ASUS U24E Review and Owners Lounge

Congrats and applause.

Great work jamesman, I've been keeping a lookout on this thread to see how things would work out.

How well can the U24E dissipate the heat of a quad at full blast?

 

Thanks, Vic!

The U24E handles the quad very well, actually. Even though it's TDP is a full 10w higher than the 2620m, it's lower clock speed helps to stop it from generating an overbearing amount of heat. In my load tests (conducted with IntelBurnTest) I've found that at 100% CPU usage, both the 2620m and 2630qm max out at about 80*C. At that temperature, the internal fan ramps up to full bore. Thankfully, in real world applications, I almost never seen anywhere near 100% utilization.

After just "using" the laptop normally, I've found it operates around 55*C. For reference, that's in the middle of a Skype video call, with a few Chrome windows open as well, and some apps running in the background.


Here's a screencap

 

Thanks Jamesman - would you say the system flies because of the SDD or the memory/processor upgrade?

Cheers GPC.

 

As you might expect, the SSD decreases boot and shutdown times by quite a bit, and also helps with loading programs. However, the added RAM and cores also keep Windows feeling a bit snappier when I have a lot of applications open.

I'm going to be running a few benchmarks this morning. I'll add them to this post when I get them done so you can see the comparison to the benchmarks that Allurgroceries did initially.


Edit, here's the passmark score.





Also, SSD benchmark (running in AHCI mode with current firmware)





And here's the Windows Experience Index

 

@jamesman32

Congratulations!

I also upgraded to a SSD. But I'm having some issues. Every time I turn it on it shows up the bios screen, and doen's detect the drive. Then I just have to "save and exit" and it runs normally. Rebooting causes no problem.

The drive is a 115Gb Phoenix Evo. I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 64, but I think the OS is not the problem.

No luck with my upgrades

 

Odd thing is, I'm having that issue too! The exact same sequence too. Every time I turn the system on, it goes to BIOS, and then I have to save and exit and then it recognizes the drive and boots normally. I also noticed that SATAII SSDs are not recognized by Windows Installers in AHCI mode.

I had to install the SSD in SATA mode, and then change the drive to AHCI boot in the registry, and then change it in the BIOS, and then it worked. Still has the weird boot issue you described though. However, AHCI is noticeably faster than SATA. Seq. Read times went from 80 mb/s in SATA to 230 mb/s in AHCI.

So yeah, OS has nothing to do with the issue. I've got it in Win7 too.

 

I wonder if writing some emails to the Asus support would accelerate that they release a bios that resolves this.

In my case, I felt better improvement because of the SSD that the memory (4Gb to 8Gb upgrade). I'm stuck with a 2330M waiting to find some quad at good price. But with the Engineering Sample I tested, I only felt some improvement with and 1080p video editing test (a bit better fps playing from the editor's timeline).

 

That make 3 of us

The problem don't exist with my 1st unit, but happenend on 2nd unit

Can be fixed by changing sata mode from achi to ide mode (os won't boot neeed reinstalling window), and i notice when changing achi to ide mode in the bios the sata device that can be recognized (but grayed out) changed from 6(ahci) to 4(ide)

 

Confirmed here! Mine boots normally in ide mode. I wonder if this would solve the sata III recognition problems.

The performance drops about 15-25%, depending on the test, but until they release a new bios it is fine.

ACHI


IDE

 

I can live with the performance drop, the problem are: does TRIM command and garbage purging in SSD works in IDE mode?
After Researched the internet the answer still vague

If this a bios problem, why only exist in some unit? not all?
In my case:

And:
If my (vague) memory serve my right when changing achi to ide mode in the bios with the good unit the sata device doesn't change 6(ahci) to 4(ide)
^ can someone confirm my (vague) memory ...ANYBODY? ineed that to prove my theory

 

I'm looking at installing a 750Gb Seagate Momentus XT into my U24E - has anyone any idea if the SATA 6Gps drive will work with the current BIOS?

Cheers, GPC.

