ASUS U500vz/UX51vz Owners' Lounge!

How messed up is your machine? Can you still boot into Windows? If yes, then you should be able to determine the version of Win8 installed.

Try reading this post http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...y-s-series-owners-thread-594.html#post9078469 to see if the same thing can be done with your notebook.

Alternatively, you can try calling the distributor you purchased from or Asus customer service to see if recovery DVDs are available for purchase.

 

Hi bamaster. I'm interested in doing the same thing with my UX51VZ. Could you provide some more specifics on what you did here? I.e. What type of memory, where did you get it, installation procedure etc. I'm not super technical but I have changed RAM before, so the more detailed you can be the better! Thanks

 

Per my previous post, I went with Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 8GB
CORSAIR Vengeance Model CMSX8GX3M1A1600C10 Laptop Memory - Newegg.com $76.99 was $42.99 last December when I bought it.

Take out the Torx screws, including those beneath the feet and the back lifts off. You'll see the single slot to add in the memory. Make sure that it is seated by turning on laptop and seeing recognized memory in BIOS. Replace back, and then feet and you're done.

 

Agreed. You should be able to get a German OEM copy from your distributor. If they are making them, shame on them!!!!

And a clean install of Windows (non-ASUS version) works. You use the license key that came with the install package. I did a clean install Day 1 of owning this, along with an install of Mint Linux, after I broke the RAID. Just add in the ASUS packages you need from the download site. Unfortunately those apps will be English versions.

 

To any of you who have had the back off the machine, have you noticed whether the battery is removable? I saw one review site where they actually did a video showing how easy it was to pull the battery, then another source said it was soldered in. Not that I need to worry about it yet, but for the future.

 

It's very easy. IIRC remove two Phillips screws and unplug the battery

 

Thanks a lot Guilden! Hey another question for you... I've heard that the newer versions of this computer don't have the fan noise issue (the fans have been replaced by Asus) Unfortunately even though I only bought mine in May of 2013 mine does have the whining fan problem (really loud) Has anyone on this forum gotten their hands on the 'new fans' and attempted a transplant?

 

I found a english oem version that actually worked!
after install i was able to switch to german in windows and now everything runs smooth. i installed only the asus specific drivers from their support-page. wifi, bluetooth, graphics and others directly from hardware-manufacturer.

i'm happy again

thanks

 

I bought my machine early and have no fan problems (well... with the exception below). Personally I don't think there are two types of fans, the difference is more likely changes in the EC firmware (EC = Embedded Controller, the microprocessor handling keyboard, touchpad and fan control), if one looks at the BIOS updates for this model there are a lot of EC/thermal table changes. Also, that the Asusparts.eu website lists only one version of the fans makes the case for this stronger:

http://www.asusparts.eu/en/partfinder/Asus/Notebook/U Series/UX51VZ#Cooling

I do have had a few fan problems myself however those have been 100% my fault, first I dropped the computer which apparently made the "CPU fan" (the left) stuck. A gentle tap above the keyboard fixed that (after a reboot - when it couldn't spin the EC controller goes into a "panic mode" and when it got unstuck it revved to maximum speed). The other is that I've replaced the thermal paste on the GPU but didn't use enough of fear of shorting anything (tested a liquid metal variant) which makes the right fan spin at high speeds when the Nvidia GPU is enabled.

IMHO the difference in fan noise between computers can be caused by sloppy application of thermal compound from Asus, I know that the existing application in my computer looked non-professional compared with my e.g. Elitebook HP machines.

 

I got mine in March and the fans are dead silent under normal workload. You may have gotten an older machine even if you bought it in May, could've been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for several months.

Though what Megol just posted seems to make a lot of sense to me.

 

So I got my U500 back within a week's time, not bad. Picked up and delivered again at no cost, which I thought was nice. Asus tech replaced the RAM, and it seems to work fine again. Wonder how it got toasted though, but oh well.

Less impressed with the return packaging, consisting of just the inner original box, which I thought was risking it. They also did not tighten some of the back screws very well, so now I am looking to buy this weird star-shaped ultra-small screwdriver to fix that...

 

I got mine the first week of December last year, and nobody I know has ever heard any fan noise. Immediately did a clean Win 8 install, dual boot with Mint Linux.

