Asus M51Ta Owners' Lounge

i am interested in running windows 7 64bit, too.
so maus if you could provide some info it would be kind

 

It detects both gpus and it runs the dedicated gpu as default. You have to disable the dedicated graphics to run the other card. I have tried to mod the ATI catalyst to get the graphics switching, but that didn't work.

 

Banana, I have been running Win7 for a month now and I havn't encountered any problems beside that I can't get the switching of graphics to work. Other than that I think Win7 is the OS Vista should have been, it's faster and more enjoiable to use.

 

Hi guys! Now there is a solution to the graphics switching, you don't even need to have the catalyst manager installed. Just press the windows key + P and a window will popup with 4 alternatives. The "computer only" choice will activate 3200 and "projector only" 3650, a piece of cake. Credit to zanquance on asus.com forum site who discovered this.

 

thank you very much for sharing

 

Hey speak of the devil
Thought I would join you all here and share my knowledge/experience with this laptop.
Also thank you maus64 for sharing the info, I didn't know if anyone would read the Asus forums.

It runs Win7 x32/x64 no problems and beautifully I might add.

ATI cant keep their mobility drivers consistent and broke the inf in their 9.9 drivers (9.8 betas work fine), therefore you can't update the 3650 to 9.9 without using mobility modder and using Win7 in Test Mode (so that the unsigned drivers load).

Realtek nicely keeps their HDA sound drivers updated so there are no longer issues running the latest versions from them.

Windows update has drivers for everything else, however the microsoft Bluetooth driver causes blue-screens when its used. So get the correct BT253 from HERE.

PowerXpress is functional just not via Driver calls. In Win7 (haven't tried in Vista) you simply hit the Windows key + P to open the external display settings. As stated before, the Computer only/Disconnect Projector button (far left) will disable the 3650 and enable the 3200. And the Projector only button (far right) will disable the 3200 and enable the 3650.

You can use all the updated Win7 utilities available for most newer Win7 supported Asus laptops such as the G51v on our M51TA's both X2 and non.

Keyboard filter sucks and isn't needed, so does any bloated driver software installed by default by Asus in vista.

Everyone "should" get rid of vista and upgrade to Win7 x64. It more than doubles the speed of this laptop (M51TA-X2 user) and works rock solid.

For good gaming performance set the 3650 Mipmap detail level to performance with VERY little affect on image quality.

I have also encountered the fan issue (fixed in bios 207) and the refusal for the display to wake up after an arbitrary period of time with the lid closed.
You can wake the display back up by pressing fn+F8 a few times to enable and disable the external display. This should bring the laptop back to life. (Another Bios bug?)

LINUX:
I have only tried Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10beta, both work great albeit issues with the ACPI power management. I have not been able to get any FGLRX drivers from ATI working at all. X refuses to start after they have been installed. Some people say it's due to 4gb of ram being present and bad memory addressing tables in the bios, and removing the extra 2gb will allow X to start. However I do not feel like constantly swapping 2gb every time I want to enter Win7 and Ubuntu.

Aside from that, I love this laptop for what its worth and will continue to try and iron out any issues I come across.

 

A swedish magazine did a test testing Windows XP Windows Vista and Windows 7 on a similar set up. I believe this could be interesting for some of you.

http://techworld.idg.se/2.2524/1.251011/windows-7-mot-vista-och-xp---stort-prestandatest


Windows XP Prof SP3 -- Windows Vista Ult SP2 -- Windows 7 Ult RTM


Software Version 5.1.2600 - 6.0.6002 - 6.1.7600

PCMark (points) 4442 - 5072 - 4713

3DMark (points) 527 - 483 - 579

Cinebench singel-cpu (points) 2812 - 2835 - 2735

Cinebench multi-cpu (points) 5186 - 5227 - 5179

Dacris cpu (points) 10635 - 12759 - 12287

Dacris Memory speed (MB/s) 4120 - 4003 - 4310

Dacris HD speed (MB/s) 77.2 - 84.8 - 59.2

Dacris 2D-video (MP/s) 516.5 - 1573.2 - 450.4

Dacris 3D-video (MTps) 2.17 - 2.19 - 2.2

Bootup to login window (mm:ss) 0:00:38 - 0:01:10 - 0:00:58

Bootup to desktop (mm:ss) 0:01:06 - 0:01:20 - 0:01:10

Start up from hibernate (mm:ss)** 0:00:23 - 0:00:31 - 0:00:19

Start up from sleep (mm:ss) 0:00:07 - 0:00:05 - 0:00:01

Shutdown (mm:ss) 0:00:17 - 0:00:19 - 0:00:17

Battery life (hh:mm) 0:01:50 - 0:01:59 - 0:01:28

File transfer one big file
(63187 kB) (mm:ss)* 0:00:37 - 0:00:18 - 0:00:15

File transfer many small files
(731 files, 159 MB) (mm:ss)* 0:04:24 - 0:03:49 - 0:03:30

