Asus N550JV - user review and owners lounge

Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller for Intel 8 Series C220 seems to work:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=22824

 

Just to let everyone know, if you want a pretty nice keyboard protector, I bought one off of ebay here; Ebay

The letters on the keys are painted white but light stills comes through the sides of the cover. Here's a few pictures; imgur: the simple image sharer

 

What's the link to that ISO? I can't get it myself. I've even tried the W8 Download Assistant and it's lying to me, saying that I have internet connection issues. I don't have AV or FW running.

 

HDMI and AUDIO OUT

Hey all.

I've been enjoying my N550 for the last few months and over the weekend tried plugging it into my Home Theater set up via hdmi. Got picture immediately but no audio. I read in these forums about how one could uninstall the Intel Graphic driver and update them manually to fix, and I tried this with no effect. Does anyone have any idea how else I could fix this?

Thanks
Mark

 

Have you set the playback devices to be through your HMDI. Right click on the speaker icon in the task bar, then select playback devices, then select your home theater.

 

I've gone there and tried that, but nothing shows up. The only thing that shows up in the playback devices is the internal speakers.

BTW, i am running the latest windows 8.1

Mark

 

You can reinstall the Nvidia drivers and make sure the "HD Audio" is installed. It does let you select that if you pick "Custom installation"

 

I'll give that a shot. Thanks

Mark

 

We faced the same problem with trying to find a Blu-ray drive that would fit. The only 9.5 mm (called Super Slim or Ultra Slim) drives we could find required shipping from Asia. We got the UJ-262 from Amazon/24okbuy, but it looks like 24okbuy no longer has this. It looks like Amazon now has one from Blueberry Technology. The price is $130 (a little steep), which is what we paid.

On this thread, there is a link to a video for installing a hard drive caddy instead of the optical drive. The installation of the UJ-262 is essentially the same. It is important to use a Torx T5 screwdriver to remove the screws on the back cover. Any other kind of screwdriver will probably damage the screw heads. The original N550JV bezel fits perfectly.

Since this is a media computer, one would think it would come with a Blu-ray drive. Maybe the reason it doesn't is that 9.5 mm optical drives are hard to find now. This is a Blu-ray read and write drive, but I think if I ever wrote a Blu-ray disc I'd use a more substantial drive. We tried playing a Blu-ray movie. The movie played fine after we figured out how to use the player that comes with the computer. The drive is loud when it starts up (very common), but it is quiet while playing a movie. We did not have to load any special drivers; it just worked.

 

Would anyone know where to get extra Torx T5 screws? I wore the heads on mine down quite a bit last night and I may upgrade to 16 GB of RAM in the near future.

EDIT:

Also is the Ethernet port loose for anyone else? The cable I plug in has quite a bit of wiggle. I think it's because the width of the opening is that much bigger than the cable itself.

Overall, I'm more than happy with my purchase. My wallet on the other hand is not. Haha.

Sent from my dlx using Tapatalk

 

Hello guys.
I own the N550JV for one weef, but I have an issue. I returned the first one because the cycle count was telling 600.
I got the second one (different serial number), and the count is always telling 600, but I didn't want to return it again as I think this is some misreading, because 600 means battery should be dead, instead I can use it in battery for hours (same for the first one).
At the shop, I tested other laptops and also a N750JV and all was showing - sign as cycle count.
Can you test on yours, just open command prompt and type: powercfg /batteryreport and a report html file will be generated.

Thanks

 

Mine says 600 cycle count as well. I've had this laptop for over half a year now though, and the number has not changed since when I first got it.

 

I have 600 too. It hasn't changed since the first day I got it.

Sent from my dlx using Tapatalk

 

Thank you guys.
Apparently it is a common misreading, not a real problem.

 

Is anyone else having trouble with their gpu core clock always showing 405mhz? I just had the motherboard/gpu replaced and still have this problem. I was under the impression that the default gpu core clock was around 900mhz? I'm using afterburner to measure the speed and it always remains at 405mhz no matter what game i play, i haven't changed any of the speeds myself or tried to overclock it as i am running it on default settings. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what it could be or is this the same for everyone. Thanks

 

I am also having this issue. Windows 8.1 no sound with HDMI out.
Tried reinstalling Nvidia drivers but that option isn't there.
View attachment 108631

I also tried reinstalling Intel video drivers but, there is no custom install there, and no option to install HD Audio
Also tried reinstalling the Realtek Audio drivers, but still nothing there

Btw i only use the oem drivers from here http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/N550JV/#support_Download
Should i try other drivers, will this not mess up things?

