Asus UX32vd owners lounge.

I just got my UX32VD today.

First off, the unit much better in person. The screen is very nice and the overall sleek feel and look makes the purchase a worthy one.

Unfortunately, I too have a bit of backlight bleeding issue. It can be quite noticeable if I'm watching a movie with black bars. But it's tolerable.

However I'm having serious issue with imbalance left and right speakers.

All sound coming out of the right speaker is twice as loud as the left one. I have to really overcompensate in Windows setting by shifting the balance about 6 to 7 points to the left to fix this.

Has anyone experienced this issue? It seems like a hardware thing. Makes me want to return it. Feels like a waste of money to have to patch up a defect like this.

 

I am thinking of buying one. Can someone pls post a GPU-z pic?

 

see attached screen cap. I am currently "burning" it to see its stability and temperature running folding @ home

 

thanks a lot!

 

Problem: Office 2010 and Explorer keep shutting down; Windows Updates not updated automatically

Hi, Purchased my UX32VD at the beggining of August 2012. Uploaded trackpad drivers. Installed Windows 7 and MS Office 2010 with newly purchased licensed downloads. Have Bitdefender Total Security 2013. Have been checking for regular ASUS critical updates and Windows Live Updates.

About 2 weeks ago, I experienced a shutdown that started with Office 2010 OneNote, then I could not open any Office 2010 software, then Explorer would not open (so I couldn't access anything in My Documents). WHen I rebooted, Windows started to install and then a black screen came up saying I needed to check my disks.

My school tech team uninstalled and reinstalled Office 3 times. Then updated ASUS video drivers and it seemed to work for a week.

Now am experiencing the same shutdown of Office 2010 and Explorer. Although no black screen after I restart my computer.

I don't think it's an Office 2010 issue. I think it's an ASUS issue but I'm not sure what. Any ideas???

 

Hey, I have the EXACT same issue! Sound is noticeably louder from the right side speaker. I opened the case up and reset the speaker cables (extremely small connectors) but this didn't change anything. I think we are just stuck with an imbalanced volume level on this little ultrabook -sucks, but oh well I suppose.

 

Anyone else with the ux32vd care to test out their unit?

all you gotta do is let windows do the left right ring tone test under the sound tab in control panel.

 

i have the same issue. right side louder than left

 

No issues with my unit. Left and Right sound output is subjectively equivalent.

 

Sound is also balanced in my unit.

 

I'm curious what you guys are using to test, because I went over to the Windows Volume control to test this and lo and behold I'm hearing the test ding louder on the right side.

That can't be, I haven't noticed this before and I'm fairly persnickety about audio...So I loaded up a few tracks in VLC and started listening, but I had equally balanced audio out of both speakers.

So if you're judging this problem based on the Windows test ding, try something else, I think a few of the Windows sounds are biased to the left or right.

 

Did you test it under windows speakers test (the left right cue test)?

 

I'm pretty sure that Windows' speaker test using different cues but they're all at the same volume.

Try this test. My right speaker is definitely a lot louder than the left.

Left + Right Stereo Test - YouTube

 

Great thread! I'll make this a regular destination for me.

I think the windows ding test is pointless. It's different sounds at different frequencies and possibly at different volumes. Its purpose is to check that your speakers work and you haven't mixed L & R up, not anything more.

I bought an off-brand power adapter advertized as UX23VD compatible (a small car adapter on ebay), and I fixed its looseness by bending an inner pin to make its inner diameter smaller. Before the contact was really poor, it would not charge and even heat up. Now it's perfect--it even snaps. Not sure if the trick can be used with all plugs. Mine had yellow plastic on the tip and two pins on the inside making the contact.

I've saved the old trackpad drivers, the ones that had their own utility in mouse properties. I love them because they have all the options (like lifting-finger-off-trackpad-is-ok-while-dragging) that I need to never have to press the horribly clicky trackpad buttons. If anyone needs them, let me know. Shame on ASUS for taking them off the site.

Did anyone else's screen get a scratch down the middle? Now I always put a cloth on the keyboard when I close it, but I started doing this just a tad too late.

My biggest problem now is the Power Off button. My workaround is to smash the keyboard with my left hand while rapidly pressing the power with my right. Works pretty consistently. Seems like a firmware issue. Do other people get it?

I was one of the first people to buy this notebook. I wonder if anyone of the issues are getting fixed in later units. Anyone know?

 

Would you care to test out this youtube video? It will play the same tone at the same volume on each speaker. If there is an imbalance, it should definitely show up.

Left + Right Stereo Test - YouTube

Btw, I have had no issue with the screen being scratched when I close the unit. But I only had it for a few days. I'm sure there are other issues to be dealt with in the long run.

