Asus N50 Owners/Buyers Thread

Fireman1867, what's the latest with your repair?

I have had my N50Vn for 18 months & 4 days ago, for the first time, it started 'flashing', very much the same as this guy: YouTube - ASUS N50vn ???????? part II

(just click on the YouTube word & it will load the video)

I happened to have my camera near by & took a 30 second video of it.
Contacted Asus help desk in New Zealand, which goes through to Australia. Informed them of the problem & the Tech said that to send the video with the notebook to the repair center & the screen will be replaced.

I asked him if he had heard of this problem before & he said NO. After searching through the Asus forums, I find his NO hard to believe, as there are others that are having/had this same problem.

The notebook went off to the repair center yesterday. I was told "5 to 10 working days" for the repair.

Typing this on my old desktop & it's rather cold up this end of the house as it is winter in NZ. I am going to buy a second notebook on Friday, for a backup. As Asus has left NZ & contracted out their repairs to a NZ based computer center & the retail shops have a very limited range of Asus notebooks, I will not buy Asus again. I am going with Toshiba.

No doubt there will be those who will say Toshiba sucks .. or such like but those views can be found in all sorts of people, regarding all brands.

 

I'm planing to do a bit of notebook cleaning. If anyone knows where i can find the disassembly guide for the N50V, it would be appreciated since i plan to remove the fan and clean the heatsink of any kind of dust that might be stuck in it. Hopefully, it won't be as complicated as disassembling a G73Jh.

 

Hello!

I did a quick search of this forum and topic as well as tried to google the answer, but I've had no luck thus far. I was wondering, can the n50 handle more than 4GB of ram and if so, what is the max amount it can support? Thanks.

 

Think we are stuck with 4GB. Computer memory upgrades for ASUS N50Vn Laptop/Notebook from Crucial.com

Asus N50V Specs, Laptop Reviews on CNET UK

Those are two answers to a Google search....

This thread is virtually dead as it looks like N50Vn owners have either moved on to other notebooks or are no longer subscribed, which is a pity.

 

Hey could anyone tell me how to remove the whole heatsink in N50? Do I have to unscrew and take off the whole chasis of the lappy to be able to take it out?
I think I might have accidently pushed the heatsink too high, when I was cleaning the lappy inside - hence I think I detached the thermal paste layer (the one that came with the lappy) from that silver heatsink part that covers the GPU and now my GPU seems to have worse cooling, than before.
I want to detach the heatsink so I could apply new thermal paste to both CPU and GPU, namely Arctic Sivler 5

 

Hay

I bought the n50 about 20 months ago now, just reading through this thread and seeing what people have done with it. I probably should of found this thread sooner but I never knew it existed, it's a pity because I can see that this thread was very active after I bought it.

Also I brought it in New Zealand from Harvey Normal which said it had a TV Tuner, but the n50 I got didn't. I rang up Asus and said my model didn't have a TV Tuner yet I have looked everywhere and everywhere else says that my n50 should have a TV Tuner. Has this happened to anyone else? Or is it just New Zealand that doesn't get the tuner?

 

G'Day Bryntheskits. What part of NZ do you live in?

I also expected the the TV tuner as stated on the Asus web site: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

After getting it home I realized it did not have the tuner. On the side of the smaller box, on the white sticker, against TV, it states WO/TV, which I take to mean With Out TV.

Rang Harvey Norman & they looked into it & got back to me saying that the NZ N50Vn did not have the tuner. As it was not a requirement for me, I told them that I would not be returning the notebook for a refund, as it was not as it was advertised, but keeping it.

A week after it had gone off to Auckland for repair, the repairer, Techcentral, phoned to say that they were going to replace the screen & it's cable but the screen would need to be imported & could take 3 weeks. As it turned out, it was back within 11 days from their phone call.

I ran benchmarking software & identified the screen make & model & tracked it down to it's manufacturer & am satisfied that the replacement screen is the LED type that it comes with... I had that lingering doubt....

I've dumped Vista & run Windows 7 64 bit now, goes like a dream.

If you ever want any help, PM me & I'll send you my email address.

 

Hay, thanks for your reply.

I live in Hamilton and am currently living at the University there studying Computer and Mathematical Sciences. How about you?

About 14 months after me buying it I also ran into trouble, the screen flickered randomly gray sometimes when I tilted the screen in relation to the base, also the hard drive gave out. I rang ASUS and they put me though to techmaster (the repairers here) and they picked it up and repaired it, they then sent it to my insurance company (because I had accidentally damaged 2 of the USB ports on the left side beforehand, which was covered) and I got it back about 2 months after (back and forth calls with the insurance company). Didn't kick up too much of a fuss because I was provided with a loan laptop for free which was ok.

