N81V: Review & Owners' Lounge

realy? nice bro,..
thx,..

he3,..

 

you will get 7 Ultimate.

 

Just started to use my N81v and have been hibernating a few times. Just restarted it today and I went to do a normal shutdown and now the main screen says

"Configuring Updates: Stage 3 of 3 - 0% complete. Do not turn off your computer."

It continually reboots after a few minutes to this screen.

I don't know what to do next. I pulled the battery for a couple of minutes but no difference.

Suggestions!! I don't think it came with a boot disk and I didn't make a backup when I first got it!

 

First, try using Task Manager (hit CTRL + ALT + DEL at the same time) to end the installation Task. Then, if you can, try rerunning Windows Update; what seems to have happened is that an automatic update has been downloaded and partially installed but may have gotten corrupted so the install cannot finish, hangs, and reboots. Check to see if there are any recent "Failed" updates, and download that update file directly from Microsoft; hopefully it will install over the bad one and be able to complete the installation.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but how do I get into Windows to do the update with that screen staring at me?

Every time I restart I get that screen!

 

Forgot that bit; see the edited response above. Basically see if you can break the reboot cycle by using Task Manager to either End Task or, if that doesn't work, shut the machine down. Either may solve the problem but if not locate the Update File on MS's Web site, download it manually, and try to install it manually NOT using Windows Update.

 

Tyee, in case you need it here's how to start your machine in Safe Mode, which would be your next step:

Start your computer in safe mode

Safe mode starts Windows with a limited set of files and drivers. Startup programs do not run in safe mode, and only the basic drivers needed to start Windows are installed.

Safe mode is useful for troubleshooting problems with programs and drivers that might not start correctly, or that might prevent Windows from starting correctly. If a problem does not reappear when you start in safe mode, you can eliminate the default settings and basic device drivers as possible causes. If a recently installed program, device, or driver prevents Windows from running correctly, you can start your computer in safe mode and then remove the program that is causing the problem.

Remove all floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs from your computer, and then restart your computer.

Click the Start button , click the arrow next to the Lock button , and then click Restart.

Do one of the following:

If your computer has a single operating system installed, press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you will need to try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shutting down and restarting your computer.

If your computer has more than one operating system, use the arrow keys to highlight the operating system you want to start in safe mode, and then press F8.

On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight the safe mode option you want, and then press ENTER. For more information about options, see Advanced startup options (including safe mode).

Log on to your computer with a user account that has administrator rights.

When your computer is in safe mode, you'll see the words Safe Mode in the corners of the display. To exit safe mode, restart your computer and let Windows start normally.

 

Thanks, CTRL ALT DEL doesn't do anything. I'll try safe mode.

 

Well, I tried holding f8 on reboot and also tapping f8 on reboot, no difference, still comes back to that same update screen. Are you sure f8 is good for Vista too?

PS I googled this problem and found a discussion on it. Anyone know the keystroke to get into the N81 bios at bootup?

PS F2 works!

 

Yep, that was a direct quote from the Vista help files.

If you can't boot into Safe Mode I'm out of ideas. You may have to resort to a System Recovery, but I'm not sure that will work, either. If it does it will reformat your drive, destroying all the current files, and restore the computer to the factory default with a fresh installation of Vista and the ASUS files.

To try that press and hold F9 on startup until you see the System Recovery screen, then follow the instructions. And if that doesn't work you'll need to call ASUS support.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for all your help tallan. I'll let you know what happens. I just tried using my old XP install disc to try to get to the recovery window but it BSOD's on me twice now. I'll keep trying.

Update - Took out the XP disc and rebooted while pressing F8, this time I got into chooseable options screen and selected Fix Computer, am now running system restore and looking good so far. I guess I should turn updates off to prevent this again?

 

You've got a real serious error going there; Safe Mode is designed to cut through just about anything to at least get you booted.

I can't remember what the boot into BIOS is; try F2 or DEL (press & hold while restarting); if you can get into the BIOS you can set the CD as the first boot drive instead of the hard disk, and that should allow you to start up from a bootable Windows XP or Vista installation CD.

