ASUS UL30 Owner's Lounge

am I right to assume that this model is discontinued?

 

So I just got my new Asus UL30-A2 but haven't got the time to open it, is there anything important should I know about this laptop ? Any removing of a software or important update ? Thanks

 

The info is all on the wiki mentioned on the previous page. It includes this link to the bloatware removal guide.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/380681-asus-utility-bloatware-guide.html

 

thank you

 

Hi - can someone comment on the UL30's keyboard size? I'm trying to decide between a UL30 or a 14" asus. I have big hands and do a lot of typing so the keyboard size is the only reason I'd go up to 14". I've seen a 14" asus in person but not a 13" model. Some other brands at this size have tiny keyboards. Thanks.

 

Has anybody tried installing an SSD on a UL30A-X5? I just got a Corsair Nova V32Gb SSD and I can't seem to install Win7 on it. It is detected in BIOS but not in the windows 7 install.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

Has anyone installed a 3g modem in the UL30?
Is there room somewhere for it, or could I maybe sacrifice the wifi/bluetooth card for a 3g modem instead?

 

I don't think its possible on the UL30A There just isn't the room unfortunately. I've read around and looked briefly into it myself, as i'm not quite used to going without my 3g card just yet, but definitely don't want a dongle sticking out anywhere! The UL30A doesn't have aerials around the screen afaik, so first you'd have to retro fit some antenna, then you'd need to find a card with WLAN WWAN (and bluetooth if you so want) all in one card. Since theres only one slot available, now i havent looked into this properly myself but i'm fairly sure they don't exist

 

BTW, does the UL30A-X5 use SATA I or SATA II?

 

hey guys i had my asus ul30 since february and its been working fine and dandy since then. today i dropped the laptop and my screen is now cracked. im assuming its only the inside because the display is all "liquidy" and stuff. Now the thing is i did not register my warranty card when i first bought it and still havent... am i still eligible to get it fixed??

 

Right now I'm still undecided between the UL30JT or the Sony Vaio Y11S1E. And just in case you're note aware, the Vaio I'm talking about is the not the current one on the market with the U5400, it's the older model with the SU7300.

What I like most in the Sony is the better screen (viewing angles mostly), better keyboard/touchpad and construction/materials (magnesium alloy). The one thing that's keeping me from buying the Sony is the CPU, if it had an i3, I wouldn't be posting here. I think I'll miss hyper-threading, if you know what I mean.

In the other hand the Asus has a better CPU (i3-330UM), a little better battery life (so it seems) and is slightly lighter. That's about the pros of the Asus (that I care of). The one thing that's holding me back from buying the Asus is the overall design/construction, horrible screen and touchpad (my girlfriend has a U30JC and the touchpad sucks a bit).

I can get the Sony for 689€ (~$954 USD) and the Asus for 741€ (~$1026 USD).

Suggestions?

 

Does anyone know which of the three USB ports on this unit are fully powered, and which not?

J & R in NYC had the UL30-a2 on sale yesterday for $599. Down from normally $629, which is still a steal, I think, for a tasty machine overall. I mean, what's better in this price range, seriously? With that kind of battery life? Am I wrong?

 

Just to conclude my series of posts, I bought the Asus.

Still packed though, really busy to unpack and play with it for the moment

 

I finally decided to place an order on an Asus UL30-A2 from J&R during the weekend! Saw it for $579.99 and decided to snag it.

 

What do you mean by fully powered? I can plug-in a USB-powered external drive to all 3 slots and that works fine. Charges my phone in all 3 USB slots as well.

 

Okay great thanks.

I have another question. Does anyone use that left power button, and if so, what for? I know it came programmed for that Linux quickstart thingy, which I deleted... can it be programmed for other things, like what, and how? The machine seems to hibernate just fine when I close the lid, so...?

 

The Express Gate or whatever its called is programmed to work with that buttom. There isn't a program (as far as I'm aware) that will work to boot from that button since you need the proper drivers to use it. The only other thing it will do is switch your power mode if you have Power4Gear installed. You can toggle between High Performance > Entertainment > Quiet Office > Battery Saver.

Also, the computer going to hibernation when you close the lid is a Windows setting. To change this, click on the battery icon in the tray and select "More Options." Then in the new window that pops up, select "Choose what closing the lid does" from the left side. This will let you program that (I choose nothing).

