ASUS N71JQ Owners Lounge

Hi PaulW,

All the stuff necesary for the Backlit Keyboard mode is ordered.
As I said before the actual mode will have to wait until end of July. At the moment I am quite busy.
I will need some time to do the mode properly. You know I am an Electrical Engineer and love to make everything very neatly.
At the place where I work, we have a proper soldering station and can do soldering of the SMD components under the microscope.

In any case it will take some time before everything arrives.
I am not sure at the moment how long it will take before I get the stuff.

Farnell Germany is out of stock on the QT110A-ISG so it can take some time before they get them.
I also ordered this SMD adapter board, which will make it easier for soldering the chip and the capacitor and I would not need to design a PCB by myself.
ROTH ELEKTRONIK|RE932-01|ADAPTER, SMD, SO-8, 1.27MM | Farnell Deutschland

 

Hey Turbo,

That board is a awesome find man, that's gonna be a true professional mod right there! I think I've read somewhere that Farnell UK also ships abroad,so if you get nervious you can try getting it there. There is a minimum of 20 pounds for private orders though.

I must say I'm really happy with it still, looks and feels great and also useful when it's dark/dim.

 

The order at Farnell Germany is already placed. Actually I check it on Farnell UK also before I placed the order and they seem also to be out of stock at the moment.

Maybe, your mode picks excited many other users so took away all the parts from Farnell.

 

@ PaulW

Does the Farnell UK accept orders from private customers?

In Germany they did not. They game me link to another shop were I can order the QT110 chip privately.

Of cource in the place were I work we already have a Farnell account for my colleague who manages all the component orders but I do not want to order private things over it.

 

Yep, as long as the order is above 20 pounds. On second thought it may be only for UK residents, I vaguely remember reading something like that..

Great store btw, the package arrived early the next day and free of charge.

 

I have looked at the other website that Farnell provided me.
Here: HBE-Shop.de - Ihr FARNELL-Fachhändler

Basically, it is also easy to order there and they accept also Paypal. They actually sell the parts from Farnell. So one can search the Farnell database and then order these parts through this other shop.

The problem is that QT110A is not available anymore. Farnell told me it will not be back in stock until around October.

They have the QT118HA in stock. The main difference between the two is that QT118HA have output active high and the QT110A has output active low so I may have to modify the design a little bit relative to what you used.

I have not read so much about the backlit keyboard so far and I do not have it available here so I am not sure if the keyboard draws the power for the LEDs from this connection to the QT110A chip or is this just the control signal for turning the LEDs ON?

 

Sorry I don't know much about electrics, just followed the guide My multimeter showed +5V DC or 0V DC on the chip output if that's of any help.

I'm probably not getting this, but if the chip is simply an on/off switch, does it matter if it is active high or low on the output? Or does it apply to the sensor?

Farnell UK is also out of stock btw.

 

Well there is some difference between active high and active low.
Active low output means IC sinks the current from outside while active high output means IC sources the current.

In this application the QT118 and QT110 may not make too much difference as it behaves as a switch.

The reason why I was asking if the keyboard leds are supplied from the QT110 or if it only behaves as a control signal to control the led ON/OFF is that I was concerned about the QT chip current limits. For example QT118HA can source 1mA max and sink 4mA max.

I am concerned as the IC could be driven to it limits by the keyboard backlight and get damaged after some time if the keyboard is drawing power from this IC.
I will try to do some measurements when I get the keyboard. It could very well be that the signal from QT IC is the control signal whose function is only to command the keyboard to turn on the backlight.
I will have to check if it actually draws current over the switch IC then maybe I will add some buffer stage after the IC to supply the current to the keyboard backlight.

If we assume that there are two LEDs on each row of keys we roughly would have about 12 LEDs in 6 rows of keys. In best case leds will draw something between 10mA to 15mA which means there is a need of 120mA to 180mA. This makes me think that actually the QT110 could be acting as a switch here where as the actual power for the leds are provided over the other keyboard cable.
I will let you guys know when I have the keyboard and do some measurements with it.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.

I read in the spec sheet something about keeping large ground surfaces away from other wires (very freely translated). The laptop housing has this conductive paint on the inside which is connected to ground, so I wonder if this causes the difference is touch sensitivy I experience (since my chip is very close to that paint. Maybe something for you to think about/test if you want to make the perfect circuit..

