Asus N550JV - user review and owners lounge

HDMI audio issue?

I did a quick search on this thread, but did not see it. I may have remember reading a bit about it, but not sure.

Problem: plug HDMI cable in port connecting to TV. Picture, screen display, no sound transfer.

I have tried to follow some suggestion to resolve it, but none working:
1. remove the intel hd audio, reboot, then plug in, discover, but HDMI sound show disabled and no cable plug in.
2. go to NVDIA control panel, I don't see where the control of HDMI audio as some others suggested for other Asus laptop.

Please help.

 

I had the same problem except i didn't do anything to the BIOS. My laptop suddenly turn off while i am surfing internet but at that time battery is still full. I started back my laptop and the problem happened when is try to go to NVIDIA control panel.
Nvidia display settings are not available.
You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU.
I've sent my laptop to ASUS to change new graphic card. My concern is the problem might happen again coz i read in other forum that the problem happen again to some people after ASUS give him new laptop as exchange to the broken one.
Can you give me clear guidance on what i should do to prevent the same issue from happen again or how to solve it if it is happening again.
FYI i am just a normal laptop user who dont really know technical things like updating BIOS and etc..

 

I had the same problem except i didn't do anything to the BIOS. My laptop suddenly turn off while i am surfing internet but at that time battery is still full. I started back my laptop and the problem happened when is try to go to NVIDIA control panel.
Nvidia display settings are not available.
You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU.
I've sent my laptop to ASUS to change new graphic card. My concern is the problem might happen again coz i read in other forum that the problem happen again to some people after ASUS give him new laptop as exchange to the broken one.
Can you give me clear guidance on what i should do to prevent the same issue from happen again or how to solve it if it is happening again.
FYI i am just a normal laptop user who dont really know technical things like updating BIOS and etc..

 

Anyhow, I have finally called to Asus support. Even the technical support is helpful, they are using the same similar playbook asking me to completely reset my laptop back to manufacture. I was able to talk him out of forcing me to do so and then start the troubleshooting.

However, he did suggest to go to BIOS, then F9--> F10. this is when the problem started. My system has no longer booting. He thinks my upgrade to Win 8.1 did not completely succeed (even I have been using it for two weeks since). After further discussion, he created a RMA case but strongly me to call Amazon to see what they can do (I'm <30 days).

Caling amazon, and got suggested to send back the laptop for full refund. ;(

Unfortunately, this will be the end of my usage of nice looking Asus, but starting with few problem and not working HDMI. I'm sadden, but have to package boxes, wireless, and memory for returning. (keeping my SSD).

Good luck to you all on your fun and working laptop. I'll be trolling the XPS 15 touch.

 

Good luck then, if that XPS had arrived 1-2 months earlier I would be seriously considering it. For me, it has the perfect config.

 

Do you set the fan to 100% before starting the game?

 

Probably Code 43 in Device Manager.

Reflash BIOS to fix it:
1. CTRL+R
2. "C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\WinFlash\WinFlash.exe" /nodate
3. Select 207 BIOS file
4. Install driver from asus and enjoy

 

All of you Nvidia Code 43 people...
Before flashing any BIOS (which should be the last resort to everything you do to the laptop since you might irreversibly brick the system), please reset the CMOS to confirm it's not just wonky temporary corrupt settings stored by the BIOS. Remove the AC cord before unscrewing the many Torx T5 screws and removing the bottom panel. This requires pulling out the small black coated button cell battery (has a little cord beneath the fan, and remember its polarity). Then removing the main battery (3 phillips head screws). Then flip the laptop over and hold the power button for a few seconds to discharge capacitors completely before reassembling the whole laptop. Power it on, go into the BIOS, and set the clock to the current date. Then see if the error goes away.

 

Can anyone explain to me how to upgrade to SSD without losing ability to reinstall windows?

This is my first laptop, and I have owned home-built desktops for 20+ years. I am pulling my hair out over the fact that you cannot simply install windows and enter a product key. From googling, it also seems to be very much based around how the laptop is setup to handle this. There are tons of partitions on this hard drive, what a mess.

Edit: I have updated to windows 8.1, though I think that will make little difference in anything.

 

Hello Humans!

