A8JP Owners Lounge

[Foruhar]

Hi everybody,
I received my laptop a couple of days ago from newegg. Admittedly there is a lot of power under the lid considering the price, but I am really disappointed with the screen to the point where I am wondering whether I have defective unit?
The screen is not evenly lit up. No matter what brightness I set the screen to always a portion of the screen around 30-35% in a horizontal rectangle has unifromly high brightness but it visibly get less and goes to significantly lower towards the edges. This portion moves as I move my head up and down.
Here is a picture.

The digital camera exaggerates the effect quite a bit (lets say 3x) but as I said the effect is visible to the naked eye at any brightness seting. My other experience with a glossy screen has been with a 12.1 inch dell XPS and tha screen was way better. Is my screen normal

[Dark Dove]

I'm sorry sanpabloguy, but that website that you gave to me is ridiculously confusing. Would you mind giving me easier to follow instructions? Because I tried to do what they told me to but it was too confusing, especially things like where to download the zipfile to and where to extract it.

[admlam]

@ Foruhar

Even if your digital camera exaggerates the screen, that still looks pretty bad looking at it straight on. Try playing with the Spledid settings if you haven't done so already. Otherwise, RMA it. I'm pretty sure it's a lemon LCD.

[Foruhar]

OK that previous pohto makes it look too dramatically bad
Well the problem with taking a photo with a digital camera is that it isn't going to show how the real thing looks like. My screen is a CMO1416. Here is another photo which looks much better:

But notice how much darker the bottom of the program menu is than its top. Also if the top of the program menu is a shining bright white the task bar has a dead color and low contrast. Again I understand that this should be expected with laptop screens to some extent but its significantly worse than what I have come to expect from say dell screens which I don't think are particularly known for their superior quality.
I dont think splendid has an option for modifying brightness or at least I haven't noticed it. Thanks for the reply anyways.

[evil4blue]

@Foruhar,

Sorry to here about your screen woes. I too, received my A8Jp from Newegg and can't say I see any uneven back-lighting. My screen looks very nice, even nicer than my wife's Acer (which I thought was beautiful the first time I laid eyes on it). My only gripe, if you could call it that, is the screen is way too bright for my eyes and I prefer using it at about 80% brightness.

Also, have you checked your firmware? Mine came with A05 and I immediately flashed it with the newest one(A08). I read that one of the more recent FW files actually re-flashed the gpu as well. Not sure that would make a difference, but you could try it and see.

Good luck.

[Bones10]

@ Foruhar

If you can't fix that in the next couple days with bios flashes or other tips people are offering I'd RMA that immediately. The A8JP has one of the best screens I've ever seen - looks like you may have been stuck with a lemon

[sanpabloguy]

Foruhar: Have you tried adjusting the brightness manually using the Fn F5 and F6 keys? They operate independently of Power4Gear. Have you tried disabling P4G and seeing if that makes a difference? I'm not really thrilled with P4G and how it works.

You didn't mention themes, but I noticed that XP's native themes are better looking and clearer than a couple of others I've tried out from websites. So, if you're using a theme other than the ones that came with XP, that might make a difference.

Otherwise, I'd also recommend returning it for a replacement.

[sanpabloguy]

I'm sorry sanpabloguy, but that website that you gave to me is ridiculously confusing. Would you mind giving me easier to follow instructions? Because I tried to do what they told me to but it was too confusing, especially things like where to download the zipfile to and where to extract it.

No problems and you're right. I didn't bother to read the website - I do use the info there, but kind of knew what I needed.

You don't need to download and install anything to convert the partitions on the A8JP. Here's what I did and no problems:

1. Convert C: using the Asus conversion tool. It converts the drive and does not mess up any of the programs or the OS.

2. Converting D: is pretty simple. All you need to do are the following steps. Press the Enter button after each command:

Now use the Windows XP convert tool: Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | Command Prompt (or, from a Run box, type CMD) and, assuming you intend to convert D:, type D: and press Enter, then give the command:

VOL D:

Note the name of the disk in the first line, and the Volume Serial Number (for example, 3F4E-2D1B) in the second. Then type (note that the only spaces are before and after D: ):

CONVERT D: /FS:NTFS

It will ask for that name in confirmation (the name is probably DATA, if Asus configured them all the same). Then it will ask two further questions. Reply Y (and press Enter) each time. It may give some message about needing to dismount the disk and reply Y to that too. Let it run. (If you are converting a partition other than the operating system’s partition, you may find that it runs without rebooting.) After returning to Win XP, the hard disk will work for two or three minutes, tidying up. Leave things alone during this time.

Once it's finished, type Exit in the command window and press Enter and you're done.

[Dark Dove]

Thanks a lot sanpabloguy!!!

Do any of you guys know of perfectly fitting notebook sleeves for the a8jp? I've been looking around for one but none of them fit perfectly and are all loose in the front because of the way the laptop is built in the front.

[speed2]

1. Convert C: using the Asus conversion tool. It converts the drive and does not mess up any of the programs or the OS.

So does that mean everything will be still there after conversion? Like all my programs, music, photos etc?