 

Just got my computer back from Asus - now it's even worse. At least 2 stuck pixels and loads of dust and junk under the screen. What's wrong with them??

edit: By the way, it was sent to the Fremont, CA facility (USA1 RMA number). Now it's being sent to the Hayward, CA facility (USD9 RMA number). Hopefully they can do it right, but who knows. Is it really that hard to have an LCD with no defects, clean, and sealed?

 

Very bad indeed.

It seems they opened the LCD without taking much care. I heard this LCD front glass cover should never be opened without an absolutely clean environment like it is in a clean room. Otherwise you get in more dust than original there was.

 

Apparently this place it's being sent to now is called "Zoom Tech". I hope they do a better job than Asus. I don't know what to do if it's screwed up again...

 

I have read all 109 pages on this thread and have gotten a lot of valuable information out of it. Thank you guys! It seems as if I was getting an extra service that would have came with the laptop when I bought it

I got my N71JQ-A1 two weeks ago. I got it from B&H so it came with all the standard specs from ASUS. In the BIOS I did see that I got the 1333 RAM. And btw, the BIOS version is 204. The sticker on the bottom say 2010-04 which I assume is the manufacturing's date.

I too have the fan problem. It turns on and off almost always no matter what I'm doing or not doing. Additionally, I've also heard a very noticeable high pitch noise. It happened when I was trying out LifeFrame. It was about as loud as the fan since I could hear it clearly while the fan was running.

I have since removed much of the bloatware, including power4gear and LifeFrame. Fan is still turning on and off but haven't heard the high pitch noise as I remember hearing it that time. I haven't run anything big since though (haven't installed anything yet). I do still hear another high pitch noise coming from what seems to be the same area as the fan. It's not as loud as the other one and I hardly hear it unless I put my ear close to the laptop. I don't know if it's a hard disk, the CPU, or something else, and if it's normal. It makes this sound very often, including when windows is starting up. The sounds reminds me of a register machine printing, like in the distance and higher pitch than a register would sound like.

This is my first laptop ever and the first time I use Windows 7, so I'm still trying to get used to both. Normally people would come to me when they have computer questions, but in this forum I'm quite the noob. So, I have some questions for you guy which I will be asking in following posts. Thanks in advance

 

I have the 2x320GB HDs and this is how they came:

• OS (C) - 74.5 GB
• DATA (D) - 208 GB
• Local Disk (F) - 149 GB
• Local Disk (G) - 149 GB

I know that there's a hidden partition and that that's why C: and D: add up to less than F: and G: but shouldn't they add up to about 320GB? Why only 300GB?

I'm not quite sure what the purpose of the different partitions is and how to use them. Where should I install and save stuff?

Should I use the OS partition or leave it untouched? Considering it has 52.7 GB free I assume I'm supposed to use it. Or could I make the OS partition just small enough for the actual OS only and give the extra space to the DATA partition?

 

I actually just called ASUS to complain about the fan problem. They asked me to turn off the laptop, unplug it and take the battery off, press the power button for 15 secs, then turn back on. Of course this didn't do anything. I tried to avoid it since I knew it wasn't going to do anything but finally gave in just to be nice. After that didn't help he tried to get me to RMA it but I refused of course.

 

Congrats for your purchase and welcome to the forum!
Well 320GB is the unformated space as the hard disk drive manifacturer list it using a base-10 number system. The computer uses base-2 number system and with this the actual capacity of the formated disk is less than what HDD manifacturer indicates it to be.
You can look here for more details:
Sharky Forums - View Single Post - Hard Drive Format Capacity?

I personally would combined F and G into one partition and use it for data. I think F and G is on the second 320GB HDD.
I have made the C partition larger to 100GB and use it to install programs. The secondary partition containing the remaining 182GB from the first HDD, I am using it to do backup of my important data from the second drive using Goodsync program.
For me this notebook is a work PC so I am using large amount of space just to have another copy of data.
Of cource, I am also backing up thing onto network.

 

Certainly, the guy you talked to did not know anything about this fan problem. That is typical behavior of the support team.
It was a good dicision not to RMA it. As it is discussed already this is a bios problem and Ken from Gentech PC is still dealing with ASUS about it. Hopefully, we will get a solution soon with a new bios.

 

here is a link for repartitioning your drives. I used this guide for redoing my wife's dell.
I got an 80GB SSD for my OS and non gaming programs and the 320 is data and games.

