w3j graininess fix out!!

i think this warranted a new thread.

w3j owners rejoice!!! Ken just put up the beta bios that fixes the ati x1600 graininess issue for the w3j. get it here http://www.notebookforums.com/thread173555-8.html

i just flashed my bios, everything looks great. i believe it also includes merom support, enjoy

a huge thanks to ken, hyperluminous, eddie and eveyone else involved in getting this issue resolved!


EDIT: Im adding a short FAQ since many questions related to this BIOS are coming up.

Mini-FAQ​

1. When I try to download the file, it saves it as an .mp3, what am i doing wrong?

Just save as "all files" and rename the extension to .ROM . I also heard someone say it doesnt matter how you save it, winflash should recognize it but I havent tried that. [EDIT: Ken just changed the link to a .zip file which should extract the .ROM file correctly]

2. I've downloaded the file, now how do I upgrade my bios?

After youve downloaded the .ROM file, use the winflash utility provided by ASUS (start -> all programs -> asus utility -> winflash).


3. Is this BIOS safe to use?

I want to make this clear that this is a BETA bios. However, there have been no reported problems with it so far. I have personally not seen any problems. Anyone who does find any bugs should report them to ken (GenTechPC) over at NBF so that the fixes can be incorporated in the final release.

4. Can I use this BIOS update for any other computer other than the W3J?

This BIOS update was designed to work with the W3J only. Similar updates for other computers (w2b, s96j, z96j) are also available and you will find a link to those files in the NBF thread.

5. Does this update include Merom support?

As far as I know, YES.

6. Can I use this BIOS with my Core Duo (Yonah) Laptop?

Yes, bios is backwards compatible with the yonah models.


If anyone thinks of any other important questions related to this update that I've left out please let me know and I'll add them to this FAQ.

 

does this work for the asus z96j?

 

i ask because i've heard of reports of the graininess on the z96j... since this works for the w3j, and deals with the x1600 does this work with the z96j?

 

You should fast forward to the last page or the bottom of page 49? of the S96J grainyness thread.. Could be the same fix, but that's where to go

 

Yes, there's a huge discussion there... and in the link that battlemage provided. Please read the threads carefully...

 

definitely not the same. each computer has its own bios upgrade, i know the w2b, s96j and w3j were posted by Ken. I dont remember if the z96j was in that last, but even if it is not, you should expect it pretty soon

 

This should probably be made into a 'sticky' as I'm sure lots of ppl would benifit from this.


Insane

 

The beta BIOS for S96J also can be used for Z96J. At least that's what Ken said. And judging by his reputation.... go figure.

 

Temporarily stickied...

 

Very nice. It is completely safe right?

 

So far, Ive noticed no problems whatsoever. If you do find any bugs, let ken know so that fixes can be incorporated into the final release.

 

Awesome - How do you upgrade your bios on a W3J?

Right now i have that downloaded file but it doesnt have a read me. Can you help.
thanks

EDIT"

NEG that, i figured it out - win flash in asus tools

 

Hi,
I tried to download the beta bios for W3j but everytime it was recognized as
a mp3 file. Does the link still works?

Thank you.

 

Yes, the link still works. I think you can download it anyway, then just change back the extension from .mp3 to .rom, then use Winflash to flash your BIOS.

 

You don't need to change anything, just run WinFlash from Asus Tools and select this file and thats it. No need to worries, have no problem after couple of hours of working so I think it's fine.
cheers

 

WOW what a massive difference this bios makes to the display, so much clearer and crispier, massive thumbs up to Ken.

 

How can I check if I have graininess or not ? Should all W3J owners have it ?

Thank you !

 

the s96j bios works on the z96j just fine. That is already available on the asus download page and intel download page for the s96j. The w3j bios is not yet released but it is SAFE! It will be up on the download page soon if it already is not. Neither has any issues from first glance. You can see grainyness on comcast.net background which does NOT go away with the new w3j bios but DOES go away with the 96j bios. Again i repeat this bios does not fix the grainy issue cause between the bios and ati card. It only adds support for merom. Those with a yonah chip SHOULD NOT use this bios.

 

the new bios is working good so far.

what i noticed with the new bios is that there are horizontal lines that makes up every windows form. this is hardly seen even with the very picky eyes. and when I say hardly seen, i really mean they are very unnoticable unless you really focus your eyes to the screen and it is a requirement that you got those VERY [crappy] SUPER ULTIMATE PICKY EYES. go to comcast.net and notice the background or open any windows form like the toolbar of you browser. you can also focus your eyes to the blue bar where the logo of NotebookReview.com and Search function is located above.i just want to address this because I really can't see those hardly noticeable horizontal lines on my other laptops and it might cause and/or causing a big problem to the W3J considering that this bios is only a beta version. i also noticed that the Intel Centrino logo in the bootup is changed to Intel logo only.

but this improvement is really great. the colors are sharper now. it also improved the black as it is not washed out anymore. the screen is so beautiful. it is now one of the best screen ive seen so far.

the only bad thing you will notice after updating is that your screen is full of dust particles.

 

Assume you have it and just haven't noticed.
If you really want to check. Open paint, fill a large block with a gray or blue color. You should see 'freckles' of lighter gray or blue throughout the color you picked.

