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Posted

I have a Samsung Series 9 laptop I bought close to 5 years ago. It is running Windows 10 quite smoothly but recently the screen brightness wouldn't change. I went to the Samsung US site and it ran a diagnostic which said that the Bios was out of date. I updated it and all went well - after that was completed I was able to work for the rest of the afternoon without any problems.

 

The problem came when I shut it down then tried to restart - it got hung up on the reboot screen with an endless circle of 4 white dots at the bottom of an otherwise black screen. I did a hard reset and tried to boot into the Samsung Recovery utility but this seemed to be totally ineffective and made no difference.


I then tried another reboot and (using advice I found elsewhere online) pressed F2 followed by F9 - this brought me to the Windows Repair utility but this also refuses to repair anything, stating that it was not possible to repair the problem.

 

Another site I found said to enter Command Prompt from the Windows Repair screen and navigate to eht SrtTrail.txt file - this I did, and all appears in order except the last entry in the file, which reads:

 

Root Cause Found

--------------------------------

No OS files found on disk.

 

Repair action: Partition table repair

Result: Failed. Error code = 0x490

Time taken = 1422 ms

 

I think I am at the point where I need professional tech support, but if anyone knows an easy, layman's way to resolve the above, I would be very grateful.

Posted

Pretty sure I know what's wrong. I'll take a couple of photos and post them to show what you need to do.

 

In the meantime don't try any more repairs involving the partition table. That will make it worse.

Posted

I'm 99% sure that what happened is when you did the BIOS update it reset the boot settings to default which is different to the settings used when your operating system was installed. As long as the partition table hasn't been damaged by any repair operations it is an easy fix. The issue is to do with Secure Boot/UEFI/CSM.

 

Completely shutdown it down, by holding down the power button if necessary.

 

Now press the power button as you would normally and instantly after that press F2 to bring up the BIOS settings.

 

IMG_20180509_212107_HHT.thumb.jpg.9fafd5d0b505ba56e03d83f4aa6b78f1.jpg

Now use the right arrow key to move to the tab called Boot which will look something like this:

 

IMG_20180509_212149_HHT.thumb.jpg.10a9b62c3680e78083483a74f342c839.jpg

 

Depending on your model, it may or may not support "Secure Boot". Do one of the following. 

 

If Secure Boot is Disabled, then Enable it and press F10 to save and exit.

 

If Secure Boot is Enabled, then Disable it and from the drop down menu select "UEFI and CSM OS" then F10 to save and exit.

 

If your BIOS has no mention of "Secure Boot" then simply toggle between UEFI and CSM then F10 to save and exit.

 

Hopefully that's it and the Samsung will boot normally now.

  • Thanks 1
Posted

Thanks for your efforts - I really appreciate it but unfortunately, it didn't work...

 

I don't have the Secure Boot option - only UEFI either enabled or disabled (no mention of CSM). I tried UEFI in both states but it always goes into the Windows repair mode then states that the issue cannot be repaired.

 

 

 

Posted

Sorry about that. A shame it wasn't an easy fix. I'm still confident that is what caused the problem initially but Windows startup repair done in the wrong mode has broken the installation.

 

Which OS is installed? Win 7/8/10?

Posted

No worries - you gave a nice, clear instruction nonetheless. Thanks for that.

 

It's got Windows 10 installed - unfortunately I am in the middle of the desert so no repair shops near me, but I will be in BKK in a couple of weeks so I will try to get it fixed then. Failing that - a new laptop, which is always a reason to get excited. Last time I was in Pantip Plaza it was a ghost of its former self - is Fortune Town now the place to try?

Posted

You can always reinstall Win 10. The only hardware you need is a USB drive of at least 8GB.

 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

Or you can use that USB install media to repair your current intallation.

 

Either way, on a Samsung Series 9 you may need to disable Fast BIOS or Fast Boot in the advanced tab of the BIOS setup so that it recognizes the USB drive on boot. Press the F10 key immediately after powering on to bring up the boot menu. 

  • Like 1
Posted

OK, so I have downloaded MediaCreationTool1803.exe to a USB hard drive and disabled Fast BIOS.

 

When I start with F2 held, I can see my USB as an option in the boot sequence so I selected it as 1st, with Network: Realtek second and SATA HDD 3rd. However when I then try to boot, it ignores the USB and goes straight to Realtek then into the Windows Repair loop.

 

When I start with F10 pressed, the USB is not visible on the boot menu, only Realtek and SATA HDD. However when I go to Setup from there, the USB is still showing as number 1 on the Boot priority order.

 

 

Posted

If that isn't the problem then check the UEFI setting. It depends on what formatting was used for the USB drive. 

 

If it was formatted with NTFS you should have UEFI disabled.

 

If formatted with FAT32 you should have UEFI enabled. 

Posted
10 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

OK, so I have downloaded MediaCreationTool1803.exe to a USB hard drive and disabled Fast BIOS.

