doncharisma, don charisma, BIOS UEFI Samsung
Geek, Teach

Samsung Laptop Windows 7 Drivers for NP350E7C-S02UK (and Windows XP drivers !)

My ageing Core2Duo Toshiba 17″ laptop was OK whilst it lasted but I was starting to find it a bit sluggish even with an SSD and 2GB memory. At the time when I bought it, I thought I’d got a good price on it, but didn’t check the CPU which was bottom of the range – should really have explained the price, doh !

I wanted a new large screen 17″ laptop, so I shopped around. I looked at the now discontinued 17″ MacBook Pro, but couldn’t really justify the £2000 price tag. I looked at the performance 17″ “gamer” laptops and they were all either expensive (£1000+) or heavy, so heavy on the pocket or heavy on the arm to carry. I wanted the new laptop to be lighter than the old one as I carry it with me when I travel. I wanted USB3, a decent amount of memory and potential for expansion.

NP350E7C-S02UK_1600x1600

So I bought this laptop from Costco in the UK, a steal at £550. I didn’t want all singing all dancing with the associated price tag, but I did want a decent laptop for a good price. With Core i7, 8GB RAM (upgradable to 16GB) and USB3 the Samsung NP350E7C suited my needs. The harddrive can easily be upgraded to bigger/faster or SSD.

Overall I’m pleased with the laptop, it’s 500 grammes lighter than my previous one, which is great for travelling and it’s very much more powerful. It’s not as “solid” as the previous laptop, but it is lighter!

I considered an upgrade to 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSD, but at the moment funds are short and those items are relatively expensive – 16GB RAM around £100 and 256GB SSD around £200.

odd-hard-drive-caddy

The upgrade that I did do was to replace the Optical/DVD drive with a caddy for a second hard drive (almost identical to the one in the picture). The caddy is 12.5mm and they can be purchased from ebay – eg “odd hard drive caddy”. The “kit” came with a small screwdriver to fit the hard drive into the caddy, screws for which form part of the caddy. The caddy is fitted into the laptop where the DVD drive goes, there’s just one screw securing it on the underside of the laptop, marked I think “ODD”.

Some of you may cry – what about the warranty. Well, remember my old Toshiba laptop I told you about. That had a warranty, the power supply went faulty a week or so after I bought it. I had got by that time the laptop setup how I wanted it. Toshiba flatly refused to send me a new power supply, insisted I return the whole laptop – how inconvenient and unhelpful. Obviously that wasn’t an option, so I had to get a power supply from elsewhere. My point being that I don’t really regard a warranty as anything particularly useful.

However for the new laptop I have kept the original hard disc as it is, and could put the laptop back to how it was when delivered if I needed to return it. So might be worth considering doing that if you wanted to make similar modifications yourself.

windows 8 crap

Personally, I really, really don’t like Windows 8, which doesn’t seem to be an uncommon theme. When I searched for “windows 8 is”, the above are the suggestions that Google give me!  … window 8 is crap, rubbish, terrible, awful !

Windows 7 works really well and I’m happy with it, plus all my other machines have Windows 7. So I installed Windows 7 on a spare SSD that I had, installed from a USB stick using the Universal USB Installer from pendrivelinux.com – you can use their software to create a bootable installable Windows 7 “disc”

However, I had problems with the Windows 7 drivers (question marks in Device Manager etc). Samsung would only let me see the Windows 8 drivers on their SW Update in UK. Also I couldn’t see any way to get Windows 7 drivers off the Samsung support website.

As luck would have it I was travelling in Asia and again looked in the SW Update after I arrived, and to my surprise there were the Windows 7 Drivers. So I have downloaded all of them and shared publicly on hotfile.com (see resources below). Please download and share elsewhere as I probably won’t be able to keep share open indefinitely.

I haven’t extensively tested all the drivers, but things like Bluetooth and Wifi work fine, and the Windows 7 operating system is stable. It seems that Windows 7 is supported on this Laptop in other regions, just not the UK. As far as I can work out some of the “NP350E7C” machines such as “NP350E7C-S02UK” and “NP350E7C-A01US” are the same hardware, at least the core i7 ones, but obviously do your own due diligence.