 

About my previous post http://forum.notebookreview.com/8156008-post97.html (the strange graphic performance gap between the 2760qm and the rest of the Sandy Bridge QM series), I've just received an answer from the people at passmark:

PassMark Support Forums - View Single Post - Intel HD i7-2760QM video benchmarks

 

So far, most if not all, SATA revision 3.0 (SATA 6 Gbit/s) drives, SSDs & HDDs, have had issues and none have proven to work correctly.

So what they're saying is that the benchmark for the 2760qm was higher because the test is taking into account a descrete GPU? And since most of the tests were ran on highend computers with this processor and some other Nvidia GPU, then that impacted the performance test results? That makes sense. It would be great if we could see how each CPU/HD3000 GPU would perform all by itself. I think then we would be able to see how the CPUs stack up. I would've thought a 2920xm would've been at the top with the rest of the i7s following (from an overall performance standpoint).

 

Exactly. I was about to spend almost twice as much money in a 2760qm (compared to a 2630qm), hoping to double the graphic performance, relying in the Passmark numbers. Good I didn't. Bad that I already got a 1600MHz ram set (overkill for the 2630qm).

They agreed this is a field to improve on the benchmarks: Intel HD i7-2760QM video benchmarks - PassMark Support Forums

 

Seeing as how dasaki, jamesman32, & zentrad are having some SSD issues and posting results, I thought I would post my experiences with my SSD so far. This is using a Samsung 470 Series (128GB SATAII) SSD, latest firmware, and "optimization tune" with Samsung SSD Magician Utility. TRIM is enabled, but I forget exactly how it was that I verified this in the past. I remember using Intel SSD Box utility (which I still have) & verifying one of the parameter, TRIM, was enabled by Windows automatically (and it was). Superfetch, defragmentation, & indexing service have been disabled by the tune and Readyboost is not available. A custom power configuration, "Samsung SSD Magician," has been applied.

I have not experienced what you guys are describing at all (BIOS boot issue using an SSD). However, I have experienced a BSOD & a slow SSD boot problem after installing suspicious software. The slow boot problem happened after I had installed TreeSize Professional & other software from thepiratebay.org; it seemed like a software, NOT HARDWARE, issue to me because my computer was booting very fast prior to that incident. Then afterwards the slow boot was VERY noticeable. I had to reinstall Windows 7 Pro after that to fix the slow boot problem. The BSOD happened AFTER I had installed Windows 7 Pro for the 2nd time. I cannot say if the problem was because of my SSD or software or other piece of hardware crash. The BSOD happened when I was using my Samsung Android phone as a modem (tethering via USB). My friend was using my computer to surf the net then afterwards I put the computer to Sleep. Immediately after a wake up from Sleep it crashed, BSOD. The computer then rebooted and Windows identified the crash. It automatically sent the BSOD information to Microsoft but I have not heard back nor have I experienced this again. It was the one and only time that has happened.

Here are some snapshots of benchmarks and overall SSD operation:

Typical cold boot for me, sorry for poor film skills
<embed width='600' height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvidmg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv355%2Fdavid86%2Fonline%2520pic%2FNotebookreview%2520Forum%2FM4H07518.mp4">

My SSD info


SSD from Disk Management


AHCI Controller


BIOS has no problem identifying my Samsung 470 SSD, I've never had to switch between IDE or AHCI in order to get get BIOS/Windows to correctly identify or boot correctly from SSD. I simply installed the SSD, installed Windows, & use computer like normal. Everything just worked.








My current WEI


My Passmark score, just ran the test a few minutes ago. Best I got was a 1950~


AS SSD Benchmark


AS SSD Benchmark iops


AS SSD copy benchmark (ISO, Program, Game)


AS SSD compression benchmark


That's it for now... Are there any other benchmark apps out there I can use? I have yet to use Prime and Burn In Test but will post my results later.