 

When I start with F2 held, I can see my USB as an option in the boot sequence so I selected it as 1st, with Network: Realtek second and SATA HDD 3rd. However when I then try to boot, it ignores the USB and goes straight to Realtek then into the Windows Repair loop.

 

When I start with F10 pressed, the USB is not visible on the boot menu, only Realtek and SATA HDD. However when I go to Setup from there, the USB is still showing as number 1 on the Boot priority order.

 

 

 

OK I have just read your post again. You can't just download the MediaCreationTool to the USB drive.

 

You need to download that on another computer and then use it to create Windows install media on the USB drive. It is a 4-5GB download so probably takes a little time depending on the internet speed you have there.

Posted
12 minutes ago, thedemon said:

 

OK I have just read your post again. You can't just download the MediaCreationTool to the USB drive.

 

You need to download that on another computer and then use it to create Windows install media on the USB drive. It is a 4-5GB download so probably takes a little time depending on the internet speed you have there.

Ah, I think I got you. I need to run the MediaCreationTool exe file on another computer to create the install file on the USB? That is where I guess I was going wrong.

 

OK, understood - it will take me a couple of days to find a computer not locked down (my work PC won't let me run exe files) but will report back in time.

 

Funnily enough, in all these years I never noticed the different colours in the USB ports - something else for me to read up on. Thanks!

 

Posted

It has just occurred to me that there is another setting that may have been messed up by the BIOS update which could cause the problem you described.

 

It is the AHCI Mode the setting for which is on the advanced tab (immediately below the Fast BIOS setting).

 

The default is AUTO but If you change that to MANUAL then a drop down setting will appear with ENABLED/DISABLED.

 

Try changing that setting and see if you can boot normally.

Posted
23 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

Ah, I think I got you. I need to run the MediaCreationTool exe file on another computer to create the install file on the USB? That is where I guess I was going wrong.

 

OK, understood - it will take me a couple of days to find a computer not locked down (my work PC won't let me run exe files) but will report back in time.

 

Funnily enough, in all these years I never noticed the different colours in the USB ports - something else for me to read up on. Thanks!

 

 

I could just link you to the image file, so you can download it directly, but you'll still need to create the installation media. Not sure if a DVD would work, but you can create a DVD with your work PC. 

 

Anyway, 

 

https://software-download.microsoft.com/sg/Win10_1803_English_x64.iso?t=7ed27767-2dbe-4cac-8081-aa353814178b&e=1526122687&h=55a72fde555b3e53f68be2e9c67d5e8d

 

is the English USA download

 

https://software-download.microsoft.com/pr/Win10_1803_EnglishInternational_x64.iso?t=e5b5120d-cc5f-4105-bb20-7a97d6dd1a5e&e=1526122764&h=1da00751aae4439fbdfc59e3d9012116

 

is English UK/Australia etc

 

Not sure where you purchased your machine. Is there a Windows 10 sticker on your machine with some relevant info.

Posted
18 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

 

I could just link you to the image file, so you can download it directly, but you'll still need to create the installation media. Not sure if a DVD would work, but you can create a DVD with your work PC. 

 

Anyway, 

 

https://software-download.microsoft.com/sg/Win10_1803_English_x64.iso?t=7ed27767-2dbe-4cac-8081-aa353814178b&e=1526122687&h=55a72fde555b3e53f68be2e9c67d5e8d

 

is the English USA download

 

https://software-download.microsoft.com/pr/Win10_1803_EnglishInternational_x64.iso?t=e5b5120d-cc5f-4105-bb20-7a97d6dd1a5e&e=1526122764&h=1da00751aae4439fbdfc59e3d9012116

 

is English UK/Australia etc

 

Not sure where you purchased your machine. Is there a Windows 10 sticker on your machine with some relevant info.

Thanks for that; I was looking into this earlier, in fact, and I found a link to the ISO file but at 8GB it would set alarm bells ringing in our IT department - if the firewall allowed it at all.

 

Our local IT support should be back next week - I will ask him to help; failing that, I have my eye on a new Lenovo Yoga 720.

Posted
23 hours ago, thedemon said:

It has just occurred to me that there is another setting that may have been messed up by the BIOS update which could cause the problem you described.

 

It is the AHCI Mode the setting for which is on the advanced tab (immediately below the Fast BIOS setting).

 

The default is AUTO but If you change that to MANUAL then a drop down setting will appear with ENABLED/DISABLED.

 

Try changing that setting and see if you can boot normally.

No difference I am afraid - I think I need to get the ISO file onto my USB. Maybe when the IT guy returns to site...

Posted
2 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

Thanks for that; I was looking into this earlier, in fact, and I found a link to the ISO file but at 8GB it would set alarm bells ringing in our IT department - if the firewall allowed it at all.

 

Our local IT support should be back next week - I will ask him to help; failing that, I have my eye on a new Lenovo Yoga 720.

 

Image isn't 8 GB, you just need either an 8 GB USB Flash drive or a blank DVD. 

The actual download is 4.4 GB.

 

No reason for them to make a fuss. It's a direct download from Microsoft's servers.

The links only last for twenty four hours.

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