Now my n50v one day about two months ago decides to freeze and blue screen every time it tried to run windows 7 (and vista and XP), I have reinstalled 7 twice on two separate hard drives and it still happens so I believe it is a hardware fault (I suspect it is with the graphics card as there are artifacts on the screen when running 7 for the brief minutes before it bluescreens). As I have a 24 month warranty for it (runs out in 4 months) I'm going to call ASUS tomorrow and ask if they can have a look at it. Only reason I haven't rang till now is because I asked my insurance company if they had to cover it or not (which they didn't), that and I installed Ubuntu which is running fine.

I'll post tomorrow letting you know how the call goes, but as for right now I have a class at 9 and I'm up far too late as it is.

 

I'm a retired Motor Mechanic, in my early 60's. Am a bit of a night owl. LOL

You have had troubles ..... Good luck with the call, you will be fine as it is under warranty. Now & then, the keyboard lags & misses a letter as I type, have you experienced that problem?

 

Haha same, only reason I go to sleep is because of classes really.

Yea the keyboard does lag a lot, I found this out quite a while ago in Windows and searched some forums and apparently it's common, I don't know if I can do anything about it (pretty sure it's hardware based as it happens in Windows and Ubuntu Linux), it is really annoying.

Haven't rung yet, will soon.

EDIT:Tried ringing but it's engaged, I'm just going to assume it's too early and call later.

 

When mine went in for the screen replacement, I forgot about the keyboard lag ... bugga.
It is not to much of a problem for me as I don't do much typing & I am a rather slow 2 finger typer.

If you phone the 0800 number before 11am NZ time, you get Techcentral.

A tip: If you can, video the artifacts, burn that to a disc & send it in with the notebook. It will provide proof what is happening & you avoid a return with 'fault not found'.

With this notebook costing me $3400, if a major fault developed within 4 years, I would expect it to be repaired free, under our Consumer Guarantee Act. Lets hope it lasts.

 

Can anyone tell me where the bios battery is located? I've screwed open the main compartment but have not found anything that looked like it. I keep getting those annoying bad Cmos checksum errors at fresh bootup.

 

I have taken mine apart once and do not remember seeing it, sorry.

And I have been very slack, haven't called as of yet, will have a try tomorrow for sure.

 

Well I am sending my n50 back for the second time the screen is again flickering and I am having serious performance issues along with the left palm area being very very hot. I have asked for a replacement but the customer support center in Jamaica can't amke thjat decision, I have argued and will send a letter with the notebook that since it is the second time they are attempting a fix the notebook id f#@ked and I want a new one. Any thought has anyone had any luck with this?

 

They are picking mine up tomorrow I think, this is the second time I have sent it back but they fixed all the previous problems I had. This time it was a graphics card issue, they should be able to fix it, if they don't and won't repair it I will ask for a replacement probably.

 

N50VN_Chapter_02_v1.0_.pdf - FileSmelt File and Image Hosting

I am just going to leave this here....*turns...runs*

 

Excellent post Texanman This will come in handy in the future, when it is out of warranty, which is in 3 months. Appreciate you giving us this.

 

Thank you, Tex. I have been fighting a random shutdown on my father-in-law's N50 and wanted to try repasting the CPU/GPU but lacked the confidence to open her up. Your guide allowed me to give it a go and with a repaste we got his GPU temps down under load from 97C to 80C!

The computer never shut down during 30 minutes of Furmark and Prime95, but would randomly shut off during WoW. The only thing that made any sense to me was heat. In any case, the laptop is much quieter now because the fan doesn't have to work as hard (because the heat pipe is actually exhausting).

Thanks, all.

 

Wow I have been looking for one of those for ages! Thanks!

They didn't come to pick up my laptop so I'm ringing them now, I'm on hold and have a class in about 20 minutes so I hope I get it sorted.

 

Hi all.
With the latest update of the OS, I lost wallpaper standing by default (not the ones that CD).
Can somebody put them?

 

How did you get on?

 

Can this handle a QX9300? I know it technically should, but any BIOS limitations?

 

anybody know where i can buy a replacement screen bezel? i scratched mine and its bugging me.


edit- took it to the service centre and they replaced it for free!

 

New Keyboard

I was on Ebay and found a backlit keybaord from the G51 and the ad says its compatiable with our lappy. Any one have experience with this. It includes and extra wire for the light aswell.

 

Can you send me a link?

 

NEW ASUS N50 N50V US BLACK KEYBOARD with BACKLIT - eBay (item 250748825478 end time Jan-27-11 23:37:18 PST)

Notice the extra connector for the backlight?

 

Well, I think you'll just have to take your laptop apart and check by your self :/

 

Hi I have an asus n50Vc and i compared the display with other laptops and it has a color desaturation and contrast lack. can i calibrate someshow? i tried the nvidia utility but no result...

 

You sure that no Asus ulitiy is kicked in?

 

asus splendid on normal, but on an asus x51 with the same utilities, shows colors better

 

I had an issue recently with my n50vn. The touch sensitive controls behind the screen didn't light up completely and, the ACPI THRM was reading 105C temps while CPU idled around 25, GPU around 40 and HDD around 30, needless to say the fan was at full speed and the noise was getting on my nerves.