 

Err...we do confirm our problem aren't OS related
When sata set to achi, turning on the notebook the bios won't recognize the ssd
BUT if we do soft reboot(reboot without turning off completely via f10/ctrl+alt+del) our ssd will "magically" recognized dan boot into windows just fine without performance hit, bsod, choose restart from windows or whatever
BUT(again) if we do hard reboot(shut down) and going into sleep mode, the problem will re-appear our ssd won't recognize again, f10/ctrl+alt+del our ssd will "magically" recognized again

Can you do me a favor?

^ I need the pic of ide mode of the bios
Change into ide>(soft)reboot>hit esc after reboot

 

Based on my experience the problem with recognizing SSD by BIOS in AHCI mode is regarding only SATA III drives. I have two SSD - 1. SATA II Kingston V100 256GB and 2. SATA III Corsair Force 3 240GB.

SATA III SSD is not visible in BIOS in AHCI mode, but in IDE mode sometimes name is visible correctly but sometimes name is displayed as (23$#@2354 - trash (I don't know how you call it, sorry...).
SATA II SSD is visible in BIOS, properly recognized. There is no problem installing Windows 7 from USB drive or DVD drive.
So I installed SSD SATA II on U24E, SATA III is waiting for BIOS update.
But... when you update windows 7, as we all know there is a lot of this stuff U24E acting very strange. It takes a long time to shutdown the system and sometimes it takes a long time to boot windows. When closing or reseting display became static for 1 - 3 minutes (never check time how long does it take). This same is with booting, after windows flag animation screen became totally off for 1 - 3 minutes and after that login screen load. After logging in everything loads as a rocket. I dont know what is the reason of this situation.
I can say that it happed when I did clean installation of windows 7 pro sp1, but also when I recovered system from recovery partition. and know most interesting part - it happend on SSD SATAII drive and also on factory installed HDD.

As I wrote few post before, after installing in my U24E SSD SATAIII I run LINUX UBUNTU from USB LIVE drive and SATAIII drive worked perfectly (I didn't even open BIOS). I could write files on it, I even installed UBUNTU on SSD SATAIII. But there was no possibility to normally boot up system not from USB drive, because SSD SATAIII is not recognized by BIOS. So I think this is a BIOS problem and I hope ASUS will provide BIOS update.

But still I have no idea why windows during startup and shutting frezzes for a while.

 

David, what hardware are you using in your U24E to achieve that Passmark score? CPU, RAM, and HDD/SSD? I was surprised when my 2630qm, 16gb RAM, and SSD produced ~60 less points.

 

I just changed from AHCI mode to IDE in BIOS and Windows could not start, it crashes, then tries to reboot, and the same thing happens over again. In IDE mode, my SSD is still recognized but there is a problem. I switched back to AHCI mode and now Windows boots VERY slow after the "windows splash logo screen." The screen goes black after the splash screen & takes about 10 seconds before the desktop appears. During the black screen, there is very little SSD activity, and the fan turns off. After a second or two, the desktop appears. This is very similar to the SLOW BOOT PROBLEM I experienced before, except this time it happened because of switching IDE/AHCI modes in BIOS. I'm willing to help anytime but last time this happened I had to reinstall Windows. Im not happy now . Switching back to AHCI did not fix the slow boot problem and I don't know how to fix it either, so a reinstall is in order.

EDIT: Here are the short videos I promised.

Just for reference one more time, this is my typical normal boot
<embed width='600' height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvidmg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv355%2Fdavid86%2Fonline%2520pic%2FNotebookreview%2520Forum%2FM4H07518.mp4">

This is me changing SATA modes, AHCI to IDE and the result
<embed width='600' height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvidmg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv355%2Fdavid86%2Fonline%2520pic%2FNotebookreview%2520Forum%2FM4H07521.mp4">

This is AFTER switching back to AHCI, notice the slow boot compared to my "typical/normal boot"
<embed width='600' height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvidmg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv355%2Fdavid86%2Fonline%2520pic%2FNotebookreview%2520Forum%2FM4H07520.mp4">

Is this the IDE shot you wanted?



