ASUS N71JQ Owners Lounge

Wow. I saw your post after I literally just finished putting my laptop back together after having to resolder the DC powerjack connection back onto the circuit board. Bloody ridiculous placement, I agree!
I'm curious how you managed to actually get the component off as I've tried and it seems pretty reluctant to desolder, even with a wick and solder-sucker.

I've dealt with the pain in the butt AC Power > Battery notification on too many occasions to count and while taking your battery out of your laptop may have seemed to fix the problem, I'm going to assume that the physical connection your new power jack has to the motherboard isn't 100%. Just be careful of your laptop losing power suddenly.

The problems you've experienced are exactly the same I've encountered but I'm also dealing with super overheating issues and as of 2 days ago a super lagging system in all respects. I've bought Asus since I built my first computer more than a decade ago but this laptop has ruined my opinion of Asus beyond repair. I can't wait to buy a new computer!

Good luck with your troubles!

 

Do you have any experience switching out LCD screens on the n61? The disasembly guide out there only shows you how to remove the entire screen, but not the LCD screen itself.

 

There are plenty of other components near the heat sink that DIDN'T become unsoldered. Your power socket broke for the same reason they always break - the cable was yanked once too often. An amateur repair failed. You could try a professional one.

 

I've heard somewhere that v205 bios had a special overclock setting. Is it true? And does other bios have special settings like that? Onve i'm looking for would be to disable hyperthreading

 

No, Sorry. I have had the lid off, but no further than that. Look at some of the thread for other ASUS models, they should be very symmular.

Also you could try contacing Kin Lay over at GenTechPC: GenTech PC TurboGear got a lot of help from him.

Bewst of luck

 

Does anyone know a way to get the speakers to play louder? They're so weak I can often hardly hear them.

 

I'm having a small issue with the plastic screen lid covering on my n71. it's sort of coming off around the corners every now and then, I push it back in, but it comes back out eventually. Can I just glue it back in place so it doesnt pop out? I realize the glue might expand a little so I'd have to clamp it. What's your take on this?

 

It's a mixed bag. If you glue it down, you probubbly will not be able to take it apart later without replacing some of the plastic parts and it may void the warrenty, if you still have one. With all of that said, I would probubly do it anyway, just to keep the thing from becomming to ratty. It really depends on how bad it is.

 

Do I have to buy a new OS if I replace the N71JQ-X1 mobo? I'm asking since I think the DC port on the mobo fried itself and I think it will be horribly expensive to replace through ASUS so I'm going to try and replace it myself.

 

What part of the OS would be on the motherboard? I've used my product key from one laptop for a different laptop when switching and installing new hard drives. If you need an installation CD, you can download Windows 7 from the internet or whatever, boot up from it, and just reinstall OS. Idk that's what I think.

 

My fan makes a ton of noise -- at least I assume it's my fan -- and the machine runs hot.
Vacuuming the vent was not enough.
I looked at the N61 disassembly guide, and I'm either misreading it or it's the wrong guide, because I read it to mean that I have to disassemble the laptop and even take off the keyboard before I can get to the fan.
Please tell me that I'm wrong and (hopefully) how I can get to the fan by removing something on the back of the laptop -- or in any event not having to risk removing the keyboard?
TIA

 

You can't just take off the bottom access panel. You need to disassemble the laptop. Don't worry, it's not hard. Just do everything carefully and follow the guide. Btw, you should be using the N71JQ disassembly guide, not the N61. And it's normal for the fan to run fast, and perhaps a bit hot if it's dusty or you're playing video games.

 

Any idea where to get the N71JQ disassembly guide?

Based on the N61 guide, it seems you have to take the keyboard apart and make sure not to let some cable rip, take out the CPU etc to get to the fan.

All of which sounds risky to me (I'm not a computer technician) and frankly, like stupid planning on the part of Asus.
A fan should be easily accessible as it needs to be cleaned on a fairly regular basis IMHO.

And BTW, I've never played a video game on this computer, nor do I take it into particularly dusty environments.

Thanks again. All links and suggestions are appreciated.

 

It may appear stupid planning, but taking apart the laptop isn't risky at all, considering you aren't disassembling your machine like a noob. However I do agree having access to the internal components by removing the access panel does seem intuitive. As for the disassembly guide, I think I have it somewhere on my laptop, I'll see if I can upload it on a file sharing site and then I'll post the link here. While you're at it, perhaps you can obtain some good quality thermal grease to put on your CPU to replace the factory stock grease. Some Googling can tell you what that is and its purpose.

