* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

I had a G60 for a little bit and the nvida 360 ran hotter than my 5730. I do not rem the temps I ran on the 5730 exactly but I was getting like 85 C on the 360 and I know I was under those temps. My laptop is currently being repaired sorry bro.

 

In the over 3000 posts in this thread, I can only recall one person complaining about overheating issues and he was just trolling. In another thread that was done prior to this one starting, there was one person who did have overheating issues but, he had several other issues as well. I think he got an RMA for his machine. We never heard from him again.

As for the BSOD's, there were a small handful of people that had reoccurring BSOD issues. I believe one or two had to RMA their machines. The others solved theirs by removing the software they installed or reinstalling drivers. These types of issue occur on any computer.

For the most part, this thread is where people who have had an issue with their N61 come seeking help. Most of the issues have been resolved relatively quickly. Of the thousands of N61's sold, there have been a very small percentage of issues reported. Of those, an even smaller amount were caused by hardware. All-in-all, the N61 has been a pretty solid machine. As time goes on, this could change. Right now, I believe everyone here would recommend getting the N61.

 

Yup, that is the keyboard that Greg recommended. I think it will be here this week so, I should be working on it next weekend. I should have ordered two of them but, we were rushing out the door to go to my daughters school carnival when I checked the link and noticed they were back in stock.

 

I sent a message to a guy that was trying to do the mod back in like 2-6-10....asking to c if he ever got it working. Well let you know what he tells me.

 

Update on my review, my temperatures have shifted slightly after heavy gaming use. The last two days ive monitored my temps while gaming for 3+ hours at a time. CPU is maxing out at 80 degrees while the gpu is maxing out at 82 degrees. This is while playing MW2/TF2.

The laptop has a sturdy feel to it, not as sturdy as a mac of course but you cant expect that kind of quality out of any other brand in my opinion. The keyboard took about 2 days to get used to buy now im accustomed to it and like it. The screen is a complete non-issue for anyone looking at this for gaming/entertainment purposes in my honest opinion. I love the multi-touch pad when browsing the web or doing anything besides gaming. I haven't had any issues with it at all, its been lightning fast with everything i have done.

Well theres my very scatterbrained second review of the laptop, i hope its readable.

Just as a side note I have not modified the laptop hardly at all, all stock hardware, no fresh install of windows or anything like that. The only thing i have really done is uninstall 95% of the programs that came preinstalled. I will be using an external monitor+laptop monitor in the weeks to come, ill keep everyone posted if there are any issues.

 

Definitely no overheating issue. And for me, I have never had BSOD; but I agree, it happened to some owners.

 

Thanks Tony. I am going to need all of the help I can get. Once the keyboard gets here, I will send you, Greg and Donald a PM. If I find some time during the week, I may start then.

I tried calling ASUS to see if I could add another keyboard to the order but they aren't open on the weekend. Go figure! I may just order one or two more with standard shipping.

 

LordDavon do you work in the tech field ? If we could find out where the G50 r G60 tags into for power...and hit the same spot I do not see why we could not just update our Function Key software to the same as G60 which would include the F3 / F4 function keys to adjust the brightness on the keyboard? Maybe that sounds way to simple lol. The G60 keyboard I found was better than ours....less flex it seemed like.

 

Guys I am getting battery wear already after just a month? The weird thing is, if I remove the ac adapter and put it back it then it goes back to 0%? I did a full calibration and it showed 46464 at 1%. So I charged it for a bit, then pulled the adapter. I then plugged it back in and it jumped up to 48300? Any ideas what is going on?

Oh and PLEASE someone reply, keep posting questions that nobody answers!

EDIT> Shutdown, restarted on battery. Plugged in the charger and it is back to normal! 48444!

What is going on?

 

There you go, I'm looking to go the same route. The blinking white LEDs on the side are just silly bright!

 

Yes, I am a professional geek and long time hacker. I used to focus on hardware and dabbled in software but moved into doing mostly software with my latest job (where I now write software for hardware. HA!).

