Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook and a few stability issues

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

Does anyone here have the same issues?

The machine is a
Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (suppose the DE just stands for the
German keyboard layout).
It comes with 8 GB of RAM, 2 graphics adapters (intel's HD 4000 + nVidia
with dedicated 1GB), a combi-drive with 500 GB HDD + 24GB SSD express-cache.
Pre-installed was Windows8, i upgraded to PRO because i need things like the
remote desktop.
Certainly all drivers are up to date and i regularily not only check windows
update but also the intel, and especially the samsung tool that offers
machine-specific support.

All in all, everything works. I use the ultrabook in different situations -
mobile, but currently mostly on an external monitor + mouse/keybpard.
As many, i mainly work on the desktop and occasionally use the NUI.

The subjective problem:

There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow responses to
keyboard/mouse commands.
Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local sites, like
my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it sometimes takes up to 20
secs for response.
Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs for it
to come up.
Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office Word
2010, it comes up almost immediately.

Cannot tell if it is a win8 issue - i do not want to go through the time to
test, by for example installing Win7. Although i like Win7, i want to stay
with win8 on this ultrabook as i suppose that hardware integration is
generally better.
The expressCache seems properly enabled, the Event Viewer does not show any
problems.

Just .... general look and feel is tendentiously slow and lagging and
usability appears worse than on some older machines.

If anyone has a similiar experience with the same or similar samsung
machine, we might find out if this is a win8 issue or an issue of one
particular hardware component.

many thanks in advance.

greetings, and all the best for 2013 for everyone.

Roland Schweiger

[charlie[_2_]]

On 12/27/2012 5:52 PM, Roland Schweiger wrote:
> Does anyone here have the same issues?
>
> The machine is a
> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (suppose the DE just stands for
> the German keyboard layout).
> It comes with 8 GB of RAM, 2 graphics adapters (intel's HD 4000 + nVidia
> with dedicated 1GB), a combi-drive with 500 GB HDD + 24GB SSD
> express-cache.
> Pre-installed was Windows8, i upgraded to PRO because i need things like
> the remote desktop.
> Certainly all drivers are up to date and i regularily not only check
> windows update but also the intel, and especially the samsung tool that
> offers machine-specific support.
>
> All in all, everything works. I use the ultrabook in different
> situations - mobile, but currently mostly on an external monitor +
> mouse/keybpard.
> As many, i mainly work on the desktop and occasionally use the NUI.
>
> The subjective problem:
>
> There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow responses
> to keyboard/mouse commands.
> Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local sites,
> like my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it sometimes takes
> up to 20 secs for response.
> Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs for
> it to come up.
> Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office Word
> 2010, it comes up almost immediately.
>
> Cannot tell if it is a win8 issue - i do not want to go through the time
> to test, by for example installing Win7. Although i like Win7, i want to
> stay with win8 on this ultrabook as i suppose that hardware integration
> is generally better.
> The expressCache seems properly enabled, the Event Viewer does not show
> any problems.
>
> Just .... general look and feel is tendentiously slow and lagging and
> usability appears worse than on some older machines.
>
> If anyone has a similiar experience with the same or similar samsung
> machine, we might find out if this is a win8 issue or an issue of one
> particular hardware component.
>
> many thanks in advance.
>
> greetings, and all the best for 2013 for everyone.
>
> Roland Schweiger
>

I don't have A Samsung laptop, let alone a laptop close to your model.
That aside, a couple of the things to look at have to do with power
saving settings and cooling. The power saving settings can really slow
down things, and if the cooling fan(s) don't work properly, the
processor will slow down to reduce heat generation.

When I have A/C power available, I use the settings for max performance,
or turn power saving off. (Power profiles, etc.)

There is also a possibility that malware is present, or something such
as indexing is causing the delay.

[Paul]

Roland Schweiger wrote:
> Does anyone here have the same issues?
>
> The machine is a
> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (suppose the DE just stands for
> the German keyboard layout).
> It comes with 8 GB of RAM, 2 graphics adapters (intel's HD 4000 + nVidia
> with dedicated 1GB), a combi-drive with 500 GB HDD + 24GB SSD
> express-cache.
> Pre-installed was Windows8, i upgraded to PRO because i need things like
> the remote desktop.
> Certainly all drivers are up to date and i regularily not only check
> windows update but also the intel, and especially the samsung tool that
> offers machine-specific support.
>
> All in all, everything works. I use the ultrabook in different
> situations - mobile, but currently mostly on an external monitor +
> mouse/keybpard.
> As many, i mainly work on the desktop and occasionally use the NUI.
>
> The subjective problem:
>
> There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow responses
> to keyboard/mouse commands.
> Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local sites,
> like my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it sometimes takes
> up to 20 secs for response.
> Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs for
> it to come up.
> Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office Word
> 2010, it comes up almost immediately.
>
> Cannot tell if it is a win8 issue - i do not want to go through the time
> to test, by for example installing Win7. Although i like Win7, i want to
> stay with win8 on this ultrabook as i suppose that hardware integration
> is generally better.
> The expressCache seems properly enabled, the Event Viewer does not show
> any problems.
>
> Just .... general look and feel is tendentiously slow and lagging and
> usability appears worse than on some older machines.
>
> If anyone has a similiar experience with the same or similar samsung
> machine, we might find out if this is a win8 issue or an issue of one
> particular hardware component.
>
> many thanks in advance.
>
> greetings, and all the best for 2013 for everyone.
>
> Roland Schweiger
>

Based on someone with an HP IQ804 having problems with dual
graphics, I'd say there is something the matter with *any*
platform using that style of dual graphics (built-in Intel
with Nvidia override for 3D gaming).

