Asus N53JF Owner's Lounge

Thanks for the reply. Right now we don't who else is having problems.

Yeah, I killed my multi-media keys getting rid of bloatware, but it's all running good now.

OK this is bizarre.

I just played a youtube 720p video at full screen, in firefox 3.6.13. Tried it in IE8 and it worked too. Then tried a random 360p video at full screen and got a black screen, which I escaped out of ok. Then went back to firefox and tried the same original 720p video full screen and got a black screen, which I escaped out of.

Rebooted and tried the 720p video, again at full screen, and no go.

Makes no sense.

 

Hi again,
I got my XE1 and must say I love it. I installed a SSD and 8GB-1333 and this thing is lightning fast and beautiful. I did a fresh install of Win7-Pro-64 and installed necessary drivers, works like a charm, except...
I have one issue. I took the 500GB hard drive it came with and put it in a USB 3.0 compatible enclosure. I then copied files to it over the network on the USB 3.0 port and it was working fine. At one point I unplugged the power cord (going to battery power) and the external drive vanished, never to return. I've uninstalled and re-installed the USB 3.0 driver, tried the 2.0 ports, but the drive doesn't appear anywhere, not even in Disk Management. The drive powers up and other USB devices work on the notebook. Also the external drive works fine on another PC so I think it's a software issue on the notebook. Any advice welcome because the SSD is too small for all the data files I'll need! Thanks.
EDIT: drive now works on USB2 ports, and other USB2 devices work on USB3 port. So the port seems ok, just USB3 is fubar on the notebook, but I have no other USB3 devices to test on it. I'll deal with slow speed on the other ports until I find a solution.

 

Is there a fix for CPU Whine yet?
Using this computer at night is killing me.. the whine is louder than my music and if i'm downloading a lot (1.4mb/sec) there is electronic noise from my SSD as well..............................................................................

sigh

 

I have light noise coming from motherboard or fan. It shows up when I'm on high performance or entertainment mode using light programs like web browsing or MS word, excel etc. but when I use programs that takes more resources that "mosquite noise" disappears. It's not showing up in battery saving and quite office mode as well. I was suggested by Asus support team to update my BIOS to newer version,but I'm afraid to do that as I have read there might be a lot of problems after updating BIOS. So my question is, if anyone have updated BIOS and has it fixed the problem?

 

Don't worry if everything is solved by an BIOS update, no one would be complaining any more. 27 pages at the ASUS forum and still no good* solution.

The current solutions increase heat, and fan speeds to eliminate the whine..

 

What kind of solution you are speaking about? The one with registry editing? Or about the same BIOS last version?

 

Hey everyone,

any ideas where I could buy an Asus N53JF-XE1 in Europe online?
The only place I find one is USA, while wholesalers of ASUS here in Lithuania say that they still do not have this model for sale.

Thanks in advance.

 

SSD make noise? That's news to me, I would have thought they'd be as silent as an SD card. [I've never owned one.] When you say noise, regarding the notebook, you mean mechanical noise, emanating from the notebook body, not an electrical noise within the audio output or speakers, right?

Cooling fans, sure, they make noise, and that's the only thing I hear on my N53JF-XE1. It's acceptably quiet to me. I use no battery attached, high performance mode, and downloaded and installed the ASUS firmware "Liveupdate. WIN7 32 WIN7 64 259". I can hear my Comcast cable box DVR (Motorola DCH3416) making a lot more hard drive noises than my notebook and it's 2 feet away from my ears, not 1 foot.

Any chance you can record this noise and make it a file available for us to hear?

You could use the sound recorder in WIN7 accessories file, for instance, and hold the microphone up to the part of the notebook that's making this whine.

 

BTW, does anyone have problems with web camera? Mine is working perfectly fine during daylight, but it goes for very low frame rate as soon as it's evening and I have to turn the light on ( no matter how bright they are). Does anyone have the same problem or solution for this?

