~VX2S Owners' Lounge~

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

 

Hi. I've got a serious problem. I decided to do a fresh installation of Vista Ultimate on my VX2S. It was very sluggish and took about 5minutes to loadup. It was slow in multitasking and hanged on Windows Media Centre operations.

Things improved a bit after I deleted some of the suggested Asus bloatware mentioned in the FAQ.

But it still seemed a tad slow for a US$3500 machine.

My friend a network admin from a major bank advised me to do a fresh clean installation. So I formated C drive - including the recovery partition as I did not want the pre-installed Asus software.

However after the 1st reinstall reboot - the installation hangs near the completion mark. I'm puzzled - not sure whats going on.

Can anyone help? Did a search and it seems to be a rare problem.

BTW, I was using a Vista Ultimate Corporate installation disk.

The computer is spec. No modifications made.

 

Does the notebook have any heat problems?
Have you tried taking out the HDD and fromat a "re-partition" it completely?

Did it run well before you decided to re-install vista?
Have you considered to put the Windows7 RC on it?

 

Hello
Heat problems no- not unless I was running TeamFortress2 in a warm room 30C.
I have not taken the HDD out. I only formated the C partition. Not D.
Yes it was running OK before the reinstallation. But it was slow for startup.

Windows7RC... um... and give Microshaft more cash?

 

You pay nothing for the RC... although right now it probably is only available through torrents...

 

I thought the Windows7 was only available for people who purchase Vista recently. I bought the computer and Vista 2 years ago...

 

You are right.

But I meant the Windows 7 Release Candidate which will work fine without complaints until March 2010. I had no issues at all with it on my VX2s. Although I did not install the drivers for the extra hardware buttons.
I could be an alternative to Vista (I like it a lot).

I would recommend format a partition the whole hdd (make sure you make a backup of all data).

 

Did you do a clean installation of Vista Ultimate on your machine?

I tried it after loading the SATA drivers and its still hanging at the 70% installation mark.

 

Sorry to resurrect your old thread - but I also tried installing XPPro but it can't find the HD drives to install.

Help please.

 

I managed to install XP Pro onto the VX2S but I had to modify the SATA HD to compatible mode in the bios. It works. Haven't yet loaded up the XP drivers tho. But I can still access D drive and view the photos/video I stored there.

 

Some good news. I (found and) loaded the Asus recovery disk and it reinstalled Vista. I lost the drivers disk and the image partition was deleted - ergo, I expected the worse. But it works now.

Surprisingly very well, and smooth. So all's good.

The only hitch was the Sata disk was set to compatible during the installation process; I had set it to compatible when I installed XP. I turned it back to enhanced when it rebooted at the final stage. But I'm just wondering whether it will cause any problems? Its working ok now but...

 

What function does Intel Turbo Memory serve?

 

Some good news. Nvidia has released the latest drivers, 186.03

This one covers the 8600M GT driver that is used by the VX2S.

No need to patch the inf file (with the one from laptop2go).

Its a straight and dead simple installation.

Goto nvidia to download it. nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us

Make sure you download the "M" version - which is meant for notebook and other mobile devices.

Check for your product support in the same page/tab.



and get it there.

I downloaded it and it works perfectly with my system.

 

I am about to do the same thing with my VX2s laptop, upgrade my T7500 to a T9500. I just want to know whether you updated the motherboard BIOS? I believe the latest version is 301.

Cheers!

 

My bios version is the latest one 301.

 

I couldn't take the random shutdowns anymore, so I opened up the laptop.

The lack of thermal paste on the GPU and CPU was quite astonishing, so was the quality of it: rock hard.

I had to use a knife to scrape the old junk off to clean the surfaces and reapply the TIM. I used some Zalman paste that came with my CNPS 9700NT.


I don't know if the paste had gone bad, or I put on too little, but my temps are the same, if not even higher. I'll try to think of a way to force the heatsink closer to the CPU and GPU surfaces, as the distance between them seemed too big to me.. or perhaps I need to wait for the paste to cure.

I took some pics as well (please note that some of the pictures were taken after I had cleaned everything, hence the cleanliness of the heatsink surfaces):


First, remove the battery and any cables. The five screws with the circles around them must be removed for the backplate to come off.


Now that the backplate is off, the next four screws must be removed so that the GPU can come out. (on the right side)


Once the screws are removed, pull up the left side of the GPU so it will unlock from the slot. Then pull it out from the slot.


This is the GPU after cleaning. You may notice that one of the thermal pads is missing, but it's on the heatsink.


