ASUS U Series Bamboo Collection Owners Thread (U33JC/U43JC/U53JC)

Maybe some very light CAD, but if CAD is your primary function, I would not look at ultraportables. Most are too underpowered.

No, you can't really upgrade the processor.

 

Mostly ArcGis for light work, I'm just getting started.

So, I can't upgrade the processor, but is there any other customization that can be done to it, so I can get some extra power?

 

Dear Sir

How I can restore windows? While windows is starting CTRL F9 or F9 is not working and i can not see Asus Restore Screen. Could you give me true keyboard windows or harddisk restore key?

 

Hello,
I'm plannig to buy the U33jc and I want to ship it?
I would like to know what is the size of the laptop's box?
Did anybody noticed a new problem with the laptop?
Thanks

 

Hello everyone, this has to be one of the longest threads I've ever seen. Anyway here is my story. I've been shopping locally for a laptop since Black Friday to replace my beast, the HP zv6000 weighing in at 8 pounds plus 2-3lb? for power adapter. I need a laptop to get me through the last year of university studies. After all good deals on Black Friday were sold out I used that time to see what I like and what I don't like. 14" screen seems perfect and weight under 5 pounds under $400.. hard to find.

I walked into a Best Buy yesterday and looked at what they had to offer. I then asked if they have any open box computers.. It was an Asus and when he pulled it out I fell in love, it is a U43-BBA6. Box was shot and laptop was loose in the box but all clear foil was stil orignally taped on and computer looked brand new. Price: $299! Excellent size, weight, battery life and looks after doing some research. Took it to the car and it was password protected by previous owner. Closed the lid and started hearing a very loud screeching sound.. Thought it was the fan since I've read some Asus fans going bad. Wasn't hd since everything worked.

Took it inside and they did a restore, said it's most likely a software issue. Noise was coming from microphone. I come back and speakers aren't working. Drivers are there and volume bar shows everything functioning, including volume output.

So I took it home, reistalled Asus Realtec drivers, then drivers from Realtec website, nothing. Uninstalled SRS, Intel HD Audio drivers, reinstalled and still no sound. I then saw some issues of headphone jack, well the comp shows when I insert headphones and take them out there is no sound from headphones either. When adjusting volume I hear slight hissing about 2/3rd volume up through the headphones but it goes away on all other volume levels.

By the way, the screetching was from overboost on Microphone. Next I went into BIOS and turned on POST sound and adjusted volume to 5, no post sound..

I modified the registry entry that disengages speakers from turning off when headphones plugged in from 11 to ff to 00, still nothing.

I downloaded version 215 of BIOS but didn't flash it, never flashed a BIOS before and Asus software provided won't let me go to older BIOS.

There seems to be a slight twist? in the frame which causes the left click button to press itself so I tried to twist slightly opposite for that to go away. It still seems all the weight is on the charging front side of laptop with cd-side front barely putting any weight down. P,O,I,K,L keys are loud which I can live with. Seems like keyboard is up in the air on those keys and hitting something underneath.

I managed to check the speaker cable and its connected. Dissasembly seems to be a pita, no guides or directions to be found.

The dilema is I can send the computer to ASUS but if they can't fix it and my 14 days to return is over I'm stuck with a laptop with no sound. It was manufactured on December of 2010 and warranty is 12 month.. so to my understanding the laptop is out of Asus warranty as of this month.

I really want to keep it considering the specs and price I paid. Stepping down to a lesser and heavier Toshiba or Lenovo for more money is something I'm trying to avoid but might have to do.

My question, is there anything else I can try to get the sound working? Seems like its the soundcard not the speakers since headphones don't work either. But if soundcard is bad how is Windows telling me everything is perfect.

Otherwise I love this thing, might dye the bamboo black or dark gray one day so it complements the black screen and dark grey aluminum upper.

All the help appreciated.

 

Hey guys does any one know when / where we can find more info on the U43SD model? Is it worth waiting or is there a model that is worth buying now (in Canada)? I am trying to dig through this monster of a thread and am finding myself getting lost. Please take a look at my what laptop thread if you are a helpful kinda person.

