* OFFICIAL UL80VT and UL50VT / VS Owner's Lounge *

Anyone else having problem with Windows 7 crashing when your Asus UL50vt is in hibernation?

It's really annoying. What's going on? How can I find out what's causing it.

 

Does anyone know if the UL80VT-A1 has two WiFi antennas installed in it? I know the UL30 has one or two depending on the model. Also, has anyone found a teardown of the UL80VT? I want to replace the crappy 802.11n single stream (1x1, single antenna) Atheros card with a Broadcom BCM943224HMS card (2x2, two antennae).

 

I keep hoping to find a teardown as well since I have a bluetooth module I want to try and install. As to date, no luck with my search.

 

You guys try to check with David. He posted a tear down for the UL30vt. Other than pulling DVD drive some steps should be similar. David may be able to come up one for the UL80vt.

If the 80 is like the 30 then you can check your wifi card by pulling drive and looking at card on edge of drive bay. If they are the same, pulling card is fairly easy.

 

Having seen a few responses on the topic lately, what has everyone done regarding hard drive partitions? I know the default setup has a C: drive with 74.5 GB, designated for the OS, and the D: drive, with 208 GB titled Data. Have most people kept the two drives, and moved all their files over to the D: partition?

I'm debating whether I want to keep the drive partitioned or not. My only concern is in dealing with music. I'm lazy and use iTunes' file ordering system, and I don't know how that would work if I moved it to the D: partition.

However, a little bit of browsing online seems to indicate that, at least with other Asus models that are similarly partitioned, there is a hidden recovery partition. According to someone, resizing the C: drive at all will make the hidden drive inaccessible. Is this true?

 

It's entirely up to you and your needs.

If you decide to resize C you must delete D, not the hidden partition, then expand C. This may(?) break the hidden restore partitions ability to restore to same original size C partition.

That said; I did a clean install and wiped everything

I think the UL80vt owners get a restore set of two DVDs? One user said the restore does and replaces unwanted shovel ware. So, this gives you an alternative to the restore partition on the drive if it breaks.

 

I've never used the restore partition, and I chose the option to not install it when I redid my HD. I did get 2 DVD's, one with the OS and one with the drivers/ASUSware. I'm one of those strange types that prefers a full install of everything and then I get rid of anything I don't like, although that was not much other than the TrendMicro crapola.

I like one big partition. I use an external USB housing for the drive that came with my UL80 so I keep backups there.

 

Out of curiosity, but has anyone RMA'ed their laptop to Asus and, if so, how do they notify you when they are sending the comp back to you? I had mine delivered to them last Wed and I am getting a little antsy..

I saw another thread saying its a few business days to get things done unless they have to order a replacement part.

 

My Ul80vt hard drive is starting to make clicking sound... It comes and goes.. It's scary. It happens once every two months...

Should I start thinking getting a new hard drive? I had this laptop for half a year right now...

 

Clicking hard drives are always a downhill thing. Get it RMA'd and get your data off it before craps out.

 

@hydra -who is this david you spoken off, im interested to open up my ul80vt too

 

Dave..Dave's not home...Cheech and Chong?

This guy.. http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/484260-asus-ul30vt-notebook-disassembly-guide.html#post6255905

 

so i sold my hpdv2 and am about to pull the trigger and order a good price UL80 with Su2300 processor and Nvidia 210M graphics...

(well its that or an acer timeline 14" with ATI HD 4330)

but has there been any updated nvidia drivers for the card, or do you have to stick to Asus own?v any help here pls chaps.

 

I wouldn't bother RMAing it. Asus will only provide the same Seagate model as a replacement and the root of the problem is from these specific seagate drives. It'll only be a matter of time before your new replacement will start failing again. My suggestion is to purchase a Western Digital blue/black drive to replace your current drive.

You called?

 

c'mon guys any hints? are you all running intel 4500MHD drivers that cover flash 10.1 and is t more easily achievable to add newer nvidia drivers? i fear if i dont buy the asus UL80VT today i may miss out on the deal.. but if i do i dont want to be without these key features such as HD accelerated flash with intel and also all the cuda etc on the nvidia chip?

i have sent a message to asus tech support they have sent to engineers but no confirmation on official new updates - i just dont want to buy something that wont do what i ask of it. help pls

 

I would not expect official updates to the display driver is you ask me. WIth the new Optimus technology, they have an easier time so they are most likely focused on that. From what I read, installing custom current hybrid drivers is not overly difficult.

