N56VZ-DH71/RH71 Owners Lounge - N56VZ w/Windows 8

Weird question.. is the gt650m a 32 or 64 MB video card? Reason I ask, is I get this message opening up Age of Empires 3, the war chiefs.. the normal age of empires doesn't say it, or the oriental expansion, just the war chiefs expansion.. neither does The Witcher..

"Age of Empires III requires at least a 64 MB video card. This computer appears to have a 32 MB video card. If you wish to upgrade your computer, please contact your computer manufacturer for any necessary assistance.

System information: 2400 MHz, 8080 MB, 32 MB"

 

Maybe because your computer opens the game with the integrated Intel HD 4000 and you have in BIOS set it to 32MB.
Change the BIOS setting to 128MB or force the game to use the nvidia card.

 

Do we know if the bluetooth for this is part of the wifi card?

In other words, if you replace the wifi card but want to still have bluetooth, should one get another wifi card with bluetooth on it?

 

Bluetooth is on the wifi card.


Interesting thing about opening the game with the nvidia card....still get the same error. I mean, I can open it and play it just fine, its just weird and if I need to correct it I will. Is there a program I can use to watch and see which card is being used at a particular time?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

Hi All - I'm the UK and have bought a N56VZ-S4242H.

I have fitted SSD's and am very pleased with the laptop, but I like the idea of retro-fitting a backlit keyboard.

- has anyone come across the part number for the backlit keyboard? (I think any N56 model would do , not just VZ's)
(asus parts eu list only one UK keyboard part no: 90R-N9J1K2000Y - I don't think its backlit, and it seems v. expensive....)

- any on-line sources for Asus spares ? (I have web searched & also looked in usual places like ebay)

- I've done some searching but not seen any threads / detailed info about stripping down an N56 - anyone seen one ?

Many Thanks - R

 

Open NVIDIA Control Panel and under "Desktop" tab activate the option "Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area".
Now you can check under "NVIDIA GPU Activity" tray icon to see if and what program is running on NVIDIA GPU.
Another way is to run GPU-Z when you have a game running and check under "Sensors" tab to see what GPU is used on that time.
That error is just because its an old game and have many compatibility issues with the new OS, hardware and drivers.
Try to set the compatibility mode with XP SP3 and check "Run this program as an administrator". Try SP2 also.

 

Thanks for the info on the wifi card.

Has anyone bought a replacement adapter for this model? If so, where did you get it?

 

I have exactly the same issue with subwoofer on my n56vz! Did you receive any feedback from asus?

 

Hi, I've recently purchased my very own ASUS N56vz-S4242 in the UK from Currys/PC World and I must say I'm liking it even more than I thought I would (except for the lack of a backlit keyboard), although it is not without it's problems, albeit minor ones.

I've noticed when I wake up the computer from sleep mode I seem to lose some of the touchpad functionality. I can no longer use two fingers to scroll, two fingered tap to act as a right click, three fingered swipe to move back and forth through pages/windows etc. I am limited to the basic functionality of a one finger tap to select things and have to use the touch pad buttons to get a left or right click.

Another strange phenomenon that occurred for the first and only time today (second day I've had it--still factory setup) was that when I woke up my computer from sleep mode while on battery power, the screen would flicker a lot like a worn out fluorescent light bulb trying to turn on. It seemed only to react to keyboard and/or touchpad activity. If I did nothing it would just stay off. However in the midst of all the flickering I noticed the computer didn't lock up as I could still log in, not like it made any difference. I forced it to shutdown and booted the PC back up and all was fine again.

Can anyone help me out with this?

 

Teal'c gave good suggestions (the ones I would have said and more), thanks

I haven't seen that flicking issue sorry fd32. About the touchpad, you may want to check if there is a new version of the driver.

So far no unfortunately, they say it's still not a known issue - they need it to be reported further. When I took it into the service center they didn't know what to say, both woofers (mine and a test one) showed the issue. Lots of people are having the issue, however people aren't calling it in so support isn't willing to investigate it .

Peter

 

I recently came across an article from 2008 which I think is still applied.

Oh, I almost missed it. You're welcome. This is a thread for open minded N56VZ Win8 owners/users that shares knowledge in an attempt to easily help each other, right? Then I'm happy to contribute.

