Asus M51Ta Owners' Lounge

I think there are screws behind the LCD bezel which you can tighten to get a more firm LCD. I found a disassembly guide which could be a help for you.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=260993

 

Since I've installed latest fedora updates, the task list stays black. there was something about an libdrm update, I guess this screwed it up.

//edit: it's just the transparency option which does not work anymore. however remaining transparency effects still work.

 

@paulemeister
Hi, the same for me when I put the transparency in the panel. But I never realized it until I read your post because I never used it.
I also wanted to tell you that there are some news at the Linux Hybrid Graphics Blog by A. Villela that may interest you ( http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/2010/01/atiati-switchable-graphics.html). Hope they find a way to use PowerXpress under Linux! I will contact this person (linuxhobo) that may be working in something.
Best,
rm

 

In this post it is detailed how to install switchable graphics under Linux (Fedora12):
http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21979
Still work to do, but very promising situation and good 3D acceleration.

 

omg... i hardly believe it!!! thank you very much!

I'll give it a try as soon as possible. Is the battery performance now better?

 

What is muuuch better is the heat. Now with the HD3200 only the computer never passes 50°C. Before, with both cards always ON it went to 65-70°C easily. I guess the battery should end more time now. I will begin now a test! (I don't know why I didn't before )

 

Hi, I tested the battery with the HD3650 OFF and the HD3200 ON, using compiz, internet, and openoffice with lots of opened windows in different workspaces. It lasted 1:30hs sharp. Not that much, but I think it's an improvement. Now I don't feel my computer is going to exploit at any time due to the high temperatures it arrived before. Now is more quiet and it looks more happy!

 

my battery life increased from about 50 minutes to ~ 1h45min.
furthermore I don't get a burned lap everytime I use it in bed.

it's about one year too late, but at least there is hope for coming laptops with hybrid graphics.

 

Happy for you! Here is the link to a blog I have just made with an updated "howto" to hybrid graphics. As soon as I have more time I will make it look nicer:
http://asusm51ta-with-linux.blogspot.com/

 

I have recently made a new update of the blog I made with the HowTo compile kernel + switcheroo. I learned a lot of Shell scripting and made better scripts to switch between graphic cards as fast as a click (and a password tiping...). Well, I hope you can profit from them:
http://asusm51ta-with-linux.blogspot.com/

 

Hey All new Catalyst is supposed to remedy issues with Mobility Radeon drivers in the 2K 3K 4K and future series chips.

Here is a link....

http://www.techpowerup.com/download...0.3_Beta_Preview_for_Vista7_32-bit64-bit.html

I am running Win7 Ultimate x64 on my M51TA-X2 and installed these drivers with success.

The catalyst updates both the 3200 and 3650 to drives dated Feb 10th 2010, which is great. However the Win-P (projector move) no longer works. Power Xpress in CCC works but the 3650 ONLY works with an external HDMI monitor and not the native laptop LCD. I can only get the laptop LCD to work with the 3200.


Figured Id report on this in case anyone else wanted to try using newer drivers and report back with their findings....

Cheers,

Bacon612

 

I couldn't get that thing to install on mine. The screen went black and I had to remove the drivers from the fail safe mode.

 

Either way, i get a blaring fan that runs 100% if i come out of standby and a black screen. FAIL

Really pissed at ASUS and AMD/ATI for thier inability to get it together here.

Illl be waiting for the final version of Catalyst 10.3 to drop before i start carpet bombing ASUS with angry emails about their lack of support for the M51TA.

 

I'll check them once they are out of Beta. Thanks for the heads up

Just a FYI, I bought a HS-1000 USB Creative Fatality headset last week and was pulling my hair out trying to get them working under both Win7 x64 and x32 without audio garbage/corruption up till 2 days ago.
Apparently there are also chipset drivers for the 780Gm I was totally unaware of, which fixes the problem and really helped reduce load times in games.

780Gm Southbridge driver

 

Loaded the SB driver. Thanks for that link.

I just tried an newer version of the mobility 10.3a driver for Win7 x64 with the same results as earlier. I have made hotlinks in CCC to switch from the 3200 to the 3650. Alt-H (high performance 3650) Alt-L (Low power 3200)

The 3200 works with the laptop LCD but the 3650 does not. The 3650 does work with HDMI hooked to an external panel.

I am noticing that the laptop runs cooler when running the 3200 with this newer driver. I think my battery life has also improved. Its a shame that this doesnt work like it should though.

 

black screen means that the graphics card handles the other screen. Need to switch to another, but how?