I'm about to buy this Asus - 15.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive -,

Actually a friend in the us is going to buy it for me and bring it with her to .ar Do you think this is a good choice? I only have one chance and wont be able to do any returns or to try it before buying it.

Since my friend is there, I'm also going to ask her to bring me some more ram for it, but I'm not sure which is best. I'm looking at these two: 1 2

lastly, again, since there won't be any way for me to get new hardware here. is there anything else that you think i should buy for it while I have the chance?

thanks a lot!

 

But if we knew how to change the throttling temperature from 80 to 90 or how to change the throttling CPU speed from 0.8 to 2.4 it would be even more awesome.

I couldn't find it in the BIOS using AMIBCP 4.53.

 

There's hardly any need for that, out of the box this unit has throttling problems due to a bug in the fan control algorithm which leads to lower than expected fan speeds while the CPU is throttling (at least this is my experience). Once you gain control of the fans via Notebook Fan Control this problem is gone. You can always disable bidirectional throttling via software, which is far less risky than flashing a custom BIOS.

I'm pretty sure the system can maintain decent temps under mixed load with both CPU & GPU at turbo frequencies, but if that is not the case, one can always shave a lot of power usage from the CPU by simply lowering maximum turbo speed by 200-300Mhz. Couple that with a decent & safe undervolt and you might easily bring down power consumption by 10W or so.

One more thing you should know about temps and power usage: both CPU and GPU power draw is partially influenced by temperature, meaning the hotter a chip is, the more power it will use. This is not a linear effect, since only part of the power usage depends on temperature, but it's enough to matter when a few less watts might tip the thermal balance. So if you really intend to push this unit to it's limits (ex: overclock GPU) you might want to set a more aggressive fan control profile: keeping the chips cooler limits power usage a bit, which in turn leads to a bit less heat.

 

Fan control profile is more agressive with notebookfancontrol at heavy loads, i find it hard to believe that you still experience throttling with it. Not to mention that u can make the default fan profile more agressive by tweaking it, but i do find it perfect as it is imo.

 

Quick question for the owner's in the crowd. Is the non-touch (DB71) version lighter than the touch version (DB72T)? Is the non touch version actually 5.7 pounds (meaning has anybody actually weighed theirs to test it)? 5.7 lbs just seems very high, and it seems strange that the non-touch and touch versions would weigh the same. I just about an HP Envy 15t-j100, but the screen is not great and I'm looking to return it. The N550JV seems like a good choice, but if its really 5.7 lbs thats almost a pound heavier than the Envy.

 

Yep it's pretty big. Up to you. I always go for best cooling system now, because i can't bear overheating, noise etc...Keep in mind though that the fans profile are crap at stock but by just installing a little software called Notebookfancontrol, it becomes deadly silent at low loads and overkill at full load. Full cpu turbo on 4 cores and OCed 750M GT is piece of cake.

 

SWAPPING OUT HDD TO SSD

There are a lot of posts already scattered throughout this N550 thread.

A good site had info that basically said use something like Paragon to clone/migrate the hard drive to the solid state drive and then swap them out. If it's a perfect clone the computer won't notice the difference between the drives and should behave exactly the same.

There are a few things to be careful of depending on the size of the SSD relative to the HDD (bigger, smaller or the same) as some partition sizes may need to be adjusted if the drives are not identical in size.

Solved How to Migrate OS to new Hard disk.

 

see this post
N550JV-DB72T
LCD 15.6 FHD WV slim(LED) T.P. according to specs on the box

 

Any Ubuntu-family or Debian users? I can't get the F7-F12 function keys working right.
If, for example, I am trying to play a youtube video, F12 opens up a browser page debugging window, F11 opens up a browser menu list ("new tab" etc), instead of changing audio volume.
I need a clue to what commands control volume so I can try to reassign the keys.

 

Interesting. Thanks so much! Does anyone have a confirmed weight for the non touch (DH-71) version? I'd much rather lose touch in favor of lighter weight?

 

Could I ask what your settings are? I haven't used fan control software in the past and I don't want to harm my laptop. But I'd love to get the most out of this laptop's cooling system!