Liviu

 

Hey guys, quick question - does the N56VZ-DH71 have backlit keyboard? Thnx

 

I got this N56VZ-S4242 last week, as of now pretty happy with this one. The boot time is always below 15 seconds without an SSD so it looks really good.

The only thing that I am not able to find is that the display doesnt look really good, When I see photos and videos it looks blurred. I looked at different settings but still couldnt really get it.

For example, if I see a movie from netflix, the display is blurred in the new laptop compared to a 6 year old HP laptop / Ipad2/Iphone etc. Any ideas?

 

Which resolution and panel do you have?

 

Screen type LED
Screen resolution 1920 x 1080
Screen size 15.6"
Screen features - Full HD - Widescreen

 

That impression migght be created because the screen is matte, not glare.

 

This laptop model have an amazing screen and I love it. I just compared to others LCD monitors and I can't find anything wrong, the image is vivid and crisp on videos, photos and text so I think yours can be fixed, you just have to find whats the problem.
Is this happen only on your browser or its the same in video player and photo viewer? What browser you use? And what video player/photo viewer? Try other browsers and player/viewer.
Check for fingerprints in strong light with the display turned off (fn+f7) even if its sounds silly.
Check to be sure your resolution is set to 1920x1080. If it is, change it to a lower one, apply and set the 1920 back, apply again. Still bad? Reboot
Check if "Windows Experience Index" displays any message. No? Re-run anyway and reboot. WEI is very important. After chipset and VGA drivers this is a must for Windows to make proper settings for your system and very few people know this.
If nothing works you may have a problem with your video drivers. Incompatible drivers, bad versions, poor install or just bad settings made by you or another software without your knowledge.
You can check that by entering in Safe Mode and see if you have the same problem. If you don't and the image is clear and crisp I recommend you to reinstall your Intel Video Driver using V9.17.10.2875.01 from ASUS website.
Come back with as many details about your system as you can if nothing works because It can be a hardware problem and may be in need for warranty service call (I hope not).

May all of your efforts yield a positive outcome,
Liviu

 

It most certainly is - thanks . About that quote about known issues - bah. True though - but I think it's model wide, they just don't want to test any other systems. There was one person reporting they didn't hear the noise from the subwoofer when scrolling, everyone else that's checked has said they have it so I don't know.

I agree for ashwinpkd's issue, it's because it's not Glare - but I like it so much more. Side by side, it's much better than my other screens - especially from the side .

Yes the kb is backlit on the N56VZ-DH71

One thing that continued to plague me is the HDD noise - I don't like it at all. Even in the main compartment it's too loud. I was using my laptop today and thought the fan might be going because it was so loud, that maybe I had too many windows open. I spent time cleaning it all up and nothing changed. So I listened to the case and realized it was the HDD. I took it out just now to see the difference, and the laptop is silent, even doing light tasks. It's just the HDD that makes it louder and seems to even slow it down a bit, even if it's not the OS drive.

I was going to get a 1 TB HDD to replace it, but looking up online the ST9750420AS that my laptop came with states: "Noise Level (Idle): 23 dB / Noise Level (Operating): 25 dB." When I measure it with a couple of my sound meter tools on my phone and a different one on my Nexus 7 it comes out as 31-34dBA when idle. For me that's not acceptable since it raises the noise profile of the laptop 3-7db+ for something I hardly use (and try to avoid using because of the noise) and since it's so far off from the stated amounts, either I have something defective or the stated ones are not accurate (or my audio testers are inaccurate and my ears are better than I thought, the noise is annoying in tone, etc..). Other drives I tested have also been way louder than specs say they should be, so I can't trust that unfortunately, so I can't know how loud a drive is until I install it, which may be too late to return.

So I'm right now thinking to get a big SSD for my second drive. Doesn't have to be fast since I have my Vertex 4 for the main, but a good reliable cheapish 250GB+ SSD would fill the role I think.

