Z96 Owners Lounge!

You wouldn't believe it. Scammers have attempted once again. Here is the relist--I now require immediate payment with buy-it-now.

 

Hi, I just got a z96 recently and have installed Vista Ultimate on it. I'm loving it so far however there are some problems that I need help with in fixing. The screen does not turn back on when I close and reopen the lid and I'm having trouble locating the drivers for the webcam. Also, most of my hotkeys work properly with the exception of the wireless and the mute keys. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Best suggestion is to do a search on the board shrike, those are so common I've seen them answered hundreds of times - just find the easiest answer you can and give it a try

 

Lol, yeah, I read through this entire thread as well as the Asus Vista 32/64 Drivers sticky but all I got out of it was conflicting details about all the ATK drivers and stuff about the BIOS. I was wondering if someone could maybe make a list of all the drivers required to run all the z96 features properly on Vista in a single post. That would be perfect. Thanks.

 

Sup just wondering if any you got this Bios running on your Z96J, I'm running 1101 on my lap right now, just curious if there's any huge performance boost
Does it actually downclock the GPU clock or add any issue, let me know your opinions. And by the way I don't like that much winphlash to flash the bios within windows . Got handy any tips on flashing through plain dos.
Cheers ! . Does the Z96J have that F4 which does directly into flash utility on boot?

 

Okay, I managed to get almost everything to work except the camera and mic by flashing to the latest BIOS (1201) on the Intel website and installing most of their drivers. I had to uninstall Power4Gear however, because I found that that was the cause of my screen not turning back on when I closed and opened the lid.
I got Asus NB Probe onto my laptop and that revealed a more serious problem about my notebook. It was telling me that my CPU temperature was at fatal levels, so I opened up the back and felt the heatsink. It was indeed scorching hot! This is my first laptop so I don't know how hot the CPU's normally get but I don't think not being able to keep my fingers on the thing for more than five seconds is a bad thing. Any insight into this problem would be greatly appreciated.

 

What was the temperature? Scorching hot doesn't say enough . To me 60*C is pretty dang hot, and thats the idle temperature for some people's Z96J systems. The heatsink would be a bit cooler than that, but if you were running something CPU intensive. Definitely give more info and we can see if its a problem.

Here is the thread on idle temps on this system:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1746345

 

Asus Probe doesn't give me a temperature. Is there another program that will tell me?

 

NHC would, theres a lot of talk on this kind of thing I think there is a FAQ. If you use XP NHC works for sure, in Vista I think there is a new version of NHC that works too.

 

Couldn't get NHC to work on Vista so instead I used RM Clock. Seems my temperatures are pretty normal at about 55C idle compared to others. It just came as a surprise to me how hot it felt when I put my hands on it. It felt a lot hotter, somewhere like 70-80C. I guess I'm just used to my desktop CPU's running at like 45C under load. =P.

Update: I've managed to get the BisonCam to work. The driver can be found here http://cweb.msi.com.tw/html/products/nb/nb_vista_driver/vistadriver-cam.htm
If the camera still does not work, you will have to do a bit of registry editing. Just save the code below in a text file and rename it so that it has a .reg extension.






Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cam5603D]
"SensorType"=dword:0000000a
"LensType"=dword:0000000c
"ImageSize"=dword:00000001
"ViewSize"=dword:00000a50
"SnapItem"=dword:00000000
"MPTest"=dword:00000000
"RGB24"=dword:00000000
"WideScreen"=dword:00000000
"DeviceOffOn"=dword:00000000
"CpuUsage"=dword:00000000
"DcOffset"=dword:00000000
"AeTable"=dword:00000000
"PCB_SIZE"=dword:00000001
"PropShowItem"=dword:00000000
"SXGASize"=dword:00000001
"BlockS3S4"=dword:00000000
"AETarget"=dword:00000000
"FlikerLim"=dword:00000000
"InterpolationMethod"=dword:00000000
"ADC"=dword:00000000
"DC_Level"=dword:00000000
"Gama_Offset"=dword:00000000
"ImageEffect"=dword:00000000
"ChkPacketHdr"=dword:00000000
"SaBase"=dword:00000006
"SaDivitor"=dword:00000006
"SensorYUYV"=dword:00000000
"AvgAE"=dword:00000000
"Timer1"=dword:0000000a
"Timer2"=dword:0000005a
"PowerDown"=dword:00000000
"DoXPC3"=dword:00000001
"Do2KC3"=dword:00000001


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\BisonCam]
"AgcGainType"=dword:00000000


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WebCam\M2000]
"StillImage"=dword:0000000a
"MultiLangID"=dword:00000009


Found all this here: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PageIndex=2&SiteID=17&PostID=1216726

Hope this helps. Now if only I can get the mic to work again. It seems the mic jack works, but the built in mic doesn't work.