 

Oh yea check this thread for past links for the dis. guide. Some of them might still work.

 

Thanks. I look forward to a link, if you can find the file.
As for thermal paste, I bought the laptop from Xotic and had them upgrade to IC Diamond paste before they sent it out; is there any reason that should need replacing?

 

nono that sounds great, although you probably paid more than you should have. buying the thermal paste yourself would have been cheaper, but some things are worth it if you believe it is. having services performed for you, despite slight extra costs (not much, only would have saved like $5-10), depends on people. i can save money by cutting my grass, but i'd still love for other people to do it haha. ic diamond is excellent.

 

Hotfile.com: One click file hosting: Disassemble N71VN Series Chapter 02-v1 0.pdf

this was posted by turbogear way back

 

Is N71VN the same as the N71JQ?

 

yes. even the pictures are identical.

 

I agree that getting the charger port out is very difficult. The live part is very fragile (and in my case was already disconnected) so the hard part is the ground, which is connected to the motherboard in 4 different places. I was able to desolder 3 of the 4, the fourth I clipped with a thin pair of wire cutters, I could have probably desoldered it, but I wasn't comfortable with going to any higher temperature, for fear of melting the motherboard itself.

In retrospect I probably should have just clipped all of the connections, to avoid unnecessary heating of the motherboard.

This will obviously only work if you are not putting the charger port back where it originally was. I was able to solder a piece of power cord to my motherboard. Note that I wrapped the wires in kapton tape instead of electrical tape as I figured this would help with any issues of the tape melting on the heat sinc. and then solder that cord to a new charger port.

This is obviously not the cleanest way to do this, but overall it was about a $5 fix. With about 2 hours of work (most of which was just trying to get the motherboard out, as I've never had to completely remove the motherboard before, in any laptop).

I agree that the charger port is more susceptible to being yanked on than any other component in the laptop. Which is why the placement is so ridiculous. The live part of the charger port is rather fragile, and heating it up while pulling on it repeatedly will for sure remove it (hence why multiple people have had this problem) I agree that I am moderately rough on this machine (I take it too and from work every day, usually 6 - 7 days a week). But it is a laptop, and a high powered laptop, so you would think asus would realize people are going to be bringing it places, and often.

Granted I have purchased Asus since, and will continue to. So, so I'm not sure why I'm complaining while throwing money at them...

 

[/QUOTE]Granted I have purchased Asus since, and will continue to. So, so I'm not sure why I'm complaining while throwing money at them...[/QUOTE]

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images...hut_up_and_take_my_money_super.jpg?1317708806

 

Fantastic forum !! So much stuff here !!

I have the Asus N71JQ-XT1, who as only 1 Hard Drive. The space for the 2nd Hard Drive dont have the Sata connector..
Any of you have added a 2nd Hard Drive (SSD)?

I've found here the disassemble manual (Great !!).

If I understand well, I'll need a HDD Board.
HDD Board

But this board dont have any "cable" connection? Just the 2 screw are making the contact ??



And a very good job for the backlight keyboard implementation !!!

 

Is there 4 slot on this computer? On linux it lists 4... Maybe 2 are hidden inside and need more part to be removed to access them

 

4 slot of what?
There is 4 USB (3 x 2.0 and 1 x 3.0)
2 slot for RAM.
2 slot for Bluethoot and TVTuner

 

Between this screws, is the white connector (j5103), which are making connection, if you will buy this "HDD Board Assy N71VN R2.0" and install the second HDD(SSD), please write does it works, I want do this also.

 

Thanks ! I Didn't see this connector in any photo of this HDD Board. But I thought of something like that.

I'm waiting to receive it. Some peoples say it take 3 weeks for the shipping.. So in 2-3 weeks I'll post news.

 

Hi

It seems my bluetooth is playing up again, very annoying this time as it totally slows the machine down.

In device manager it keeps on flashing showing bluetooth installed then will flash again and bluetooth is no longer there.

I think it may be possible that the bluetooth connector isn't installed properly or has come loose. I really want to avoid having to take the machine into Asus yet again. Is it quite hard to check the bluetooth module by opening up the machine?

I have had a look at the dissassemly guide, but can't seem to figure out exactly where it is.

 

Well... As I can see, the bluetooth module is not really easy to acces...
In the dissasembly guide the bluetooth is in the 2 last pages. In fact, the bluetooth is in the front/right side of the notebook.

