ASUS U500vz/UX51vz Owners' Lounge!

I just bought the u500vz, but the backlight keyboard seems to randomly go brighter even though I turned it off. Is there some utility for making it stay the level I set it to rather than using the light sensor?

 

Total guess, but check your power settings. Try Fn-Spacebar to launch ASUS's power management app. Might be something in there.

 

Nope... nothing to do with the backlight that I can see in there...

 

What tools do you use to change the RAM on this machine? What kind of screwdriver? And whats the largest and fastest RAM it supports and the specification for it (so I know what to buy through Amazon)?

 

I figured it out... Fn + A will disable the light sensor which in turn will stop the backlight from automatically adjusting (as well as the screen brightness)

 

I installed this and it helped a lot, but the right side fan seems to still spin even when it says it has set the fan speed to 0%. When I first installed it, both fans were silent, but since one of them has started to spin continuously again...

With the reduced noise I noticed there is a faint static noise coming from the speakers. Uninstalling and reinstalling the Realtek driver did nothing. I have noticed that playing a song/video/any sound will stop the static for about 10 seconds. Plugging in headphones and unplugging them will stop the static noise, but closing and opening the lid will reenable the static noise...

 

That is strange, my fans are both turning off, as they should. I did read about some applications activating the Nvidia GPU, which in turn may trigger the fan. Apps like the Steam client, for instance. Are you sure it's not just both fans coming on at a low RPM due to a temperature threshold being reached?

I also do not perceive any static noise from the speakers. One of the users here did a balance test (100% left then 100% right) at max bass, to check on a distortion he experienced. Maybe try doing that test to verify it's not one of your speakers being faulty. Here.

 

I also suspect it is the GPU fan which is on. You can see the NBFC app reports 0% fan speed but there is clearly fan noise.



I am not sure how to disable the Nvida GPU to test this or to even check if it is running... any ideas?

As for the speakers, I don't have any base distortion like the other guy, its just low level static which only sometimes manifests...it doesn't really bother me so much now that I know plugging in some headphones gets rid of it, but it seems like a dodgy driver to me, rather than a hardware issue.

 

You can deactivate it in the hardware settings (computer - hardware)

My right fan also does not stop (Steam is installed, however I actually deactivated its auto start)
I will try later if deactivating Nvida changes sth.


Do you guys think it is safe to use the fan control app?


And please, another question, already asked but unanswered so far, does noone use firefox with gestures? Are you alle using IE ? (where hardly any gestures can be used) I wanna take advantage of the touchpad!

Cheers

 

well, no it does not. the right one is still on. however, i anyway would not assume it is safe to use this application as there is still the problem that the fan goes on for an instant every few seconds. almost not audible but i am inclined to think that it does not do any good to the fans

 

It should be safe as modern processors should have hardware shutdown when they get too hot. Don't know if the GPU have such functionality (it probably do) but that shouldn't matter if it is deactivated.

Well I'm using Chrome and Opera. Which gestures do you want to use?

 

@Terpen Tijn

I'm trying to create the windows 7 boot iso. But the step with the cmd wont work! Keep getting error!
Is it possible that you can create a boot.wim with all steps done and upload it?

//Moxs

 

Did you get the newest version of NBFC? It should not let the fans spin up anymore. I'm positive that mine are not moving. The author of the software suggested you might try decreasing the polling interval to 100 ms, but I have not needed to do that...

Or maybe you are running another program that is triggering the Nvidia GPU? Does the fan stop when you run on battery?

 

I do have a modified boot.wim, which might indeed work for you (can't think of a reason right now why it would not...). Not sure how I could share this file most effectively, though.

But if you PM me your email address I could send it to you using a point-to-point service like wetransfer.