* File transfer was made to a Windows Server 2008

** Wait state in XP

 

OMG. THANK YOU for posting this info. I can believe that I've been putting up with Vista for this long! I was able to install mobility modded catalyst 9.9 drivers and am able to use both the HD3200 as well as the HD3650 (using the windows - P). My M51TA-X2 is like a completely new machine running Win7 X64. I cant wait till 4 gig sticks of DDR2 800 come down in price becuase i will pop two in for sure. Anyone thinking about staying with Vista is crazy.

Backup....Wipe Vista FOREVER and load up win7.

 

Although W7 GUI responsiveness is much better than Vista I would expect a better battery life. I tested it today with some surfing and youtube videos and it lasted almost 1 hour(59:30). And yet I havn't used my battery so much and can be considered as new. I had much better times with Vista.

Bacon, I didn't know that you could put 8 GB on these machines. I thought 4 GB was the upper limit but if it's as you say it's great to be able to plug in that much.

As for the catalyst 9.9 I had no problems to install and get it working properly without any modding.

 

I was able to get significantly better battery life with modded catalyst drivers. This time I got 1:55 with the 3650 active. The test earlier today was made with 3200. So I should get even better battery time with the integrated card I believe.

 

Ya, I was going to say. My M51TA seems twice as fast running Win7 and my battery life has also improved. Its almost as though my laptop has to work half as hard to achive the same results it did with vista.

 

I just switched to power saving mode with the most conservative settings, and it says I am good for 2 hours and 20 minutes on the stock 6-cell battery pack.

I don't think there is much difference from Vista in the power side of things.

If you want to use the laptop on battery for long periods, I would suggest setting the max CPU to 25%, any more and it drains the battery much faster. This is enough CPU power to run office or surf the web making forum posts (as I am right now w/25% CPU max).

The only issue I have encountered with Win7 RC1 7000 so far are the random explorer.exe crashes. I have not been able to isolate what causes them because they seem to happen so few and far in between, and never while doing the same thing twice.

I'll chalk it up to something Microsoft has done to this kernel version to push users towards the retail versions.

As far as getting the 9.9's installed without having to use mobility modder, this is odd since when I looked through their .inf files, they only had support for the 3200 and not the 3650. So even though it will install without problems, I think if you checked under the CCC information, you will see that your 3200 are on version 9.9 but your 3650 is on whatever version you had installer prior to the 9.9's

Talk to you all later.

 

Its almost as though my laptop has to work half as hard to achive the same results it did with vista.

Yes, the same here. I have also noticed that the HD is working much less when idle. With Vista there was always HD activity.

The only issue I have encountered with Win7 RC1 7000 so far are the random explorer.exe crashes.

I havn't encountered such problem but I'm sure after saying this I will.

As far as getting the 9.9's installed without having to use mobility modder, this is odd since when I looked through their .inf files, they only had support for the 3200 and not the 3650.

There are 2 different Catalyst versions on AMD's site. One of them is : http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx
And the other: http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=win7/windows-7-64bit

I installed the former and got the newest drivers(8.650.0.0) for both cards installed. I did not have the problems you mention. May be you should try to uninstall catalyst and all drivers before installing the new version, I don't know. This computer have been a heck of a challenge for me since I am new on laptops and such things. I even sent it to repair twice for not working properly, but that may be you have read in earlier posts.

 

Ive never had an explorer crash. Are you running the 64-bit version of win7? Why dont you install the latest build of 7600?

 

Yes this explains why you were able to install the 9.9s no problem, those are the betas which contain a full list of all ATI cards in its .inf file.
The WHQL ones (off game.amd.com) although stated for used on integrated/motherboard cards, don't contain any entries for the mobility series, which I find REALLY odd.
You can compare the contents of both .inf files and see what I am talking about. I prefer to use WHQL drivers over betas.

I am running x64 and not to worried about which build version I am running. The crashes also occur on my brothers desktop running the same 7100 version, and since the hardware is completely different, I can rule out drivers and hardware faults. So it is certainly either the updates or 3rd party software being installed causing the crashes.

However I ruled out software not to long ago by installing Win7 fresh again, and only performing a windows update. After a reboot I encountered a crash while navigating the event viewer. A very odd phantom problem if I do say so myself.