Since i was out of warranty, i decided to take it apart thanks to the guide provided in this thread. After re-seating the RAM module, disassembling the touch sensitive controls everything seems to work fine. I'm guessing it was somehow related to the touch sensitive controls but i can't be sure since i didn't power it up between re-seating the RAM and disassembling kb and touch sensitive controls.

If you ever intend to disassemble it, you should know that the latches for the touch sensitive controls are behind it. You should open them gently and then pull the panel back and up. There are plastic pieces in the front the will prevent you from pulling up only and it's not totally clear in the guide.

 

Thanks for letting us know tijo, tips like this always come in handy.
Happy New Year to you!

 

can i calibrate an asus n50Vc ? it has a color desaturation compared to other laptops.

 

Anyone has the screen flicker issue? Any fixes for it? I have the Asus N50VN with 1280x800. Forgot the exact model but has 4gb ram, 9650M GT. I really need this fixed. I don't even use my laptop right now and just gave it to my sister because of the problem.

 

Search the thread with keywords of your problem.
Here is my screen flicker: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu.../320676-asus-n50-owners-buyers-thread-91.html

 

I was helping a friend with his m50 and i decided to check this thread just in case. I had a screen flicker problem with my n50 as well. First thing you should do is check if the problem happens while you're in the bios settings as well, this will rule out the possibilityof a software problem. The problem i had appeared randomly and i usually only had to change the screen position for it to go away. This leads me to think that it's probably caused by a faulty/loose cable between the screen and GPU. If it's a loose cable, disassemble it and unplug/plug the cable.You might add some tape to hold it in place if it's possible.

If you're still under warranty, then simply RMA and asus will fix it for you. That's what i did when my screen started flickering.

 

This topic is dead?

Have this flicker problem as well. Trying to disassemble my N50Vc, anyone has an instruction?)

Thanks.

 

Check out post #916, by Texanman, on page 92 of this thread, it may be what you want. Since having my screen replaced 10 months ago, it has given no troubles.

 

thx a lot, i did it!

it is still a red-blue-yellow stripe(s) on the screen, but i can igrone it after all this flickering)))

 

Sup n50 owners!

It has certainly been a while since my last visit to this thread.

I am still using my n50 and loving it. Last week I replaced the 500GB HDD with a Corsair Force 3 120GB SSD. Everything works like a charm. I read about the drive caddy for adding another HDD into the system. I think I am going to buy one and plug in the old 500GB HDD. That's a pretty nice setup.

I think this laptop still has few more years in it. Gotta hope for the best.

 

Mine is still working well & hopefully will for a couple more years!

 

Hello, I just bought extended battery for my N50 (like this: http://www.replacement-laptop-battery.co.uk/batteries-asus-1045.html), but I didn't realize that it is a "bit bigger" than original one, so original battery cover doesn't fit anymore. I tried to find proper battery cover for my new buttery but with no luck so far. Does anyone is facing similar "issue"? Thanks a lot for any information.

 

Check your link as it shows "404 Error File Not Found"

 

Sorry, missing part is 'y.co.uk/batteries-a'. Correct link again: UK Asus A32-N50, A33-N50, L0790C1, N50VN, N50 Series Battery 11.1V 9-Cell

 

I'm not certain you'll be able to find a cover for that. Your best bet would be to contact Asus support to know if there is indeed a replacement cover. If it does exist, maybe asusparts has it.

 

Have had my N50Vn one month short of four years & apart from a green vertical line up the screen which is caused by a faulty connection cable, it is still going fine. I am going to try to replace the cable myself (thanks to Texasman for the download, ages ago of the relevant part of the service manual, I knew it would come in handy one day). I am also going to try to install Windows 8 Pro on it, next month.
I wonder how many of you still have/use the N50Vn currently?
It's been 11 months since the last post on this thread.

 

Looks like I am talking to myself. lol
Did not bother to fix the green lines up the screen as the camera packed up & the HDD was developing more & more bad sectors.....
On the bright side, the battery still works.

Bought another laptop, a Toshiba. Nothing fancy. Its a touchscreen with Windows 8. It will do me for a year & then the missus can have it. I will then buy another faster one. May look at another Asus as I like the brand.

Well, it's been enjoyable conversing with fellow N50Vn owners but all things come to an end.
So .... it is goodnight from me & goodnight from him.......

 

I bought my n50 new roughly 5 years ago and used it as my main laptop since. It has just been replaced as of last week (hence sig)

It has been great since day one and is still in perfect working order.

Only thing that has happened once was the screen started flickering but after gently adjusting the angle it went away.

I have played many hours of WoW, diablo 3, mw2 and have never had an issue.

I'm going to keep it as a backup.

 

Had my n51vn-a1 for almost 4 years now and its in 99% working order. Occasional freezes due to SATA connection and some due to graphics card

 

Out of boredom I downloaded BF4 on my old N50vn c1s. In multiplayer on all low im getting a steady 13 or 15 FPS. All settings on low.