Gigabyte U2442 Line

i don't see that coming out ever, it was announced and then "poof" gone. And if it does it would be too late. Stupid Gigabyte, worst marketing and distribution of any laptop ever.

just get the D or the F

 

The U2442F-CF3 was up for pre order in the UK, now all preorders have been cancelled and refunded... Gigabyte needs to fire someone over this.

 

Gigabyte is incredible unorganized outside it's main headquarters (probably unorganized there as well). Their techs are lazy and seem uneducated in their field based on the software/BIOS they produce.

They damaged my U2442N during RMA repair and now want me to return it again for repair... Most other reputable companies would have issued me another system.

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

No, Gigabytes Bios is utter trash. I'm trying to get slv7 to create a modified bios to fix these issues. From what I can see all models are contained within the latest W8 bios. Trying to dump my bios atm.

Support me here if you guys want professional fixes:

http://forum.techinferno.com/genera...268-gigabyte-u2442n-fan-gpu-request-slv7.html

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

Not sure it makes the worst ever list, there's been soooo many vapor-ware notebooks the last couple years, esp. with the shortages on touch screens. I bought my wife a 14" touchscreen notebook for christmas. She used the touch part a couple times the first day or two, and hasn't gotten any fingerprints on the screen since.

Just returned a Clevo W110ER after realizing how tiny and useless the keyboard was and I ordered up the U2442D-CF1. Can anyone tell me what the 128gb msata drive is ? and any idea if the 2nd drive cage is inside the notebook even if it only ships with the msata ?

 

128GB Crucial M4
It does not come with a cage for the empty HD bay.

 

Thanks for the heads up.
That's a bummer about the lack of a cage. How'd you mount your Samsung 830 ?

 

The U2442 series never come with a cage... The HDD is held in place with rubber strips. The chassis comes exactly the same HDD or not.

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

Sweet.
thanks mate.

 

Fan control working

I got a fan control program working with this laptop. Thought I would share in case anyone else wants to try. Please note it is beta and I take no responsibility if damage is occurred to your laptop.

It currently allows you to set the fan to 3 Levels. OFF, Low speed or Medium/High speed. The fan will stay at these levels without changing.

I did not make the program but made the config file for it by finding out the correct values to use so it could work with this laptop. The program is called NotebookFanControl by Grantig.

Download : Dev-Host - NoteBookFanControl-0.14.4.60.beta-U2442Config.zip - The Ultimate Free File Hosting / File Sharing Service

Extract the folder then run the .exe file.

You can set the fan speed % by moving slider then press set (after few seconds fan should change), or set up some temps and have it controlled automatically. ( I have set some currently in the program already)

Fan Speed 0% = Fan Switched Off
Fan Speed 50% = Fan low speed.
Fan Speed 100% = Fan Speed Medium/High

Try not to use Fan speed 25% or 75% as it doesn't function correctly. Both of these will turn the fan off also but it is better to use Fan Speed 0%(off). Also program may report strange fan speed readings at bottom etc but just ignore.

The CPU Temperature the program shows is accurate.
If Cpu temperature goes to 85C or above the normal bios fan control will start.

When you exit the program it also goes back to normal fan control controlled by bios

Let me know results.

 

The silence is amazing!

I am keeping auto on and no problems to report so far.

-Is it supposed to turn on the fan at 60? because at first it did, but after playing around with the program a bit, it won't turn on fans till 70.
Will see if rebooting resolves this.

 

It works really well !
Thanks for sharing dragonuk.

Yes omghi2u it works for me... I've tuned a little bit the threshold but everything works fine there.

 

Gigabyte provided me with the original firmware to reflash my webcam back and that fixed it thank goodness!

 

Hi All,

Has anybody found a solution to Abtin's point number 2 below (trackpad pausing for a second after hitting any keyboard key)? It's seriously annoying + I actually find the mouse doesn't get released at all now and again until what seems like a random period of 10-20 seconds down the line.

Maybe there's some driver that can be unloaded or a hidden setting somewhere.

I'm thinking of trying a vanilla windows reinstall and applying the gigabyte drives one by one in the hope of findings a build that avoid this, but would really rather avoid this.

Any ideas anybody has would be greatly appreciated - I've done some searching and can't seem to find any other posts complaining about this which I'm really surprised by.

Anyway that's enough ranting for now!

Cheers all

 

Synaptics pad? Move Smartsense slider to 'off' position

If you don't have an option called that, install a generic driver

Note I don't actually own this laptop

 

Try the "version 11.13.0.2" (from ELANTECH Drivers)

It worked better than the latest version from Gigabyte for me.

 

hi guys,

I'm looking for a BIOS mod for unlocking my 640GT GPU?

