G50V Owners Lounge

Howardpm is entirely correct.

For those that aren't aware of BlueRays protection scheme, a (very) short primer about Bluray playback.

BlueRay will ONLY work in HD for playback on an external monitor if all three parts of the digital control chain (drive, video card and monitor) are HDCP compliant. The system checks for this in advance of allowing any data transfer, and I'm unaware of any way to bypass it, legal or otherwise. If any part of the chain is not compliant, then it either stops or allows playback in low-resolution mode only.

This was a huge issue for desktop people initially when the BD internal drives came out, as many of them had high-end graphics cards (they were the only ones who could probably afford the initial prices of $750+ for the drives) or big LCDs that didn't pass the compliance check so they were stuck with a very expensive system that wouldn't work unless they went out and purchased all new equipment.

 

Yeah. The guys on slashdot have a good tag for this sort of stuff, defectivebydesign. That's one of the reasons I won't be getting any HDTV or Bluray drives anytime soon...

 

I was thinking of buying the M50VM-B1 but now I have my sights set on the
G50V-A1.

I use to game all the time on my PC, but not as much. I do most of it on the PS3, however, I still like to play RTS games on the PC.

Would the G50-A1 be the better of the two laptops or is it overkill for the casual gamer?

 

Thanks to howardpm and Clearskies i solved my problem, I ended up having to set up my tv and g50 to duel view and then i just made my tv my primary monitor and it works great now. I also love the way the duel view works i can be watching a blueray on my tv and surfing the net on my g50's screen, its great. Thanks again

 

Need some help on a couple small issues:

I reformatted my G50V and did the skip the driver disc trick (probably not the best idea, won't do this next time). I manually installed the drivers I needed, however, one device remains unidentified in the Device Manager. I can't figure out what it is. I know I have not installed the Webcam driver because I don't know how, but Windows says it recognizes the webcam anyway.

The only info I got:

Location: on Intel(R) ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller - 2917

Issue number 2: When I adjust my system volume with FN-F11, it minimizes whatever I'm doing. For example, I'll be playing a game and I want to reduce the volume.. so it minimizes it for me. Very annoying.

Any ideas?

 

You don't need to be an avid gamer to own a G50V.
If the G50V is in your price range (which is just a little more than the B1 you were considering), and if you don't think you'd use the features in the M50VM (like fingerprint reader, swivel webcam, light sensor, touchpad media controls) that are missing from the G50V then I don't see any reason you shouldn't choose it over the M50VM. As far as current RTS games go you shouldn't have a problem playing them with either the M50VM or the G50V.

 

Sounds like the southbridge or IDE controller something along those lines. Thats what the ICH9M is, the southbridge in the chipset.

As for the blueray issues, I did hint at the HDCP isues way back a a couple of pages ago looks like the way worded it nobody caught on.

 

Any ideas about my minimizing problem Vicious?

 

Hmm I dunno, I guess since when you change the volume the screen pops up to say "volume up" "volume down" maybe you have windows setup so that when a new window opens it minimizes the current window? Thats the only guess I have that or just a issue with the software that provides those images.

 

Yeah, namely ATK OSD. I would remove or stop from running automatically ATK OSD, that should remove the graphical popups when you change volume, thereby eliminating the automatic minimization.

 

Well guys, it looks like I will be returning my G50. It's way too big for my liking, much bigger than I expected...and the ridiculous keyboard is bugging me too much. Besides that, it's a great laptop and if it didn't have to be carried around so much I'd probably keep it.

 

I need help with adjusting volume on my G50V.

When I adjust the volume using FN-F11 or F12, the software displays that pretty little picture saying I've adjusted the volume. Problem is that it minimizes me out of my game!

How can I avoid this? I think Direct Console displays a picture when you adjust the volume? I want DC but not to be kicked out of the game every time I adjust the volume

 

Has anyone had any troubles looking completely up or down in FPS games? For some reason it happens in Crysis, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and a few others, but not S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anyone have any ideas? It's really bad not being able to shoot at people below you...

