ASUS N71JQ Owners Lounge

I just orderd my N71JQ-A1 with a 80GB SSD and 320 GB Seagate.
This is my first laptop with a SSD and have heard great things about them.

How should I use both hard drives to utilize great performance and efficiency?

I'm assuming that I should place my music, photos, media to my 320 HD. What about applications and software?

For example, if I were to install a game to my laptop, would I install the program files direcly to the SSD or 320 HD?

Also, since my OS is installed to the SSD, if applications are installed to the 320 GB HD, would it still work?

 

Double post, sorry!

 

So just to confirm: There ARE people here whose N71 fan's don't cycle on and off every 8 seconds, right?

I'm about to send mine in to Asus for "repair" (hoping to have better luck with whatever they send back to me, basically). That apparently will take up to two weeks total with all the shipping time, but before I'd like to confirm: this isn't a 100% universal problem, right?

 

Install everything that is important for your work, or play (including games) on the SSD...you want everything there so that the computer will have instant access to them, so that they launch and play fast, and so that there's continuity with your storage system.

Use the Seagate HD for media files, like your iTunes Library for instance if you use iTunes like I do, for storing files and pictures, everything that is of lighter consequence and not needed as critically. With an 80GB SSD you have plenty of room to install all your favored applications and games, and the OS of course with its updates and critical patches.

It you maxx out the RAM in the new N71JQ you can also eliminate the Page File from the SSD, as that will make it even faster responding as you can carry the Cache in RAM live as it were, and things will go very speedy for your SSD. Only do this if you have the 8GB of RAM installed though, as with 4 or 6GB of RAM you'll still need a Page File. :yes:

Welcome to the club here, and good luck with your new N71 notebook! Here's hoping that you get a good one, as most of us seem to have done that, that shipping is kind to the notebook and no damage occurs in transit to your place, and that the custom configuration goes off as planned.

These are fantastic notebooks, literally desktop replacements with all the power and speed of the Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6-2.8Ghz CPU and the great Radeon Mobility HD 5730 1GB DDR3 video engine, and I'm sure you'll find it a very appealing, and worthy machine once you've got yourself going on it.

 

Here is my problem i stuck it on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW2RKOXaek8

 

I had this problem and solved it by removing Power4gear. Actually I did a clean install, OS and drivers only, no Power4gear and no more fan issues. If you want to remove it from your existing installation you have to disable it before you can remove it.

When you have the fan issue, it runs in short bursts of full blast. When you do not have the fan issue it runs at different speeds for different lengths of time depending on workload.

I am quit sure it is a software issue, not hardware or firmware.

Dave

 

Interesting, Dave. I actually have removed Power4Gear and continue to have the fan issue (like you said, full blast for very short periods of time).

I suppose I'd like to try a true clean install with a Windows7 install that comes from some source other than Asus, so that I can be sure I don't have any of the baggage that may come along with that. I've heard some people say that you can download a trial version of windows and use your license from this computer to register that. Assuming this is true, could someone point me to where I can download such a copy of Windows?

 

It's the Internet you can find one somewhere hehe

 

It *must be* software related issues, because I never actually "checked" on the so-called fan issue with my new notebook, having it for some 5 days and counting as of tonight, but I categorically do NOT have this "fan issue" where it does what Dave says it does...short bursts of 'full blast' et al. When I am doing FAHome the fan runs @ 4000RPM constantly, and when I am not doing FAHome it ramps up when necessary, and ramps down when I am doing nothing at all without anything but minimal activity from the fan...no 'up and down' BS doing at all!

I think it's because of my clean install that mine is fine, but I did use the Asus 'notebook installer DVD ROM' to do the installation, and I did use the notebook's Driver and Utility DVD to install the drivers, save for ATI Catalyst 10.3, which I got from the ATI/AMD site proper...I didn't use a special, clean copy of Windows which had nothing to do with Asus, I used Asus's own OS but did not install any software, no games, and no bloatware (No ExpressGate either, which is 330MB in size!)...it's a lean, mean install and it does what I want it to do, luckily for me or I'd be ticked off a bunch, if I'd gone through all that and had a "fan issue" still! :GEEK:

I don't think that sending in your laptop to Asus is going to cure anything, by the way! I think you simply need to do a clean install, get rid of everything that is unnecessary with the OS and utilities, and you should be good to go! Asus is only going to re-image your HD with OEM crapolaware, and send it back and tell you "it's fixed"!

I think this is an "owner situation" to fix, not something for Asus to repair and/or fix! So to the person who wants to send in his new laptop for "repair" at Asus for this issue, you are just wasting your time, I think anyway!