 

Nothing to do really, just download this : [Vorstellung] NoteBook FanControl (NBFC) - ComputerBase Forum

Install, launch config editor, choose asus N550JV and there you go. The fans will kick only above 65°C, so it's completely silent for basic tasks, while being quite agressive at higher loads. You can make it boot with windows.

 

My non-touch version weighs 2.306 kg. Just notice that I've swapped the ODD with a HDD caddy and then put the HDD in there and a SSD into the normal HDD slot.
As the ODD won't be much different regarding the weight compared to the SSD I'd say you can take this value for your further thoughts.

 

Wow. That is excellent (According to Google, that's 5.083 lbs). I'm sold. And I'm planning on doing the same thing with the ODD, so that's actually perfect. Thanks so much for the info. Any links on the best method to do the swap, a good ODD caddy, any bios issues, etc?

 

Hy. I have a problem with my ASUS N550jv. I'm using Win 8.1 and when I play BF3 my fps drops from 60fps to 14fps and I was just standing on one position, so I didn't move. The same think happens when I move, it just drop and my screen lags so much that I can't play the game (low texture and resulotion of 1280x720)... if I set a bigger resolution the same think. The temp of the CPU is 80C and the GPU temp is 76~78C. Does anybody have a solution for my problem or had the same problem?!? TNX

 

Do the fans work? What BIOS version do you have? My BF3 works just fine at 1600x900...
Check on NVidia settings that the game is set to work with the dedicated GPU and not the integrated one.

 

Yes fans work. BIOS version is 205. How many fps do you have on what texture settings. The game is set on NVIDIA not integrated.

 

I let Nvidia GeForce Experience choose the optimal settings:
Ambient Occlusion: OFF
Anisotropic Filtering: 2x
Anti-aliasing Deferred: OFF
Anti-aliasing Post: HIGH
Effects Quality: ULTRA
Graphics Quality: CUSTOM
Mesh Quality: LOW
Resolution: 1600x900
Shadow Quality: MEDIUM
Terrain Decoration: LOW
Terrain Quality: LOW
Texture Quality: LOW

I don't exactly remember the fps (I can't play it now), let's say it doesn't give any problem at all (so it's definitely above 30fps)

 

So, I reluctantly cloned the original HDD to an SSD (and subsequently had to use bootrec commands to get it to boot, and then re-align sectors). From what I have read, it seems the only way to retain windows 8 is to do this?

What about if/when the hard drive fails and the laptop is no longer under warranty?

 

I first bought a cheap caddy for about 11€ which caused permanent 20% usage of the CPU(Windows and Linux tested, to be sure it's not OS dependent, 207 BIOS) and then I bought one from here -> Asus N550 N550JV HDD Caddy and that one works perfectly, no issues.
Others have bought cheap ones, too, so you might be good with this aswell but I just didn't want to buy another cheap one to see it has the same issue.

You get yourself a Windows 8(.1) ISO and burn it to a DVD or make a bootable USB stick, that's what you do
I deleted my recovery partition months ago because I don't use that stuff anyway, I prefer clean installs.
I had easy access to the ISOs because of Microsoft's Dreamspark and me being a student, so you may have to search for it a bit.

 

This is certainly a twist! I also prefer clean installs, and see no need to have recovery stuff taking up precious space on my SSD. However, I thought I read several times earlier in this thread that it will not authenticate. If I can acquire a windows 8.1 (non-"professional" edition of course) installation ISO, it will authenticate????

 

I've just bought a caddy for 19€, I'll let you know how it works.
Concerning windows 8, I think I'll use the DreamSpark version too, without cloning anything (it's way simpler)

Inviato dal mio HTC Desire utilizzando Tapatalk

 

To be clear, you guys only used this Dreamspark as a method of acquiring the ISO, and did not use any kind of Dreamspark product key?

Essentially, will Windows 8 authenticate based on the product key which is supposedly stored in the BIOS with any appropriate Windows 8 installation media?

I very much prefer clean installs, and I want to re-do my installation that's on the SSD as well as format the original 5400 rpm hard drive. I will do this in a heartbeat if I don't actually need to retain the original files / partitions in order to have an authenticated copy of windows.

I have a caddy coming in this week.

