Sunny's G51VX-RX05 Review

Anyone ever had any problems with the keyboard for this notebook? It's been working fine for the past 5 months until now. My E, H, "Fn", 8, 9 and right arrow keys work on and off now (mostly not working but if I keep tapping it, the key eventually works once. It's annoying because every time i want to use those keys I have to tap them like ten times. Anyone know what the problem is or how it can be fixed without a restore? I've tried installing the "Keyboard Filter" that was listed as a driver on the ASUS site...but that didn't do anything. I'd like to avoid a restore or reformat at this point. Any suggestions would be gladly appreciated.

 

Sounds like a hardware problem to me. Prolly should look into RMA or replace the keyboard.

 

The keyboard costs only $20, quite cheap if you ask me...

http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=5235&catid=708

 

hihi everyone

just wondering, is it possible to change the actual graphic card: gtx 260 to like...gtx 280 or gtx 285?

hmm, if its possible, what are the general things that i should watch out for compatibility?

thanks

 

No, you cannot.

Well, you can change it to a 9800m GS. Jury's out on the GTS 360m.

 

Maybe someone can give me some help in figuring this one out. Quite randomly my G51xv is showing a discolored patch about 2" wide running vertical along the display. If I check it the primary colors with backdrops you can not see it at all. I seem to only be able to see it on colors that are very subdued. It seems like it pops up a split second after the windows login screen shows up on vista. Is it the LCD or the cable for the LCD? I am thinking its one or the other.

 

Do you have problems when playing games? My friend's G50vt was having similar problems--the whites on his screen would show up with pink lines--and it turned out to be a GPU problem. Get a second opinion, though. I always write problems with the display as a GPU issue, haha,

and lol @ "sponcered links"

 

I noticed it more when I am in games because of the frequent color shifts. I was playing Borderlands when it first started I think. I was hoping it wasn't the GPU. I can't seem to find any for sale on EBAY. HUGE downer if it is...

Anyone had experience ordering directly from ASUS?

 

Like I said, don't take my word for it. I'm pretty newb myself. Try running lots of different 3D and 2D programs with various drivers to see if the artifacts remain throughout. It's possible that a driver or particular program might not be playing nice.

 

just finished playing wow for several hours and its gradually went way. Just logged off and I can still kind of see it but its very faint. Odd... very odd.

 

It is always the same area of the screen?

 

got a small question to ask xD

every time i want to play NSF shift, i need to overclock my cpu to 2.5Ghz using "setFSB" tool, but when my comp restart, it auto sets back to the stock speed ><. How can i auto save the 2.5Ghz speed without having to set it every time I play games?

thanks

 

Look at my signature, the G51 Optimization Guide. There's a section there on how to automate FetFSB so it starts at login.

 

thanks Forge !!!

credits to Tev and Forge, very helpful and useful xD

 

Yup. Always the same spot. Played wow again tonight but the bar didn't fade this time. Ill try reseating the video card tomorrow.

 

You know, with that information I'm inclined to think that it might actually be a screen problem. If it's the same area of the screen no matter the application, I wouldn't think it's a GPU issue.

 

ya I am thinking that is the case too. I hooked up the laptop to an external display through hdmi last night and the discolored area isn't there. So I am back to square one. You wouldn't by chance know any way to check if its the lcd or the cable.

 

Well, take it apart and reseat all LCD connections. If it still persists, looks like a bad wire and/or screen.

Which leads to RMA time.

 

Anyone know where I can still buy this laptop? New not refurbished... I just don't trust refurbs

Does anyone have any suggestion's... There is a factor refurb one for $700
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RX43RE/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

I guess its refurbished by asus..

 

The G51VX is already discontinued, it was replaced with the G60VX when win7 was released and now the G60JX with the i5 + 360m, you might still be able to find a G60JX at lower price, but i doubt you will find any G51VX.

 

Is there anyplace I can buy a fan and repalce the current one in my laptop? I'm pretty sure it broke because my laptop now hits rediculous temperatures.. (At one point I was hitting 120 Celcius)

 

Check here Asus Store

 

has anyone tried removing the stupid purple thermal pad on the G51VX and putting thermal paste? I put TF 400 on the CPU And saw MASSIVE cooling drops.

 

You know, I don't see the advantage of upgrading of to the GTS 360M. The GTX 260M is faster. More shaders, bigger bus = faster gaming. Although if you want heat reductions at the sacrifice of performance, then it would be an advantage.

 

Hi, guys, im just getting one this week, but which do you recommend?
G50vt-X1
G51vx-rx05

They're almost the same price in my country, so that's not a problem.
The only cons i see to g51 is the p7350, vs p8400.

I will use it for college, programs, and gaming, although i'm not a "hardcore".

Does the p8400 worths the gtx260m?
what do you think?

 

Depends on what you're doing. IF you're doing work like encoding, you might want a beefier CPU. Then again, if you're doing stuff like that, you might as well upgrade even further to a T/P9xxx CPU.

Meh. Go with the G51vx.

 

Agreed. 260M >>> 9800M GS. Just give the cpu a little bump to 2.5 and put some copper on the ram =) or upgrade the cpu if you have money

 

I just got my g51vx!
I'm pretty sure I made the correct choice, I love it!!

Shall I do a review? mabe it's a bit stupid....

 

Does anyone know if the keyboard in the G60JX will fit in the G51VX?