Here is the last crash I encountered on 10/7/2009:
Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 6.1.7100.0, time stamp: 0x49ee974f
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7100.0, time stamp: 0x49eeab11
Exception code: 0xc000041d
Fault offset: 0x00000000000505f0
Faulting process id: 0xdf0
Faulting application start time: 0x01ca47bf24a313cc
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll

Anytime it crashes it throws the same error. Beta release never had this issue, so it is something with RC1.
[edit]You may all want to look at this HERE

 

I downloaded these drivers but during the installation progress it keeps saying, that no bluetooth device was found... Did you see this message too?

By the way: Windows plays about every minute the audio message you get, when you plug in an usb device (e.g.)
Does anyone have the same experience?

 

Really? I own the M51TA-X2 and unless you've got another revision with a different bluetooth chipset in yours, those X64 drivers should work as they do with mine. Check under the device ID and it should read USB\VID_0B05&PID_1751&REV_0235

I don't know what would cause the sound to keep doing that, might be dependent on a usb device your using? or it is possible that power saving is enabled on one of the devices, and while it is not being used windows disables the device to save power, which would also make a device connected/disconnected sound.

 

Hi all!
Hello, I wanted to share with you my experience and ask you if you could manage to use M51Ta with linux and 3D acceleration.
Just in case, my computer has this two graphic cards:
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS780M/RS780MN [Radeon HD 3200 Graphics]
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3650
I installed several versions of fglrx with Ubuntu but none of them worked. When I install Ubuntu 9.04 from scratch 2D acceleration was great, but no 3D. Lastly I tried radeonhd 1.3.0 and 2D works well but the computer doesn't turn off normally, I must press the button. I made some changes in xorg.conf to see if linux it could recognize the HD3650 card, so I specified the PCI of the card I wanted Ubuntu to recognice (PCI 2:0:0), but it didn't work. If I specify the integrated card (PCI 1:5:0) or nothing it works fine, but of course with no 3D... Well if you manage to activate HD3650 card and have 3D working please let me know. Thanks!
Best,
PD: I will try Ubuntu 9.10 beta and lastest fglrx and post results.

 

Just to remind you: M51-Ta notebook with hybrid graphics (ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics & ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650).
Today I installed Ubuntu 9.10 beta, after updating I installed xorg-driver-fglrx (2:8.660-0ubuntu4) and all other dependencies which were needed but still I cannot use visual effects or use 3D programs (no 3D acceleration).
I think I must stay with win7 and linux under VirtualBox..... But I just don't want!
Please, if someone has a clue of how to get 3D acceleration under linux with my configuration I will appreciate.

 

This is what I did:
(1) Installed from scratch Ubuntu 9.10 beta 64bits (in other partitions Ubunut 9.04 64bits, Vista 32bits)
(2.0) Upgraded everything that could be updated (kernel 2.6.31-14,...)
(2.1) Restart
(3) Installed xorg-driver-fglrx (2:8.660-0ubuntu4) and all other dependencies which were needed from Synaptic
(4.0) In terminal: "sudo aticonfig --initial -f"
(4.1) A xorg.conf file was created (before there was no xorg.conf) with the following text:

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "aticonfig Layout"
Screen 0 "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
Device "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

(4.2) Restart... XORG CRASHED!
(5) I tried changing in xorg.conf BusID to "PCI:2:0:0" but it always crashes...
(6) Finally I changed the name of xorg.conf so that it doesn't read it and now it works but, of course, no 3D acceleration
PLEASE HELP!

Shoul I install the fglrx manually?? following this guide: http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Jaunty_Installation_Guide

 

@rmartinez
I found this link a few pages back, use that guide to get it working.

 

Thank you very much, but I already try that one. Actually the driver "radeonhd" works well and you get 2D acceleration, but there is no 3D acceleration. At least not with version radeonhd 1.3.0 and Ubuntu 9.04. May be I should try with Ubuntu 9.10... do you think it will make any difference?

 

I don't know, I've never been able to get it working either, and have not tried that posters method. Just thought I would share it with you since the poster was so sure it worked.

 

I'm kind of honoured that someone uses my tutorial

experimental 3d support for r600 (as in this notebook) is only available for a few months, but I could not get it working so far with this notebook. nevertheless I'm still trying and if I have success I'll let you know

so this tutorial is only for 2d support, therefore the latest ubuntu release won't make any difference.

here's the link to the radeonhd homepage: http://www.x.org/wiki/radeonhd:experimental_3D
maybe anybody else has some more luck.

