Asus UL30VT FAQ / Official Owners Lounge redux

[mD-]

hey, just received my laptop today and want to know the best drivers overall in terms of performance and stability/features. I don't want any modded inf that still has issues in some areas. I just want to know if there's something that everyone usually uses. Thanks.

[Gskellig]

I just finished these 174 pages, still have the 300+ other thread to go through sigh.
Loving my UL30VT-X1 but I have a few more questions.

1. Sometimes when coming out of hibernate or switching P4G modes, my taskbar (which I have on the left side) switches my auto hide off.

2. What is a good tool to test my seagate hard drive for errors? From what I've heard loud is normal but I still want to make sure nothing is wrong.

3. Someone in the Seattle/Tacoma area is listing THREE brand new in box SSDs for $150 total. I'm planning on picking them up tomorrow. Anybody interested? 1 Transcend 32GB, 1 Kingston SSD V series 30GB and 1 ocZ vertex 2 40GB.

All things considered, this laptop I got very lightly used for $470 shipped on ebay is turning out AMAZING. I've been looking for a under 4 lb 12-13" laptop for awhile and I was amazed I could get something this good for so cheap.

[cmasupra]

@mD-
The one thing that I tell everyone to do is make sure you are running Power4Gear Hybrid 1.1.24 or 1.1.25. Some people have had some success with other versions, but most of us haven't. My laptop came with 1.1.29, and it didn't work well for me.

To check which version you have:
1) Control Panel -> Uninstall a Program
2) Single-click on Power4Gear Hybrid. In the info at the bottom, it will tell you which version it is.

To download 1.1.24 or 1.1.25:
1) For 1.1.24, go to the Asus support website for the UL30VT. It's a downloadable "utility".
2) For 1.1.25, go to the Asus support website for the UL80VT. It's a downloadable "utility".

To install 1.1.24 or 1.1.25:
1) Put P4G into High Performance mode, and make sure it is using the Nvidia GPU, not the Intel Integrated GPU.
2) Uninstall the current P4G.
3) Install the new P4G.

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@Gskellig
1) I think you forgot to finish your sentence
2) I use Active Disk Monitor. Basically, anything that isn't at 100% in there indicates a possible problem with your hard drive. For laptops, I would say anything below 60% is danger. For desktops, anything below 80% is danger.

[mD-]

thanks cma, I read that already and I'm using 1.24. What I really mean is: what's the best graphics card driver that's also stable?

[Gskellig]

Haha yeah I did forget to finish my sentence. I wrote all that out then hibernated my computer before posting, when I came back from hibernation I guess it didn't save quite everything. I edited it to fix it.

[cmasupra]

@mD-
I'm not sure about the graphics driver. I would just use whatever your laptop came with. I do know, however, that the newer Nvidia Hybrid graphics drivers don't work with the UL30VT, so you have to use older ones. Someone who has installed Windows from scratch on this laptop should be able to help you, but I can't.

@Gskellig
I noticed that too when I first got this laptop. It seems to be controlled by P4G. A trend I've noticed is that the taskbar shows in High Performance mode and hides when on battery. Changing the Windows setting didn't save the state, and I couldn't find a setting for this in P4G (including in the advanced settings). The best solution I can give for that is to hide the taskbar manually everytime is shows itself, although that's obviously inconvenient.

[Gskellig]

My RAW read error rate is 54% and my Seek error rate is 68%. Everything else is 99% or 100%.
The total health status is 54%.
Is this something to be concerned about? I think it dropped a few % actually after running a disk scan.

I was trying to think of a way to run a .bat or reg file and get it to hide, would be easier than right clicking on the taskbar and going to properties, etc. And I could even put it in the startup folder.

[stan18]

I recieved my laptop yesterday and it is great, but I was looking to update the bios, but I can't.

I have the file for 211 (UL30VTas.211) but the FAQ says to put it on a usb drive, and run it from the bios. I have no option to do that from the bios, which is 210. I've gone through all the options. Am I missing something?

[cmasupra]

@Gskellig
I would monitor your hard drive for the next couple of weeks. If any of the percentages become lower, you probably have a bad hard drive and should back up your data. You should really back up your data anyway, but if the percentages become lower, that's when you should start worrying

I looked for a bat file to hide the taskbar, but couldn't find one. I then tried to look for which exe controls the taskbar so I could make a bat file myself, but I couldn't find that either. I did, however, come across this, which will let you show and hide the taskbar by running the program. The only possible problem is that when the taskbar is hidden, you can't move your mouse anywhere to show it; you have to run the program again to show your taskbar. It's a good program if you never use your taskbar. It's up to you if you would be fine with never seeing your taskbar (or needing to run a program to see it).

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@stan18
I have BIOS 208, and I have an option to update the BIOS. I'll explain how to get to it step by step, although I'm sure this first step is obvious because you actually know what a BIOS is.

1) Repeatedly press F2 during boot (before Windows loads) until a blue and grey screen comes up.
2) Go to the "Advanced" tab.
3) Choose "Start Easy Flash". This is the utility for updating your BIOS. If you don't have this, follow the directions below after step 5.
4) Find your new BIOS file (211).
5) Update your BIOS.

If you couldn't find "Start Easy Flash" in step 3 above, restart the laptop and repeatedly press F4 until a blue, grey, and yellow screen comes up. Then continue from step 4 above.

[stan18]

@Gskellig
I would monitor your hard drive for the next couple of weeks. If any of the percentages become lower, you probably have a bad hard drive and should back up your data. You should really back up your data anyway, but if the percentages become lower, that's when you should start worrying

I looked for a bat file to hide the taskbar, but couldn't find one. I then tried to look for which exe controls the taskbar so I could make a bat file myself, but I couldn't find that either. I did, however, come across this, which will let you show and hide the taskbar by running the program. The only possible problem is that when the taskbar is hidden, you can't move your mouse anywhere to show it; you have to run the program again to show your taskbar. It's a good program if you never use your taskbar. It's up to you if you would be fine with never seeing your taskbar (or needing to run a program to see it).

------------------------------------------------------------

@stan18
I have BIOS 208, and I have an option to update the BIOS. I'll explain how to get to it step by step, although I'm sure this first step is obvious because you actually know what a BIOS is.

1) Repeatedly press F2 during boot (before Windows loads) until a blue and grey screen comes up.
2) Go to the "Advanced" tab.
3) Choose "Start Easy Flash". This is the utility for updating your BIOS. If you don't have this, follow the directions below after step 5.
4) Find your new BIOS file (211).
5) Update your BIOS.

If you couldn't find "Start Easy Flash" in step 3 above, restart the laptop and repeatedly press F4 until a blue, grey, and yellow screen comes up. Then continue from step 4 above.

I found it, huuuge thanks! This laptop is great!