~ Asus F8 Owners' Lounge ~

Thanks.

I'll check out info booth and attempt the vista/xp dual boot once the semesters over.

-groovin

 

HAS ANYBODY TRIED TO BOOT F8 FROM FLASH MEMORY CARDS READER?
In 'hardware manager' reader stands as IDE device

 

May be somebody?

 

If the SD card is bootable, and the computer can boot from an SD card, it should show up if you press ESC at the ASUS splash screen (quick boot popup).

 

... NEAT-O !

 

Yeap, It works.
You got what does it mean and how to use the opportunity

 

Learn something new every day.

 

Me too
This is nice place to learn what to do and what not to
Best regards

 

Might be useful to check the ASUS_FAQ:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=122632

a lot of info is presented in a condensed format. Might save you from questions later on

 

The FAQs are great. But I do not usually take notes unless it has specific info for what I'm looking for at the time. Plus if everybody reads all the FAQs all the time there would be no need for forums.

 

Sure. But that doesn't stop me from promoting it

Joking aside, I think reading the ASUS_FAQ can pay off for an ASUS owner. Some of the stuff might stick, and even if it doesn't, the problems might stick and the reader might later on, when they have a problem, say "hey, this problem that I have was in the FAQ, I don't remember the solution but let me check again". => one less thread

 

Again , joking aside , the FAQs here (related to asus) are some of the best I've come across bar none. I particularly like the included links & detailed info.

For me though , even when I've read them , I can't remember everything so that's where the individual posts really come in handy. Some of the best tips come from first time posts & 1001 times posts.

Sometimes I wish more people would read the "read this before asking" FAQ but all in all most posts are good & some even entertaining.

 

Hi, I just ordered a new Asus F8SP-X1 with an ati hd 3650 graphics card and with 3 gigs of ram. I am wondering if I should install windows vista 64-bit after I receive it. Would it be worth it and will there be asus drivers that support it?
Also, I read somewhere that with the 32-bit windows, there will be a problem utilizing all the ram because combining the 3 gigs of system ram and the 1 gig of video memory will exceed the about 3.1 gigs that 32-bit windows can actually use out of the theoretical 4 gig limit. How true is this? I guess using all the ram will be a main benefit of 64-bit windows
Thanks!

 

I'd recommend you to try your new laptop as is, without modifications, 'improvements' and so on. It gives you time to decide what you really need.
My F8Sn-B1 runs very fast, cool'n'quiet, and I have no reason to 'update' brand new thing. 3Gid of memory is a LOT
My son fell in love with Vista interface, everybody is happy. May be you will be happy too

 

Are the F8 series monitors LED?

 

Great Forum. I have searched the whole forum but I did not get the definitive answer I want.

I just purchased an F8P and it comes with Vista Business. I am not so enamored with Vista so I wanted to install XP on it. My question is do all the models in the F8 family have the same components inside? Except of course the obvious which is the graphics. (some are nvidia and some are ati) but what I mean to say is the other components. Are the other components the same? If so, can I use the drivers for the F8S for example to the F8P?

Thanks in advance.

 

bm2, AFAIK the monitors are not LED. If they were, I'm sure they'd advertise it heavily...

jarednoah, I can't say which components are identical and which not... I suggest you start with the most complete configuration you can get for the two computers, and try to match drivers. Before that, however, try the Vista drivers, usually many of those will work in XP as well.

 

Thanks for the reply, E.B.E.

Is the only ASUS laptop w/LED, U3?

 

Thanks, E.B.E. That makes sense...Will report back if everything goes well.

 

U6, U1F, U2E.

 

Hey i got a question, I got a new F8Sp-X1 and I was wondering if Asus has a battery optimizer utility like Panasonic. With my Panasonic Y4 I can set it so that the computer stop recharging the batter if the battery power is 80% or above. This help against the needless flow of charges and discharges that wearing the battery down. Does Asus have something similar? If not is there a 3rd party that provide the same functionality as the one from Panasonic? Thanks.

 

This thread is too long and search isn't helpfull (read: I couldn't find it). So is there a good how-to for installing Windows XP to Asus F8SA? What drivers to use and where to get? Can I use other F8 models drivers?

 

You can find what you're looking for in the Asus Info Booth sticky at the top of the first forum page, under XP Downgrade guides section - lots of helpful info there.

Here's the direct link to the F8 one from there. You're welcome, and good luck .

 

Hi,

I just got a Asus F8. IS there any link for tuning and tweaking it?

thanks

 

Please see the InfoBooth sticky, under maintenance guides. what you seek is there. thx.

 

Thanks for the link but I had already read that one but wasn't sure if I can use that also for f8sa. But now i know and downloaded all the drivers including radeon hd2600. Now my only problem is to find SATA driver for f8sa but either I am blind or it haven't been posted on that thread. Do you know what exact driver to use with Intel PM965 chipset? Link?

 

Hi there,

I want to buy an Asus F8SN-4S001G (should equal F8SN-C1) and install XP.

I would like to upgrade to 4GB Ram in order to make use of the dual channel.

Does anyone have a comparison between 3GB and 4GB model?
(I know that XP supports only 3.x GB)

Is there a significant performance increase?

Or do you think that it is not worth it?

Can you tell me about Asus policy (regarding warranty) if you replace a hdd on your own?
Will I lose the warranty (Europe) once I open the covers on the back?


Thanks a lot.