I've found the trackpad to be terrible. Having a tough time adjusting to it. I've always been a desktop user.

 

Both speakers sound the same with this vid but not with the windows test.

 

The new video also uses different tones, which is very very bad when doing something as nuanced as checking/adjusting audio. So, I tried using the L/R balance setting in Media Player Classic (Options>Playback), and it is true that 100% L is noticeable quieter than 100% R.

Anyway, it's easy to fix by following this guide: How To Adjust Audio Balance In Windows 7 | Windows7hacker 92/73 seems ok to me.

 

I don't know if the screen scratches always, or only if put in a bag where the laptop is compressed. Or if this horrible problem has been fixed in newer units. Anyway, do yourself a favor and start putting the excellent bundled screen cloth on your keyboard whenever you close it. I noticed it within a week, and I realized what was going on and started taking precautions after a month. It hadn't gotten too bad when I started doing this, and it hasn't gotten worse since.

 

My power button seems to have gotten worse. Now I need a lot more banging for a lot longer to get it to work. Yesterday I installed the latest BIOS, and it's been no help. Has anyone heard of any solutions?

 

Poor QC, and poor R&D. When you buy Asus, it's like buying a lottery. You never really know what design issues or level of quality you're going to get.

 

You know that the power button is a long press button right? Its designed to be like that to prevent accidental presses since its right next to other keys.

If you already knew, but it doesn´t work, I am sure banging is not the solution. You probably have a defective keyboard. Your are just making it worst by banging it.

 

I'm expecting my UX32VD tomorrow and pretty excited for it. Been looking/waiting for a while for a new travelling laptop with a nice display and fast CPU. I have a OCZ 256GB SSD and 8 GB RAM stick ready to put into a couple days after I make sure it's OK stock.

For anyone who has done a clean Win7 install, did you keep track of which drivers and apps on the download page are a MUST install and which are optional? There are many downloads available past the usual HW drivers.

TIA

 

My wife and I got ours last week and are loving them. Really surprised how well this does with gaming. Recently bought Guild wars 2 and can run it (without a RAM upgrade yet) at 1080p and nearly everything maxed.

As far as drivers, there's a thread on this forum about installing Windows to the iSSD, that thread has a great list of important drivers that's useful for any Windows install.

 

A long press button? When turning on it is quick press, isn't it? (I never use it to turn off) Long pressing to turn on does not seem to do anything.

Should I contact ASUS support? Is this something they can fix?

 

You should sent it to ASUS. Warranty covers that kind of problems. If the problem is turning on, its not software related. Even if Asus could not fix it, they would give you a new laptop.

 

Has anyone here tried to remove the 2GB stick soldered to the mobo and replace it with an 8GB (as well as swapping another 8GB in with the replaceable DIMM)? I'm planning on doing this so that I can run dual-channel with 16GB of RAM (for photo/video editing). I've never done something like this before and I don't want to screw up, so any help is appreciated.

 

DON'T

Seriously don't. Those chips aren't soldered on by hand, and if you try to pull them off yourself, you'll end up with a $1300 paperweight that isn't covered under warranty.

 

Well that's enough of a warning for me! I've seen it suggested in several places but nobody has actually tried it as far as I know. I guess I'll just stick with the 10GB of RAM and make a smaller RAMDISK than I originally planned.

 

Aw, I would have let the poster with "phallus" in his name try...

 

Any chip can be soldered and desoldered manually. It takes some special tools and a bit of experience. A repair shop could do it, if it is electrically feasible and supported by the BIOS.

But... dual channel gives little boost in performance. And ram disks are pointless. (SSDs are already very fast, and both Photoshop and Windows try very hard to cache things in RAM.)

 

I'm wondering how my new Zenbook knows when to use the Intel vs nVidia video card?

TIA

 

Has anybody found either a cause or solution to the micro freezes/stuttering that occur every minute or so?

 

how high can you overclock the gpu?

 

I've never experienced that. But I installed an SSD and wiped Windows. I have a hunch that your problem is the fault of the ExpressCache, which I blamed for various crashes and problems I was experiencing until I wiped the machine. ExpressCache also didn't do anything for performance.

 

Unfortunately, I too am using an SSD with a fresh install of windows. I did not install ExpressCache.

 

Did you install anything else? As a rule, always install the absolute minimum of the OEM crapware. How long is the freezing? Is it in games or in Windows? Which antivirus are you using?