Get busy, do a clean install with the tools at your disposal, whatever way you want to do it, and don't send the notebook in to Asus! I am sorry you have this problem, but I think you can fix it yourself, not Asus's territory to repair such a thing. It's not BIOS, it's not firmware, it's software that causes this I am certain...try that approach, and if I'm wrong with your situation my bad, but I'll betcha I'm right. :smile:

On a side note, I had a panic attack earlier tonight with the new N71JQ-/A1 notebook! I came into my "garage studio" where I am working with the new machine tonight, where it's quiet and nobody bothers me, no parrots to distract me (I have a couple big ones!), no wife, nobody but me, the computers, and the cars...and man, what a shocker! :cry:

There were all kinds of notices on screen about being "out of memory" and other anomalies! Well, how is that when I have 8GB of RAM? NOTHING would open, it all would crash upon opening! So I opened up Task Manager which doesn't take much RAM at all, and lo and behold there was a display in the Performance Tab of 7800MB+ RAM being used by something or other, and there was on screen a "Visual Basic has failed" notice....and then I just gave up and started looking in the logs quickly to see what was up.

Turns out there was an update to Visual Basic and the Net Framework that was "hanging up the computer" because the computer had updated, but I'd not restarted it afterward! YIKES! Don't ever do that!!! It can cause problems...so I shut down everything that wasn't crashed already, restarted or rather logged out, then logged back in, and voila! Everything is peachy-keen again!

I mean there were all kinds of anomalies to "adjust" back to normal after that....my screen resolution for graphics had bumped up to 125%, and all my Icons and Gadgets were HUGE, so that freaked me out, too! So now all is back to normal, and I've turned OFF 'Automatic updates' considering that I am still doing FAHome on this new computer, and don't want a repeat of the deal I went through tonight!

I didn't have any major Registry problems, luckily, only about 36 errors that Registry Mechanic caught and fixed quickly upon logging back in...so I think that tonight's exercise was one in "control" of the functions of the 'Automatic Update Service'...you know, I hate that part of the MS OS! I really, truly do!

Don't have that problem with my Macs, they are not so intrusive, you know!?? But leave a Windows machine on "default" for auto updating, and you can have problems like I just did tonight....a lesson to the wise.

That's my update for tonight, and I hope you all are enjoying your machines as I am enjoying mine!

 

This is more a bios related issue. I think the fan profile in the bios is not well programmed.
The fan instead of changing dynamically in speed is just cycling in the ON/OFF state (100rpm/3300rpm) every few seconds especially when the notebook is idle.

I think it exists in all the N71JQ machines. Some of us notice it especially if you leave the notebook in idle.
If you are doing regularly work on it then you notice it less common since then the fan is most of the time running between 3300rpm and 4000rpm dynamically.

My N71JQ is used for work so it runs 10 to 12 hours per day. When using it in the office I notice this problem less especially due to environment noise, but I find it irritating mostly at home in the evening where it is very silent.

Clean installing OS did not help and sending it back to ASUS will also not.
I have installed clean copy of Windows 7 64bit Ultimate on it. I have the latest drivers and the latest bios v205, but this problem is still there.

Though I do think it is little bit better than in the beginning when I first had the notebook with original setting from ASUS.

 

Just to let everybody here know.

There are currently two issues that need to be resolved.
1- The fan cycles ON/OFF every few seconds.
2- A very severe bios issue that occurs if you by mistake press Fn+ESC key. The notebook will hang completely.

Ken Lee from GentechPC is working on resolving these both.
I reported both of these to Ken and he forwarded them to ASUS R&D.

So hopefully very soon there will be a solution for both.
Ken Lee from Gentech PC is a great person. Usaully all the issues he forwards to ASUS gets fixed.
He has direct connections to ASUS. If you want to contact him concerning this matter you can PM him. His user id is GenTechPC .

 

Dave,
THANK you soooo much for your reply. I shall check those feedbacks out.

Thanks again as this means a lot to me.

 

Yah, I read a post from someone else that said the same thing. I just checked and MS is only offering the Enterprise version as a trial downdload, so that will not do you any good. You should be OK with the disk that came with your laptop. Let me get back to you with a list of what I did and did not install. There may be more to this than Power4Gear.

With regard to the BIOS update. This might be necessary to make Power5Gear work properly, but it is not the only solution to the problem. My case proves that.

My advise is do not send your laptop in to ASUS until they have a known solution to this problem. Shipping is not good for laptops.