Try "optimus" as a search term...

http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html

I like the lame answer here... Microsoft should be
able to do better than that. Even to acknowledge there
is a problem, and suggest an ETA for a solution.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-hardware/windows-8-optimus-driver-and-intel-hd-conflict/81a1b93c-b192-4d50-9619-50f2f77ff4f9

It would be interesting to disable the NVidia entirely,
and see if the machine behaves better. You won't be
able to game, but perhaps it'll work better for the
desktop work.

Paul

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

> "charlie"
>I don't have A Samsung laptop, let alone a laptop close to your model.
>That aside, a couple of the things to look at have to do with power saving
>settings and cooling. The power saving settings can really slow down
>things, and if the cooling fan(s) don't work properly, the processor will
>slow down to reduce heat generation.

Quite right, thanks for the info! Although i did set the power plan to
"maximum performance", either some software update or a mistakenly pressed
hotkey combination or similar thing did set an "energy saving" power plan
.... i just noticed this, went back to my "max performance", went through the
details, and indeed, the felt performance is much better.
Especially in InternetExplorer, the long lag times are gone.

Also, just today, the Samsung software update tool showed me a new nVidia
driver, so it seems that there are some known issues.
However, the DXDIAG still will not let me choose which graphics card to use,
und the "nVidia GPU activity tool" always shows "0 activity" but i suppose
Windows really wants to decide which gpu to use when.

Anyhow, thanks for the idea with the powerplan.

greeting

Roland Schweiger

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

"Paul" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...

>Based on someone with an HP IQ804 having problems with dual
>graphics, I'd say there is something the matter with *any*
>platform using that style of dual graphics (built-in Intel
>with Nvidia override for 3D gaming).
>Try "optimus" as a search term...

Thanks. Just today, the samsung update tool offerd an nVidia update which i
immediately installed; so aparantly there are some known issues.
DXDIAG still will not let me choose a graphics card, and the
nVidia_GPU_activity_tool always shows 0 activity, however i just suppose
that windows wants to decide.

For the moment it seemy that powersaving settings caused most of the lags; i
set everything to max performance and the general look and feel is notably
better.

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[Paul]

Roland Schweiger wrote:
> "Paul" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...
>
>> Based on someone with an HP IQ804 having problems with dual
>> graphics, I'd say there is something the matter with *any*
>> platform using that style of dual graphics (built-in Intel
>> with Nvidia override for 3D gaming).
>> Try "optimus" as a search term...
>
> Thanks. Just today, the samsung update tool offerd an nVidia update
> which i immediately installed; so aparantly there are some known issues.
> DXDIAG still will not let me choose a graphics card, and the
> nVidia_GPU_activity_tool always shows 0 activity, however i just suppose
> that windows wants to decide.
>
> For the moment it seemy that powersaving settings caused most of the
> lags; i set everything to max performance and the general look and feel
> is notably better.
>
> greetings
>
> Roland Schweiger
>

If you want a test, try this.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2111/mirrors.php

(247,453,906 bytes)
http://us1-dl.techpowerup.com//Benchmarking/Unigine_Heaven-3.0.exe

It's a DirectX demo, that supports a windowed mode. The default is
full screen, but there's a tick box in the menu where you select
the DirectX level (DX11, DX10, DX9...) that selects a windowed
mode of operation. I selected 800x600 Windowed for example,
which allowed me to look at the desktop at the same time as
the demo was running. Using that tool, you should be able to
see the Nvidia GPU spring to life. If it doesn't work, the
Intel GPU is going to run that demo pretty slowly.

I have some other benchmarks, but they only run full-screen,
so you couldn't watch any other tools at the same time. At
least that has an option to run windowed, so it won't take
up the full screen.

I test that in Windows 8 x64, then rebooted back into
my "normal" OS.

Paul

[Gene E. Bloch[_2_]]

On Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:02:53 -0700, Ken1943 wrote:

> Could there be a bios setting to select what gpu is used ?

Could be, but it might be hard to find or to recognize. I forget the
words used here, but it didn't reflect the function.