Does anyone else notice noise problems like that from the drive? Other than that though, I'm still really happy with this laptop

Thanks,
Peter

 

The Hitachi Travelstar 750GB 7200RPM HDD that came with the laptop sits in a box unused because I didn't find a easy way to get a Caddy Bay for it and I didn't use it before the SSD so I don't really know how noisy can be. Intstead I'm using Toshiba Stor.e 1TB 5400RPM on USB 3.0 and I like it alot. The drive its fast 80-90MB/s read/write, does not heat up even under load and its very silent, the only time I can hear it is an night when its silence and there is some soft clicking sometimes but only when torrenting (I look it up and it appears to be normal). I'm sure that there are some silent 1-2TB HDDs out there that you can be happy with them especially if you don't need 7200RPM ones for speed.

Today I checked ASUS drivers page for updates and to my surprise I found BIOS 215 update.
Grab that and successfully updated my BIOS from USB under DOS with proper preparations (reset BIOS to default changes, disconnect all the peripherals and such).
After the update I still don't have the SecureBoot option.
I don't know what is the change log of this 215 BIOS version except its says "Update new nVIDIA VBIOS". I didn't find anything more about this elsewhere.

Liviu

 

Hi All!

I've been researching new laptops for a while and have settled on the Asus N56VZ-DH71. I'm going hunting for it on Boxing Day.
My plan is to replace existing HDD with Crucial 256GB M4 SSD and upgrade RAM to 16 GB with Crucial Vengance CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10.

Two questions:

1. I've seen reports of issues with booting from cloned SSD. Has anyone encountered this, and if so what is the resolution?

2. I've seen several threads recommending the Crucial Vengance as stable at 16GB capacity. Has anyone encountered any issues with this, and if so was there an effective resolution?

The DH71 will be my laptop for the foreseeable future, so I'd like to ensure that any changes I make are reliable for the duration.

Cheers!

G

 

Look at recent messages into this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/677457-asus-n56vz-16gb-ram-thread.html.

CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10 is not Crucial, it's a Corsair RAM and it really was recommended as a good choice for upgrading ... until a few weeks ago!
Now we know that in some (a few? many?) cases these Corsairs can't boot the notebook, maybe depending by the particular IC used.
For sure they work well in many cases, in others not.

An alternative choice are the G.Skill F3-1600C11D-16GSQ, that were reported as working by several owners (e.g. on that same thread and just today on an Italian forum, owner successfully installed them on N56VZ flashed with latest 215 BIOS).

 

What about the kingston PnP modules or the original blue ones?

 

So I got the N56VJ-DH71 (apologies if this isn't the thread for that) this morning with the intention of formatting it and putting Windows 7 on it. I'm in the middle of that process now and I may or may not have chosen poorly with this whole idea.

I've got most of the laptop's functionality working but I still can't get the sound to act how it should. I installed the Realtek drivers and the laptop speakers work, but the subwoofer is not doing what it's supposed to. I think the drivers are just piping the sound directly to it as if it were a speaker, not just the low end, so when plugged it, it produces a crunchy, distorted sound that doesn't seem good for it.

I started completely fresh with the laptop, so there's no Asus software on it at the moment, except for the keyboard drivers. Do you guys think there's an Asus utility somewhere to setup the speaker-subwoofer combo? It did sound pretty fantastic before I formatted the whole thing.

Thanks

edit: maybe I'm overreacting and it's actually alright, but something seems off about the sound

 

I dont know much about N56VJ, but I think your Realtek drivers are not compatible with the OS. What driver version do you have for audio?
On the Asus site I found for Win8 only. My suggestion is to try the Version V6.0.1.6680 and see if it works.

Good luck,
Liviu

 

Thanks for the reply. I went through the drivers for the n56vm, which is just about the same computer but with Windows 7, and got the same version of the RealTek drivers from that. Using those drivers, I can make it work, but it still acts oddly, like it's trying to run compression on the audio signal. It may be the case that the drivers are working properly and something else is amiss.

But for the record, you can definitely BS your way through downgrading to Windows 7. I just can't believe, after Vista, that Microsoft and OEMs still refuse to make it easy to downgrade...

 

What Teal'c said as well as checking your MAXXAudio settings (if you have the ASUS Realtek drivers installed, otherwise the subwoofer will not work). Check what it's set for because I noticed the MaxxBass setting was too high by default - someone else also posted that same thing - try adjusting things there and see if you can get it as you like it.