Pressing F10 during the ASUS BIOS LOGO showed a screen called

Edit Boot Options

Edit Windows boot options for: Windows 7
Path: \windows\system32\windload.exe
Partition: 2
Hard Disk: 960b50aa
[/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN]

What you're describing sounds like what I'm experiencing now. After changing from AHCHI to IDE, I am having a slow boot. After its in the desktop, everything works fast as intended.

U24E-XH71
Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
i7-2620m
G.SKILL 8gb (2x4gb) Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSQ
Samsung 470 SSD 128gb SATAII
***installed the Intel graphics drivers included on the Asus driver & utilities CD, although Windows Update has found a newer version but I have not updated.

I think it is because your 2630qm has a lower clock and lower max turbo frequency, not to mention the HD3000 max dynamic frequency is 1.1GHz, whereas 2620m is 1.3GHz, AND the bus/core ratios are 20 & 27. Also it could be because of the RAM and SSD differences in our computers.

 

Thanks for the details!

By the way, for everyone, you can NOT install Windows on ANY disk in IDE or AHCI, and then switch your mode (from IDE to AHCI or AHCI to IDE) after you've installed Windows. As David is reporting, you will suffer from an attack of BSODs. Windows is very sensitive about what mode the HDD/SSD was in when it was installed, and for whatever reason, that's what causes the boot failure. You CAN, however, boot into Windows normally, change the drive type in the Registry to IDE or AHCI, and then reboot the machine, change the mode in BIOS, and then boot normally.

If anyone is interested, I'll dig up the article on exactly how to switch the setting in the registry successfully. That's how I had to do it to switch from IDE to AHCI. For me, SATAII SSDs wont install in AHCI, but will in IDE. Unfortunately, as shown by the previous benchmarks, IDE mode really hurts SSD performance.

 

Great info!!! I didn't know this & its exactly what's going on.

I was going to run the Windows 7 repair disc in hopes of fixing the boot/startup problem. Can you please post that article? That's worth a try before I go ahead & reinstall the OS & all my apps.

 

I'll do you one better. Here's a program that makes the registry changes for you!

Error message when you start a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive: "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE"

Just run the program, reboot, select the desired SATA mode, and continue boot.

 

This FIXED my slow boot!!! I double checked the registry to make sure it applied the changes and it did. My SSD boots like normal, FAST AGAIN! Saves me from having to reinstall the OS/apps all over again. Thanks jamesman32, that was easy!!! This info should be stickied for the rest of the U24E group or entire forum. I saved a copy and downloaded this small app for safe keeping just in case.

Thanks again.

EDIT: The problem is back... Registry is still edited according to the the Microsoft Hotfix but it is now booting slow again. I am starting my OS/apps reinstall right now.

EDIT: So I just found out something that seems to be contributing to the cause of my slow boot. As dumb as this seems, I noticed that when I had my SD to MicroSD card adapter inserted into the card reader, it was in fact causing my boot times to increase. I noticed my adapter was insterted into my computer AFTER I had reinstalled Windows and was STILL having a slow boot. Immediately after I removed the adapter, boot time went back to being "normal." Viola! Apparently the adapter, empty and without a MicroSD card being inserted, was in fact slowing down my boot. Weird and not really obvious but I have noticed that this computer and others cannot boot up or boot slower when ever USB or other devices are insterted. USB2.0 devices plugged into the USB2.0 port do not have this problem since it is native to the mobo.

This kind of adapter:

 

David, good to see that worked!

Also, are any other U24E users out there experiencing dead pixels? I found 1 in the bottom left corner of my screen. I've tried a number of fixer programs, but none have worked. It's completely dead. Of course, this would happen 5 days after I void my warrantee to install a new CPU.

I talked to ASUS support. They set up an RMA for me, even though I told them I voided the warrantee. They said that if their technicians find that the screen issue had nothing to do with the CPU upgrade (which of course it does not) they will honor the warrantee I voided and replace the screen for free. Thumbs up to Asus!