 

I have a question regarding changing out the screen. I have the N53JQ model (which I can't find a thread for here on the forums) but I can't stand the low resolution. Does anybody know if I buy the XE model's screen (AU Optronics B156HW1), would it be compatible with my computer? Would it be as simple as taking the old one out and putting the new one in?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

Raw LCD panels are not like external monitors we buy where you simply connect a standardized connection, add power, and "voilà!", you are good to go.

They use nearly impossible for consumers to find connections that may differ even for the same brand, model to model, may use different power voltage and current needs (and connectors for that too), and besides needing different computer drivers that you may or may not be able to find they also need a small bit of hardware called a "controller" that also is possibly non-standardized and hard to find.

Unless you happen to stumble upon a notebook repair technician who happens to have done this very specific upgrade you mention, confirms it worked out well, and gives a detailed step by step tutorial of how to do it, then I suggest you don't under take it yourself and instead consider the use of higher resolution external monitors connected to the notebook's HDMI out.

 

Correcting what I wrote here some time back.

I just opened the ram bay and found DDRIII-1333. Sorry if I confused anyone. Only 2 slots by the way.

The spec page for the N53JF shows 1066, no doubt I'm not the only confused customer.

 

For those having problems with full-screen Flash (youtube) videos on this notebook, it's a problem with Flash Player version 10.2 If you uninstall Flash and install 10.1, the problem should go away. It should be permanently fixed in a future version of Flash Player. Adobe and Nvidia are working on it.
Uninstall Flash:
http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/uninstall_flash_player.exe
Install Flash 10.1 (IE)
http://download.oldapps.com/Flash_Player/install_flash_player_ax_10.1_ie.exe
Install Flash 10.1 (non-IE)
http://download.oldapps.com/Flash_Player/install_flash_player_10.1_non-ie.exe

 

LOL I always thought the YouTube thing was from me installing something wrong too bad I can't try it now since my laptop is with ASUS again..

Siigh... I bought this laptop 5 months ago... but only used it for a month... starting to feel buyer's remorse.

 

^They sure are taking a long time to return it saying they've checked out everything and all is working to within their specifications, as I suspect they will.

Of course you could prove my suspicion as wrong when you get yours back and announce to us that they have fully or partly fixed your stated problem(s). [or made them even worse still]

 

How bulky is this thing? I've looked at the dimensions and it's about the size of a 17" MB Pro, but .5" thicker. I was thinking about getting one for college (I'll be a freshman next semester) until I saw its size... I don't know how much walking I'll be doing with the laptop in my backpack, or how much I'll be using it in class, so I'm a bit worried as far as portability goes. The N43SL won't be coming to the US for a while (if at all), so I've been looking at the N53 and some laptops from other brands.

How would good would this laptop be for college use (in terms of size/weight)?

 

It's heavier and bigger than most 15" laptops, but with the XE1 version you get 1080p, blu-ray, and decent warranty for a great price. It just dropped to $900 at some sites. If you aren't going to game or need the resolution, num pad, or other features, look elsewhere, otherwise this laptop is a great buy. I got a 17" bag and it fits easily, and just a little bit heavier than my last 15" which was not nearly as feature-packed.

 

Anyone know the battery life with the upgraded 9cell?? If its 5+ hours and the batteries less than 100 bucks ill take this over the u41 i think

 

I bought my first ever USB 3.0 product, a Thermaltake Max5G hard drive enclosure ST0020U, and using its supplied blue USB 3.0 cord to my N53JF-XE1's blue USB 3.0 port fails to be auto detected. Tried scanning for it under Windows but still no go. I then noticed Windows 7 x64 Service Pack 1 was available so I installed that, but still no device detected. It's not detected while empty or with a pre-formated and allocated drive I setup in another docking USB 2.0 enclosure

The product is downward compatible and will work connect to a USB 2 post, albeit at the non super speed, and reports the drivers are up to date.

Is anyone else here using a USB 3.0 device on this unit and are their any tricks to get it to work? One review of this USB 3.0 device mentioned they couldn't test it because of a know problem with their computer's USB 3.0 contoller.

