A8Js - Owner's Lounge

just get Notebook Hardware Control.. it helps to keep the fan silent and it works.

 

Just thought I'd mention that I upgraded my hard drive with the seagate momentus 7200.2, 160gb deal.

Compared to the 5400 rpm 100gb stock Hitachi, there is a bit of improvement, plus another 60gb to play with. Here's the comparo:

Hitachi Travelstar:

min: 14.8 mb/s
max: 41.2 mb/s
avg: 31.6 mb/s
accrss time: 17.8 ms
Burst rate: 82.8 mb/s

Seagate Momentus 7200.2 (160gb)

min: 22 mb/s
max: 57.8 mb/s
avg: 45.0 mb/sec
access time: 14.5 sec
burst rate: 90.9 mb/sec

Quite an improvement, especially with the average transfer rate being roughly 50% higher.

I installed a clean copy of XP (not the asus recovery) and have been rebuilding the setup as minimally as possible. Say good bye to all the pre-installed garbage.

This thing boots almost instantly now.

 

Does anyone know which firewire chipset is in the A8JS? Alternatively, has anyone had any experience running firewire audio interfaces off this laptop?

 

ricoh firewire.

 

Crap - ok thanks. Why can't everyone just use TI? The world would be so much simpler...

 

Anybody know if it's possible to add 802.11n to this unit? I understand the new N requires 3 antennas. I suspect the a8js only has two, but am not sure.

 

peekaboom thanks for the info...I been waiting for that for so long. enjoy your new hd.

 

I am just sitting here contemplating the same drive, they are really cheap compared to when I did an upgrade for my previous notebook hard drive

Question 1
I am a bit out of the loop. Can anyone tell me are we on the edge of another jump in hard drive technology or no? I could do with more hard drive space, so should i go with the 7200.2, 160gb. I tend to go with the best options i can, then what i have can run for a year with no niggling concerns.

Question 2
Also I just bought a Dell 20" Ultrasharp LCD. It works but i haven't had a chance to fine tune it yet. I noticed that the toggle switch F8 for internal/external monitor allows me to turn on the Dell Ultrasharp and turn off the notebook monitor, but it won't allow me to toggle back to the notebook screen. It also won't allow me to run them both in tandem. Am i being dense or is there something wrong.

The Ultrasharp runs at 1680 x 1050, and it is DVI-D. I am assuming the graphics card is up to running both the 1440 x900 notebook and the 1680 x 1050 external at the same time? Do I need special software?

Question 3
When i swap my hard drive can i load windows from the disks that came with my A8js or do i have to clone my data. I want a fresh install and have only the disks that were provided with the notebook?

Thanks,
RB

 

Hi peekaboom,

I'm glad you've posted your experience with the new HDD, as I was considering buying the same drive. Just couple of questions:
- have you bought the model with the G sensor or the normal one? If you bought the one with the G sensor, do you need to attach any cables or was the instalation a normal one?
- Is it easy to install the HDD? Any difficulties in accessing and installing the drive?

 

my a8js's touchpad is getting ridiculously hot, and the fans on the sides are a bit annoying to my hands when using a mouse.

anyone know how i can cool my notebook down? i have a targus cooler pad but it doesnt seem to even work well.

help!

 

Hey nickie i can answer the second question for you. Uninstalling and installing the hd is extremely easy. Just take out the back hd cover and pull out the hd...

 

hey peekaboom is the Seagate Momentus 7200.2 the same as the stock hitachi noise wise?

 

Two more question for you peekaboom...Did you install the model ST9160823AS OR ST9160823ASG? Are they both compatible?

 

They're both compatible as in they're both Sata-drives. The second one has something called G-force.

 

Well, I just went through two A8JS'. The first one wouldn't boot properly, so I had to wipe it and put my own XP on. There was backlight bleed almost halfway up the screen from the bottom, but the viewing angles were really good (CMO screen). I exchanged it for another due to the backlight.

The second one had another host of problems. The battery would not seat all the way in, and stuck out 2-3mm on one side. The screen (AUO now) on this one had less backlight bleed but the viewing angles were really bad. I hat to tilt the screen back slightly to avoid the backlight bleed, but that would result in the top of the screen inverting. Tilting it forward to the point that the top looked normal caused the bleed from the bottom to severely wash out the picture. I ended up returning this one for a refund.

