G51 Owners' Lounge

Thanks Abula, will try this driver you've reccommended.

Hi Rain', hope you are well dude...

Regards from Aus',
Dave

 

Im not ocing. If i already did the northbridge, where can i go from there? Ill try reapplying and different drivers.

 

Hey Abula, with much embarrasment I have to admit to not being able to load the drivers you linked in the post I quoted...
I tried on the weekend on my day off work and couldn't figure out how to load the cab file driver... (More )
Any chance of basic 101 on loading cab file drivers?
With thanks and regards,
Dave

 

1) Download the file (should be a .cab file)
2) Make sure you have Winrar (or any other program to decompress)
3) Create a directory and move the file there, right click it and chose the extract here option.
4) Sort it by type, and look into the app files, one should be named setup, double click it.

Make sure you uninstall properly the drives before you install the new ones, and since you probably are coming from newer drives, i would do,

1) Install Driver Sweeper 3.1
2) Uninstall the drives via control pannel (all of them, including physics, etc.)
3) Reboot and enter windows in safe mode (i think its F8 while loading the bios).
4) Once you are inside windows in safe mode, run Driversweeper, chose the nvidia cleaning and accept
5) Reboot in nomral mode
6) Install the new drivers.

 

I have a big problem with my G51J and I hope you guys can help me out.

I want to use the G51J as an audio recording laptop via Firewire. I bought a TC Electronic Desktop Konnekt 6 interface which is connected to my laptop through a Firewire cable. However, when I run Audacity or Cubase LE4 while the interface is connected and on, the two programs cannot run properly (choppy/laggy/crashes). Has anyone else experienced the same problem? I'm thinking it could be a problem in the Firewire chipset or something, but I'm not sure how to deal with this problem.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

Thanks again Abula!

 

I noticed on ebay, a lot of people are selling the gtx260 for different models. I noticed that they have a cooling plate/heatsink. Anyone try to fit one onto ours?

 

The only on that works in the G51 is the one that ships with the G51 and G60. The G60 does have a different pipe which fits. You cant put an incompatible card and some random heatpipe in your notebook.

 

I am using CPUID but it does not have my gpu temp, any know how I can?

 

You could try GPU-Z

 

does anybody know where I could get the plastic lid cover ...
I have a g51jx but I love yalls lid so much better than our blue one , and was pondering doing a swap...
Thanks

 

My gpu temps are always around 15-20 degrees hotter than my cpu. Is this normal?

 

Considering the gpu is cooled with air that was heated while cooling the cpu?

 

Hi all, has anyone recently had their Mata DVD-RAM UJ 8800 AS (& windows media player) refuse to play other region DVDs even with DVD region free installed?

For some reason, my setup has started refusing to play my R 1 & 2 discs purchased years ago...

This was working previously...?

Regards,
Dave

Just noticed I cannot edit this post as the edit facility does not seem to save any changes after preview and saves...
Oops, realised it's a spell blocker on site that will not let me type mats ita without the space in the middle of the manufacturer name! :laugh: .

 

I have a different DVD drive (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T50L) and don't play DVDs often... but out of curiosity are you out of region changes/what is your current region set to? I'm not familiar with DVD region free.

 

Hi dtd00d and sorry for the late reply...
(ISP's spamblocker blocked everything including notification emails from NBR!)
I hadn't been playing many DVDs for a while either (preferring disc images) until a projector arrived and the kids love it so the drive being used more frequently again.

Matsh!ta DVD-RAM UJ 8800 AS
3 changes remaining, currently Region 4... I am wondering if this has been caused by an Windows update?

Region would have been initially set to R1 in the U.S. First change set to R2 or ? (Australia), then without realising I (or WMP) must have used another to reset to R4 (Aus')....

Bit of an annoyance really and certainly has me thinking more negatively about upgrading to a Bluray drive...

