* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

If you are using a firewall or internet security software maybe check if it not cuasing any problems.

 

It happens so rarely, but the few times it has happened, it was when waking the laptop from hibernation after taking it to work. I am connecting to an public wifi network (not using the LAN card at all when it happens). The only software I have is Avast + Windows Defender and Win7 firewall.

 

Devo- D E V O

 

Yep... please try this drivers and tell us your feedback here

 

The 'Z' of my keyboard feels like there is something stuck below it. I have tried air duster to blow out whatever is there but nothing seems to be coming out. When I type now and have to press the 'Z', there seems to be less responsiveness to the touch as well as the key's 'bounce back' ability appears to have diminished. What is the best way for me to find out what may have occurred under there? If it involves undoing the Asus keyboard, how to I do that with this particular model?

Thanks for any quick replies. I am typing up a lot of documents tonight and this will surely slow me down.

 

Hey, new here to this website.

I picked up my N61JQ a few weeks ago. I absolutely love it. But there is a huge down side. It's extremely slow when connected through wireless. I've searched, and have found other people complaining about the weak/cheap Atheros AR9285 wireless card that comes with the computer. But I'm experiencing ludicrously slow speeds. The thing that boggles my mind is that it says it's connected at 65mbps. But when it comes to downloading, or streaming movies and video... It's only downloading/streaming at 100kbps.

Please any insight to this issue would be great. I'm at my wits end.

 

victore, That doesn't sound right. I'm connected at 150mbps. I'm sure you will get some advice here tomorrow. And be sure and check out Stevedogs driver update thread. http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...250-asus-n61jq-driver-thread.html#post6388295

 

Make sure you have chosen AES encription instead of WEP in your router as well as WMM enabled.

 

Hey guys.

I purchased this laptop about 9 months ago. All has been working really well until recently. When I'm watching a video on YouTube or Hulu, the screen will sometimes flash, and then at the bottom in the taskbar it shows a warning that something along the lines of the video driver failed. After that message appears it then tries to reset the video driver. Once the video driver resets, I'll continue watching the video and then almost instantly it blue screens. I've uninstalled the video driver and reinstalled it numerous times only to find the same thing happening. Some times I'll notice artifacts on the screen too. I feel like the GPU could possibly be overheating... who knows.

I've searched this thread and it seems like other people are experiencing this as well. Is the only solution to RMA it?

Thanks.

 

I just picked up an N61JA with the i5-450M for a very nice price in Australia. Has anyone managed to overclock this laptop with SetFSB?

I'm also looking to get an optical bay to hard drive caddy so I can fit a second hard drive ... It has a Panasonic drive installed currently (this forum wouldn't let me write Mats**ta). Can I order any one of those off Ebay or do I need a particular one? Do the Dell E6400 ones suit?

Apologies if my question has been answered before but there's over 600 pages to troll through

 

Hey, any assistance here would be great. I just want to remove the keyboard so I can see if anything is sticking the 'Z' key or why its so hard to press now.

 

So you want to open the keyboard back plate, right?

You have to follow two guides for that.
First use the disassembly guide to remove the keyboard from the notebook:
http://www.gentechpc.com/Asus/N61JQ/N61VN Series Chapter 02-v1.0.pdf

Then follow this guide from Ken Lee on opening the keyboard back plate.
This guide is for the backlit keyboard, but opening the backside of the non-backlit keyboard should be similar:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...ht-keyboard-implementation-2.html#post6727544

 

Don't RMA. First, install Catalyst 10.8 and upgrade Adobe Flash to 10.1.85.3. If the crashes still continue after that, disable hardware acceleration in Flash (right-click a Flash video and choose Settings).

 

Ah, when I reached part 2 there was this long slim black bar blocking me from opening up the aluminum part properly and saw no evidence of screws. The aluminum seemed to be stuck on there really well to. Should I go ahead and pull it off or will that screw up my warranty?

Update: Too late, I pulled from the edges of one side of the aluminum and slowly peeled it from the borders of the keyboard. Looked at the 'Z' key and found a piece of plastic that seemed to be part of the keyboard part broken off. I pulled it out and now the 'Z' key performs properly and there are no issues to any other keys on the board. Thanks a lot for the assistance guys.

 

Glad to hear that you were able to fix the problem.
Yes the aluminum foil is glued to the keyboard backside. Sorry, I forgot to mention that.