Under Windows 7 (x64) there are two times an unknow device: "base system device". has anyone a clue what this is about?
thanks

 

Hello, I wanted to share my frustration again with new fglrx 8.661 (ATI driver for Linux 9.10):

Update: fglrx 8.661 with ASUS M51Ta still not working
==================================

Details:

Linux: Ubuntu 9.10beta + all updates
Kernel: 2.6.31-14
fglrx: 9.10 (8.661)
Hybrid graphic cards:
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS780M/RS780MN [Radeon HD 3200 Graphics]
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3650

Error (in Xorg.0.log):

(EE) fglrx(0): Invalid video BIOS signature!
(EE) fglrx(0): GetBIOSParameter failed
(EE) fglrx(0): PreInitAdapter for slave 0 failed

xorg.conf: http://pastebin.com/f9e7eb26
Xorg.0.log: http://pastebin.com/f5f0bb023

 

yeah... unfortunately proprietary ati drivers (fglrx) do *not* work yet...
nevertheless I don't get any errors in my xorg.log but the screen is simply black

hybrid graphic cards are not recommendable as long as there is no proper driver support. too bad, because the idea by itself is innovative in my opinion.

 

Hi paulemeister, when I installed win7x64 I could find unrecognized drivers inside the recovery drivers CD for vista that came with the computer. Each component that was not recognized automatically by win7 I made the manual search for that driver and put the CD drive (or a folder inside the CD that had many subfolders...) for the search and they were found. This is something new in win7: it can search for drivers in several subfolders. The only things that I had to look in internet were the ATI official drivers (which worked perfectly), and the RicohSD-MMC_HostController ( http://download.cnet.com/sp37614-exe/3000-2122_4-174224.html ). And also I couldn't find a driver for the finger print thing... (But I don't use this anyway). I hope it helps.

And well... for linux I guess we will just have to wait...

PS: If anything changes in linux support for 3D I will let you know.

 

thanks a lot. I'll give it a try tomorrow!

 

paulemeister and all other interested in 3D acceleration for notebook ASUS M51Ta:
YEEESSS!!!! Finally real 3D acceleration on my notebook!!!! I installed fedora 12 beta nightly-compose of 26/10/2009 ( http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/nightly-composes/desktop/) and then installed (as Kano suggested in Foronix Forums ( http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18046&page=4)) mesa experimental drivers:

su
yum install mesa-dri-drivers-experimental

It works great!!!! I'm so happy!! Hasta la vista Vista!!!

 

guys I need some help before I go nuts...

I just installed win 7 x64 and I cant get my 3650 working.
it is listed in the hardware manager but there it said:
"the device can not be started"

when I try to switch the cards with the win + p and projector only combination it gives me another error:
"the connection to the projector could not be established, no projector recognized"

It didnt work with the windows 7 default ati drivers, neither with the catalyst 9.10 (normal & motherboard thing) nor with the mobility modded 9.10.

actually I cant figure out where I screwd up, so an advice would be quite handy

EDIT: HELL YEAH, the 9.9 beta win7 x64 did it, screw that driver issues...

 

@rmartinez: thanks for your efforts
3d effects DO work, for real! battery consumption is still much much too high... (1h)

@banana128: which ones did you use? the mobility ones or did you use mobilty modder on standard drivers.
I screwed up my windows 7 completely by installing shrewsoft vpn client so I had to reinstall windows. I installed 9.9 mobility drivers, seemed to work fine, 2h30min battery life but today display went black during using the laptop on ac power.
am I the only one experiencing this problem?

 

hello paul,

my win 7 runs very stable, no crashes and other problems so far, but I haven't tried a lot of things yet.
I chose the mobility 9.9 beta driver

 

thanks, reinstalling these drivers seemed to fix the problem.

//edit: I just fount out what caused the problem: windows update tried to install "newer" drivers.

 

sorry I forgot to mention this, the drivers win 7 provides don't work with the mobility.
you have to deactivate the win 7 graphiccard update because it overwrites the 9.9 beta driver and you can do it again.
I hope ati is going to provide a solid mobility driver and asus is fixing the "switch between the graphiccards" issue, because using the the 3650 as a "projector" isn't that great when you want to play games.
unless you play in 1440*900 or you will have black borders allaround

 

To fix the black borders, simply adjust the scaling from "Preserve aspect ratio" to full screen under "Desktops and displays" in the CCC panel (click the black arrow on the BOTTOM lcd displays and select configure). You must first change the desktop resolution to any other than 1440x900. Once applied it holds for all non-1440x900 resolutions, they will retain the full screen scaled setting in everything including games.

Black borders begone!!!

