Z84j Owners Lounge

Fixed my audio problems.

Now I can use the bottom 3 ticks and it's within a comfortable listening range.

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx

I went here and downloaded:

Notebook -> Z84 series -> Z84J -> Utilities -> UAA bus driver and Audio driver
Notebook -> Z84 Series -> Z84J -> Audio -> Audio Drivers

And installed them in that order. I saw something about the UAA bus driver on the ASUS site so that is probably what I was missing.

Thanks!

 

Any ideas on why it turns off after about 5 seconds from pushing the power button?? I took it to a friends house but didn't end up using it so when I got it home and went to turn it on thats whats happening. I haven't taken any of the covers off yet but was just wondering if there were any Ideas what I should look for.

By the way. I got windows to install by hitting "any key" the second after it asked me to. So I was up and running.

Thanks so far for all your guys' help along the way.

I just got an 500gb external with E-sata. Its a Seagate "FreeAgent Pro". I think it's kinda stupid that they charge $30 more than for the ones with just USB and don't give you a sata cable. So I haven't gotten a chance to check transfer speeds or anything yet.

 

Okay so maybe I didn't fix things after all. . .

I play City of Heroes with my Sound Effects at 8% Volume and my Music at 5% volume. Seems I have to use volume settings within programs to set my volume. Perhaps my chip is stuck at full volume.

Any have any comments on RMAing a barebones notebook? I don't really want to take all my components out and send it in to get a different one if I don't have to.

Also, can anyone tell me the make and model of the LCD in the Z84J? I have "Default Display" listed twice and "Plug and Play Monitor" listed once in the device manage. I'll remove them all and reboot and see what happens.

 

No sound in Linux? Which distro are you using? I believe the driver was added in the 2.6.19 kernel, so anything older than this year might not have it. I use Ubuntu Feisty Fawn and it works fine.

 

Frys onsale that one for 130$.. + ESATA ports and everything

Asus LCD is LG ( from mine) which has purple back lightning the screen is not that bright compared to new models.

I'm thinking of RMA mine ... cause some problem with freezing and power button doesn't seems to respond well.. dvd drive starts to fail when burning dvds.

 

khanhfat:

Mine also freezes for 10 seconds every once in awhile (last night twice in 10 minutes). Any luck with RMA??

Who else is having this problem?

Nathan

 

I havnen't RMA yet.. too busy. i'm just start using my FL90 in replacement Ill contact Asus soon if they want to pay shipping 2way like they said.

 

PowerNotebooks is no longer selling the Z84J. The replacement is a nice-looking Santa Rosa machine for less money, and it has 8600 graphics. The only regression I see is that it has no eSATA, and for me that's a huge drawback. Doesn't say which brand it is, but I assume it's not ASUS.

http://powernotebooks.com/specs/PowerPro/I17-7.php

 

It's pretty sure an MSI 17 someth. check it around u'll see. man that MSI is sleek and nice.

 

I am having a smiliar problem to you when it comes to the 10 second freezes, it happens when i have a usb device plugged into one of the 4 usb ports. Its anoyying but not enough for me to rma.

 

Speaking of USB freezes, mine sometimes freezes on boot when my printer (a new HP photosmart) is plugged in and turned on. Unhook it, reboot, connect it later, and everything is fine.

 

The other thing that has been a problem is when I try to use it unplugged it freezes up right after I logged in. I would say its done this about half the times I've tried booting up unplugged. I almost always have it plugged in but it still sucks. Sometimes its will freeze at random times when its plugged in but its not very ofter it happens, so who knows.

 

You may be right dude.. I use external hub to connect External DVD, mouse, keyboard, mp3 player, external hdd. Right when it frreezes, the lights on my keyboard blinks as well. IT's a little bit annoying but it's better than having a blue screen like i used to have with my dell E1705.

Not worth to send to RMA and waste my time though.

