*** OFFICIAL GIGABYTE AERO 15 OWNERS LOUNGE ***

Thank you. I definitely do not have that anywhere. I tried reinstalling the drivers from the gigabyte site and lost all audio no matter what I did, and that folder did not exist either. Tried downloading and installing from Realtek site. They seemed to be older drivers which did install. I can hear audio, and the HDA folder seems to be there, but the manager does not show up... So no dice...

 

Interesting, did you download the audio drivers through smart update? They're supposed to come with the realtek audio manager + dolby app

 

damn, I saw this too late. tomorrow?

 

I got a clean install from HID. When I first got the laptop, SU showed the Dolby drivers were not installed, so I had to get those, but Realtek always showed up as OK. My next test will be to uninstall both drivers manually, then let SU run and see if it pulls the proper stuff.

When I click on the speaker icon in taskbar, i see "Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio)". Pretty sure I saw something else there when I did the drivers from the Realtek site.

 

I'm online now, it's 18:05 here in Dubai now

 

Ok, how do we start?

 

PM sent

 

Hey everyone, new to the forum here. I've been looking to get a gaming notebook for when I travel and I had 4 on my list:

MSI GS65
Gigabyte Aero 15x
Asus GM501
Razor Stealth 15

MSI probably would have been first on my list, but I don't like that you have to remove the motherboard to get to the memory and SSD. That's just asking for me to break something.
Razor falls off the list because they apparently have the worst customer service in the 8 known Universes.

That leaves me with the Asus and Gigabyte. Of those I was leaning towards the Asus because it has the full 1070, and I had heard that Gigabyte voids your warranty by changing out the memory/SSD. However, Asus isn't available anywhere that I can tell and I now don't believe Gigabyte will void the warranty.... so it looks like Gigabyte is going to win here.

I had never considered ordering a laptop from a boutique computer shop, but with these slim laptops, I really like the idea of being able to get them repasted to help with heat and throttling and also get them with a clean Windows install - rather than me having to to spend hours looking for drivers and doing it myself. Only downside is it looks like I have to spend $100 to "minimize screen backlight bleed". Not that that's a bad offering, but I'm afraid if you don't select that option, you're getting that laptop they decided they didn't want to send to someone else.

I also kinda like this tweaking service @Phoenix is offering, so that's leading me to reach out to @Donald@HIDevolution right now to see about a possible forum discount and validate my thoughts above.

 

I would go for the Asus GM501 because it has the full 1070 , no Max Q.

Along with HIDevolution's awesome thermal tweaks like thermal grizzly conductonaut paste and what not, you are sure to get a laptop that works perfectly out of the box.

Email [email protected] to get your NBR discount before buying it

 

For the record, I seem to have solved this on my end. Here's what I did (always create a restore point/image just in case):
1) Completely disconnect from the internet
2) Manually uninstall realtek driver in Device Manager
3) Reboot
4) Once again uninstall standard driver installed by Windows in Device Manager
5) Connect to the internet again
6) Run Smart update and start audio driver from there
7) Once installed it prompts for a reboot
8) (Not sure if necessary) before reboot, unplugged ethernet to disconnect again, then let it reboot
9) Once back in, got a notice that “realtek audio console” was trying to install from the MS store
10) Reconnected to internet
11) Clicked on that install prompt in start menu and let it download

Now, I don’t know if all I needed in the end was the “realtek audio console”, but that had never shown up in my previous prompts.

I now get the prompt for headset/headphones and can select multiple audio sources for the speakers (so game audio speakers, but chat on headset). Here's a screen of it: https://imgur.com/a/3gFyMQN

 

@dimsdale Is your RMA working with the RAM on the list?

 

Hi,

in pre-1803, I had these micro-freezes as well. They were most easily observed when the mouse cursor suddenly froze while moving the mouse.These hangs went away after I connected an external monitor. I assume this is because then NVIDIA GPU is running all the time. This bug is mentioned here and here.

Usually I'm only using the external screen with the lid closed and I also prefer to start from hibernation mode instead of a full shutdown.

My Windows 10 1709 system was running fine (with NVIDIA 382.66). 1803 changed this.

After my Aero 15 was updated to 1803, it worked - for some time until another run of Windows update broke the whole thing: the Aero hung after restarting and after some more restarts, a message appeared which stated that Windows would revert to the previous version, i.e., 1709. Just after Windows had reverted to 1709, the 1803 update was automatically installed, again. This time the update had succeeded but graphics adapter related issues emerged.

After logging in and some programs started, the system hung, explorer and task manager windows were shown incomplete (with black patches) and then the display turned black while the graphics driver restarted. Event viewer read "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." I related those issues to the NVIDIA driver 382.66 which seems incompatible with 1803.