 

looking at buying a ul30jcb1 and was wondering if they can handle sc2 on medium and how much more performance i will get out of it compared to a netbook and a ulv proscessor. Also for a used one like a month old is 500 a good price, I am debating waiting till black friday but don't think I can find a better deal than that. I travel alot so need the battery

 

Hi, can anyone please give me advise?
I have a UL30A Notebook.
All was working great since yesterday,
But all of a sudden it turned itself off, total shutdown.
By trying to switch it back on i got a black screen with a cursor in the left top of the screen. (of course it responds to nothing no more).
If I turn the left power button on (multimedia) it just turns on and i can do everything. (although never knew why someone would use that).
Now of course Asus gave a recovery cd with the lap top (which doesn't have a device to put it in, so NO cd rom) in stead of a USB Stick to reboot.

So i had to drive 1 hour for a external cd rom (on a saturday night, stores closed) by reboot it said searching VGRAM (never found it).

So my question is, is the memory of the graphics card damaged?
Because the HD is ok and nothing wrong with.
So by start up it checks for something, can't find it, and so stops to continue start up? am i thinking logically right here?

Is this a Hardware Problem? so i can return it as it is in warrenty?
Or does anyone knows where my reset button is?
Or is it a software problem? (which i don't think, or else i would have solved it by now)

So basicly, my lap top crashed!

Please can someone help me out here?

Thank you!

 

Have you tried booting windows into safe mode and scheduling a disk check at boot with chkdsk?

If that doesn't work, have you tried carefully reseating the RAM or trying one stick at a time?

It sounds like it could be a hardware problem because of the POST problem with VRAM when you turn it on, but that could be bad RAM.

 

Ok, thanks for the feedback. that means as it is in Warranty i will call the Asus Hotline. Called them, good and friendly helpdesk, short menu and no waiting. End conclusion is indeed ahardware problem and i have to let it be picked up for repair. And that will be within 2 days and they stribe to bring it back in 7 to 9 working days. (that's what the Hotline said). So I will keep you posted on that procedure. Have a great week everyone.

 

I'm working in a studio where I have poor wifi reception, too far away. I've never had a prob with the UL30-A2 with reception, but I'm trying to extend the reach. Went to the Wiki and ordered one of the suggested $3 ebay antenna's, since I have an open plug beside my hard drive, as indicated below. Anyone else try this? I'll report back. From the wiki:

"Can I add a second WiFi antenna to the A1 to improve reception?

Yes, some A1 users have bought a second antenna but check first if your A1 has a second port for it, as some A1s do not have it. You can check by unscrewing the HD panel.

If you have the second port, you can buy an antenna like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT
http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/p120/Lap...duct_info.html
To install it, remove the HD drive, screw it it and route it towards the speakers."

Love that wiki, treat it well!

 

Hi all

I'm after a bit of help with my UL30, i'm trying to get the 3G WWAN working but am having a bit of trouble.

I got the laptop from a mate who got it via O2. This meant it had the 3G option built in.

Now i'm having trouble enabling it/switching it on. I've tried everything i can think of, even the Asus 3G connection manager and it still can't get the modem to respond.

Is there anyone with the same laptop who can help?

I'm also pretty sure the 3G is unlocked so i've also tried a vodafone sim with the vodafone connection manager and it says exactly the same 'device not switched on'

Is there a way to switch it on or check that it's working etc?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Hello, I just purchased an Asus UL30A-QX328V. My initial budget was £500 and I was torn between this and the Toshiba Satellite T130-11H. I was lucky enough to pick up the UL30A for just under £400 from a friend, so I went for that. As my budget was £500, I decided to grab an OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD for around £95. I'm gonna clone the HDD boot partition tonight onto the Vertex and see how this baby runs. Overall it seems like a nicely designed notebook.

 

I've got the same model (UL30A-QX328V) with the SIM tray on the right side. If I get a chance today, I'll try my T-Mobile SIM card this week and let you know.

 

Ok I had a look and inserted my T-Mobile SIM card in the side tray. Now the thing is, I ran the O2 connection manager software, but nothing happened. I checked in device manager and there is no 3G modem in the hardware list. I'm confused now, because I checked in the BIOS incase there was a toggle to switch on the built in 3G, but there is nothing there. O2 state that, this particular model has built in 3G. With the side tray accepting a SIM card, it would seem there is a 3G modem, but I can't for the life of me find out how to switch it on. Raul69, have you had any luck?

 

Ok, I managed to get the internal 3G modem working! I uninstalled any references to O2 software. Then restarted Windows and installed the Asus Connection Manager Utility & drivers from the site. After doing this I turned off the laptop and inserted a Three UK SIM card into the side slot.
I turned it on & got this prompt:



I ran the Asus Connection Manager Software and everything worked!!