[ QUICK SUMMARY ]
Professionally, I started with 8086's in the mid 80's, worked on distributing packets from hub 700 of fidonet in the early 90's, owned a computer center in the mid 90's (ISP, Web design, internet cafe and retail) which is where I got involved with Linux. I went to work for a semiconductor in the late 90's and did that until 2004ish. When I moved to Florida in 2004, I started contracting until landing a nice technical role in the pharmaceutical industry.

Personally, I had always hacked hardware/software since I was a kid. I guess I landed more known roles in the early 2000's. I started writing hardware reviews while I worked with NVMax. I wrote a ton of reviews back then. I left NVMax in about 2004, a little after I started working with Dynamism. Dynamism is a company that brings eastern technology into the western market. A few of my projects that were SlashDotted were the conversion of the Sharp Zaurus (I did the original hack), Sigmarion and some of the earlier organic Palms from Sony. In January 2005, I released andLinux in PreBeta as a way to develop for the GP2x in Windows. I had an expected user base of 100. Once it was released, I had over 10,000 downloads in the first month. Next thing I knew, I was designing it as a merger of Windows and Linux. Once I released the first Beta version, andLinux had its first release that hit over a million downloads. It was featured in several magazines and sites all over the world, which helped. I got burned out in 2007, left Dynamism and just focused on work and andLinux.
[ /QUICK SUMMARY ]

Once I get the keyboard here, I will start taking pictures. I will also pull the one on the N61 to do some comparisons. I am sure that between you, Greg, Donald and me, we can get this going.

 

I am going to respond mostly to help this not get missed or overlooked.

Risco, clean the connections (although I doubt that it will make a difference). It may be that it isn't able to read the battery so it is reporting 0%. Other then that, I wonder if the chip in the battery could be having an issue. I really hope it isn't a short.

I wish I knew more but, batteries aren't an area that I am all that familiar. I believe that we did have some experts in the thread earlier. I hope they see this.

 

Thanks, is it covered under warranty out of interest?

 

Very cool background. I work in the oil field dealing with safety electronics...making sure Oil Platform does not blow up

 

I have a buddy that I've known since high school that has almost the opposite job to yours. He always did construction and is now doing demolition. He blows stuff up. Now, that is almost every guys dream job! HA!

 

I know the A1 models have a 1 year battery warranty.

 

I played starcraft II beta for about an hour and 30 minutes. Here are my temps:
GPU:
Min - 54C
Max - 82C
CPU:
Core 0 Min - 57C
Core 0 Max - 78C
Core 1 Min - 52C
Core 1 Max - 75C
Core 2 Min - 56C
Core 2 Max - 76C
Core 3 Min - 53C
Core 3 Max - 75C

That is about normal for most of the games I play.

 

So, in my attempts to collect other keyboard filters and drivers, I came across the Windows7 version of NB Probe. NB Probe is a system monitoring application for notebooks. It watches things like temps, fan speed, drive space, etc. and will alert if they are in danger. Anyway, I installed it and it seems to work just fine. It doesn't show individual values by default but, if you are concerned that they may be too high, this should let you know what ASUS thinks it too high.

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?model=G60Jx&os=30&SLanguage=en-us

 

that sounds like a much cooler running comp than what i have. even heroes of newerth brings this one up to 92 deg Celsius.

does place where you rest your left hand get hot when playing games?

 

Kazuma, Everyone is helpfull here. I would say to everyone including Risco that no ones questions are getting ignored so please don't take it personally if you don't get a response. Everyone is reading your posts but sometimes maybe nobody has figured out a good response to whatever issue you are having.
For me this keyboard problem of Kazamu is a good example. I am not comfortable helping you pop keys off your board. What I find lacking in most of these posts is what about your warranty? Have you contacted ASUS? What did they say? If your having a hardware problem with a new laptop that's what a warranty and customer service is for. If they can't help you or give you the runaround then maybe we can. But take the initative, put in some effort to check it out on your own before you ask everyone here to do it for you.
I want everyone who has a problem to post it here so I can put it on the first page as a heads up to everyone. But seriously if no one answers you its because no one has an answer yet. If you ask has anyone had this problem and no one answers then no one does and you have your answer. There is nothing worse than a few people posting that no I don't have your problem. What does that tell you, nothing.
You won't be getting much technical advice from me as I am just an electric (trolley) bus driver in downtown Seattle. But I will be the first to respond to your question if I think I can be of help.
Greg,
The Bus Driver ( Not a Plumber! )

 

All that experience and to think you almost bailed on us when the trolls were hanging out here (Wishmaster where did you go?). Nah dude you're not going anywhere till we get that keyboard working and pick out our next Laptop!