 

I replaced the notebook's 500GB HDD with SSD, and put the HDD in a Silverstone TS04B USB3.0 enclosure. It worked for a few minutes on the 3.0 port, until I unplugged the notebook. It could be unrelated, but when it went to battery power the external HDD disappeared and has never worked again on the 3.0 port. It still works with 2.0, but only on the 2.0 ports. I don't have any other 3.0-equipped PCs or devices to test so without the ability to troubleshoot I don't know what is at fault and can't blame the N53JF. This has been the only issue with the laptop that I haven't solved.

 

Still not right, I don't get a full screen of black now, but only a still of the video. Can still hear the audio.

 

I had the same issue until I fully uninstalled Flash and installed 10.1. Don't use the Windows uninstall - use the links I provided. Worked for me on Firefox, YMMV.

 

Re. my USB 3.0 enclosure's failure to make any auto-detect Windows acknowledgment, I still haven't heard back from an email to Asus other than their auto-reply saying it should take 2 days (it has been 4 but 2 of those were weekend days), but I think I have found a work around.

Connect the drive to a USB 2.0 port and wait for the Windows "ding" and wait for the drivers to load. Now safely disconnect by clicking the icon in the lower right tray [I often get "Denied because something is using this drive right now", even though I have no idea what is, but that's another story]. Now connect to the USB 3.0 port. Still no "ding"? Remove and then replace. "DING!"

 

So I got my laptop back after 3 weeks... They changed the motherboard but the whine is still here..........

 

Sorry to hear about your whine problem still, yikes!

I've have mine since Nov2010 and haven't really noticed this. Even when surfing in bed with no music.

 

it must be my badluck but the techie said he will order in a CPU and swap it for me to see...!

 

I returned my USB 3.0 external enclosure while I was still under the window of opportunity to do so and receive a full refund, however should anyone care:

A) Asus tech support did get back to me with some generic suggestions, one being "might you have a bad cord?" and in the end I think that or a faulty USB 3.0 port may indeed by the culprit. On the rare occasion that I could finally establish a USB 3.0 connection it would severe with no explanation after a few minutes, but after trying for days I then observed that brushing against the cord quite lightly caused the disconnect to occur.

B) In an informal test I found that transferring a 3.54GB file from the laptop to the enclosure's drive took 40 seconds instead of USB 2.0 which took 2m 44s, so USB 3.0 in my particular situation, at least, seems to be about 4 times faster. [The claimed "10X" may only apply to small burst speeds of small files or have other contingencies, but my example was a real world test of how I actually use the connection , transferring large HD movie files].

 

Yup, used your links, no go.

 

I'm unable to play Flash videos in Explorer since I upgraded to IE 9. There is some mention by Adobe that Flash can not play in IE 9 under Windows 7 64bit, but a quick attempt to try it in 32bit as they suggest, which still seems on my drive, fails as well.

For now I've been using Firefox for browsing instead, but I do hope this gets worked out.

 

^ Update. Although fullscreen is still a problem, I am now able to play Adobe Flash videos, like Youtube, in IE9.

I followed instructions to first fully remove previous versions of flash using Adobe's instructions I found here [note: I disabled my firewall temporarily.]:

YouTube videos won't play? - YouTube Help

After this, another step was to reset my IE 9 settings to default:

Tools> Internet options > Advanced > "Reset" on that page> check box "Delete personal settings"

Reboot. Done.

Hope this works for others! Good luck.

 

I just ordered my N53jf-xe1. Sorry if this has already been asked, but what exactly is the deal with the recovery disk? Somebody said you get prompted when your first start it up to make 5 recovery disks, and it takes a long time. Anyone know about this?
Thanks

 

The deal with recovery disks is that they don't ship you an installation disk so the recovery lets you make a copy of it.
I think most people make recovery disks after deleting some bloatware and installing some stuff?

