Asus M50VM Owners Lounge

I tried updating bios, but observed no improvements after that.

 

Hmm thats no good. By the way how do you update the bios?

I'm thinking the same thing as you about the fan just running a little too fast - I've noticed it turning up after a couple of minutes now as well. I wonder if there is a way to manually just set the fan a little bit slower.

 

I downloaded manually latest 209 bios and flashed it with winflash utility.
For me it seems that just 10% slower fun would solve the problem and eliminate this annoying high frequency sound that is very unpleasant. Maybe some of us picked series with lousy fans...i think we should try sending e-mail to asus support. Maybe they could update bios with better steps of thermal control when notebook is not on full load. Have no other idea unfortunately.
I think there is no way to manually set the fan a little bit slower - utilities like Speedfan works on desktops mostly.

 

Okay I've downloaded the new bios, also no improvement.

Emailing asus support is a good idea, I'll do it later tonight.

 

hey guys Im new here..
got my B1 a while ago..

I found this forum while I was googling about the media touchpad..

I have searched through the forum and tried to enabled it on the Control Panel

but still it does not seems to be working..

any suggestion??

 

(post removed)

 

I have answered on the other thread. Since your problem is not model-specific that's no harm. To prevent confusion I removed the content of your post here.

 

Pressing mode on the touchpad doesnt work?

 

Hey guys, thinking of buying the m50vm. Have some questions though:

1) How is the heat while gaming?
2) What is this "backlight bleeding"? Never heard of it, can someone link me to a pic of it?
3) Is there a way to disable the multimedia function on the touchpad, like from the control panel?
4) Does it have a problem with missing keystrokes?

Thanks a lot.

 

1. It runs quietly, and it isnt that hot (Max temp I got was 72, with crysis)
2. AFAIK, You can only see that on a pure black screen, and I dont even know what that is, lol.
3. You only have to press "mode" to enable/disable the multimedia mode of the touchpad
4. It really depends, some users dont have it, while some users do.

Hope this helps.

 

I was originally going to get a M51SN and then went I went to order found out it went 'End of Life' within the last week of course too... and this M50VM-B1 was provided as the replacement (of course for over $300 more). The M51SN had guides on getting XP running, and I found out Ubuntu worked well with it as well. However I'm not seeing a 'lot' of positive messages regarding the M50VM as I did for the M51SN, and not much info regarding these alternate OS's. I don't mind trying Vista, but I want to be sure that I can run Windows XP, and Ubuntu on it as well. That being said, is this a good laptop or not, the posts regarding glitches and stuff are making me a bit nervous now. Can anyone shed some light for me on my concerns here?

 

I read earlier posts about DVD noise and fan noise from this laptop.

My optical drive makes a loud grinding/ratcheting sound when the computer boots, but also sometimes while I'm just sitting there reading a web page - this seems pretty odd.

My fan on the other hand is very, very quiet. Silent to my aging ears.

I guess no one has found a solution to the optical drive and why it spins up randomly (I can live with it doing it just at boot time).

 

You might have a program that's accessing the drive but yeah, when it boots up... It's extremely loud!

Have any of you ever gotten a buzzing noise when you start up that express gate program? It happened to me the other day when I booted it up on my lap and I'm afraid that it was the hard drive scratching itself because it may have no been flat down onto my laps.

 

I just got my ASUS M50vm yesterday (hooray!) and I've been up all night configuring it. I decided that because of all the people complaining about their drivers, I'm not going to repartition OR switch to Vista Ultimate (although I will be sad about the lack of a moving desktop image).

A couple questions that hadn't been answered yet though (even in 47 pages):

1. The built-in Microphone, as everyone has mentioned (pages 36 & 37 specifically) - is atrociously quiet. I did go into the Control Panel > Sound > Recording, and turned Microphone to 100 and Microphone Boost to +30, but it's still very, very low, and I'm speaking quite loudly. I don't want to have my nose to the camera when I'm talking, so has anyone solved this problem, or is it a hardware issue?

