Asus UL30VT FAQ / Official Owners Lounge redux

Hy Hydra,

thank for your reply.

I understand why I could not find it...I was searching in the UL30VT software page...

my UL30VT notebook comes with the 1.1.31 and I am trying it as I wanted to finish my installation last night.

I am going to check if I have some issue and let you know.... Just give me some days.


In the meantime, what's about the CHIPSET driver previous question?

QUOTE
normally, the first thing to install is the CHIPSET driver. In our case it should be the driver for the Intel GS 45 but nobody speaks about it. Why? Is it included in another package?
UNQUOTE

txs

 

Yeah the tab is definitively not there... I was scared of that answer since I also thought about using the drivers from the dvd but it's pretty hard to do that without a dvd player in my laptop


Well I'm going to try to get em on another computer and to copy the driver on a usb key.


But it is f**ckin LAME that Asus is not able to put the same drivers on the original DVD and on the dedicated product's webpage ...


Thanks a lot for your reply Hydra!!!

 

Yeah I was wondering the same and made some researches but impossible to find anything about such multitouch drivers. I think that even if you can find it it will not be an official one since Apple has probably patented the pinch to zoom gesture (like all the good features they found so nobody else can use em ).

By the way, does anybody know the difference between P4G 1.24/1.25/1.31? I really wish Asus could put the change logs when they put new drivers online (I know I wish too much)...

 

Well, it's not THAT big of a deal...I wouldn't use it that much as a PC thing. If I want to zoom in and out of a picture, the two finger scrolling that simulates a mouse wheel does that in the Windows picture viewer. Having a back/forth swipe would be nice though.

 

Elan makes touch pads with pinch zoom, rotate, swipes and similar stuff. Asus N7X series uses those for example.
Our touch pad is less advanced (and smaller) so there's no official support for all of the touch gestures.

Elan's drivers are the same for whole range of their pads, but you can see the difference in "Elan Smart-Pad" version (probably hardware signature) which is in my case 2.2 compared to 7.X friend's N71.

So in short, we're w/o luck unless there's someone with serious hacking skills. I don't mind my pad as it is tho. Two finger scroll and clicks ftw. I would even drop buttons bellow as I've used them about 10 times in total -.-

 

Well, the UL30vt are road machines. I have found that not having an external dvd drive and an external drive dock sucks So, look around for these used when time and money allows or hook up with a mate that has them. Asus should post an ISO of the driver disks, no?

BTW, after reading through the posts it appears that all versions of P4G have issues. At least no one has come forward an claimed that version x is perfect in all ways..

 

If I remember, bad lately, my W7HP clean install took care of that. I only see matrix drivers on the driver CD no chip set drivers.

 

has anyone bought a backlit keyboard off ebay? the Asus site says they are OOS, and I don't know if its worth the risk to buy the ebay ones...

 

Yes, check the keyboard mod post for link. It took 8 days, very thin box but no damage. If in no hurry then wait as the price was the same.

 

First, my thanks to everyone for a great thread (including the original one). I've had an A8Jp for several years now (and still have my old Compaq V2000, which works great) but upgrading it to Windows 7 wasn't very elegant and the Asus hotkey program doesn't seem to work. So haven't been around here much.

So, I just got a UL30VT-X1 (in large part due to the great feedback here). It's a sweet looking machine and much lighter than the A8Jp (although shaving another pound off of the weight would be nice ).

I just have one question: if I nuke and repave the installation, is there some reason I have to use the Windows activation key on the bottom of the notebook? I have no problems with using my Windows activation key, but don't want to screw up anything if it makes a difference.

Thanks!

 

I just did a clean install on the ul30vt-a1. I went to asus website and there were many drivers there. 6 just for BIOS. Can someone be kind enough to tell me what drivers to use? Any drivers that you would recommend? I just want the following: battery to last long (I'm only getting 8 ghrs right now). switchable graphics. hdmi enable.

Also my keyboard is lagging a little bit when typing. Anyone here had experienced this?

 

My UL30VT-X1K is being delivered in 1 hour.