But you can always restore the computer back to its fresh state. After you restart the computer and press a few buttons (don't remember how but you can ask ASUS) the computer installs the OS back to the very very beginning.

 

Thanks for the quick response. Also, how do you reformat so that the bigger drive becomes the primary drive?

 

Sorry, i'm not sure what you mean?
The only partition you have right now is a tiny one used for reinstalling your OS and I don't know if you can even touch that.

 

My C drive is 116gb, D is 327.

 

Hmm... I don't know how you can change the size of your partition (I know mac can) but when you reformat your hard drive the windows setup lets you choose partitions and its sizes.

If you don't already have a windows disk, you can download it here

Burn it, boot from the disk, format your drive, set your partitions, install

 

Ah, thankyou. I received my N53JF-XE1 in the mail yesterday, so far really like it. Especially love the display and speakers. Getting used to the trackpad and keyboard.

 

Do we know if the card reader in the N53JF-XE1 can use the newest SDXC format? My Google search came up empty on info regarding this.

[I asked earlier but fear the question got missed due to another discussion.]

 

I can't verify it sorry!
but I think your question should be whether or not it can use the SDXC to its full potential? I think most things are backward compatible

 

Well now I can play full screen youtube video, with firefox 3.6.17.

Strange, I don't recall updating to flash 10,1,53,64...but that's what's running. Full screen video wasn't working yesterday.

Gremlins abound.

Dennis

 

That's not inherently obvious to you in my question? OK then, fine, please excuse my sloppy, original wording. I'll be more specific: Does the card reader in the Asus N53JF-XE1 support SDXC cards?

If an SDXC card recorded on a SDXC host device, such as my camera, is attempted to be read by a card reader that does not support SDXC, it will:

A) Not read the data, at all, under any circumstances.

B) Prompt the user to reformat the card, destroying all the data, and cripple the card so it will no longer work as an SDXC card in SDXC host products.

"If an SDXC memory card is inserted into a PC or a host product that does not support SDXC memory cards, a message may prompt you to format the card. Do not format the SDXC memory card in a non-compatible host product; it will erase the data on the SDXC memory card and format the card for a different file system that will no longer work with SDXC host products."

- SDcard.org [boldface emphasis in the original source]

I am fully aware as to in what ways it is backwards compatible, so there's no need to explain that in any further detail. Should others have any interest in that topic they can learn more about it here.

 

I think the new update for chrome solves the full screen youtube thing not 100% sure though, but mine works

 

I've got 2 keys now that are reluctant to register. The "o" & "v" keys have a little more resistance to pressure and don't always work, I may have to press them more than once. They're not sticking. Maybe something got underneath them.

I don't suppose the keys pop off like with a desktop keyboard? I'd hate to destroy this to find out.

Thanks.

 

I had a couple of keys do that to me as well. I was able to very gently pop the keys off and clean what was under them and then snap them back into place. You should have no problem, just make sure to lift them up with equal force from the top edges. I think thats the only location of the snaps.

 

Thanks escthehack I'll give it a try.
Trying to type oy vey is a pita.

 

Hi,
i am since one week lucky with my Asus ASUS N53JF-XE1 and i want to say hello to all other in this Forum.
Ingo

 

Hello,
which is the best nvidia driver i have the old one with the newest FSX is very slow.

 

Has anyone replaced the screen on theirs? Mine cracked because of my dog and now I am looking to replace it. I don't know where to buy it though as most popular screen sites don't have the N53VJ's screen model. Any ideas?

 

Did you check here? No price listed but the specs look right.
Asus N53JF-XE1 15.6" Full-HD (LED backlight) LCD Screens, (New) most screens $345 to $455

Though I wonder about that aspect ratio "standard".

 

Hi All,

I have a ASUS N53JF-XR1. According to the specs I should be seeing a resolution of 1920X1080. However I do not see that. The max resolution I am getting is 1366 X 768.

I put Windows 7 ultimate on it and I ran the Drivers and utility CD but still no change.

Would appreciate any leads.

Thanks

Tarlito