Dave

Edit-----------------------------------------------

Here is the list of what I did not install:

Adobe_Reader
ControlDeck
LifeFrame3
Mult
Net4Switch
Power4Gear_Hybrid
Splendid_(N71J)
Virtual_Camera
ExpressGate
Trendmicro

 

hey!

first of all, i'd like apologize for my terrible english...
for those with the on/off cycling issues there's a workarround:
power 4 gear offers you some power profiles, for example quiet office.
you should set the cpu management to normal energy saving, max. performance to 100% and min. performance to 5% (other values are also possible, but not too high)
then you open catalyse control center, enable powerplay and set it so max. battery life time for plugged in and on battery.
you have to set this in ccc for each power4gear profile you want to use as a "silent" one
with this settings, the fan only speeds up on stressing the laptop!
but if you want more performance just switch to the high performance profile!
i hope this could help you
btw: this only works with bios 204, 205 is crap!

 

Your are right it may be a combination of Power4Gear and the bios problem.
Let's hope ASUS will fix it.

 

I am using the v205 since 5 days now. I did not notice any difference except that I can overclock the CPU by 5%.
As far as I know the only thing they changed in v205 is that they enabled this Overclocking function.

But maybe they did also something with the fan setting so that this work around you offer does not work anymore.

Ken told me that ASUS may send him some beta bios to test.
I will help Ken and ASUS by testing it on my machine.
If I get it from Ken, I will inform everybody here if it solves the problems or not.

 

Thanks for the info, but I tried this on my orignal install and it did not work for me.

Here is the list of what I did not install:

Adobe_Reader
ControlDeck
LifeFrame3
Mult
Net4Switch
Power4Gear_Hybrid
Splendid_(N71J)
Virtual_Camera
ExpressGate
Trendmicro

Clean install without these items = no fan issue for me at least

Dave

 

Exactly; you nailed it on the first try. I did not notice the [i386] directory on the recovery DVD, so I used my retail DVD, but we both got the same result.

If you put in the driver disk and let it autoplay you will get a list of the stuff that you did not install. If you have time I would like to compare notes on that. Maybe we can nerrow down my list.

Dave

PS, I figured you are a programmer

 

Thanks so much for the good advice guys. I definitely won't be sending my computer in to Asus.

Since I got the notebook I've reinstalled Windows 7 twice, once from the recovery partition and once from the recovery disc. The fan continued to cycle like crazy both times. That's why I was wondering about getting ahold of a copy of Windows 7 that didn't come from Asus. As someone else pointed out, it seemed that only the "Enterprise" edition was available online for download, though of course it is possible that I'm simply sucking at the internet and the regular version is available somewhere.

However, I will say that I wasn't careful either time about what I installed, though like I said, I have tried removing Power4Gear with no results. When I get home from work I'll try removing some of the stuff that Dave posted and see what happens.

I wonder though, what could be the difference between NEVER installing these things in the first place, and removing them later? Should that make a difference?

Also I'm very glad to hear that someone is perhaps working on a fix and has contact with Asus R&D.

 

It can make a difference, because most software does not clean up after itself in the system registry. The keys/settings usually get left behind.

Try removeing the things I listed before you reinstall you have nothing to loose.

Keep trying, you can and will resolve this.

Dave

 

As far as I know this routine on the disk is buggy. This works only if you did not install any newer versions of software than the once on the disk.

I have all the latest ATK drivers installed but the disk report that they are not installed.

Are you guys using the versions of the ASUS drivers and software that came on the disk?

When I did a fresh install of Win7 Ultimate 64bit last month, I looked on the ASUS servers and for almost each driver and tool there was a newer version that I downloaded and installed.

 

I have a Technet Plus account and I have access to all the Windows 7 version DVDs in all languages.

If you were living somewhere near me, I could have borrowed you an installation disk so that you could have done a fresh install.

 

Hello,

I'd like to ask a couple of questions regarding N71JQ:
1. Has the fan issue been resolved?
2. The Core i7 720QM is supposed to be running at 2.8GHz in overclocked mode - is it possible to overclock it to highest turbo mode in BIOS or by other means on this laptop?
2. Has anyone Linux installed on N71JQ?
3. Even if not, would someone (hopefully someone with TY005X version) be so kind and boot from a fresh Ubuntu installation CD ( http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download - 64bit version)
open up a terminal and run the following commands:

Code:

cd Desktop
sudo lspci -vvv > pci_devices.txt
sudo lsusb -vvv > usb_devices.txt

then copy the resulting text files to a USB stick (just like on windows)
In case lspci and lsusb isn't present on a system, typing the following in the terminal should install them:

Code:

apt-get install pciutils
apt-get install usbutils

Gathered information is needed in order to determine to which extent Linux is supported on N71JQ and which peripherals are supported by Linux kernel or by other means.