 

Did you try getting the drivers directly from Realtek's site? They had a significantly newer version of it that the one on Asus' site.

Sent from my dlx using Tapatalk

 

Hey guys!

Came across a great deal and couldn't resist to buy this laptop. I've read all the 162 pages and I'm pretty stuffed with information and great tips from you guys. I decided to put in a SSD and switch the despicable Atheros card for Intel 7260 AC. But to my suprise my laptop came with the Intel 7260 N dual band and not the Atheros card. Someone else that have experienced this?

 

Was it new or 2nd hand?

 

Brand new, sealed and everything.

 

I have the same concern about needing to get replacement screws for the back cover in the future. Here is what I figured out so far. Maybe someone knows a source. A description of the screw might be something like: M2x4 mm Wafer Head Machine Screw, Length 4.5 mm (it probably can be 1 or 2 mm longer), Head Thickness about 0.3 mm, Head Diameter about 3 mm, Thread Pitch 0.40, Torx T5 Drive, some kind of black finish. The screw fits well into a 2 mm 0.40 pitch screw gauge, but I can't absolutely rule out that it is an M2.5 screw. There are a lot of places that sell similar screws, but I can't find a good match.

This web site in Europe lists some screws: www.asusparts.eu/en/Asus-90NB00K1-R7D010 The screw listed as SCREW M2*4L (K) W-NI,NY looks promising, but there is no illustration. Maybe someone in Europe could get one of these or get some additional information.

Just some ideas. The need for these screws keeps coming up on this thread.

 

Hello all,
I have a question about this laptop.
Last week after I plugged in my headphones in the jack, the Realtek software reported: "You plugged a device in the audio jack" and immediately after that: "You unplugged a device from the audio jack", just when I was plugging it in. This is happening very regularly and now I actually cannot use the headphones anymore, since no sound is coming out. The sound is still through the speakers, when the headset is connected.
Has anybody experienced something like this?
I reinstalled the audio drivers, which did not correct the issue and I use Win 7 x64.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Kudos for the great thread.

 

Mine did also have the Intel 7260 N Dual band. My laptop is Asus N550JV-CM283H, which comes with the 256GB SSD.

I have an Samsung EVO 1TB SSD on the way to replace the ODD, I think i've read somewhere that the pc checks for the DVD drive when booting, will switching it to a HDD just work, or do i need to change something in the bios to prevent startup error?

 

I was not aware of the Asus doing anything different to other machines so it should just be plug and go with adapter.

 

Hello Guys,
I am looking for answer with regard to technical issue of this wonderful machine. I am very positively impressed of the quality build of this model, however there is one thing that makes me worrying. I notice twice that laptop switches on for few seconds and switching of itself and this is happen when I open the lid. From that what I remember the laptop was shut down normally without any problems. I am trying to find out the reason of this and I considering if System in Sleep option maybe related with this issue. I've just upgraded windows to 8.1 version and I am expecting that it may also improve overall performance of this system.
Please let me know if you have had similar experience with switching on and off state in this machine.

 

Hi piotre80,
Welcome to NBR and congrats on your first post!
This may be happening when you shut the lid on your computer too soon after you have told it to shut down and it hasnt done so fully before you close the lid.
You can check Power Option settings under "Choose what closing the lid does" then adjust that to fit your habits better.

 

my friends ASUS N550 Core I7-4700HQ 8GB 750GB 15.6in FHD GeForce GT 750M BD BT Win8 Notebook... will be here soon.

just wondering which is the best option from it's users, or which have been done successfully by you guy.

1. swap the 750 hdd with sdd (clean install windows 7 from bootable cd, do all drivers install properly?)

2. swap the cd rom with sdd (will any 9.5mm caddy work? read it sticks out a few mm don't know if that's with everyone)

3. clone windows 8 to the ssd before installing it into the main hdd bay? (would i have to buy a external caddy)

thanks.

 

Can't answer for 1 and 3, but i just did number 2 yesterday (haha i see what i did ther)
I used this caddy 9 5mm SATA 2nd Hard Drive HDD SSD Caddy Adapter for Asus N550JA N550JV N750JV | eBay

Looks pretty good, it sticks out maybe half a mm on the front side, and lays flush in other end.