So, it seems that Asus have put some kind of detection switch in the SIM card slot, that makes the internal 3G modem visible to the computer & OS.

Hope that helps anyone having issues with the internal 3G modem on the UL30A-QX328V.

 

Okay, so for improved reception I bought one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I can't figure out how to install it though. The instructions on the wiki just say: " To install it, remove the HD drive, screw it it and route it towards the speakers."

Am I meant to somehow stuff it into the computer? I can't see how it would fit from the hard drive slot... Shouldn't I just open the computer to do that? Or is it meant to be taped to the outside of the laptop? Am I supposed to use both of the antennas, and unplug the one that is in already in there? Any help greatly appreciated!

 

I can't see what you bought with that link, a wifi card? If so, see this:
YouTube - Changin wireless card for Asus UL-30

 

It's a wifi antenna, really a double antenna. I just can't see how it fits. I got the idea to buy the antenna from the UL30 Wiki, but the Wiki is thin on details of how to install it...?

Any help appreciated.

 

Goto 2:12 on the above video and you will see a small white/silver connector next to the one with the antenna connected. That is where you connect your new antenna. You simply push one end of your new antenna onto the wireless card.

 

Okay so I managed to pop on and thread the new antenna into the computer... I still don't know if that's what they meant on the Wiki by "route it toward the speakers", although I did push it in that direction via the hard drive slot.

It hasn't made a difference, I don't think, to my reception yet. I wondered, maybe I should update drivers? Is there anything one does to..."enable" a second antenna?

Looking at the UL30 driver list, I don't even see the Atheros wireless card listed. There are driver for a couple Intel cards, then a couple named Yota Access, and Azurewave. No Atheros.
Doing a windows driver search from device manager says "you already have the best driver available" or something, but I don't know if that is accurate.

Can anyone help here? Still not the greatest reception.

 

It's the Azurewave one. But there are more recent drivers available around the web, you can even find modded (latest) drivers here:
Latest Atheros modded Driver for Windws 7, Vista and WinXP - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

But I didn't find any special difference, they seem to work the same for me.

 

haven't had a single connection drop yet, however the signal strength is horrible...2 - 3 at the moment..on wireless G, my old T135 had maxed bars...

 

I've had my UL30A-QX328V for about a month now and on my D-Link DIR-615 wireless N router I get 5/4 bars around the house and I have not had any drop outs.

 

I'm having a bit of trouble trying to connect my UL30 to a samsung LE19R86 tv.

The drivers seems to be up to date and i've tried changing the resolution, but neither laptop or tv seem to recognise each other.
Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks

 

HELP!

hello,
i just got the ul30a notebook for 579$, and i really love it, except for one major flaw: the built-in microphone is very staticky! not only is it very staticky, the voice volume is really faint as well, and the static drowns out the voice. its bad enough to make anyone i talk to on skype go nuts. i tried recording with the mic in windows sound recorder, as well as in audacity, and its the same thing everywhere: mad static and barely hearable voice.

it wasnt like this before. the first day i got it, the mic worked fine, and i skyped with it and had no problems. however 2 days later the mic messed up. i went searching the internet for possilbe solutions and found none that worked. i fiddled with the mic settings in control panel changing the mic record volume up and down and varying the boost level: all to no effect. i turned off all electronics in the house to no effect. then finally, i reformated the harddrive to factory settings with the built in recovery partition... and that still didnt fix it! i went into express gate to try out the microphone through its skype, and the mic was staticky and faint there as well.

not only is the built-in mic having this problem, but so does another mic that i plugged into the notebook through the pink jack. this mic works fine on my desktop pc, but its just as faint and staticky on the notebook as the notebooks built-in mic.

then i tried plugging in my USB condenser mic, and that mic works flawlessly.

anyone had similar issues or know how to help me? im using windows 7 64-bit, the one that came with the notebook. should i exchange the notebook for a new one? i found only one other person online who has the exact same problem as me with this notebook.

whats everyone's experience with this notebooks built in mic?

 

Your UL30 should still be under warranty. I've just used Skype from the UK to USA. I had to be quite close to the mic, but it was ok. Just to check, it might be a good idea to re-install the sound driver. If that fails to solve the issue, then you could always make a warranty repair claim.

 

@granturissimus you might want to try a livecd like Ubuntu to test your mic. If it works there without static it's probably a software (driver) issue, if not it may be a bad audio chip or connection, which would require a return or RMA.