I'm very disheartened with ASUS now. The A8JS may have game-grade hardware, but what use is that if the screen looks like ****?

 

I use Notebook Hardware Control to undervolt the CPU. My temps are normally around 43º.

 

Thanks xclusiveplayer!

 

My dvd-burners burns regular cd at 4x and dvd at 8x...that is poorly slow even for a laptop. Is there a better, faster dvd-burner/cd burner combo that will work with our A8js?

 

DVD at 8x is pretty fast, but, CD at 4x? That is so 1999. It should be lik 24x or something.

 

I did not know i was using a cdr-w no wonder it was so slow...reg cd-r is 24x your right fabrati.

 

CD rw is also faster than 4x. Did the Disc you used have a speed printed on it?

 

Hi,

I like the way I asked a series of simple questions, well laid out and cogently put, which were all subsequently ignored, thanks guys....

 

yes the disc label reads 1x-4x compatibilty...

 

Try with a faster CD-RW and it'll go faster. I have 12x CD-RW and they burn fast.

 

Well, you could get a 250 GB 5400 RPM or a 200 GB 7200 RPM. Otherwise the next jump will be SSD, but they are low capacity and expensive right now, so it'll be a while.

It's built in to windows. The GPU is up to it. In fact, any dedicated GPU is up to running it. But that's when you use it normally. It's not up to running games on both screens.

You can do a fresh install with the recovery DVD. All you do is not give it the driver/utility cd when it asks. Instead you just reboot. Voilà, a clean install. But you need to load the drivers yourself. In fact E.B.E. has an excellent guide on how to do it http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81828.

Sorry no one answered you earlier. I would've but I thought someone else did. And then you were left behind.

 

Thanks Fabarati.

I bought the 160gb 7200rpm drive, as i didn't see and advertising for a 200gb. Oh well! I think that 160gb is probably enough for my purposes anyway.

I can't see why anyone would want to run games on 2 screens anyway, unless they were identical size and resolution, for a split screen option, it would cause massive headaches i think?

 

Well, I don't think that there even are Dual-screen games. When my desktop was alive, I used dual screens, and one was for the game and the other for itunes or Firefox.

 

Hey everyone,

I've been the happy owner of my A8Js for the last 8 months and haven't had any problems with it until lately.

About a month ago I had issues with spyware and the like, and the result was a very slow computer and hard drive. It was very noticeable as when I would open world of warcraft or windows media player the sound would sound like the speakers had blown or something. I noticed that the sound distorted while the hard drive was going. When the HD light flickered the sound would distort and everything ran very slow. So I formatted and did a clean install.

This fixed everything until just a week ago. I downloaded Steam and an upgrade for windows media player, and now my comp is back to distorted sound and a very slow HD. My start up time has doubled. I've de-fragged, run every spyware sweep i have, checked the HD for errors, a hijack this log shows nothing out of the ordinary, so why am i having issues?

I guess i just want to know if I have a faulty HD that could be replaced under warranty, or if it can be fixed without sending if back in. Any help or advice would be great.

 

I have an A8Js without that issue, but have planned for it. I have partitioned my C: at 10gig, and do monthly Norton Ghost images. When the glitch occurs, you can roll back and see if it still occurs. That might indicate a software issue vs hardware. Since you're sophisticated enough to use Hijack, maybe you can scan XP's Computer Management Event Viewer log. If you can spare 10gig for dual booting to Linux partitions (I use SUSE & Ext2IFS), you can see if a different OS has hardware issues, among other benefits. Alternately, Knoppix Linux boots & runs entirely from a CD, letting you verify your hardware works. If Linux doesn't appeal to you, look into WinPe.

 

the only issue I have with the A8JS is the hard drive gets extremely hot after long usage. I just wish ASUS would design the hd on the right side and battery on the left side so the touch pad doesn't get so hot.

 

Did you check that your HD controller did not slip out of DMA mode? This happens if XP thinks there is some sort of error and causes the HD and/or CD to be abnormally slow. The easy fix is to delete the IDE channel(s) from Device Manager and reboot.

 

You sir are my hero =)

This appears to have fixed my problem.

 

does anyone here know where to find the post that showed an a8js owner replacing his screen with an lg one, and where he bought it?