 

So I just got my G51 back from RMA for a defective keyboard. I proceeded to install Windows 7 x64 and everything was fine and dandy. Then I noticed that some of my function hot keys weren't working. Having a terrible memory, I have no idea where my G51 drivers/utlilities CD is that came with the Windows 7 upgrade that ASUS sent me. Anyone know how I can get these function hot keys working for Windows 7 x64? Much appreciated.

And yes, I did check the ASUS website but I didn't find such driver/utility to get the function hot keys working.

 

Same happenned to me, but i didnt get any free upgrade or drivers.

 

Go here and select Notebooks/G51/G51VX (Best Buy).
Then click the ATK subgroup and download ATKACPI Driver, ATK Hotkey Utility, and ATK Generic Function Service Utility and then install in that order.

After a restart, your function keys should work fine.

 

Anyone know where I can download a general utility which will bring up a system similar to the Install/Recovery disks? My G51Vx came with Vista 64bit, and I installed Win7. The Vista 64bit drivers DVD throws an error saying only appropriate for 64bit Vista. Rather than downloading every driver individually, is there an ASUS utility which when used performs similarly to the Drivers DVD install?

Conversely, does anyone know if ASUS has Win7 drivers DVDs?

Thanx all, having a great time with my new G51Vx-RX05 and look forward to being part of the group!

 

Where did you get Win7 from? If you got it from the upgrade program, they should have included a drivers disc for you.

If not, you might just have to go through the download page driver by driver.

 

Thanx. I was finally able to plod through the driver installs manually. The last unrecognized device was evidently one that has caused quite a bit of heartburn for many others -- the dreaded Intel(R) ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller - 2917. For others who have encountered this blasted device, here is the link that saved me after hours of searching. Follow the directions of user James Norman UK - only double-click when he says "Click on the show all devices option."

 

Alrighty, I went ahead and replaced the G51VX-RX05's thermal compound on the GPU and CPU fixing the GPU's overheating problems but the CPU temperatures seem to be worse (When they were better the first time reapplying and IMO I did a better job applying it this time to the CPU).

 

Did you let the compund set? You will not see the full benefit until the compound has had time to set.

 

I'm thinking of getting one of these laptops.

Do the warranty's extend to a second owner? Although I doubt most of these would have any factory warranty left (or I might be wrong on that too.)

 

You cannot go wrong, good choice. Especially with deals like this.

 

I used TF 400 which is a non curing compound and on par with AS5. I also completely fixed all of my overheating problems on my G51VX-RX05 just going to post what I did to get them back to better than Stock temperatures.

(Warning will Void your warranty since you have to remove the heatsink)

1.) I took took off the heatsink and cleaned the grills.
2.) I took the fan out of the heatsink and looked inside it (The most important part because this is where the dust tends to bottleneck this is where I didn't look my past two maintenance checks)
3.) I removed the Thermal Pad on the GPU and applied tf400 (No need to clean since thermal pads leave no after residue)
4.) I cleaned off the Thermal Paste from the CPU and the little bit between the square box on the Heatsink itself. I then applied a decent layer of TF400 (TF 400 recommends a slightly thicker application than most others, this is where I messed up the 2nd time in applying.)
5.) put everything back together, also don't forget to plug your fan back in lulz.

Just the steps I took to fix my overheating problems hope it helps someone out.

 

Compuvest Corp.

This T9600 will work with this laptop? Plus it's way better than a p7350 right? Should I get it?

 

Anyone get P4G to work in Windows 7? I can't seem to get it to install. Thanks

 

So I ordered a Kingston 128gb V Series SNVP425 SSD for $200

Cant wait for it to arrive. How should I install it? Should I take the current drive out, install windows on the SSD and then put the 320gb drive back in or is there another way?

Also, do I need to buy the mounting bracket from Asus? If so, where is a place to buy it as their part store is sold out.

 

Just to be sure here; has anyone gotten a quad to work on this laptop? I contacted ASUS and they said that a quad will not work on the laptop.

Also which CPU's have you guys tried that you know work 100%?

 

Just won an auction for my very on G51VX-RX05!

Won it for $550 coming from one of the Bestbuy Outlet/Ebay accounts...

Hopefully it gets here quick.

 

Congrats! It's a really nice machine and you can't beat that price.

 

What should my temps be while gaming? I was seeing temps get up to 100c and the fans kicking on high and getting it back down to 93c while gaming.

 

I just won one from them for the same price. Did your's show up in good shape. Here's the one I won. Asus G51VX-RX05 15.6in Laptop C2D 2GHz 4GB 320GB DVDRW - eBay (item 350365122273 end time Jun-17-10 07:22:27 PDT) I also won a T9800 processor for $220. Can't wait for it to get here next week.


Edit: Just recieved mine last week. Looks like I have the same problem as you. I have to use the regedit fix to get sound thru the speakers because the input jack is stuck. Oh well, not gonna complain since I got it for half off what it cost new last year. My headphones sound 10x better than those puny speakers anyway.

 

Sorry for late response yeah mine came in good shape no noticeable issues besides the headphone jack.

Although now that I've reinstalled to windows 7 I can't get the regedit fix to work either... But the headphones work fine...

Edit: After uninstalling and reinstalling the driver like 5 times and doing the regfix it finally worked...
Kinda worried me for a minute. Maybe I'll take it over to my buddy's who has had more exp taking laptops apart and see if we can fix the input on there so I don't have to worry about it.

 

I read where one person put non-conductive grease on his earplug end and inserted it several times. It was enough to free the pins that were stuck inside the headphone jack. I may have to try that.