Thanks

 

Got response from Asus today that they will rework the BIOS to fix for:

-Fn+ESC cause system to hang.
If users wants to set the system to sleep mode by pressing FN+F1 but could accidentally press ESC instead of F1.


-fan speed switching between 100rpm and 3300rpm.

100rpm>3300rpm within every few seconds could be very annoying in a quiet environment.

Thanks to Turbogear for providing useful information as usual.

 

Thanks for your detailed response regarding the correct usage of the SSD rexrzer727.



On another note, I have been hearing a lot about this PowerGear Software in this forum. Is this software preinstalled to all N71JQ laptops or is this an optional installation?


Also, I have read that I would need to create my own Recovery Discs.
Any recommendations on what software/drivers/etc. should be included in these discs so that it will be close to a clean install?


Thanks for all your help guys!

 

The Power4Gear is an ASUS software that is responsible for power management on all the ASUS machines.
It is pre-installed on all the machines.

From my experience with using ASUS notebooks of 4 years and three laptops (F3JP, M50Vm, N71JQ) (XP, Vista, Win7), I did not have too many issues from the power4gear.
Except that onces with windows Vista about 1.5 years ago, I had some BSODs. That happened after a Windows Update related to power management conflicted with P4G.
It was fixed within a week by ASUS releasing a new version of P4G.

I also remember M60J had a fan problem where Power4Gear shut the fan completely in "Quier office mode" and made the notebook extremely hot.
This was a combination of bios and P4G problem and if I remember correctly it was fixed through a bios update.

As far as I know the latest N71JQ come without a recovery disk, but there is a tool installed within windows (AI Recovery) which you can start in order to make recovery disks.

This process requires 4x 4.7GB DVDs.I tried with the double layer DVDs, but this tools did not work.

 

I deleted a few posts in this thread.

Please take up personal nuances with members privately via the PM system, not openly in the forums. Alternatively, contact a moderator.

 

Thanks a lot for your support.

As I said before, we should keep this forum technical.

 

Hey guys,

Just wanted to let you know that this thread has been a major help to me and one of the main reasons for me to order the N71JQ. At first I ordered the N71JV, as it is probably sufficient for my needs right now, but the people at comeuro.net were so kind to tell me it was only available with a German keyboard. As I'm a Dutchman living in the UK that wouldn't be very useful. Later on I was able to order the JQ in Holland without the VAT, so it only costs me about 100 euro more for this beasty. Can't wait 'till it gets here!

Anyway, I appreciate the discussions, at lot of you have been of major help (Turbo, DaveS, and many more).

Peace!

 

Asus, Gentech, and any personalities aside, there has been an interesting discussion ongoing about the "fan ramping up and down" issue. I am going to list all the drivers and utilities that I have installed in my N71JQ-A1, and maybe this will help someone else with the "Fan Ramping Up & Down" issue.

The problem *may be BIOS and Power4Gear* related, it may be other applications, drivers, control panels, utilities, in conflict that are causing this problem in many of your computers...at this point who knows what is exactly causing this nagging and troublesome issue. By listing what I have installed in my computer I am giving other N71 owners the chance to compare it with what they have installed, and how their Energy Saver and Power4Gear settings are working presently, and maybe it will help solve the issue in someone else's computer.

DaveSwan and I are two very good examples of this system working correctly, without having the fan "ramping up and down" going on, and it may be it's because of the combination of things that we've installed, and how we set our Energy Saver Controls in P4G CP and the Advanced tabs of the Energy Saver also.

I am also contributing a graphic to this discussion that shows what my fan does at idle, which is between 2400RPMs and 2700RPMs, (high, but I am running P4G in High Performance Mode, 100% CPU Loaded up in High and Low settings for the CPU, "Never" for all HD and Hibernation processes in the 1st panel, and display "OFF" after 10 minutes of no activity, and that's my entire P4G setup in the CP itself).

My fan runs @ or about 2400-2700RPMs constantly, never varies unless I am on battery, and on battery it runs @ about 1200-1300RPMs constantly, without variations like others are talking about, ie NO Up and Down "ramping" going on at all.

When I have FAHome on with 100% CPU Load, the fan ramps up to 3900-4300RPMs, and stays there without any variation to speak of, just when the room is cooler it goes lower, and when it's in the heat of the day it cycles up a little higher, to 4000+RPMs but NO "Up and Down" Cycling of the fan whatsoever, it just does NOT do it.

