The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Samsung Ultrabook Series 5 bricking (?). Am I alone in this issue?

    Discussion in 'Samsung' started by karen714, Apr 7, 2015.

  1. karen714

    karen714 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I bought my Samsung Series 5 ultrabook in March of 2013. The hard drive failed in December of 2013. Best Buy fixed it. The hard drive failed again in September of 2014. Best Buy informed me I bought the Geek Squad Protection for Tech support not hardware and charged me about $150.00 to fix it. In March 2015 it wouldn't turn on again. Back to Best Buy who want $550.00 to replace the motherboard. Samsung denies any responsibility ("It's out of warranty "). Has anyone else had any problems like this?
     
    karen714, Apr 7, 2015
    #1
  2. karen714

    karen714 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    • It's a Series 540u3c-a01ub and was running Windows 8.
     
    karen714, Apr 7, 2015
    #2
  3. TANWare

    TANWare Just This Side of Senile, I think. Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    2,548
    Messages:
    9,585
    Likes Received:
    4,997
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Samsung's, unfortunately, are infamous for locking up the UEFI and becoming bricks. As far as attempts at fixing the bricks there are multiple threads about it but these can get quite technical.

    When you say would not turn on again, do you mean totally nothing or is it stuck in a boot loop etc.?
     
    TANWare, Apr 7, 2015
    #3
  4. karen714

    karen714 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    TANWare, thank you for your reply. First let me say I am a newbie and know little about the things I am now reading on various threads on this forum. Apparently there were several things I should have done to find out why the hard drive failed the first time let alone the second. When I asked the Geek Squad they replied, "That just happens sometimes" and suggested I use a cooling fan stand which I purchased from Best Buy and used at all times.

    It would not turn on at all.
     
    karen714, Apr 7, 2015
    #4
  5. TANWare

    TANWare Just This Side of Senile, I think. Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    2,548
    Messages:
    9,585
    Likes Received:
    4,997
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Well you have a HDD, as you had mentioned, does this give the sound of spinning up? If not, in rare cases, the actual HDD can be an issue where mechanically it is locked up and with the motor shorting out will not allow the system to power up. Since it is free to try, remove the AC power chord, battery and HDD and hit the power button and hold for 30 seconds. plug the AC chord only and press power. if it starts to post (screen on etc.) you can then remove the AC chord for it to loose power.

    Warning do not go to bios etc. to save settings as this can reset the UEFI and the system could go to that boot loop issue. Again if it went to bios your option may then be go to BB and explain what the system does with the HDD removed, this may just end up being a HDD issue for them to resolve, yet again. Since the HDD is less than a year it may be under warranty too?
     
    TANWare, Apr 7, 2015
    #5
  6. karen714

    karen714 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Thank you TANWare. Guess I should let the Best Buy repair center send it back to me.
     
    karen714, Apr 7, 2015
    #6
  7. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,197
    Messages:
    28,841
    Likes Received:
    2,165
    Trophy Points:
    581
    We've had other instances of people managing to resurrect their notebooks when the repair people reckoned that a new mainboard was needed. Your notebook is one of the early Samsung Windows 8 notebooks which are particularly vulnerable to UEFI-related problems. BIOS updates addressed some problems - do you remember whether you installed any of these?

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Apr 8, 2015
    #7