 

I don't remember if it was a post or external link, but I believe the user you are referring to is cotolay. He bought an LG screen that he liked better that his AUO, then the Samsung screen that had better viewing angles that he liked even better...although he said it was a slight amount dimmer and the colors needed adjusting. You can find the screens at the best price on eBay.

 

Do you think that the A8Js is a up-to-date laptop today?

I am a college student wanting a powerful (not necessarily gaming, but it is a bonus) 14" (or smaller) laptop for under $2000 that I can get in under a week (probably newegg). The only reason the A8Js really stands out is because of its Go7700 card. Would like to have more battery life though (I was reading people were getting either 2:30 or 3:30 with a 'lucky' battery), but it's not too big of a priority.

On a similar note, does any know how a Go7700, x1600, or 8400M-GS would stack up against a desktop x800 xl or 6800 GT?

 

just get an extra battery from ebay.... dirt cheap.

 

3Dmark06 Laptops:
go7700 - 2700
x1600 - 1800
8400M-GS - 1456

3Dmark06 Desktops:
6800GT - 2365
x800XL - 1730

 

Durr, never thought of that. Thanks for the slap-forehead moment.

Thanks for the numbers, but I'm just trying to figure what that means 'in the real world' (aka BF2).

 

It's hard to pinpoint real-world numbers with just the video card as the rest of the laptop matters too. But you can use the benchmarks as a relative gauge. x gets 20% more points than y...or something like that.

 

Or 'practically anything I buy that isn't integrated should be better than my desktop ' gauge.

 

Out of pure curiosity, is it possible to overclock the CPU at all without doing any physical mods to the CPU? And I'm assuming you can play with the GPU's clocks (with driver changes), correct?

 

Another question that I have not really put much thought to before: Who has had problems with their A8Js because of manufacturer or your error? Like, was there some manufacturing defect or did you accidentally drop it off a second floor balcony into a pool? If there was, was Asus really good at getting it fixed/replaced?

 

cotolay bought his samsung lcd at smartmicrousa.com for $155

This is a very valuable site to bookmark.

I am shopping for a replacement lcd because mine is flickering in bands now. So good time to upgrade it anyway

cotolay suggested geting a 1280 x 800 screen from sharp to get the best quality, would you a8js owners do that?

i remember a big part of the seling point for me was the brand new 1440 x 900 screen but actually after almost a year i think the grass is greener on a lcd with a good viewing angle to me.


I can replace it with either the lg or samsung 1440 x 900 thats on the thinkpad t60 or the cmo one thats in the a8jp also

cotolay likes the samsung model but when i browsed the thinkpad owners forum most of them liked the lg one

 

Stamar, if your LCD is flickering the problem is more likely to be the LCD flex cable and not the LCD. Does it flicker when you move the screen? or just randomly from time to time?

 

I have three bands of faded color on the right side

They faded in and out, there was 1 band and 2 flickering ones for a while

now its 3 bands of distorted color about an inch each going from top to bottim

On the bottom of the screen there is a sign of moisture underneath the glass

if you actually have an auo a samsung and youre about to buy a sharp i would buy your old screens even the auo if its cheap enough and works.

 

Well did anyone else replace their lcd and actually have a working one for sale?

Otherwise i think im going for the same samsung that cotolay bought.

 

Ya Im going to go for it.

I suppose it is 20 nits dimmer and has a better viewing angle.

Its the screen they use in the thinkpad t60 thats not the best one.

I guess Ill be the 2nd person to offer their opinion on it.

Im practically considering the cmo screen from the a8jp though. 50$ more though.

 

Just a note on a bad service experience here in Spain. Since buying my laptop, my screen was somewhat loose. A few months ago back of my screen starting cracking near the hinge. Sent it to service and after a week they billed me 300 euros. Explained why this should be covered by warranty, they accepted after a further week. Then, 6 weeks went by and no news about my laptop. Called in, they where waiting for a part. 2 more weeks went by without getting my laptop. Too much! Makes me consider buying another brand of laptop for my wife, it was VERY painful to use a 450 Mhz machine for that time!!!

 

Hi, i made a fresh install of vista business in my a8js (it came with xp pro), but my brightness controls dont work now, wich drivers do i need to control brightness via control buttons (i installed all from asus site but it doesnt work ) ?!? I can control brightness via NHC in acpi ...

thanks

 

What Bios version are you using? I had the same issue with version 2.11 in vista.