 

Anybody post their temp for the N61...here's mine below that worries mine after playing the opening sequence of BF1942, but has a high of around 85°C


Hardware monitor ACPI
Temperature 0 64°C (147°F) [0xD2C] (THRM)

Hardware monitor Intel Core i7 720QM
Power 0 15.34 W (Processor)
Temperature 0 65°C (149°F) [0x23] (Core #0)
Temperature 1 64°C (147°F) [0x24] (Core #1)
Temperature 2 64°C (147°F) [0x24] (Core #2)
Temperature 3 65°C (149°F) [0x23] (Core #3)

Hardware monitor ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5700 Series
Temperature 0 64°C (146°F) (GPU Core)

Hardware monitor ST9320423AS
Temperature 0 41°C (105°F) [0x29] (Assembly)
Temperature 2 41°C (105°F) [0x29] (Air Flow)

 

I bought an ebay ODD caddy and wasn't happy with it. There are lots of links on the first page you can jump ahead to. Check there first if you have any questions about your N61.

My SSD Caddy reviews:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6127169-post3083.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...asus-n61jq-owners-lounge-533.html#post6446394

 

Hey guys, just got my N61jq-x1 about an hr ago. So far so good, am creating my back up discs! Really liking what im experiencing! Looking forward to getting to know this machine, have a good one!

 

How do I choose AES encryption? I know WMM Is enabled. The Router is a Linksys Wirelss-N Gigabit WRT310N.

This thing is so slow it's ridiculous

 

Hi all,

I just have a niggling problem which I encounter every now and then but just want to get it out of me.

Whenever I run certain games (e.g. World of Goo or some game with unknown compatibility issues with Windows 7), I often end up with a black screen which I can't get out off except by powering off. As we all know, this is not a good practice, I was wondering if anyone has any solutions to get out of the black screen safely?

I try to run most games in windowed mode if I can so at least if the game doesn't work, at least it doesn't freeze the system. So was also wondering if it's a resolution compatibility problem due to the wide-screen nature of the laptop? Or it is a specific Windows 7 incompatibility issue?

Thanks in advance!

 

Okay, I posted this problem before, but I dismissed it earlier with a simple restart. I've discovered that this problem is persistent:

After a fresh reboot of the computer, all of my games run smoothly. For example, Crysis runs at about 30-45 FPS.

HOWEVER, after a certain amount of time has passed, (and me opening/closing the laptop for various reasons) crysis will always run at 15-20 FPS.

This is an extremely irritating problem, as I bought the thing for performance.

Does anyone know what the problem could be?!

 

Does opening/closing include unplugging/plugging? I ask because I have noticed that ATI PowerPlay occasionally bugs out on my laptop (Catalyst 10.8 drivers), and the GPU gets stuck at 300 MHz core & memory (it's supposed to be 650 and 800 MHz, so roughly a 60% performance drop, similar to what you're seeing).

Next time it happens, try looking at the Sensors tab in GPU-Z. If the clock speeds show as 300 MHz, a stuck PowerPlay is your problem. To fix it, you can either reboot or disable PowerPlay in CCC (uncheck "Enable PowerPlay" in CCC).

PowerPlay is the reason AMD didn't release Catalyst Mobility 10.9 this month; maybe they tried to fix this problem and introduced new bugs.

 

Ha! That was it EXACTLY! I knew it was related to the power management software (I just didn't know which; there are so many!).

Thank you so much. I can't tell you how much stress you have saved me! I've been updating BIOS, graphics driver, chipsets, etc...

Thanks again!

 

Keep an eye peeled for Catalyst 10.10 next month. I hope it fixes this problem.

 

Hey guys,
It's christmas soon and i'm considering a SSD
I was looking at getting a caddy currently and a 60Gb OCZ Vertex II or similar.

Has anyone got that SSD and can you show the difference in performance between the standard 5,400RPM HDD.
Next question is a good Caddy for this thing... Ive seen a few on ebay that WOULD fit, but look cheap and crappy... Has anyone/does anyone know of a good one that would fit nicely? As i take this alot of places with me.

I probably wouldnt get an external DVD drive for a while, as i very rarely use DVD's anymore...

If the 60Gb SSD is not a viable option i am also looking at a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB

Which would be better for everyday use and gaming? and Price vs Performance?

-Matt

 

Welcome to the club farfus ! Let us know if you need any help, after you have checked out the first page of course.
If you feel like giving us a review I will post it as we have not had a new one for some time.

 

Is there any utility to monitor how fast the CPU fan is spinning ?

 

I have a MOMENTUS XT and honestly this drive is not like Seagate said about it. The booting time is the same or slower than stock 7200 drive, the access time is the same and may me slower than 7200 stock drive... and this drive need more batery power than stock 7200 drive. The only good thing is transfer rate with an other drive thru USB3 30% faster.

If I have to choose now between SSD and hybrid XT, there is NO hesitation = I will buy a REAL SSD and not a FAKE like Momentus XT is. Pure marketing and money maker for Seagate this drive will never do what they say its supposed to do in term of performance.

Frankly, if someone tells you something else, he is lying to you or he is lying to himself !