 

Well the good news is thank to the advice on this forum I successfully upgraded my RAM from 8 to 12 GB without any issues. Since I had the case open anyway I took a picture of the fan so that I could get the part number. My fans still hum pretty loudly (I gave them a quick cleaning while I had it open hoping it would lower the noise, but it didn't) and that's the only issue i would like to resolve with this computer. As this is a business laptop for me I can't wait the 3-4 weeks where you send it in to get it 'repaired' on warranty. If one of you who doesn't have any fan problems and has the same computer UX51VZA happens to have you case open could you share the part number on your fans? I'd like to confirm that it's the same one and if it is then I just have defective fans and hopefully ordering replacements should do the trick. Not sure how complicated it is to replace them myself though (I'm not as much of a notebook pro as most people seem to be on this forum, just enough to get myself into trouble) Thanks for the help!

 

@kermode:

I have the same fans and the noise is almost undetectable during the day.

 

Me too.
Does the sound you hear from them make you believe it is more from the air around the fan, or the motor?

I am a bit of a brushless motor fanatic from designing and building a custom radio controlled monster truck that uses brushless motors for power.

There are only a couple of things that can make a brushless motor make loud noise. Most likely for these would be bad bushing/bearings. I am pretty sure that these motors don't have bearings. But they might. I will do some research to see what their design is.

 

I'm going to try one more time to see if any of you will help determine if the issue I'm having is normal behavior or if I should send my machine to Asus as Xotic PC ( where I bought my unit) suggests. I just don't want to send mine in to be torn down unnecessarily.

Here's the issue, and I know it sounds picky. Please try this. Have your UX51VZ running normally with the lid open and the power supply plugged in with the green LED lit on the side by the power plug in. Shut the computer down until it turns completely off. The green LED should still be lit. After making sure it has completely shut down and powered off, unplug the power supply cord from the wall. After about 10 seconds the LED should go off. Make sure you leave the lid open and don't move it at all.

Now here is the odd behavior mine exhibits. As soon as the green LED goes off, after a couple of seconds the machine powers on by itself as if something with having the lid open and unplugging the power is triggering this.

To me this seems like more of a firmware BIOS issue than a broken hardware issue that my retailer is suggesting. This being the only issue I'm having I am not real anxious to ship it only to be told they can't find anything wrong. This is where I'm looking to see if others do the same. My model is the UX51VZA and I am running the latest BIOS 204. Thanks!

 

I seriously doubt it's a fan defect. There are many here who have complained about fan noise, although others are quick to point out they have no issues also. I hear my fans if they are on, and it's not a rattling/ticking fan motor sound, but just air being pushed through relatively narrow openings. It produces a higher tone than a 120 mm fan would. As long as the fans are on, they can be heard.

My guess is that we all have the same fans, and that some of us are just more sensitive to the noise than others are. Perhaps there is also variance in the fans themselves, but since they appear to be all of the same type, and since the manufacturer (Delta) is not some no-name low-quality company, I doubt whether exchanging them would help much.

But you can try for sure, I'd be very happy indeed if you can get rid of it by exchanging fans-- in fact I would follow suit. As it is, I am using Notebook Fan Control to shut down the fans when they are not needed. Blissful and total silence, which even the best Delta fan would be unable to match.

 

I don't have the same behavior however it can't be replicated exactly with this machine. The power input LED turns off directly when the cable is unplugged.

 

Have anyone that thinks the fans are loud tested the temperatures of GPU/CPU? Just browsing the web and watching youtube takes my processor(s) to ~54 degrees celsius which is nearly noiseless. IIRC around 60 degrees the fans start to be a bit more noticeable and at 80 degrees they are loud. But if they go into "panic mode" they are really loud (I caused this on my machine as mentioned in another post).

 

Thanks Megol. On mine, when I unplug the power cord from the wall the green power LED stays on for 5 or so seconds until the "brick" capacitors are drained. All my other laptops of different manufacturers always stay on for a few seconds too after unplugging.

 

All power bricks will have relatively beefy capacitors in them to do their job which is why you have to be so careful when working inside them and why that LED can stay on for a bit.
;

 

Check my earlier posts, I have measured decibel level with a decibel meter. Zero increase over background sounds that were very quiet. It is NOT a perception level unless you are saying those complaining are making it up in their mind.

I can show a pic of my very good decibel meter running whatever game you want, my Zenbook is.dead quiet. I am not asking those who are complaining to do the same, I believe them.

There is a difference, but what it is isn't clear.