There are certain drivers/software from Samsung that I didn’t install, more “bloatware” than anything else. So personally I didn’t bother with – Easy Support Center, Easy Settings, Software Launcher, EasyFileShare, Easy Migration, Fast Browsing, Norton Online Backup, Skype, User’s Guide, Mulitmedia POP, Samsung Recovery Solution … Most of which just waste space and resources, and I don’t have any need of.

Important are –

Chipset Driver – Intel Chipset Driver for Eureka 9.3.0.1020

Graphics Driver – AMD Graphics Driver of Chief-River for Eureka 8.951.9.3

Graphics Driver – Intel® HD Graphics 4000 – v15.31.3.64.3071 (9.17.10.3071)

Sound Driver – Realtek Audio driver for Eureka-Win7 _ Win8 6702

LAN Driver – Realtek LAN Driver for Eureka-II (BRA) 7.61.612.2012

Wireless – Atheros WLAN Driver (Win7, 64bit) 9.2.0.470

Bluetooth – Atheros Bluetooth 4.0 Driver (Win7) 7.4.0.140_N

Intel ME Interface – Intel MEI Driver of Cheif-River for Eureka 8.0.10.1464

Intel RST Driver – Intel RST Driver for Eureka 11.0.0.1032

Intel USB 3.0 – Intel USB 3.0 Driver for Eureka 1.0.4.220

Windows Hotfixes I didn’t bother with so up to you, one of them is for IE9 and I don’t use IE at all. SW Update might be useful for BIOS updates, but don’t start installing Windows 8 drivers (I tried this already didn’t work too well!). Media center, depends on whether you use it or not.

The laptop is equiped with dual graphics, an AMD and an Intel graphics card. A right click on the desktop will reveal setting options for this. I’ve not had a reason to use this facility, but I believe gamers might want to switch off Intel display adapter in favour of AMD when they are gaming. As I don’t “game”, I don’t know!

 

doncharisma, don charisma, BIOS UEFI Samsung

You will also most likely have to turn off the UEFI secure boot in the BIOS prior to installing Windows 7 (F2 key during startup, at Samsung screen). Refer to my photo for what I’ve set my UEFI boot to (Boot section of BIOS), this works for Windows 7.

Personally I didn’t like the idea of the UEFI bios, due to lack of flexibility using Linux or any other operating system I may want to run, and my hardware being tied to a particular operating system. It might be a good idea for Joe Consumer but not for me.

Lastly as a footnote – Windows XP drivers are also available, links provided below

UPDATE Feb-2014 due to problems with hosting I have taken down the driver files.

 

Resources

pendrivelinux.com, Universal USB Installer – http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

Windows 7 Drivers (and Software) for Samsung NP350E7C

Download link Intel_HD_Graphics_4000_-_v15.31.3.64.3071_(9.17.10.3071)_Win64_15313.exe