 

maybe not i just need someone to come on here and say, 'yes i have installed new intel hd drivers and new nvidia drivers and it works - it does flash and dxva and does not bsod etc'

as soon as someone or multiple people can do this i buy. i am on a time limited deal here the price i can buy for is exceptional but im not spending until i get this answered... but it seems that no-one who has done this upgrade still posts here, or dont want to post?!

ive been searching for 3 days pretty consistently and either everyone has ditched these particular asus or got sick and simply forgot about ever getting things running properly.

and this concerns me:/

 

If you read through the threads you will find people who have tried the new hacked drives with no real world gains. Flash 10.1 is OK but the codex sucks. If Flash is a must have then you may want to find something with more horsepower, not the SU7300 fault. Any other MP4 plays just fine.

If your looking at continued hybrid driver updates..well let us know what Asus tells you.

 

honestly i have read through the majority of 132 pages and it is not clear whatsoever what the sucess rate is for anyone or whather they have updated intel HD drivers working or not and if they do what loss of functionality they might have...?

i mean go back a whole 3 pages and someone asks about gfx drivers and the response is simply to use a restore disk (129) this doesnt tell me if has there been progession or not really?

i also read laptopvideo2go forum and again its not anywhere near conclusive whether this laptop will be able to use nauti drivers or what kind of support it can ever expect in the future. i dont want to take another DV2 stule gamble that doesnt pay off!

 

Iam using the 197.16 graphic drivers, and i have CUDA and flash 10.1 support, the problem with this driver set is that its still using the older intel graphic drivers, so no support for 10.1 flash when running on intergrated card, running a 1080p video on youtube would increase the CPU utilization to 70%, when switching to Nvidia drivers it drops the CPU to around 30-40 range and runs smooth. There are new drivers available that i believe have the new 258.49 and intel drivers in them in this link: Hybrid Graphics Master Set Drivers - LaptopVideo2Go Forums - Page 4

If you want the other ones they are here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/474538-modded-197-16-hybrid-graphics-driver-ul30-50-80vt.html

Even if you have to switch to nvidia driver, your battery life will still be 3-4hrs longer then anything you will get w/ a core i proc. Just go for it and pull the triger, this computer plays flash 10.1 just fine @ 1080p when your switching to nvidia card with the drivers Iam running and whats the point of playing 1080p videos without being switched to the nvidia card anyways? you cant HDMI output through the intel graphics card and this monitor isnt 1080p anyways, so only reason to view 1080p flash videos is if your outputing to a TV. Hope this helps...

 

Hey guys, there are over 1300 posts in this thread and I read a bunch of them but didn't see this covered.
I received a UL50vt as a gift and of course I had to install like 70 updates but I chose to put them off so I could play with my new laptop. Everything worked perfectly, no complaints, etc. The next day, I installed all the updates, only to find....

The grahic-switch button has stopped working! It will launch expressgate just fine, but in normal windows operation it will not switch my graphics.

I tried updating each of the graphics drivers, however I was told that I have the latest version, and sure enough all the drivers I see for download are the same version that I have now. I also tried the Asus Live Update Tool and it too told me I was up to date.

All the other special function keys are working just fine and they display that fancy graphic and everything when pushed, but that switcheroo-button just sits there and mocks me. Anybody know what's up?

++++++++++

Edit: Completely uninstall the old NVIDIA driver from Device Manager. If it doesn't show up, switch your power mode to power4gear high performance and then in your system tray click the icon that looks like two arrows, and in the menu that pops up hit "increased performance now." You may have to close a few programs first, it will prompt you. The Nvidia driver will now appear in your device manager. Reboot your PC and then download the driver from http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=QqP6p1vDWwn0IIzZ go into the download menu and select windows 7 64-bit. Once it's downloaded create a new folder on your desktop and then unzip the driver folder into the new folder and run the setup.exe application. Then reboot your pc again and it should be working. Make sure your are logged in as an Administrator... don't use a standard account and just use the UAC prompt to run as admin, it will not work for this driver for some reason.