 

So far, fingers crossed, I haven't noticed any dead or white pixels on my display. That is pretty amazing that Asus went ahead and honored the warranty even after the fact that you told them you replaced the CPU. Way to go Asus! I'm too scared to replace my CPU as I'd rather not void the warranty. I'm willing to wait till after the warranty is over, then maybe I'd consider an upgrade. But... by that time Ivy Bridge should be out for a half a year almost and I could always sell the u24e and upgrade to IB.

Can you show me what the dead pixel looks like?

 

Okay so in the process of trying to figure out why I was having a really slow boot on my SSD, I tried reinstalling my OS, and even went as far as setting the BIOS to default settings just to make sure I would be in AHCI mode and my OS/SSD would be installed correctly. I was really close to flashing the BIOS and the SSD firmware with the most current versions but didn't have to. So I took apart my U24E in order to get to the CMOS battery and reset the BIOS that way too. I really wanted to be sure that by switching to IDE SATA mode, as a test for another member , I hadn't messed up my SSD/ entire computer.

Another reason I disassembled this little beast was because a few of you guys were interested in replacing your CPUs but didn't want to/were too lazy to do the work! So you decided to take a shortcut and get the new CPU in there anyway you saw fit. Even though you guys managed to squeeze the new CPUs in, I still think you should have gone all the way down to the motherboard. And here's why:

1. It's really NOT THAT DIFFICULT! Compared to my old HP DV5, it was fairly easy actually. What I really like about this computer's internal design was that it is very "modular." Most components are seperated form the mainboard on another board as a module of its own. This makes it very easy to service!

2. By bending or cuting the plastic case, you guys caused cosmetic damage I'd rather not see on my new computer

3. Bending, forcing and lifting the copper heat pipe that pulls the CPU heat to the heatsink isn't the smartest move because it puts pressure on the Northbridge/Southbridge chip (correct me if Im wrong because I think I am) which also dissipates heat onto the copper pipe. This causes the little thermal pad contacting that chip to the copper plate to become smashed/distorted somewhat and I think it can have an effect on cooling later on. Maybe it won't and Im wrong, but getting down to the mobo really isnt that difficult honestly, I'll show you. This is not a full step by step guide but its better than nothing!

DISCLAIMER WARNING: I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU MESS UP OR BREAK YOUR COMPUTER. THIS IS SOLELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PUROSES AND MY INTEREST IN MY PERSONAL COMPUTER. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

Tools:

• Screwdriver (i don't know the size but make sure its snug, you DO NOT want to strip the bolt heads!)
• Soft/Hard slim piece of plastic (an old credit card should work fine, but I used an old plastic memory card case; see picture)
• 1-2 hours of free time
• And maybe some sandwich baggies to keep your bolts organized

Here's my plastic tool used to seperate the bottom half of the case from the upper half. That's right I'm like Macgyver, I use whatever's around & improvise!


... Or you can source out a handy kit like this one!



Let's begin.

1. Remove the battery, then the bottom case door, the HDD/SSD, the WiFi/Bluetooth card, and the RAM.

2. I'm not going to show you how to remove all the case bolts, you can do that yourself. Doube/triple check that ALL bolts have been removed because this is a common mistake.

3. Once all the bolts have been removed, you can then begin prying/wiggling with your plastic tool on either side of the laptop in a slow and gentle movement pushing towards unhooking the plastic tabs that hold the case together. You will notice that when all the bolts are off, the top & bottom of the case start to seperate on their own. All you're doing is popping out those tabs that are hooked together. Once you start popping the case apart, it just keeps coming apart easily. Do not be afraid to use some force, but also DO NOT tear it apart like the Hulk. Its just plastic and it can break. If you're careful and successful, you'll have unhooked/seperated the top and bottom half of the computer case.

Look at the bottom of this picture. You see the plastic tabs? They're just like hooks. Sorry but that's what I call them.


4. Here's my keyboard half already off. But before it can come off, you MUST CAREFULLY DISCONNECT the touchpad and keyboard ribbon cables. BE CAREFUL as these ribbon cables do not handle too much flexing and bending. One kink, and you're done!