If not and you're technically adept the only other thing I can think of is to pop the hard disk cover off the back of the laptop and disconnect the hard disk. You wouldn't need to remove it, just disconnect the SATA connector. This would force the machine to look for a bootable OS on a CD.

That's about it from me; probably the moderators will move our exchange tomorrow as it really should be under its own Thread, not in the Owner's Lounge.

Again, good luck!

 

Well, it looks like I'm back to normal from system restore and safe mode. Thanks for all your help!

 

Great news... enjoy!

 

Not necessarily, just be careful about shutting the machine off when updates are in progress. Keep an eye out for the warning message during the shutdown process and let the machine finish applying the update before actually shutting down. Also in Windows Update Settings I like to change it to "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them" so I have some idea and control over what is going on.

I'm glad you got everything straightened out!

 

Hello N81v Owners,

I plan on being an owner as well unless owners point out issues that would make me choose another laptop. I have attempted to search various forums to find problems or negatives. I have listed them below. Please add any major issues, especially if present on the new D1.

1. Keyboard layout - Fn and Ctrl key layout on the C1 and older models. Apparently fixed on the D1 where the Ctrl key is now far left.

2. Touchpad buttons - Clicking has been described as sticky and requiring to much pressure. I wonder how it compares to the buttons on my Dell Inspiron 4150, which is almost 7 years old.

3. Screen resolution - Can't expect much on a 14 inch screen, but if I want something bigger, then I'll just use an external monitor.

4. Blu-Ray - Kind of overrated (sorry Sony), but I've seen resellers allow for the upgrade.

5. Fingerprint reader - Heard it stinks. Does it just stink on all the ASUSes?

6. Battery life - How much battery life for wifi browsing, no gaming? I can't expect that GPU to give me good life when mobile gaming. I only plan on doing that while I'm plugged in.

Some questions:
Any word on VGA port being changed to DVI?
HDMI problems when plugged into a LCD or TV?
64 bit OS support?

 

Many of us are running the 64bit OS. There are 64bit drivers on the website.

If you remove two philips head screws the optical drive slides right out. You can very easily upgrade to a blu-ray drive.

HDMI can easily be converted to DVI. In fact HDMI is DVI + audio.

I don't have the fingerprint reader working, I don't really care about that feature. 1366x768 is a pretty nice. Some day that they don't like 16:9 If you don't have enough vertical space then just move the windows taskbar to the right side.

 

Actually I've never had any problems with the fingerprint reader on the N81; the one on the N10 can take multiple swipes, but the one on the N81 gets it right almost every time.

 

but what OS are you using?

 

i emailed xoticpc and they have confirmed that the D1 has the same keyboard layout as the C1. (Fn-CTRL, not CTRL-Fn)
the only N81V model to have the CTRL-Fn layout is the N81Vg, a newegg model.

 

Vista32. Put Win 7 on my N10 just yesterday and although the "compatibility" checker said ASUS Secure Logon wouldn't work, it does; haven't checked the fingerprint reader, however.

 

just buy a n81vg keyboard, it's like 20 bucks.

 

the Fn-Ctrl layout is a bit annoying since both of my other Asus laptops (Eees, actually) are Ctrl-Fn, and I switch between all three on a regular basis. bense - 20 bucks for a Vg keyboard? Got any more info? please don't say "order direct from Asus" as I'm fairly sure the suppliers here would laugh in my face

Yup the touchpad buttons do require quite a bit more pressure than most people are used to before they actually engage, but I've found on mine it's not so bad if you press the inside (i.e. closer to the fingerprint reader) rather than the outside of each button. I rarely ever use the left click, but this seems to be the case for the right click button.

I'm an old boy and stuck in the 4:3 age when it comes to screen resolution, so 1366x768 seemed a bit too wide and squashed to me at first, and for a while I was literally moving my head left to right when reading various webpages... but as with most things I quickly got used to it.

Blu-ray... I don't care about it, plus the added cost right now isn't really worth it. The drive can be swapped out though, if you ever wanted to.