 

Ya, its tough. For a while I would blindly login to Win7 and use a CCC shortcut i created to switch to the 3200. Not really a happy experience.


Side note, Catalyst 10.3 has come out of beta and is officially released. Has anyone had the patience to try it?

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx

Above is the x64 driver.

 

nothing changed..

 

Yes, the same as before, black screens, fan going berserk when coming back from sleep etc. etc. It's a shame that AMD can't make drivers for their own hardware that works. I'm back at Catalyst 9.9 which at least works quite well with W7.

 

Really too bad about this. Should we get a group going again to lobby for proper driver support from ASUS? Thoughts anyone?

 

I wonder if that would help. I think they consider our model as odd and outdated so I don't really expect any support from them. We could try though, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I wonder if anyone has written to ASUS support about this issue.

 

Hello!
I am so happy to have finally found this forum. I have been spending 10ish hours on trying to get my M51Ta working with win7. I have been running RC1 for quite some time with no issues, but now the ATI mobility radeon HD 3650 is playing tricks with me...
I actually managed to find the Winkey+P trick myself and by pure chance found that the 3650 works on my LCD TV through HDMI.
What's I found on this site though was info that you can cope with the 9.9 driver! I still haven't tried, but you make it sound like it does. Better than what I have now with a black screen when entering windows (or code 10 if I uninstall the 10.3 driver).
Please let me know if I can help in any way to get ASUS/ATI to react, such as mailing someone.

EDIT: finding the old 9.9 beta drivers were not easy..here I found them in the end:
http://www.opendrivers.com/driver/2...yst-9.9-beta-windows-7-x64-free-download.html

 

hello guys,

I have some serious network issues since I switched to win 7 64(everything went fine with vista in the same network).
The internet router uses dhcp, my laptop uses get everything dynamically and for a few times a day I completely lose the internet connection with the following messages:

connection has no valid ip config
connection to standard gateway lost

Sometimes the repairfunction works or a routerreboot, I tried everything from fixed ips to new driver installations, but nothing helped.
Other pcs in the same network are uneffected and still have internet access.
When I am at the dormitory everything just works fine, only at home the mighty internet is against me : (
Which driver version do you use and have you experienced similar issues?

So I am not quite sure if it is router/networkcard or cable related, but it seriously get on my nerves.

Ha finally it is the damn cable, lucky me that is easy to fix : )

@lyx.One:
the beta drivers are also available at the official amd page, but a bit hidden.
I guess Asus won't do anything because they do not support win 7 with this laptop, so we are a kind of left alone.
The 10.3 didn't work for me due to blackscreen and other fancy stuff, so I switched back to the beta which works at least.

 

Banana, I'm glad you fixed the problem, I myself have never encountered such problems. The only issue I have is that my computer sometimes has difficulties to connect to the router so I do it manually. About the ATI drivers, I have 9.9 drivers both for Vista and Win7 that is not beta, it's named "9-9_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu". I don't remember where I got it from but I suppose it's from the AMD site. However, if someone is interested I have no problem to share it.

 

thanks for the info maus64, I found it myself so you do not need to upload it.
time to get rid of the beta driver

 

Hello All.


Seems like Catalyst 10.4 just released. Any brave souls out there willing to try it to see if it makes our Graphics cards work like they are supposed to in WIN7?

here's the link...

ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

I tried the last one (10.3) and im too furious to give this a go today.

 

Don't bother. It has the same problems as Catalyst 10.3. Support of AMD switchable graphics is really a disappointment. Like everyone else, I'm back on the 9.9s.

 

I am going crazy. I have had my M51ta for almost 2 years now. I haven't had any problems with it until now (except for keyboard lag). I went to update my vga driver like I do every 6 months or so, and I installed 10.4. I got a black screen and rolled back, but then I was only able to use external monitors through hdmi.

I uninstalled everything and went back to the drivers from Asus's website. Now I only have the Radeon 3200 in my device manager. I was in the 9's, but I don't know which ones. I just want to get it back to normal so I can use my 3650 and switch graphics on the fly. I have tried 9.9 and 9.8, but they both give me 3200 only now. GRRRR.

I'm on Vista 64 bit.

 

Also, I now have the fan problem. It comes on at full speed and stays at full speed.

 

Boot vista in safe mode. Then you will see the 3650. Load drivers for 3650 while in sage mode and reboot.

Then send Asus and angry email...

 

Thanks for the advice, but what is the best driver set to use? Is it the 9.9 beta or the actual 9.9?