I checked what I left out of my installation on my N71-specific Driver & Utility DVD, and I left out very little, save for the ExpressGate software package (c.330MB), and I pretty much installed everything else of import, including P4G 1.25, which many think is the stable P4G, and the one I've installed on the two Asus computers that I own, ie this one, and my UL30VT-X1, which has a switchable graphiX Boost button/switch, and the CULV SU 7300 1.3Ghz to 1.9Ghz CPU (where I run it, which is a 47% overclock)...this machine also has NO FAN CYCLING whatsoever, and I've installed the OS and drivers and utilities similarly to how I did this machine.

I really have no secrets to tell, I simply used the "Recovery DVD" for Asus notebooks, then used the Driver and Utility DVD ROM, but I went through the Auto-Run list and unchecked a few drivers that I didn't need or want, and ExpressGate, and ALL software was unchecked, so I have no games, and no bloatware on this machine.

I used Glary Registry Cleaner, and Registry Mechanic to remedy all of the hundreds of Registry errors that are generated from any install, and I also restarted multiple times during the install process, stopping the Auto-Run after groups of drivers were installed, restarting, then using the Registry tools to clean things up, then on with more installs, rinse, and repeat, until done.

I wish I could personally fix ALL of your computers, but I think we are our own worst enemies when doing this clean install business: if it's not done correctly you can end up with worse problems than you started out with.

Current Utilities & CP's Installed by Driver/Utility DVD ROM+ some other programs:

A1 Recovery Burner
Asus Virtual Camera
Control Deck
eManual
Fast Boot
Fancy Start
Lifeframe Utility
Mult Utility
NBProbe Utility
Power4Gear Hybrid v1.25
WinFlash
Asus Data Security Manager
Asus Live Update
Asus Splendid Utility
Net4Switch
Smart Logon
ATI Catalyst 10.3 (from ATI/AMD Web site)
ATI HDMI Sound Suite (ATI/AMD site)
Adobe Reader 9.3.2 (from Adobe Site)
Flash Player 10.1.53.7 (BETA from Adobe Site)
AlCore USB Card Reader
ATK Generic Function Service
ATK HotKey
ATK Media
ATKOSD2
BtwMfgcMM (BlueTooth utility)
Cyberlink Hi-Def Suite (v9.0.4-licensed copy for LG products)
CyberLink InstantBurn
CyberLink LabelPrint
CyberLink Power2Go
CyberLink Power DVD
EmBatpower 1.0.4.9 (Battery utility)
Driver Magician (Driver Utility/backup, installation)
Intel Management Engine Componentry (for Intel SSD's)
Intel Rapid Storage Technology (for Intel SSD's)
Intel Solid-State Drive Toolbox (for Intel SSD's)
iTunes
Keyboard Fn Driver
Quicktime
ETDWare PS/2-x64 7.0.5.9_WHQL
Logitech Setpoint v4.20b
Paragon Alignment Tool (PAT--SSD Alignment checker)
PowerBackup
Powerproducer
RealTek High Definition Audio Driver
SRS Premium Sound Control Panel
WIDCOMM BlueTooth Software
Broadcom BlueTooth-Windows Driver Package
Wireless Console 3

That's All Folks...but for my licensed programs which
I am not going to list here, many for my work...
Hope this helps somebody out...

 

Dear rexrzer727,

Thanks a lot for your contribution - I really appreciate it!
Although it's my first post here, I've been around for a while and have read all your "discussions" with Turbogear and I have to say that BOTH OF YOU are SO IMPORTANT for us here in this forum and it really makes us sad to see you argue all the time... You should both unite together and not "fight" against each other...

Anyway, Thanks to both of you!!!

 

+1 My thoughts exactly! I've been watching and reading too and I have learned a lot from you both about this fabulous notebook. I will probably be ordering an N71JQ soon, though I'm in no rush so I'm waiting to see if Asus will have a resolution for the fan issue before I do order it.

 

From my side, I say sorry to all the members because I got carried away. :confused2:

There was too much criticism to my work in the forum in the last days.
In the future I would avoid this.
In case of personally attacking posts, I will contact the moderator Charles P. Jefferies.

I got a responce from Ken that ASUS is investigating the following two issues and hopefully there will be a beta bios soon:
1- Issue of Fn+ESC key making the system completely hang.
2- Issue of fan ramping up and down.

Sorry, guys but I will not post the beta bios here when it becomes available.
It would be only available through Ken Lee.

 

Now, I am just starting to notice the fan ramping issue, my cooler pad is louder than the fans in the laptop, so i think it went unnoticed by me.

but here is something I just thought of, could this be a power supply issue? could the power supply be underpowering the laptop?
I only present this as an idea because of hearing that on battery power, it is not as noticeable?
if this the case, then could it be a power management issue?