 

thanks a lot timafey - very good and honest answer i was looking for!

yea thing is i use the laptop as like a media player for when friends come around i hook up via HDMI to 40" Samsung 1080p lcd. not bothered about whether the Intel plays DXVA and MKV and H264 etc happy for nvidia to drive that via hdmi.

my concern is if im browsing on my lap and i want to maybe view a youtube vid or some flash comes on, i want intel HD to cover the flash and ensure the cpu doesnt get too hot nor does the nvidia.

out of curiosity, how come you have not moved to the newer 258 master set?

does the intel 1994 driver do flash? i havent been involved with an intel gfx solution, ever...

 

gutted spent that long trying to get answers the price has risen by approx $150 overnight on the deal i saw, so going to walk away from it.

 

So tim, your saying that you get smooth, no dropped frames with just a new Nvidia driver? I'm getting fairly smooth results using stock drives with 10.1 with lower utilization with the Intel integrated. Right clicking on the video says hardware being used.. is that not correct?

Depending which 1080P download I use, I cannot get 100% no dropped frame
performance from either GPU. This is also true of my 8800gts with newer drivers. While we need a good streaming format, Macromedia/Adobe codecs have left me wanting.

 

It will def play youtube videos... my phone plays youtube videos! The proc goes to ~55% when viewing 720p video using the intel graphic, and this is without hardware acceleration, there is no reason to view anyting higher and 720p is perfectly smooth. The only reason I havent tried out the new display drivers pack is ive been lazy haha, no really good reason, but I am sure they are great just like these drivers are! As far as I know the new intel drivers DO infact support hardware 10.1 flash acceleration. Ill try them out and let you guys know my findings.


Hydra,
As for missing frames, well I ran a few tests with this laptop and my desktop computer in flash and this is what I found:
Laptop ul80VT:
Hardware nVidia card 1080p video: 85 frames dropped nearly 30fps entire time
No graphic acceleation on intel 720p video: 91 frames dropped still 30fps entire time pretty much, no noticible slowdowns.
No graphic acceleration on intel 1080p video: 1075 frames dropped!! and it runs crappy at around 15fps, keep in mind this is with drivers that don't utilize the intels graphics only the CPU is powering this video.

NOW, lets compare this to my desktop Core i7 running @ 3.9Ghz, 6gb Ram, GeForce 275GTx 2x SLI.... Now you might think that85 frames or 91 frames dropped is a big deal, but I am getting 63 frames dropped on the 1080p res with my desktop with above stats, so Ill say anything under 100fps dropped is still very smooth playback!
So when put this into prospective, this laptop can def play 720p video very smooth with nearly 30fps constant even with these older intel non hardware accelerated drivers with fps dropping sometimes to 28ish range still very smooth though. But when you want to display to a TV, and you fire up the geforce it will run very smooth @ 1080p.

 

NE1 have a clue how to remove the chiclet ul80vt keyboard? Screws on the bottom of the laptop? Or dod I just pluck the keyboard out from the top and dont worry about any screws. I am trying to get rid of keyboard flex by placing some thermal tape underneath. Thanks all.

 

Look along the top edge of the keyboard. there are 4 black clips holding it in place. Insert a small screwdriver and push the clip back gently towards the screen and then lift the keyboard out of place slighty...repeat for all 4 clips.

don't break the clips.

 

Hey.

Did anyone notice that UL80vt screen colors are not bright enough when compared to other laptops or screens? Its like the colors are "light" rather than being original or bright.

Any fix for this?

 

Hi all. I am loving my UL80VT! I installed a beautiful ssd drive a month ago and it's been running like a dream. Unfortuneately, today for some reason the audio device/driver seems to have disappeared and I don't know what to do. I tried to install both the realtek and nvidia sound drivers from the asus site, but they both fail to install correctly. I even tried to use a system restore, but that also fails in the process.

Here is the general status of my problem:



Does anyone have a link to the original factory audio drivers? I don't have my cd that came with my laptop because I am on vacation right now.

Cheers.


ps. awaisuk, yes. I noticed that the colors are pretty dull compared to other screens, but I think that it's just the quality of the screen itself and it can't be helped.

