Z84j Owners Lounge

Windows 7 success at last! It took two weeks but my Z84j is now running Windows 7 just fine. Absolutely ugly conversion requiring a complete reinstall of everything. At least I have clean system now! The downside - Windows 7 finds most drivers OK, but not all. And Asus is absolutely no help since they don't support anything after about a year. So I had to do a lot of work finding the right drivers to make the Z84j and Windows both happy. It also took a bit of work to make some ancilliary programs like chkmail and hotkeys to work as well. Also the Synaptics pad works out of the box but functions horribly unless you find the right Synaptics program to get the settings right. Since there a couple of various hardware variations out there on the Z84j's I can't give you cookbook on how to do it. Also I had to use a combination of programs and drivers from XP, Vista, and Windows 7 so there's some risk here but everything seems real stabile.

The positive side is Windows 7 is really a leap ahead of XP. Still has birthing pains but is a joy to use and the Z84j performs better on it than XP (in fact it's rather snappy). I even used the Bluetooth setup from Windows and the Intel 3945 functions well with the new implementation inside of Windows 7. These two even work with the ancilliary Asus programs!

The only drivers that were an issue were the ITEC, camera, and ACPI drivers. The problematic programs were chkmail, hotkeys, Synaptics, and Realtek. All available in one form or another from Asus (if you know where to look).

Make sure to have good backups and get all of the program setting detailed before you start. And use any program facilities, like Intel's profile save/restore backed up as well.

 

I tried Windows 7, but it was too unstable for me. When the computer went to sleep it would crash every time. Do you have all the drivers you used? Could you list them here or upload them to one place I can download them?

 

The sleep instability is probably a result of needing the ATK ACPI driver installed as I mentioned. The challenge here was that I used the C90S driver (I worked for Intel so I knew that the chipsets were the same and fully compatible).

I was, and am, hesitant to write a cookbook approach since there were probably 4 different cameras, 2 different wireless, 3 1394/IR, and probably other variations of hardware used.

That said, I'm finding that W7 is way more stabile than XP.

I could probably write up a general list of items to download and install, my specific modules, and how to find the right modules for the Z84 variants that are different than mine, but that will take some time. I'm willing to do it, even for one person. But my commitment will be based on how many people are interested. So your vote counts - respond here if you're interested.

And if you use the info and find something different I hope that you put the information on this board.

 

Then count me a vote number one.

 

Here's my process for installing Windows 7 on a Z84j. I’m going off some scrambled notes and memory so this is best as I can remember. Remember to reboot between steps if anything in that step causes an update where W7 asks for a reboot (to be extra safe you can reboot anytime W7 asks):
Step 1 - Install Windows 7. Make sure to turn off Windows updates until you have everything stable. See my comment at the end about dual boot.
Step 2 - Make sure all drivers are loaded. Most will, but in my case I had to find drivers for ITE, PC Camera and figured it was time to do the INF. Use System => Devices and check for any yellow question marks.
Step 3 - Download Z84j stuff from Asus. Pick up Chkmail utility, INF (latest chipset) for Intel, PC Camera (Asureware in my case), Syntaptics, and ITE Remote Vista drivers. These all seem to be sensitive to chipset and features specific to the Z84j. Since there are no W7 downloads we’re forced to use Vista downloads. Flip side – all seem to work fine. Note that W7 may find driver updates later after you manually install them the first time, but it may not find all drivers when W7 first installs.
Step 4 – Download everything you can from Asus for the F6 computer for Windows 7. This is needed for many things and is good insurance. I didn’t use all utilities, but I wanted all of the basic keyboard lights and special keys to work. If you want to experiment with other stuff, this is where I would start. And there seems to be a bunch of new stuff.
Step 5 – Install INF, ITE, and Synaptics. These seem to work fine and are not sensitive to W7.
Step 6 – Install Camera. Install is sensitive to W7 and can’t be use. Instead extract driver software to a file. Then use System to point to the camera, open the properties, update the driver and point to the files you extracted.
Note: downloads lists some variants for the Z84j components. This is what worked for me – you may need to use other drivers. Try the W7 drivers first and if they don’t work then step back to the Z84j Vista drivers.
Step 7 – Install W7 drivers from F6 Notebook area. Start with Hotkey. Make sure you reboot after this step and the following as noted above.
Step 8 – Install ATKOSD2, AGFNEX, and ATKDrv.
Step 9 – Install Power4Gear. Configure power settings using the GUI in the program files under P4Gear.
Step 10 – Install Wireless Console 3.
Step 11 – Install Realtek. Configure audio to your tastes.
Step 12 – Install Chkmail from Z84j drivers. Configure to fit your tastes (right click on the task icon).
Step 13 – Verify Synaptics parameters for the keypad are set up to your tastes.
Step 14 – If you have the Nvidia 7700 like I do, download and install the Beta W7 from Nvidia. Nothing else seems to work – not anything from Asus, 3rd parties or anything else. Takes a bit of work to find.
Step 15 – Turn on Aero. Easiest way for someone new to W7 is to go to help and search for aero troubleshooting. Instruction will tell you how to run the troubleshooter where you can find out if Aero will run on your system and allow you to kick off Aero.
Step 16 - run Windows updates.
Step 17 – Back up your system!
Step 18 – verify that all the special keys and lights work. If not, you missed something, used the wrong drivers, or run into a problem I haven’t encountered. Best of luck in troubleshooting.
Again – this is what worked for me and my variant of the Z84j. Unfortunately, you are pretty much on your own and I don’t take any responsibility for problems that may result – I’m simply sharing what I’ve figured out. I may or may not be able to help. Anyone that has further information or has tried other utilities then please let us all know.
Do use the capability of dual booting W7 and your current system. You have this option if you create another partition and install W7. Lots of articles on the Internet.
Is it worth it? Yes in my opinion. W7 runs much more snappy and once you get used to it things work better for the most part.

 

I miss my Z84j.... Some a$$hole stole it from my apartment last year

I'm finally getting a proper replacement for it but it's a Dell. If I had the money I'd get another ASUS. Long live ASUS!

 

Hi beasleym,
Are you using windows 7 32 or 64bits?
I'm having problems with one driver (64 bits version of windows 7), the driver is:
Intel(R) 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Controller - 27B9
Also windows mediacenter crashes when i try to setup the a301 tv-tuner?

Hans.