I am no mood to do a clean install on this laptop, so I am hoping the solution is an easy fix, it doesn't really bother me, since my cooler fans overpower the laptop one. anyways, just a thought that occurred to me.

 

Yes, this problem annoys once you start to notice it.
I don't think it is power supply issue. If power supply was underpowering then the CPU will be throttling and would be unstable.

You are right it is some sort of power management problem. I still believe the fan profile in the bios need to be refined.

The reason it does not happen on battery is that the CPU frequency is limited to 930MHz when on battery. So in that case it is underpowered and does not heat that much and the fan does not have to ramp up and down frequently.

In my experience reinstalling the operating system will not help. I tried it, but the problem is still there.

 

I have spent some time today trying to find some solution to the fan problem. Here are what I have tried:

I clean unistalled the power4gear in the safe mode, and tried different setting in the windows power management, but fan problem was still there.

I installed different versions of power4gear starting from v1.1.25 upto 1.1.34 and I tried lot of different combination of setting while each version was installed, but the problem was not solved.


I have also stressed the system by running both FurMark and Everest stability test.
The fan initial always start of at 100rmp, jumps to 3300rmp directly and after that it dynamically increase in small steps.
The maximum fan speed I got it to was 5200rpm.
With both CPU/GPU stress tests running in parallel, the temps reached to around 90°C for CPU and 95°C for GPU.
When both tests are stopped, the fan drops dynamically in small steps down in speed until 3300rpm.
Then it stays at 3300rpm for some time until the temps are low enough.
After that the fan goes to 100rmp and starts to cycle every few seconds between 100rpm and 3300rpm.

I have been also observing that the problem is most evident when the room temperature is lower.
During the day my office was struck by sunlight and the room temps were around 25.5°C. The fan ran almost the whole day at 3300rpm.
In the evening the temps in the office were around 21°C and the fan started to cycle up and down.

So far I have seen that the fan jumps direct between 100rpm and 3300rpm. It never ran at any speed in between.

 

Thanks again Turbogear - Much appreciated!
One of the reasons I ordered this Laptop yesterday was the fact I knew there is someone out there who takes care of problems when they occur and has GREAT connections...

 

I am not saying it's the answer, because there very well could be a BIOS or CP conflict, software conflict of some kind that is causing this, or for all I know the temp sensors for the CPU/GPU are not doing their respective jobs right, or are in conflict with each other...I dunno, I'm NOT an expert in this laptop contrary to everyone's expectations about me, personally.

I just have a lot of experience in computing in general. Hell's Bells, I've only had this thing 1 week today, so I have a lot to learn about it also. I am investigating overclocking the machine right now, and it seems there's some interesting things going on there also, so I'll be happy to report whatever I find out in that regard if people are interested...let me know, and I'll be happy to tell all of you about overclocking the 720QM.

The alleged fan issue is perplexing to me, personally, because I don't have it happening, so I don't have a controlled experiment like some of you have ongoing with respect to discovering its cause. If you want my honest opinion about it, if it's happening like you say it is all of you...I would tend to think it's a hardware issue of some sort and it may or may not be fixable.

Ramping between 100RPM and 3300RPM as Turbogear reports is very interesting to me, because the CPU/GPU would seem to be needing more cooling than they are getting if this is in fact the case, and if it happens in more than just his laptop. In other words, something in the hardware of the computer isn't working optimally, or isn't working within specs, because I do not think that Asus would purposefully design in a fan profile that would constantly be "searching" for a cooling speed that works for the CPU and GPU together...which is what it sounds like is happening with these notebooks with the issue. :wub:

My mind is 100% open to whatever you nice people have going on, so if you say you've got a fan issue like that, then I am interested in helping you figure it out and/or fix it, if possible. But if it's a hardware issue as I suspect it may well be, it will take Asus's active involvement to remedy this nagging concern and activity of the fan. THAT is the bottom line, Gentech, and anybody's connections notwithstanding, it is ASUS and ASUS alone who will remedy this deal if it's indeed happening like you all say it is happening. :yes:

I am really sorry if this is bothering you all, and that it's happening to your otherwise stellar notebooks. So don't think I am not feeling for your problem, because I am, and it would bug the living crap out of me if that was going on with this notebook!

OK, enough said about theories and suspicions, good luck Asus and I hope that you are reading this discussion, because there are a LOT of owners here who apparently have this terribly annoying issue, and you'd best get to solving the problem or some owners are not going to be pleased about Asus as a company.