Download link AMD_Graphics_Driver_of_Chief-River_for_Eureka_8.951.9.3.part01.rar

Download link AMD_Graphics_Driver_of_Chief-River_for_Eureka_8.951.9.3.part02.rar

Download link AMD_Graphics_Driver_of_Chief-River_for_Eureka_8.951.9.3.part03.rar

Download link AMD_Graphics_Driver_of_Chief-River_for_Eureka_8.951.9.3.part04.rar

Download link AMD_Graphics_Driver_of_Chief-River_for_Eureka_8.951.9.3.part05.rar

Download link Atheros_Bluetooth_4.0_Driver_(Win7)_7.4.0.140_N.rar

Download link Atheros_WLAN_Driver_(Win7_64bit)_9.2.0.470.rar

Download link Easy_Migration_Samsung_Menu_1.0.0.19.rar

Download link Easy_Settings_for_NP(enroll_version_for_Eurika)_1.1.0.54.rar

Download link Easy_Support_Center_1.2_1.2.2.8.rar

Download link EasyFileShare_1.3.1.5.rar

Download link FastBrowsing_for_IE9_4.0.0.0.rar

Download link Intel_Chipset_Driver_for_Eureka_9.3.0.1020.rar

Download link Intel_MEI_Driver_of_Chief-River_for_Eureka_8.0.10.1464.rar

Download link Intel_RST_Driver_for_Eureka_11.0.0.1032.rar

Download link Intel_USB_3.0_Driver_for_Eureka_1.0.4.220.rar

Download link Media_Center_Update_2.2.2.rar

Download link Norton_Online_Backup_(Win7)_2.1.17869.0.rar

Download link Perfect_Balance_Theme_1.0.0.0.rar

Download link Realtek_Audio_driver_for_Eureka-Win7___Win8_6702.rar

Download link Realtek_LAN_Driver_for_Eureka-II_(BRA)_7.61.612.2012.rar

Download link Recovery_Solution_5_5.0.2.7.rar

Download link Skype_(5.8)_5.8.0.158.rar

Download link Software_Launcher_1.1.1.7.rar

Download link Super_Bright_Theme_1.0.0.0.rar

Download link SW_Update.rar

Download link Synaptics_Touchpad_Driver_for_Eureka-II_(BRA)_16.2.1.1.rar

Download link Win7_UserManual_Eureka(350V4C_355V4C_350V5C_355V5C)_1.2.0.0.rar

Download link Win7SP1-common_hotfix_1.0.0.2.rar

Download link Win7SP1-Hotfix-CriticalUpdate

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part01.rar

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part02.rar

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part03.rar

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part04.rar

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part05.rar

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part06.rar

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part07.rar

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part08.rar

Download link M-POP_for_Eureka_350_Win7_1.0.0.1.part09.rar

Windows XP Drivers for Samsung NP350E7C 

Download link Bluetooth_WXP_1.0.0.0.zip

Download link Chipset_WXP_9.3.0.1020.zip

Download link Internal_VGA_Intel_WXP_6.14.10.5400.zip

Download link LAN_WXP_5.798.523.2012.zip

Download link MEI_WXP_8.0.10.1464.zip

Download link MMCR_WXP_6.1.7601.39025.zip

Download link Sound_WXP_5.10.0.6702.zip

Download link Touchpad_WXP_16.2.11.3.zip

Download link TPM_WXP_2.1.1.0.zip

Download link WLAN_Atheros_WXP_9.2.0.470.zip

Download link WLAN_Intel_WXP_15.1.0.18.zip

48 thoughts on “Samsung Laptop Windows 7 Drivers for NP350E7C-S02UK (and Windows XP drivers !)”

  1. Here, here, Senor Charisma!

    I find it amazing that if I buy a consumer-grade laptop with Windoze 8 in the U.S. and I want to install Win 7, the manufacturers’ US websites will not have Window 7 drivers. (If you are buying a commercial-grade computer, Dell will downgrade the OS from Win 8 to 7 for a price) To get around this, I have to go to non-US websites, where the Windows 7 drivers are readily available. These businesses (Microsoft and the OEMs) believe Americans will blindly swallow whatever bilge they give us regarding their products and support.

    Yet, these same manufacturers’ IT department refuses to install Windows 8 on their own company computers. MS is trying to force IT into accepting the Windows 8 by putting that stupid Metro UI on Server 2012. Talk about a productivity-killer. Fortunately, most of us IT managers are running Server 2008 R2 and don’t need the paltry extras and touch-screen features of 2012.

    –CC

    http://meetcc.wordpress.com
    http://www.TheChiefGeek.org
    “When in doubt, use DOS”

    1. To paraphrase, Win 8/server 2012 wasn’t actually technically a big jump, they’ve just put a dumbass UI to modernise windows … In the process have made themselves quite unpopular with most serious IT people ?

      Cheers

      DC

  2. I’m not too keen on Samsung, other than that it seems okay. This from a non-computer keek. I have an Apple laptop and use it more as a glorified typewriter. One of these days I’ll take some classes.
    Thanks for following my blog.

    1. Agree entirely, for me was a cost based decision, money being no object I would have liked to have bought a MacBook Pro. Whilst I do geek a lot, quite large portions of my computer’s lives are spent as glorified typewriters too !