The out of focus part makes it look worse, its not really bad, hardly even notice it

 

Interesting, any other drive would likely do that too.

 

Can anyone help? I've been getting low memory errors when playing Dishonored (Steam). I have it running at max settings (at 1080p) in fullscreen, and after around 20 minutes of playing I hear the Windows 8 alert sound and 10 minutes later the app closes and I get an error about closing programs to free memory. The Windows 8.1 interface also then changes to an interface not dissimilar from the Windows 7 UI when aero gets disabled due to low performance, etc.

I have 8GB of RAM. I initially thought that it was a pagefile issue as I set it at a fixed 400MB - 1024MB. However I've changed it to system managed. But I don't want an 8GB pagefile. That's why I have 8GB of RAM.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

Also a more serious issue I'm experiencing is that I'm also getting a BSOD error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (igdkmd64.sys). I've had 2 in the past 30 minutes. It also happened a couple of days ago when I first tried gaming on Steam (I hadn't really seriously done it since then until today).

Any help guys?

 

It's a slight slack (imperfection) with the bezel attachment to the drive.

 

Hey guys. First of all Thank You for all those solutions to different problems regarding this laptop.

My problem is the following: while using Notebook Fan Control I had control over 1 Fan and the right half seems cooled, but the left part is still very hot (while playing Crysis for example). I know that there are 2 fans (correct me if I'm wrong). So what's going on with the left Fan?

Thanks!

 

thanks for the reply and the images.

that doesn't look too bad.

was there a guide you followed while doing this install?
will these caddies support sata 3? 2?
after you installed the sdd how did you go about moving the OS to it?

 

I was having the same problem and just figured out a solution that works

 

I didnt move the OS, my N550 came with a 256gb ssd, so I added the 2nd one just for storage. But my Samsung ssd came with a OS migration software, but I have no experience with that. Hopefully someone else does.
I followed this video for installing it:
[video]http://youtube.com/watch?v=E2MRiHuGF_E[/video]

From what i know, most Optical drives uses Sata II. And i'm pretty sure thats whats on the motherboard too. I did a speedtest just to confirm, looks like Sata II. The adapter will to my belive both do sata II and sata III, only depends on what you got.

So for optimum speed, you should move the HDD to the ODD (Sata II) and SSD to the main hdd slot (sata III)

 

Hey! After reinstalling win8.1 x64, there is a "secure boot isnt configured correctly" warning in the bottom-right corner on desktop. I have found out (trough windows) that secureboot is disabled. The problem is, I am running 208 version of firmware (the latest) and there simply is no enable/disable secureboot option in BIOS.
Asus technical inquiry form site is making me sick of how badly coded it is, I cannot even ask them about it.

What to do?

 

I have a question kind of about this laptop but also about Windows 8.1 and my Pioneer wireless speaker. Apparently there is a firmware update available via Pioneer, but to install it I'm advised to navigate to start>network and find the device... except I can't do that in Win8. I'm able to see and use the speaker in the Metro music app but I hope to update and improve streaming stability. Any idea how to find a wireless speaker with this laptop?

EDIT: Solution for Win8.1 would still be cool, but I just got fed up and used my wife's iMac. Like gestures and the Metro apps are really well done, but a lot of the change for change's sake stuff in settings etc in 8 is frustrating.

 

This is a bug with Windows 8.1, please refer to KB2902864 downloads below.
Update removes the "Windows 8.1 SecureBoot isn't configured correctly" watermark in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2

 

I found this on Pioneer's website.
Windows 7® or Vista users: Simply click the Start icon on your Desktop, select "Computer" and then select 「Network」 from the list on the left side of your screen. Your SMA speaker will appear as an icon in the explorer menu on the right. Right-click it and select 「View Device Webpage」. The Web Control Menu will open in your default browser.