Regards,
Dave

 

Hey sorry for my own delays. I ran across this thread again and have been searching around... but again have no idea what could have caused an automatic region change. I don't know if programs can automatically change the region on the DVD drive. Has the number gone down since your last post?

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with any programs that can circumvent the region changes, and I feel that if such programs exist, discussing them would be frowned upon on these forums.

 

Thanks dtd00d (hope you are well), no, count hasn't gone down since post. I've sorted the issue by imaging the discs (on the desktop) then mounting the images/playing via VLC (which rocks btw).
Bother about the censors though, have really enjoyed the info provided on this forum! I have learnt plenty, and the contributors are great.
Thanks again from down under!
Dave

 

Hey all,

I've had my G51VX-rx05 for about 2+years now and I'm starting to get what I think are some overheating related bsods. I have speedfan running and have been trying to take some logs to see what the temperatures are when the bsods happen but no luck, they seem to happen when I haven't prepped my computer for them. But the dumps from the bsod, after googling the error codes etc., have lead me to believe that they're overheating related because none of the other problems cited to cause these errors have shown up. I'm looking to open up the bottom plate to see if maybe my fan is clogged up. So my questions are:
1. Anyone else experience this?
2. Is there a general consensus on the best cooler to buy?
3. (totally unrelated) Whats the best processor that can fit into this laptop right now.

Thanks!
-Ray

 

If you come back Ray...

Unscrew the seven or eight screws on the back ( detailed here). Do a search on G51 cooling and do a little reading, it's an old NB now...

I'd suggest in addition to the above ( if you could be @rsed) you buy a can of compressed air from a stationers suplliers and once the back is off you give it a good blow out through the fan and heatsink area (including in the opposite direction) at the very least. If you do want to keep the machine, it's worthwhile doing the repaste(s) and paying some attention with a toothbrush/nailbrush to the fan casing vent areas and the fan itself with the air as you'll be surprised how much gunk they collect!

Allow about an hour or so to complete the work...

Most of the posters here have removed the CPU-GPU and repasted them with better aftermarket pastes... Personally, my G51 has an Intel SSD for boot/OS with the 7200 rev drive for storage atm, 8 GB of RAM an updated wifi card with 802.11 bgn and Bluetooth, a low TDP Intel P9700 ( my 2nd CPU change out> P7350>P8700>P9700 all with Arctic Silver 5)...

 

I would appreciate if someone with a still-intact G51J (or other G51 coz theyre all pretty similar) can check this out for me.

When an external screen (either VGA/DSUB or HDMI) is connected at power-on, does display show on the external screen by default or does a key combo need to be pressed?

I backed over my G51J and destroyed the screen, I want to check if that was the only thing wrecked or whether the rest of it is as intact as it seems before I shell out on a new screen and turn it into a (very high powered) HTPC.

 

The key combo needed to be pressed for me on a G51vx. Try hitting it a couple times slowly (wait 2s between each one). You might choose to enter the BIOS or some static screen so hit F2 first. I think after selecting the external display it stayed like that.

Alternatively you could physically disconnect the screen internally. I think that might force it to use an external display (HDMI or VGA).

 

Guys, my keyboard is acting up. Have to get it replaced. A lot of keys are not working unless pressed really hard. namely spacebar and the "e" key. Is the G53 keyboard the same as the G51. The odd thing is that the keyboard just randomly acts up. Sometimes the spacebar will be normal and tapping it will work and other times it's like I'm destroying the keyboard just to make it work. So ANNOYING

 

Replacement Keyboard (found via: http://us.estore.asus.com/index.php?pg=2&l=product_list&c=1616)

Here's the official part, you can probably find it cheaper on eBay. Any G51/G60 keyboard will fit, but a G50 keyboard will not. Takes just a few minutes to change.

 

Not looking to buy, just was wondering if the G53 keyboard will work also? The Asus repair depot near my house said they may only have G53 keyboards so I want to make sure before I take it there for warranty. I would just call them if not and ask them to order some parts for me lol.

man and now the "3", "f3" and "f4" keys are having the same problems. Uh oh...