 

Id make sure you have all of the ATK drivers/programs installed and see if that fixes it. That or you need to change a setting in windows so that new windows do not minimize the old ones.

Also EBE hinted in another thread that you can just uninstall the OSD ATK and the picture wont pop up anymore. I may do that myself to test even tho I do not suffer the problem I do not care for the image on screen too much, cause the screen to strobe if your in a game.

 

Ive done it in a couple games and it doesnt minimize it....only if you click on the animation when it comes up does it minimize. So just kick in a corner and work with the volume and make sure not to click before the little logo thing goes away.

 

Hey guys, need your opinion on this one.

Where I live the standard US A1 and A2 models are not available. The retailers here offer two other versions of the G50V:


Model: G50V-AS019K
CPU: P8600 2.4GHz, L2 Cache 3 MB
GPU & Screen: GeForce 9700m GT 512mb, 1680x1050
RAM: 4Gb DDR2
HDD: 320GB 5400rpm
Drive: DVD+RW
Price: $2,214 USD

Model: G50V-AK020K
CPU: T9400 2.53 GHz, L2 Cache 6 MB
GPU & Screen: GeForce 9700m GT 512mb, 1680x1050
RAM: 4Gb DDR2
HDD: 2x320GB 5400rpm
Drive: BluRay
Price: $2,769 USD


Do you think the extra CPU power, double HDD and BluRay drive is worth the extra ~$550? I can honestly not make up my mind.
I'm a student, so I'm kind of on a budget, but if it's worth it I'll pay the extra cash for the hardware.

 

Cpu: kinda nice because its new model not just faster core speed (but again whether its that noticable or not is...something I cant answer)
Double HDD: if you are going to use RAID then its worth it, but if you just need more space buy an external
Bluray: I got the A2 and I have to say that bluray is really nice if you have a nice tv to watch it on, but again its like 23-30$ per movie and you cant just download those...

 

Has anyone had trouble getting the G50 to recognize external microphone?

Maybe I'm totally missing something because it's my first time playing with Vista but nowhere in the Audio device manager do I see that it's recognizing my Creative headset+mic. When I plug in the headset it sounds fine but when I try using programs that require a microphone they just keep saying they can't hear me and that my mic is off or absent. Any ideas how to fix this?

Edit: Also the headset isn't showing up in my hardware list but is working fine for playback.

 

Make sure you set it as the default device.

 

I cannot see it in any hardware/audio device lists so it won't let me set it to anything.

 

polni pizdets....are you the admin?

 

Yeah, my questions would more specifically be how much extra juice does the extra CPU power and HDDs in RAID0 provide?
And if I do get the one without two HDDs would it be possible to buy another and install it myself?

 

Yes, I am the admin. I don't understand how it can work fine for playback but not show up as a device. As far as I remember it didn't come with any drivers or anything like that I'd have to install.

 

Yeah I dont know about the CPU, raid-0 is supposed to be a big improvement though, I dont know about installing it yourself...do the ones that only have one hd come with a raid controller?

 

Hm.. good question. I would suppose so, as it's probably a hassle to fit different motherboard components in these laptops on the production side? I don't know much about it, but it's probably there on the low-end version, the HDD is just not installed.
Can anyone clarify this?

 

I'm having a hard time sending this thing back and replacing it with a Sager NP2096...my temps are incredible. 36/33C for the CPU cores at idle and 43C for the GPU. 35C for the HDD. It's too bad this thing is so big and the keyboard sucks.

 

Probably those temps are related to the fact that it's big. Lots of airflow

 

Mine is doing the same thing. Incredibly disappointing. My TV is a newer (less than a year old) Sony HDTV.

If you 'extend' the desktop onto the device so it acts as a second monitor it works but the playback is choppy because the PC is rendering video for the laptop and the other display. This has to be a local PC issue. Have you had any luck?