Therefore I updated to the most recent NVIDIA driver available from the support page (23.21.13.9101 = 391.01). By the way, "Not-So-Smart Update" provides 382.66 only.

The new NVIDIA driver 391.01 does not reliably detect my external display connected through mini display port (similar to my experience with 391.35). Sometimes the monitor is detected immediately and switched to automatically, other times it's not detected but re-plugging the mini display port cable helps. Sometimes I just have to wait for a minute and then the external display is detected. Very strange. It's disappointing that a notebook as expensive as the AERO 15 is that wonky.

By the way, what is this "WakeupGPU" program on the support page?

NB:

The 1803 update removed the precision touchpad drivers I had installed manually.

As with all earlier feature updates, one needs to run the " Smart Recovery Fix Tool" if one wants to use the "F9" Smart Recovery function.

Smart USB Backup does not work any more. It just formats my USB flash drive but does not write any data on it.

 

Thanks Phoenix,

Yeah, the ASUS is the one I really want, but I need it before I go on vacation at the end of June and it's out of stock everywhere, and Donald tells me they won't have them in time. So that leaves me with the Gigabyte. And this is a Gigabyte thread, so I better be happy about it. Lol.

 

One other question, since I'm getting my laptop customized, I have the option of switching the Intel wireless out for a Killer wireless card. I've always stuck with Intel, but I know Killer is popular on the gaming rigs. Is there really a compelling reason to switch?

 

Hi all,
Does anyone know how to disable the Caps Lock/Num Lock notification appearing on screen? It is a bit annoying to see that notification while gaming (I've binded a key to it)… been searching through the registry without success.

 

The Intel 9260 and the Killer 1550 are the exact same card under a different name

 

@Phoenix, do you recommend getting a clean Win10 install from HID, or when you're doing a tweaking session, do you just uninstall all the bloatware? I haven't asked, but I'm not sure if you still get all the manufacture tools when doing the clean install. I know on laptops like the ASUS those tools come on a directory on the drive and can be hard to find online.

 

Hello. New 15x v8 owner here. I've been having some trouble with a couple things. One, I've gotten a couple events where the Bluetooth services completely shut down randomly. Not the peripherals, but the antenna itself. The computer acts as if BT doesn't exist. In Device Manager I can only see evidence of BT devices if I "show hidden". After several restarts and (maybe unrelated) I disable the OSDv3 software in Task Manager startup, BT services come back.

Also when I re-enable OSD *or* manually run Smart Manager the audio playback window pops up automatically. I don't understand why this is happening. When I disable OSD, this doesn't happen. My version of Smart Manager is 7.3.1.

Are both of these behaviors known issues? I'm about to attempt a clean install starting from a Windows 10 1803 USB drive after doing some backup.

Also, I am connecting a Dell external monitor through HDMI. That seems really random, but the behaviors are so bizarre, I don't know where to start. Thanks so much.

 

Well, Gigabyte has no bloatware from what I've seen other Gigabyte owners' laptops except I encountered one issue with a guy yesterday where the Smart Manager isn't launching and that is needed for the FN hotkeys to work. From what he said, he read that other Gigabyte owners are getting it to work by doing a clean install although I have a feeling that soon with an update from Gigabyte that utility should work. I like the factory image from Gigabyte to be honest, so if you don't mind waiting for a fix for the Smart Manager then keep the factory image but if you're impatient, then get the clean install.

 

Minor update. After doing a clean install of Windows 1803 things appear to be behaving themselves better so far. Crossing fingers. After discovering from Smart Update that there is a 7.3.7 version of Smart Manager, I installed that and it appears that the popup problem for audio has been solved, hopefully. I'll report back any changes.

 

After updating to the Smart Manager 7.3.7, the OSD hack, replacing the dll file, does NOT stop the OSD from displaying. Does anyone also has this problem?

 

I'm having some odd wake-up issues. Every so often my Aero15x 8th gen will wake up from sleep randomly in the night. The last one seemed to be due to a "high definition audio device" made by microsoft which is odd as I have the realtech drivers installed.

Anyway, I decided to try and update my BIOS firmware as that's recommended for random wakes. However, I am seeing a conflict that I am unsure about. The GIGABYTE website has the latest BIOS update as FB05 (updated on May 3 2018) while Smart Update has the latest BIOS update as FB06. Has anyone had any luck installing either or know why FB06 isn't on the website?

 

How do you know what's waking the machine up?

And the updated actually show up in SU quicker than on the website. FB05 was on SU about a week faster than on their site. No patch notes regardless, so no idea what it fixes.

