ASUS UL30 Owner's Lounge

I've searched through this forum, and several people have asked (but no one has answered) about the possibility of installing bluetooth into the us versions of the UL30 that don't ship with it preinstalled.

There's a bluetooth module here http://www.convertermarts.com/servlet/the-354/ASUS-UX20-Bluetooth-Module/Detail that is supposedly compatible with the UL30.

The new vt-a1, due out soon, has bluetooth, but other than bluetooth, I don't need/want anything the more expensive version has. The A-A2 is $700 on Amazon, and the vt-a1 is $849, and if I can spend $25 and get bluetooth, with fairly simple installation, that's what I'd prefer to do. Any help would be appreciated.

 

not sure what your question is, but i probably don't have the answer anyway. you can get the ul30a for $15 shipped on ebay though here

 

Thanks for the response. The question is, does this module work, and can a complete novice install it?

 

oh man.. price on the X5 has dropped to $629.99 AR with a free slim external dvd drive. that's a really good deal. maybe asus has communicated to amazon that they're coming out with the jt soon?

 

Hope so... Unexpectedly large tax return means I'm ready to buy

 

Hi. I have a small problem. Once upon a time the shiny sliver Express Gate button was used to switch laptop's power-modes in Windows.
But after re-installing Windows it doesn't switch anything. I have installed all ATK drivers and Power4Gear tool. That didn't help..
What driver/tool is responsible for this very button?
Thanks in advance

 

Hi all,
I've an Asus UL30A too and I can't find a color profile for the display, I've searched but without results.
Someone has an ICC/ICM for "our displays"?

Thank you in advance .

 

IMO, that's an unfair argument. Those metrics are based purely on the volume of laptops coming in and not a reliable rate or percentage. If we could assume all his customers have an equal amount of each laptop brand, then it'd carry more weight. But since Acer and HP are two of the largest laptop distributors, it's only natural that more of those brands would come in for repair.

Of course, I'm not saying I don't believe your point. I just bought an HP DM3 about 3 weeks ago and it's already dead. I'm debating whether I want to exchange it or get a refund and wait for UL30 prices to go down a bit more (I got the DM3 for REALLY cheap, so the cost may justify giving HP a second chance...maybe..)

 

No it's not worth it to keep the HP. You will be very disappointed in a year or so due the speed at it will fall apart.

 

Didn't quite understand the last part of your sentence, but I get your point. I know HP's didn't do well on the reliability study done by Squaretrade (although a study the year before ranked HP the highest, so I take it with a grain of salt).

2009
2008

 

btw, going from the ul30a-xt to the ul30a-a2.. the extra 2 cells in the battery will account for .2 kg more? that should be about .4 lbs, which makes the a2 4.1 pounds or so?

 

lol if that's the case, it'll weigh just as much as the DM3.

and i just noticed you're the same guy on slickdeals! hahaha

 

Basically most consumer grade HP laptops seem to fail a lot quicker than other brands. Also ASUS has longer warranty than HP which is good.

 

yep, i noticed you too.

if it weighs as much as the dm3, then that's fine. because the 8 cell asus will weigh as much as the 6 cell dm3.

 

The UL30A-A2 weighs exactly 1784g or 3.93 lbs (just weighed it right now on a fairly accurate scale).

 

thanks. i guess the x5 weighs 3.74 lbs then, so about a .19 lb difference. maybe someone can weigh an x5 for me

 

They both come with 8 Cells, but the ones in the A2 are higher capacity

 

Ahhh gotcha. To be honest, 2 hours of battery life difference isn't a big deal to me (of course, unless the cost difference is negligible). As long as I'm getting at least 5 solid hours with half brightness and wifi, I'd be satisfied. Looks like the UL30A-A2 is what I'm targeting.

 

Hi ppl, i'm from portugal and i'm having an issue and doubt about one thing.

I Have an asus UL30A 4Gb DDR3 @ 1066 but it is working @ 800Mhz instead of the 1066, and i can't change it on the BIOS.

Cpu-Z show me the 2 options, 1066 CL7 ou 800 CL6.


How can i change that?
It shouldn't be that way, should it?
Can someone check on your asus UL30A if it happens the same problem as me please.

 

I think that's being reported in relation to the FSB (probably at about 800MHz.) Check the SPD tab and see what is listed under "Max Bandwidth". If it reports 533MHz then all seems fine.

