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I got my hands on a Samsung XE700T1A, one of the ones handed out at one of the early Windows 8 BUILD conferences. It's been upgraded from Windows 7 and recovered from an image at some point, so there are three Windows folders on the 64GB SSD and almost no room left. I'd like to do a fresh install of Windows 8.1 but no matter how many guides I follow, it never works for me.
List of tutorials I've followed, unsuccessfully
http://patrickvhines.blogspot.ie/2011/10/installing-windows-8-developer-preview.html http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/samsung/55905-how-install-windows-7-ativ-smart-pc-pro-700t.html http://rockystepbystep.blogspot.ie/2012/07/installing-clean-windows-8-on-samsung.html http://www.samsung.com/global/windowspreview/data/1_Using_the_Samsung_Series_7_Slate_Windows_8_Consumer_Preview.pdf
And a bunch of others. I can't access the BIOS by any of the suggested methods. I have already updated the firmware so that might be the reason.
The only screen I can ever get to is the Recover screen.
Is there a way to reinstall Windows 8 from here? If I hold down "volume -" when powering up, I can get to this screen.
Kingston Data Traveller is my 16gb NTFS formatted bootable USB drive with Windows 8. Usually, the only option here is SAMSUNG MZMPA064HMDR-0. which is the SSD itself. Unfortunately when I select the Kingston it simply reboots back into the standard windows install again.
I need to access the BIOS, but how?
roryok
Posted 2014-08-20T20:17:49.850
Reputation: 672
It looks like it has UEFI. Format the pendrive to FAT32 and copy all files from a regular Windows 8[.1] ISO there. Then try to boot it. – gronostaj – 2014-08-20T20:28:49.003
I've never heard anyone recommend a FAT32 format for a bootable USB, but ok. I'll give it a try – roryok – 2014-08-21T08:13:42.313
1FAT32 is a "natural" format for small USB drives and memory cards unless you want to store big files (4+ GB). UEFIs can boot FAT32 and Windows CD is UEFI-ready, so simply copying files should make the pendrive bootable. – gronostaj – 2014-08-21T08:25:32.397
I ran bootsect.exe /nt60 on it just to be on the safe side. And it worked! I figured out how to get into the BIOS. I needed to hold down BOTH volume buttons when powering on the device. Once in the BIOS there was an option to Boot from USB. I'm pretty sure this wasn't here before (I did manage to get into BIOS a few weeks back but wasn't sure how it happened). Anyway I chose that and now I'm in windows 8 setup. Thanks! If you want to post this as an answer I'll accept it – roryok – 2014-08-21T08:45:36.887
1Little clarification - there is no regular BIOS. Thats UEFI. UEFI is BIOS replacement in modern computers, but it is still called BIOS by many people. – Kamil – 2014-08-21T09:34:26.580
Is the Windows installed on it 32-bit but you're trying to install 64-bit? – laggingreflex – 2015-03-01T16:53:36.710