1. Is there anything special I should do to make sure the battery life will be maximized?

2. Do I need to do a fresh install of Windows? If so, how do I go about doing that without a disk drive?

 

Battery, powersaving, over/under-clocking are discussed starting on this page for number 1.

The first post here should answer your questions for number 2.

 

You mean the key off your Install CD? Be carefully how many times you use it as people have been denied as too many machines on one key. I used the one off the VT, for same W7HP, no upgrade, but I did have to phone home for activation.

 

Waiting is the worst part, welcome.

As sanpabloguy, however I suggest you take a deep breath

Use your laptop for a while. You want to see how she runs and note any quicks before you get radical. Read through the posts or use search.

enjoy

 

Thanks for the reply. No worries on using the same key too many times.

Figured it didn't make a difference which key was used, but it's been a while since I've done a complete re-install on a notebook. And the "phone for activation" posts in the UL30VT thread weren't very clear on why that was happening. (Or I missed it.)

 

I used the ones off the V2.0 driver DVD. No problems other than the standard P4g quirks. I did not update the bios, what's wrong with yours?

8 hours is not bad, to get more as in marketing 101, you really have to slow things down. How long did you use if before clean install, any keyboard lag?

 

Sometimes the activation happens over internet, other times I had to call the automated robo babe and repeat the numbers..if internet activation failed. sorry, i got cut off.

 

thx for the info/advice!

+rep for you!

 

I decided not to do a clean install. However, I want to uninstall most of the stuff that came loaded. What programs MUST stay on here? What programs SHOULD stay?

 

Dave worked hard on this one!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/380681-asus-utility-bloatware-guide.html#post4838868

 

btw has anyone installed this driver from Nvidia?
NVIDIA DRIVERS 257.21 WHQL

I am just wondering if I can install this as the one that came with ul30vt doesn't let me control "digital vibrance" on the nvidia control panel. Myscreen is too saturated.

 

I'm holding off on doing a clean install of Windows. Things are in good shape now. Did a few things that seem to have helped:

Deleted the D: Data drive and expanded C:. Left the hidden recovery partition.

Got rid of the crapware - Avira and the games. I left on the Asus apps (for now).

Disabled most of the scheduled tasks. It appears that during setup, you are automatically signed up to provide feedback to Microsoft (the Microsoft Experience something). At least I didn't have an option to opt in when the UL30VT was initially setup. This also, apparently, sets up a number of automatic scheduled tasks.

I disabled a couple of things in msconfig (Adobe startup programs).

After being sure all the MS updates were done, I defragged the drive.

It's working pretty well now. Haven't really tweaked much else (a little bit of the P4G settings).

I did all the above (except for the majority of Windows updates), installed Office, Streets & Trips 2010, Firefox, MSE, Irfanview, and a few other programs; surfed the web; did some writing; and still have over 2 hours of battery power.

Even though it's only been a couple of days, I'm very impressed with the performance. It seems nearly as fast as my desktop with more intensive stuff like MS updates, wireless is great, the keyboard is terrific, and it doesn't get hot!

Compared to the netbooks I have (a an HP Mini and the Eee S101H), this is amazingly fast. Additionally, it's actually portable. Sure, there are things I'd like to see that might be improvements.

But compared to the A8Jp of just a few years ago, things have really been barreling right along in the "portable computing" world.

Very nice little box.

 

@hydra

what did you decide on using for undervolting... CPUgenie or throttle-stop???

Have you found the undervolting to maintain performance with significant battery savings? heat mitigation?

Thanks to both you and Romir for you experimentation.

 

As in posts, CPUgenie was used to find an initial stable voltage. After a stable voltage achieved, ThrottleStop used for the actual undervolt and further stability checks. Wisse used Prime95 for further test so I used his test and had to bump up my voltage a bit for high stress stability.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...icial-owners-lounge-redux-68.html#post6350266

So, my final was .900v used in the performance tab and .875 used in the low performance tabs in Throttle stop.

I mainly use for lower OC temps when gaming, only on AC. The battery life is a bit better due to voltage at .875 instead of higher default voltages.

For this type of notebook, I think it's well worth the 12 or so hours invested to find the "golden" voltage for undervolting. The test are automatic but take awhile..