 

May be worth opening it up and seeing if the connection to the mobo is loose? If you haven't checked already that is

 

And now the caps lock key doesn't even work anymore.

Gotta get this done on tuesday!!

 

I own both the g53 and g51. I can tell you that both have different keyboards

 

Long while ago, but connecting external display to Windows7 notebook...
Windowsbutton +P, Return. Windows button +P, L/R arrow, Return (Cycles through the 4 options for additional display; Computer only/Duplicate/Extend/Projector only)

Just added an HP Bluray drive to my G51 (very easy upgrade @ $30). 2 screws underneath drive, 4 screws to remove bracket, 3 press clips to change bezel for G51 model...

Hope all are well,
Dave

 

thanks but i was talking about at bootup.

unless the tv (hdmi) is connected and on when the laptop is turned on no amount of win-p will get it to detect. the laptop itself works fine though, great ghetto htpc setup with a bunch of 2 dorar ebay peripherals and cables which all do their work.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

NW bennyg,
mine connected after boot with hdmi and vga>rgb iirc and after setting default to Proj only...
Hope you sorted it out at the time anyway.
Rds,
Dave

 

Dave,

Can you comment on what bluray drive you used? I have thought about doing that but wanted capability to burn regular cds as well. I dont really burn BR discs yet and can do that on my desktop if needed. My main reason for wanting it is I am planning on upgrading my LCD to the 1920x1080 resolution and then I can watch high def movies on it.

 

Sorry for the late reply...
HP BC-5500S, bought it from OCAU forums for $30. Got it home, Youtubed the faceplate removal and replacement (put original G51 DVD faceplate), drive install took all of about 8 minutes lol...
Drive installed itself in Windows 7 without problems.
There are many BD rom/ DVD&CD writers on fleabay or even from Amazon for very little coin...

I thought about the 1080 screen, then decided not to given the age of the old girl...

Regards from Down Under'
G'David

 

I know this thread seems a bit dead right now, but does anyone know if I can upgrade the RAM to around 8 GB of DDR3? I'm running 64-bit windows so that shouldn't be a problem. I was just wondering if the mobo supports it or not.

 

It should. The chipset supports 8GB max despite some listings only saying 4GB, because at the time of manufacture 4GB was the highest available 2-stick capacity. I have 6GB in my G50vt (1x4GB+1x2GB, same chipset, supports DDR2 or DDR3 according to the manufacturer's choice).

 

Aight awesome. Thanks for the help. We'll see if I can still grab a deal somewhere.

 

hold your horses pardner. your question was if you can upgrade to 8GB of DDR3. you can't. i'm looking myself. we're limited to 8GB of DDR2. the DDR3 is a physically different module and will not fit our SODIMM slots. unfortunately with the ship having sailed on DDR2 about a year and a half ago, we are stuck paying exorbitant amounts for old RAM to the tune of 140 bucks. meanwhile current 8GB setups of DDR3 run 60 bucks. lemme know (PM) if you find someone who has cheap 4GB sticks (200 pin, 800MHz, DDR2).

 

The G51 used the Intel PM45 Chipset. The chipset itself supports either DDR2 or DDR3, however ASUS implemented the chipset using DDR2-only. Obviously, DDR2 was cheaper than DDR3 at the time and now that's reversed since most memory fabrication has moved onto DDR3 constraining the supplies of DDR2.

Cheers,
Kermee

 

So you're saying that it's DDR3 compatible, but Asus decided that they'd take away that function?

 

Yes, since at the time DDR2 was more prevalent/cheaper/etc. Also the only DDR3 at the time was 1066MHz with comparatively slow timings, which was only marginally better performing than DDR2 (1-5%). iirc 1066Mhz is the fastest RAM supported by the PM45 chipset anyway, so it's not like it'd do a lot more good revamping everything for support with DDR3.