      My pleasure on the follow, and thank for following me and taking in interest in what I’m doing:)

      Sincerely

      Don Charisma

  5. Hey don, I also bought recently the potentially glorious NP350E7C-SO2UK, much research led me to it even though I was wary of win 8 It was the best hardware spec machine I could find to fit my needs, and thought if I really didn’t like win 8 i’d just downgrade. Didn’t do enough research to find that they only offer downgrade with win8 pro!
    Pretty broke right now and not happy about having to shell out more for something that should have worked right out of the tin so not thinking about purchasing win 7 right away and thought i’d give win 8 a proper evaluation.
    I think I probably echo quite a few people, I’ve gotten used to it and found ‘work arounds’ for the lost functionality that I need or previously had on win 7 machines. But i’m getting pretty sick of ‘making do’, when really I want to be able to harness the power that this laptop should be able to provide but is mired in software junk.
    I read in a few places that downgrading win 8 to win 7 was not that straight forward and some people saying that it could potentially brick the machine. Yours is the first mention I have found for the reasons why it is not that straight forward (the UEFI Bios). Is this the only issue that needs to be addressed before trying to install win 7 on this machine, and if I try to downgrade and it doesn’t work, do you reckon it should be fine just to reinstall win 8 again?
    I’m pretty tech savvy and know most previous versions of windows inside out…. windows 8 scares me!
    Thanks for any help you can provide (apologies for length of post, I ramble!)

    1. Hey Toby, it was fairly straightforward to downgrade to Win7. I installed on a different hard drive from the Win8. The UEFI bios and the drivers were the only issue. I’ll do a post on my blog going through the steps for installing Win7, not really particularly difficult.

      I’ll also send you an email with something that may help. WordPress doesn’t tell what your blog is, are you not a wordpress blogger ?

      Cheers

      Don Charisma

  6. Pingback: Windows 8 is … Crap, Rubbish, Awful, Terrible, Horrible, Slow, A Disaster, A Flop? | doncharisma

  7. Hey Charisma, Do you think that the Google search yields criticism because Windows is a Microsoft product? Did you check it out with Bing?

      1. I hadn’t looked at it myself, just wondered. I’ve used Apple exclusively for almost a decade and haven’t stayed in the MS loop except for where I have to.

      2. You and another of my blog readers seemed to think google had got it in for microsoft, so I wrote a whole new blog post on it … idea partly came from you, so credit where credit due 🙂

  9. Hi Don! Howdy from Houston — thanks for stopping by my blog! What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it?

    Hope to hear more from you soon-
    (That’s So) Jacob

  11. Nice reading about you

    Thanks for visiting my blog. Be in touch. Browse through the category sections, I feel you may find something of your interest.

  12. just curious, since you’ve had the experience with win 7 & 8 on the new machine, how does load times compare? I was’t sure about win 8 but i recently got a new little toy and after a little getting used to, i’m quite liking it

    1. hey bruceky … I used the win 8 a little today and after having to look up how to “use” it again (desktop/windows key+C), it does seem quite snappy … however there’s no software installed there, so always quicker on a “fresh” windows install … really just find the lack of start button and everything moved irritating in the extreme, microsoft generally improved in each version of windows, windows 8 isn’t an improvement as far as user interface concerned … so I stick with windows 7 for now, maybe windows 8.1 will be better …

      I’ve added you to links -> friends

      good luck with your blog, I’ll check back with yours for a good restaurant next time I’m in Bangkok !

      Keep in touch …

      Cheers

      Don Charisma
      https://doncharisma.wordpress.com

      3. I do prefer it to Ubuntu, which I find frustrating primarily because it’s hard to find a list of all the apps you have installed! Ubuntu is nice on a little netbook though.

  14. Just a note…I’m quite certain the Google search suggestions are not literal results…they are Google taking a stab at Microsoft. In every other case, when I start searching, and there are recommendations in the list…search results show up. The moment you type “Windows 8 is”, all the search results disappear. Additionally, if you keep searching for that prefix, the various adjectives change. Just another Google joke, I figure. Personally, I’ve found Windows 8 to be very likable…I think it is simply that it is different. Everyone wants a more modern OS, and yet no one ever likes change…. (I feel rather sad for such people…always stuck between the old and the new with no place to go.)

