[Horaldo]

Hello

I hope you can help. I've just recently installed Windows 7 on a laptop we bought which came with Windows 8. Everything seems to run fine and all the drivers have been replaced (the ones I seem to need anyway). The only problem is that the boot up freezes and hangs at the Samsung logo and will stay like that...unless I hit F4 into BIOS and simply go to save and reset. Don't even need to change anything.

Here is some system information.

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
System Model: 550P5C/550P7C
BIOS: AMIBIOS Version P01ABI.003.120824.dg
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 6032MB RAM
Page File: 1394MB used, 10666MB available

Thanks for any help you can give. It's usable but annoying to keep on having to go into BIOS to start up into windows.

Edit: Apologies, meant to say I hit F2 into BIOS.

Edited by Horaldo, 11 July 2013 - 12:22 AM.

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The Samsung 550P5C/550P7C F4 button is usually used to enter the Samsung Recovery Partition so if you freeze and you need to press F4 it probably means that the BIOS is looking for the recovery partition and since it is probably not there anymore (maybe you or whoever had it before wiped clean the HD and erased the recovery partition) and instead of starting the Samsung Recovery Program it brings you to the BIOS instead.

First thing once you are in windows check in Disk management to see if you have 1 or 2 partition (C: & D:) if you have only C: then maybe my reasoning is good if you see the Recovery Partition (Usually D:) then forget what I am saying.

If you only have the C: partition you should check in your BIOS settings to see if any option seems like it could revert the problems at cold boot.

Added info:
After checking your Manual check in your BIOS under Boot Menu and see if the option UEFI boot support is enable or disable (should be disable) after check under Boot Device Priority to see if your HD is first and if you see any device listed twice one as UEFI and secong normal, if two choices select the one that is normal. Windows 8 uses UFEI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) as the bios option on the HD instead of the regular MBR boot loader once all that is change press F10 to save your settings and hopefully your problems will be over.


Hopes this will help

[Alzeimer]

The Samsung 550P5C/550P7C F4 button is usually used to enter the Samsung Recovery Partition so if you freeze and you need to press F4 it probably means that the BIOS is looking for the recovery partition and since it is probably not there anymore (maybe you or whoever had it before wiped clean the HD and erased the recovery partition) and instead of starting the Samsung Recovery Program it brings you to the BIOS instead.

First thing once you are in windows check in Disk management to see if you have 1 or 2 partition (C: & D:) if you have only C: then maybe my reasoning is good if you see the Recovery Partition (Usually D:) then forget what I am saying.

If you only have the C: partition you should check in your BIOS settings to see if any option seems like it could revert the problems at cold boot.

Added info:
After checking your Manual check in your BIOS under Boot Menu and see if the option UEFI boot support is enable or disable (should be disable) after check under Boot Device Priority to see if your HD is first and if you see any device listed twice one as UEFI and secong normal, if two choices select the one that is normal. Windows 8 uses UFEI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) as the bios option on the HD instead of the regular MBR boot loader once all that is change press F10 to save your settings and hopefully your problems will be over.


Hopes this will help

[Horaldo]

Hi Alzeimer

Thanks for your reply. Apologies I meant to say F2!

You're right though. It's only C drive appearing with allocated system space within. The boot is set to disable secure boot and CSM boot in BIOS.

In the boot ordering I have two devices listed, I have swapped them over but it makes no difference. These options are named:

Boot option #1 P2: Matshita DVD-RAM UJ8DI
Boot option #2 P0: ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB

So do you think creating a recovery partition should help? Maybe the system is trying to find this other thing to boot that no longer exists?

Edited by Horaldo, 11 July 2013 - 12:29 AM.

[Alzeimer]

Windows 8 creates uses the UEFI to boot instead of the Legacy Boot so read this article to understand why you may have problems after downgrading to Win 7

http://www.pcmag.com...,2417361,00.asp

[Horaldo]

Thanks for your reply again.

Thanks for the article. I don't have a legacy mode option (only CSM). All the installation part is fine and it runs perfectly when I ask the BIOS to restart the system without even making changes.

It literally only causes an issue if I boot from being totally turned off. My BIOS is still set with secure mode off and CSM boot selected.

[Horaldo]

Is it maybe the BIOS itself? I'd think that I shouldn't still have the option to boot UEFI while running Windows 7.

[Alzeimer]

Is it maybe the BIOS itself? I'd think that I shouldn't still have the option to boot UEFI while running Windows 7.

The way you describe it should be ok and no problem for Win 7

So maybe when you installed Win 7 over Win 8 not all files where deleted in the boot loader and you still have some Win 8 files that are read on cold boot but bypass after entering Bios and saving it.

When you installed Win 7 how did you format you hdd, usually windows will not install over a newer OS (win 8),

It may not be an option for you (your choice) but maybe you can try to format your hdd again using a third party boot program like DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) or use the bootable program from the manufacturer of your hdd that will erase everything completely. Once formatted you can reinstall win 7 and hopefully this will fix your issue.

[Horaldo]

I went to the command line during the win 7 installation and used the diskpart clear command and then let Win7 created the partitions it needed.

Do you think there's any other way around it other than clearing everything and starting again?

[Alzeimer]

I went to the command line during the win 7 installation and used the diskpart clear command and then let Win7 created the partitions it needed.

Do you think there's any other way around it other than clearing everything and starting again?

When you used the diskpart clear command did you use the CLEAN command or the CLEAN ALL command

CLEAN is like a quick format
CLEAN ALL is a command that will wipe the HDD, and perform a secure erase

Read this link for more info
http://www.sevenforu...rt-command.html

[Horaldo]

Aaah well that very well may be it.

Thanks very much for your time and help! So is backing up the laptop and doing a clear all erase before installing my only option?

[Alzeimer]

Aaah well that very well may be it.

Thanks very much for your time and help! So is backing up the laptop and doing a clear all erase before installing my only option?

To the best of my knowledge this should help (apart for the time needed to do the task the worst that can happen will be that you have the same issue), since windows 8 uses a different way to boot and that maybe there may be still some files left on the boot sector of win 8 then making sure it is properly erased and doing a clean install of win 7 may be what will fix your problem.

Back up all your personal data first and try this solution and hopefully the problem will be a distant memory.