* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

Ah, thank you very much, stevedogg, for the info and advice.

I think it's settled now. I'll probably pick up the MSI in a couple weeks.

 

I don't play WoW so I have no idea. I'm only guess because he showed he's friend's screen shot (from a desktop mind you) in this post and I'm guessing it's WoW? http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6134458&postcount=3175

 

Thanks so much for this! I've just finished swapping the HDD (took about five minutes) and installing Windows 7 x64 from a USB drive (took 11 minutes end-to-end). I'm now installing Windows Updates and the ATI Catalyst driver. Once that's finished I'll snag this driver compilation and load 'er up!

I couldn't be happier so far - the machine is nearly silent and boots POST -> desktop in about 14 seconds (including me typing my password).

I'm actually quite surprised - after the ATI and Windows Update passes, there are only two yellow bangs in Device Manager - the USB3 controller and a "PCI Simple Communications Controller" which I'm guessing is the flash memory port. That's quite a different experience from my Acer 2930 which was quite unhappy after fresh install. +1 for Asus!

 

Note my edit/mistake about the i5 clock speed. It is 2.26/2.53 GHz for 2/1 cores. For 2 cores, the i7 is slightly faster (2.4 GHz vs 2.26 GHz), but it doesn't change my opinion that the MSI has better components. You should check with their forums regarding build quality and service though.

Edit: I was looking at the GX640 specs here and couldn't help but notice it has the HM55 chipset. Unfortunately, MSI decided to omit the integrated GPU controller from the mainboard, so you STILL can't use switchable graphics, despite having the GPU and the capable chipset

 

No. It doesn't look like WoW. Looking up the Waaagh word online, it could be Warhammer.

 

You're probably more right than I am .

If anyone is using a notebook sleeve with their N61JQ, which one are you using and would you recommend it? Time for me to start looking for accessories. 2 more days .

 

Bues, Welcome its good to hear from Italy. Don't worry about your english. Even my english is not so good and my Italian sucks for sure.
If you get a BSOD let us know anything you can about it as there are members here that might be able to help you with that.
We just had another new member from Italy the other day. Here is a link to his post in case you missed it. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6133157&postcount=3153

 

The game is Dawn of War II. This issue also shows up in other games, for instance, Napoleon Total War and some websites. The killing the blue color thing didn't work. It didn't seem to actually load the color profile. Also, the new ATI driver will not install. Even uninstalling the driver and using the new one did not help. It locks up the installer while "enumerating packages." Apparently this is a problem with Windows 7 64bit and the installer. Dunno what to do.

 

minenfeld, Who did you buy your N61 from? Have you considered using the restore partition to return to the origional factory settings. That has been helpfull to others including me. That might narrow it down to a hardware problem if it is still there after you restore it. Have you tried contacting Asus or your reseller to get some help with this and take advantage of you warranty?

 

I bought it on Amazon.com. Since the LCD seems to be working fine, as well as the video card, how can this even be a warranty issue?

Also, how do I load a color profile? I right clicked and hit "Install profile" and it's there in the color manager but it doesn't appear to actually do anything.

 

Ok, looking closer to your pic and your friends pic I believe the issue could be like high contrast (you clearly see the change in color shades) or some gamma issue (maybe it is supposed just to be all black).

 

thanks for your reply

luckily I had only one BSOD during the performance index on the first day.

After, I updated the VGA driver (10.3) and now all is fine

Coincidentally yesterday I looked in Control Panel> System and Security> Action Center> Check for Solutions and item BSoD Indicates a solution (new bios)

I have download it and contains more bios for many notebook models:

[BIOS]
G60J = G60JAS.208
G60JX = G60JXAS.206
G73Jh = G73JhAS.206
M60J = M60JAS.211
N61Jq = N61JqAS.207
N71Jq = N71JqAS.205

Have a nice day ....for european user and good night ....for USA user

 

what is this new bios N61Jq = N61JqAS.207 ?

