Asus UL30VT FAQ / Official Owners Lounge redux

A member in the Sony forum found this case that fits the Vaio Z

Mach 3 Composites - 12" Carbon Fiber Laptop Case

his pictures here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/291748-vaio-z-sleeves-bags-cases-thread-58.html#post6704600

just thought someone might like knowing that the 12" model of the case fit's the UL30 series even better than the Z. I checked to see if my fiancee's UL30VT fit, and it did's a better fit than my Z.

Kinda expensive, even with the 20% off coupon, but if you need a fitted hard sleeve/case there's not much around that compares....

 

When I don't have power4gear installed, dimming, and other power options work, but with power4gear installed, it doesn't dim or turn off the screen after my set time.

Does anyone experience the same problem? I tried many versions including 1.1.25 etc

 

Where are you setting the dim? Go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Power Options. Pick (but don't click) your Power4Gear plan that you want to edit. Click the "Change plan settings". Do not change the settings on this screen. Click "Change advanced power settings". Click the plus next to the "Display" option. Change your settings here.

Also, if your brightness and dim brightness are the same, it will seem as if it never dimmed.

 

nvm, reinstalling 1.1.25 version worked fine

 

Sorry for the new guy post.

I just received my UL30Vt-X1 and it was defective out of the box. I called the support phone line and talked to a tech just to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong and he confirmed the unit had a problem.

Amazon is replacing the laptop. But in the mean time, can someone point me to a better source for user manual information for the UL30 series of laptops? The manual that came with the laptop is basically useless. The downloadable manual from the support site is the same as the useless paper copy. I even have basic questions about the keyboard. Example, the function "c" key has a graphic on it -- what does this do?

I've searched this thread without much luck for this very basic information. Any help for a UL30Vt-X1 beginner would be much appreciated. Thanks,

Dennis

 

$163???? Holy Mackerel!!!

 

I know this is a little off from what's going on, but I sorta wanted to open up the laptop too possible just blow some dust out, and reading the disassembly guide, i don't exactly understand how to take the keyboard off. I know there are four holes at the top of the keyboard and your suppose to just some to poke into the holes, what motion/direction am i suppose to do here?

 

Use a flat-head screwdriver to push down and back (toward the screen). Each hole will unlock individually as you push them.

You do not need to dig the screwdriver in at all. The locks are at the very top. I can see them with my eyes just looking in the holes right now.

I also didn't quite understand it initially.

 

I don't know about manuals, but I'm sure you'll be fine by just asking things, that you can't deduce, here.

You probably know about Fn (blue symbols on keyboard) combinations already, so I'm gonna be short for now, but be sure to ask anything else you want to know!

The "c" key you were asking about, launches one of many Asus's utilities. I actually don't know exactly what it is, because I removed it, but it should start for you, if you have preinstalled system.
"v" launches camera utility, while "space bar" toggles power modes...
Turning on "Num LK" changes function of whole set of keys, which have well know Num lock layout printed on them in blue.
Num lock and Caps lock LEDs are next to GPU toggle button. Also, the button doesn't reflect GPU state in any way.

I wish you more luck with replacement. Have fun with it

 

Thanks, I thought the FN "C" key may have been a hardware switch that did something to the machine.

From what I've been reading, Windows 7 can conflict with some of the ASUS drivers. But when Windows 7 is installed, I should be able to launch Express Gate with the upper left power button, right? I'm hoping that the ASUS will perform so well over time that I will forgive the lousy instruction manual.

Thanks again.

 

Will the nvidia drivers for the U35JC work on the UL30VT since the gpu's are nearly identical?

 

U35JC's drivers shouldn't work. Mostly because it doesn't support GPU switching, which is one of the most important features of UL30Vt.
Your best take are "moded" drivers. You should be able to find some topics regarding that on this forum.
I'm using one of those drivers and they work well. But they're not all that new anymore since I downloaded/made them quite a few months ago.

Yes you should. Express gate has very little to do with OS anyway.

 

No. The U35JC drivers use Optimus, while the UL30VT has a manual graphics switch.

 

that's unfortunate... the lack of driver support is probably my biggest gripe about this notebook

 

I've asked Dave and others what is the benefit of the modded drivers? Lot's of energy getting them to work but what are the real world benefits or faster frame rates in what?

As far as Asus new official drivers, I won't hold my breath

 

Don't mean to be on a hater parade, but it kinda felt that this laptop was a little too good to be true. I mean, sure, it has a good battery life, but it feels that with the advent of Tegra 2 processors, all of a sudden the UL30VT is losing its niche. Plus, the customer service is apparently a roller coaster ride in whether you have any sort of success or a positive experience. But hey, I pessimisticize!

 

Ridley, I read your posts, did support ever come around for you? I assume you mailed you 30vt back for service?