Thanks to ALLurGroceries for this picture! This is what the ribbon cables will look like when they're still connected. DO NOT lift the keyboard half all the way up or too much. Use caution as always. I recommend disconnecting the touchpad cable first, then the keyboard cable. You will reinstall these ribbon cables in reverse order.


After disconnecting the ribbon cables, move your keyboard half aside. Notice the keyboard is fused to the top case.


Here's what your computer should look like next. As you can tell, many of the parts and some ports are on seperate modules or boards.


5. AC power connector, power configuration button and board. Notice the tiny ribbon cable that connects this board to the mainboard. Disconnect this ribbon cable. Unbolt this board from the case and disconnect the power wire connector underneath this board going to the main board. You will notice that these wires are thicker gauge wire as they supply the electricity to the computer.


Make sure to disconnect BOTH ends of this ribbon cable as it gets in the way later! Be EXTRA CAREFUL with this ribbon cable, its very small and fragile! If you want, but it's not necessary, you can disconnect the fan. Just REMEMBER to plug it back in when assembling the computer!


6. I looked at these pictures and it looks like you DO NOT have to remove the speakers in order to get the motherboard out. Otherwise, you can disconnect and remove the left speaker. These speakers are small and well designed for such a little space. Notice the ivory-colored connector in the middle there, I have no idea what its for.


This ivory-colored connector. Notice the metal bolt hole. My guess is that this is probably for a finger-print scanner module that wasn't offered due to cost. Its location makes sense to me. Who know's maybe it will be offered later?


Disconnect and remove the right speaker too. Notice this other ivory-colored connector, its not being used by anything, odd!


7. Remove the 2 bolts holding the ethernet/power button board. Carefully disconnect the cable, the wires are some of the tiniest wires I have ever seen.


Take it slow!


NOTE: I did not remove the display panel as there was no reason for me to do that. But if you need to, its only four bolts and the WiFi antenna/display cables holding it down.

The modules removed.


8. Finally, let's remove the motherboard from the case. First, disconnect the display panel connector! Its stubborn but comes off with a little effort. Next, there are 3 bolts holding the mobo down. 2 bolts are by the fan, and 1 is by the memory card reader. These are easy to find. Remove those 3 bolts and now you can remove the motherboard out. Since its somewhat tight when removing the mobo, the easiest way to get it out is to start at the end with the USB 3.0 ports. With little effort you can move the case outwards a tiny bit and ease the mobo up and out. Its not difficult. The mobo WILL NOT come out from the HDMI/VGA port side because of the design, trust me!


And here's the motherboard out of its case in all its glory! There's the CMOS battery I was looking for. Now we have easy access to the CPU, heatsink, and everything else that's on this board. I didn't remove my CPU/heatsink for obvious reasons, removing that little yellow sticker apparently voids your warranty. It is a very small and compact mobo. Also notice the audio daughter board that bolts to the mainboard at the top right. Pretty cool!


The two boards meet here.


You can unbolt and seperate these if you'd like.


The two boards.


EDIT: The CMOS battery and "Clockgen is on the HM65 chipset die (other thing connected to heatpipe), it's a locked multi sandy bridge cpu so no overclocking possible past turboboost." The HD3000 GPU, and memory controller are on the i7-2620m die.


Another mysterious unused connector.


And another one! Maybe these could be for a backlit keyboard? I don't know.


Heatsink and copper pipe part number. All copper desgin on the plate that transfers heat from the chip to the pipe, very good!


From a different angle.


Here's the fan part number. Check out that dust! I've had this for almost a month now and its already getting dusty... make sure to clean it before putting it back together. Also notice that the fan is fused to the plastic kind of like the keyboard is fused to the top half of the case. What was Asus smoking?!


Another angle.


EDIT: "ITE IT8572E is the Embedded controller"


Another shot


Looks like the iTE chip is a PLL to me.


Last one.