Edit: I just upgraded to the 207 bios from the 204 originally. Working great.

 

From where did the link for the bios come from?

I don't see any info about these bioses on ASUS support site.

 

From -> Control Panel> System and Security> Action Center> Check for Solutions in Windows 7

I download it from a link in microsoft solutions for my BSOD

I have upload it at megaupload.com/?d=J0L631BQ and file name is WHEA124_4.exe

 

Strange, I don't see any info about these on the ASUS website.

Have you already flashed your device with this?

 

No, i have got only one bsod and currently the notebook works fine.

i Don't upgrade bios if is not necessary or his cangelog is very interesting.......

 

WARNING: Be careful do not double click WHEA124_4.exe otherwise you have no control the Winflash will flash your bios automatically.
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/OCA/nb/Win7/BIOS/WHEA124_4.exe

 

What's the difference from the previous?

 

I did flash my bios with this, not sure what the difference is except i did notice my cpu spending more time at 1.8_ghz where it used to be around 1.73ghz. Maybe an algorithm change for the cpu for the better, along with other stability changes.

 

I'm using Premiere Pro CS4 on this laptop and I find that when I put the video windows on full screen the video lags (I edit HDV). This does not occur with my Nvidia graphics cards (especially if the full screen video is playing with no effects) and outside of Premiere the footage shows just fine.

Is anyone else having this issue?

 

have you tried this?

 

yes, it works ok, no noticeable difference though.

 

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS

Is it some special ASUS server?
I wonder if one can browse this site to look for other updates?

I wonder if there exists also bios v207 for N71JQ. The N71JQ bios in the package you linked above is v205 with a time stemp from 26-01-2010.

 

I am going to try to find the game and see if it is happening on mine also. If it is, then I am sure we can tune the drivers for a fix. If it isn't, I will play with my setting to see if I can get it to happen.

 

what is the best gaming laptop for ~ $1000.00. Is it the MSI ?

 

I want to try it but I don't know how.

 

Find out if the application supports OpenCL, CUDA and/or ATI's Stream (GPU offloading of the workload). If so, that may be the difference. Nvidia puts their CUDA and OpenCL support in their drivers. ATI's OpenCL and Stream support is added by installing their Stream SDK. If the application supports it, then that would be the difference. You had the support by default with the Nvidia drivers but, you don't with the ATI drivers. You need to install the SDK.

 

I picked up an Init 16" sleeve at Best Buy on the cheap the other day (~$10). It fits pretty snuggly except for it's a little deep (when I say deep, I mean hinge to front lip of the palm rest. I don't know what that dimension is actually called.) but otherwise worth the $10. It also has stopped my peeling problem.

 

I too got a BSOD after a fresh install of windows and windows pointed me to the same bios file. I've installed it and have been running fine since. However, I still have this same wireless problem where I have to uninstall the WLAN drivers and reinstall them to get my wireless to work.

 

Bloody hell, would be nice if you put a warning before posting something like that. I thought it was a self extracting file so clicked so I could copy to my USB stick. But the bloody thing started flashing straight away.

Luckily there was no issue, but posting a link without explanation is dangerous.

 

How long is the flashing process?

I've downloaded the file but I'm scared to run it.

What a joke I am.

 

Hi... Just received my ASUS N61 last week and reading this forum helped me a lot in understanding my laptop... Just wanted to ask how to install Stream SDK in my laptop?

Thanks in advance...

 

hey risco, glad everything went smoothly. what is addressed in the new BIOS ?

 

Yes, I had the same experience.
The poster of the bios forgot to give us a warning about this.
After extracting the file I pressed WHEAPatch.exe. The damned thing start to flash my N71JQ automatically.

I had 2 minutes living in HELL.
This was my first flash from windows environment in 5 years.
Fortunately all went right.
Now my N71JQ has a bios v205.
In the bios there is a new option called ASUS EASY OVER-CLOCK and by default it is set to Turbo 3%. I will look more into this feature later.