 

I think the UL30A is supposed to run the DDR3 at 800MHz. Only the UL30VT can run it at 1066MHz when Turbo33 mode is on which also bumps the processor speed to 1.73GHz. According to your Cpu-Z capture, your DDR3 speed is actually 840MHz which means you've already set the Asus Easy Overclock to the max setting of 5%. I don't think it can go any faster than that.

 

Yes, i've checked the other tab. And the memories are DDR3 1066 but they're runing @ 800, but in a normal pc i should be able to change from 800 to 1066, on the laptop i can't.

I know UL30Vt has the memory's @ 1066 but it's strange, the CPU and memories and chipset are the same.

I've tried contacting asus, they don't reply to me.


Yes, i have the bios Easyoverclock to 5%, that's why it appears 420Mhz.

I think it's stupid asus put 1066Mhz memories and run them @ 800mhz. I've paid them... :S

Thanks to all.

 

Doesn't the SU7300 have a 800MHz FSB? Yes, your memory runs at 1066MHz, but that's pointless if your processor is the bottleneck. Several laptops nowadays seem to come with RAM which is capable of operating at a faster speed than the processor can handle. Of course, this is assuming a stock setup.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Yes it has.

Which means that the comunication from the CPU and memories are 800Mhz at maximum right?

But i'm not sure if it the memories running 800 with 800fsb it's better, worst or equal then 1066 memories with 800FSB.

Anyone knows?

 

Does this really matter though? There is no performance gain.

 

Hi guys - does anyone know how to remove the wireless card? I see the antenna connection next to the hard drive, but how do you get to the wifi card? And is it a standard minipci, or is it half height? Thanks.

 

The SU7300 on the UL30A either runs at 800MHz (low power state) or 1300MHz (high performance state). When running at 800MHz, it's perfectly matched with the RAM since neither part is bottlenecking the other. When running at 1300MHz, the slower RAM is bottlenecking the faster CPU whenever the CPU has to get data from RAM.

Fortunately, the CPU has internal memory caches which reduce access to slower RAM, and memory prefetch techniques also reduce the time spent by the CPU while waiting for data to arrive from the slower RAM. So, the difference between using 800MHz RAM and 1066MHz RAM will not be noticeable during actual use. Only synthetic benchmark numbers will show the difference, and even then the difference won't be big.

As to why Asus used DDR3-1066 RAM even when it will only run at 800MHz, it's just good business. DDR3-800 is starting to become rare, and it costs the same as DDR3-1066. Why buy 2 different types of RAM and get small discounts for each when you can buy just 1 type and get a better discount for buying more of that type? If you pay for a UL30A, you get 800MHz RAM speed. If you pay more for a UL30VT, then you can get 1066MHz RAM speed. It's all good business, at least for Asus.

 

What is the name of the program that comes on when you first turn on the UL30, you have to hit exit before windows starts?

I want windows to open when I turn my UL30 on.


thanks

 

i think that's magicgate or something like that, it's a linux operating system i think.

 

There is something not ok with your installation. My UL30 starts Windows without manipulating anything.

 

It was called something like Asus start something, lol I totally forgot the name of it. Anyhow I picked the program that sounded like it would be it and I got it right on the first time, my UL30A-A2 starts up in Windows now.

 

Hey guys, I am seriously considering buying a UL30VT-A1 (silver), but I have a few questions about the build quality of this laptop. I have an older asus laptop (W5F) and I really dislike the quality of plastic used in this laptop's body... it is very flimsy and cracks with the most minor bumps.

Will any of you guys be able to give me your hands-on impressions of the build quality of the UL30? Which parts of the body are plastic and which parts are metal? Also, is there a lot of flex in the body or does it feel solid? Once again, I am particularly interested in the silver model, but feedback on the black UL30 laptops is fine as well.

I guess I am concerned about this since it seems that Asus traded screen quality, touchpad and webcam for better performance and battery life, so I have some doubts about whether they made compromises on the build quality as well.

Thanks for the help!
-fugeb

 

I have the UL30A. How are people getting 1679.9mhz for their core speed, min max out at 1339. at 6.5 for the multiplier. how can you get it to x8?