 

I just got my UX51 and I'm pretty happy with it, except the backlight bleeding issue, present in most Asus IPS panels. It's not very bad, the problem is visible only on black screens, like the system loading screen or the Zenbook wallpaper on desktop.
My question is warranty related: I got the machine on Friday, should I send it back right away on Monday or can I wait like month, cause I need the laptop now for work, but won't this affect the replacement procedure?
Furthermore is there actually a point in replacing the unit, because I seen some posts from other people, who replaced theirs and the laptop came back, with even more baclight bleed? (Some even claimed that the issue may fix by itself after a week or two and recommended to wait, before sending it to Asus, is there any truth in this?)

 

@Terpen Tijn

Would very much like you copy But im not able to pm!?
Please PM me with your mail so I can write you back, thank you

**EDIT**

Found a fix for my problem

There should also be a folder named mount !

 

Can you please take your laptop into a dark room and take a picture without flash? I will take one on mine aswell but I dont have a working charger at the moment.

I got some backlight bleed but not alot, i dont notice it at all.

Edit: Also of course make a black picture in paint and fullscreen it. Note what backlight level you are using at the moment aswell, maybe take three pictures with one on lowest backlight, one on 50% and one on 100%.

 

Use elantech 11.5.0.9 driver... i uninstalled asus smart gestures and installed the elanteh driver and suddenly the return gesture in firefox worked.

 

Thx for the information. I anyway plan to use it when e.g. in a very silent environment only. good to know though


Regarding the gesture:

I really liked that you can use the 3 fingers "back" gesture on IE 10. However, all of a sudden, it does not work anymore (I may have messed around with add-ons, don't know). I couldn't figure out how to fix this but as I am anyway a firefox user I thought it would be even better to have such gestures here. I am talking especially about the 3 fingers "back" gesture.

Are you using gestures on chrome and opera?
if so, which ones and is this a standard feature there?

Thx I will give that a try. But can you please tell me, does this in any way affect the standard gestures? (like 3 fingers down to show desktop and so on)

I just installed 0.13.2.54.beta. However, I am sure the right fan keeps on spinning.
I deactivated Nvidia GPU so this shouldn't be the problem; also I am running on battery. decreasing the poll interval causes the program to crash unfortunately..

EDIT: ok, now it didn't crash, however, the change of the polling interval is not possible (it just stays at 150)

 

Another thing, hope you can help me figuring this out because I will send in my power adapter tomorrow (because the wire in the power plug is twisted) and it would be very useful to know if my notebook needs to be send in as well...


I can not delete any files on my D drive. what the hell is wrong here

 

All the asus smart gestures will work appropriately, because it will get installed again after the elantech driver has been installed.

 

Good to see you solved it. I've also updated the How-To with that 2nd subfolder, cheers!

 

Hmm no idea what's causing this for you. Are your power profiles configured properly? Some of the Asus apps are known to interfere with them (e.g., pegging minimal CPU freq at 100%).

Are you using the UX51VZA config within NBFC? Is your temperature threshold being reached? What happens if you increase it a bit (be careful...)?

 

Ok, so the first image is on the Asus loading screen with auto brightness:
Imageshack - 20130106194859.jpg

My phone didn't manage to snap a proper picture with minimal brightness and black picture on screen, the bleeding was barely visible in the upper right. Next one is 50%:
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

And 100% brightness:
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

So how does this compare to yours?

 

Hello,

After reading through all the pages in this thread uptill now.. I have a few more doubts.

1) I am planning to purchase through excaliberpc.com
link 256GB version
512 GB version

The site lists that the motherboard is HM76.. and somewhere in this forum one of the posters said this:
•Mobile Intel® HM76 Express Chipset (w/o Raid0)
•Mobile Intel® HM77 Express Chipset (w/ Raid0)

And then someone said this:
"Chipset doesn't support hardware RAID but the computer does support RST. Same configuration is used in UX32VD and Lenovo Y580, both have HM76 and caching SSD. "

so just for a clarification.. will this one come with RAID0 or not?


2) I have asked this question before also here.. but it remains unanswered... just need to know by how many years can this model be supported for extended warrnaty in total??