I had to read the motherboard manual, but I'm going out, so I'll leave
it up to you :-)

Also, a cheap computer I have didn't work right with on-board video and
an installed video card until Dell updated the BIOS.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

[Paul]

Ken1943 wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Dec 2012 20:40:08 -0500, Paul > wrote:
>
>> Roland Schweiger wrote:
>>> "Paul" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...
>>>
>>>> Based on someone with an HP IQ804 having problems with dual
>>>> graphics, I'd say there is something the matter with *any*
>>>> platform using that style of dual graphics (built-in Intel
>>>> with Nvidia override for 3D gaming).
>>>> Try "optimus" as a search term...
>>> Thanks. Just today, the samsung update tool offerd an nVidia update
>>> which i immediately installed; so aparantly there are some known issues.
>>> DXDIAG still will not let me choose a graphics card, and the
>>> nVidia_GPU_activity_tool always shows 0 activity, however i just suppose
>>> that windows wants to decide.
>>>
>>> For the moment it seemy that powersaving settings caused most of the
>>> lags; i set everything to max performance and the general look and feel
>>> is notably better.
>>>
>>> greetings
>>>
>>> Roland Schweiger
>>>
>> If you want a test, try this.
>>
>> http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2111/mirrors.php
>>
>> (247,453,906 bytes)
>> http://us1-dl.techpowerup.com//Benchmarking/Unigine_Heaven-3.0.exe
>>
>> It's a DirectX demo, that supports a windowed mode. The default is
>> full screen, but there's a tick box in the menu where you select
>> the DirectX level (DX11, DX10, DX9...) that selects a windowed
>> mode of operation. I selected 800x600 Windowed for example,
>> which allowed me to look at the desktop at the same time as
>> the demo was running. Using that tool, you should be able to
>> see the Nvidia GPU spring to life. If it doesn't work, the
>> Intel GPU is going to run that demo pretty slowly.
>>
>> I have some other benchmarks, but they only run full-screen,
>> so you couldn't watch any other tools at the same time. At
>> least that has an option to run windowed, so it won't take
>> up the full screen.
>>
>> I test that in Windows 8 x64, then rebooted back into
>> my "normal" OS.
>>
>> Paul
>
> Could there be a bios setting to select what gpu is used ?
>
>
> KenW

On a desktop, there might be.

But laptops usually have pretty spartan BIOS screens. For example,
my laptop, has precisely one option in the BIOS. Not much to look at.
I think it adjusts for AHCI or IDE on the SATA port.
And that's it.

Paul

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

> "Paul" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> If you want a test, try this.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2111/mirrors.php
> (247,453,906 bytes)
> http://us1-dl.techpowerup.com//Benchmarking/Unigine_Heaven-3.0.exe
> It's a DirectX demo, that supports a windowed mode. The default is
> (...)

Hello Paul, thanks for the utility.
It did help and it does show nVidia GPU activity so at least i know the GPU
is being used.
The fan of the ultrabook comes on immediately :-) and for some reason the
demo is slightly choppy (at the beginning), although i have 8GB of RAM
installed and powersettings to "max performance" but the thing seems to
work.
The os is Win8Pro 64bit.
Once i tried a relatively old game (Midnight GT) which requires DX7 - and
there i could only select the Intel HD 4000 so somehow it seems that this
'card' will automatically select the nVidia PGU wenn wanted.
In the nVidia control panel however, i can select "preferred GPU" for
nVidia.

Anyhow, thanks for the interesting utility.

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

>"Ken1943" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
> Could there be a bios setting to select what gpu is used ?

Not in my laptop. There is no BIOS setting what so ever to select the GPU.

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

One or 2 issues unfortunately still occur.
Especially within InternetExplorer, the system occasionally stops responding
for at least 10 seconds.
Similar things occasionally occur whan opening any application (for instance
office Word) - the system will not respond for many seconds and then
everything comes to life again.
These phenomenons happen irregularily and there is no particular situation.

For me there's no way to tell if it's to do with Win8, the ExpressCache(SSD)
of the HDD, some driver, some Samsung component etc.
As it is so much work, i don't want to install Win7 to compare ...

Just would like to know if anyone can report the same things.

greetings, and Happy New Year to everyone.

Roland Schweiger

[Paul]

Roland Schweiger wrote:
> One or 2 issues unfortunately still occur.
> Especially within InternetExplorer, the system occasionally stops
> responding for at least 10 seconds.
> Similar things occasionally occur whan opening any application (for
> instance office Word) - the system will not respond for many seconds and
> then everything comes to life again.
> These phenomenons happen irregularily and there is no particular situation.
>
> For me there's no way to tell if it's to do with Win8, the
> ExpressCache(SSD) of the HDD, some driver, some Samsung component etc.
> As it is so much work, i don't want to install Win7 to compare ...
>
> Just would like to know if anyone can report the same things.
>
> greetings, and Happy New Year to everyone.
>
> Roland Schweiger

I got one thread here, with some freezing.

http://www.forumswindows8.com/crashes-debugging/constant-freezing-6703.htm

They found some stuff in Event Viewer, so you could look there.

You could also leave a copy of "resmon" running, watch for page faults,
and see if there's a burst of paging or not.

Paul

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

"Paul"
>I got one thread here, with some freezing.
>http://www.forumswindows8.com/crashes-debugging/constant-freezing-6703.htm
>They found some stuff in Event Viewer, so you could look there.
>You could also leave a copy of "resmon" running, watch for page faults,
>and see if there's a burst of paging or not.

Hello Paul,
It's really a shame, until now i find nothing what soever. Certainly all
drivers (especially the ones that are advertised by sumsung update software)
are up to date.
No yellow and red blobs in the Event Viewer, nothing unusual in RESMON.