Im running W8 and F307A BIOS.

eard of a moded bios available?

i'm on U2442N

 

hey guys just got a new u2442 today and have bought a new hdd to add a little more space to the 128gb ssd. managed to get all the screws off fine but when I try to take the chassis apart it gets stuck at all the input peripherals. I have tried to force it a little but non of them seem to budge and I don't want to crack my new computer so, is there a trick I should be trying or should I just force harder?

thanks

 

Are you sure you got all the screws off? There should be 20 screws plus the one long one for the memory compartment. There's a screw under every one of those plastic nubs at the keyboard icons.

The bottom cover should come off pretty easily. I pry it off from the top, between the fan exhausts, and it'll pop off with little effort.

 

OMG! Thank you!!! Now it's finally silent again. It sucked that Gigabyte ruined the fan control with its broken BIOS updates since when I bought my U2442N the fans were silent and turned on when needed but the current firmware (both Windows 7 and Windows 8) have a broken fan control, the fans are ALWAYS running at a higher setting which very loud.

With this program temperatures are about 91° at max when heavy loaded, that's OK, and fans arent even at maximum speed, so they don't get annoying. Previously they would switch to their absolute maximum speed which is very loud and yet temperatures reached 86°.

91° arent an issue for an 3rd generation desktop iCore (and the U2442N doesn't have a mobile or ULV variant).

 

I'm sorry to make a double posting but I'm really in need of help and my chances of getting might be higher if I post this here, too:

Guys, I need your help please!

My U2442N is broken (doesn't start any more, so mainboard seems to be defective) and repair departments are often checking out what's on the hard drives, so I can't take that risk.

I remember folks here have been able to replace the internal hard drives, so I am asking for help if someone here can help me with detaching the back case and how to remove the hard drives.

It is my understanding that I only need an adapter to connect the internal hard drives (128 GB SSD + 750 GB HDD) externally via USB 2.0 in order to wipe out the data on it.

Now I have already removed the screws from the back case but I am not sure how to remove the back case without breaking it. There seems to be a resistance and I don't want to get it damaged.

So PLEASE could someone who knows how it works explain it here step-by-step (with pictures maybe) or make a video tutorial (I think more people would be interested how to replace the internal hard drives for this wonderful laptop)?
I would appreciate any help very much! It is a wonderful device, I'm very frustrated it is now broken and I need to wipe out the hard drives which I can't access right now and thus need to remove them.

I'm German, you can write in German or English, I'm thankful for every kind of support/help.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/other-manufacturers/669118-gigabyte-u2442-line-24.html

If you follow my post, remove all the screws (including the ram door screw, also the ones hidden under rubber plugs)
the backplate should lift away easily with no significant resistance.

good luck.

 

My fan has also started to rattle after a month of use. I was wondering how did you go about getting a new fan from GIGABYTE and also replacing it? Or is there a way of fixing the fan without getting a new one?

 

I haven't poked around at the fan in this notebook, but you can usually find a retainer clip under the sticker. If you remove that and pop the fan-blade/rotor off and add a dab of grease to the shaft hole they'll usually run quiet for the next few years. I've fixed a lot of PC fans this way.

 

I am looking for a replacement for my old Asus UL30VT-A1, and I found out this really nice notebook. I have fully read this thread and a couple of similar ones, and I hope to get the notebook in the next couple of months before the us dollar to argentinean peso exchange rate gets worse.

I was looking for an Asus, as I really love my UL30, but there is nothing with nice vga + 900p around.. and actually the build quality on the asus leave much to be desired, I know that model was really "experimental" for the time, but my unit is falling apart literally. Hardware wise is rock solid, but the full left side of the laptop (casing, hinge and lcd bezel) is screwed.

 

i'd get haswell ultrabooks when they are available if your gonna wait for a couple months anyways

 

yeah the Haswell line looks very promising
I'm especially curious about the 15 inch (U35F) but as always no one at Computex was interested in Gigabyte's line enough to make a video, so all we have are specs and press shots.

btw, sorry to hijack, I was thinking about making a new thread for them but I wasn't sure if people are interested.

Actually can GIgabyte get its own sub least? I mean even chromebooks have one c'mon

 

I'm considering buying one of these, since after reading this entire thread (whew!) the only concern seems to be that the fan turns on at weird times. Can anyone else share if they had success with dragonuk's solution a couple pages back, or some other method?

 

For me, the fan only comes on when the temperature exceeds 45 C which is a pretty low threshold but I guess it does keep it cool. I've tried the fan control software and it does work. I've turned the fan off and I end up turning it back on at around 56 C and it will take ~20 seconds to put it back down to 44 C.

 

The fan is a bit annoying. It would be nice to have it come on with a variable speed, Performance, battery life, and heat management is pretty decent given the light weight and expandability.
The real annoyance with this notebook is Gigabyte's failure to update the video drivers. If you get one with the older Nvidia 600 series there might be a way to use Nvidias drivers directly, but their software won't recognize the 730M. Contacting Gigabyte's customer support is utterly useless. "The manufacturer of this system requires that you download the driver for your GPU from their support site."