 

Any update on this? I'm assuming this is using the ATI Catalyst drivers? Is this on the latest Catalyst release? I don't game (except for on-line poker), so I don't need that much graphics power.

I ordered my Z96Js from G2P last Tuesday, and it'll be arriving on Wednesday.

 

I used ATI TT for maybe 5 minutes. Haven't touched it since. This was on the latest ATI catalyst mobility drivers at the time. My guess is that it was between 6.6 and 6.8.

Don't bother with this at all. I don't know what your interest is, but there is pretty much nothing to gain from disabling this. From what I understand, HyperMemory is only enabled if the BIOS detects 1gb or more of RAM.

If you don't need/want graphics power, then the Z96J with an X1600 might not have been the best choice, only because it is the most powerful 15.4inch graphics card(well, yes there is the x1700 and the g7700, but the x1600 actually consumes more power than those so they don't count). Sure, it's a wonderful deal for the price and I would be all for getting one. But of course you will have to pay for it with slightly shorter battery life. If you don't care about an extra 30 minutes of battery life, then I'm all for the X1600. I still don't regret my Z96J.

I love how people still refer to G2P as G2P. Eddie thought everyone hated the name because they abbreviated it as G2P. I still prefer G2P over BTOT. Have fun with your new system, and many thanks to Eddie!

 

I don't need, but I want it. I figured I would perhaps try to "future-proof" the laptop, as I want it to last a few years. You never know what kind of apps further down the road may benefit from a better video card. And who knows? Maybe I'll actually take the plunge and pick up Counterstrike Anthology for $19.99 at CompUSA the next time I'm there.

With the setup I have with my Z96Js, there was nothing that close (especially considering the CPU) price-wise that fit the specs of what I was looking for. I probably could've gotten a Dell 1505 with an x1400 for about the same price, but I still decided on the Z96Js.

 

I can't get some of the function keys to work on my Z96Js (like Fn + Ins = Print Screen). Is there a driver I'm missing? The screen brightness and volume function keys work, but the player control keys don't seem to do anything, and neither does print screen. The actual keys themselves work, so this is probably a software issue.

 

I got my Asus Z96J about a month a go. Love it. I cannot believe how powerful this laptop is considering the price $1500 I've been playing oblivion so much this is the first time I've had to post

The only thing is I cannot wait until an express card from Cingular comes out so I can have a internet connection on the go.

StealthX

 

same here, just got mine a month ago and its wonderful. the design is not best but thats not what i care about. playing games are smooth. for just $900 this is awsome. the screen is very nice. WSXGA is the way to go.

btw just wanted to know if the Z96Js has a thermometer on the video chip...
ATI's CCC doesnt show the temperature.... maybe update driver perhaps? cause ive tried updating the driver but that didnt work. got the CCC driver from ATIs website.

T2500
1GB
X1600
100GB 5400 i guess..

 

what you can do about the LOW VOLUME
the low volume bothered me , so what i did was: go into the realtek volume controler and bring all the equlizer notches to the top. except the first 3 from the left. that helped.

let me know how its goin for you guys.

 

You can do that if you want... but the problem is it doesn't make the speakers any more powerful. All you really end up doing is overdriving the speakers... which yes, it's a tad louder, but you get some nice distortion as well.

I've used the onboard speakers for about.... maybe 00.5% of the time I've used this laptop. The audio quality is great coming out of the stereo jack... the only problem is it is stereo. =) Oh, and it's still an integrated card and no support for all the soundblaster special effects in certain games. But I use this laptop mainly in a school environment, so I always use earphones regardless otherwise people around me would be rather annoyed. And why listen to the onboard speakers at home when you can either use your desktop speakers(I have two sets for my desktop- a 2.1 and 5.1) or you can buy some very nice desk speakers for a very low price. I just see no reason to use the onboard speakers for my use of the notebook. I'm either mobile and need to keep from disturbing people, or I'm at home and I have access to good quality speakers.

 

yeah thats right youl get distortion etc... but thats just to make it louder. some work around.
at home im fine with the volume at middle settings when im gamin. i move the system around a lot so having to bring those speakers around too is not convenient. so im ok with the speakers.

my concerns are the grainyness and the heat.
my idle temp is around 48-52. (for some strange reason ive never seen 49)
anyway, when i game ive seen it go up to 73. thats the highest so far.. is that too hot?

with the grainy thing, is there a risk in using winflash? i read that you could use F4, havent tried it tho. id rather let the bios update it instead of winflash. does that work on the z96j?