 

When playing Crysis, both CPU and GPU go up to 82 ( the CPU to 85 sometimes )
In Metro 2033, they both only go up to 80/81, and offer perfect gameplay, at 30 FPS Very High at 1336x768. I was shocked with those results, I thought I would NEVER run metro, specially crysis ( very high settings on most of them )

 

hello everyone, I've been reading this topic for a while and now I need your help so I thought I should start posting. First of all, I've tried to search already, but I couldn't find the help I need.
I bought the Asus N61JQ just the other day and I started downloading the windows updates. Today I turned the pc on and the problems started: first it couldn't boot to windows, then it froze at the ASUS logo and even restoring it to factory settings with the recovery partition couldn't fix it. Then it started to work again but now the Wifi is GONE!
I set the switch to on (the one next to the USB3 port) but the wifi led on the front stays off. It was working yesterday, the led was on and I connected to my wireless router flawlessly, but now it's just gone. Another system recover and driver install didn't change the situation.
I don't know what to do, beside going back to the store and/or contact asus support. It's weird that a wifi card vanishes like that.
please help me!
thanks in advance!

 

tyrian3: If you're having problems booting a the Asus logo, it sounds like there might be a hardware problem. If so, your best bet will be to take it back to the store, maybe they'll exchange you for a new one. I certianly never had any issues like that.

 

first of all, thanks for the reply. It did freeze on the asus logo, and also on a black screen just after pressing the power button and even while loading windows. Then after a couple times it started booting up again to the win logo and I could hit F9 for the restore, after that it's been loading fine. But now, as I said, the wifi card is gone from the hardware device manager and the white led on the front stays off even if I set the wifi switch to on.
I think it's a faulty wifi card at this point.
I know the store doesn't have any other PCs for an immediate replacement...should I ask for them to get a new one or for them to get a warranty exchange for me? I bought it just 2 days ago and the first 10 I get in store assistance.

EDIT: just tried it with the express gate...the wifi led turned on and I thought it was a good sign, until I noticed it couldn't find a wifi connection and the led stayed on even if I set the switch to off. so no luck there.

 

The booting problems and such would concern me, and, since you have the 10 days, it's probably worth asking for a replacement.

That said, I think the WLAN LED is controlled by the driver, so it's no surprise that the light is off when the adapter is missing from device manager. One thing you could try is to view hidden devices and delete the one(s) for the WLAN card. To do that, open a command prompt (Start => Run => cmd) and type:

Code:

set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc

When device manager opens up, check View => Show hidden devices. Expand the Network Adapters group and right-click+uninstall the entry for the wireless card (if present). Then, click Action => Scan for hardware changes and see if it detects the wireless card.

 

Hi victore,

try this: right click on your wifi connection, then click "properties" (I'm not sure because I've got it in italian) and from there you can set the type of security you want.

Instead on the router through your browser type your router IP address (usually 192.168.1.1) and under wireless (I have a Linksys WRT610N) you can set the same type of security options.

Have fun

 

Mike, Why don't you tell us how you really feel about Momentus XT. Oh wait you already have over and over again. Maybe you could start a Momentous XT sucks thread. I'm just sayin.......

 

Hi. I just got my N61JQ-B1 and it almost works like a charm. The issue I'm having is that I think the wi-fi adapter is having spotty connections because it's having trouble loading sites that I've normally been able to visit like YouTube.

It's an Atheros AR9285 adapter with driver version 8.0.0.238.

 

Thank you, so far so good. Other than having trouble getting my magic jack connected, which i already have set up on my desktop pc, she is smooth as silk. I bought her for gaming and having a portable on the road, definitely a quality product!

 

You might get better performance out of an alternative firmware like Tomato or dd-wrt.

 

hi all,

i just came to realize that my cooler master U2 is able to cool my laptop by 7-8 C. its been mentioned that no cooler can reduce the temp by more than 2C on this laptop.

value represents current ideal temps without cooler
min represent ideal temps with cooler
max represents all cores stressed with fritz 12 (comp vs comp)

 

The relevant measurement would be stressed (max) temps with and without cooler. Idle is irrelevant for a couple reasons:

1) The internal fan is not maxed out and may be in an unknown state
2) The temperature readings themselves are inaccurate (Intel DTS is calibrated to be accurate near Tjunction)

Does Fritz 12 run indefinitely? I have only used the Fritz 9 Benchmark, which does doesn't run long enough to reach steady-state maximum temps (needs to be probably 10 minutes).

 

i just realized this after i posted, feel kinda stupid at the moment.

will redo the tests in their max state with and without the cooler

i use the engine, deep Rybka 4 (which utilizes all 8 threads)to play against rybka 3.

if i increase the depth value then the game goes on for a while, all my cores are maxed out. (i could look up the duration of the game in this maxed state)

not much of a computer guy, had to look up What Intel DTS Means,and what a Tjunction is. all i understood is something about the unreliability of the Digital Thermal Sensors... something ... something... man i am an artist with a feeble curiosity for TECH! nothing more

my fan seem to always be running at 30 % as noted in gpuZ. even when gaming. not sure if this is a problem. my temps have never crossed 88C so i guess that's alright.