Never used the fingerprint reader and don't plan to. My friend set the one up on his N10, and promptly uninstalled the software about five swipes later after it failed to record his print properly

I can get around 2.5 hours of solid wi-fi browsing out of my N81Vp in XP with p4g set to "battery saving". Using it on "quiet office" mode seemed to net me around 2 hours give or take.

AS for your last 3 questions, VGA to DVI isn't really relevant to my usage, but you can get cables that are VGA at one end, DVI at the other. Never used the HDMI so I can't say for certain whether it has any issues, and as for 64-bit OS support, you can easily get drivers from the site as others have said.

If there's one additional yet minor gripe I have with the N81Vp-C1, it's the exhaust port for the fan which is situated right next to where my mousing hand normally is when gaming

oh, and no option to disable the onboard webcam in the BIOS as far as I can see. (again, minor)

Otherwise, chalk me up as another satisfied user. good luck with your purchasing decision

 

asus estore

 

mmmmm thread grew a little ..... my lappy still works fine

Edit:
Oh I added a Windows 7 section on the Appendix (2nd Post). I just included links to the official ATI Win7 laptop drivers and some other drivers. I was surprised that only a handful of people knew about those drivers since I have been using the for some months now so I thought I would share the knowledge hoping someone finds it helpful. BTW those drivers don't work on Vista although the regular ATI 9.7 drivers on the game.amd site use the same installer for Win7/Vista starting from 9.7 onwards.

 

where can I buy an Asus N81 here in the Philippines?

or if you recommend that I just order it online and get it shipped here, how much do you think the total shipping and expenses will cost?

 

has anyone attempted to hook a monitor up via the hdmi port, and a 2nd external monitor up via the vga port?

 

Okay as of right now I have my mother's HDTV hooked up via the HDMI port, it's running at 1080p (1920x1080). I also have my desktop monitor hooked up via the VGA port, and it's running at 1680x1050.

I tried to set this up so that I could have my notebook monitor along with two external displays for a total of THREE displays. The nvidia control panel gave me a dialog that said "This graphics card supports up to two displays"

So that answers my question. You can have two external monitors hooked up to this notebook, however you must disable your integrated notebook display (easiest way is to just shut the lid).

I am very pleased with this ability, this is more than most notebooks can do.

 

Can someone confirm the battery life of the N81VG? And does anyone know whether it can be changed/replaced with something with perhaps a 9-cell battery or somethign that can allow for a longer battery life?

 

Question, does the bottom of your laptop heat up? like mildy warm? Also, when you start the laptop, does the fan go at full speed and is loud?

 

So this is my review of the laptop, I'll be comparing it mostly with my old m51vm laptop, which was released 8mths prior to the release of n81vp

case color: brownish-red, but only at specific angles, it looks black most of the time

5.6 on the windows vista rating

battery is 2:40mins on battery saving mode with 40% max CPU power, while doing msn and watching youtube non-stop.

screen is very bright and clean, native resolution is poor but its a 14''.
poor viewing angle.

keyboard on my n81vp-D1 model is still the unchanged Fn and CRTL keys.

quick and responsive startup, but the fingerprint reader isn't as good as compared to my old m51vm laptop.

NOISE and HEAT:
- A lot of you have said its silent and cool, but mine is different. I've owned this laptop for 3days so it may be faulty?
- bottom of the laptop runs warm, not hot or cool
- fan runs at max when starting up (m51 runs silent)
- it doesn't run very silent, runs at 50% max speed most times. Its loud compared to my 15'' m51vm
**so both heat and sound is worse then the m51vm, i don't know if that is normal. If someone can help me out, that would be great

HDMI works, but no audio output via HDMI

 

are you sure you don't have audio output through hdmi? i had to go and enable it in the control panel.

 

enable in control panel?
Could you explain a bit more? thanks

right now, when i have the hdmi connected and when I click the sound icon in the taskbar, it shows HDMI audio not connected, but the laptop speakers as "working"

 

Go to Control Panel>Audio to select HDMI Audio and click set default:

 

Hey Ken,

I've tried that, but when I select HDMI audio, the default button is greyed out. It remains on "not connected"

I've tried reinstalling the ATI driver and audio driver, nothing works. Gonna try formating the OS again and start from scratch.

