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I've Samsung (NP300E5S-01IN) laptop, I installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on it and now I want to install Windows 8.1 on another partition but whenever I press "F2" key to Enter BIOS settings. it brings me to the black screen and there are 2 options (1) Ubuntu (2) Advanced options for Ubuntu

It was working fine before I installed Ubuntu.. Also I can't boot from CD/DVD or USB.

Someone help me please. :(

bain
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Aedy
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  • you have an option to enter bios setup. read below the screen and you might see the correct button – Geo Aug 03 '14 at 15:51

3 Answers3

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Did you ever boot an older kernel or distribution? If so, you may have hit the infamous Samsung BIOS bug documented in bug #1040557.

You might need to reflash the BIOS, comment from that bug report:

This topic is probably not Ubuntu related, but any UEFI linux distro. What I found out so far: Notebook: Samsung series 3 NP300E5C-A05DE (German), BIOS-ID: RAC, current version: P05RAC

Installed Linux Mint 13, MBR mode. Later converted to GPT/UEFI - all seemed ok. Device booted ok, but then I recognized, that I was unable to enter the BIOS Setup with F2 anymore.

What still works: F3 to boot from CD, FAT32-Stick with EFI-Shell v1.0 saved as \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.efi (2.0 does not work even if BIOS version is UEFI 2.31)

My fix: CD with WinPE, then flash BIOS (if using Samsung Flasher need to remove version check is BIOS is current, or directly use WinFlash)

What's causing this?

After I fixed my BIOS I tried to re-enable UEFI booting my linux using "efibootmgr", which instantly messed up my BIOS again (but I need stuff like that twice...)

So I messed around with HexEdit and efishell and found 10 - in words TEN - efi boot entries within the Samsung BIOS, that are not even shown in "efibootmgr" - the first Entry is "Setup", second is "Recovery", third is "CD-ROM" and so on, so it seems like Samsung is misusing those hidden bootentries for their own stuff, putting the Setup into the first boot entry, which will be overwritten by efibootmgr - explains why it was still booting, but unable to enter Setup.

Since I found the key assignments to these entries within Samsung related BIOS modules, they are responsible for this non-standard stuff. Thank you, Samsung.

My stuff still does not explain complete bricks like others have encountered. But maybe the hint with the version 1.0 efishell might help, or even pressing F3 still helps, if the BIOS is not bricked completely.

For all the Linux EFI programmers: Those bootentries are there, but only shown by efishell. Why does the nvram-module in linux not show them? Maybe there is an unusual way to get them from the nvram - if you could check them you should be able to avoid these bricks..

bain
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  • Can you plase tell me how can I flash my BIOS? Because I really don't know very much about Ubuntu and how it works, so can you please explain me more? Thank you. – Aedy Aug 05 '14 at 13:12
  • @Aedy You can not flash the BIOS in Linux. You will need to boot Windows from a USB drive and run the Windows software. – bain Aug 05 '14 at 13:40
  • How can I boot from a USB drive when I can't access the BIOS Settings? :( – Aedy Aug 05 '14 at 15:48
  • From the quote above: "What still works: F3 to boot from CD, FAT32-Stick" So I guess you press or hold F3 while booting. – bain Aug 05 '14 at 15:50
  • It doesn't work for me, I plugged my Flash drive and did what you mentioned above.. But still it brings me to that Black Screen.. – Aedy Aug 05 '14 at 15:56
  • In that case you might need to disconnect the hard drive to regain access to the USB boot screen (as mentioned in this question). Or you might be able to boot to boot the WinPE iso from Grub, see http://askubuntu.com/questions/141940/how-to-boot-live-iso-images – bain Aug 05 '14 at 16:28
  • I installed Windows 8.1 using DVD and now I can't boot anymore, It shows me Samsung Boot Screen then Blank screen and keep repeating this. I don't know what to do now.. Thank you – Aedy Aug 06 '14 at 05:11
  • You could try physically disconnecting the hard drive or resetting the CMOS BIOS. If that does not work (or you do not want to open the laptop up) then you will need to send it to a Samsung service center to get it fixed. – bain Aug 06 '14 at 09:35
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I don't know if this is enough, but usually there are some service hotkeys to reset the bios to its default values. I have an AMI-bios in my desktop and it resets by holding PageUp when switching the power on. You might google if such a hotkey exists in your bios or look it up in your motherboaard's manual. But I think this only resets the CMOS holding the configuration, it does not change anything in the EEPROM, where the bios program is located (changed only by flashing). If you can open it, removing the small battery on the mainboard for a few seconds-minutes or setting a jumper (see motherboard manual - do NOT just try!!!) should do the same trick.

Byte Commander
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If you have a have Samsung np300-e5c (all versions) and maybe other Samsung laptops, this solution is easy.

First of all, the laptop must boot with F3 key. If you F3 key, you boot from a CD or DVD.

If it can start from the CD/DVD, follow these steps.

  1. Windows install CD for setup.
  2. Laptop Startup Press F3 then Windows boot on CD.
  3. Install Windows on the computer.
  4. Windows want to restart. Take the boot CD (windows install CD) out of the drive, then put the install CD for some Linux distribution (I used Linux Mint) in.
  5. Press F3 again and the Linux distribution will start.
  6. And you select (start on HDD).

So Windows continues the setup and finish it. Then you can set up the BIOS update.

You can do these steps on a Samsung laptop. It works perfectly.

Eliah Kagan
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user368245
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