BTW Weiss, Ortho was the other CPU stress program I had forgotten about.

 

I'll have to test CPU again. Yesterday my laptop crashed right after I started 720p movie. I hope it was only low voltage and not something else.
Now I'm back to stock setting for few days to see if problem creeps up again. Then I might go back to some testing with a bit higher voltage. I'll give Ortho a go also.

I have new question for you guys. My HDD spins down rly fast (2-3s) and quite loud (louder than during operation) whenever laptop turns off. It sounds like bad bearing, but that would show most likely result in HDD failure by now, plus it would make same noise when it's spinning normally.
I guess quick stop and sound might be caused by very light platters (low inertia) or some kind of stopping mechanism in HDD.
Does the same happen to you guys, or does your HDD turn off completely silently?

HDD is stock Seagate.

 

Probably flash 10.1...your laptop hates it to BS aside I have had good luck with the 64bit version of http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/

Both my Seagates do this, my XT is louder than my stock Seagate; landing zones?

My WD's (3) do not do this but has a loud click that may be the heads lifting and thrown into a parking area.

Any one else?

 

Hi All, I was wondering if anyone could be of assistance. I am a recent UL30VT-x1 owner and have followed the directions here on the thread. I've done a complete reinstall of windows and have downloaded all the necessary drivers. Also, I have taken the liberty of installing an ssd. Unfortunately, my problem is that my system randomly shuts down and windows recovers from an unexpected shut down on a daily basis.

I thought that my cpu might be overheating but my temperature reads at 55 Degrees C. Also, at times and under stress, my rear side vent blows out very, very warm air. Could someone help diagnose my problem?? I would greatly appreciate anyone's help in this matter.

 

I have the UL30VT-A1, and I had a horrible score with the newly-released Final Fantasy XIV benchmark utility. My score was 553, and anything under 1500 is considered to mean you can't play the game in a reasonable way. I turned my settings to High Performance and overclocked my processor using SetFSB to 1.9GHz, and I still got the same score. Do you guys know of any recent drivers that would fix this? I notice the last display driver released for the laptop was waaaaaay back in October of last year!!

 

Ridley, my score was 580, it played perfectly smooth. Not.

Unless the settings like shadows and AA can be turned way down in the game, you and I won't be playing FF14. Nice looking screens, no?

No new hybrid drivers for us but one option was on first ul30vt thread.

 

This is going to be a tough one not knowing how you did a clean install and which mix of drivers you installed. If you did not wipe your original drive, install that and let us know what happens.

 

I got to play it at E3. They said they're going to work hard the last couple of months to optimize the engine in order to scale it to more and more machines. They were showing the beta build for the first time, so I'm sure soon it may be playable on ours.

 

OK, so I've had this laptop for almost a week now. It's probably pointless to do this because it's been out for a while now, but I'd like to offer my impressions of it.

I'd like to start by talking a little about what I feel this laptop's best feature is: the battery life. For me, this is the first time I've owned a laptop that had a long enough battery life that I felt comfortable operating it unplugged. My other laptop is a G73JH, which is rather pointless to operate away from a power outlet. My last laptop only got about two hours as well. So the sense of freedom that I get from this one is amazing. Have I sat down and timed it? No. Ultimately, I'm very, very happy with the battery life I've gotten so far from it.

The battery life is only one part of a laptop's portability factor. When I bought this, I was looking for something very portable...I started off, actually, by looking at netbooks. But now that I have this laptop, I realize that I would've been very unhappy with a netbook...they're just too small. In terms of size, this 13" laptop form factor is perfect. It's not too heavy, it's not too big. The only thing left to check out is to try it on a plane, but it'll be about five months before I get to do that. Also, I love the looks of it...very classy. (For what it's worth, I have the silver -A1 version.)

As far as the performance goes, it's OK. It does what it needs to do. I wish the video card were a little more powerful. But any gaming I'll do on this is more of an added bonus than a raison d'etre. In normal usage the laptop feels snappy enough.

The screen is not impressive. But I was expecting that.

Finally, I like the touchpad a lot more than I thought I would. I'm especially fond of the multitouch gestures. Will I use a mouse when I can? Sure. But the touchpad is quite nice.