At least, that's what it looks like on the S96J

Krista

 

So this is an Official Asus Beta which will eventually be on the Asus website once it's in its final form?

~ Brett

 

Why is everyone saying that this DOES fix the graininess and your saying its not? Are people getting different results? Also how do i know if my chip is Yonah? I have Core Duo 2.00GHz

 

That's Yonah.

~ Brett

 

So I should not use this? What W3Js do not have Yonah? I thought they were all Core Duo?

 

YONAH= CORE DUO

 

Geared2Play said "Those with a yonah chip SHOULD NOT use this bios."

Well, why are people with he W3J doing this then?? Why was this said?

??confused??

 

Some people have modded their W3J's to take out the included Yonah and throw in a Merom (Core 2 Duo). The stock W3J with Merom probably won't be out for another month or so. But I'm also wondering why G2P said Yonah W3J owners shouldn't update if some have posted improvements... maybe something to do with it still being beta?

~ Brett

 

Hi battlemage I think you should update your Mini FAQ to address the issue that people download the .rom file as .mp3 file? Just change back the extension from .mp3 to .rom......?

 

I think Geared2play.com talks about a different W3J beta BIOS here (I assume he's talking about the W3J beta BIOS ver. 208 something, which I assume only adds support for Merom.

Eddie, we are talking about W3J beta BIOS ver. 209 here, which DOES make the graininess (such as in www.comcast.net) go away. Unless there's something that I don't know of.

As you can see in my sig, my W3J has a 1.83 GHz Core Duo processor aka Yonah, and I have another W3J (my friend's) with a T2300 Yonah, and this W3J beta BIOS ver. 209 works OK.

 

Trust me, I also have those 'very [crappy] super ultimate picky eyes'. But I also have another notebook computer, i.e. a Ferrari 4002, which has an ATI X700 VGA card, whose screen does not have the graininess thingy. OK, in my Ferrari, in the blue bar where the logo of NBR and the search function is located, I can see the horizontal lines also, so I think this is normal (or, maybe I am wrong, this is normal for X700). I don't have any notebook computer with nVidia VGA card so I don't know..... Darrick?

 

maybe those bars are actually designed to have horizontal lines and they are just not visible to my other laptops unlike the W3J. this W3J will show you everything in the screen.... this is what I call screen quality.

btw, i think i have seen you in forums.hardwarezone.com. you are a very active asus forum guy eh..

 

Haha, I owe something to ASUS forum like this and the forums.hardwarezone.com, because from forums like this I get many info about W3J... my current love LOL. Sorry for being OT.

 

OMG WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! I could notice the difference without even going to comcast.net. Everything is so crisp!

 

And you're on a Yonah model, right?

~ Brett

 

Yep! Core Duo 2.00GHz

 

All new BIOS are backward compatible, it supports Yonah as well.

 

I did a before and after test with filling in a grey box in paint. I finally saw what the graininess was! I always assumed it was something happening from the viewing angles. It was definitely not a huge problem but its nice to see that everything is tip-top.

 

I am holding a w3j that was just flashed with 209 bios. It does support merom but the grainyness is still there on comcast.net

 

well that stinks eddie.....after the new BIOS everything looks the way it should. no graininess at all...checked comcast and it looks perfect

 

very very weird

 

I don't know what BIOS you have, try mine:

http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/images/Notebook/Asus/W3JAS_209A.zip

If that's the one you already have then I am sorry Eddie, can't help you with that as everybody says it's fixed and I see it myself.

 

Was that the one albert emailed us last week?

 

No it's not. he told me nobody request BIOS fix for W3J of the graininess issue except me.

 

The zips are named identically
What is it then?

 

I rename it, well...just try it and see for yoursel.

 

Here all this time i thought i was well liked by asus. The one they sent you is w3jas.209a the one they sent me is w3jas.209
What a different letter "a" makes.

Rest asured you were not alone.

 

All I care is that did it fix it? and you are welcome.

 

This does work for the most part

Some colors still dither, but you cant see it when looking head on now, only if you do something like tilt it all the way forward

but viewing angles on 14" are all bad

i will report any bugs, and reccomend flashing

i turned of the post sound, but cant get the stupid splash screen to turn off

with the backlight on max and vivid mode i love this screen!

 

WOW, what can I say, this laptop is now perfect, that was the only small gripe I had about the W3J was the less than perfect screen, not very obvious but now it is perfect!!!

and the Asus bios flash utility was so easy to use!

Actually one thing I did notice that the screen generally looks brighter, I mean before flashing, if you set your screen to the lowest light setting Fn+F5 you could hardly see the screen, now after the bios flash it is more light on the darkest setting you can see more, it dosent seem to go as dark (if that makes sense).

Not that thats a problem, its just something I noticed.

Actually edit that, when I unplug the laptop (I just went to check the powerdrain on battery with the new bios) and it does step down, it seems the minimum setting is different on power and on battery, I never noticed that before.

 

Ok I expanded the mini-FAQ a little to incorporate some of the questions that have come up. So far, it seems that no one is having any problems with the new BIOS which is great. The final version should be up on the ASUS support page soon although I doubt that it will be any different unless someone found some serious issues. All the same, if someone sees the official BIOS up, let us know. Cheers