Time to remove the heatsink. Four screws hold it on the CPU and the plate covering the RAM modules must be removed to access one of the screws.
I have removed the fan for cleaning purposes as well, but that is not necessary. Make sure you unplug it of course.


After pulling out the heatsink (starting from pulling the right side up, then out to the right), you should see something like this.
Clean the CPU surface from any old TIM left on it.


This is the heatsink being cleaned.


More cleaning. Completely rock hard.


Old thermal "paste".


This aluminum foil came from the GPU side of the heatsink. I may have made a mistake removing it, because now the distance between the heatsink and the chip is larger, which is probably the cause of my temperatures.
DO NOT REMOVE IT AT FIRST. Just clean it and apply new paste on top of it.


This is the paste I used. Comes with a handy brush for application.


Here is the applied new TIM on the CPU.



Now it's time to put on the rest of the TIM and assemble the laptop.

Hope my notes and pics help!

 

Forgot one thing.

As a reference, could someone, who hasn't removed the heatsink nor changed the paste,
please stress your CPU with ORTHOS, set on Small FFTs,
for at least 10 minutes and report your temperatures with HWMonitor.

Also stress your GPU with FurMark (set on stability test with xtreme burning mode enabled) for at least 10 minutes
and report temperatures with HWMonitor.

You could run both of the programs at once, to maximize heat output.

Doing a screenshot is the best way to report temps.

The more results, the merrier!


Thanks!

 

It's been a while since I posted here. Is everyone here aware that Nvidia's 8400 and 8600 are defective and suffer from heat issues? If not, google for "nvidia 8600m defective".

My VX2S is now 20 months old. I just recently started getting video distortion (which locks up Windows), then constant vertical lines even after reboot. If I boot into safe mode and leave it for 4-6 hours the lines may go away. Since I've already had one GPU (the 8600M GT) replaced (due to shutdown issues), I obviously suspect another bad one and am RMA'ing this piece of junk GPU. Luckily my warranty has not run out, but I'll be on my 3rd one in under 2 years.

Since my 2 year warranty is going to run out soon, I am now worrying that I will just have another GPU problem within a year or two. Considering this thing pumps out a lot of heat, even more than my desktop PC, it's only a matter of time before it fails again.

1) Buy an extended warranty
2) Hope that Asus gives a free extended warranty on just the GPU like a few other notebook manufacturers have.
3) Wait for warranty to expire and add more thermal compound (like Mike-O has done)
4) Sell it and buy a notebook with an ATI chip


Just curious if anyone else has done or thought about any of these?

Check out these pictures:

Booting up


The "alternate" boot screen (does anyone randomly get this too?)


Boot loader, Windows XP Professional or Ubuntu?


Let's see if I can boot into Windows...


Doh, Windows locked up again!

 

I'm pretty sure the GPU on the VX2 is upgradable. So if all else fails you could try upgrading the GPU to something like a 9000 series nVidia that doesn't have the overheating issue, they're not too expensive, around £100 last time I checked on ebay, slightly better manufacturing process too (65nm vs 90) so it should be cooler.

BTW: you're suppose to apply as little TIM as possible, only a very thin layer as all it does is optimise thermal contact between the chip and the copper heat sink.

 

I don't think upgrading is possible. The designs vary and the card on the VX2S isn't even a stock MXM module.


And yes, you are supposed to apply a very thin layer of TIM.

 

I didn't list upgrading the GPU because The ASUS Info Booth says in general that video cards can't be upgraded.

I haven't noticed but has anyone in this owner's lounge successfully upgraded their GPU?

 

Maybe that's the best solution, rather than investing in extra warranty on an old notebook -- or simply buy a notebook with a newer nVidia GPU, hoping that they sorted out the issues.

Not to my knowledge. I think the only confirmed cases were on the C90 model, which was designed for upgradability of the GPU.

 

I had my Vx2s for just over2 years now, everything was going well, then 4 weeks ago the laptop died, I had complete black screen and it was not booting into bios, sent back to Asus for repair and it was eventually sent back to me after 4 weeks, from what I can tell they changed the main board and the video card, and used the restore disc on my system.
I now have 2 major new problems, 1. my laptop get BSOD on shutting down or hibernation , I had look at the minidumps and I think it is the D-max webcam driver causing the problem I have tried to update to the latest driver from asus.com (I am now on driver 960.70.10.8, date 6/6/2007) but it's not worked, what webcam driver is everyone else using, anyone got any newer drivers?
the 2nd problem is the GPU temperture is running at 85-90 degrees at rest, and if I put the laptop into high performance mode it would shut down suddenly due to overheating, this never happen before I sent it for repair,(I have the latest official driver 186.81 )I think they must have forgotten to put thermal paste on the the GPU or something. any suggestion?