 

Yes, you usually don't need to enter the key yourself and yes I only got the ISO from there, not the key.
Only if you get yourself a Windows 8.1 ISO you need to enter a key(did this lastly because the update from 8.0 to 8.1 fcked up language stuff etc.) but you can easily read out the key with a program, for example "Windows 8 Product Key Viewer".
Notice that in this case you need another key for 8.1 installation(freely available, not illegal as it doesn't serve for activation) and then you enter your read out Windows 8 key after installation in the activation screen.

 

Just to be clear, if I want to I can install on en empty ssd Windows 8.1 pro with DreamSpark 's key via usb flash drive, right? I know it can sound like a stupid question, but I have never installed an OS under UEFI bios... Should I disable secure boot, or clone the hdd anyway?

Inviato dal mio HTC Desire utilizzando Tapatalk

 

Hello
I want to buy this laptop but i dont know what difference between matte version and touchscreen version whats screen is better in the color and to see movie also playing games,someone told me both of them is the same but the touchscreen is matte with layer touch is that true.

thank you

 

Thanks for your response. I was able to find my Windows 8.1 Product Key using Belarc Advisor. However, is this one of the freely available keys to which you referred, and not my Windows 8 Product Key? I'm wondering if I now cannot retrieve it now that I have patched to 8.1

I would prefer to go straight to 8.1 to avoid any possible complications, but if, as you say, I don't need to input any keys for 8.0 then maybe I will go that route.

Edit: Could you possibly give me information on the exact build / name / any other info on the copy you got from Dreamspark? I have a few ISOs in the works.

Edit2: I reinstalled my original HDD and I am rolling back to factory defaults in the hope that that means I will be back to Windows 8. (not 8.1). That way, I may be able to get my product key. I think 8.1 had its own product key because when I tried to create an ISO using the one I found with Belarc Advisor, it wouldn't let me. Did you make your ISO for 8.1 using Microsoft's download option here and entering your retrieved product key from the laptop? http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only

Edit3: If this link is correct, I may have found what I'm looking for, though the resource claims that it is "MSDN", which I don't think is actual released version:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers...evo-ssd-sata-cable-transfer-data-hdd-ssd.html
(en_windows_8_x64_dvd_915440.iso)

 

I found that ISO on google docs and downloaded it in one shot as an ISO in a few minutes (5.5 MB/s whereas anywhere else was less than 100 kB/s). I checked the SHA-1 hash value with what Microsoft said it should be and it matches so I think the ISO is good.

 

Thanks for doing that! I am honestly not sure what you mean by the hash value, but it sounds like from what you are saying that it should be the appropriate version.

Edit: After googling about SHA-1, I see that you are verifying its authenticity, not whether or not it is the appropriate version. Going to give it a shot tonight though.


[Unrelated] Edit2: I haven't had the willpower to try to read all 124 pages of this thread, but it looks like Newegg has discontinued this laptop and Amazon has made it un-searchable (you can still find it through google). Have people been having a ton of problems with it?

 

I don't think it's discontinued already as it's still listed in the Asus September-October flyer plus it's still in the current product section of various Asus websites.

Plus if you compare the posts here to something like the Dell XPS 15 L521 pre-Haswell there are a lot more disgruntled users with problems there than with the N550JV (as a percentage of posts with complaints such as overheating, poor wifi, screen, etc.).

However, I've been wrong about bigger things before so if it is discontinued the reason in my mind would be too much product overlap with other Asus product as opposed to being too unreliable with too many warranty issues.

There have been a few mentions about people breaking three (?) plastic clips the first time they try to remove the bottom cover of the N550.

Where are the clips and what is the best way to remove the bottom (e.g. slide forward then lift, etc.) with minimal chance of damaging the clips?

 

I removed my bottom cover without incident by unscrewing the T5s and then carefully inserting a very small flathead screwdriver just enough to pry the side up in one spot. Then it was a matter of just working my way around the perimeter pulling up gently.

Putting the cover back on, I stripped one of the screws by barely allowing the driver to slip. I got it out with pliers, but I now need to replace it and have no idea where to find them.

 

Newegg has it in stock.
Amazon search brings up more than three N550JV results.

Why are we having this conversation?