2. Addition to above... when the microphone is in use, and I attempt to turn up the volume with the touchpad, above the halfway-volume, it emits a VERY LOUD high pitched whine/cry. This only happens when the microphone is in use.

3. Does anyone have one of those silicone keyboard covers? Do you like it? I found one on eBay for $10 (item: 230313040550) and I was thinking of springing for it.

Thanks!

 

As said above, the bootup noise is "normal", and the activations during desktop use are probably due to some application that periodically accesses the optical drive.

 

Can the B1 read dual layered discs? I'm having trouble trying to read them.

 

I also thought the mic level would be a problem, and have changed my settings the same as you've mentioned.

However I've been making skype calls and video calls on MSN Messenger with no problems. I know the mic sounds quiet when you record youself but during calls / video calls the person on the other line should have no problem hearing you

 

Yea... ran FIFA 09 worked great

My one make a small grating sound sometimes, maybe it was hit or something but once the cd spins up there is no noise. When i hear the noise, i applied a little force to the cover and it seemed to help, but that isnt to healthy

 

What the difference between the M50Vm and M50Vn? Is it only the GPU?

 

I have an vm-a1..if i were to connect it to a tv..(an old one) how would i go about that

 

I have a question for the MV50m owners:

1. Which Intel wifi link module does your notebook have? 5100 or 5150? (5150 includes wimax)

2. For those of you living in the United States, does your notebook include a TV tuner?

 

Hm, I have the A1 and I'm trying to run Left4Dead.

These are the requirements for L4D:

Minimum:
o Supported OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / Vista64
o Processor: Pentium 4 3.0GHz
o Memory: 1 GB
o Graphics: 128 MB, Shader model 2.0, ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better
o Hard Drive: At least 7.5 GB of free space
o Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

Recommended:
o Supported OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / Vista64
o Processor: Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz
o Memory: 1 GB
o Graphics: Shader model 3.0, NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better

I don't think I should have a problem running L4D on at least medium settings, right? Unfortunately, that's not the case! I can barely run at even low settings. I'm not sure why this is happening?

 

L4D is like running CS:S so there shouldn't be any problems running at max settings.

 

I don't own just yet, but are you running with the laptop plugged into a power source along with having it set to the highest performance mode?

 

O.K, accidentally hitting this multimedia touchpad is a bit annoying, anyway to disable it for a while? Better yet, is there a way to make it more resistant (ie. hitting it 2 times before it turns on)...

 

Is it okay for my processor to hit 90C when playing wow?
Or is something wrong.

 

if you are talking about CPU then that's too high and if it is GPU then it's still a bit too high.

 

yea talking about cpu.
gpu doesnt go much past 60

today wow hit 87/89 from wow, and on orthos it hit 90/91. its in a room under 20c

I can play wow on max settings at a constant 20 fps, or on lowest settings for only about 30-35 fps in outlands/northrend.

 

Ok, I have read multiple times that this model does not have a lightscribe drive... and that apparently, the lightscribe drive is standard on some Asian models.

My question: Can I buy a lightscribe drive from Asus and replace the OEM drive in my M50VM-B1? Is so, has anyone done this, and is the drive completely compatible with the notebook.. ie, does it fit perfectly and not stick out like a sore thumb? And finally, if such a drive is indeed available, are there any special drivers that are required to support it with lightscribe?

 

Thanks for the responses guys. It was cause my cousin forgot to sign off of the guest account so I had two accounts running at the same time while playing L4D haha.

New question though...My mouse suddenly just died on me, Windows doesn't recognize the mouse anymore and it says it's malfunctioned. I should probably just go and buy a mouse but does anyone know a way to fix it?

And during that problem with the mouse, there was a popup at the task bar every 2 seconds saying there was a problem with the device connected to the USB port(the mouse) so I decided to restart. But when my laptop got to the ASUS logo screen, it just froze there and I kept hearing the Asus load up sound every like 30 seconds. I had to force power off and turn it on again twice before the laptop could get to Windows....Wth is happening to my laptop?? I just recently installed XP from Vista64 if that's relevant.

edit: My webcam just died too...