Has anyone been able to get the BD playback on TV other than treating it as a second monitor?

I'm not sure about beast, but my TV is HDCP compliant and it didn't work, I even am using a 1.3a HDMI cable.

 

Jusy got my A1 yesterday. I looked into doing RAID 0 but I'm so pleased with this machine so far that I'm just going to leave it in it's stock condition for now. I hear people downing the keyboard but I LOVE this keyboard. I guess it's because I work on Macs for a living and I just CAN'T STAND their keyboards. This keybaord is everything that those aren't and then some.

Still installing games and their updates. Size was I guess it it "big". It's as big if not bigger than my 17" Macbook Pro but I cna rest it on the skin of my thighs witouy getting burned.

Games Installed:
Crysis - Haven't even began to tweak it to give a fair judgement.

Alone In The Dark: - Same as above

WoW - Same as above and it's still installing patches and updates.

Gears of War - Man this almost looks like a new game! Ther detail and textures are so crisp and it's just so smooth. I'll have to give more impressions later.

Shadowrun - This game doesn't really push the limits of anything so it doesn't say much that it looks as good as it's supposed to.

The Witcher - Last game to install.

Does vista have a compatibality mode like XP does for older games? Basically I just want to install the original Half-Life (that game never gets old).

I thought this keyboard lights up. How do you make it do that in low light conditions?

 

Well if its not HDCP compliant you are screwed, I hooked my A2 to a 42' sharp and it worked flawlessly. I assume you are pressing Fn + F8 to get it to switch over to the HDMI cable right?

 

Can anyone give me details on the accidental damage warranty on the laptop. I dropped my laptop today at college after one of the straps broke on the bag I was carrying it in. (Not the backpack that was included) For the accidental damage do they just give you a new one and repair the one I dropped for resale or will they repair mine and then ship it back to me? The problem is I dropped it and it doesn't seem like any internal damage yet. It hit on the front right corner and then landed on its bottom on the rubber pads. I am pretty sure any internal damage is limited as I booted it up, but the cosmetic damage is ugly, the usb ports trimming is broken off and the front corner is dented in. Hoping they just send me a new one what bad luck I have.

Hardware seems fine checked it out, but in other news the corner of the front panel pops off and clicks now. Argh!!!!

 

Couple problems I've had so far with my notebook I'd like to share:

1) After reformatting, my laptop was working fine, then suddenly lost sound. Sound still worked fine in ExpressGate, but nothing brought sound back to Windows (reinstalled SFX drivers, etc). The sound then came back on its own, then went away again on my next reboot. Odd.

I don't like screwing around, so I reformatted again, this time using the Asus provided driver disc so to ensure it was not my fault. Great, sound works. I then installed the Windows Update patches, then sound was gone again.

I uninstalled the SFX drivers, and reinstalled with a newer version direct from Realtek. The sound has worked for 2 days now... we'll see if this problem strikes back.

2) This is really annoying. The network card 'disappears' from Windows if it does not detect a network cable in it. Why is this a problem? Well, my network cable has the little "click" piece broken off, so the network jack does not detect a network cable being plugged in. This means I can't connect to my network.

Ultimately, after jiggling and shaking it it'll eventually work, but will stop working if I have to reboot. This is REALLY REALLY annoying.

Replacing the cable isn't an option because it's 100 feet long and would take hours upon hours of work to relay. I don't have the tools to recrimp a new end piece, but I might have to buy one (sucks!!!)

Very annoying problems.

 

But the TV is compliant. The notebook isn't registering it as such.

 

Well, regardless of whether they repair the old notebook or send you a new one, you'll still be better off than you are now... so I don't see why you shouldn't take advantage of the Accidental Damage coverage. If there is no internal damage and if they exchange the casing, then the notebook will basically be OK. Even so, it's quite possible they will just replace the notebook.

You could try different LAN drivers. Or isn't there a config option that allows the connection to be on regardless of the state of the cable (connected or not)? Still, a good solution would be to replace the LAN socket at the end of the cable.