    1. Hi Jon, some beautiful pictures on your blog, love the family of Mallard Ducks !

      Maybe, not sure, haven’t read much on google vs microsoft, and I’d reckon that google wouldn’t want to be pissing off one of the richest companies in the world … but what do I know …

      Windows 8 probably is fine, I’m always slow to upgrade these days, and all my hardware runs win 7 fine … I reckon the new start screen and the lack of start button was a major mistake for microsoft, and they probably put these features back in 8.1 … I’ve been backing up my win 8 disc yesterday and today (again) so had another little play … not impressed enough, will wait for 8.1 and see how that is …

      Change depends on one’s perspective, a nuclear holocaust for instance would be a change most people would reckon is bad, and winning a lottery would be a change that most people would consider good … just depends on perspective … I don’t mind change if it benefits me and mine:)

      Good luck with your blog,

      I’ve added you to my links -> friends

      Keep in touch …

      Cheers

      Don Charisma
      https://doncharisma.wordpress.com

      1. Thanks for the compliments, and the links. 🙂

        Change is an odd thing…depends on the person, I guess. It seems that people don’t like to leave their comfort zones, though, and Windows 8 takes most people fairly far out of it. I think people will warm up to it eventually, once some of the feature kinks are ironed out.

        As for Google, they are about as rich as Microsoft, if market cap is any indication. They make digs at everyone. I think Google has more hidden gems in its site than any other, particularly in the “suggestions” as you search, or as the top search result for specific kinds of searches. A lot of it is really hilarious…and I suspect they are trying to be humorous with the Win8 “suggestions”…although it is also a little self-benefiting as well. 😉

        You should give Win8.1 preview a try. It’s free for now, and definitely an improvement over the original.

        I’ll keep in touch.

      2. Hi Jon, my pleasure …

        You were part of the inspiration for this post – https://doncharisma.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/windows-8-is-crap-rubbish-awful-terrible-horrible-slow-a-disaster-a-flop/ take a look, bing microsoft’s own search engine suggests windows 8 is terrible !

        Agree change is an odd thing. Personally I’ve been so far out my comfort that I’ve been scared stupid, so reluctant now to join the brigade that promote always pushing outside comfort zone. Personally I reckon build the comfort zone first, then push outside it. Part of an operating system’s function is to provide said comfort and protect the user from the inner machine code, which would be outside most user’s comfort zone. So I reckon with a new version of operating system or software for that matter, Microsoft, Apple and Google have a duty of care to make sure that comfort zone still exists … That’s the way I work …

        I’ve done my time experimenting with Linux flavours and platforms, Beta versions of Microsoft, conclusion I reached was largely the same as the above, stick with what’s familiar and works and doesn’t mean I have to spend days at a time fixing problems … means I can get on with the stuff I really want to like replying to you, or doing my accounting or doing my cartoons or writing blog posts …

        Speak soon,

        Cheers

        Don Charisma
        https://doncharisma.wordpress.com

  17. “Crap, rubbish, terrible, awful”. . . I read that and actually snorted. I haven’t tried Windows 8 yet, and I’m quite afraid, really. I miss the days of XP. . .

    1. Yes, it’s amazing how “little” hardware XP runs on … Windows 8 might grow on me, it’s rumoured MS are putting start button back … maybe then I’ll be tempted …

      Enjoy travels and learning:)

      Thanks for stopping by, I’ve added you to my links > friends …

      Keep in touch

      Cheers

      Don Charisma
      https://doncharisma.wordpress.com

      1. Ah, thank you! I appreciate that! You keep a good blog, from what I’ve seen so far. I just found the post hilarious because I was considering purchasing a laptop with Windows 8. . . and then decided against it!

      2. Windows 8.1 coming later this year, so might be wise to wait … I’m trying with the blog, wanted to do something this for a long time, and wordpress is the best thing I’ve seen so far !

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