Also, I found out that the ati northbridge filter on the Asus website doesn't work, but the one on the CD works fine.

 

Alright. I am on 9.9 regular and both GPUs are installed in device manager, but when I try to switch to 3650 in catalyst it won't let me. Catalyst is also saying the 3650 is disabled even though it is enabled in device manager.

 

Hi, this information concerns those wanting to use their ASUSM51 with Linux:
I updated the HowTo ( ASUSM51Ta & Linux: HowTo compile Kernel + switcheroo) to compile the new kernel with vga-switcheroo enabled. Fell free to modify the switch_between_cards.sh script or email me if you have any doubts or troubles using it.
Best,
RM

 

I've been running the 9.12's in Win7 X64 no problem. However these are the last I've been able to get running properly.

Download the 9.12 and use mobility modder to get them working. They are quiet a bit faster than the 9.9 set.

I would upload them, however it's a 94MB rar, and I can't spend all day uploading them

 

I installed them and all that works is the 3200..

 

I downloaded 9.12, used mobility modder and installed the driver. works fine. But the performance in games is horrible. :-( Is there any trick to disable the HD3200 by BIOS tweak?

 

I am having the same problem. I can't get switchable graphics working in Vista 64 anymore. I have tried 9.9 all the way to 10.4 (mobility modded and without) and I am stuck with 3200 only with the 9's and 3650 with external output on the 10's. I am so frustrated. Any step by step help would be appreciated because I am in safe mode now.

 

You're talking about Windows 7...not Vista right? In Windows update is an update for HD3200. DEACTIVATE this update. It's faulty for this Notebook. Uninstall ALL Ati Drivers. Download Driver Sweeper and go to Save Mode. Use Driver Sweeper and remove all ATI entries. Go back to normal use and download Mobility Catalyst 9.12 ( allready modded). Install this driver and restart. Both GPU's should work now. Switching between GPU's doesn't work.

 

No.. I am on Vista 64, and I am still having problems. This is RIDICULOUS. I think I need to get rid of the 10.4 SB driver somehow before anything will work. I am sick of dealing with it so I have been computing in safe mode.

 

Ok I read the whole thread. Apparently Vista machines are stuck at around 9.2 where you guys with windows 7 can go all the way to 9.12 without problems.

I am going to start over and upgrade to 9.2 and live my miserable Vista life.

 

Damn it. Still only getting the 3200. GRRKLJHF!

Okay I am on 9.9 vista 64 mobility mod now and Windows device manager says both my cards are fine, but catalyst says 3650 is disabled. When I try to switch a balloon pops up and says now using power saving GPU. It won't let me use the 3650.

 

Have you tried using winkey + P? I don't remember if that works with Vista, but that's how us Win7 users do it. "Computer Only" switches to the 3200 and "Projector Only" is for the 3650.

EDIT: I'm not sure if you guys have solved your keyboard lag problem, but I thought I might share this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/218872-latest-synaptics-driver-modded-acer-mediatouch.html

It's a modded driver for Acer notebooks that works well with our Asus. It's been around for a while but I just stumbled upon it recently. My previous workaround was to use the generic Windows drivers, but that meant I couldn't turn it off except through the bios. So far the lag appears to have decreased considerably, if not disappear completely. Some N50 users swear by it as well.

 

It doesn't work in Vista.

 

Right-click your desktop and click on "Screen Resolution." There should be a clickable "Connect your Projector" some where down there.

 

Yeah, I found it under "personalize" on the desktop. I just wish the new drivers would work properly. I wonder if AMD abandoned switchable GPU's.

Does anyone know the last stable catalyst drivers that worked clean with switchable graphics on vista 64?

 

I believe the last one that worked for me were the 9.2s (with mobility modder). I never got to try the 9.3s, but the switchable graphics weren't working anymore with the 9.4s.

 

I just tried the new 10.5 drivers and switching works, but the 3650 only displays through HDMI. It just seems like a silly bug that ATI/AMD could easily fix.

 

did you use the raw 10.5 drivers or with mobility modder?
and how do I manage it to use the hdmi stuff, I am bit confused at the moment

 

I just used the regular 10.5 and plugged in my monitor via HDMI.

 

Im running 9.12 here. Most of the time, I like to run the 3200 using the win-p switch to save battery and produce less heat. If I go into standby on the 3200, it usually resumes from standby with the 3650. Then, sometimes if I switch back to the 3200 after a resume from standby I bluescreen. Anyone else get this issue?

9.12 running Win7 x64 seems to be the best bet but it still has issues for me.