Asus UL30VT FAQ / Official Owners Lounge redux

[dolce.vita]

@ amtrak something is old/wrong with yours, everyone is having a core2duo and you are having a very old single core centrino, you probably received a very old version of the ul30 i guess

[Wisse]

Centrino sticker doesn't tell anything about how old/new the thing is. We could all have Centrino stickers on and it wouldn't be wrong. That tells you which chipset you have and it's not CPU dependent (as long as it's Intel).
My guess about the sticker is that they just put what they have on. When you and I ordered laptops, they came from a batch with C2D stickers, now the apparently come with Centrino (I can't remember what I had couse I pulled them off immediately).

Amtrak also said he was already using CPU-Z and I'm sure he would've noticed if CPU wasnt SU7300, so that's not it. S.M.A.R.T. doesn't show any real HDD damage, which leaves me wondering what the problem could be...

[amtrak23]

@Amtrack: Have you used task manager or perfmon to see if/what process is pegging the cpu? Something isn't right with your UL30, that's for sure.

Yes, there is nothing in there out of the ordinary.

Is the hard drive activity LED almost always on?

No.

Amtrak also said he was already using CPU-Z and I'm sure he would've noticed if CPU wasnt SU7300, so that's not it. S.M.A.R.T. doesn't show any real HDD damage, which leaves me wondering what the problem could be...

CPU is SU7300, so I just have one from the batch that they were throwing the Centrino stickers on. Build date is 2/2010.

[hydra]

CPU is SU7300, so I just have one from the batch that they were throwing the Centrino stickers on. Build date is 2/2010.

As far as I know you have the -X1? This has the Intel Wi-Fi, you get a Centrino Sticker

Mine originally had the Atheros wi-fi..no sticker for me

You asked is there was a night/day difference in a clean install? No slap in the face but things run smoother with out all the unneeded junk asking for CPU time, and faster boot. I found it worth my time, but, YMMV.

OK, so how's the new ASUS U35JC-XA1...

[signothefish]

I would like to ask on this thread if anyone has been having issues with the screen turning black after switching from Intel to NVidia graphics? I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling the NVidia driver each time, different flavors even, with no luck. On occasion (5-10% of the time), switching graphics to NVidia is successful. I'm trying to keep my settings so that the Intel driver isn't even used, but sometimes it ends up switching to Intel regardless. I would really love if someone has any experience with debugging this issue, as I'm really at wits end.

[cmasupra]

What do you mean it turns black? Does it just flash black, or does it stay black and you have to restart?

[hydra]

I would like to ask on this thread if anyone has been having issues with the screen turning black after switching from Intel to NVidia graphics? I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling the NVidia driver each time, different flavors even, with no luck. On occasion (5-10% of the time), switching graphics to NVidia is successful. I'm trying to keep my settings so that the Intel driver isn't even used, but sometimes it ends up switching to Intel regardless. I would really love if someone has any experience with debugging this issue, as I'm really at wits end.

If your asking about the 2-3 second blank, then its just our hybrid drivers. If you have certain programs running during the switch, then, it won't switch until you close the program.

I have mine set to switch to Intel when on battery and back to Nvidia when plugged in. If we are on the same page then there is a bug that may prevent switching depending on previous restarts which some claim is fixed by different versions of PG4. In my case I just do a cold boot and all is good.

[amtrak23]

As far as I know you have the -X1? This has the Intel Wi-Fi, you get a Centrino Sticker

Mine originally had the Atheros wi-fi..no sticker for me

You asked is there was a night/day difference in a clean install? No slap in the face but things run smoother with out all the unneeded junk asking for CPU time, and faster boot. I found it worth my time, but, YMMV.

OK, so how's the new ASUS U35JC-XA1...

Yea, I have the X1.

Well, I played with the U35JC (drove through a blizzard to retrieve it from my office) for about an hour just now. Basically pick your poison...lol.

Feels great, like I would expect a new laptop to feel, and that was without tinkering to remove any of the preinstalled crud, or turning off Aero etc. Once it was done updating it felt real quick. Night/day difference compared to the UL30, and I would think both would feel about the same if they were both operating properly. My gosh the processor wine on it is ridiculous. I haven't had time to read through the whole U35J thread, but this is just stupid. If I can get it to go away I would definitely keep it over the UL30.

I can literally hear it from across the room if it's at it's loudest (which happens to be when Firefox is open). It's also gets louder/different pitch when you just set your finger on the touchpad...very weird. It's one of those noises where you aren't really sure you are hearing it, or where it's coming from, but you know it's there cause it is bugging the crud out of you. kinda like when a gnat is just barley buzzing your ear for 45mins...

The touchpad feels better (I always know if I'm on it or not, unlike on the UL30), and it seem to be slightly less finicky. The mouse buttons are also softer/easier to use. It has a similar Seagate drive and it is definitely not as noisy as the other one was. The other drive vs this one is night and day difference noise wise, unless the processor whine is just drowning it out lol.

The UL30 didn't have any noisy keys, this does on the left size.

I'll see if Amazon can get me a replacement UL30 so I can have a properly function unit before deciding which to keep.

[signothefish]

What do you mean it turns black? Does it just flash black, or does it stay black and you have to restart?

It stays black. Only course of action is the power button press-and-hold. I've even tried booting up into safe mode to reinstall the drivers, but haven't had any change in behavior after rebooting into normal mode. I even tried NFR to remove all NVidia files before reinstalling. I'm thinking the video card is going bad, but then why does the NVidia GPU work on a few occasions? And why does it stay on reliably after a successful switch?

If your asking about the 2-3 second blank, then its just our hybrid drivers. If you have certain programs running during the switch, then, it won't switch until you close the program.

I have mine set to switch to Intel when on battery and back to Nvidia when plugged in. If we are on the same page then there is a bug that may prevent switching depending on previous restarts which some claim is fixed by different versions of PG4. In my case I just do a cold boot and all is good.

There is no program running during the switch. I get the NVidia icon showing the graphics switching, then it goes black and never comes back. If I do a cold boot, and it tries to switch to NVidia graphics in the login screen (due to power configuration), it usually goes black. Like I said, on rare occasions, it actually switches successfully, but that's only about 5-10% of the time.

[hydra]

It stays black.

It sounds like your Nvidia driver is bent. This driver is installed after the default Intel. Try to uninstall the Nvidia driver THEN run the VGA patch to clean out the remains of the driver from the registry. Now try to re-install the nvidia driver. Have you thought of a full clean install? Once completed you have the weapons and know how

Yea, I have the X1.

Well, I played with the U35JC (drove through a blizzard to retrieve it from my office) for about an hour just now. Basically pick your poison...lol.

My gosh the processor wine on it is ridiculous. I haven't had time to read through the whole U35J thread, but this is just stupid. If I can get it to go away I would definitely keep it over the UL30.

I can literally hear it from across the room if it's at it's loudest (which happens to be when Firefox is open). It's also gets louder/different pitch when you just set your finger on the touchpad...very weird. It's one of those noises where you aren't really sure you are hearing it, or where it's coming from, but you know it's there cause it is bugging the crud out of you. kinda like when a gnat is just barley buzzing your ear for 45mins...

Yea, I was after this notebook 7 months ago but jumped on the UL30 due to lack of U35J.

cmasupra posted some ideas on power management for noise abatement.

I have been fortunate to never running into this problem. The only thing I could venture would be to try ThrottleStop, at your fastest CPU frequency, then lower the FID voltage to hopefully knock out the noise..undervolting for personal harmony!

If this does not work, we can just swap notebooks