good SSD.

The only situation when the iSSD becomes an issue, is when you plug in a USB flash drive to install Windows. For some reason, Windows Setup sees the iSSD as Disk 0 in that situation, and thinks it is the boot drive. But you won't have that problem installing from DVD. And if you do install from USB, there are workarounds as described in hanime's thread on USB installation.

So don't fret about the ExpressCache/iSSD. It won't bite you. And it can even be useful

 

That makes sense, I'll probably use the iSSD as a secondary storage drive after installing a new SSD.

Currently the Disk1 (iSSD) contains two partitions. I assume I can delete both partitions and merge them into a single partition without worrying about losing anything important (it's different than deleting the Samsung recovery files)? If I later reinstall the ExpressCache driver, it will recreate the same two partitions in Disk1 (iSSD), correct?

 

ExpressCache will only (re)create one of those partitions when you install it. The other is for Intel Rapid Start. Actually, I'm not sure how the two work it out to divide the space between them. Maybe Samsung Easy Settings handles it.

John, others, help please

If you intent to install on HDD, I would just leave those two partitions alone for now. Then install ExpressCache and Intel Rapid Start to make good use of the iSSD. If and when you get an SSD it's no big deal to change it.

 

I remember discovering a file a few months ago that showed that the Easy Settings installer contained a range of options depending on what hardware it found. However, I can't find more details.

John

 

Exactly, I remember you posting that. I'll see if I can find it. In practical terms, though, does iRST shrink the size of the EC partition to make room? Or must iRST be setup before EC is installed? Since I don't have Rapid Start, I have no experience with this.

 

The iRST partition is just a hibernation (suspend to disk) partition and is based on the amount of usable RAM installed. It's therefore probably created first, with the EC partition using the remainder of the space on the iSSD. Also, the iRST partition is increased by the Samsung software if usable RAM is increased. I witnessed that after adding an extra 4 GB of RAM to my Series 5 before replacing the HDD with an SSD.

With no further need for EC, I have the 24 GB iSSD partitioned for iRST and a 16 GB NTFS drive. I just kept the same partition that the Samsung software created while using the HDD which was 6 GB for 8 GB installed RAM.

 

Thanks ameridian, that confirms my suspicion that Samsung Easy Settings manages the size of the iRST partition. Since it also has an API for EC, maybe it can dynamically manage both of them.

Still, it makes sense for other reasons too to only install EC after everything else. It's just gonna slow things down and wear the iSSD as long as you're installing new software and setting up Windows.

@bestco, sorry about the departure from your topic. This was merely to clear up some aspects of iRST that I'd been wondering about - and unable to test myself.

Let me know how your install goes. Even if I don't respond right away (Christmas and all) I'll be checking this thread and responding when I can.

 

Thanks for all your help, it sure was very insightful. Unfortunately I'm having another problem with my laptop, getting random BSOD unexpectedly, I thought it was the software but reinstalling the operating system still resulted in the same problem, seller doesn't have another one for replacement, so looks like I'll have to return it for a refund. I'm getting another ultrabook and it may not be Samsung, but I'm sure the procedure are similar for the iSSD. Thanks again.

 

@bestco: Sorry, I missed your post in the heat after Christmas. I understand, too much frustration. Good luck with whatever you choose.