 

i've tried the hp dm3 on an airplane and it fits perfectly... i know for sure that a big 15" does not sit too well on the tray, and a 14.1" would barely fit if at all.

the ul30vt-a1 is currently going for $655 after bing... i'm really tempted to jump. gonna have to read this thread tomorrow to decide what the issues are. off the top of my head, i know many people complain about the touchpad, screen, and maybe a hissing sound when you pick up the laptop. also have heard of issues about the drivers/software for the video card.

 

Hi everyone, I need a little help on a BSOD problem.
recently I have been getting BSOD a few seconds after booting. When I checked the dump file, it seems that my Atheros wireless driver (athrx.sys) is causing all the problems...well time to follow the usual solution of updating the driver! The problem is, the driver is no where to be found on the Asus Support site. Saw others suggesting the ATHEROS drivers for Microsoft Windows site for new drivers but I can't seem to find windows 7 compatible drivers.
I am using the UL30-VT version, attached is the most recent dump file if anyone is interested in helping me with this.
Thanks in advance!

 

Well, just placed my order for a UL30VT-A1. I had pretty much narrowed to the ASUS brand, then to the UL30VT-A1 after toying with the idea of the JT model. I tracked pricing for a week or two then decided to simply pull the trigger (along with a cheap Targus optical drive). Now, in the words of Tom Petty, comes "Waiting is the hardest part." And then accessories (sleeve and mouse for starters).

Thanks for providing such a wealth of info on the laptop and I look forward to following the advice of users (and share what little info back that I can).

 

I took a trip to LA that went through Dallas, and I was able to keep my laptop on the entire time through both plane flights (and while waiting for the plane to take off and to get off the plane) and never had to worry about my battery life. That, my friends, is a great feeling.

 

Hi everyone,

Is anyone using S3 sleep/standby? If so, how do you enable it on our laptops? I've been noticing extremely slow "wake-up" times coming out of the default Windows 7 sleep (worse than coming out of hibernation).

I tried searching, but could not find any information regarding my issue.

Thanks!

 

Do you have any usb devices attached to the system when waking?

 

Would anyone happen to have a link to the original ASUS Display drivers? I need to revert back to the older version listed on the ASUS support site, but it seems the ASUS site has run out of bandwidth...

UPDATE: Forget my request. It seems the bandwidth issues have been fixed.

 

I recently upgraded my hard drive to an SSD, and am seeing BSODs after waking up from standby. Hibernation isn't a problem though. Has anyone reported "wake-up" BSODs on here for the UL series?

 

Actually I don't see a bsod when I wake from sleep, but after I sleep it and I turn it back on, it is fully shut down, I see the windows error recovery tool and when I get into Windows it says Windows has recovered from an error blah blah blah...lol, you think it's related to ssds??

 

That slows down booting? Good to know
On another note, what are you voltages for your 2.1 overclock???

 

No, I do not.

 

Can anyone direct me to the backlit keyboard that will fit the UL30VT-A1. I bought this keyboard (stupid me), thinking it'd work, but it's too small! If anyone could find me the correct backlit keyboard for my model, I'd greatly appreciate it, as I cannot find it anywhere.

Thanks

 

Looks like the FAQ to this owners' lounge has both a link to the right ASUS keyboard to purchase and the mod needed to install it. Hopefully I have correctly linked the FAQ below. Hope this helps!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-reviews-owners-lounges/477634-asus-ul30vt-faq-official-owners-lounge-redux.html#post6169167

 

The Asus Webstore is out-of-stock . Also, I'm not sure if that keyboard is for the X1, or the A1. I suspect that this 302mm keyboard will also be too small for my A1.

 

Ouch re: stock levels, but regarding your second question... do the X1 and A1 have different size keyboards? I thought the only differences in the two models were battery, color, and warranty length.

 

No one is using S3 sleep on their laptops?

 

I'm using both sleep and hibernation, with default Win7 settings. Dunno if sleep is S3 tho, it does turn off almost completely and all I'm left with is blinking power light, no fans or anything.
It takes laptop about 3s to enter sleep and even less to come back after. No problems whatsoever.