 

I wouldn't say that. The technical things you do know, you have always shared without reservation. As well, you know where to go to get help on technical issues.

I think you are a pretty good resource Greg.

 

David, Speaking of resources here is the link to that person who hooked up a backlit keyboard to a UL30. Just in case you don't have it anymore and want to use it as a reference. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=465841&highlight=backlit

 

I am a jack-of-all-trades, when it comes to computers. Therefore, by law, I can be master of none. I will admit that I am pretty diversified in my knowledge and experience, so that is where my strength is. I know something about almost everything. Yet, in any one particular area, there are tons of people that know that area better then I do.

It makes me a pretty good hacker, troubleshooter and out-of-the-box thinker though.

 

David if you read through the 8 pages of the thread on the UL30 you will find interesting things like this post. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6125034&postcount=75

 

Thank's Tony, You were the one to find this keyboard Mod thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5989931&postcount=1
And it led David to think we could pull it off. So if it works rep's to you bro.
Are you off shore now? Did you take the DB's with you?

 

i am all here, greg.

 

Wishy you can still get one of these before the price increase!
http://www.amazon.com/N61JQ-X1-16-I..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=147VZSKQ96T5577K2B6C

P.S- I know your not a troll Wishmaster I just like getting a rise out of you by calling you one. But when buy one of these I'll never call you one again.

 

they actually light up the whole room! its really stupid!!
I'm know there is a way to control them,cuz it starts to blink white when in hibernation so its connected to the system,,,

still need help

 

I haven't seen anyone come up with a way to turn this off in this lounge yet. Have you tried calling Asus?
Donald, Any ideas on this?

 

I would have to look into this since the ASUS N61JQ-A1 is not my personal laptop...but given time I will.

Those of you that actually use the ASUS N61JQ-A1 daily should be able to come up with the answer before I do though.

 

Sorry about the wait guys. Had a farewell party for a coworker and spent yesterday with a terrible hangover.

Pictures of the optical bay caddy install

Everything disassembled and ready for installation.

Notebook bottom detail.

Components detail.

DVD drive. You need to remove 2 screws on the drive mount to get it out of the notebook.

Seagate 500gb drive installed in the optical bay caddy. The ebay caddy bottom is bare metal and has no mounting screws. The socket connection is very stiff and requires quite a bit of force to fully install the drive. Because of this I am not too worried about the lack of mounting screw holes for the drive. I used the static bag that came with the Intel SSD to shield the drive components from the caddy using electrical tape(not shown) to hold the loose ends of the bag to the drive.

Drive caddy with mounting bracket installed. The caddy has holes for the mounting bracket screws although they are untapped. This means you need to drill into the bare plastic. You might notice one screw missing. I couldn't manage to get it in--the things are damn tiny--so I left it out.

Intel SSD in the drive bracket. Warning: the edges on the drive bracket are sharp any you could easily cut yourself on them if you aren't careful.

ODD caddy installed.

Caddy in detail. Notice how it sticks out and has a rather large gap, exposing the inside of the optical drive bay.

HDD bracket installed. There are 3 screws holding the bracket in.

Final Thoughts: The ebay drive caddy was cheap and works as advertised but I'd go with the caddys from Newmode if I had to buy again. The caddy construction is incredibly cheap, edges don't line up and it looks flimsy. It doesn't have drive mounting brackets, exposes the drive to bare metal, risking shorts and the amount of force required to fully attach a drive to the SATA connector could easily lead to broken components. Finally, there is no way to connect a matching cover (short of gluing it on to the caddy) so the caddy matches the case.


IOmeter benchmark results. Windows 7 Ultimate. Latest chipset drivers from Intel website.