 

Hey folks...

I'm experiencing some inconvenience with my once-flawlessly-working laptop. Just recently, it has developed a problem where it spontaneously goes into hibernation/sleep mode when I'm running some particular programs.

Before people suggest it has something to do with my power schemes, I've already set the "Hibernate after" and "Sleep after" options to "Never" in Power Management. My laptop is plugged in (power connection is fine, P4G is in Entertainment or High Performance), and it is also hooked up via HDMI to a Samsung P2570 monitor.

The programs where I have experienced this problem are Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins (yes, I purchased these games from legit vendors). I had been playing DAO for about 6 months, and I never experienced any problems (DAO was at medium visual settings @ 720p resolution). However, when I installed Mass Effect a week ago, whenever I would run either game my laptop would have the bad habit of going into hibernation randomly whenever the games were running.

I disabled hibernation mode through the command console "powercfg /hibernate off", but then, the laptop would go to randomly go to sleep instead. And then when I disabled sleep mode, I would temporarily lose my HDMI signal and my laptop screen would go blank for about a minute before resuming!

My games never crashed after resuming my laptop, just this issue with hibernating>sleeping>black screen. It's a real pain, because it does it again and again after recovery (i.e. not a one-time thing... seems to happen @ intervals between 5-10 minutes), so it makes my gameplay very troublesome.

I've also tried using System Restore to bring my laptop back to before Mass Effect was installed, and then using CCleaner to clean up my registry, and still no success. Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware, Spybot S&D, and AVG Antivirus all report no problems.

Once again, this only started happening shortly after the installation of Mass Effect, but even removal of the program has fixed nothing. I don't think the display drivers would have anything to do with a power setting such as hibernation/sleep mode... would they?

A complete system restore to factory settings is my last option, using the recovery disc I made when I first got my laptop last October.

Could it be that my GPU is overheating when these games are played (we're in a bit of heat wave here ~30C room temp)? My temps are posted below from HW Monitor:

Hardware monitor ACPI
Temperature 0 57°C (134°F) [0xCE6] (THRM)

Hardware monitor Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo SU7300
Temperature 0 46°C (114°F) [0x36] (Core #0)
Temperature 1 46°C (114°F) [0x36] (Core #1)

Hardware monitor NVIDIA GeForce G210M
Temperature 0 60°C (140°F) (GPU Core)

Hardware monitor ST932032 5AS
Temperature 0 43°C (109°F) [0x2B] (Assembly)
Temperature 2 43°C (109°F) [0x2B] (Air Flow)

Hardware monitor Battery 1
Voltage 0 17.09 Volts [0x42BE] (Current Voltage)
Capacity 0 84000 mWh [0x14820] (Designed Capacity)
Capacity 1 78750 mWh [0x1339E] (Full Charge Capacity)
Capacity 2 78750 mWh [0x1339E] (Current Capacity)
Level 0 6 pc [0x5D] (Wear Level)
Level 1 100 pc [0x64] (Charge Level)

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

 

If my UL50vt ever makes it back from ASUS repair, I want to put one of those anti-glare screen protectors on it. I have no experience with anti-glare screen protectors, but I'm willing to give it a try to get rid of those reflections.

Can anyone recommend something? Google brings up "green oninons" and "viewguard" screen protectors as the first couple brands.

 

I was so happy with the ul80vt for 2 days... until the palm rest started creaking like crazy for no apparent reason. Even when I'm trying not to put pressure on it it still creaks.
There appears to be tiny widening between the upper and lower plastic peace just over the left speaker but its too small to try glue.
Its annoying, its distracting, it feels like I'm playing with a cheap toy
Any tips?

 

I got a Question for you guys. I just got my hands on a Asus UL50VT for Free (Well not Free but from a Job I did). I did some networking work for a Company & they paid me Cash & gave me this laptop and a nice Carry bag.

My problem is, is that im fairly happy with the Laptop (Keyword Fairly). How Do I set the Contrast on this thing. The Manual is No help at all. The colors are ok but they seemed a bit washed out in my opinion expecially when playing games like World of Warcraft.