 

Speaking of crapware... it seem that some of us does get rid of the on screen display when using Fn keys by killing ATKOSD2.exe (seen in other threads). It eventually falls back to a less intrusive OSD in the screen corner.
I have an intermediate solution that I have been using for a while: I modified the pictures in one of the DLLs in ATKOSD using a resource editor. The result currently looks like this:



For those interested...
- just the custom WaveThemeRes.dll
link1
or link2

- full package with original dll, Gimp file and a couple other custom themes
link1
or link2
or link3 with login and password "atkosd"

- To install the theme: 1. kill ATKOSD2.exe, 2. replace C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\ATK Package\ATKOSD2\WaveThemeRes.dll with the custom one, 3. restart ATKOSD2.exe which is located in the same folder as the dll.

- I tested this with ATKOSD version 1.0.22 on a UX32VD but I'm sure this will work with other versions and other Asus laptops.

Feel free to share.

 

In NVIDIA control panel, menu "desktop", check the box "Display GPU Activity Icon".
The icon will change color when on Nvidia.
While your are in the NVIDIA control panel, you may edit the list of applications set for NVIDIA in "3D settings"/"Manage 3D settings", and "Program Settings" tab.

 

If you still have the Hard Disk in, it is probably responsible for this problem. It goes to sleep too soon. Do you hear it spinning up when the freezing occurs?

 

Looking at purchasing an Asus UX32VD-DB71.

Are the SATA ports in this model all SATA3 (6Gbps)?


Also, what size iSSD is soldered onto the UX32VD-DB71's motherboard?

 

No, I installed absolute minimum of Asus software. It happens to me while playing music or watching a video or while skyping. The audio stutters, making a really robotic sound. It normally lasts a second or less, but it is just really annoying for a $1300 laptop with a $250 SSD to do this.

 

I'm using a samsung 256GB SSD

 

Anyone know?...

 

Mine was 24GB which was enough to install Windows 7 and a couple of programs with 4GB to spare. It was advertised as an i7 at 1.7GHz but I actually received one clocked at 1.9GHz. Putting the OS on the iSSD made it much less of a pain to swap out the hard drive, and it will make it even easier down the road if I want to upgrade my SSD again.

 

Thanks. Have you been able to check whether the SATA ports are SATA3?

 

It depends on how heavy a load the application requires. For a game, the Optimus software should automatically put the NV dGPU to use.

Either way, you can tell the Nvidia driver to signal the user as to whether it is using the Intel GPU or the NV GPU. And you can also assign each program to use either the Intel GPU or the NV one through Nvidia's control panel.

 

I'm not very confident that the SATA port (only one port, I believe, I didn't find any other SATA port to play with) is in fact fully 6GBPs.

With a Samsung 830 256GB, I'm getting the expected read and write speeds other than for 4K read and write.

Perhaps it's because the H77 chipset is not fully capable of driving a SATA III SSD to its maximum speeds, unlike a desktop chipset.

 

The integrated SSD is 24GBs.

Haven't found a good use for it after installing W7 onto a real SSD.

Wish there was some way to take it out of the system, to save on some battery life and to lower the heat output of the system altogether. The laptop runs pretty hot when you put any amount of stress on it.

 

Lol. Asus is pretty bad when it comes to admitting faults. Their QC is very lacking. Great products, nice concepts, but you'd be lucky to get a flawless unit.

My first UX32VD had pretty bad bleeding on the two bottom corners. My replacement unit is way better but it has a very distinctive bleeding spot near the top right corner. Very noticeable when the screen is nearly black for certain scenes of a movie but not noticeable when it's only dimmed.

What I found is that these bleeding issues can be fixed if you are willing to open the unit up and remove the bezel from the actual screen.

What you'd need to do is cover up the space between the screen and the bezel with electrical tape and this will somehow mask the backlight from bleeding onto the screen.

So basically the backlight issue is not a problem with the quality of the monitor itself, but rather an issue with Asus when the company gets these parts from the suppliers and assemble to unit together.

Asus is not mounting the bezel along the screen using balanced pressure. They're just slapping the two things together carelessly, and what you have now is too little or too much pressure/stress on some corners. Hence the user experience all these backlight bleeding issues.

A real shame. It's a matter of luck whether your first or next unit has backlight bleeding. If you're persistent, you might get a better unit but at this point, it's easier to live with the issue knowing that the user can fix the problem himself if he is willing to take some risks.

 

Can someone with a UX32VD download Nvidia Inspector and tell me what you find on the main screen?

Mine says it's operating at PCI-e 2.0, x8 @ 1.1 speed.

I thought this was a PCI-e 2.0 x16 unit? Or perhaps even PCI-e 3.0? Why is it only operating at x8 @ 1.1 speed?