 

Performance increase won't really be much. 3GB runs in asynchronus Dual-channel, so you get like a 3-4% hit vs regular dual channel. And on C2D's, dual channel doesn't really do much-

 

You are welcome.
If you want different OS (XP instead of Vista), you might find a seller who will do it for you and cover your lappy with their warranty instead of that of ASUS

 

Actually, you won't void your warranty.

 

Wow, thanks a lot.

That is the fastest reply that I ever got anywhere ;-).

I will buy it without vista (little discount) and with XP (w/o installation, though). They are not better at installing and configurating it than I am. Further, I know what I am doing, yet do not know what they are doing ;-).

Is it somehow possible to get more than the 3 years extended warranty (total= 3 years) ?

 

You can purchase additional warranty from ASUS.

 

Can you tell me where I can extend the warranty to 4 years?

All the shops I found only have the 3 year package.

And that's all I found on the asus website as well.

They do not say anything about extending it beyond the 3rd year.


Thanks ;-).

 

Probably they want to sell you new lappy after 3 years.
Probably YOU want to buy new laptop in 3 years...
Who knows?

3 years is a HUGE time in this small notebooks world

 

Well, I know Asus is not Dell, however there you can get up to 4 years.

I was would like to buy a warranty for 4 years and since viperabyss said that I could buy additional, I thought you might know where I could do so ;-).

 

Asus only offers an additional 1 year to the standard 2 year warranty. This can be purchased from your Asus reseller.
For more information, please see link below
http://support.asus.com/service/service.aspx?no=407&SLanguage=en-us

 

Hi,

I'm planning to format and repartition my F8Sn. I only have the Recovery DVD. The drive originally has 3 partitions:

1st partition- ???
2nd partition- Vista OS
3rd partition - Data

My questions:
1. After I format/repartition my drive and insert the Recovery DVD, will it change back to the original factory setting of 3 partitions as mentioned above?
2. What is the 1st partition for? Is it okay to delete that?

Anyone who can at least point me in the right direction/link? I've been searching the whole afternoon (my connection is intermittent and slower than dial up). Thanks!

ryu

 

the first partition is a recovery partition. I deleted that. The recovery DVD didn't work afterwards (may be because of other things, i don't really know), giving me the mother of all Errors. I had to get a vista dvd by other means.

 

Hey thanks for the heads up. Won't be touching that 1st partition. But isn't it supposed to have some system files? It indicates 100% free space. ????

The other thing that's got me thinking is that the Recovery DVD will just restore everything back to the original 3 partitions, making my formatting/repartitioning efforts useless. This isn't gonna be as simple as i thought. I'm still waiting for Asus' response.

 

Regarding your first question: No, once you format and repartition your drive, the recovery DVD will not restore your settings/partitions.

According to ClearSkies the recovery partition (1st partition) equals the recovery DVD.

However, I honestly doubt that you will be able to install Vista with a mere Recovery DVD. The Recovery DVD serves the following purpose: You can reset your Vista installation on your 2nd partition (clean install).

There is a thread dealing with turning your Recovery DVD into a full Vista installation disk. I could not find it anymore, though.
And I remember that some users were not able to do that despite the instructions.

But maybe you should wait for a response from someone who already tried installing Vista w/ the Recovery DVD - maybe it does work if you leave the first partition.

 

It is very easy to turn the recovery dvd to a clean install: When prompted for a drivers CD, don't give it. Instead, Just shut down the computer. Voila, a clean vista install.

 

Neither recovery partition nor recovery disk give can install anything. They carry recovery IMAGE and allow to bring you lappy to a ' out of box' condition

 

But withouth the drivers. Those will be installed separatly (when using the DVD). So if you don't insert the Driver CD when Prompted, you have a Clean version of vista. So clean, in fact, That you don't even have drivers installed.

 

Since I have not used these recovery tools, I prefer to refrain from dispute. Base on my previous experience, recovery IMAGE will restore HD to a 'OUT OF BOX condition.
ASUS provides their drivers and utilities in case someone installs OS from original XP/Vista installation disk he obtained by himself

Again, I have no proof, just this is the way all brands provide recovery because MicroSoft does not supply OS installation disks. Before Microsoft supplied ODM/OEM's with license/registration keys, now only keygen

 

Oldman is correct about the recovery partition image on the HDD, which does return the notebook to factory fresh specs (including drivers). Fabarati is correct is talking about the recovery DVD reinstall route, where the drivers must be installed separately as part of the process. So you're both right .

The former process is drastically faster to complete, however.

 

Well, the issue remains however, that you cannot repartition and format your drive and then use a Recovery DVD to install Vista.

Or can you do that if you leave the 1st partition untouched?

 

When you recover you have three options: Recover to first partition, recover to both partitions or recover to entire harddrive. That will format, and either create one partition, or two partitions. These are easily resized using Vistas partition manager.

This does not require the hidden first partition.

 

As fabarati described above for how to use the DVD.

The answer to your question is that one can use the DVD *anytime* to reinstall Vista, regardless of what you do to the HDD and it's format/partitions. One cannot use the Asus Recovery partition to reinstall if you wipe the hidden partition via format or other means (i.e. leave it alone if you want the option to use it someday).

 

Thank you all for your input. I wanted the OS partition to be only 30gb or so, but I couldn't get disk management to shrink it. I've tried the workaround (disable pagefile, system restore, defrag etc.) but no go. There are some files at the end of the Vista partition (don't know what). And the MFT is near the end too. I've read that those can be moved.

Anyway i'll have to do some more research and tinkering around. Thanks again guys (and gals!).

 

Try a third party defrag tool.