 

hey peeps

i have a problem with the bluetooth, it doesnt show up anyware, not even in the wireless console, and when i try to install the drivers for it it says no hardware detected....

any idea?

 

Are you sure you haven't accidentally moved the little slider button in the front of the laptop(a little to the left of the touchpad) there is an on and off setting. It may be on off, to the right is on.

 

it was set as on, it tried the on/off many times but it just does the wireless lan activation, nothing with the bluetooth

 

Just replace the 'Head'( I have no idea what it's really called) of the cable...

 

Hope it fixes it. Today it took me over 10 minutes of wiggling it to get an internet connection. If I bump the desk I won't be able to get it back.

 

Cat5 with a RJ45 connector is easy to do, should not cost you much to get the correct tools to do it (I have done it the HARD way with no tools) I also think they make special RJ45 connectors that are tool less installation so if your only going to do this once and dont like to invest in tools maybe look for those.

Now the problem is that you may want to ohm out the wire first to make sure its only the connectors that are the problem and not the wire itself that got damaged somewhere inside the wall. Rodents like to eat wires

 

You only get one claim on your ADW, so I wouldn't use it for this. Just ask them to repair it under the standard 2 year limited warranty.

 

I have strong doubts they will fix damage as clearly physical and due to drop as this one, from the normal warranty. =/

 

Just got my A2 today and the sound driver was not installed either- took a few minutes for me to play with the settings and then realizing that the driver was missing.

As for that plastic cover- I also contemplated removing it. But decided to leave it for now.

If you were to remove that piece and use a laptop cooler... then I can see the benefits with air blowing up into the laptop.

Anyway- let us know if removing that piece lowers the temps.

 

I made a thread just for the "sticker" over the "subwoofer"

Give it a read and post on it to let me know what you think: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=291251

 

I received my G50 today, a couple of things I need some help with -
1. When I unplug the AC power, it seems the video card slows down or something. Example - I was playing WoW with the power cord in and was getting 60fps, I unplugged the AC and i hear the fan go quiet and fps drops to 10fps. I'm sure there's a simply explaination but I can't find the answer, I went into the power profiles and I couldnt find anything that would cause the GPU to slow down if I disconnect the power.

2.When I use the supplied mouse, I set the pointer speed to 50/50 between fast and slow, if I play a game then alt-tab to windows, the mouse speed auto defaults back to 100% fast.

 

Hi, currently I have very slow internet so I could not do any searching prior to posting this. Anyways I installed win XP on my G50V-A1 with those drivers from that other thread on this forum and the sound level is very very low. It is also low when using headphones. Is there a solution to this problem? Also sometimes when browsing folders in windows I hear some kind somekind of popping sound that is not supposed to be there.

 

I think thats powermiser, also the notebook probably goes into power save mode automatically and that will drop cpu speed. Simply put the notebook is not supposed to be used for gaming without being plugged in.

 

The speakers are known to not be as loud as wanted in some types of media. I have not tried any wired headphones with mine so not sure if that problem continues into headphones. Using my bluetooth headphones tho they are just as loud as they were with any other connection.

Look up a program called DFX - http://www.fxsound.com/

It does not work for all programs or media types but if your using one that it does work with its great. I was watching a movie in a waiting area of the doctors office with my kids and it was too low to hear well with max volume. So I installed DFX8 for WMP and it nearly doubled the volume and we could hear the movie easy.

Also just make sure to have the volume all the way up in both windows and the software/game your playing.

For MP3 since DFX does not work I heard the eq in winamp works well but all my mp3's are encoded quite loud so I do not need any sort of enhancement for them infact I have to turn the volume down some.

 

Thanks vicious but All mys sliders are up both in game and windows. I think it's a problem with the drivers. There is no mic boost either and overall everything is too quiet.

 

You could try different drivers, then? Maybe from the audio card manufacturer's website (Realtek?), try a different version, even if it's older than what you have now.