 

Doh! It's me that can't follow simple instructions!

However done exactly as you describe still doesn't start the machine when the LED turn off.

 

I have my fans configured to start running at 55C, at which point they rotate at the lowest configurable level (12-15% or so). Normally, without fan control, that lowest level is the baseline; they rotate at that speed until things heat up. Probably at that 60C you mentioned.

 

I am aware of your "no noise" claim; indeed you've made it repeatedly. I don't know what to make of this, though: You're saying your Zenbook makes no noise even when running a game? That's nothing short of magical with a 35W i7 CPU and a GT650 under considerable load. Am I misunderstanding your statement above?

I mean no offense, and I can imagine some unknown difference with regard to the fans or their regulation could make a difference between the perception of (virtually) no noise and "some" noise in idle mode. But under load, any laptop, especially one as compact as ours, must work to cool. Under a workload, such as given by a game, the fans should be loud and clear, for everyone.

 

Hi all
I am also experiencing the same issue. I bought a new UX51VZA notebook last month. After I received it I copied all data from my old computer to this new one on the D partition. If I suspend the computer and I wake it up after 4 hours, data in the D partition are corrupted.
The problem occurs only when Instant on is in “Battery Saving Mode” and after sleeping for more than 4 hours (when it goes in this strange hibernation mode). I also noted that the problem occurs only when large amount of data is stored on partition D. I copied more than 83.000 files for a total of 58 Gb.
I also tried to reset the PC to the original settings and the problem remained.

I sent the notebook to ASUS assistance and they replaced ssd disks and mother board. When I received it back the problem was still there. So, I believe it is a inherent problem in the model or in the software originally installed on it (the problem occurred from the first day).

I am pretty frustrated of being unable to use a 2k Euros notebook.
Has anybody else noted the same problem and/or found a solution to it?

 

So quick update on my side. I've owned in the area of 50+ notebooks over the last 10 years, and I can honestly say that this is the first one that I've ever encountered a 'fan noise' issue with, so it seems unlikely that this can be chalked up as 'I'm more sensitive to fan noise than most". To me it sounds like the fan is slightly off balance or something as it has a 'tic tic tic' sound, hard to describe without a sound recording, but the gist of it is that with a normal fan you might have a lot of 'air noise' but it's pretty consistent (I.e. not a lot of changes in frequency at a consistent speed) whereas a fan that's gimped in some way often has a highly variable frequency even at a constant speed, as the motion of that fan is being 'interrupted' in some way (off balance, accumulation of dust or the like) and it definitely changes the sound. That's kind of what mine sound like, definitely not normal. On someone's suggestion in the forum I updated my BIOS and that has actually helped in that it is at least not throttling on and off violently like it used to. Sound is still there, but less annoying because it's not constantly on 'high revs' for no reason at all. Did have a scary moment after updating the BIOS where I couldn't reboot, but then figured out through a hail mary post on the web that it was because some 'secure hard drive' or somesuch option in the BIOS needed to be disabled. Phew.

Anyway I'm trying to get my hands on replacement fans to see if the issue gets better. The good news is that they are pretty easy to take out (at least one of them) as I had to remove it to take pictures to send to a fan vendor to get the right fans. When I get them and do the transplant I'll post again and let folks know if it makes any difference. In closing I'd say that I really love this laptop, it's a 'no compromise' laptop that's great for business and fun. If I didn't like it so much I wouldn't go through the hassle of getting it in perfect running condition. Thanks for all the help on this forum! I've never been much of a forum guy myself, but this forum has been so helpful for me that I may just become one.

 

No offense taken, you've provided excellent input here and I respect your perspective. I just re-read my post and it does seem harsh, I certainly didn't mean it that way. I truly meant that this is by far, the quietest laptop I have ever encountered, by far. I am not recommending it to anyone as I believe the build is made of cheap components. This opinion is based on my experience with the subwoofer jack dying, even though I hardly ever unplug it. I use this for business, so losing it for a week cost me a few thousand dollars in productivity. So I am not touting this as a wonder laptop with magical qualities, just stating my experience. Again, I will be happy to run whatever on it and use my decibel meter to show any difference (there won't be any) in fan noise.

I am no gamer, I use the laptop for 90% business but I run speech recognition coding builds, and a lot of video for demos. I have run several games on it, mainly because my son was interested in seeing how fast they rendered and ran overall.