To acces it, we must take out :
1. the Keyboard module (page 2-9)
2. the Top Case Module (and the metal sheet) (page 2-11)
3. and from there you should see the Bluetooth module. (page 2-24)
4. The other end of the bluetooth cable is connected on the Motherboard (page. 2-20)

So before doing so, be very sure it is not a Windows configuration. Try installing Windows again..

 

Has anyone tried to install 16GB RAM, 2x8Gb???

 

I recall a thread that mentioned if you put 8Gb in there it will physically only see 6Gb. I think that was with the OE Win7 64-bit OS. No, I haven't tried.

 

So, for those who don't know my situation, read back a page or so. the tldr; version is basically that my charger port broke, I put another one in on the end of some extra charger cable using some higher temperature solder to try to keep this thing from coming undone again. Unfortunately I can no longer charge batteries, but I can use the computer perfect in AC mode (this is fine with me). This has been working since December 2011.

Anyways...

A few days ago my charger stopped working, LED wouldn't light up, no power coming out. I have another charger, so no big deal. However, when hooking up another charger my computer turned off after about 30 minutes. I figured maybe when the other charge stopped working something blew out (probably my home-made connections) so I checked those (with a multimeter) and all are functioning as expected. However, now regardless of which charger I use, when I press the power button, nothing happens. No flicker, no LEDs, nothing.

And yes, I double checked to make sure that I didn't leave the power button (or any other cable) unplugged when I put everything back together. Any idea how to go about checking what the cause of this could be? Or should I finally just say farewell to this motherboard...

 

Apologies if suggestions have been made regarding this topic already. I did try to search but didn't find anything.

When I have my laptop plugged in (just in the last 2 days), I have to have the cable that plugs directly into the laptop (the "L" shaped piece at the end), position "exactly so" for it to charge. If it's not absolutely perfect, it doesn't charge. If I move at all when the laptop is on me, it stops charging.

I don't see any obstructions or anything broken, but this is really frustrating. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

Yep, this is the same issue that I was having about 5 months ago. It is likely that your charger port is in the process of becoming unsoldered/broken. You basically have two options:

1.) take it somewhere and get it fixed.

2.) Do it yourself (description of this as follows):

Purchase a new charger port (or two just in case) they run about $5 and you can easily find them on ebay. Just type in the N71JQ into ebay and it will probably be the first thing that pops up (this is a common issue!). You will then have to take apart your laptop (there are guides posted throughout this forum on to do this). You will then have to unsolder the old charger port, and resolder the new one. This will be difficult (even if you are very experienced with soldering) as the charger port is attached in five places to the mother board. I would recommending trying to just touch up the current solder job and see if that works out. However, if you have been putting a lot of torque on your charger port (which will probably have to start doing if you don't fix this soon) then you will for sure break the charger port and need to replace it (I know because I did this).

I was able to replace my charger port and it worked for about 3 months after that. I was then not able to charge a battery (but I could run the computer fine in AC mode). However now I am unable to power on my computer at all. Because of this you may want to go with option 1 and save yourself the trouble. I was fairly confident in my ability to replace the charger port (I am about to receive my PhD in applied physics, so I have a pretty decent background in electronics) and I wish I would have just spent the money for someone else to do this. However if you do not have the money to pay someone to do it, it is possible to do yourself for about $5 if you have the tools necessary

Tools I would recommend: soldering iron, good solder, digital multimeter, set of small screwdrivers, good pair of tweezers, and some electrical tape. If you do not have most of these things (or at least access to them) then it will probably be cheaper to just pay someone to do this for you. If you just want the challenge, you can probably get away with spending about $50 to get all of this stuff at radioshack/walmart however just know that a cheap soldering iron is going to make this much harder.

tldr; Charger port is broken. If you are a masochist/poor do it yourself (may still not work). If you have money, pay someone to do it for you.

 

Wow... appreciate the response (despite the fact it's info I don't really want to hear!!!!!!!).

Hmmmmmm, guess I'm going to have to hunt around for a spot that could do a repair like that. Man... I'm bummed.

 

Post removed -- laptop was still under warranty thus has been send back for repair.

 

So, I've given up on fixing my motherboard. I'm pretty sure it's shot.

Where is a good place to buy a new one? I've found one here: motherboard-home.coml But I don't know much about this company (other than what they say about themselves). Anyone have any insight into this buying process? Post above me was also asking this before, but has been removed.

 

Asusparts

 

unfortunately they do not carry motherboards. I have looked there for things before, and they do tend to have every little thing you'd ever want (but at quite a large price).