 

This is caused by an error in the CPU reporting software used. Cpu-Z version 1.52 and below as well as several other reporting utilities incorrectly report the multiplier of the Intel SU7300. They report 8x multiplier when in fact it's only 4x. The latest version of Cpu-Z (1.53) has fixed this bug and correctly reports the CPU speed.

If you set the Asus Easy Overclock setting in the BIOS from the default setting of 3% to the maximum setting of 5%, you can raise the CPU speed a bit more to 1365MHz. That's the fastest it will go on the UL30A.

 

Thanks Itaru.
anyone having any luck overclocking it by other means, it is a damn waste when you know that spec wise, the two computers are the same except for the graphics switch however the ul30vt can do the turbo33 overclock. but the ul30a cannot.

btw, I have tried downloading the power4Gear for the ul30vt, and the ul80vt. and installed it. its a no go. so it must be reading some value off someone to tell the difference between an "a" machine vs a "vt" machine.

can any computer wiz figure out how we can overclock the system? I am sure a lot of UL30a people are more than grateful if there is a way.

 

Hi,


I've been looking to get a CULV netbook and have seen a good offer with these specs

1.2 GHz SU2300 dual core processor
8-cell 5600mah battery
3Gb RAM
320Gb HD
Win 7 64-bit
I think the product code is QX110V.

My initial worry was the SU2300, it comes with just 1Mb Cache as opposed to the SU7300. But then looking at the following graph, the test doesn't suggest a huge performance hit, does this sound correct ? Was wondering if anyone had any real-world experience of the SU2300.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+SU7300+@+1.30GHz

I can live without bluetooth, but the potential dealbreaker could be the 0.3 Webcam. I travel alot and use videoconf. From my experience in the past, picture quality (esp in poor light) is terrible with a 0.3 webcam
Does anyone have issues with the webcam, Is it possible to switch it for a 2M cam?

Thanks

 

When using the trackpad on my UL30-X5, the cursor intermittently hangs or freezes and becomes unresponsive. I'm not sure if its an issue with the drivers or if I have a faulty machine, or the machine is just slow altogether.

This happens with only light internet browsing and word processing. It is a brand new computer, does anyone know a fix for this?

 

To put it politely, the 0.3 Webcam totally sucks. The image is dark, grainy, snowy, etc. It's as terrible as terrible can be. Having your boss see your mug in a videoconf while you're using such a webcam will most likely get you fired for looking like crap. You pretty much need to bring an external USB webcam along with the notebook to do any decent videoconf and not embarrass yourself.

Try uninstalling and reinstalling the Elan touchpad driver. Use driver version v7.0.5.9. Of course, use a USB mouse while uninstalling and reinstalling the touchpad driver. Good luck!

 

Hi people i have nother ISSUE.

My laptop's battery WEAR LEVEL is growing. it has 7% only 2 months of use. I don't know why.

When i charge my laptop battery, i left it whitout use and it discharges 1% just during the night alone.
If i turn the ac power and work in AC MODE it keeps discharging slowly.

Anyone has this problem too? I don't think that's normal... :S

Thanks

 

The laptop uses a Lithium-ion battery pack, and it's normal for it to lose charge even when not in use. Li-ion batteries have an internal protection & monitoring circuitry which pretty much keeps the battery from killing itself, or its user (that means us). That circuitry needs power to run, so guess where it's getting its power from? That's right, from the battery itself.

When plugged in, the charger doesn't continuously charge the battery since that will just shorten its lifespan and also cause safety problems. It waits until the battery drops to around 94-95% before charging it back up to 100%. Because of the constant power draw from the internal circuitry of the battery, after charging it to 100% it will eventually go down 1% by 1% to 95% again where the charger charges it up to 100% again and the cycle continuously repeats.

As for the wear level, as time goes by the full charge capacity will always go down and there's nothing anybody can do about it. Even if you take the battery out and store it in a box somewhere, the full charge capacity will still go down as well as current capacity since the protection circuitry will still continue to draw power from the battery itself. The more you use it and the more heat is subjected to it, the faster the full charge capacity will go down. After 2 months my battery wear level is 6% and slowly rising, so your wear level of 7% is still normal since Li-ion batteries aren't expected to last more than 2 years of normal use. The problem is that Windows 7 will show a message that the battery needs replacement once the wear level goes over 60%. Other versions of Windows don't do this.