 

Before I buy anything, I want to verify that I can buy a SATA III m.2 drive and it will work in the 15x front right slot. Is that correct? I'm looking to use it as slower speed storage.

edit: don't laugh. This is just the monetary equivalent of making sure you read the sign right before going into a bathroom at the airport. Pure paranoia.

 

Yeah, it'll work.

 

Hi everyone,

I've been pretty happy with my Aero 15x v8, but I've been having an issue with FPS while gaming. Right now I'm not getting above 20-30 FPS in Rise of the Tomb Raider & not sure what I should look into to fix this. I sometimes get higher but only on loading screens.

According to various reviews, this game should be getting much higher FPS. I have the latest NVIDIA drivers & re-installed them last night. I can rollback to a previous version but not sure where to find the download for that.

I play with the charger in & charging set to "quality" but usually I am fully charged. I have the high performance selected in Smart Manager & the Nvidia control panel. In Nvidia experience program, I made sure the settings weren't locking it at 30FPS. I play with a cooling laptop underneath which cools it enough that I don't need the Aero 15x fans over "quiet" mode.

Are there any other settings I should look into? This is my first gaming laptop so a little new with the more specific settings.

 

Set your fan mode to "gaming" The quiet fan mode will throttle everything even if you have it set to high performance under the power option.

 

Thank you, I will try that. It seems weird I need the fans on a certain setting even if I have a laptop cooler that keeps the temps below 70. I should be able to have them off or quiet as long as the temps remain low

 

In that case do a deep custom profile to try and keep the fans lower if your cooler is working.

 

If you want low temps in game, try using whisper mode in GeForce experience, and limit the fps of the games you play through Nvidia control panel, it helps me a lot, albeit at 60fps

 

In the command prompt in admin mode, you can type "powercfg -lastwake" and it will tell you what last woke up your computer if it wasn't a user input.

 

Just wanted to share a quick experience I had updating to the new Bios F06.
Downloaded and update seemed to go OK. It shuts itself off. I let it rest for about 30 seconds and power on.
Black screen, Power, Wifi and Charger LEDs lit. Nothing else.
I let it sit for like 2 minutes, and try to hard shut-off by holding the power button down. Turns off, and about 7 seconds later, turns itself on again.
Tried this again a few more times with the same result. Decide to start alternating mashing F2, F8 and F12 upon the next Power button reboot, and nothing seemed to happen; but then, it reboots again by itself, but now I get the Gigabyte logo.
I think success!
But the it auto-reboots again. Next GB logo, i quickly hit F2 to enter the Bios. I dick around to see if there are new settings (none that I could tell) (and it does seem to have updated to F06). I hit discard changes and reboot. Next reboot, after the GB logo, I see the windows spinning icon, and everything boots up just fine.

Not sure what went wrong. I think it my have to do with my RAM since I got 2 new 16GB sticks form HID, and a similar thing happened when I first swapped them. But just a heads-up to anyone else out there that may encounter this.

 

I updated to FB06 yesterday too. It has the same update procedure as my old Gigabyte P35X V3, which is it installs via Windows and then shuts your machine down. Then when you first power it up some status LEDs come on, but nothing is shown which makes you panic. Then it shuts down again after a few seconds, and then when you press the power button again it works again

tl;dr Just give it time and keep powering it back up when it shuts down by itself. Eventually it'll work.

 

I waited about 2 minutes on the first power up where nothing happened. That's why i got worried. Like i said, I think in my case it has to do with the RAM since something similar happened when I swapped RAM sticks.

 

Hello everyone,

First: very hard to find problem solutions in such a huge thread (yes, I know about the search functionality, not that good or useful when someone asks a question and the answer might be 10 pages later). But it does seem the biggest community for this laptop, so I'll give it a try.

I'm having problems with the battery life, it's driving me crazy. It's discharging at a rate of over 20k mWh at idle, with Integrated Graphics as the preferred option in Nvidia Control Panel.
If I disable 3D acceleration from BIOS, battery goes back to normal usage, with an average of 10k mWh. So I believe it's the GPU that's eating power.
I do not have any custom 3D preferences for any program. I have tried all Nvidia and Intel driver versions and combinations, from the Gigabyte site, from "Smart" Update and the latest official versions from Nvidia/Intel. I have the latest BIOS (FB0D/F008) and the latest Smart Manager(7.2.9), so there is no EmptyProject11 running. I also haven't installed WakeupGPU utility. The OS version is Windows 10 Pro 1803, build 17134.81 (it is not a clean install, I usually keep the software the laptop comes with and upgrade version/uninstall bloatware as needed).
Tried all power plan options, no luck.