Also note he is referring to the G51 vx as the G51 jx and onward carried DDR3 using the newer chipset (Nehalem I believe, first Core i arch).

 

Spot on!

Whoops. You're correct. G51Vx used PM45 while G51Jx used the HM55 with DDR3. I should of clarified that in my post. Thanks!

Cheers,
Kermee

 

Wow, its good to see others are still using a G51 series laptop. I just picked up a G51VX-RX05, had two 200GB drives with no caddy's and the old P7350. I have already put in a T9600 and re-pasted the GPU along with a reinstall of windows 7 onto a single 320gb drive until I can buy a 128gb SSD for the second bay. About 2 years ago I had a G60JX that I had for about a year and I loved that computer, so its nice being back to a PC that I'm familiar with.

Anything I should look into for the computer? And also, any idea what I can do to replace the rubber screen bumpers that used to cover the screws? They are all missing and I remember them being there from my G60JX.

Anyhow, cheers all!

 

I picked my G51VX-RX05 up off a friend in August for 50$ :smile: I added in a 60GB vertex as my main (DIY caddy) and stuck the 320 in as a secondary. All I've needed for the machine is some arctic silver to cool it down and a new keyboard off of ebay. It runs beautifully for a relatively old computer

 

DDR3 really had the benefit for quad cores over the dual cores.

With 1066mhz CL5 kingston modules you got a healthy increase over DDR2 based performance with those.

 

Interesting, thanks! I did not know that. Do you have a benchmark handy by chance?

I was referring to a 5% max performance increase based on older benchmarks such as: AnandTech - DDR3 vs. DDR2 . Note how the DDR3-1333 is outperformed by DDR2-800 sometimes. I still don't think 5% is much of an increase, and that's a best-case scenario.

If we are talking about enthusiast/overclocking RAM, keep in mind that my DDR2 800 is overclockable by 20% just out of the box. That's quite a bit more than a 5% gain.

Anyway, I've always thought faster RAM is the worst upgrade to make in terms of cost efficiency. No user will notice a difference except in benchmarks. It's one of the two most absurd trends in computing, along with heat-will-kill-my-CPU. /rant.

 

Ram is the last thing to be considered performance wise unless it is a bottleneck in the system and the CL5 DDR3 sodimms were the ones to have the greatest impacts for the quads.

5-5-5-18 memory 1066mhz is much better than the 7-7-7-20 memory in that article and the Q9200 running at 3.06ghz does feel a bit bandwidth starved as it was.

 

Mine is still going strong however I have the underscaning isse over HDMI to my Panny st50 and can't seem to run at 1080.

See my signature, the SparkLAN BT + wifi module and Bluray drive are great cheap addins...

Bargain!

Regards from down under,
Dave

 

Hey all,

I'm sure buying an OEM battery is the best option, but I haven't found a business that seems trustworthy (claiming to have OEM, but read reviews of bait & switches). Is there a particular aftermarket battery I should keep an eye out for?

 

I've tried a battery from Techorbits via Amazon (figured Amazon was better than eBay) and it worked great... for two months, and then the battery controller died and refused to charge anymore. Basically the cells were ok but the chip was crap.

I ripped out the cells and combined them with some other ones I had, plus an old OEM 6 cell, to make an 18 cell battery held together with duct tape. It works alright with some quirks.

In short, there's nothing better than the now-obsolete genuine Asus battery, which will only come as used by now. And don't get one from Techorbits. Your best bet might actually be one of those refill sites where you can send in your old battery pack and get it "refilled" with new cells. Never tried it myself, but you have a better chance of keeping your current battery pack's chip (a good thing).

 

Anyone still using their G51vx?
I'm just doing a re-install O/S and am wondering about GFX drivers?

My battery still works as the notebook has been connected to a GP outlet for the last couple of years with the battery removed