 

Well, I solved this, so I thought I would post the solution.

After I had written the original post, I started getting the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE BSODs even on the factory image. I did an awful lot of troubleshooting (given the intermittent nature of the problem, it took forever), and pinned it down to two culprits: the wifi driver and the NVIDIA driver.

Both drivers I had gotten from the ASUS website. So I replaced the wifi driver with one I got from Intel's website, and I installed the latest beta NVIDIA driver. This didn't stop the crashes, however, because despite installing the latest NVIDIA driver, the old one was still lurking out there.

You have to make sure the driver file itself gets removed from DriverStore. It's a huge PITA, so you're better off just wiping the drive and starting from scratch with the new drivers. Once I did that, everything was fine. Laptop's been running a week now without incident.

 

Another option would be to use a utility like Driver Sweeper to completely remove the driver.

 

Oh agreed. My preference was just to wipe anyway.

 

It could be ok for you. I'm not familiar with the program you use but I use 3ds max 2012, ZBrush and Photoshop on my U33JC and it's done just fine. It'll stutter when things get really intensive but it does great for a bit of light modelling, sculpting or painting on the go.

In terms of upgrades, whilst you can't upgrade the processor or graphics chip you can step your RAM up to 8GB, that could only help matters.

 

Hoping there are folks still browsing this particular forum.

Well, I've owned a pair of U43JC-B1 Bamboos for almost a year now, and I have to say, I'm not thrilled.

Despite my optimism above, I still get shutdowns. It seems to happen mostly when closing the lid (despite all the thingies in Win7 and elsewhere set to "DO NOTHING" when the lid is closed). It's not a graceful shutdown or sleep, either; when I power up, I get a message about Windows not shutting down correctly.

The other issue I've had with the one my daughter uses: the hybrid graphics thing seems to be a huge PITA. Selecting the game's name in the config utility often doesn't work; you have to manually browse and find the game's EXE. Even then, sometimes it just wigs out and dumps you into Intel mode, and then the NVIDIA doesn't even show up as an option until you reboot (this is for games that let you select the adapter).

I realize this isn't meant to be a gaming laptop, but my daughter's not trying to run Crysis 2 at 60 FPS; she's just trying to play WoW or Star Trek Online. Skyrim was a joke.

Do these have known thermal issues? If I game for any length of time, they seem to get hot. I've tried pulling it apart and cleaning everything, making sure the fans are working, the vent is clear, and so on, but sometimes the palm rest is almost too hot to touch.

At this point I'm considering replacing them. Maybe I just got the wrong laptops for what my wife and daughter want to do (note: my wife doesn't game at all, but she does use Photoshop a lot, etc.). Newegg has a N43SL-DH51 for $939 that looks promising, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe Asus 14" laptops are the way to go. I know my old N51 never had serious thermal issues, nor either of our G series, but those are bigger, bulkier laptops. Wife and daughter prefer smaller/lighter, but if the 14" units won't measure up, I may have to convince them otherwise.

Thoughts/suggestions?

 

My W90 is down for repairs at the moment and I need a second machine to run Diablo 3 on (the first is a G74, so no problems there). Loaded it on the U43F and it actually runs better than expected using the integrated graphics.
But it got me thinking... some versions of these had real video cards, right? If I wanted to upgrade it, what card would I be looking for and where would I find one?

Thanks!

 

I do not believe the graphs can be upgraded, and given the thermal issues I've encountered with the built-in G310, I can't imagine a better card surviving without a total meltdown.

 

I've upgraded the ram in my U43JC-b1 to 8GB and the machine runs unbearably slow, posting is slow, boot takes 4 times longer and overall desktop performance is rubbish, Whats the issue? is this machine limited to 4gb? with the 4gb installed it runs much smoother. any ideas??

thanks

 

According to the specs on the ASUS page for the U43Jc, the machine maxes out at 4GB.

Personally I've retired my two. The thermal issues make them almost unusable. It's a shame that I basically threw nearly two grand down the toilet, but what can you do?