I can't defend Asus but I have tangled with other manufacturers and feel your pain. After 6 years with Apple, I'm not.. The point is tech support can be a bag of worms, and I still need to learn to manage patience.

As far as being on the short end of the consumer technology stick, we always will be. Your welcome to spend a fortune to stay on the cutting edge.

We all made the decision to support custom drivers with our wallets.. like thousands of others did with new BTX motherboards from Intel; another epic fail for the consumer.

Good luck..

 

I was on the phone for 30 minutes and was given the runaround every time. I am pretty upset.

I had an awful experience with Dell. I bought a refurbished laptop from them, and my computer went through no less than 7 repairs, and was charged just to talk to somebody else who reimbursed me only for the repair (not the $50 to just talk to the man). To go from that to my experience with ASUS, where my computer locks up and slows down several times a day with only a few tabs open, I guess I am just frustrated. Hell, I may be overreacting. But from all these stories about how much trouble people have had with ASUS's tech support (not just here, but on other forums), I have this overwhelming sense of cognitive dissonance.

I guess that and the fact that there's all this tech coming down the pipeline so soon after I bought this computer that very much outperforms what I currently have, and I want to get rid of this as quickly as possible before it loses all its value.

 

my nvidia card isnt working, it wont switch..only the intel one. I think some how a windows update screwed my drivers. Anybody walk me through how to install new drivers or find the original ones on my comp

 

I couldn't be bothered to benchmark. I don't care about any performance gain to be honest.
I went for moded drivers because I couldn't get GPU switching to work, so I tried everything. In the end new drivers payed off and I'm actually able to run P4G 1.1.34 perfectly. I wouldn't say driver version had anything to do with fixing the switching tho, because Asus's install procedure is sucha random mess, one can't really figure out what fixed/broke things.

My view is completely different. I never ever used tech support / customer service in my life, for anything that I bought, unless I returned something under warranty. Mostly because I'm from Slovenia which is ridiculously small country, where one is happy if they even import stuff like UL30Vt

UL30Vt certainly gives one of the best bangs for the buck, which makes me glad I was able to get it. I had no preinstalled system either, which is, in combination with tons of drivers and zero installation guides (atleas which driver does what and in what sequence to install), huge pain. I somehow coped tho.

Now I'm happy user of this machine, with insanely long battery life, excellent performance and portability.
There's one flaw tho, which will potentially make me go after Sony in future. The screen. I would love some screen options with higher quality, res and f-ing matte finish.

 

Well my replacement UL30Vt came today. This machine seems to be working properly. The Graphix Boost and Express Gate work (they didn't on the first machine). But, the FN "C" key doesn't seem to do anything. I don't think I need the function, but I'm still curious what that key stroke was supposed to do. Thanks for your help.

 

If you go to Asus' site for the UL30VT, you'll see that Fn+C isn't listed as a function combo. I don't know why the label is on the keyboard if it doesn't do anything. Maybe they used a keyboard from another laptop that actually had a use for whatever program it was supposed to launch.

And just for the record, mine doesn't do anything either.

 

Fn + C is Asus Splendid.

"ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology integrates and synchronizes different multimedia data sources to reduce noise and conversion rate for a sharp display. It improves contrast, brightness, skin tone, and color saturation (Red/Green/Blue enhanced independently)."

http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/A8E/ASUS_Splendid_UserGuide_XP_EN_V1.pdf.

 

We can work with you if you have the time.. are you up to a system restore? This is the first thing that tech support will ask to rule out software issues.

Not sure what you have tried but you might want to try a restore to see if you have a true hardware problem which, then, needs to be shipped back to Asus.

 

Well, the computer temperatures don't make me feel alright. This is what I have when my computer is stable, with nothing open. All I have running in the background is the small amount of ASUS apps and my antivirus. Mine is on the right. The other is what that guy posted several pages ago telling me what his temps were.



If I get one streaming video up, the GPU temp jumps to 54, 54, 60. I made sure that this was a stable temp when I saved it.

EDIT: I noticed that I had overclocked my computer to 1.73 using that setFSB program mentioned in the first post. I returned it to the normal voltage. I now have 51, 50, 54 in my GPU, while everything else stayed the same. I am always under Power4Gear Battery Saving mode to make sure that my computer isn't being pushed.

 

The OC should only effect the CPU, not the GPU. Plug your laptop in, I see that your on batteries.

If your vents are not clean then use caned air or whatever to make sure the vent are clear. We can only assume your fan is right and your heat pipe/TIM/GPU are good. Also, I can only guess if you do not have any processes that may be hammering your GPU.

This is why the phone techs ask for a fresh restore. A major pain in the rear and may not solve a thing but puts you on a somewhat level playing field.