On another subject, I had my UL30VT-X1 serviced by Asus as BOTH my RAM modules just up and freakin' died! Right, both at the same time just quit working 100%, and I told them what was wrong. I told them I didn't want my HD re-imaged and Reformatted and/or RECOVERED as they say, and by George they read my letters and email, and they left my HD alone, replaced the RAM modules with 1333Mhz "Nanya" modules, and cleaned it up to beat the dickens, then returned it to me FedEx Express (overnight) Saver shipping.

The point is they are capable of doing the right thing, so don't give up on the company just yet! They are apparently a good company when it comes to service, at least my experience says that 100%...Let's just encourage Asus to come through with a FIX to this nagging fan issue! Keep writing them email if you haven't yet done it, and most of all report this problem to Asus service/Tech Support and let them know you are all very UNHAPPY about this deal, because I sure as heck would be if I had the problem!

That's all for tonight, and I have no other report other than to say that my notebook continues to work 100% aok fine, and it's merrily crunching an A3 #6040 Folding@Home Work Unit right now, and it will be crunching THAT particular WU for a long, long time until it's finished...it is going like 1% every 24 minutes, so go figure that out for time! Hah-Hah! THAT is a workout...this @ 100% throttle/Load.

I wish all of you a good evening, and May God Bless!

 

I just wanted to let anyone like me considering purchasing this model know that I received a Costco email last night with the N71JQ-X2 on sale for $1099 after $150 savings. The specs on the Costco description are not as detailed as on some of the resellers sites but it appears that it's the same as the N71JQ-A1 except that there is no Blu-Ray (which doesn't matter for me) and the hard drive just says "640GB (7200RPM) SATA hard drive" so I'm not sure if that means it has just one 640GB or two 320GB hard drives.

It seems like a good deal but I guess the negatives are that there is no opportunity for customization and you probably can't get the very reasonably priced Asus 3rd year of warranty coverage that you can get at the other resellers. You also have to add sales tax at Costco if your state has a tax. For these reasons I'm still inclined to buy from an Asus reseller. But I was going to see if my local Costco had one that I can actually look at before I order one. I have not yet seen an actual N71.

 

Has anyone tried using a Memory Stick Duo in the

'8 in 1 card reader, SD,MMC,MS,MS-Pro,XD,Smart Media,mini SD w/ adapter,MS-Duo'

I need to for work and just tried and it just fell inside, and I had to put the computer on its edge and use some tweezers to get it out.

An sd card works fine in this slot.

and the MS-Duo worked fine on my previous laptop in its multi card reader.

btw I have the N71JQ-TY013V version

tia
Steve

 

It sounds like 2 320 gig 7200 rpm drives, because 640 gig drives are not avaialble with a 7200 rpm speed. Amazon.com has the A! listed this way also.

It sounds like a good deal and costco's return policy is legendary. I wonder what resolution the display is though. The X1 is 1366 x 768, which is pretty corse for a screen this size. The lack of BD is no big deal.

Dave

 

Exelent; this is the kind of feedback that I was hoping for. ASUS is standing behind their products in a meaningful way. Now I am even more glad that I went with the A1 version and it's 2 year warranty.

Dave

 

Regarding the fan issue,

I do not have much more to contribute, but I want to say to anyone that is on the fense about buying this laptop, that the fan issue is not a deal bracker in my experience. The fan is not that loud in the first place. It is only bothersome if you look for it. MY previous Laptop, (Sagar 8890) had a high pitch whine that was much more bothersome. It kinda depends on your point of reference I guess.

Some one asked about Overclocking:

The current BIOS version 1.04, does not allow for this, but the beta BIOS version 1.05 does. Hopefully the final version will include OC options.

A word of warning regarding BIOS updates: First if you have done BIOS updates in the past disregard this comment. For those that have not done BIOS updates in the past, don't start with a beta version. Wait for the final version and you will be better off in the long run. Make sure that you have a copy of the previous stable BIOS version before you go for a new one. The process is a piece of cake, but the results of a bad or incomplete update can be a dead laptop.

I plan to wait for the final release myself.

I love this Laptop

Dave

 

From the Costco web site description: 17.3" HD+ LED display (1600x900 native resolution)

 

Yes, the fan ramping up and down is not that load. It is mostly annoying only when you sit in a quiet environment.
It should not be a deal bracker.

Except for small problems, the notebook is very good.
It is a real power house in a small form factor.


Dave have you tried to measure fan rpm?
Does your go directly from 100rpm to 3300rmp every time?