 

I had only looked for the touchscreen model. Newegg's is listed as discontinued:
Newegg.com - ASUS N550JV-DB72T Intel Core i7 4700HQ(2.40GHz) 8GB Memory 1TB HDD 15.6" Touchscreen Notebook Windows 8 64-Bit

 

Hi guys,

I have a problem: after playing gta 4 for about 5 minues, the cpu throttles to a constant 798mhz resulting in a unplayable gta. Screenshot after playing gta for about 5 minutes:


Do you guys have this problem too? Is there something that could be done to fix this issue?

 

Regarding the stuff on page 124, I can now verify that using the MSDN ISO did work, and that the product key that it pulled is the same product key I had with the preinstalled setup. I was not asked for one at any point. I successfully updated to 8.1 through the windows store after installing the appropriate windows update. Windows is authenticated.

 

I'm back.

After spend 2 sleepless night and ordering XPS 15 Touch, I found the solution to this HDMI and crashing of my machine.

As ASUS support mentioned, sometimes when you update 8.1, it may not update all your drivers. I had to go back and factory image using the original 1TB drive, then patch win8 with all drivers and update. After that done, I went thru the process of updating to 8.1 then patch update again. All these were done prior to install any applications.

I was able to verify HDMI working with Win8 without hiccup (original installed from ASUS). For Win8.1, sometime I have to leave it plug in while reboot the machine for the Intel HD Audio to recognize the TV to get both audio and video. (Another option is to disable realtek HD Audio, then reboot).

For XPS 15 Touch, I was looking to it in replacement of this, but canceled the order at last minute. It is because current app support for that beautiful QHD+, and the huge price point factor. Besides the QHD+ screen and the much lighter weight, I don't see how it would justify to spend $800 extra for almost the same spec (i upgraded my ASUS with Intel 7260AC, and 240G SSD+ 16G).

now, I'm rocking my ASUS again.

NOTE: If you have upgraded your ASUS, Please do not try going to BIOS, then select F9 to load the default optimize settings. That what I did by support recommendation. It render my SSD boot useless and almost returned a nice-economical laptop choice.

 

Download my program ThrottleToggle placed in my signature, run it once to disable throttling and again to enable it again(if you want this, of whatever reason).
You have to do this every time you reboot(=after reboot throttling is enabled).

You have to enter one if you install Windows 8.1 directly, that was the point.
You don't have to care about anything except drivers for Windows 8 and the upgrade to 8.1 afterwards.

 

XTU graph would probably be more helpful.

 

You don't need another graph or anything.
It's the well-known throttling of this notebook, especially as GTA IV is a highly CPU using game.
If one wants to get rid of it the easiest way he'll disable throttling, simple.

 

What if there wasn't any throttling at all? His screenshot doesn't explicitly show this.

BTW, lowering 3 and 4 core multiplier to, say, 30 and 29 can be another solution to fight throttling (as mentioned a lot of times in this thread before).

And I wanted to ask you, Morv, how do you put ThrottleToggle in Windows startup?

 

There is no other reason than throttling so the CPU would go down to 800 MHz.
If he hadn't plugged in his AC adapter he wouldn't have graphics power -> he wouldn't be able to play 5 minutes until he notices FPS drops.
Sure lowering core multiplier is a way to solve it somewhat but it will throttle anyway at some time if it's highly used and gets hot so you have to go even lower or you disable throttling and don't have to worry about anything anymore.
For example a CPU using game like GTA IV may use 99% thus the CPU gets hot and it will throttle until you are at multiplier 24(standard clock) or 25 but then you play another game which uses the GPU more than the CPU and the CPU would be able to stay at multiplier 30 but you've locked it at 24 and you would need to change that explicitly every time you change the game.
By disabling throttling the CPU will stay at the highest clock possible. If it has high load and gets really hot it will go down to multiplier 24 but on the other hand it will increase it again if it gets cooler or isn't used that much anymore.
It's just less pain if you ask me.

To put it in startup you need to create a simple task.
So go to control panel -> administrative tools -> task scheduler -> on the right side click on "Create Basic Task..." -> give it a name -> trigger at login -> action is "start program" -> choose the ThrottleToggle.exe and add the argument -f in the second line if you don't want to have the window open until you hit a key -> click on the checkbox and go on -> click the checkbox "Run with highest privileges" and confirm -> you're done and it starts after you log in.