 

1. I believe it's 5100. No Asus laptops sold in the US will have wimax (the technology is not developed in the US and is currently only available in Baltimore)

2. There's no TV tuner.

Yup, you can buy an optical drive that has lightscribe off from ebay. The lightscribe software should already be in your drivers disk - if not, you should be able to download it from the Asus website. Just make sure you purchase the correct size optical drive.

If you have access to another computer, the best diagnostic is to test the mouse on another system. For your webcam, try and reinstall the webcam drivers.

 

can anyone get n wireless to work on this laptop?
i have a n router broadcasting n wireless but the max speed when i go to task manager always seems to be 54mbps...

 

shouldnt my home network speed have nothing to do with my isp?
im lost.

 

Hi, I just ordered one of these and is coming in Friday. Been reading up on these posts. I am a little confused after looking at the laptop chassis. I was reading some forum discussion and laptop reviews which seem to state that both the side AND bottom vents are exhaust vents? Where are the intake vents?

Thank you

 

Only the bottom are intake vents. The exhaust is only on the left.

 

Your ISP sets the bandwidth of your internet connection, so your internet speed is related to your ISP.

 

Yes, as mentioned above the left --exhaust.

I'll also add that this thing is pretty quiet, and does not get warm even when gaming. The first time I noticed the fan was after 30min of TF2 with the headphone off for a second

 

Would the drivers from M50Vm work with M50Vc and M50Vn since the only difference between these laptops are the GPU then there shouldn't be a problem right?

 

As already mentioned, your ISP limits your connection to the net.. usually about 54 mpbs. However, if you have several computers on your home network, and your home router supports n protocol, I would imagine your 'should' be able to transfer files wirelessly between computers at a much highter speed. Then again, you would need the n-protocol on both computers. That's about all these higher speed routers are good for.. don't expect faster access to the net.

 

Does anyone know how to activate the infrared port on this thing? I'm trying to use infrared to talk to my printer, but this notebook doesn't see the printer, even though the ports are inches apart. Any help is appreciated, google let me down on this for once.

 

Is it normal that when I hear this noise my mouse would freeze on the screen? Doubt it.

 

Hi, I've had my M50VM-A1 for about half a year now so I'm thinking of giving it a nice cleaning on the inside. I was just wondering if you guys had some tips for cleaning the innards of a laptop. I'm thinking compressed air right now...

I'm also wondering if someone had the link for the post that showed how to open up the asus M series

Thanks

 

I am sure that I could figure this out by trial and error, but I am wondering the best procedure to use the HDMI output on this laptop.

Particularly, I downloaded some high-definition "webisodes" of Battlestar Galactica that I want to watch on my HDTV, rather than the laptop screen. I want to watch in a darkened room with the laptop closed.

Will this prove easy or difficult? Thanks in advance.

 

I recommend more than compressed air; if the fan is accessible without removing heatsink, you could actually remove the fan and clean it; and remove the gunk that typically gathers between the fan and the radiator ("fins"). I do not know where a disassembly guide is.

Hmm... no it's not normal. You should check whether the optical drive is not in PIO mode (IDE channel properties under device manager). Put it in DMA mode if it's in PIO mode.

 

Ok. So, I managed to watch some video through HDMI, but it is quite a pain. If someone could point me in the right direction as to how I can setup the following steps to be automated:
1. Change the power settings so that closing the lid has no effect;
2. Set the default audio device to HDMI output;
3. Possibly perform some tasks related to the display.

It would seem that the power profiles could help with the first part, but what about the HDMI audio?