Yet at times the system is very hard to use.
Mostly within IE10 for instance when opening some site that requires a
Login: i type the 1st few characters of the login or password and the caret
stops responding for 20 seconds and then everything's back to normal.
Similar things sometimes happen when opening an application: it takes very
very long and then when the program opens, everything works.
Or things do not show up when switching tasks with Alt+TAB - Windows that
will not come up when releasing the key combination, and half a minute
later, things go on as if nothing had ever gone wrong.

Of the 8 GB RAM, onla > 2GB are mostly in use, Intel RapidStart (and
RapidStorage) is on and ok,
the EXPRESSCACHE is up and running (i carefully checked that because i
suspected the express cache) and there is absolutely nothing i nan think of
.... what could cause that.

So still not knowing if some typical Win8 issue or some hardware machinery /
driver of Samsung.
Really i am too tired to install Win7 and see if there's any difference.

Just would like to know if i am almost the only wone with such things or if
they regularily occur.

The exact name of the machine is

Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04 DE

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

"Roland Schweiger" schrieb
>Of the 8 GB RAM, onla > 2GB are mostly in use, Intel RapidStart (and
>RapidStorage) is on and ok,
>the EXPRESSCACHE is up and running (i carefully checked that because i
>suspected the express cache) and there is absolutely nothing i nan think of
>... what could cause that.

update1
There's one thing that shows up in RESMON:
The process LiveComm.exe is halted. (it shows up in blue color).

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

"Paul"
>You could also leave a copy of "resmon" running, watch for page faults,
>and see if there's a burst of paging or not.

update2

The little "oscillographic" window in resmon that shows pagefaults/s
occasionally shows i tiny peak, that goes up to about 1/3 of the amplitude
(so estimated max. 30/sec).
How would i detect a burst of paging? In the resmon i don't see any way of
really detecting this?
Are those few peaks of pagefaults/s ok?

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

"Paul" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...
>You could also leave a copy of "resmon" running, watch for page faults,
>and see if there's a burst of paging or not.


update3
Just tested the following:
re-booted the system, went into desktop, started resmon,
and in the first 1 - 2 minutes, many page faults did show up: peaks went up
to 100!
Then the fault rate dropped and is normal (unly very rare peaks up to 30).

What exactly could this mean?
Courd it really be memory hardware fault?

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[Paul]

Roland Schweiger wrote:
> "Paul" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...
>> You could also leave a copy of "resmon" running, watch for page faults,
>> and see if there's a burst of paging or not.
>
>
> update3
> Just tested the following:
> re-booted the system, went into desktop, started resmon,
> and in the first 1 - 2 minutes, many page faults did show up: peaks went
> up to 100!
> Then the fault rate dropped and is normal (unly very rare peaks up to 30).
>
> What exactly could this mean?
> Courd it really be memory hardware fault?
>
> greetings
>
> Roland Schweiger

By getting you to look in resmon, I was hoping you would
spot something suspicious that correlates with your
problem. And then, removing the culprit temporarily,
would allow verifying that it is responsible.

"what is the purpose of Livecomm.exe and Skydrive.exe"

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-networking/what-is-the-purpose-of-livecommexe-and-skydriveexe/d3ca910c-43dd-462d-870d-f72c365f3320

"It periodically puts a load of 20-30% on the CPU."

http://www.forumswindows8.com/gaming/livecomm-exe-causes-xbox-live-games-connection-fail-windows-8-a-6518.htm

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/livecommexe-keeps-getting-suspended-system-keeps/9f87f252-9ce1-4432-bde9-baeac7636a54

"I checked the Event log and found that they System
was hanging in all sorts of places, and mostly it
was waiting for the LIVECOMM.EXE file - but since that
file was listed as "SUSPENDED", the system couldn't do
anything. Kind of a catch 22. The slow down got
worse - I finally had to Refresh the System."

That suggests to me, that livecomm is dying or something,
and causing problems for system performance. And Windows 8
may make it difficult to get error information, about
what happened to livecomm and how to resolve it. If livecomm
"suspended" merely meant "sleeping", it would take no time
at all to wake up. Instead, it sounds like the old Unix
process handling, where tasks go through a "zombie" stage
before being completely removed.

http://www.eightforums.com/browsers-mail/8390-mail-app-crashing-startup.html

This thread says something called "Raptr" caused the problem.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lt-LT/w8itprogeneral/thread/790a63f8-f9e7-472f-a20f-d86a10cdc33c

I had to look on Wikipedia, to find out what that is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raptr

"Raptr is a social networking website and instant messenger,
targeted towards video game players."

Check if you've "got one of those".

Paul

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

> "Roland Schweiger"
> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (...)
> There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow responses to
> keyboard/mouse commands.
> Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local sites,
> like my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it sometimes takes up
> to 20 secs for response.
> Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs for it
> to come up.
> Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office Word
> 2010, it comes up almost immediately.