The N56VJ-BH71 model which has 1TB HDD and 12GB Ram and the GTS635M rather than the VZ's 650M is going for $979 for boxing day with a FHD panel at Best Buy - I suspect we'll have a lot more users of these N56s soon

Peter

 

I hadn't seen that listing. Can you provide a link? Also, have you seen any discounts on the N56VZ-DH71?

Cheers!

G

 

Does anyone knows anything about those 2 "OS improvement" updates?
I can't find anything about them.

Best regards,
Liviu

P.S. Merry Christmas!

 

I'm on the verge of purchasing an N56VZ but I have a big issue with the touchpad. When I went to Microcenter today to purchase my laptop I opened it up and bam, the bottom left of the touchpad seems to be on a slight angle and it doesn't click properly. I went through FIVE of these laptops and all of them had this problem (yes, I opened it in store to verify).

Have you guys had this problem too? Or did I just hit a bad batch? It's the RH-71 variety. Thanks in advance.

 

Merry Christmas!

At one point I knew, I watched as it did those OS Improvements and saw it run a certain script on the command line, but I can't recall now sorry. Why do you want to know, do you think they are causing problems for you?

It may be the design, I think I need to click that section a little harder than the rest - though now that I think about it, that may be the bottom right really. It may break in over time and use, that's what I've found. I'll try to take a look at it when I get home.

Peter

 

Sounds good let me know please, I need this laptop to last me a solid 4+ years so I don't want to deal with unnecessary complications. If the trackpad is iffy when the laptop is brand new I don't even want to know what it'll be like two or three years down the road.

 

Sorry for the double post but anyways no worries on the trackpad, I got the laptop and I'm loving it. No problems with the trackpad as of yet and my dilemma now is installing a new version of Windows 8 on an SSD.

I swapped out the HDD for an SSD and have a bootable disc and USB and none are recognized by the BIOS (215). Any recommendations?

EDIT: Disregard the above, I found a work around. Not sure if it has been posted but here it is.

In the BIOS (215) settings make sure CMS is ENABLED and Secure Boot is DISABLED. After, swap out your HDD with your SSD. Make sure your USB or Disc is inserted and upon powering on press the "esc" key to enable boot options and choose your USB and/or Disc.

 

hey im planning to get this laptop im going to use it for music production but i wanted to know the latency first. so i was wondering if one you guys would be willing to download this latency checker and tell me your results. this is the only thing holding me back from buying one. you get it at this link http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

 

Downloaded and tested for you, I'm not entirely sure which results you're looking for but... http://i.imgur.com/MwDVi.png

Enjoy!

 

HI...CCz_Cataphract, i have the same problem with you. I also install KBfilter but the issue still exist(i have the same think with you that i thought kbfilter can solved my problem). My model is N56VZ-V2G. It sometimes happens randomly after fast startup. I can't type anything. Have you solved the problem? thanks.

 

Hi guys,

I'm getting my UK N56VZ-S4242 in the next few days after a couple of week's solid research.

One of the first things I want to do is a clean install - either of Windows 8 if I like it after trying it for a while, or of Windows 7 if I don't.

To clean install Win 8, do I only need an iso extracted to a DVD or USB stick? Is the product key linked to the BIOS (and thus not require entering manually)?

Secondly, if I were to get an SSD (which I will, in a month or two) and change the boot setup to AHCI, and then clean install Win 8 onto that, would it still work or would I need a product key in this instance?

And thirdly - upon a clean install and installing new drivers etc, what ASUS utilities should I install/avoid?

Thanks in advance for any help.



Steve

 

Re: Necrodox - Please note this from page 3 of this thread:

How long is your system booting with Legacy/CSM? Note that those times above are with SSD - but I would expect faster times from the HDD on FastBoot/UEFI than the old type, you can see the early posts of the thread for numbers or compare with the original OEM install numbers.

Glad you are not having trackpad problems - sorry about not checking mine again, it's been long days here.

sdiprose: I give details on page 1-3+ all about me installing Windows 8 and what worked or didn't, installing an SSD, whether the installer got the product key from the BIOS automatically (it did) etc... I think those pages of the thread will give you all the details you could ever want and then some .

I'm happy to report that since that time, I have not seen this kb issue happen again. I do not know precisely what I did to fix it (sorry) - since it is random it might happen again. The only way I can think to check what changes there have been is to read through the thread and re-read my posts. I know I installed a new version of nVidia's drivers, but not what else sorry, as it has been a few months.