May be u're right about the USB freezes the computer thing. But i'll check without plugin any other device.

we can write up something to Asus for a bios fix. As well as asking them making a 8600GT for Z84J hehehe

 

I've had my Z84JP since February and never visited this forum, happy to know it's here. Two questions;

1. In an earlier post, someone commented they installed Vista 64 bit on theur Z84. Are there Vista 64 bitdrivers for the Z84? Asus only lists 32 bit Vista drivers on the Z84 download site.

2. I also read in an earlier post complaints of 5%+ battery loss overnight when a battery is left in the machine and powered down. I contacted Asus about this and received their usual response and then I posted it on the Asus Member site, no response. I know it's not a battery issue because I have a spare and it will hold 100% charge for a week +. There is something in the machine that draws on the installed battery when the system is shut down. Anybody know of a solution?

Mark

 

1) idk

2) asus uses cheap battery from a chinese manufacturer so the performance isn't as great as Dell and HP.
I wish that's something that Asus can improve in future.

 

It's not the batteries. If you charge them they will keep 100% charge for a week + if they are not installed in the notebook.

If you have a Z84 test this yourself, insure the battery is 100% charged and turn the notebook off. Unplug the AC charger and let the notebook sit overnight say 10-12 hours. Turn the notebook on after that period of time and you will see the power meter shows a state of charge something less than you would expect it to be. I'm seeing something like 80-85% That's quite a bit for just overnight and no load on the battery.

 

oh ok... however my battery wont' stand long over one hour . i'm using as desktop replacement so i remove the battery out. I rarely use it on battery since the day i got it.

 

Thanks for your replies, I appreciate your interest. I do not use my Z84 as a desktop replacement, only for travel.

It appears to me that something in the notebook is not fully powering down and continues to drain the battery.

Earlier in this thread others noted the same issue. I hoped someone had a solution.

By the way, there was a request also earlier in this thread about a travel charger for the Z84. Lind makes a travel charger that is 19VDC, 5.0a which is correct for the Z84 and comes with the auto + airline adapter, part #T01950-1110. You will also have to order the cable from the charger to the notebook to match the Z84 input socket, Lind part #CBLPW-F00350.

 

Hi again all.

I'm I the only one that gets the feeling that we're being left behind by Asus?

Recently I've noticed driver updates by NVIDIA, Intel (wifi), and if I remember right the audio components for components in the Z84. Yet if you look at the Asus download site all of the drivers go clear back to early fall.

I've downloaded the Intel updates separately and they've helped. The NVIDIA update looks interesting but you cannot update without going through the notebook manufacturer site, so the update there is not available.

Have we been abandoned?

 

Hi, in general ASUS "abandons" every model in this way (they are not very good with software and firmware updates).

You probably can get a more recent video driver version from laptopvideo2go.com .

 

if it works fine, why upgrade. i stil use 9792 from laptopvideo2go decent drivers.. i'm a little bit tired of upgrading drivers all the time. As long as it works with no problem, u don't need to worry about it

 

Or in other words don't fix what ain't broken. Although if you do gaming, new video drivers do improve performance (sometimes). So it's up to everyone to decide... But certainly upgrading drivers once a week isn't a very good idea.

 

My has problems with the Video acceleration. If I try to play a game on it like solitaire, it flashes a warning about the video Acceleration prior to launching the game, then the video is very slow. Is that a hardware problem or do I need to set something up?

 

I recommend reinstalling/updating video drivers. Use DriverCleanerPro to clean up the remnants of the old drivers before installing the new ones.

 

Does anyone know how to use a monitor on this machine as the primary? I have a big 24" I want as the primary when at home and want the laptop screen to be the dual-view screen. Every video driver I have tried will only let the laptop screen be the primary.

Jasems

 

i am having trouble burning cd's on the dvd drive. i put a blank cd in and tell nero to burn it, like i have always done in the past, nero goes through the whole burn process and the message that has completed successfully even pops up. BUT when i take the cd out there is nothing burnt on it, it is still blank and can still be written on by another drive(my roommate's). Has anyone had this problem? does any one know of a way to fix it?

 

jasems: For both my nVIDIA and ATI machines (XP on both) I did find options to make the external primary; but they were not easy to find. Dig deep in the driver options.

ncastig: are you sure that "Simulation" is not checked in the advanced Nero options (you need to click "More" on the bottom of the burn window to see that option).