 

For the heat... that's just barely warm for a notebook. Not even close to hot, let alone too hot. Just forget about that. I've seen way too many people run their laptops 24/7 at well over 100C for months before realizing there was a problem.

For the grainy display... I recommend updating the BIOS from a boot disk running DOS or something to that extent. I believe Ken from Gentech has an image you can download for a boot cd. I would use that or make your own.

Also, if you have never updated a BIOS and you don't notice the graininess, I would recommend leaving it as is unless you think you can handle it. It's not that big of a deal, I'm just saying that if you want to update the BIOS because people are telling you it is grainy then it probably isn't worth the risk to try to flash it if you don't know what you are doing.

I would not try to update the BIOS through windows. It's just generaly not a good idea. I do not remember the exact details of how a windows based flash tool works, but I know that windows gets in the way and it has to use round-about methods to be able to do that flashing. And there is a great chance that windows can screw up your flash. Which is not good.

Take it from one who knows. I have flashed many a BIOS, both system and video card. I've flashed the motherboard BIOS of each computer in my sig. I have also flashed my x800xl to an x850xt platinum edition(I have an r480 core with 1.6ns ram- in effect an x850xt that had been relabled as an x800xl). All of the flashes have been done with a boot cd except once when I flashed my Asus A8n-E motherboard from within windows using Asus' utility. That is the only time I've ever had trouble with a flash. Thankfully the A8N has Asus' crashfree BIOS, meaning if you screw up a flash you can still fix it. Learned my lesson from that -flashing from within windows is tempting fate.

 

wow thanks for that. you answerd it all.
yes i do notice the grainyness. i see it all the time. it almost looks like it could be the screen since the grain stays in place.

how about flashing th bios from from bios itself? they mentioned F4 or within the bios. is that also a good idea? or shall i just go with ISOs..

will i get this one here?
Nero Image file Version 1201:
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/images/Notebook/Asus/96J1201.nrg

 

I know what you mean.

As far as I know, you can't "update a BIOS from within the BIOS". What you are describing very well might work, but it is most likely something other than what you think. F4 is probably a shortcut to boot from a disk or something.

I am still running the BETA Bios from last summer, the first one with the graininess fix. I do not believe there is merom support, but as I can see you do not have a merom so it doesn't really matter.

What you have linked to will probably work, but I do not think that is the one I used. Let me go find a link for you.

 

Here is Ken's post from notebookforums.com, with the original BETA bios. The one which I am using. Follow these instructions. These instructions should also work with the cd image you posted.

EDIT: I think I'm going to have to try installing the 1201 version. Running a beta BIOS for almost a year is kind of long, don't you think? I haven't had any issues... well, I have had two actually. One is that sometimes the windows keyboard input gets screwed up, and sometimes the laptop powers off for no reason(not heat related). I don't think my BIOS is responsible for either of these but who knows.

 

so all i do is :
download the the nero image
burn the image
reboot.
let it start from the disk
and itl do it's thing?

sorry for all the asking. ^_^ just wanna make sure.

btw, quick question. will it be ok if i bring the memory clock to 400? will that do any performance improvement?

tnx for the reply. ^_^

 

No, it should boot into DOS and you should get an A:/ prompt. Then you run the flash program with the bios rom as an argument. Actually, I think Ken might have a batch file on there that does it all for you.

Bring what memory clock to 400 what and how do you plan to do this?

EDIT: You know what, can you wait a few hours? I'll flash my Z96J with the image you linked with the final updated merom BIOS. Then I'll post back with better instructions.

 

oops sorry,
i ment the video memory.

sure thing. let me know how the flash went. ^_^

 

Well... yeah, sure you'll game maybe a 1-3% performance gain while doing 3d work,(games included) but you won't notice it at all. If you were previously getting 55 frames per second in a certain game at a certain point, you might get 56 or 57 at that same place with the memory overclocked like that. Definately not more than that.

Technically doing that voids your warranty, so I advise against overclocking your graphics card. Unless you don't care about your warranty and you want to do some hardcore overclocking and go for 15-20% performance gain(which is still difficult to notice), I would not overclock.

I'm playing a game with my friend now, and I have to study for finals sometime tonight and tomorrow. So I don't know when I will be able to do the flash. Probably after the game. Definately in the next 5-6 hours.