EDIT: Other chips of interest. "The realtek chip is rts5139 card reader, ASmedia is usb3"


CPU. Notice the all copper design on the heat pipe. Looks robust and beefy for just the CPU, and maybe enough for quad core CPUs. We'll have to see how the other quad core CPU guys are doing months down the road. Also notice the bolt numbering and pattern. I think its there for the same reason cars have a bolt pattern on lug nuts and engine heads/blocks. It must be for applying equal torque to the CPU thermal material be it a pad or compound.


Underneath the CPU. Here you can also see where the touchpad and keyboard connectors are (covered by yellow tape). At the bottom left corner you see the display panel connector! Remember this needs to be disconnected before removing the mobo from the case.


CPU lock screw and socket type


RAM module connectors and part numbers


Keyboard half part numbers


Lower half case part numbers


Naked case


Motherboard with additional components



Conclusion:

That's all I got for now. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did to discover what was hidden inside this little beast Asus calls the U24E. I thought it was easy to disassemble and its internal design is well thought out. I especially like its modular components, strong chassis, and surprisingly small footprint.

I hope this little guide will convince you guys that its not too hard to disassmble the U24E in order to change the CPU, heatsink, fan or to remove the CMOS battery. So don't be so scared and STOP cutting and bending the case plastics just because you're lazy. Whatever the case may be, its pretty easy if you're careful and take your time. With practice it'll become much easier. I won't show you how to assemble it, that is a test for you!

If you get stuck, ask for help!

 

@ davidricardo86

Thank to you, great job!!!

 

@ davidricardo86

Wicked sick pictures! I added a link to your post from the third post of the thread.

The realtek chip is rts5139 card reader
ASmedia is usb3
ITE IT8572E is the Embedded controller
Clockgen is on the HM65 chipset die (other thing connected to heatpipe), it's a locked multi sandy bridge cpu so no overclocking possible past turboboost.
HD3000 GPU is on the CPU die

Here's my badly focused pic of prying open the case.

 

@davidricardo86 - beautiful tear-down, thanks very much.

Whilst writing can anyone tell me why there is a 25Gb empty primary partition on my U24E's HDD? I'm planning on upgrading to a 750Gb Seagate Momentus XT anyhow but don't want to lose 25Gb from that as well!

Thanks for your help. Cheers, GPC.

 

Are your unit shipped with os?
If yes, that 25gig are your os restoration partition
If not, just deleted it AFAIK windows7 only make 100mb active partition for booting

 

Does anyone know if the u24e will be coming out with a model with a core i5 for the USA any time soon? Thanks

 

Update:

I just tested 750GB Seagate Momentus XT SATA 3 ST750LX003 and laptop wont' detect the drive either.

 

I just purchased the following screen to replace the one currently in my U24E

AU OPTRONICS AUO205C LAPTOP LCD SCREEN 11.6" WXGA HD | eBay

When it arrives, I'll be doing a screen replacement tutorial and posting it all up here for you guys, just in case some of you ever suffer from dead pixels like I did. Hopefully everything goes off without a hitch.

 

This is all BIOS fault. Check please my posts about installing UBUNTU LIVE from pendrive on SSD SATA3, everything works fine, until reboot of course when UBUNTU needs to boot up from SSD using BIOS settings.

Is there any way to force ASUS to release updated BIOS? I'm checking everyday their U24E site...

 

On Windows the problem is different, it kind of lock the drive or 90% of the time it won't even able to detect it. when it's detected the drive write is not function at all, you just can't write anything to the drive at all.

The beta BIOS is on the work already, I'll post on this thread as soon as I received the working version.

 

@davidricardo86

Excellent work, thanks!

 

Thanks very much Ken - you've just saved me $200

Guess I'll have to wait for a Bios update

Cheers, GPC

Thanks Ken, will you be testing it with the Momentus XT and SSD drives please?

Cheers, GD.

 

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the tear down. I included the information provided by all of you.

jamesman32, why are you replacing the display? I thought Asus was going to replace it for you under the warranty? And lastly, will the replacement be a glossy or matte display?

Also, Ken that is great news to hear a new BIOS is in the works. Were all anxiously awaiting a BIOS update and possibly many more updates to come. I hope this fixes our SATAIII SSD/HDD problem. I plan to keep my U24E for a long time so more updates are always welcomed from Asus.