Any help would be much appreciated.

JC

 

For the first problem, maybe the webcam manufacturer has newer drivers than ASUS.com (they are very poor with keeping their drivers up to date). Or simply disable the webcam from device manager if you don't use it (like me).

Now for the second problem, since you can't fix it without breaking the warranty-void seal on the heatsink, send it in again and make sure they understand just what is the problem, so that it doesn't return yet again with the same issue.

 

thanks for your suggestions, I have already tried D-max's website, and google. the website looks like it has not been updated for a while now, the links to the drivers are dead. un-installing and disabiling the driver and web cam brings more errors and windows does not start,(BSOD) and I had to use system restore to get window to boot.

My system was just in warranty when I send my notebook in, it is now out of warranty, and frankly I have lost confidence in the Asus repair centre in the UK, I really think they don't know what they are doing, and I doubt they will understand, or be interested in what I say. my notebook was sent back to me with the backplate not put in properly and a screw missing on the back and the above mentioned problems, I am temped to open the laptop and put in some arctic silver 5 thermal paste on the gpu and cpu myself.

JC

 

Yes ASUS UK is pretty bad.

If it's out of warranty and you are reasonably comfortable with it, definitely open up the notebook and replace the thermal paste and reseat the heatsinks, since that's probably the reason for the temperature problems. Let's just hope the "competent" repairpersons didn't also bend the heatsink while servicing the laptop...

As to the webcam, if uninstalling the driver and disabling the webcam lead to more problems, then the Windows install is probably messed up. Unless you find a way to clean it up (is there such a thing as a driver cleaner for webcam drivers?) I would suggest a reinstall..

 

Yes, a reinstall is probably the way to go.

Changing paste is easy, go for it. You can use my pictures for reference on page 72 as well.


Good luck!

 

thanks, your post was very interesting, I was really tempted, I have even ordered Arctic silver 5 paste and cleaning solution. but I have called asus UK again today, and they have agreed for it to be sent back under warranty, I think I will give them another chance to fix it. before I break the warranty seal.
How is your system running now after putting in the new thermal paste? any cooler? I saw you request for temperature reading, My are running so hot at rest, I dare not to stress the gpu and cpu, last night all I did was put the laptop into high performance mode then 5 minutes later the gpu got to 100 degrees and the fans went really loud.
do you have anymore photos of your dissembled Vx2? I would be interested.

JC

 

I haven't seen a mention of Windows 7 in this thread yet. I was curious how many device drivers I could get working in Windows 7 x64 (64-bit) on the VX2S.

When Windows 7 x64 first installed, in Device Manager I had 10 devices with the yellow ! mark. I ran Windows Update, optional updates, and found drivers for 6 of these, some of which were: Ricoh SD/MMC Host Controller, AuthenTec fingerprint reader, Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device, SMSC Fast Infrared Driver.

However it did not have drivers for 4 devices: Intel TurboMemory, Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI), Intel Active Management Technology (AMT), and the D-Max Web Camera. Also, I downloaded Asus LifeFrame 3 for Vista and it appears to work.

I was able to find working drivers for TurboMemory and the webcam, but so far not MEI & AMT. For the webcam, I used the Vista 64 driver from the Asus Vista 32/64 Drivers thread.

Intel Turbo Memory Driver for Windows 7

D-Max Camera Driver Vista 64


If anyone gets a working Windows 7 driver for MEI & AMT let us know!

 

About the temps, I'm not so sure that they are better.. I may be getting air bubbles in the material due to the way I'm forced to apply the TIM. I'm gonna get some other TIM and try the dot method.

GPU at 100C ? That's a lot. Mine never goes up that high.


I don't have any more pics at the moment, but I can make some, if you're interested in a certain part.

I'm also interested in installing Win7 x64. If anyone finds more drivers, then I may even go for it.

 

I was looking at your photos on prevs page, I could not make out if there was a heat pad attached to the heatsink, or is the thermal paste the only thing between the gpu/cpu and the heatsink? Do you think there would be a problem with using metal based thermal paste such as arctic sliver? some people say there could be problems as silver conducts electric currents.

I'm also interested in installing Win7 x64. If anyone finds more drivers, then I may even go for it.[/QUOTE]
I was thinking about win 7 before all this happened with my notebook, but I feel MS should have offered discounted or even free upgrade to vista ultimate users, as for the price vista ult did not really offer anything useflu over other versions.