 

ok. regard to the overclocking, id rather leave it this way in that case. no big performance gain for the risk.

no problem, just let me know how the 1201 works. ^_^

 

Yeah, unless you gain a good 50 mhz or more on the memory and 60-80mhz on the core, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference in performance between overclocked and stock. As you put it, it just isn't worth it. Especially if you paid extra money like I did for an extended warranty.

Today was my last day of classes, and final exams start Thursday, so I just started studying today. When I decide to take a break, I'll flash to 1201 and let you know how it goes.

 

cool. tnx.
il wait on that.

 

Downloading the image right now.

 

Ok, it's been flashed, booting into windows now. As I suspected, Ken put a batch file on the cd called "update". Funny thing is, this was a win98 boot disk.

Anyway, follow the instructions I quoted from Gentech word for word, and you will be golden. However, you should be able to ignore # 9 and everything below that. The 1201 image you linked is not a beta, and it also should not result in windows finding new hardware nor should it require reinstallation of drivers.

 

Hey, so far everything looks fine. No graininess(not that I had it using the beta), and no issues of any sort yet. Hey, I also have support for merom now.

If you have any more questions before you flash, be sure to ask.

 

cool. so you were using the 1101, which was the beta.
btw, how long is the whole process? 5 mins?

im thinking of flashing it today.

 

It took me about 8 seconds to download the image, another 2 minutes to burn the image to a cd, and about 30 seconds find my laptop, turn it on, put the cd in, and boot the cd. Once I got to the a:/ prompt, I used the "dir" command to list what was in the current directory. There was a flash utility, and 1201 bios rom, and the batch file named update. Then I typed "update" and pressed enter to run the batch file. The flash process started immediately and took less than 30 seconds. After that I restarted the laptop(using the power button) and pressed f2 at boot to go into the BIOS setup. I reset everything to BIOS defaults(something you should do after flashing) and then I configured some of the settings to my preference. I turned off the intel logo at the post so I can see the post information instead, and I turned off intel speedstep(I use rmclock to control the multiplier and voltage of my T2400). Then I saved the changes and exited setup, and then started the windows boot process. Started up fine, no changes noticed. You will see at this point that the graininess is no more. I'm pretty sure the only change between 1101 and 1201 is merom support.

So yes, about 5 minutes for the entire process.

 

great. il do that later when i get home. im at work right now.
ever heard of updating the bios failing in dos mode?
can i just run it off the battery when updating? or is the ac adapter required..

 

It is not required, but recommended that you have an ac adapter connected as well as the battery. If for any reason you lose power in the middle of a flash, your BIOS will be screwed.

I have not heard of updating from a boot disk failing because of the method used to flash the bios. As I mentioned above, it is significantly safer than any other conventional means. The only safer way I can think of is if you have a flash rom programmer(piece of hardware which you put the bios chip into and manually flash it, then put the bios chip back in your laptop). If your BIOS flash fails, the only way to get your computer to boot again would be to either find someone with a flash rom programmer, buy a new bios chip if you can find one, or send your laptop in for repair(and they'll probably replace the whole motherboard).

Don't worry though, failed flashes are not as common as you would think. I do not know anyone who has suffered from a failed flash.

If your flash happens to fail, it would most likely be because either your download was corrupted, or there was an error while burning the cd. I would be sure to use the verify disk option when burning the disk with nero.

What time zone are you in? It's 11:00 pm over here... hate to think that you're still at work this late. You're probably over in CA or something, and it was 7:00 pm there when you posted. That's a little more reasonable.

Good luck with the flash. I'm going to go finish studying for final exams now.

 

hehe im halfway around the world. in the phillipines. im workin til 10pm pacific.
had bought the ASUS in the US. so... im gona have a problem with the warranty thing. thats why im askin a lot about it.

 

btw, wouldnt it be possible to still boot from the disk but read the bios upgrade of the hdd? that should be possible. right?

 

I don't understand what you are trying to ask.

Do you mean you want to try to use a boot cd, but flash with the file on the hard disk instead of the cd, or do you mean if it fails can you flash the bios back and recover from a bad flash by reflashing with the bios from the hard disk?

If the flash fails, you won't be able to turn on your computer. Well... the power light will come on, and if you are lucky you might see something on the screen, but you won't be able to do anything. You won't be able to boot from any form of media, you won't be able to access or change anything or input any information or do anything. Without the bios your computer is just a pile of hardware.