I also had some other annoyances which I'd like to minimize:
- iTunes didn't seem to like the HDMI audio output, so I had to use the Zune software instead;
- When I maximized the video in the Zune player, there were significant borders around the image, even though it was 16:9 format;
- The black levels seemed off, so I had to change the settings on my TV to "RGB (16-235)", instead of AUTO, like I use on the rest of my sources. Since everything is fed through a receiver to the same input, this is pretty inconvenient.
- Extending my desktop to the second monitor (the HDMI output) isn't exactly ideal. I'd much prefer it if there was a good way to only direct specified audio/video to the HDMI output, rather than being able to mouse over it, etc.

So, any idea why iTunes choked on HDMI audio? Any thoughts on what the best method/program to playback video to an HDTV for full-frame picture (even better if it also eliminated my black level problems)?

I know this is a lot of questions. Any help on any part of this would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

His question was about ISP and the range of his N router. And i think they are not related to each other.

 

So how do i check if i am indeed using N? Because i thought 54mbps was a g router speed.

 

Hi everyone. I'v e had my M50Vm-A1 for a few months now and I wanted to run down my experiences and some helpful hints. First off, I freaking love this laptop. It runs fast and stays cool, even during gaming. I can run Left4Dead in split screen with medium settings at 1920x1080 through the HDMI port and it runs smoothly. I dual boot Vista 32 and Ubuntu 64 and both work very well. Installing Ubuntu was a bit of a pain, but all I needed was the alternate install CD in the end. From what I can remember everything worked off the bat, wireless included.

The keyboard is pretty good, once you've gone through the steps to kill the lag. On issue you might run into in some games is overrunning the keyboard's buffer and getting that telltale beep. This was particularly prevalent in Source engine based games like Portal, Half-Life 2 and it's episodes, Left4Dead and Team Fortress 2. I found this to be incredibly annoying and ruinous to my gaming experience, so I hunted down the source of the problem. As it turns out, the M50s ship with multiple keyboard layouts installed and activated so they can be inadvertently switched to while gaming. I solved this problem by simply removing them. I only type in English, so I didn't really need traditional Chinese, Taiwanese or Japanese. You can do this from the Region and Language control panel dialog. Deactivating the language bar can help, too.

Like a few other people, I found the hard drive's performance to be lacking. 1:20 to start up Vista and 45 seconds to Ubuntu login was just a little too slow for such a specced laptop. The best way to fix this is the drop in an SSD. With the Intel X-25M 80 GB SSD it takes Vista about 45 seconds to start up completely and Ubuntu is ready for login in less than 20. If you can afford it and you don't mind taking a hit in storage space you should get one of these bad boys. 160 GB models are available, too.

I'm a little perplexed by the unused Mini PCIe slot on the motherboard. The posts to accept mounting screws are in the wrong place, rendering the slot a little useless. If anyone knows anything about it, please enlighten me. The one thing I can think of doing with it is soldering a few wires to the USB pins and slapping a big flash drive in there to give myself a little more breathing room.

The construction overall is pretty admirable for the price, but I'm not a fan of the fingerprint magnet glossy surface. I wish it were a little easier to take apart for the sake of cleaning out the keyboard and the heatsink in the fan exhaust. You can't even pull out the fan housing without breaking a warranty seal, making dust bunnies in the fan a little more difficult to deal with.

 

A little problem that Im experiencing currently

Ive set my desktop to not show desktop icons, so that my desktop would look clean due to my setup only having rocketdock and windows sidebar shown.

Problem is, whenever I remove the laptop from an outlet, the desktop icons show, and if you check, you will see that the "show desktop icons" option is still unchecked. Same thing happens when I plug it into an outlet, so I have to check and uncheck "show desktop icons" option again in order to remove my icons.

Any of you having this problem? And anyone know of a fix? I know its just a minor problem, but its still annoying at times..

Thanks in advance

 

Strangely enough, I'm having the opposite issue. I hadn't thought about the unplugging issue, but I think that is it. I want the icons to appear, and I have never intentionally entered into any presentation mode. So, I am guessing that there must be something screwy with that setting generally, and probably the interaction with the power-management software installed by Asus.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to know. I keep meaning to ask, but forgot until you jogged my memory.