WARNING: Be careful do not double click WHEA124_4.exe otherwise you have no control the Winflash will flash your bios automatically.

Better way to do it is first right click the WHEA124_4.exe file and extract it with winzip or winrar. Inside the WHEA124_4 folder there is a folder called BIOS.
Copy the bios of your N61JQ to some flash drive and flash it using easyflash utility in bios.

Flash it at your own risk.

 

What were you thinking puting a link like that without explaining that it will flash your bios! You seem to have a vast experience with computers and I don't think you would appreciate someone doing that to you. Was this intentional or you just weren't thinking ?
And yes I see the warning now but it was not there a few minuites ago when I clicked the link.

 

Did you end up flashing your notebook unintentionally like me and Risco?

Basically, vostro1400user copied the exact warning text from my post above.

 

Turbo under what menu is the easy over clock located.

 

If I remember correctly it is located under the second menu from the left.
I would have to reboot if I want to tell you exactly.

 

Turbogear, I don't think so. I have no experience flashing a bios so I never intended doing it unless It was needed. I selected run and it seemed to download and then asked me if I wanted to run. I was relieved to have that option and decided not to run it. I am currently trying to find where that file is so I can delete it. And I know so little about a bios that I am having trouble finding where to go to check out which one I have if anyone can help me. Anyone except Vostro !!

 

well, I know you can tell on a desktop when it first boots up. usually kind of cryptic but it's in the POST.

Isn't there a program that can tell you your mobo BIOS version? pretty sure it was CPU-Z.

Found this as well: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/checking-bios-version/

 

I guess that option is not present in the new n61 bios

 

Good thing that you did not launch this file.
I did the stupid mistake of double clicking on the file and then it was too late.
But all went well.

Usually, if I want to flash, I will never use the Winflash. There are too many risks of ending up with dead notebook.

The link Vostro posted seems to come from an ASUS server, but I don't know why this is not found anywhere else.

If you want to find out which bios version you have, you can either look into the bios at boot up by pressing F2. It should be on the first tab from the left.
Or you can use CPU-Z. On the CPU-Z go to the motherboard tab and there you will see your bios version and the release date.

 

to be honest, there is not much risk there as asus didn't show any warning before it starts flashing, BIOS flashing program from other manufacturers such as HP/Dell/Lenovo(i have flashed all bios from these brands before) didn't execute in this way, so i guess asus feel it's extremely safe by doing so...

 

Did you flash the v207 on your N61JQ?

Strange, I don't know why they added this ASUS EASY OVERCLOCK feature to N71JQ new bios v205 and not on N61JQ bios v207.

 

USB is the NEC controller, driver is easy to find on the net. The other device is some Intel Driver. I posted a link for it a few pages back.

@Greg, could you add a section on the front page for driver links?

 

To be honest, Winflash is know to be notorious. If you look around in the forums you will see many horror stories of people getting problems when flashing with Winflash.

 

turbo if everything went right, (btw I did flash 207 on n61) do you think doing it with winflash may have resulted in that over clock option not showing or if it did successfully update then all options are present regardless? Since yours also got done with winflash im thinking that wasnt the issue right.

 

No I don't think so.
I would guess that ASUS has not implemented this option into the bios of N61JQ. Maybe the concern would be cooling solution on N61JQ. I am not sure.

If the Winflash would not have flashed your NB correctly then you would have ended with dead notebook.

It happened once to me with Winflash on ASUS Desktop mainboard. It was dead after flashing, but luckily that one had a removable bios chip which was easily replaced with one from eBay.

 

There might not be much risk but one should have the option to make that decision. You have done nothing but complain about your N61 here. Your complaints have not been very constructive or usefull. And now you post a bios flash link with no warning and show no remorse in doing so.
If it looks like a troll, and walks and talks like a troll.................