 

thats a good idea, i havent thought of that before.

i tried reinstalling the drivers, but that didnt fix it. then i used the recovery partition to reformat the drive twice, and both times the mic was still staticky. however, then out of nowhere it started working much better in skype! the voice volume has increased and the static as decreased greatly and skyping works decently for now. also, in control panels sound properties, the recording device's meter is much more active, and the green thing jumps all the way up and down when i talk, and i didnt even increase the recording volume or mic boost settings... it didnt do that when the mic was staticky, it would barely go up one bar or 2 when i'd speak. i havent tried recording in sound recorder or audacity cause im afraid those programs might do something that will screw up the mic again.

would using express gate be similar to trying ubuntu? isnt it linux as well? the mic was still really staticky in express gate back when it was still staticky until it magically started working again. i havent tried in in express gate's skype since it started working again.

 

Yeah, the idea is just to use a different OS to rule out a driver issue, expressgate is based on Linux, but it's not really comparable to Ubuntu. If you're getting static in expressgate you should probably just return or RMA your laptop.

 

thanks for your input guys.

i tried plugging in 2 different mics into the mic jack on the notebook, and they sound pretty good and without static. it looks like its just the built in mic thats doing this.

i tried ubuntu 10.10 by running it from a cd, the built in mic still had static.

 

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you had to deal with a resolution problem on an external display with this laptop? I found one other guy with the same problem on google on some site, and it's basically a problem where the screen resolution on an external monitor's capped at 1280-800. The suspected problem is the new bios (212), as apprently (211) works fine. My monitor's a syncmaster and it's supposed to be 1680-1050. It's also detected as a generic non-pnp monitor instead of samsung syncmaster.

It's strange because I'm on my 2nd UL30a. The first was faulty so I had it replaced, but with the first one the screen resolution was 1680-1050. I noticed the one I'm using now seems to be "newer", with some more recent updates in there straight out of the box. Hence, I'm also suspecting the new bios to be the problem.

Has anyone here dealt with a similar problem?

 

Every once in a while, my UL30-A2 won't output the correct resolution to my HDTV. However, often a reboot fixes the issue. Don't know why it happens from time to time.

 

Can anyone tell me how this laptop runs WoW and if it will run it faster than my XPS M1330 with a 2Ghz C2D and an 8400M GS? I'd really like to have this laptop but if it doesn't run WoW better than this thing I don't know what to get.

 

My UL30a2 continues to crash when lightly jarred while running, like placing in on a table while open. It starts making a loud clicking sound and freezes until I do a hard reboot. (Although sometimes it stops on its own)

I presume this is the hard drive, but I don't know.

This problem has been there since I bought it a year ago. Asus has been SO useless, at one point, they took back my computer, sent it to China for rebuild which took 2 months, the whole time telling me nothing except "we'll call back in 24-48 hours" which they never once actually did, I just kept waiting and then only figured out from the waybill that it had gone to China for rebuild.

The problem is still there, and I have little confidence in Asus fixing it. Any suggestions?

 

You can boot into your bios and run a scan of your disk to check for errors. But if something is physically amiss, then scans won't help.

You can try taking it to someplace like Best Buy's geek squad and ask for advice. If the guy is nice enough, he'll even take out the hard drive and look at it. My old HP laptop had BSOD and random shut downs. Took it to Best Buy and the geek squad guy checked my harddrive for me for free.

 

I recieved my laptop yesterday and it is great, but I was looking to update the bios, but I can't.

I have the file for 211 (UL30VTas.211) but the FAQ says to put it on a usb drive, and run it from the bios. I have no option to do that from the bios, which is 210. I've gone through all the options. Am I missing something?

 

I have had the asus ul30a-x5 for about 5 months now, and i've had this recurring problem where the computer freezes for a second every few minutes. It is not very noticeable unless I am watching a video or listening to music, which makes a buzzing sound when it freezes. It is a relatively minor inconvenience, but I have tried many things.
I tried updating drivers for the display, bios, and various other things.
I tried reinstalling windows (this actually stopped the problem for a while but it eventually came back)
I recently did an upgrade rather than a complete reinstall of windows, and it still happens, though a little less frequently.
Whenever I think the problem is fixed it usually comes back and after a while it becomes more and more frequent.
I should note that my computer is not under heavy load at all, and the only programs usually running are microsoft security essentials and google chrome.
Thank you.

 

has anyone tried running mass effect on their computer? I seem to be getting poor performance for no matter what I do (18-28 fps). I mean it's not terrible, but it really makes no sense that every other game I've played (some which are more graphically intensive), run at a higher FPS