 

What kind of sorcery is this? i also own a u43f, uses the same chipset and nearly the same processor (540m) instead of the 460m, it handles the 8gb just fine, but it lacks any graphical computing power. if i was bold enough to swap the processors in these machines, would that solve my problem? I use lots of virtual machines for programming at school, so the extra memory would be very nice.

 

The memory limitation wouldn't be a CPU one, so swapping CPUs won't buy you anything.

It may be the U43 laptops can handle 8GB just fine; I was just quoting what the specs page says. In truth, if it didn't support it I normally wouldn't expect a slowdown; I'd expect it to either not recognize the memory or throw an error.

Have you tried more than one set of memory? Maybe the laptop is detecting it as really slow memory or something. I'm just guessing, here.

 

Ive run CPU-Z with both types of memory installed. The speed is 532 MHz and the latency is 7-7-7-20 with both types and the computer manages to recognize them quite well, in the BIOS and in windows. I've tested every combination of the 4 memory sticks at my disposal. Do you think slower memory would do the trick?

 

Can't imagine why it would need to be slower; the memory in mine is 667 MHz according to CPU-Z (factory installed 4GB).

I don't really have any idea why you're having an issue with the 8 GB.

 

Finally! I'm finally getting some good use out of my Bamboos, and I thought I'd post about it.

As I mentioned a while back upthread, I've owned a pair of these for over a year and a half now. I've mainly been disappointed. The performance has been sluggish, I've had freezes and BSODs, and the laptops get very hot. Running the laptop for more than, say, ten minutes causes the fan to kick on and run at full bore (i.e. very loud), and despite that the laptop becomes almost scalding.

Last night I was taking one and doing a clean Win7 install. Installing PowerDVD took over 20 minutes, and that's when I decided it was time to really try and get this sorted out. I completely disassembled the laptop, including removing the motherboard from the case. I removed the heatsink and cleaned everything. I vacuumed every last piece, using detail brushes to make sure every speck of dirt or whatever was eliminated. I re-applied the heat sink with fresh thermal compound on both the CPU and GPU, then re-assembled the rest of the laptop.

Now, admittedly it's been less than 24 hours. But so far, I am very optimistic. The laptop is snappier than it EVER was out of the box. Apps load and run smoothly. And the fan...well, if the computer is idle, the fan doesn't even kick on (or runs just barely). I left the laptop on overnight, and when I woke up, I heard no fan noise. The laptop was warm but not hot.

I ran WoW for about 15 minutes. The fan did kick on -- slowly at first, then it sped up a bit. But it never hit full bore. WoW ran smoothly (though at medium settings, admittedly). When I exited, within 15 seconds the fan stepped all the way back down.

I reiterate that neither of my U43Jc-B1 laptops have EVER been this good before.

My intention is to let this one run and use it as my primary personal machine for a week. If all goes well, I'll do the same to the second, documenting each step so I can post it here (if anyone is interested).

 

I figured it out! All i ahd to do was update the BIOS to ver. 216! now i have 8 gigs running smoothly!
Thanks for your input cdheer!

 

I noticed today that my laptop's keyboard started misbehaving today, and there is a number of keys that won't work. If I plug an external USB keyboard, everything seems to work fine. I would like to know how I can make sure that this isn't a software issue and in that case I should send the laptop to repair.

The failing keys don't seem to follow a pattern at all to me. From top left: F4, `, -, q, e, p, x, ... maybe a couple more. I also lost the vertical scrolling on my touchpad.

Any ideas?

 

Hello everybody. I'm new on this forum. I'm writing from Poland.
I have Asus U33JC-A1 since last year August.
Specification below:

Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer Inc. U33Jc
Chipset : Intel HM55
Processor : Intel Core i3 370M @ 2400 MHz
Physical Memory : 4096 MB (2 x 2048 DDR3-SDRAM )
Video Card : Intel(R) HD Graphics
Hard Disk : Western Digital WD5000BEVT-80A0RT0 ATA Device (500GB)


I have question about memory upgrade.
I have now 4GB and I want increase that value to 8GB.
Is it possible to do it?

 

I have the same question. The ASUS website says DDR3 1066 MHz SDRAM,2 x SO-DIMM socket for expansion up to 4 G SDRAM. But the HM55 Chipset supports 8 GB. Has anyone upgraded to 8 GB? Please let me know before I attempt to make a purchase, thank you.