How come the batteries on my previous notebooks never did that, you may ask? That's because those batteries aren't Li-ion batteries. You can blame Asus for using Li-ion batteries which behave this way.

If you want to learn more about Li-ion and other types of batteries, go to http://www.batteryuniversity.com/. There's an article there on how to prolong the life of Li-ion batteries.

 

Hello, windows update, updated my intel 4100 video driver 02/20/2010. and now I am having HDMI issues. the picture on the HDMI out (LCD tv) is now very dark. Has anyone else experience this problem? I tried to roll back my driver video card driver, but the roll back driver is shaded out? has anyone else experience this problem? thanks

 

Hello friends, im a happy user of Asus UL30VT-X1 since November, but i have this little problem:
Everytime i plug the ac power with the battery on it keeps changing between Ac Power Mode and Batter Mode, indefinately, so i have to unplug it.
It charges just fine and with Ac power only with the battery removed, works just fine too.
It worked a few times god knows how.
I tested with another ac adapter and same problem.
So it might not be the power cord.
The laptop works just fine, just this minor problem keeps bugging me now.
Does any owner had this problem?
I really dont wanna use the warranty since i had to import it from US, im from Brazil, and would take ages and $$$$ to ship it to US again and bring it back.
Thanks.

 

This is getting really frustrating now. I uninstalled and reinstalled the Elan touchpad driver 7.0.5.9 and I am still having the same problem! I know it is definitely related to the touchpad because when I use an external mouse, the cursor does not freeze or lag under any circumstances and even heavy load (>90% CPU usage).

I'm assuming I have a faulty unit that needs to be returned, can anyone confirm that their cursor/trackpad does not intermittently freeze when using high performance and opening closing firefox watching hd videos on youtube?

 

Try installing a 'synaptic pointing device driver.' (google it) My mouse pointer was not very accurate until I installed this. The two finger scrolling also works, hope this helps.

 

Hey I am with you. I did not install new update driver, but when I use the VGA out, fresh out of the box, the screen is dark as, I thought it was the crappy display card, you mean when you first had it, it wasn't like that?

 

Well I had the UL30A-A2 for a few days now. I love how light it is. The touchpad was extremely problematic at first. There was massive lag and it would literally move around on its own. Thankfully that has ceased (magically too). Speaking more of the touchpad, I don't like how your fingers seemingly need to be perfectly parallel to the keyboard in order for scrolling, two/three finger taps, etc to work correctly.

Other than that, battery life is amazing. Getting around 10 hours on 'quiet office' if I am only web browsing and using Word. The silver color is very nice, too. No fingerprints! VERYYY Glad I did not get the black version, since I am assuming that entire laptop is similar to the bezel on my laptop, which is the only area that is an absolute fingerprint magnet.

 

I have not used the VGA out, but I have been using the HDMI out, and it was fine till the last video card update.. (which I can't seem to roll back). Now HDMI out to an HDTV is dark. What I ended up doing is calibrating the display but not finishing the calibration. While calibrating, the output to the HDTV is clear. But when I finish the calibration, it goes back dark. I will try to post pictures..

 

(Msg deleted as it was post to wrong forum)

 

Is there a way to hack Power4Gear to allow Turbo 33 on a standard non-dedicated video card containing UL30? Or hack the UL30a to tell Power4Gear that it is a UL30vt? I've searched the forum and haven't found any answers. It annoys me that Turbo33 is just a software implementation that can easily work on any of these CULV computers but yet it is only exclusive on the expensive UL30vt.

 

Asus has released new Elan touchpad driver version 7.0.5.10. I doubt it will fix your problem, but it's worth a shot. It's available at the Asus support download page by choosing Notebook->Drivers->Touchpad.

My guess is that Power4Gear checks the BIOS string to determine the model of the notebook, and if it's not a VT model it won't show the Turbo33 button. Hacking the BIOS is probably more difficult than hacking an .exe file, so probably the best way is to hack the Power4Gear .exe file to bypass the checking and show the Turbo33 button. However, hacking the .exe is no walk in the park and requires assembly language mastery. Those who crack the copy protection in video games probably can do it.

By the way, Asus has released a new version of Power4Gear Hybrid bringing it to version 1.1.30. It's available at the Asus support download page through Notebook->Apps->P4GHybrid.