Merry Christmas to all. Stay safe, stay warm.

 

You are welcome.

You mean test the Momentus XT SATA 2.0? I already did and it worked. the only drives that doesn't work is SATA 3.

 

Thanks Ken, it's the 750Gb SATA 3 drive with upgraded BIOS I'm interested in... let's hope it comes together soon.

Hope you had a great Christmas and I look forward to an exciting new year with the U24E

Cheers GPC.

 

Absolutely, I'll test all the SATA 3 drives we have if the new BIOS to fix this issue is release.

Thank you and Happy Holidays to you too.

 

After seeing your guide I decided to cancel the RMA and try it all myself. I can say that within 45 minutes of removing the first screw, the whole machine was back together with a new screen, booting into Windows. It was a simple and straightforward process, and no more dead pixel!

Thanks a bunch for the guide!

 

Can you post a tutorial?
Mine just get 1 dead pixel and sending to SC, if they refuse to change it, i might try it myself

BTW is there any matte panel replacement for this unit?

 

Basically, when you get to the step in David's guide where you take off the keyboard, stop there, and look at the screen hinges. There are 2 screws on each hinge. Unscrew those, and the screen unit will flop down. From there, there are 2 plastic circles on the bottom bezel of the screen near above the hinges, which you will lift off to reveal 2 screws. Unscrew those, and then carefully take a small flathead screwdriver and pry the 2 layers of the bezel apart, starting at the hinges where the 2 pieces meet. The bezels will "pop" apart like the keyboard did, and once that's done, just unscrew the 4 mounting screws for the LCD panel, unscrew the LCD mount rails, and you're done.

From there, all you've gotta do is disconnect the cable to the LCD, plug it into the new one, and do the steps in reverse order for the new LCD.

 

Is it possible to drive two external displays on the HDMI and the VGA ports at the same time? (Extended desktops and not mirrored.) I want to dual screen for development.

 

Hiya Guys,

has anyone had problems with the trackpad on the U24E? Mine has stopped responding even after reinstalling the drivers. It reports OK in device manager but just doesn't want to work. The buttons don't work either.

Any suggestions please?

Cheers, GPC.

EDIT: please ignore this post... it had somehow got disabled in settings (Control Panel - Mouse Settings). Doh!

 

Well that's great news to hear the replacement went in smoothly. The U24E is actually easy to work on. Is the display glossy or matte?

I'd like to know this too. My guess is yes. Sandybridge CPUs are able to run upto two displays at once.

I was going to suggest the trackpad enable/disable shortcut on the keyboard, fn+f9. Otherwise, reinstalling the drivers and utilities would've been my next test. Glad you got it fixed.

Thanks!

There was a matte replacement panel that someone had linked in a previous post back. It cost around $80 and should be a direct swap but it was currently out of stock.

Here: AU Optronics AUO205C Laptop LCD Screen 11.6" WXGA HD Matte LED - AUO Laptop LCD Screens - Replacement Laptop LCD

I don't think there is an answer for this.

Curious, why would you want an i5? What if you swapped in a i5-2430m and sold the i7-2620m that comes with the u24e-xh71?

I don't see any good reason to do this though.

 

Hello,

There is another variation of U24E on Polish market - U24E-px071v - i5-2450m:

ASUS U24E-PX071V i5-2450M/4GB/500/7HP64 - Notebook / Laptop 11,6" - Sklep komputerowy - X-KOM.PL

 

That's a new processor I haven't seen before...

 

I finally got one but I was wondering if all your WEI scores are the same as mine because I was checking out allurgroceries scores and the processor seemed higher than mine any thoughts?

Processor: 5.7
Memory: 5.9
Graphics: 4.7
Gaming Graphics: 6.2
Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

These scores are with the Intel core i7-2620M, 2.7ghz with 4GB memory and 500GB HDD. Any idea what might be going on or are these just normal? Total newb as any ideas would help thanks