 

Yeah, I got it finally writing on the cd's but they won't read anywhere, not even in the z84j burner.

 

Well if it's still under warranty try getting the ODD replaced. (without sending in the whole notebook, just the ODD)

Otherwise buy a new ODD for about 50 bucks.

 

Yeah I think that sounds like my best bet thank you for the advice. Two more questions;
Any recomendations on a decent yet inexpensive ODD?
Has anyone had success with the eSATA drive?

 

Well assuming it's a standard slimline optical drive, I've been recommended the following brands in roughly this order:

Nec
Sony
Liteon
Samsung
LG

Here is the thread where they were recommended to me:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=215365

 

Is it worth considering the Z84Jp as a multimedia laptop even though it's not a new model anymore?
How is it for reliability? Have most problems been worked out?
How does the sound quality compare to the sound in the M70?
The M70 has Altec Lansing speakers. Does the Z84Jp also have Altec Lansing speakers? Anyone heard both and can compare them?
The review for the Z84Jp is the only one I've read that said the screen had good vertical viewing angles. Is that true for all Z84Jp laptops? Is the screen quality consistent?

 

Screen quality is average on Z84J , probably new laptop beat it by far let's say new screen on toshibas is 10, the asus Z84j will b around 8 or so. It's not super bright and color contrast is not up to my expectation for photography use.


The speakers : oh yea i haven't use it for a while because it is pluged in my external speakers system. However the Sound quality is pretty good for a laptop , it can get loud real clean and it sounds like there's an amp built in to power those 5 speakers. I don't think those altec langsing makes much difference in such a small speaker cause i've heard the latest Toshiba one. To me The toshiba one is slightly better in natural tone , with the Asus it can get real loud.


I've used it over a year with the factory laptop screen cover on, i could say the screen color stays consistent if you take care of it properly.

I'm using it as a main desktop connected to 22" screen.


If i were you i'd buy the newer laptop line with better CPU and performance.

This one is just a "interchange step" of moving from Pentium M to Core 2 Duo . The newer one will be better in terms of battery life and CPU performance.

I like mine bc no one has the same laptop when i carry around school hahahaha.

 

Z84J was the first notebook I ever bought. I really liked it, but but in hindsight it had several drawbacks that would lead me to buy a different notebook.

-Heavy and not very portable (cause it's a 17")
-Lack of a numeric keypad. On a 17" notebook, that's unacceptable.
-Extra speakers took up the space of a numeric keypad and did not sound that great. Lots of distortion at higher volume.
-Fn key is in the bottom left, where CTRL should be. Horrible for gaming!
-Only room for one HDD. Again, on a 17" notebook, unacceptable.
-Weak GPU. Outdated when it was new.
-Poor battery life. 2.5 hours on the larger, 9-cell battery.
-Low-resolution display. Should be 1920x1200. Now you can even find 1920x1200 on some of the smaller, 15.4" displays.


That said, I still really liked it. I wish I still had it, but apparently someone needed it more than I did. It was stolen last month.

I've been shopping around, and so far I like the ASUS G50v the best. Has everything I wish I had on the Z84 except the 1920 resolution, and it's smaller and lighter. If I was going with another 17" right now, I'd buy the Gateway P-7811FX. It's cheaper than the G50v and has a more powerful GPU, but it has no bluetooth and has the same annoying FN-key problem that the Z84 has (I guess it's a matter of opinion....).

I think the Gateway's been as low as $1249 on sale, and it's completely up-to-date on the hardware. I wouldn't buy a Z84 right now unless it was significantly less than that.

 

yeah newer Asus notebook is very decent specs and price as well as the design is nicer.


Z84j is an old model i got it since it first came out, now it's over 1 yr old already. I don't use the speakers alot but i like the fact you can put different components DIY into the laptop.

 

I would like to know if anyone has upgraded their GPU in this notebook. I got a confirmation email from MXM-upgrade.com that the 8600GT would fit and work in it. I would like to know that someone else has done so with success before I invest in doing so. I don't even know if it would be worth it anyway.