For Windows 8, you can go to Control Panel by pressing WinLogo Key + X, then go to Devices and Printers.
You should be able to detect the speaker there.
But if you had done it with your wife's iMac then I guess this info can help others. :thumbsup:

 

Hi guys,
i just bought a N750jv - i quite like it despite a couple of bad things. Before proceeding with a clean install of windows 7, I would like to create some recovery disks. As this does not seem possible, i thought about using some imaging software like Acronis True Image and store on a DVD the image of the recovery partition.
Would that work? Also I noticed that my Hard drive is partitioned in 6
- 100mb loader
- 900mb recovery partition
- 372gb OS
- 350mb recovery partition
- 538gb Data
- 20gb recovery partition

any idea why 3 recovery partitions? how should i back them up?
thanks!!

 

hey guys,

I was wondering if you heard the next generation of this laptop will be released anytime soon?
I am looking to buy this a work station laptop with IPS screen (a good GPU will be a plus, but not necessary + DVD will be replace with a caddy)
Any information is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

You have to use the ASUS tool such as AI Recovery Burner, see below.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Troubleshooting G73Sw

 

Thanks. My notebook did not have it installed, so I downloaded and ran it. Unfortunately it says "recovery partition does not exist"

 

Did you reinstall the OS by yourself manually by any chance?
Anyhow, you can try this instead to reset your PC using below method.
How to refresh, reset, or restore your PC - Microsoft Windows Help

 

nope, i just upgraded from windows 8 to 8.1 - do you think the n750jv came with this program installed?

 

It says it's only available on select models. Try method one or the Microsoft reset procedures.

 

thanks Kevin. However my problem is not restoring the system, but rather making a DVD backup of the recovery partition (I want to install windows7 and want to avoid any problems)

 

Found another method.
Recovery Drive - Create with USB Flash Drive in Windows 8

 

Hey everyone. New owner of the ASUS N550JV-DB72T (bought on Amazon here) and although I love this machine [1TB 5400RPM, Nvidia GT750M, 8GB RAM], I have two questions.

1) Pretty sure there are international variants. Does the U.S.-version have a 24GB SSD? I ask because this article says my exact model has a 24GB SSD. I ordered from Amazon.com and I don't have a 24GB SSD. Just confirming this is normal for the U.S.-model. I wasn't expecting a SSD, but wondering if this explains question 2) slow boots below.

2) Every review I read (including U.S.-based ones) says this model boots in 15-16s. I'm getting cold start boots of 5.2s to the ASUS logo and then 28.2 from the ASUS logo to my Windows 8.1 background image. Total boot time = 33.4s.

33.4s is more than double 15s. I have the SAMSUNG Spinpoint M8 ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB (1TB 5400RPM). Do others have different/faster hard drives?

Here's a couple source articles saying the 15s or 16s boot time:

Article: ASUS N550JV Review | Notebook Reviews
Looks like exact same 1TB model with 8GB RAM as my unit:

"The N550JV's 1TB 5,400rpm SATA hard drive booted in 16 seconds, 20 seconds faster than the category average (36 seconds) and beating the ATIV Book 6 (23 seconds)."

Article: Asus N550 / N550JV review - a sleek multimedia notebook
Slightly different model than mine. 750GB 5400RPM (smaller drive but same RPM) with 16GB RAM (2X RAM)

"The N550 runs Windows 8 and boots from cold in about 15 seconds"

Can others do a cold start boot-up test on a stock ASUS N550JV-DB72T? I did upgrade to Windows 8.1, but that "shouldn't" affect boot times. Wish I benchmarked it before upgrading though.

I've had the unit for 10 days, so trying to see if I need to exchange it. The hard drive shouldn't take 2X to boot as others with same model. Is there a good hard drive benchmark utility I can run for this hard drive and compare it somehow with others online? Wondering if I got a lemon hard drive.

Thanks everyone!
p.s. Waking from sleep only takes ~2s which is pretty sweet!

 

So I just got this laptop last week and I really like it. I had bought a Q550 from Best Buy and had no real issues, but I really wanted this model and when it came back in stock at Amazon I swapped it. The N series is a huge cut above the Q, bigger than just non-ULV processor. The build is much more rigid, the keyboard isn't recessed and feels springier, the AC adapter is larger and seems to charge more rapidly (however, battery is 2/3 the Q550) BUT...

I'm having a problem waking from sleep. The desktop will display for 2-3 seconds then go blank. Backlight is still on, system makes noise, but I have to reboot... sometimes more than once, to get to the desktop. I'm reinstalling graphics drivers now and wondering if this has something to do with Optimus conflicts or if anyone else has had this problem. If the driver refresh doesn't solve it I'm not sure what will.