3) some one said this:

"Holy crap! So when I insert an SD card, my webcam disappears and becomes "disconnected". Can anyone else replicate this issue? Just have your Device Manager open, then insert an SD card. Then go to "View" and click "Show hidden devices". You'll then find your webcam, but it will be non-functional."

so can anyone please update on this problem..? is it that the webcam cant be used if sdcard is inserted into the notebook? this is so weired i know..

4)"You should be able to roll back to the older BIOS...." is this really possible.. if an update is more problematic than the previous.. can we just roll back to the previous one?

5) In both the purchase link that i have included.. it shows ddr3 instead of gddr5 for the nvdia GPU. so does the price justifies the feeble downgrade..?? are there better sellers that sell the GDDR5 version instead.. pls post links.. i need to purchase it in the US through one of my friends.. and i live in india.

6) and lastly... this is my first time with this supplier.. excaliberpc.com... any testimonials for this? is it reliable.. and respond to issues if any arises?

Thanks so much for all the wealth of information posted here...

 

I can't answer to everything, sorry.
1) HM76 versions don't come with Raid0, but this is not a problem because all the versions with double SSD (128+128 and 256+256) have HM77. HM76 is only for the versions with 500GB HDD + 8GB SSD cache and 500GB HDD+ 128GB SSD, and these configurations don't actually need Raid0.
3) I remember that that user wrote again that he wasn't able to actually replicate the issue, the webcam disappeared also in other situations, so it wasn't probably related to the SD. Anyway, it was the only report for this problem, so it was probably an isolated issue.
5) Excaliberpc must have written the wrong specs, because all the owners report GDDR5 in every country in all the configurations.
6) I don't know Excaliberpc, but amazon.com is extremely reliable

 

Hi,
definitely up to 3 years.

 

I just got an adapter from an ebay seller in the US. It was the wrong one and it wont fit, even though I gave them pictures and other info.

Is there anyone who can help me with this? I am contacting other resellers at the moment, and it seems that this adapter plug is a new one that is not used in other laptop models yet. Can anyone confirm this?

I havent been able to use my laptop for a week now waiting for this adapter, and now it's the wrong plug... bah.

Any help appreciated!

Edit:
Might aswell link the pictures of the plug also:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4480781/2012-12-29 14.07.49.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4480781/2012-12-29 14.06.29.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4480781/2012-12-29 14.05.48.jpg

 

Quick and maybe silly question about RAM: if I buy a version with 6 GB or 8 GB, and want to upgrade myself to 12 GB, what type of RAM should I buy? In order to enjoy the dual channel speed, is there any spec/feature that I have to pay attention to when I buy the RAM stick?

 

I will try it when my power adapter is fixed (i.e. hopefully next week)



@all

does anyone have a fitting bag. if so which one?

 

Hello guys!

I'm pleased to join the thread...

Terpen Tijn do You have similar problems as sockfish with WebCam (page 34, etc)?! I mean permanent disconnection and connection of the webcam hardware in device manager?! I receive it on each windows load and this went on for some time (sometimes in seconds after load, sometimes in minutes). After buying a laptop in November, I just reinstalled Windows 7 Pro on it and don't really know if this issue was present in original Windows 8... But i think the issue is related with absence of OEM drivers from Chicony(?!) or from anyone else... I am using the original drivers for all other devices (not from the ASUS website, except ASUS things). May be some relationship in that... Don't know... Simply disabled webcam for now...
The revision of WebCam is relatively new (VID: 04F2, PID: B36E, REV: 2943), i cannot find appropriate drivers from manufacturers on web. My (russian) ASUS support answered me recently with additional information, and confirmed, that this is CHICONY CKFC12021003870L and that drivers must be integrated in Windows 8 distributions. But - without any additional information...

Will be any thoughts on the matter?!

 

There is no in general. As I understand, there is always one of 4GB module is soldered on MOBO in any model. So You have a choice of buying additional 2+GB stick and rely on Intel Flex mode to access the memory. All timings will be set on maximum of two (so, it is preferable to buy similar timings stick). But flex dual channel mode will always be available in the smaller in capacity memory size. True dual channel is only achieved when the both sticks memory volume is equivalent...