Mine does that. The fan does not run at any intermediate speeds, between 100rpm and 3300rpm. Above 3300rpm then the fan speed is changing dynamically in small steps. I was able to push it to 5200rpm.

Yes, beta bios is a risky business. That's why I said I will not post it here when I get it.
It will only be available through Ken.

 

Yeah; pretty close. I just tested with everest last night after reading your post. The big difference between my orignal install and current install is that the fan cycles for longer periods of time. It was real short bursts orignally, now the duration varies and is longer.

I guess I should not call mine fixed, more like improved to a point where it does not bother me. I am pretty picky about noise though, to the point where my desktop and HTPC are both liquidcooled with a Zalman Resorator 1 V2.

My low rpms are 100 to 400; middle rpms are 3100 to 3500 and on up from there. It still adjusts in large steps in the lower range, which is undesirable.

My MSI Wind12 Netbook runs at almost constant fan speed, slowly moving the rpms up or down as needed. It would be nice if the N71JQ did the same.

Bottom line is that the change in RPM should be linear with respect to system load/temp.

Dave

 

If the difference between the X2 and the A1 is *only* the BluRay optical drive, that is one thing. However, the 2nd year warranty is of extreme importance to me personally, and if your X2 version (which IS different from the Amazon.com version as the Amazon.com version comes not only w/out the BluRay, it also has only one (1) HD and the 2ndary HD compartment does not have the brackets, cables, and I/O gear necessary to add that 2nd HD, so that deal, to me, is a loser: no 2nd year warranty, a 1366 x 768 LCD, no 2nd HD=a bad choice vs the A1 from a reseller w/BluRay, 2-years Asus warranty, and a 1600 x 900 pixels LCD resolution) doesn't have 2 years of warranty it's a toss-up deal.

The only way you're going to find out if it's got 2 years of warranty is to buy it, and with CostCo's return policy being what it is, you are risking nothing! I would order it if I were you and the BluRay optical drive is of no consequence to your needs...you can *always* return it at CostCo.

That is a good thing! I'd order that deal and take the chance on having 2 years Asus warranty or not...you can always return it without penalty of any kind at CostCo. You will most likely not see one of those computers for a "Hands On" experience at CostCo, and what's to see anyway?

It's a big ol' laptop with 7.5 pounds weight, has a very cool "Carbon Fiber"-look LCD cover, a deep, dark, flat *brown* (as opposed to black) color, with a semi-rough and pliable palm-rest and surround-keyboard area...it's not a real exciting thing to "look at", you know?

However, once you start it up and begin to use it your experience really begins, and the Intel 720QM Quad-Core 1.6-2.8Ghz CPU, Radeon Mobility 5730 Graphics engine truly compliment one another for a very fast user GUI experience; the keyboard is full-sized with number pad and full Fn Keys that do all the tricks and treats like other Asus notebooks do; the display, albeit not 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, is very acceptable, with xlnt color truism and depth, viewing angles are much better than in smaller Asus laptops...etc etc. :wink:

I am not at my N71 right now but for a "desktop replacement notebook" it's really a winner. I mean you can do ANYTHING on it that you can on a desktop save for a large project like making a movie/recording video/audio on a large scale where you'd need a vast RAID array and tons of storage, ie things like that where only a desktop with massive storage will suffice. Other than that situation you just cannot find a laptop with its features for anything close to its price...with a 2 year warranty to boot it's a slam-dunk deal!

Either way, the CostCo deal, or an authorized reseller deal, you just cannot go wrong--and you're going to order it eventually anyway, it seems, so pick one and get on the road, John Wa! You won't regret it I promise you, it's just got so many positive things going for it you just cannot go wrong. :yes:

As an aside, if CostCo is now selling this notebook, it has truly come full-circle with respect to availability and selling price, so this is a very healthy sign for those of us who are already owners. To me it means that Asus will solve this fan-ramping up and down deal eventually with either a hardware fix, or a BIOS or software fix, whatever is causing the problem is going to be figured out eventually, sooner than later.

Thanks for reporting the CostCo deal, it's appreciated a bunch!

 

I own the X1. The screen resolution is 1600x900. It is not 1366x768 as several people have said now. I suppose it is possible that some X1's have the lower res screen, but mine does not. Just to let people know.

 

rexrzer 727: You misread my post....the Costco unit does have the same 2 year warranty available at the other resellers. I said that you can't buy the 3rd year Asus warranty.

From the description on the Costco web site: Warranty: 2-year Global Warranty, 1-year Accidental Damage Warranty, 30-day Zero Bright Dot Flawless Display Guarantee

 

Every single version of Asus N71 has 1600x900 screen resolution and it's 100% certain.