Most likely (not yet 100% certain but it looks promissing) I just solved the
problem and many thanks to all your replies.
Some of you stated that power saving mechanisms often cause such typical
problems;
i went through all power plan details many times and put everything to
maximum where possible and it did not make any changes.
Just now, i had to disconnect the ultrabook from the external monitor and
thought it might be a good idea to look into the BIOS!
In the BIOS under "advanced" there is a hardly recognized entry that reads
something like
"CPU power saving mode ON / OFF" - immediately i put it to "off" and
restarted.
Until now it seems that this setting caused most part of the problem.

Now in the power plan(s), the options for minimum cpu and maximum cpu
performance (in %) re-appear again, they did not show up prior ... no idea
what it really means but it does seem that some cpu / bus timing scheme has
changed.

Anyhow ... felt performance of the machine now is ok!

Another thing (don't know if it has an influence): i removed the HYPER-V
Feature from Windows8.
As i do not use any virtual machines on this computer, i will not need
hyperV.
After removal, Win8 rebooted twice and i have the felt impression that
performance improved further.

However, 99,9% certain that the main problem indeed was that little
power-saving-setting in the BIOS.
It really was very very very anoying because sometimes the machine had
become almost unusable, when having to wit 20 or even 30 seconds for a
responce.

Just thought this might help some body else with a similar issue.

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[charlie[_2_]]

On 1/8/2013 9:15 PM, Roland Schweiger wrote:
>> "Roland Schweiger"
>> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (...)
>> There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow responses
>> to keyboard/mouse commands.
>> Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local sites,
>> like my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it sometimes takes
>> up to 20 secs for response.
>> Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs
>> for it to come up.
>> Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office
>> Word 2010, it comes up almost immediately.
>
> Most likely (not yet 100% certain but it looks promissing) I just solved
> the problem and many thanks to all your replies.
> Some of you stated that power saving mechanisms often cause such typical
> problems;
> i went through all power plan details many times and put everything to
> maximum where possible and it did not make any changes.
> Just now, i had to disconnect the ultrabook from the external monitor
> and thought it might be a good idea to look into the BIOS!
> In the BIOS under "advanced" there is a hardly recognized entry that
> reads something like
> "CPU power saving mode ON / OFF" - immediately i put it to "off" and
> restarted.
> Until now it seems that this setting caused most part of the problem.
>
> Now in the power plan(s), the options for minimum cpu and maximum cpu
> performance (in %) re-appear again, they did not show up prior ... no
> idea what it really means but it does seem that some cpu / bus timing
> scheme has changed.
>
> Anyhow ... felt performance of the machine now is ok!
>
> Another thing (don't know if it has an influence): i removed the HYPER-V
> Feature from Windows8.
> As i do not use any virtual machines on this computer, i will not need
> hyperV.
> After removal, Win8 rebooted twice and i have the felt impression that
> performance improved further.
>
> However, 99,9% certain that the main problem indeed was that little
> power-saving-setting in the BIOS.
> It really was very very very anoying because sometimes the machine had
> become almost unusable, when having to wit 20 or even 30 seconds for a
> responce.
>
> Just thought this might help some body else with a similar issue.
>
> greetings
>
> Roland Schweiger
>
A bit bizarre perhaps!
The BIOS option you mentioned sounds like it's in conflict with windows
power management when it's enabled. The behavior might be due to
provision for ops systems that don't do power saving the same way as
windows. Or, nothing new, the OEM BIOS version is screwed up!
At least it looks like you have resolved your problem.

[Paul]

charlie wrote:
> On 1/8/2013 9:15 PM, Roland Schweiger wrote:
>>> "Roland Schweiger"
>>> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (...)
>>> There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow responses
>>> to keyboard/mouse commands.
>>> Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local sites,
>>> like my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it sometimes takes
>>> up to 20 secs for response.
>>> Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs
>>> for it to come up.
>>> Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office
>>> Word 2010, it comes up almost immediately.
>>
>> Most likely (not yet 100% certain but it looks promissing) I just solved
>> the problem and many thanks to all your replies.
>> Some of you stated that power saving mechanisms often cause such typical
>> problems;
>> i went through all power plan details many times and put everything to
>> maximum where possible and it did not make any changes.
>> Just now, i had to disconnect the ultrabook from the external monitor
>> and thought it might be a good idea to look into the BIOS!
>> In the BIOS under "advanced" there is a hardly recognized entry that
>> reads something like
>> "CPU power saving mode ON / OFF" - immediately i put it to "off" and
>> restarted.
>> Until now it seems that this setting caused most part of the problem.
>>
>> Now in the power plan(s), the options for minimum cpu and maximum cpu
>> performance (in %) re-appear again, they did not show up prior ... no
>> idea what it really means but it does seem that some cpu / bus timing
>> scheme has changed.
>>
>> Anyhow ... felt performance of the machine now is ok!
>>
>> Another thing (don't know if it has an influence): i removed the HYPER-V
>> Feature from Windows8.
>> As i do not use any virtual machines on this computer, i will not need
>> hyperV.
>> After removal, Win8 rebooted twice and i have the felt impression that
>> performance improved further.
>>
>> However, 99,9% certain that the main problem indeed was that little
>> power-saving-setting in the BIOS.
>> It really was very very very anoying because sometimes the machine had
>> become almost unusable, when having to wit 20 or even 30 seconds for a
>> responce.
>>
>> Just thought this might help some body else with a similar issue.
>>
>> greetings
>>
>> Roland Schweiger
>>
> A bit bizarre perhaps!
> The BIOS option you mentioned sounds like it's in conflict with windows
> power management when it's enabled. The behavior might be due to
> provision for ops systems that don't do power saving the same way as
> windows. Or, nothing new, the OEM BIOS version is screwed up!
> At least it looks like you have resolved your problem.
>

Retail motherboards have settings like that, but it wouldn't be
normal for a laptop to have them. A laptop is supposed to be
thoroughly tested by the OEM, such that issues as Roland is
seeing, are resolved before any customer receives the machine.