 

Amazon.com: Case Logic UNS-116 16-Inch Laptop Sleeve (Dark Gray): Electronics

Very light and stylish... I don't like big cases (personally)...

 

So any 1600 MHz 8 GB stick will be good?

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Definitely... There are always some incompatibility issues ... But this cases are extremely rare...

 

Thank you very much!

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

One small note about this: Even though any DDR1600 SO-DIMM may do, the ones that are available in retail are typically not of the low-voltage (1.35V) kind, but rather take 1.5V. It will nonetheless work, but it may run a little hotter. Probably not a huge deal at all, but just a little something to think about.

 

No problems observed with the webcam here, although I don't really use it to be honest. But I checked my device manager for anything odd or missing, and the webcam was listed as it should be, without any problems detected.

If there is some specific test you'd like me to do, preferably without having to install crapware first, then just let me know and I'll have a look.

 

Ok, thanks for the information, I'll pay attention to this!

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

To add to Terpen's reply.. i was reading a review on amazon about one of the zenbooks.. here

which says that the one soldered on board is CL11 and if the one raplaced isnt CL11 like CL10 in someones case.. it ended up in single channel mode only.. so we must have to consider that too.. definitely that discussion was about a different model.. but the case should apply in our case too.. so be cautious .. and if u try to upgrade and your dual channel works.. dont forget to report!
Thanks!

 

Another golden information, thank you! In case I upgrade the RAM (I've not bought the laptop yet, LOL), how can I check whether Ram is working in dual channel or not?

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

How they measured this? Intel's Flex Memory Access architecture has no relation to the timings and speed of specific modules... This is feature of specific models of processors (and their memory controllers) and our laptop and Amazon variant both have this feature. As i said before if timings and speed of modules are different - controller (CPU) selects suitable for both. One (im)possible senario is that modules ARE COMPLETLY DIFFERENT in characteristics, but... we are in 2013... and using cutting-edge laptop... are we really willing to buy an unknown module of unknown brand with two+ years of age?

 

So what do you suggest to buy?

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

from the review from notebookcheck ... link
we can use this tool to check if the ram is under two or single channel mode.

i am not very knowledgeable about all the wealth of specs about RAMs... what i have come to know is that a small difference of " CL11 vs CL10" (dont know what the heck it is) from other people's experience, can end up in the rams not working in dual channel mode.

someone posted this ram link on that amazon review that is supposed to be CL11..

 

Guys, can I normally disable ssds raid in my 2x128 vx51 and use some dual boot with oses on separate drives?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

The standard way to resolve differences in memory configurations is to use the lowest specification for both memories. The code that should do this comparison/selection should be shared among all members of the same BIOS family so at least I think it is very unlikely.

CL stands for CAS Latency and indicates the number of clocks the memory requires to deliver data from a requested address (very simplified). Running with a higher latency just leads to a bit worse performance.

 

Hi All

Guess i might aswell ask here
If anyone have one of these U500 and have played star wars the old republic i would love to know if its playable on this machine.?

Thanks in advance

 

I don't see why it wouldn't be. I used to play it on an Envy 17 that had a dual core i5 and an AMD 5870M, so the U500 should be more than capable.

 

Dual channel problems resulting from mis-matched sticks got sorted out a few years ago so you don't really need to worry about that.

Also yes the GT650M should run any modern title at reasonable settings.

 

reading many places about RAM not working in dual channel mode is worrying me. the CL11 vs CL10 thing is one spec to mind when purchasing.. but i need a foolproof way to know which RAM will work in dual channel mode on this notebook...
can someone post full details of the included RAM on this machine??

I have to purchase this laptop from one of my friend in the US so.. i ll have to order an 8GB RAM before i get my notebook..

if any of the owners can check with the crucial.com , and find out a working 8GB ram that should work in dual channel mode using their scanner that would be of great help.

And another doubt that came into my mind while writing this post is that , can a 4GB +8GB combo also work in dual channel mode(if we assume all the other specs are identical other than the different sizes)??

Thanks.