500GB Seagate drive in optical-bay caddy:
512k Sequential Write - 96.67MBps
512k Sequential Read - 97.45MBps
4k Random Write - 6.69MBps
4k Random Read - 0.61MBps

80GB Intel G2 SSD in HDD drive bay:
512k Sequential Write - 77.25MBps
512k Sequential Read - 256.31MBps
4k Random Write - 74.56MBps
4k Random Read - 66.89MBps

Intel is known for poor sequential write speeds compared to other SSDs, instead optimizing for random Read/Write performance. In the sequential read test though is spectacularly impressive, hitting the SATA 3gbps bandwidth barrier. The following zip file has all the test runs and files to do your own benches. http://www.mediafire.com/file/gnjj3jzkg2m/IOmeter_Benches.zip

Follow the guide here if you have any questions about how to use IOmeter:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...age-results-on-various-systems-also-post-here

Unigine, PCMark Vantage and 3DMark Vantage scores coming soon. Let me know if I should edit the post with more reviews or start a new one.

9152 PCMarks
http://service.futuremark.com/resultAnalyzer.action?resultId=305439&resultType=18

P.S. missing drivers for a "PCI Simple Communications Controller" Vendor 8086 Device 3B64 Subsystem 1C771043 Revision 06.

 

Hmmm, that's a shame about the fit and finish.

I don't mean to come off wrong...but ours is a perfect fit. You wouldn't know it was modified as it uses the ASUS N61JQ-A1 bezel and mounting bracket and it fits perfectly.

 

I decided to be cheap and ended up getting what I paid for. Any chance you could send me a drive bezel so I can try and fix the current most glaring issue with the caddy?

 

Thanks Greg. I have it bookmarked now. It has a lot of great info.

David

 

Why can't you use your existing ASUS N61JQ-A1 drive bezel?

I am not sure even ASUS has extra drive bezels laying around...and I know we don't. But it would be the same as what came on your ASUS N61JQ-A1 anyway, so just use that.

 

The bezel would require a bit of modding and most likely have to be glued to the caddy. I'd rather keep the original bezel in factory condition. I was hoping spares would be available for sale somewhere.

 

Nope, this laptop gets warm at the most.

 

Donald, I will shoot you my contact info. I am not sure how I am going to handle it. I wonder if you can get a crossover connector for these.

Also, I already downloaded all of the ATK drivers and keyboard filter drivers. If you have a way for me to get them to you, just let me know. They are 11MB total.

 

I have all the drivers. It is the ribbon that I worry about, and whether the wiring matches the socket. When I installed it the first time it appeared that they were not matching up, and I didn't have time then to investigate further.

 

hey, why does it say new from 969 and used from 976.
This makes me suspicious.
does that even make sense?

ps- good to know we are on the same side

 

There are other retailers selling on Amazon, using Amazon Marketplace.

What the different prices mean is that of all the retailers, the lowest price for a new one is 969 and the lowest for a used one 979.

Probably someone trying to make a profit when there was a shortage of them.

 

so 969 is legit, right?

Nothing fishy there?

 

Got an excellent deal from XoticPC.com for my N61JQ-A1. It is already shipped and will be in New York on Tuesday 13th April. I will have it in my hands on 2nd May in the Middle East.

Paid $1112.30 and the got following extras with it.

1. Free shipping.
2. Intel N6200 wireless card.
3. IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU

Not bad at all. Compare the price of $1064.82 with shipping from Newegg.com for a lower model N61JQ-X1. The difference for all the above goodies is $47.18

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220696&Tpk=n61jq-x1

Not bad at all!

Thanks - XopticPC.com

 

dont want to dampen your mood there, sir, but what about customs?

Where i come from, customs take up about 1 third extra over and above your good, which sucks!

 

No customs at all for personal items. A friend of mine who is in New York, will personally bring it with him when he arrives on 1st May, and I will have it on 2nd May.

He brought me, my Asus UL50VT-A1 in November 2009, and there was no customs.

Personal items don't have customs. The business items have a measly 5% customs.

Sorry to hear about your high customs duty as much as 1/3 of the price. Yes, it sucks!

 

great man, congratulations.

 

Thanks!

If you are trying to buy one of these, I will highly recommend XoticPC.com. Though they only have the N61JQ-A1 model and not the N61JQ-X1 model.

 

I think he was being sarcastic

 

I see, my bad!