Careful study is required by the OEM, so that battery life is
optimized. And that means, turning on as many power saving
features by default, debugging them, and ensuring the machine
is responsive - before shipping it.

Modern processors have the basic SpeedStep or PowerNow/CoolNQuiet,
which changes multiplier setting when the machine is idle.

But there are also a series of "C-state" settings. And some
of them are low power enough, practically the entire CPU is
emptied and shut down, until the next interrupt comes in
and it is reloaded again from memory. At the very least,
the memory controller must remain running (to do refresh),
but the cores can be shut down.

Some retail motherboards have done a poor job on these.
Such that, a few of the lowest ones, like "C6", should
be disabled. I don't know what the track record is like
on laptops, with respect to that stuff working properly.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/611

Paul

[charlie[_2_]]

On 1/9/2013 2:22 PM, Paul wrote:
> charlie wrote:
>> On 1/8/2013 9:15 PM, Roland Schweiger wrote:
>>>> "Roland Schweiger"
>>>> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (...)
>>>> There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow responses
>>>> to keyboard/mouse commands.
>>>> Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local sites,
>>>> like my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it sometimes takes
>>>> up to 20 secs for response.
>>>> Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs
>>>> for it to come up.
>>>> Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office
>>>> Word 2010, it comes up almost immediately.
>>>
>>> Most likely (not yet 100% certain but it looks promissing) I just solved
>>> the problem and many thanks to all your replies.
>>> Some of you stated that power saving mechanisms often cause such typical
>>> problems;
>>> i went through all power plan details many times and put everything to
>>> maximum where possible and it did not make any changes.
>>> Just now, i had to disconnect the ultrabook from the external monitor
>>> and thought it might be a good idea to look into the BIOS!
>>> In the BIOS under "advanced" there is a hardly recognized entry that
>>> reads something like
>>> "CPU power saving mode ON / OFF" - immediately i put it to "off" and
>>> restarted.
>>> Until now it seems that this setting caused most part of the problem.
>>>
>>> Now in the power plan(s), the options for minimum cpu and maximum cpu
>>> performance (in %) re-appear again, they did not show up prior ... no
>>> idea what it really means but it does seem that some cpu / bus timing
>>> scheme has changed.
>>>
>>> Anyhow ... felt performance of the machine now is ok!
>>>
>>> Another thing (don't know if it has an influence): i removed the HYPER-V
>>> Feature from Windows8.
>>> As i do not use any virtual machines on this computer, i will not need
>>> hyperV.
>>> After removal, Win8 rebooted twice and i have the felt impression that
>>> performance improved further.
>>>
>>> However, 99,9% certain that the main problem indeed was that little
>>> power-saving-setting in the BIOS.
>>> It really was very very very anoying because sometimes the machine had
>>> become almost unusable, when having to wit 20 or even 30 seconds for a
>>> responce.
>>>
>>> Just thought this might help some body else with a similar issue.
>>>
>>> greetings
>>>
>>> Roland Schweiger
>>>
>> A bit bizarre perhaps!
>> The BIOS option you mentioned sounds like it's in conflict with
>> windows power management when it's enabled. The behavior might be due
>> to provision for ops systems that don't do power saving the same way
>> as windows. Or, nothing new, the OEM BIOS version is screwed up!
>> At least it looks like you have resolved your problem.
>>
>
> Retail motherboards have settings like that, but it wouldn't be
> normal for a laptop to have them. A laptop is supposed to be
> thoroughly tested by the OEM, such that issues as Roland is
> seeing, are resolved before any customer receives the machine.
>
> Careful study is required by the OEM, so that battery life is
> optimized. And that means, turning on as many power saving
> features by default, debugging them, and ensuring the machine
> is responsive - before shipping it.
>
> Modern processors have the basic SpeedStep or PowerNow/CoolNQuiet,
> which changes multiplier setting when the machine is idle.
>
> But there are also a series of "C-state" settings. And some
> of them are low power enough, practically the entire CPU is
> emptied and shut down, until the next interrupt comes in
> and it is reloaded again from memory. At the very least,
> the memory controller must remain running (to do refresh),
> but the cores can be shut down.
>
> Some retail motherboards have done a poor job on these.
> Such that, a few of the lowest ones, like "C6", should
> be disabled. I don't know what the track record is like
> on laptops, with respect to that stuff working properly.
>
> http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/611
>
> Paul

I've always had more trouble with BIOS and laptops, (compared to
desktops) usually those sold under well known brand names.
Acer, HP, and Dell come to mind. The problems seemed to be specific
model dependent, rather than attributable to the general laptop OEM or line.