Happy New Year to all,

Peter

 

Does NVIDIA Optimus need to be installed separately or is it included in the NVIDIA drivers? I didn't see it on the ASUS Downloads page and didn't see it during the GT650M driver install.

 

It's included in the driver package. It's also best to get the drivers from Nvidia since it's now their standard of switching being followed rather than a proprietary one.

 

3 Days In

I received my shiny new N56VZ-DH71 on the afternoon of December 31st. Since then I've been setting up my applications, swapping out a new Crucial M4 256GB SSD and trying everything out. I thought I'd share some thoughts for potential buyers and list challenges that might have been addressed already by current owners.

First, there is a LOT of bloatware and half of it starts automatically when you boot up. Take the time to review the list of Asus bloatware on other threads and remove it. Anything you choose to keep, at least disable it from auto-starting. Even the Windows Action Center complained that too many apps were auto-starting! That's embarrassing.

Second, I don't like the Win8 Metro interface... for two specific reasons. 1) I don't like the default apps. The mail, calendar, music, bing... and assorted other junk. Slow to start, limited control functionality and lots of pointless empty space. I've already unpinned most of them and once I have Outlook set up, the rest will be gone too. 2) The apps I DO like... my games, a few tools, etc.... bump me across to the desktop to run... which kinda defeats the whole point of the start screen. I don't like the apps they give me and the apps I want to use don't work with it. I suspect I'll be having a gunfight with Metro sooner rather than later.

Third, performance is great. The system is smooth, responsive and (especially after the SSD install) blazing fast. The ONLY performance issue I'm seeing is the desktop graphics, which are listing at 5.8. Not sure why that is. Maybe some setting I haven't found yet but I'd expected graphics performance to be better, especially since the 3D performance is actually higher. I may have to tinker with it a bit.

Fourth, I've been using a cable network connection so far and although the connection is a little loose, it seems stable enough. I'd heard people post that it's a little wonky but I haven't had any issues yet.

Fifth, it looks SO sweet... especially playing XCom Enemy Unknown in the dark with the keyboard backlit.

It's only 3 days in but I'm very happy with the unit so far. The Win8 learning curve is a bit of a drag, but I'm not about to make the mistake of blaming that on Asus. I could have done with less bloatware but that's remedied easily enough. Now, if I can just get someone to confirm a consistently stable RAM upgrade to 16GB, I think I may be in love.

One more thing: I have noticed a few instances early on where either the keyboard or the touchpad were a bit finicky and didn't respond. That was largely gone by day 2 and I haven't seen it at all since. Not sure what the issue was but maybe one of the many upgrades I ran addressed it. Scared me the first time it happened but not a particularly big deal.

 

Hi everybody,
So I have been reading lots of pages about the n56vz and I became a member to ask this questions.

So I ordered the N56VZ-S4195H which is as I can see the same as the DH71 and it has windows 8 pre installed. I should have the computer in a few days and when I get it I want to do a clean install of windows. Now I have read the first few pages of this thread and I havent got any smarter (Im not that good with computers and windows as I have only been using macbooks until now).

So I want to keep the HDD that comes with the laptop and make a clean install of windowson it to remove all bloatwares etc. There is no product keys on these new laptops so I wont have that either. Also I dont have anybody who has a bought windows 8 disk.

I would really appreciate if someone could like write down in a simple way the steps I have to go throught and I appologize if my knowledge in this field is not so good.

Also thank u for the awsome thread...This and the other n56vz threads have helped me with my choice!

 

Hi guys,

I've been reading this thread for a while now (not in a weird forum lurker way though!), cheers for all the great advice!

I have the N56VZ-S4242 from PC world. Pr0ph3t85, the main difference my version has from the DH71 is that I don't have a backlit keyboard (Big loss!). Also just a tip, I found my win 8 product key by right clicking on "My Computer" and its at the bottom under "Windows Activation". I haven't actually swapped in a SSD though so I can't help you with the steps but good luck!

 

From what I can tell (posted earlier in this thread and the other N56VZ thread), you can download the ISO of Windows 8 RTM (legal copy) and use that to install from fresh. There is no need to enter your product key as it is embedded in the BIOS, and the fresh install takes it from that. (Confirmation of this would be nice!)