 

Hello, I know this is a really old threat so this is a long shot.

I have this same computer and been having really bad heating problems to the point where I too just wanna completely dissemble this thing and clean every bit of dust and re-apply new thermal compound.

If you even get this, could you please update us on how your computer is doing after you did the clean out/re-paste? how is it lasting? and any dissemble guides are also very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

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I have the same request. My U33JC is running sluggish and I am not sure how to get it running quicker and will try a "cleaning" if it will help. I reduced all start-up programs to the basics and it still takes 3-4 minutes to boot up. I checked all other standard 'fixes' to run faster but to no avail. But I would like to know if the "cleaning" did help before I go there.

 

I've read some contradictory info on this board on whether it's easy or hard to remove and replace the original centrino 1000 card with the better 6205 wifi card. the 6205 are under $10 these days, so I would like know if someone could comment on how difficult this is. thank you

 

I have had a u43jc-x1 roughly since they came out. I swapped out the 500gb HDD for a OCZ vertex2-120gb SSD when I got the laptop, and have since had that and another vertex2 die on me. I have been running on an Intel 320 120g SSD since the 2nd vertex2 died, and have had no further storage issues.

I also attempted to upgrade the RAM to 2x4gb for 8gb total. I am running win8x64. I noticed poor battery life, high temps, and the fan always roaring. I also began having lots of BSODs related to IRQs, paging issues, and memory errors. The ram always tested clean on both windows and memtest. I tried to solve the issue (I figured the RAM was overheating) by removing the stickers on the dims (BAD IDEA: DON'T DO THIS!). I since misplaced/lost the stickers, and have found that dropping down to a single 4gb dim has resolved both the overheating and bluescreen errors. Not sure if the computer cannot handle 2x4gb sticks at once, or if one of the sticks was truly bad. If I can find the stickers (they came off easily, pretty sure I put them on one of those waxy papers stickers come on so I could re-apply them) I will RMA the stick I don't have in right now, and see if I can run @ 8gb w/o issues. I am running the v216 bios.

I like this laptop, however, some body parts of falling apart- the ODD face falls off, the plastic grill fins on the exhaust are cracked and some missing. I am looking to replace it if/when ASUS comes out with a comparable 4th-gen i5m laptop. Although there was a lapse in baked-in support by Nvidia for the Optimus solution, it now seems to be operating well, and I have a need for this in a future system, as I like to run some applications and VMs on the dedicated gfx. Updating to the latest driver for the Intel 802.11n 1000 card is also impossible for me- nothing but a BSOD and an inability for the hardware/drive to initialize!

I also will seek a system that is not dependent on specialty software from ASUS- support for the bamboo series pretty much stopped within a year and a half of the release, and I don't want to have a system with specials features and functions I get attached to that don't get longer support, and then disappear when I go with the generic drivers from Intel, Realtek, Nvidia, elantech, etc.

Are there any such 4th-gen i5 systems due from ASUS anytime soon? I am very shocked at the lagtime from all the notebook manufacturers in not updating their lines to the new cpus.

 

Just in:
I can't update to Win8.1x64.... on reboot a driver BSOD causes a rollback to 8. I think it is the same issue I have experienced with the Intel Centrino 1000N adapter causing BSOD when trying to install Intel's latest driver for win8x64. If this is not resolved by MS or ASUS, I will be seeking a new laptop... If ASUS has not turned around their med-long range support of their products, I may just purchase a surface2, or go with some other offering from another notebook maker that'll be selling Haswell-equiped products by year's end.

 

Just a report back. I am still using my U53JC, and getting very good results from it. I did increase the ram from 4 to 8 mb and add (replace old drive) with a 240gb Crucial SSD. When I got my new SSD I started over with a fresh install of Windows 7, and I think that is the best thing I ever did. I downloaded all of the drivers from the ASUS web site and put them on a disc. I then installed Windows 7 fresh, and then installed needed drivers. Amazing how much better (and faster) this thing is without all the "junk". My laptop operates better and faster than all of the new laptops that members of my family have bought over the past year.