BIOS version: 206 (stock version, too chicken to update it)

 

here are the first results without the fan using Fritz 12. i kept all 8 threads 100% occupied for about 30 minutes.

will attach the second set (with fan) once i get some sleep. its 1:10 AM

ok i did the test with the cooler but this time left it running for 40 min.
test 2: at 30 min 3 of the 4 cores were four degrees cooler

there is less of a difference than i expected. the average is a -4C with coolermaster U2.

i should move the fans around a bit, see how much of a difference i get.
anyways..

 

Ok, so it's been a while since anyone's talked about bags in the forum, but today I got my Booq Mamba Saddle bag and thought I'd share my thoughts with the thread. First off, the bag is designed (like many boutique bags) to fit either the Macbook or Macbook Pro, so I was completely surprised to find that the laptop fits in the laptop pocket of the bag. I was originally planning on just putting it in a sleeve and then leaving it in the main compartment of the bag, so this was a huge plus for me. The bag is easily the nicest bag I've ever owned, which isn't saying much, but it definitely oozes with quality. It has an interesting design in which the zipper zips up and around the top of the bag, unlike a traditional messenger bag (with the flap). The internal compartment is pretty hand in that it has a lot of dividers and little elastic pockets to sort of sub-divide all of your stuff, all of which is accessible just unzipping the top part of the bag (as in the second picture). Being a student, it's really nice having everything at the ready in one pocket. The bag also features two zippered side pockets with little dividers in them (think of the credit card slots in a wallet). These are pretty roomy and are able to hold my keys, but, unfortunately, you won't fitting a coke bottle in there. Lastly, a small pocket (like a kangaroo pouch is located on the front and the back of the bag, the back pocket held closed with a magnet. I found the front pocket very handy, as it's tight enough to hold my phone and headphones without having to worry about them falling out if I have to run to class. With everything in the bag (the n61, books, miscellaneous stuff, the bag is a little on the heavy side, but nothing I couldn't handle. All in all, I would highly recommend this bag, especially since they are selling at a reduced price (I think they're being discontinued, except for the black one). I got the red one for $20!.

Also, I apologize for the poor picture quality. My girlfriend won't let me use her iPhone 4 because of Plants vs. Zombies

 

Thanks for doing more tests; it could be that your cooler is a better match to this laptop than mine.

I think GPU-Z always reports the fan as running at 30%, when clearly it is not (you can hear it changing speeds).

The DTS is used by Intel processors to determine when a threshold temperature is reached so they can throttle down and/or shut off to protect themselves. It is a relative measurement, with DTS = 0 corresponding to the throttling temperature (100 C for our processor). Near DTS = 0, the sensor reading is a reliable measurement of temperature; it is calibrated near this important point. At idle, the DTS reading will be ~50 and is not designed to be accurate, since the reading is not relevant for any processor control.

 

I actually have a Notepal U3, and it really didn't help that much. I put the fans directly below the vents underneath the N61, or should I group them all together on the left side?

 

no point in placing it on the left side(marked RED in the link below), we want something to get in the vents.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/accessories/304671-notebook-coolers-buyers-guide-126.html

i just suggest you move the fans around, you have 3 of them right?

do some stress tests, like run a game or something and monitor the temps. if you find some good spots, post it !

i have focused on getting all the air into the tiny vent at the center.

 

@ thiggy1342

I like. Good find man.

 

A little update on my situation: I brought back my notebook to the store and they'll send it back to asus for a DOA replacement since they didn't have another to give me immediately. I hope they'll be quick and it'll be the end of my problem with this pc. One thing I noticed is that the pc would boot up itself as soon as I plugged in the power plug, without me touching the power button...was that a sign of hardware malfunction?
thanks everyone for the replies, in particular to atook and stevedogg. you've been really helpful

on a side note, sorry for entering the thread without a proper presentation, you know how it happens when you get a problem on the pc, you're awfully worried and forget manners sometimes
I've read this topic for a while, and it's really great, full of informations, suggestions, tips and all. The driver thread is also a wonderful idea.
I'll keep reading and I hope I'll be able to post again soon about the n61, hoping the wait will be a short one and there won't be any problems. In particular I'll keep an eye on the notebook cooler talk, since I want to get one soon and I don't know which one to get.
so, I'll talk to you again very soon, hopefully, and thanks for having me here special greetings to my fellow countryman fabsblue (ciao,piacere di conoscerti ).

 

am i the only one that's using the zalman nc2000 yet no decrease in temps at all?

 

I have that cooler and find negligibly lower temps (1-2 degrees during 5 runs of Intel Burn Test). I don't think coolers work for this laptop in general.