My temps are siting at 44C, 20 minutes after boot, but the room temp has a major effect. Your fan should be on low or very low with warm air being blow out, right? When gaming I hit 70C, with fan working! What temps do you get during a game?

If you have a small fan, set it up to PULL air from vents while watching HWMonitor, what happens? Not having laptop in front of me kills me..

 

I really don't know if it is the temps, but honestly, if a computer is locking up like this, I believe it to be a hardware issue and one that cannot be easily solved with a simple system refresh. However, if this is the case, I will try anything.

 

..and you may be 100% correct. Once the stock restore is complete, if a lockup happens, then you ask to return for repair.

Jumping through hoops is never fun

 

HWMonitor reads 32°C and 30°C for each core atm. Room temperature is about 20°C, PC is on for few days, running Intel GPU.

Power mode is "Quiet office":
-Min processor state: 5%
-Max processor state: 70%
-System cooling policy: passive

I think that you guys should look into "System cooling policy" if you want to bring temperatures down when idle. You can reach settings via P4G, clicking "Advanced" button, or via Control panel.

I also tried "High performance" mode, with 100%, 100%, active settings. Temperatures went up for 2°C each.

After going back to "Quiet office" and switching GPU to nVidia's, the temperatures rose 34°C and 35°C. I waited about 5min in both tests.

Still a lot lower than Ridley23's, but one could easily blame ambient temperature.
Anyway, I hope it's not HW problem. GL


On another note:
I have lockup issue myself! But I think that Windows is to blame. My PC locks up in idle from time to time. I can still move cursor, but none of the commands executes. Most of the time I manage to get system running just by hitting some keyboard commands and waiting. After a few minutes everything gets instantly executed and I can use Windows normally. Sometimes it needs reboot tho (or longer-than-I'm-willing-to-wait period).
I tried searching the internets for solution, but I only found bunch of posts from other ppl describing same thing. No solution yet tho.

 

Do you have time for a restore? If I and many others are not having the issue then don't let your warranty run out just in case.

Just in Idle? If you leave just something running, ie CPU monitor, then no suspended states?

I would put my money on an odd Asus utility conflict. I have four other windows based machines, including 2nd 14" Asus laptop, and no random lock ups noted.

 

Anyone get Civ V to work? I keep getting the "Windows Has Stopped Working" error. And before you ask, yes, the UL30VT-A1 can play Civ V. It has been confirmed to by others.

 

My lock up problem fits descriptions in this thread. No one came up with a solution as far as I can tell. At least not something I would want to do on a laptop (disabling some parts of power saving). My lock up is also quite random. Sometimes it only happens during night, sometimes it even happened in 5min or so w/o human interaction. I just can't pinpoint it. It's all been good now for few weeks, but I don't think it's gone

By "idle" I meant no human interaction with just few light programs working in the background and others siting there.

@Ridley23: I came up with one idea how to tackle your problem for now. I'm wondering if you're using stock HDD, or did you replace it?
In any case please observer HDD operations during lock-downs, if it goes silent for a while, it might be spinning down and causing you troubles. You should also check it's temperature.
HDD issue is the only hardware thing I can think of, that should be fixable with some fresh drivers. If CPU or MOBO is to blame, than you're probably better off with replacement machine. There's always Windows too -.- Problems like that are rly hard to pinpoint, as you know already.

@hydra: How's Momentus XT after all this time? I was looking into buying one, but now I'm wondering if there'll be any noticeable gain? I'm not just talking about boot, but Windows experience in general. What if you keep opening a bunch of programs, that can fill 4GB SLC? I know that it only caches small files, but does this mean that stuff like explorer file preview (let's say folder full of pictures) opens faster? I also noticed that ppl are complaining about random spin-downs.
I can't make my mind about buying it. I would do it if I had a lot of excess money, but I just don't

 

I noticed that these lock-up issues match what happens with you, Wisse. It freezes, but then after a while (where I usually have to use C+A+D) it comes back to life. I think it may be a faulty driver installation or something. It looks like some of this may be user end.

Regardless, I am going ahead and selling this laptop due to different circumstances, and the fact that Tegra2 is looking incredibly appealing lately and I don't want to get to the point where I won't be able to get a device that houses it. Call it being a really picky geek who can't wait to have the next best thing, even if it is months afterwards. Honestly, I could also do with the cash. lol

 

The Momentus XT has been great..but no SSD. The cache is adaptive and controlled soley by the drive. Startup is about 27 seconds or Re-start, about 1 minute due to two passwords entered. Most aplications, like PS, start up way faster.

So, you have a fast 7.2k drive that's very fast when the cache hits. The biggest drawback is that it's $50 more than the normal drives..