JC

 

There's only paste between the heatsink and the CPU and GPU. But there are pads between the GPU's memory modules and the heatsink.

I don't think that Arctic Silver would be bad, you just need to be careful applying it.

 

My VX2S comes with optical drive Mata BD-MLT UJ-210S , I have been getting a lot of Power Calibration Errors while burning DVDs. Do you guys have this problem? there is any new version of firmware for this drive?
I found one from sony, but you can only upgrade if the drive is in a sony vaio laptop.

 

finally got my vx2s back, asus have changed the main board again? it's now running much cooler. I have also undervolted the cpu, and this should keep my notebook going for another couple of years .

 

Lucky you!

 

Is Mata = Matsush!ta? If so then I think firmware is pretty difficult to find, I tried it once a few years ago.

If this problem is important for you (I almost never use my ODD):
consider (a) sending the ODD to ASUS for a replacement if still under warranty or (b) a new ODD for about 50 USD.

Congrats!

 

Hi! guys. I would like to upgrade CPU in my VX2S. I'm interested in Core2Extreme X9000 for my 1st choice and Core2Duo T9500 for my 2nd choice. Are there anyone who have upgraded CPU to X9000? I would like to share your experience and help me to choose the suitable CPU easier. Thank you.

 

Hi all VX2S owners...i Have owned this notebook for around 2 years now and i was checking out the skins included in the windows media player and look what i found.........Skin dedicated to lamborghini....now how come such a beautiful thing was hidden for so long???....wondering if you people already knew about this...


Regards,
RagzReddy.

 

just installed windows 7 ultimate and im missing some drivers... (base system device) (pci memory controller) (pci simple communications controller) (usb2.0)

can anyone help

 

Its been a while since I've posted on here but I need some help... My VX2s won't boot as of today

On pressing the power button, the Optical Drive and Hard Drive do a bit of blinking, I hear the familiar "Vroom Vroooom" of the Lamborghini, but I don't get my Lamborghini logo. The booting process also goes no further... the CPU fan starts, but that's about it. Pressing the power button shuts it straight off again, no need to hold it in so it obviously isn't booting.

I have tried the following:
* Plugging in external monitor to VGA port
* Disconnecting power and battery and holding power button down for up to 1 min. Put her all back together and its the same deal
* Taking out one stick of RAM at a time and trying to boot each time

Is this a dead video card?

Any other thoughts or suggestions? This is looking like my second RMA, grrr...

Cheers.

 

If windows update doesn't find anything then maybe you could try some vista drivers?

I doubt ASUS will be releasing any new drivers for this "ancient" piece of hardware.

 

FOUND EM'!!!!

first installed drivers from my vx2s driver disc that came with laptop in the "AMT" folder.

then the only missing driver was the turbo memory driver which i found here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...ENU.exe&DwnldId=18011&ProductID=2813&lang=eng

now ALL drivers are found!! yay!!!!!!!!!!!

 

You could pack all of the drivers used together and upload it somewhere.

Would help others.

 

ive installed win7 x64 on my however im hang ups with my webcam/min especially when running them together. I hav updated drivers through driver genius. is anyone else having similar problems?

 

this is exactly what happened to my vx2s, the motherboard and graphics card needs changing.

JC

 

try to flash the bios again

 

How is the temprature and performance after the CPU upgrade ? I'm considering this myself...

 

Yes JC, you were correct, dead vid card. My notebook was just over a month out of warranty, but luckily Asus replaced it (and probably mobo like you said as they are soldered together) without charging me.

 

I've installed Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on my lambo as have a few others that I've seen posts for and I followed the advice to get all the drivers installed.

However I have an intermittent problem with the system resuming from standby and then unexpectedly shutting down about ten seconds after the resume. The fan comes on full speed and then then it turns off, no matter what you are doing, but the system is not running hot at all.

I've tried disabling hibernation, thinking that it's getting confused between the two and also selective disabling various things such as camera, fingerprints etc to track down the driver that may be causing it, but to no avail.

Has anyone else had this problem? Everything is running beautifully otherwise though and much better than vista.

Thanks all.

 

I think I have a performance problem with my Lamborghini and my new Intel X25-M 160GB SSD. I have reinstalled with Windows 7 64-bit, but disc performance is really slow (compared to other bechmarks with same SSD). Anyone having experience with SSD in this laptop ?

Here are the results with CrystalDiskMark

The OS also seems quite slow. File copying, boot up time etc. is almost the same as with the stock 7200rpm disc.