 

nice it works, thank you a lot

 

Hi guys!
I got problem with ma graphic card in laptop Asus x56ta (with Windows 7 Pro installed), which, i guess, is similar to the M51Ta. I tried the methods you all mentioned in this thread, but i still can't get my 3650HD working. I tried modding the desktop drivers (ccc 9.10 & now 9.11)- doesn't work (simply windows doesn't find the 3650 installed properly in device manager). The same in ati ccc- only 3200 appears. Then I unistalled modded drivers and tried mobility radeon drivers 9.9 for win7 beta only. When installing the display drivers my desktop disappears and never comes back again . All the icons and bars are gone, and all the programs open outside the visible area of my screen. So i can't even uninstall the drivers, have to run windows in "last known working configuration", or "something like that" mode
Is that just worth installing it again and again, or I should just wait for stable version of mobility radeon drivers for Win7?
greetings!

 

Yeah the 9.10's and 9.11's aren't working properly with these mobility VPUs. However those 9.9's were working apparently for you, what its doing is setting the display mode to extended and then making View-port 2 primary.

Hold the Windows key and press "P" 4 times. Nothing will appear to happen but that's alright. Now press the power button and reboot. When Win7 comes back up it should still be in extended mode but the View-port should be set to 1 as primary. Now press Windows + P again and click on "Projector Only" to disable Extended Mode.

If none of the above is working for you then look on your keyboards function keys for a symbol of LCD/monitor, should be F8 on most Asus laptops. Hold down the Fn key(next to the windows key) and press F8 a few times until the display goes black, if it does then tap it once more and the desktop should be showing.

If not, then I am out of ideas. The above methods worked on my Laptop so your mileage may vary.

 

Thanks for quick reply! It worked!
I tried pressing Win + P x4, but my screen went black and i couldn't turn off laptop using power button. Had to press and hold it. When windows loaded again the screen was black, and pressing win+P didn't change anything. same as Fn+F8. So I used last known working config, and tried installing again, now pressing win+P only once. And it worked!
Both the cards seem to be installed properly, but 3650 is set as default, and I cant change it in Ati PoweXpress
But considering the fact, that I always work on AC mode, thats not a big problem.
So thanks again for the tips!
Greetings!

 

Seems to respond slightly different than mine did, but after your display went black that was a sign it was responding to the key presses and switching between display modes. If you had pressed Win + P once more(before powering off) I am curious if it would have simply switched you over right then and there...ah well.

I posted this a few pages back:

Let us know if this applies to your laptop version also

 

Yes it works on x56ta
Thx a lot!

 

anyone who uses fedora 12 and the experimental dri package:
does the standby mode work? I just get a blank screen after waking up from sleep mode.

thanks.

 

I also use Fedora 12 on my ASUS M51Ta with experimental dri and stand by does not work. Just like you, the screen is left blank after sleep mode and I must shut down the pc and restart with the button. I hope this will change with kernel 2.6.33 ( http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Nzc4OQ), but for now I will just wait till Fedora takes out this kernel; I'm just too exhausted of trying things that finally don't work. If you manage to make it work please tell me (I think you all ready posted something in Phoronix Forum? ( http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18046&page=4)). Best,
rm

 

yeah... it's quite a full time job to get this notebook to work properly. but still, 3d support with fedora 12 is at least a small step.
and yes, you're right, this is my post, maybe there's someone who can help us.

I'll surely keep you up to date. Kernel 2.6.33 sounds promising.

 

Hey, I'm having some trouble with taking the hard drive out of my laptop (the asus m51ta-x1). On the back of the laptop, there are a LOT of screws, and I am unfamiliar with laptops. I was wondering if anyone could explain to me how to take out the hard drive on this laptop? It would be greatly appreciated.

 

It's a piece of cake to remove the HDD.

1)With the laptop in normal position for everyday use (opening latch facing you), flip it vertically 180 (cdrom on the left, rear vents facing you).

2)The HDD will be in the top left. Remove these two side screws, and pop the plate bay off.

Removing the HDD from here is straight forward.

 

Anyone having issues with their LCD hinges? My screen is getting a little loose.

 

does anyone know how to get the audio drivers to work on the M51Ta-X2? I installed the latest realtek HD audio drivers and sound still only comes through my headphone jack, but not the spreakers.

 

yep, I experience the same but only on one side and those black clips like to become loose, too.

 

You could disassemble and tighten the screws, that used to help in older models that had hinge issues. Check the Info Booth to see if we have a disassembly manual for M51.

As I said on another thread for a related problem: it can also be that the headphone detection switch is broken, which would cause the computer to always think the headphones are plugged in.