 

Really? I have the 640m and I've had 0 issues installing the latest drivers directly from Nvidia's website.

 

Alright, I think it's time to pull the trigger on this. There's a lot of different models though, can anyone tell me if there's a significant increase in performance between the i5 processor and the i7 processor, as well as the 730M gpu vs 640 gpu? And how will those affect battery life?

 

The 730M is equiv. to a 645M or an overclocked 640M, but it is using a new chip, thus the issue with drivers. Currently stuck on the 3.11.xx drivers from Gigabyte. I wouldn't worry about upgrading to an i7 unless it's a true quad-core i7 w/ hyperthreading (8 virtual cores). The dual-core i7 is a marketing scam and a cash grab. Unless you have money to throw away, I'd skip it.

 

The ULV i7 chip is 17W while the i5 is 35W. The CPU performance is about the same between the two chips but the i5 has faster integrated graphics. So basically you'd pick the i7 for its power efficiency but its up to you whether that's worth the extra ~$150.

 

I followed this thread for some months. In May I bought the u2442f at amazon germany. After 2 months I got problems, when I started the computer it went straight to the BIOS. After a couple of restarts it didn't even start again. I pressed the on button and I heard a noise and saw lights blink for about 2 seconds. After that it shut down and restarted again. That continued until i pushed the on/off button again and it shut down.

I sent it back to amazon and now I got my money back. Since it's ofcourse possible that I got the odd one out. So I wanted to buy the same laptop again. But now I see that they announced the U24 series like the u24f with even a better GPU! They say it will be released end of july/begin august. So I guess I want to wait. But does anyone now how it went with the u2442 series? Did they get released in USA, UK and germany around the same time? Or first in the USA and after a while in other countrys? I live in the Netherlands and it's ok for me to buy it in the UK or in Germany. But when I don't think I can wait for more than 2 months. (My current Sony Vaio is 4 years old and defeniately wants to retire... )

So does have anyone a thought on when we can expect the u24f and if it's at first only in usa and after that in europe? I know its only speculating... but it helps me to decide if I want to wait or I buy the u2442f again. But when the new series is out, the price of the 2442f maybe decreases and that would be nice too.

 

I know that the U24F will be released in France in September, and I guess it's the same for other countries in Europe.

Someone tried to have windows and linux on a U2442V ?

 

What's the best line that gigabyte has right now that I can actually buy? Or any that are coming out VERY soon (before september).

 

I'm looking at the upcoming U24F or the P34G depending on if I decide I need a gaming laptop or not. I tried browsing through the topic for this answer, but it's quite a long topic. How does the U2442 line handle heat while gaming? I previously had an MSI X460DX, another thin-and-light with decent enough specs for gaming, and it would run incredibly hot whenever I was pushing it. The wrist rest would heat up to the point where I could not use the laptop for more than an hour.

 

I would not recommend a Gigabyte laptop to any gamers regardless of the hardware. Without regular software (ie. video driver) updates it's really a waste of money. Horrible, horrible support.You'd be better sticking with companies that have a proven track record with customer support. If I could return this POS, I'd probably go with the 14" Razer, an MSI, or any number of other options.

 

Do the drivers from Nvidia's website not work? With my MSI X460DX I always used those over MSI's drivers.

 

Not for Gigabyte's implementation of the 730M. I believe they work ok for the 6xx series.

 

Yes, they are working properly for mine u2442f-cf2. Always using the latest nvidia drivers.

 

How are you liking your U2442F? I'm particularly interested in heat and noise.

I have a Samsung gamer 7 with a 675M right now and I'm interested in a lighter unit that can game. I know it won't perform as well and the display is not even in the same ballpark add sammys awesome display in the gamer, but it's half the price of the blade 14 and I would expect gaming performance to be adequate on a 650 at 1600x900.

 

Looks like the U24F will be the direct successor to the u2442. Externally, it looks almost the exact same...

Assuming all dimensions are the same I'm wondering if we could swap in a haswell mobo into our u2442's? Now that would be sweet..

 

It looks like the p34g is a much better buy...

 

Just wanted to update. Gigabyte hasn't updated the drivers (and probably never will), but at least Nvidia's beta drivers now allow themselves to be installed with the 7xx M graphics cards.No more being stuck on the 3.07 or 3.11 drivers.

 

I've noticed that if you use SmartUpdate, you get quite a few driver updates for the U2442N that aren't even listed on the website, though they take forever to download from the servers. For the graphics, I've preferred to use the generic drivers from Intel and Nvidia. Also, I was able to use the the Windows 8.1 touchpad driver from the P34G without any problems.

 

Yes, display is not good enough as it could however I am not complaining. I don't feel something bad regarding heat however noise is probably a bit higher than a common laptop has. Anyway it has a dedicated video card. So I think it is the best option for those who need need a pretty portable and gaming laptop. Also, I could wait for this one instead if they informed about it a bit earlier: Dynamism - GIGABYTE P34G