In the past (XP and previous), it was not uncommon to turn off most of a
desktop's power saving features. One common problem had to do with LAN
I/O and drivers that didn't work properly when power saving was enabled.

[Roland Schweiger[_4_]]

Disappointed!! Finally i flattened the HDD and (ExpressCache) SSD
completely and installed Windows7 64bit on the mentioned samsung
ultrabook.

Certainly i do know that this is not a good idea because support for
Win7 will ceise earlier than for Win8.

However - the fact that i miss things like a start menu and the nice
Flip3D feature and the fact that i do not like nor use NUI apps, is
one thing and i could have lived with that.

More problematic : even after fiddeling with all the power saving
features and going through all updates, the tremendous performance
problems remained.
HAL errors when waking up from standby was the least trouble.
Reacten times to keyboard/mouse responses kept dropping again at
unspecific points.
For example when opening the Device Manager, it would take up tu 30
seconds for it to open! And the Event Viewer said nothing.
Similar things keppt happening in Internet Explorer 10 (desktop
version) where e.g. the cursor in a text entry field would suddenly
stop blinking and writing, and only 30 secs. later it was visible
again.

Further driver problems: i wanted to use my 3-year-old SonyEricsson
w995 mobile phone as a 3G UMTS data modem - there was no way to get it
to work.
The drivers would install but when opening network and share center,
and klicking "adapter settings" (to set the connection of the virtual
dial-up adapter) again, response time was 30 seconds.
The Charms bar would then refuse to come up, again lagging half a
minute or so.
When the connection finally was established, ipconfig showed correct
ip setup but no response from the name servers, i could not get any
internet connection to work.
Almost exactly the same problem with a "surf stick" UMTS modem by
Huawei (E160).

--- The way i reverted to Win7 64bit ---

First, i had to turn off the ExpressCache - this is the program that
controls the 24GB SSD that accompagnies the 500 GB HDD.
Then in BIOS i resetted, and had to turn off the Secure Boot + UEFI
thing.

Then booted Win764bit CD and in advanced options of the setup menu i
deleted all partitions on the HDD and SSD.

Then i installes Win7 + all updates + all Samsung related updates +
ExpressCache + SonyEricsson + Huawei drivers.

-- Conclusion ---

I can only talk for this particular Samsung Ultrabook named
Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE

Win764bit DOES NOT SHOW ANY OF THE MENTIONED PROBLEMS.

No lag, very very very very quick responses, and everything works
wonderful.


What i cannot tell:

is this really the fault of Windows8? Or may it be some BIOS /
hardware / driver integration problem?

On this machine however, Win8 turned unfortunately out to be almost
unusable.
it's a shame and i am just wondering if somebody else has had similar
frustrations?

greetings

Roland Schweiger





"Roland Schweiger" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

> "Roland Schweiger"
> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (...)
> There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow
> responses to keyboard/mouse commands.
> Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local
> sites, like my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it
> sometimes takes up to 20 secs for response.
> Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs
> for it to come up.
> Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office
> Word 2010, it comes up almost immediately.

Most likely (not yet 100% certain but it looks promissing) I just
solved the
problem and many thanks to all your replies.
Some of you stated that power saving mechanisms often cause such
typical
problems;
i went through all power plan details many times and put everything to
maximum where possible and it did not make any changes.
Just now, i had to disconnect the ultrabook from the external monitor
and
thought it might be a good idea to look into the BIOS!
In the BIOS under "advanced" there is a hardly recognized entry that
reads
something like
"CPU power saving mode ON / OFF" - immediately i put it to "off" and
restarted.
Until now it seems that this setting caused most part of the problem.

Now in the power plan(s), the options for minimum cpu and maximum cpu
performance (in %) re-appear again, they did not show up prior ... no
idea
what it really means but it does seem that some cpu / bus timing
scheme has
changed.

Anyhow ... felt performance of the machine now is ok!

Another thing (don't know if it has an influence): i removed the
HYPER-V
Feature from Windows8.
As i do not use any virtual machines on this computer, i will not need
hyperV.
After removal, Win8 rebooted twice and i have the felt impression that
performance improved further.

However, 99,9% certain that the main problem indeed was that little
power-saving-setting in the BIOS.
It really was very very very anoying because sometimes the machine had
become almost unusable, when having to wit 20 or even 30 seconds for a
responce.

Just thought this might help some body else with a similar issue.