Just go ahead and burn the image you linked to, of the 1201 version. The same one I just used last night. Verify the burn with nero to make sure there are no mistakes, then follow the instructions Ken posted. All you do is press escape upon boot to see the boot menu, then select your cd drive, boot from it, you will get an a:/ prompt, type "update", press enter, wait until your computer returns to the a:/ prompt, then press the power button on your computer to turn it off and restart it. There, flash is done. It is suggested that returning all options in the BIOS to default is a good idea, but I do not think it necessary. I think the only time you would need to do that is if options were added/removed in the BIOS.

 

ok.
what i ment is to boot from the disk but still flash it of from the hard disk.

 

Don't know why you'd want to do that. It's probably possible, but I'm sure it's rather tricky and not worth your time. Just do it the conventional way. As long as you verify the cd after you burn it, it won't make any difference whether you flash from the hard disk or the cd.

 

cooooool.... now thats more like it. ^_^

by the way, how hot does your system get, JPZ?

 

Not that hot. I assume all went well with the flash and you really like that screen...

Don't worry about the temperatures. My T2400 if I remember correct got to about 72C under full load both cores in an airconditioned room at stock. I actually have it undervolted, which runs at about 60C full load both cores, if I remember correct. Probably somewhere around 50C idle but I really don't have any idea. All the temps I took were back last summer when I reviewed the Z96J, about the time when most resellers were getting their first shipment. I got lucky and Eddie over at G2P got his shipment real fast, and he shipped my Z96 to me the day after he got it, and since I live close, it only took a day to get to me.

Don't worry about temperatures unless your notebook is powering off or becomes unstable. Mine gets a little hot where the heatsink is after a couple hours of heavy gaming. Right now though, it's been folding on both cores full load and it's cool to the touch. My graphics card is underclocked and idling, though.

 

ok cool.

hey i got another issue. its windows related though.
if im connected to the network, and i right click a file, it takes up to 20 sec for it to pop up. i checked the issue online, but i couldnt figure it out...

do you have any idea how to fix this?

 

hah.. sorry for the question.
i figured it out.

it has something to do with the network
every time i open the context menu, it tries to refer to a file on the network.
i had to remove some registry entries to fix that.

btw, jpz, do you undervolt your cpu?

 

Yes, I do. In fact, look up at my last post.

Also, those temperatures are just a guess; my real temperatures that I took when I first got my Z96 are in my review.

 

Since we are talking about temperatures I'll ask this question. My Z96J idles around 60-65 which has been the case ever since I bought the notebook earlier this spring. It always feels very hot to the touch and I can't keep my hand next to the exhaust without feeling burned. When running a demo of MOH Breakthrough it crashes because NHC shuts it down. I am assuming this is a big problem. Any thoughts? I bought this rig from GenTech, but I wasn't sure if I needed to get it RMA.

 

Please, let us not talk about temperatures any more. The Z96J has no cooling issues. If you are having trouble with heat, then it is because you use your laptop in a sub-optimal environment, and need to clean your heatsink.

What you describe does not sound like a heat issue. Idling at 60-65 is fine. The laptop will always be warm on the right touchpad, because it is used as passive cooling for the graphics card(probably the memory on the other side of the motherboard). If you use powerplay to set you graphics card to power saving(regardless of whether you are on AC or battery, just set the corresponding option to power saving) you will notice that the right palm rest becomes much cooler. This option is no good if you are doing anything graphical and you need the full power of the graphics card. However, if you need to do some office work/web browsing/watch a dvd this will lower the heat. The left palm rest is warm because of the hard drive, no questions asked. The air coming out of the back should not be as hot as you describe it, but if you are feeling all that heat without touching the actual laptop, that is a good thing. The hotter the exhaust, the more heat removed from your laptop. If you cannot feel the exhaust from a few inches away, the perhaps poor airflow is your trouble. Clean the heatsink.

I would recommend not using NHC; atleast the last time I used it, it was very buggy, and even once reported my processor as being 4,000 degrees C. Your crashing sounds like a software issue, not heat related.

If you have any more questions or comments, please take them to Ken. If we continue this discussion here, it will end up creating false rumours that the Z96J is a hot laptop and overheats and Asus should be avoided, which is not what we want.

For the record, my Z96J has been folding@home for the last two weeks straight. It is currently relatively cool to the touch, and the exhaust is barely warm(in an air conditioned room).

 

Thanks JPZ for the response. I haven't done any underclocking yet, but I'll try that next. When I asked about my heat issues I am not assuming the Z96J has an inherent heating issue, but it seemed my idle temps were high considering you even stated yours runs at 50C, 15 degrees cooler than mine. As far as NHC goes do you have any other recommendations?