Thank you for the quick response though.

 

Well, it's donne.

I have installed a second HDD Board.
It was "easy" and take me 3 hours.

But no screw are comming with the second HDD Board... So 2 screw must be taked from elsewere in the computer... I have take 2 from the 5 under the battery.

After that you can boot from any of the 2 Sata drive (selecting it from the BIOS).

My SSD drive is really fast !! Booting from it take me 20 seconds! 5 times faster then my HDD!

And using less of my battery, I have a longer charge!!

Great !!!

 

great news Memnock,
Been waiting for your reply for weeks.
Imediatly dropped some cash in my paypal account and am gonne order as soon as possible.
Thankx foor letting us know hoe it went.

Chears

 

Just an other thing!

It could be a good idea to buy at the same time a Caddy for the drive... It's about 5$ US.. I myself forgot... I just make it fit in the space with (I dont know how to say it..) "little soft self sticker pad".

 

I have a clients Asus N73JQ-A2 system which runs VERY slowly after seeing an pop-up msg from their company website showing a possible virus infection. We've run scans and found no issues using VIPRE and MalwareBytes. The system hangs frequently using any application. We've also swapped the RAM and now have 8 GB total using WIN7 Prof and i7 CPU with 8 cores. This system SHOULD run very fast but it's now terribly SLOW .. any other suggestions for troubleshooting this system? We cannot reload it due to many specialized pgms installed.
Thanks,
Shane
[email protected]
678-662-6336

 

ESET online scanner

Combofix

 

I think you are not asking your question at the good place...
You situation don't seem to be with the Asus N73JQ-A2 but with your Windows 7 and is configuration. A big work must be made this way FIRST.
And don't only search for virus infection.

P.S.: I think it's a first to see someone give is Phone number on a forum... And I won't say a word more for the email..

 

So, I am still in the market for a new motherboard. I have absolutely no idea where to buy one. before you say motherboard-home.com, they are out of stock, I attempted to buy one from there last week and was refunded my money today when they realized they were out of stock.

I'm about ready to just take this into a repair shop and let them deal with it. Any one have experience with this sort of thing? I've never had anyone else work on a computer of mine before. I live in Tampa, so there are plenty of places around, including a comp usa.

 

Well I reinstalled the HDD that came with the computer, using the factory install and it seems (at present) is working, so it may be a configuration issue.

I guess I'm going to have to do a full windows reinstall onto my SSD.

Is there any way I could mirror my factory install onto the SSD, or that won't work? Normally when I install Win 7 I do a clean install, want to see if running a factory install will change things?

EDIT: Ah the irony. Just as I click on submitting this post I lose Bluetooth connection. Guess I'm taking this machine back to Asus for the fifth time now. Great.

 

Hey MemnocK, congrats on getting 2 drives working in your n71.
I've got a N71JQ-TY022X, which came with a single 640GB but with only one SATA connection. Anyways I upgraded to a Seagate momentus 500GB hybrid ssd, and I want to install the 640gb drive in the secondary bay. Did some research here and found that u need 2 parts:

- HDD Board Assy N71VN R2.0 (Cable & connector)
- HDD Bracket Assy N71-1A (Caddy)
Correct me if I'm wrong

Also heres a caddy i found on eBay. Looks pretty expensive though, any thoughts?

From what I've read you ordered the HDD Board Assy N71VN R2.0 (Cable & connector) right? and you installed that and worked fine?

Sorry to make you repeat yourself I want to clarify that before I try and source one, also where did you source that part from?

I have wasted all morning with Asus Australia, they have been very unhelpful, unlike this thread I'm going to make a complete instruction guide with photos and post it on here for installing a secondary drive, seeing ASUS won't supply any information.

Thanks again man, hope to hear from u soon

 

@ NJ71JQ.
I ordered my - HDD Board Assy N71VN R2.0 and - HDD Bracket Assy N71-1A
in Sweden ( same site as your links) thirth of april but am stil awaiting the parts.
Orderstatus is still : (Awating Part(s) 1-4 weeks).
They might just ship your al the way to Australia if you pay for it but i'm not sure.

Thats all i can say for now, will let more know in when the orderr arrives.

mazzel.

ps. by the way, i need a new battery, anyone tryed the thirth party (non ASUS) 9 CELL battery and is it any good? I'm always a bit scared to use thirth party batterys.

 

Ok cool man. Yeah for sure keep us posted on that for sure. It looks like asusparts.eu is the only company that can supply them parts.