Also, have you used "speedfan" program to test for temperature of the notebook? For some reason, I can't detect a GPU temperature. Is my sensor not working? Could taht explain why my fan is always on and why the bottom of the laptop is always warm to the touch, even when i'm not gaming?

 

haven't been able to get audio over HDMI, until i read Ken and youKnowJack8's consecutive posts... and went immediately to test!

youKnowJack8 - that disabled button implies that the HDMI source isn't connected; the button should be enabled once the HDMI is connected.

Now that I can get audio over HDMI, i longer have to run a separate audio out to the amp! Hoooraaaaayyyyy!!

Thanks Ken!!! 感謝喔!

 

same here, anyone know tips for keeping that fan and heat down when im just browsin the internet?

 

I think it could be the be the video card not throttlin down. wheres powerplay lol

 

ok figured out the heat issue....just make sure you have latest video drivers and all your driver.

I have a problem tho....

I have no visual indicator for sound or brightness>>>>is this a program or driver?

 

I had that problem too once I updated the video card, it removed the sound and brightness icon.

The heating issue may be trottleing, but does driver solve it? isn't it BIOS issue?

Also, where is the battery calibration option in the bios, is it not in version 206?


Has anyone used the program "fanspeed" to check out their temp? I installed it, but it doesn't seems to detect my GPU temperature. I just got my n81vp replaced and the new laptop still doesn't detect GPU and still has fan on max when i'm on internet, like right now. All i'm doing is typing in the forum and the fan is maxed.
Also, I finally got the driver to install and I can select HDMI as default, but no sound comes from TV...

 

so is there no way to get my sound and brightness icon back?

also do you guys use POWER4GEAR for power managment or just windows?

ALSO ....can I use windows to set up my fingerprint reader or do I have to use one of asus's quirky programs

sorry for all the questions )

 

UPDATE!

I got the hdmi sound to work. I forgot that my laptop (hdmi) connects to my HD LCD (DVI-D). So i switched the cables to HDMI to HDMI. Now my laptop can detect the hdmi audio out and it works. Only problem is when i use the extended display function, my 1920x1080 background wallpaper doesn't use the full HD LCD screen. why is that?

Fan is still always on with this new laptop, but the bottom isn't as hot.

 

it also appears if the FN buttons for sound dont work....is this controld by software?? other FN buttons work

 

The sound FN buttons work on mine. Just make sure you installed the KB + 4 ATK drivers.

I posted here to announce that the new BIOS 208 is out now with Win 7 support .

Edit: Well I don't see any Win7 improvements not even SLIC 2.1 which I thought was what it meant. It changed the startup Asus animated logo, changed some of the default settings and added one option about the animated logo. The only difference and is sort of a big one is that the laptop CPU is idling at a lower temp than before and the fan from the GPU is quieter.

 

soo should I download it even if I dont use win7? how do i install it

 

The version that is currently available for download is the Release Candidate version and expires on 3/1/10. If you're not planning to use Win 7 before this date, then there's no point in downloading it.

If you wish to try Win 7, you need to download the file and burn the file as an ISO image on to a DVD. Once you've created the installation disk, simply set your your boot priority sequence in your bios with the optical drive to boot first. The next time you restart your laptop, the disk will install Win 7 on your system.

 

its not just an BIOS update? its a full on change of OS?
ALSO...how do I get the fingerprint reader working on this thing?!?!

 

Windows 7 is an operating system, so it'll require an OS installation (it has nothing to do with a bios update).

For your fingerprint reader, try reinstalling the latest fingerprint reader from the Asus website and also install ASUS Security Protect Manager from your drivers disk. You'll need to configure the settings in the security protect manager before you get the fingerprint reader working properly.

 

ok so i updated te bios....but im not finding the software for the fingerprint scanner anywhere. even on asus's website. what gives??