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[charlie[_2_]]

On 1/21/2013 6:43 PM, Roland Schweiger wrote:
> Disappointed!! Finally i flattened the HDD and (ExpressCache) SSD
> completely and installed Windows7 64bit on the mentioned samsung ultrabook.
>
> Certainly i do know that this is not a good idea because support for
> Win7 will ceise earlier than for Win8.
>
> However - the fact that i miss things like a start menu and the nice
> Flip3D feature and the fact that i do not like nor use NUI apps, is one
> thing and i could have lived with that.
>
> More problematic : even after fiddeling with all the power saving
> features and going through all updates, the tremendous performance
> problems remained.
> HAL errors when waking up from standby was the least trouble.
> Reacten times to keyboard/mouse responses kept dropping again at
> unspecific points.
> For example when opening the Device Manager, it would take up tu 30
> seconds for it to open! And the Event Viewer said nothing.
> Similar things keppt happening in Internet Explorer 10 (desktop version)
> where e.g. the cursor in a text entry field would suddenly stop blinking
> and writing, and only 30 secs. later it was visible again.
>
> Further driver problems: i wanted to use my 3-year-old SonyEricsson w995
> mobile phone as a 3G UMTS data modem - there was no way to get it to work.
> The drivers would install but when opening network and share center, and
> klicking "adapter settings" (to set the connection of the virtual
> dial-up adapter) again, response time was 30 seconds.
> The Charms bar would then refuse to come up, again lagging half a minute
> or so.
> When the connection finally was established, ipconfig showed correct ip
> setup but no response from the name servers, i could not get any
> internet connection to work.
> Almost exactly the same problem with a "surf stick" UMTS modem by Huawei
> (E160).
>
> --- The way i reverted to Win7 64bit ---
>
> First, i had to turn off the ExpressCache - this is the program that
> controls the 24GB SSD that accompagnies the 500 GB HDD.
> Then in BIOS i resetted, and had to turn off the Secure Boot + UEFI thing.
>
> Then booted Win764bit CD and in advanced options of the setup menu i
> deleted all partitions on the HDD and SSD.
>
> Then i installes Win7 + all updates + all Samsung related updates +
> ExpressCache + SonyEricsson + Huawei drivers.
>
> -- Conclusion ---
>
> I can only talk for this particular Samsung Ultrabook named
> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE
>
> Win764bit DOES NOT SHOW ANY OF THE MENTIONED PROBLEMS.
>
> No lag, very very very very quick responses, and everything works
> wonderful.
>
>
> What i cannot tell:
>
> is this really the fault of Windows8? Or may it be some BIOS / hardware
> / driver integration problem?
>
> On this machine however, Win8 turned unfortunately out to be almost
> unusable.
> it's a shame and i am just wondering if somebody else has had similar
> frustrations?
>
> greetings
>
> Roland Schweiger
>
>
>
>
>
> "Roland Schweiger" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> ...
>
>> "Roland Schweiger"
>> Samsung Serie 5 530U4C-S04DE Ultrabook (...)
>> There are many lag times and sometimes (felt) very very slow responses
>> to keyboard/mouse commands.
>> Especially when calling sites in InternetExplorer10 (even local sites,
>> like my printer or my ADSL-setup-page of my router) it sometimes takes
>> up to 20 secs for response.
>> Also sometimes when calling a desktop application, it takes 20 secs
>> for it to come up.
>> Then, a minute later, when calling another application, like Office
>> Word 2010, it comes up almost immediately.
>
> Most likely (not yet 100% certain but it looks promissing) I just solved
> the
> problem and many thanks to all your replies.
> Some of you stated that power saving mechanisms often cause such typical
> problems;
> i went through all power plan details many times and put everything to
> maximum where possible and it did not make any changes.
> Just now, i had to disconnect the ultrabook from the external monitor and
> thought it might be a good idea to look into the BIOS!
> In the BIOS under "advanced" there is a hardly recognized entry that reads
> something like
> "CPU power saving mode ON / OFF" - immediately i put it to "off" and
> restarted.
> Until now it seems that this setting caused most part of the problem.
>
> Now in the power plan(s), the options for minimum cpu and maximum cpu
> performance (in %) re-appear again, they did not show up prior ... no idea
> what it really means but it does seem that some cpu / bus timing scheme has
> changed.
>
> Anyhow ... felt performance of the machine now is ok!
>
> Another thing (don't know if it has an influence): i removed the HYPER-V
> Feature from Windows8.
> As i do not use any virtual machines on this computer, i will not need
> hyperV.
> After removal, Win8 rebooted twice and i have the felt impression that
> performance improved further.
>
> However, 99,9% certain that the main problem indeed was that little
> power-saving-setting in the BIOS.
> It really was very very very anoying because sometimes the machine had
> become almost unusable, when having to wit 20 or even 30 seconds for a
> responce.
>
> Just thought this might help some body else with a similar issue.
>
> greetings
>
> Roland Schweiger
I don't suppose that you tried win8 after doing the things you mentioned?

[Roland Schweiger[_4_]]

"charlie"

> don't suppose that you tried win8 after doing the things you
> mentioned?


Well yes i did try Win8 and i had it on the Ultrabook for about eight
weeks; upgraded to the pro version, installed the media center pak,
and installed everything i would need for a parthal mobile and partial
home operation szenario.
With a few changes and even things that i do not like, i could have
lived but as i mentioned, it was mainly the driver problems and the
lag and the very very long response times whon opening simple things.
Still i am nut sure if Win8 itself causes the problems or if the
communication between samsung and MS was not well (eg the
UEFI/SecureBoot/drivers) being choppy.

greetings

Roland Schweiger