What I'm not sure about is UEFI/AHCI modes in BIOS and what they do, and what you have to set it up as when installing a new SSD? Any clarification would be most appreciated - the information may well be in pages 1-3 of this thread but it is spread across numerous posts, and it would be helpful to have all the necessary steps put in one post.

madzz, how do you find the laptop? I'm picking mine up on Monday.

 

Glad you've found the thread useful. Unfortunately that is a Product ID under there, not the Product Key.

Confirmed on not needing the product key on reinstall (5th time at least I'm confirming that in this thread, if you want someone else to confirm I think others have also).

Don't change the settings in the BIOS - leave UEFI/Fast Boot enabled. Get or burn a proper Windows 8 x64 Install DVD (like from the legal source mentioned above) and have fun. Hope you like it

Peter

 

Yeah I found out its not necessary for the PK but however these legal places to download windows 8 doesnt seem to excist. They used to excist for windows 7 I think but I googled and apperantly it is not the same for windows 8 anymore. Can someone link to a site or a download or is this against the forum rules?

They used to have this RTM copy to download which was only good for 90 days. Is this the one you guys are talking about? Then activating it would remove this 90 day limit?

 

No, that was not what we were talking about and would not work as far as I know, please read carefully. It will save you and others lots of time and trouble in the long run.

Thanks,
Peter

 

Congrats dude, I just got mine as well but I have memory expansion up to 16 gigs running 12 now. But I am under going the BSOD thing and I get a memory dump and it restarts. Is there anything that can be done about this or can I put windows 7 in instead?

 

Thx for the link Cataphract. For some reason that link was acctually already in my bookmarks but I thought it was to advanced to understand with all these things about hashes . Anyway google helped and I got everything in order. Thx!

Another thing I cant seem to figure out is this recovery partition. SO I know in win8 you can use this create recovery media tool to make recovery disks. But I read somewhere that the recovery partition is needed to be able to even use the disks. Is this true? Lets say I want to remove every partition including asus recovery partition and then I for some reason want it back to factory reset in the future. How do I get the laptop back in the exact same state as when I bought it then? Would these recovery disks I made be able to restore this partition?

Or maybe you guys think its better to just leave the partition alone. Could I after I install Windows on another partition still just boot into asus recovery mode in this case when I want to restore the laptop to factory settings?

/Pr0ph3t85

 

Hello guys,

I'm new in this forum and I found this post for N56VZ laptop issues and other stuff. So I own a N56VZ (duh!) Yeah I have read all the pages before to check if anyone had same troubles like I did but it seems to be just me. So here is the story:

-Bought an Intel 520 series 180GB (5xx read, 5xx write) SSD and Seagate 500gb momentus Hybrid Hard drive,

-SSD on the primary slot, Hybrid on the 2nd with a Caddy drive

-I saw Hybrid on bios but couldnt see it on win 8 64 bit, so formatted with 7 64 bit ultimate,

-Still nothing, then saw the new bios 211 (I guess) installed it,

-Hybrid drive disappeared from bios, and tried the original bluray drive,

-It doesnt recognize it as well, I can eject the tray by pressing but I dont see on bios or the OS,

-I continued using like that, 1 freeze a day, 2 freeze a day, 3 freeze a day... increasing day by day... Took out the bluray and covered that part of my laptop, same thing!

Cost me my online exams and many more... but it doesnt happens when I'm in a game (Such as Diablo, AVA, NFS) but it does freeze on youtube, microsoft word excel, powerpoint, photoshop randomly.

I have updated my drives firmwares if you ask, and checked their stability with the tools provided, and talked with the manufacturers... I thought it was the SSD but now I'm using Hybrid HDD for ~19 days, got 2 freezes so far. And one shutdown (unexpected). But as mentioned with SSD its more than 3 times a day when not in any game (Thats weird).

PS: Can't be with the software cause after a clean format I have had freeze on the first boot(!) both with Win8 and Win7.

Hope you guys can help. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Bariscan

 

Hello, welcome.
I had a similar issue with my desktop PC and it was from the HDD.
The drive had some software problems and acted like it had bad sectors.
Using HDD Regenerator solved the problem.

Good luck,
Liviu