More opinions here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...t-hybrid-hdd-w-built-4gb-ssd.html#post6261327

 

im thinking about getting one of those too, if i see it in any black friday deals, right now its $130 for 500gb vs $1/$2 per gb for a SSD... the slow HDD is definitely one of the main bottlenecks of the system

but i guess if you think about it... you are actually paying like $15 per gb for the 4gb of sdd xD

 

Hi guys,

I just ordered a UL30VT-A1 today, and I was just wondering if you guys would still recommend getting it after having used it for half a year? How does it compare to other similar laptops on the market, and which other laptops would you recommend if you do not like this model anymore?

Thanks a lot for any input! I'm getting cold feet

 

I'm pleased with my UL30Vt.
Maybe average computer Joe will have some problems doing fresh install for the first time, but that's more or less it. USA models all come with system anyway.

I'm not following laptop market now, since I have this one, but I think you still can't get anything that gives you that much battery life and portability for the price. If those three make it to the top of your priority list than I highly recommend UL30Vt.

 

It's a solid laptop. It survived a 3ft drop on a tile floor once, taken it on numerous flights, and while it has gone through the standard bumps and bruises a road warrior may encounter, it still runs like it's brand new. I did however upgrade my hard drive to a SSD, so that probably helped my UL30VT survive all the abuse. That said, it'll still be hard to recommend this or any laptop without knowing your preferences for a laptop. Portability, battery life and a good warranty were my primary concerns, and the UL30VT fits the bill perfectly in those regards.

 

Hey guys,

I have a SetFSB question. I am using the code string from the processor overclocking guide which OC's your proc to 1906mhz. Can anybody paste what the string would look like to put in your shortcut if you want it to set the proc to 2.0ghz?

 

Using Media Player Classic: Home Cinema with it set to use the Geforce 210m to hardware accelerate a 1080p MKV of Avatar the CPU utilization was 25-40% with the stock nVidia drivers. Once I got the system updated to the modded newer drivers that utilization dropped to 8-15%.

I will say though, that the driver install process is a total PITA, and the directions posted in the thread with the driver download are total crap.

 

Now that my defective UL30Vt-X1 has been replaced, the new notebook seems to be working fine. I purchased an ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U optical drive to go with the notebook.

The drive was able to make the DVD recovery disks, and using Power2Go was able to copy a CD, so I don't think there is anything wrong with the drive. But when I try to do a Windows 7 backup to the drive it just hangs up. Also, when I try to use the Windows 7 "send to" function to transfer a file, it hangs up.

I went to the ASUS driver web page and for this drive there are only Vista drivers listed - no drop down options for Windows 7. The box for the drive says it is Windows 7 compatible.

Anyone else encounter this? Are there any other driver updates that might fix this issue? Thanks.

 

I contacted ASUS about their real lack of video driver updates, and they forwarded it to the related department. I will let you guys know if they tell me anything.

But I also wanted to know and repeat my question, did anyone try Civilization V on their UL30VT and get it to work?

 

Sorry I wasn't very specific! I guess a few of the most important factors for me, as I'm a college student, would be the lightness (preferably less than 4 lbs), size (small enough to be easily portable but big enough to be comfortable - about 13-14"), the price (less than $750), and the power (by that I mean running multiple applications/playing 1080 HD videos/SC 2 without any lag). I was also considering the HP dm4t but its battery life is inferior to the UL30VT, though its i5 processor is supposed to be much better? It looks beautiful nevertheless.

Speaking of which, how does the UL30VT look in person? I am unable to see it in person before my purchase, and laptop looks are somewhat important to me, so it would be nice to know how sleek it is and all. Thanks a lot

 

From Dave's post : setfsb.exe -w04 -s140 -cg[ICS9248BF-96] -u1

Sorry, jumped the gun, I think you have to have the paid for version to reach higher? In any event i think we got the lion's share of performace from 17 to 19gHz unless you go to 2.2gHz.

 

I'm getting that now, with the stock drivers, using the 720P-5.1 channel version of Avatar. This is an 8 gig file! Believe it or not the Intel video is but a wee bit higher using HW acceleration using my favorite, Media Player Classic: Home Cinema..I love the free part

I normally use my WDTV to play my MKV files. At $90 bucks it does a good job over HDMI with DTS/dolby audio.

I keep my 1080p master audio version on BD disk

I have only updated my 8800GS video once, when Borderlands came out.

Other than that I only update Vid drivers when something is broke. Some of the guys act like their going to see +15 FPS on a particular game, no?

 

wow, just ran that Final Fantasy XIV benchmark test... got 540

 

i just wanna ask, how hot can the GPU get before is conks out?

cos when I play starcraft 2 it overheats to 83/84C sometimes and it gets a bit worrying. i have a laptop fan table thingy on its way over but even now i used the laptop propped up so it has better airflow but it still hovers at around 80..

is this normal?