 

Can anyone tell me how to get into the top RAM slots? I just got this laptop and want to add more RAM. I need to know how to remove the power button panel and keyboard to access the RAM slots without breaking things.

 

Welcome to the Lounge.

The are only two ram slots in this model. They can be accessed by opening the middle panel at the bottom side of the notebook.
There is no extra empty slot. I am very sure about it as I have already taken this notebook appart more than once.

If you want to have more ram then you have to invest into 4GB modules to replace the current ones.


In any case here is the link for the service manual:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6239488-post885.html

 

Hi Paul,

thanks for sharing this customised mod for the N71. I am thinking of changing the keyboard as well. My question is:
- Would it be possible to change and power the backlight keyboard just by removing the old keyboard? Is there a 5v supply and ground reacheable directly under the old keyboard or do I need to open/unscrew the entire notebook? Please note that I am not interested in having the touch switch and controller but just have a backlight keyboard always on when the notebook is on.
- Is the new keyboard touching the screen?
Thanks for your help.

 

I own this laptop since one month now and I've read this forum from the first page.

I have the european version N71JQ-024V coming with blue-ray, blue tooth and 2x640 Go HDD. I have also the fan issue which is not annoying to me.

I decided to write here because I have a webcam issue, and I think somebody talk about that previously in the thread (hope a solution was found!). My problem is that the webcam is not fluent at all and is really working bad (few FPS). I must say that I have installed the last drivers corresponding to the link given by Turbo (you are doing a very good job here...) few pages ago.
So is there people who encountered the same problem with the webcam of this laptop.

Another question: there is no led to indicate when the webcam is on or off???

Thank for your answers...

 

I also started noticing a high-pitched noise in some programs. Apparently this is often refered to as "cpu whine", but is in fact noise coming from other electrical components (most likely capacitors, coils, or inverters in your screen). My solution was to down turn the minimum processor state and start using Mozilla instead of Chrome as a browser. There are people who RMA for it but I don't really hear it anymore now.

 

Hi,

Unfortunately, what you're suggesting is not possible. There is a "official" connector for the power ribbon of the keyboard but it is switched off and no one has been able to hack it so far. So there is no way to do it without opening up the laptop and finding a 5Vsource yourself..

 

Hey Phabj,

The answer to this question is simple: no.

I'm not sure if anyone has solved the webcam-stutter, to bo honest I can't remember anyone posting a solution to that one here.. Three letters come to mind starting with R...

 

@ PaulW

In your Backlight Keyboard project you said you used "Wire Glue" to attach the cable to the +5V of the USB connector.

Did you use the following product for it?
Wire Glue - electrically conductive

It is quite an interesting product.
I wonder how high the resistivity of such a glue would be?

By the way I just ordered QT118HA-ISG. The QT110A seems to be out of stock on many of the German websites I checked.

 

What a pity.... connector but not power. Sounds so silly :-(

 

Exactly, the same website I ordered from

It's very thin/liquidish at the top but at the bottom it's a little thicker. What I did is take out a little lump of glue from the bottom with a toothpick.

No idea about the resistance. The jar only says "contains carbon and nontoxid binder" and there is another mailaddress as wel: andersproducts.com.

 

Yeah I know. It should be really easy for Asus to activate it in the bios so one could use the Fn3-4 buttons as well. That's not going to happen though, and attemps to hack the bios in the N61JQ lounge have not been successful so far.

If you happen to have major reverse-bios-engineering skills please do try

 

Yes, it is kind of strange policy from ASUS.
Ken already asked ASUS if they could activate it. Their reply was simply no.

They said they will not introduce any new features into the bios after the notebook is released.

 

Thanks for the info.
I will order it from a Germany website in order to try it out.
From here: http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/product/588328/LEITKLEBER-WIRE-GLUE

 

Hi, I did not manage to locate exactly what fan problem you are having. However, if it happens to not be cooling your system down effectively, you might try using a vacuum cleaner to such out the dust by placing the nozzle on the intake vent section on the bottom of your laptop (With the Laptop shut down, and perhaps unplugged and battery removed) Alternately you can use a can of compressed air and spray into the exhaust vents on the side of the laptop.
Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the info! I will call my associate a nooble now.

 

The fan cycling up and down every few seconds problem has been discussed in details in this lounge before so I don't want to repeat the explanation again.
You have to go back some pages to learn more about it.

It is a bios problem and has nothing to do with dust in the fan. Lot of users around here has it. It exist from the day one when you first get your N71JQ.