 

where and what link. i was the first to try it and bought the car when it made available for C90S ... hook me uup i'm interested.

 

I emailed them at [email protected] and asked what would be the best gpu upgrade for the z84j. This is the reply I received:

We believe the 8600GT would be suitable. Based on prior experiences, it should work but unfortunately, that is not a guarantee in the MXM world.

Should you be interested, then we can offer you a full money back warranty in case you would be willing to write a review on your proceedings. Drivers can be downloaded from laptopvideo2go.com

Kris Verbeeck
MXM Upgrade

BTW I plan on upgrading the ram to 4 GB and getting a 320GB 7200 rpm hdd. I have the T7600 and it is plenty fast for me. Esata works nice for my external burner setup. Also have a 2 port RAID card for the express slot. It works very nicely. I wonder if this mobo could take one of the newer 45nm cpu.

 

nah get new one man.. not worth it... I talked to those ppl at MXM upgrade a while a go.. nothing can confirm it work. I was the first to try one of those

Another thing you have to face is heatsink won't be able to match with the core's place to release the heat.

This laptop is in the "old" vintage list now. Get a newer laptop and save yourself the money. 45NM is WAYY btter than 65nm now . Just look at the prime benchmark and u'll see.

 

I want to upgrade the wifi card in my z84jp to a wireless n. Any suggestions?

 

Hey guys,

New to the thread. Just wanted to give my input on the z84j.

I have an ASUS z84j laptop. Probably the best laptop I have purchased by far.

Intel Duo core 2.0 ghz processor/512kb L1 cache 8mb L2 cache. 1024 FSB
1 gb ddr2 ram - 512mb gddr3 nvidia card. 802.11 a/b/g/n built-in.
XP professional SP 3.

Only two complaints I have against it is the battery life (which I knew would be a problem because of the power this thing requires). If you guys have any suggestions for a better longer lasting battery, please let me know.

The other complaint is no serial port. I needed a serial port for work to check some cisco configs, but I found a USB to serial converter which works well. But for a gaming laptop, who needs serial anymore.

Other than that, it's been awesome!

 

how come your stuff is 8mb cache on CPU? weird

 

IIRC the Asus Z62 series batteries work with the Z84, so you have an option for the 9 cell battery, you should get about 3 or so hours with that battery. As for the 8MB of cache i'm rather sure its a typo

 

Hello,

I would like to upgrade my hard drive to this one:

Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS - 500 GB - SATA-300
Model 2.5" x 1/8H
Interface type Serial ATA-300

Will it work on my z84jp laptop?
If not, what type (brand) of hard drive is suitable for this notebook?

Thanks for your reply.

Hans.

 

Hi JustMeIkke and welcome to the forums.

Your Z84Jp notebook uses a SATA interface for the hard drive, so the drive that you listed above will work just fine. My only suggestion is to opt for a Western Digital Blue/Black drive such as THIS as this is highly regarded for its performance and reliability.

 

Thanks David,
I will consider your suggestion .

Hans

 

Has anyone repaired or had their Z84J motherboard's power circuitry repaired? I happend to have a out-of-warranty Z84J laying around and it would be nice to get it running again.

 

Has anyone idea for cooler fan,where to buy it? there are no on the ebay,and anywhere else.
please help to find or maybe anybody has it.Thanks.

 

Are your temps higher than usual?

It may be time for you to clean the fan and heat radiator, see the Info Booth linked in my sig for a cleaning guide.

 

BIOS controls the temperature from the CPU temp sensors (duo procs have one per cpu plus a case sensor) so even a heavier fan would not help. Also the fan matches the shroud and to be honest if you keep things clean the fan is just barely turning over most of the time even when you have the performance settings set to max. I've tried using speedfan to monitor and control the fans to no luck - I suspect it's because the SMBus is controlled by a small processor on notebooks and speedfan can't take control like it can on desktops. So, I suspect it's one of those things you can't change unless you want to modify the BIOS!