I mainly run Linux, but do run Win 8 a few times per week. No difference in fan noise.

I still do have to look up the brushless motor info posted here last week as that might be a good root cause if they are different across laptops.

 

I'll just insert a comment that one component failing on one machine doesn't necessarily mean that the component is of bad quality. Even things like Neutrik connectors fail after all even though they are built like a tank and intended for professional audio users.

With that said last time the computer was opened (to check fan markings) I noticed that the headphone jack had a tiny plastic piece that had splintered from the connector and was bent upwards, not in a critical or even structural part but still not 100% . Could have been like that from the factory - haven't looked closely at that area before.

Well I have the same fan as the one posted earlier and have no noise problems at all so it can't be the only cause at least.

 

FWIW.....I have the UX51VZA (not sure if the A after the model is significant regarding what fans you have). My fan noise is very minimal. At idle I have to put my head up by the keyboard and screen to hear any fan. If I play some videos or do anything more taxing on the machine the fans do speed up, but again you have to listen for it to hear them. If anything else is going on in the house such as the TV or dishwasher like right now in my kitchen it is impossible to hear them.

Now, I have a 4 year old HP HDX18 huge hog laptop that has some real fan noise. When that sucker is playing a movie it puts out a ton of hot air that you can hear from 20 feet away.

 

When I'm sitting in my apartment it's hard to separate the the fan noise from the (water based central type) radiators. As it's warm outside the water flow through the radiators is almost nil so they are pretty silent...

Again I don't think there's different fan models in this computer, the fans are from Delta which is a reliable manufacturer. The two most probable causes of the noise are old BIOS (as Asus have done some modifications in the thermal tables etc.) and sloppy heatpaste application.

 

Megol,
Except some of those of us with no noise didn't have the noise with even the first bios version. Very good point about the possibility of paste application bring a root cause. I have to raise it again one last time....nobody running Linux has mentioned noise. Makes me wonder if there is a Windows driver issue. I installed a clean version of Win 8 the day I received it, dual boot with Linux. Different drivers than those installed with the Asus OEM Win 8.

 

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone can assist me with my UX51VZ (which I've had for a couple of months, now).

Having recently installed the latest nVidia graphics drivers from the ASUS web page at ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download UX51VZ, my ultrabook has been rendered useless due to what I suspect is a problem with the drivers. When boot up, I get the blue Windows 8 logo, after which the screen turns completely black, and then -- nothing happens.

If I run my finger over the touchpad, the mouse cursor appears and accurately tracks the motion of my finger for about three seconds, before popping back to the center of the screen, whereupon it resumes following my finger. Apart form an occasional network connection icon that intermittently flashes at the bottom of my screen, it otherwise remains totally black.

My first inclination was to boot into safe mode, but that has apparently become problematic under Windows 8. Neither F8 nor Shift-F8 are working (no matter how quickly I ram on the keyboard), and none of the options presented to me when I boot from a USB flash drive have borne any fruit, either because "the hard drive has been locked" (whatever that means) or because "a required drive partition is missing."

I've gotten a command prompt up, and I can CD to my C: (OS) and D: (data) drives, and see all of my files happily sitting there; I just can't see a damned thing. I've even tried connecting a monitor to my laptop via the HDMI port, but nothing shows on the external display, either.

At the moment, I'm downloading the previous version of the nVidia drivers at the ASUS web site, so that I can install them via the troubleshooter. In the event that this doesn't work, though, can anyone suggest some other course of action, short of re-installing Windows 8? (I would say Windows 7, since that is an OS that works more reliably, but I don't see any support for Windows 7 in any of ASUS' drivers.)

UPDATE: Resorted to completely re-installing Windows 8, which I discovered that I am unable to do. (Installer complains of the hard drive being in GPT configuration.)

So now, I can neither boot into Windows, nor can I re-install Windows. Really terrific.

 

When laptop is start booting and you push F2 key, bios setup start? Yes?

 

Hi im planing to buy u500 model,can someone tell me is 24gb ssd cash is acting like real ssd hard drive or its slow? I had one samsung 9 series with quad core i7, 24gb ssd cache and 1tb 5400 hard drive,was 1600dol and that laptop was the slowest laptop i have ever use in my life so... Im very sceptic about that ssd cashe,im in east europe and i cant test it before i buy so please if someone can answer my question,i know that hard drive can not be upgraded with swaping the 2,5 drives thx

 

First I can't help as my model is one with RAID SSD but...