 

Does anyone know if the manufacturer's warranty transfers, if the laptop is only a couple months old? And any advice as to where to go to find/sell a used laptop like the N71JQ? Isn't it sort of a specialized product, can you find/sell one on ebay?

 

Actually, I found the answer in your forum...sorry to waste the space. Someone said the warranty is transferable with the original invoice.

 

Hello everyone! I just stumbled across the forum, and I'm thrilled to find such a support group for the N71JQ! I'm planning on purchasing my own in the next couple of days. Can anybody help me with suggestions for a quality cooling pad to go with it? Thanks very much!

 

I am using this Revoltec RNC-3000. I do not find it very loud and it fits very well under the notebook.

Revoltec product

I bought it two years ago for my older M50Vm notebook but luckly it fitted very well under my 17" N71JQ also.

Good luck with you purchase of N71JQ.

 

Thanks

Wouldn't it be better to have the OS by itself? In case you'd want to format the other partition or something? Would it benefit performance in any way?

I was thinking of leaving the partitions as they are. I would leave C by itself and not install or save anything on it. I would use D to install programs. And I would use F and G to store and save files.

I will be doing graphics/video/audio editing. So I thought I'd install photoshop/premiere/cubase/etc on drive D and save the images/video/audio on the second hard disk.

What do you think?
Did anyone mention in this thread that they use Cubase by any chance? or was it somewhere else?

 

Hey Paul,

How do you down turn the minimum processor state? And what really does that mean?

If I keep hearing noises like this, do you think I should RMA? I would hate to

 

What are the programs you guys use for checking/testing/monitoring things such as specifications/speeds/temperatures? I thought I should explore my laptop a little deeper

Also, what security programs do you guys use? I always used separate third party anti virus, anti spyware, firewall. This time I prefer to keep things as simple and have as few programs running at once as possible. Do you think that windows firewall, bit defender, and microsoft security essentials would be good enough?

What about things like ccleaner? You guys use it? Or you know of something better?

 

I've only tried my webcam with LifeFrame and it was horrible on there. I don't know if it's the program or the cam. Haven't updated the driver either. unless it got updated automatically with windows update.

Does it work fine for everyone else? If yes, what programs are you using it with?

 

Yes I have also not any data on the C partition. All the data directories (My Documents, Photos, Music, etc. ) are shift to secondary hard disk.

I installed all the programs onto C drive. That is why I made this partition larger. I thought this was best because if you have to install windows the programs need to be installed again in any case.

As I said before the D partition for me is used only to do backup every 20min of my work data from the secondary drive using GoodSync.

 

For monitoring purposes I have a number of programs like Everest, CPU-Z, GPU-Z and HWMonitor.

For the security software, I am using All-in-One solution and that is Zonealarm Extreme Security Suite. It is among the best in the market. You can check it out. They offer 15days free trial.

For cleaning out the PC I am using TuneUp Utilities 2010. It is also among the best in its class. It not only cleans up the PC but also allows you to tweak almost every aspect of your computer for example speeding bootup and shutdown, managing Auto Stratup programs, deframenting and cleaning registry, gaining hard disk space by finding and deleting all temp files, etc.
They also offer a 15 days free trial version.

 

I tried under Skype and also under LifeFrame but the result is not good. It works but it is horrible as you say. I guess either this webcam is not very good or there is a software problem...

 

The minimum processor state defines the clock frequency your processor works on when it doesn't have to work much. For this computer it's 930 MHz. It saves power and will still clock up when it's needed (up to the maximum setting). You can set it in power4gear for the different power management profiles (0-50% gives the same frequency).

The sound is not something to worry about, but you can RMA when it's bothersome to you).

 

I'm mostly using Everest for monitoring, sometimes GPU-Z and a few others.

I use AntiVir, Windows firewall (also behind router) and ccleaner.

 

I get same noises on N61JQ, I did RMA my board for that along with a couple of other issues. The new board still makes a noise, but not as loud. Apps that cause it are iTunes, Chrome Browser and Firefox 3.6.4 when its released.

 

For the great tech savvy individuals using this computer and thread...a quick question. Can I put a Sata III SSD drive in the N71JQ , or must I use a Sata II SSD drive instead? Also, any precautions? Thanks!

 

The N71JQ has a Sata II controller.
You should check with the particular SSD to see if it is backward compatible with a SATA II interface. I think usually they should be.