The Nvidia GPU activity notification icon shows the card as Inactive. The Task Manager shows occasional memory usage by System on the dedicated GPU. Which leads me to believe it's either Windows or some driver at fault. Smart Dashboard doesn't always show the external GPU as idle, it often shows the temperature.

Can someone that has around 10k battery discharge rate at idle let me know what their driver versions are? (the Driver Version column from Smart Update, maybe there's a combination that I haven't tried).

Some things I've recently fixed, maybe it'll be useful for others:
- for blue screen when starting the laptop from the power button (0x50): I unchecked "Turn on fast startup" (right click battery icon > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do (left) > Change settings that are currently unavailable
- for blue screen when waking up from sleep: I disabled Scheduled Tasks that had Last Run Result column "The system can not find the file specified" or "The operator or administrator has refused the request". I had one from PowerDVD (I've uninstalled it, but it seems the uninstall process didn't clean up after itself) and 2 from Intel which seemed related to updates. In general, you should know what you're doing when modifying these things.

 

Stupid question, Anyone know how to clean this Laptops screen? Have a few marks on it unfortunately from trying to remove dirt pieces when on plane.. now there are fingermarks..

 

As far as I can tell, it's windows using hardware acceleration. By default that is the dGPU, which is why when you disable it in the BIOS, windows is forced to use the iGPU hence lower power draw.
I really wish there was an option to turn off hw acceleration in windows 10 like they used to have in the super early builds in 2015.

 

Hello all,

I've searched online, and I haven't been able to find many topics relating to problems with the wifi for this laptop.
Whenever I use the laptop, at what seems to be somewhat random intervals, the wifi speeds become incredibly slow, and the only way for the speed to return to normal is to disconnect from the network, and then reconnect. This happens on every network I've connected to, which is what makes me think it's an issue with the device.
In addition, the speeds I'm getting are pretty low when comparing with other devices I use (for example, I only get 13 Mbps download on the laptop while my phone can achieve 60 from the same room).

Hopefully one of you knows what could be causing these issues, it would be greatly appreciated

 

Not stupid at all...keeping it clean, without scratching it, is important.

See - https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+clean+lcd+screen

 

Blower or a duster to get rid of the hard on the screen. Microfiber cloth to remove finger oil

 

Does anyone recommend NOT updating with Nvidia drivers from Nvidia? I've been reading here & there that if you update only via Smart Update, things seem to be a bit smoother.

Sometimes my mouse lags & freezes momentarily & not sure if that'll help.

 

I can only tell you to try it. The only thing I will say is the geforce experience does mess with things, so I would recommend not keeping it unless you need its features (like whisper mode).
I also do clean installations of my drivers whenever there are updates since it minimises the chance of things going wrong.

 

Can anyone confirm if the 15x with 1070max q suffers from throttling like the XPS 15 when both the CPU and GPU is pushed more long periods of time?
While I love the design, I the seam around the edge of the lid and instead really ruins the look.
Is the gap in the seam at least consistent all the way around?
And is the edge around the display rubber or plastic like the xps15?
Also, the chin bezel is huge and the depth dimensions really show.
15x v8: 250mm
2018 razor blade: 235mm
Dell xps15: 235mm
that's a whole 15mm more with the extract same 15.6" screen size!

 

I update a month or so ago to the newest (at the time) Nvidia and Intel drivers from their respective sites. Been running fine. The microstutters (it that's what you're encountering) are from a different issue which has not been resolved yet (to my knowledge).

 

Why there is not a thread for the new Aero and instead stuff related to it is appended to this thread related to the previous version ?

 

I can't change my brightness settings and pantone doesn't seem to be working after a windows update..anyone else having similair issues

EDIT: Nevermind I hadn't installed the video drivers correctly works now..

 

I like Purosol, and use it on my glasses as well. Amazon sells a 1oz bottle + microfiber cloth for $10.
https://www.amazon.com/Purosol-Lens-Cleaner-Small-Clamshell/dp/B001R4BTCG/ I usually do a first pass with normal cheap lens cleaner + a microfiber cloth, and the Purosol if there is anything else left. It works without having to scrub hard, which can scratch your screen coatings. Rinse and dry the microfiber cloth after each use, so you don't accumulate any grit or other crud that could mess up your screen (or lenses).

 

Just an update, with the new BIOS FB06, GSkill 2400Mhz 2x16GB still does NOT work but one stick does. Which mean they are still purposely holding back

 

Hey all, just did a BIOS update (FB06 / F006) and now my Aero 15X V8 isn't seeing the Nvidia 1070. The Nvidia Control Panel won't launch and the GeForce Experience tries to download a driver and fails. Pics attached. Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated.

.

 

Use DisplayDriverUninstaller (DDU) to remove the Nvidia driver, then download from driver from Nvidia site and reinstall.