Can I get to UEFI settings on a notebook without Windows 8?

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SuperToast92

Limp Gawd
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Mar 10, 2012
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Been trying different things over the past couple of weeks without success. I recently got a new ultrabook (Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C) which came with Windows 8. I put Windows 7 on it, stubborn as I am, and now I'm trying to find additional BIOS settings that don't appear in CSM. Particularly, I'm trying to find a BIOS setting to change the adaptive screen brightness, which supposedly is a UEFI-exclusive setting.

I've tried booting a Win8 DVD without finding any options for UEFI. Ubuntu booting via UEFI doesn't seem to have any options for such, either. Grub2 does offer a "Setup" option, which I presume is related to UEFI. However, when I try to boot to it, I get a message stating "fwsetup" wasn't found.

Any ideas guys? Would I pretty much need to bite the bullet and put 8 back on it? Thanks in advance!
 
BIOS/UEFI are before you boot the OS, so the os doesnt matter. Now the bios/uefi may have a setting to change which of those you boot into (bios/uefi).

Changing which firmware boots after the os is installed may render your OS unbootable however.

I don't know what you mean by "CSM".
 
ambientZ said:
BIOS/UEFI are before you boot the OS, so the os doesnt matter. Now the bios/uefi may have a setting to change which of those you boot into (bios/uefi).

Changing which firmware boots after the os is installed may render your OS unbootable however.

I don't know what you mean by "CSM".
Click to expand...

Ah yes, the uefi settings via Windows 8 occur before booting the actual OS. I don't think my laptop actually has the ability to boot into UEFI without Windows 8, apparently...not sure if this is true or not.

As for CSM, it's what Samsung defines as the old BIOS (rather than UEFI). I have the options of CSM, UEFI, or both when in the BIOS settings. I currently have the "both UEFI and CSM" open selected. I tried selecting just UEFI, but I can't get any UEFI settings to show up. Tried holding down the Shift key during POST, nothing still. Not sure if Samsung has a key combination or not.
 
The laptop's Win7 manual will tell you on page 75 how to enter the BIOS: "When the booting screen (SAMSUNG logo) appears, press the F2 key to enter the BIOS Setup."

Your confusion is in thinking that UEFI is something other than the BIOS. UEFI is the BIOS.

CSM is Compatibility Support Module, a BIOS emulator for legacy operating systems. Win7 supports UEFI just fine, so CSM is not necessary.

Page 83 of the Win7 manual has information about changing the LCD brightness, including using the key combo Fn + F2.
 
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and if your keyboard is not controlling the brighness, make sure that you got samsung's version of quickset 64 installed
 
Yeah, I was. What I've actually been at was trying to get the adaptive brightness to work. I have Easy Settings installed, and the boxes are checked to enable adaptive brightness. The power options for Windows have adaptive brightness enabled as well. Still, the screen will not automatically change brightness. The keyboard will, however.

I've already installed Windows 7 under CSM mode to get rid of the GPT partitions, which were preventing Windows from installing (this machine came with Windows 8). I might try to see if I can reinstall with UEFI enabled rather than CSM.

The reason I'm going through this trouble is because someone on NotebookReview and I are speculating that there may be a setting that's hidden when entering the BIOS on this machine, and it is only available as an option under startup settings in Windows 8 (before the OS loads).

EDIT: Finally cracked the case! Thanks to pxc. Apparently the sensor was disabled under the control panel in a hidden setting. Even though it was enabled under device manager, and it was still controlling the keyboard brightness, that setting was preventing the display from changing.

It was good to hear that BIOS and UEFI should essentially have the same settings. This thread helped me learn a thing or two about the differences, though. :)
 
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