You should be able to change the 2.5" disk without problem as that model have a standard notebook interface. You can't upgrade the tiny SSD (easily) as it is soldered onto the motherboard.

It's us that have the RAID SSD that can't upgrade as those drives have a custom Asus design and no 2.5" interface soldered to the motherboard. I would have preferred to be able to upgrade but that model wasn't available :/

 

Very few people here have the eastern european models (24gb cache or 128gb ssd + hdd) but there's no reason you shouldn't be able to swap the hdd for ssd. The only problem is replacing the ssds in north american models as they use propriatery connectors.

 

Well I'm sad to hear about your problems and am not sure if this helps any but have you tried the procedure listed here: How To Boot Into Safe Mode On Windows 8 (The Easy Way)

(Personally I don't know what MS is doing nowadays, Windows 8 have made some real stupid things and removing easy access to something as basic as "safe mode" must be ranked high among the stupidity list)

 

Ok this is the model Asus U500VZ-CN089H
I guess its for eastern europian market im not sure for this BUT according to this review

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-Zenbook-UX51VZ-U500VZ-Notebook.84246.0.html

Swaping the hard drives are not possible,not sure what means propietary connectors?

 

Well that's just a review that talks about 256 and 512 ssd models which is what most people on here have. But I know in countries like Ukraine and Romania 24gb ssd cache + 500gb hdd or 128gb ssd + 500gb are available. What I'm saying is that if you get one of those models you will be able to replace the hdd with a standard ssd.

 

Ok thx for info,is there any apecific soft/hardware problem with this laptop? I heard fan noise is loud?

 

Maybe someone would be interested.
SATA SSD HDD to 18pin as SanDisk SD5SE2 SDSA5JK ADATA XM11 for Asus UX31 UX21 | eBay

 

Hi,

Just updated my U500VZ with the latest BIOS from asus.com. When restarting my laptop, the screen is powered on but black, full fans, and full keyboard lights. Nothing happens. No post, nothing. Any suggestions?

Flashed via Winflash tool provided also by Asus download area.

Thanks in advance,
/A

 

Sounds like it's bricked In some cases there is a backup mechanism where one can reflash the BIOS by using a USB floppy (!) or USB stick containing the BIOS file and trigger the flashing in some way. Try to look at one of the BIOS forums on the web for directions.

If the above doesn't help then you'll probably have to send it for service.

 

It's one of the most silent and least troublesome machines I've had. Still consider it close to perfect for me.

 

Thanks for the information. I'm browsing through the forum using only an iPad - takes forever... But yes, I also suspect it need to go back for a service.

The stupid thing I just got it back from fixing a broken screen, and I desperately need it for work. I therefor can't afford being without a computer anymore. Sucks!

And for now I'm stuck at my family summer house with only an iPad - hence limited optiona for eg creating an usb bios flash drive.

Any other helpful tips are most welcome!

 

Hey, I just got my UX51VZ.

The screen is great, I love the IPS panel. I got the 1920x1080 version... scaling doesn't always work (e.g. Steam completely ignores it) so I switched to 100% and its ok, I can get used to it.
I got a few questions:

1. The 207 Bios update on the Asus Downloads Site is only for the UX51VZH... does the UX51VZA have a bios version newer than 204? The fan needs some adjustments and I read in the changelog about them but sadly the 207 bios is only for UX51VZH.

2. Do the build in SSDs really use this uncommon form factor? I bought the 2x128GB version and thought I could upgrade the HDDs just like with any other laptop.

 

No #204 is the last one.

Here's a picture of the internals, the SSDs are the two boards on the right below the battery. And yes, they are 100% Asus custom. http://images.anandtech.com/doci/6923/Internals.jpg

 

Thanks for the picture.

Do you guys use the SSDs in Raid 0 Mode or partition them separately?
I havn't decided yet if I keep the laptop, but if I do, I'm going to repartition the SSDs and throw away all the recovery partitions. Initially I planned on having one partition on every SSD each but since I ran AS SSD Benchmark on the pre installed Win8 Raid 0 I saw how blazing fast it is. Are there any other side effects when using the Raid 0 like faster "wear and tear" of the SSDs? Should I maybe keep the empty partition at the end or should I just let the SSD controllers handle wear leveling?

 

It makes little difference but raid 0 does let you have one large volume.