The other thing I was wondering is this. I know the laptop supports a Feature Called Turbo33 wich Is controlled by a Program or the Turbo33 Gadget within windows 7. Once I turn it on tho my system is Very Unstable so I cannot Overclock the laptop.


Update: I found in the Nvidia settings a Slider called Digital Vibrance & I must say the laptop is Great now. Now to Figure out the Overclocking.

 

yo jcms! how is your dl speed so fast? im right now using a slow as hell stick and im willing to shell out major cash for faster internet. what do u use?

 

This "Digital Vibrance" thing is intriguing - where did you find that exactly?

 

oops - found it. Works great.

 

The new version of TrueCrypt can encrypt faster on select Intel hardware, as well as configure your encrypted volumes or drives to automatically mount with specific preferences. The hardware acceleration is implemented through Intel's AES-NI instructions.

Does the UL80VT have these AES-NI instructions?

Thanks

 

First time post...I just picked up a refurbished UL50VT from the Egg place for $550.00 and I'm thrilled with it. Performs as advertised. Had it about a week now and have it buffed up and spinning freely.

Many thanks to all the posters here who provided tweeks and tips on how to get this thing setup right. I've done the overclock, tweeked the "digital vibrance" to my liking, adjusted the "loudness" on the speakers and deleted the unwanted software. The thing screams for such a slim package.

I was thinking of getting an iPad for similar money but this thing was just too much of a deal to pass up. Everything has pros and cons, but overall, this little beauty fits the bill for now nicely.

Thanks again everyone!!!!!!!

 

Just got a new UL80VT- manual stinks! Where can you get more information on how to operate the laptop? Like how do you know when it is fully charged, does the orange light go away or turn green? I have the UL80VT-a2 model.

There is nowhere that I can find in the box where it tells you how to choose or switch between the two graphics cards, and all the other stuff you'd think a company would publish for users of their products. Am very disappointed in Asus from this stand point.

 

A question for you experts - what would be the best way to work a backup hard drive? On my desktops I have duplicate drives in C: and D: and each week I clone C: to D; with Acronis Cloning software...how do I do something like that with my new UL50VT?

Would I simply buy another 2.5" internal drive, put it in and use my backup disks to restore to the new and then one week old drive? But that means a lot of fiddlin' to swap out the internal drive - is there an easier way

I'm a trader and need to be able to quickly get a dead machine up and running again if a hard drive fails.

Any advice appreciated!

 

Got a question on my new UL80VT-a2-

I had to go through all this WINDOWS7 stuff PRIOR to getting to the desktop on the new computer.

My QUESTION IS: When I made my DVD RESTORE disks as Asus told me to do when I got to the desktop- WILL ALL MY USER INFORMATION BE INCLUDED ON THAT BACKUP?

What if I sell this laptop- is there anyway to RESTORE the computer to new out of box condition? What if my RESTORE PARTITION disappears over time?

Thanks!

No Squeaks on this silver model yet. Batter life has not been great so far but I am just starting to use this machine and learning.

Thanks!

 

Actually, I think I see how to do this using an external drive and cloning software. Seems straight forward enough.

 

Should be no user information, especially if you did it correctly as soon as you first booted to desktop.

 

What is de difference btw ul80vt A-1 and the new A-2 model.

Where can I buy it?

 

The main difference between a1 and a2 is COLOR- A2 is SILVER inside.

I bought mine from B&H Photo out of N.Y.

 

Thanks @Elembytes2

And someone do the blacklit keyboard mod in a ul80vt?

 

How come my UL-50VT has BD-ROM as :F drive???

I still have the standard DVD-RW drive but I have a second one that is listed as bluray...

 

It is a virtual BD-ROM (not physical) set up by some software you are using.

 

Well I've had this profile installed for a while now, and coupled with a little added "digital vibrance" via the Nvidia control panel, I now have a great looking screen... when using the Nvidia graphics card.

Problem is, I can't get the Intel graphics card to use this .icc profile as the default windows profile. When I turn on the notebook, I can see that the profile loads for approx half a second, not even that. And then it reverts back to the original profile...blue and washed out. From that point on, I can't even apply the icc profile manually... it just doesn't seem to be recognised.

Whatever I try, nothing works. Does anyone out there have the magic cure?

 

actually the battery lasts longer on the A2, too. That's the big difference.