Asus UL30VT FAQ / Official Owners Lounge redux

LOL, sounds like it was attacked by a nap sack from hell?

Hopefully you still have the 1 year accidental due to expensive hard to find parts. You could call Asus for a flat rate repair/refurb? Or, you can find an enclosure, like a small wooden/plastic box, and mount screen in one half and bottom half in the other. It may look cool with the right box and handy work, and the price may work depending on spare change.

 

For anyone considering buying one of these laptops, I would take note that ASUS has elected not to support its video card and has not released updated drivers since 2009. Using NVIDIA's driver packages won't work.

Has anyone in this forum has success with using modified NVIDIA drivers? Specifically, I've been working on installing the Nvidia GeForce Driver v275.27 Beta drivers but have not had any luck.

 

Have you tried modded drivers from laptopvideo2go?

 

Yea, Video support is lacking, but..

Has anyone found big gains or better game compatibility over the current drivers?

Everything I have thrown at this laptop, so far, has worked well. This is taking in the GPU/CPU horsepower so I don't hope or care if the latest - greatest games work. If games are of great importance then this laptop would be a poor choice.

I'm, IMHO, am still pleased how I'm able to surf and do light gaming and productivity well after most other laptops have shut down to lack of power. FWIW my battery has aged from 81500 to 78350 mWh during the last year.

 

Yup, haven't had any luck.

Bad form by Asus if you ask me, seems like the only reason updated NVIDIA releases don't work with the Asus laptops is that a few lines are missing from the .inf files. Presumably Asus isn't paying NVIDIA support $ or something like that.

Point is, buying a product like this, you expect the manufacturer to provide the necessary updates during the lifecycle of the product, not just grab your cash and run. Despite it being a solid laptop, it's really turned me off Asus as a company.

Agreed - I'm a very light gamer and I've never had a real issue til now - tried running 'The Witcher 2', to disastrous results - even at 320x200 with the lowest detail settings. Supposedly the developers heavily optimized it towards the new v275.27 NVIDIA drivers, and people with other systems have seen big improvements.

Who knows whether it would have any bearing on the Asus laptops, but it's frustrating that we can't even try (without spending a day screwing around with modified drivers).

 

I had a feeling you may be speaking about W2 or the likes. I loved W1 but would never try it on this laptop, much less W2. W1 was a major bug fest but still it was an awesome game..hope they optimize W2 better before I jump on it next month.

 

Well hey, it was marketed as a gaming laptop after all, and it's less than 2 years old. It's been able to run other recent games just fine (Civ 5, Dragon Age II, ME2)... which leads me to believe getting the 275 drivers running may make a difference.

 

LOL at hinge covers breaking mine broke too! LOL
but it still works like a boss. I put it in my bag naked everywhere and it just works

 

Does anyone have an issue with flash related content freezing/locking up the computer? My laptop occasionally (not always) freezes during a flash video (youtube for example) and makes an awful noise. I have one of two options when it freezes, wait for the computer to figure itself out (anywhere between 10 seconds to a few minutes) or close the lid and have it sleep/hibernate and then resume (at which point it snaps out of it). I've read of people having this issue with other computers, but I can't find any solutions!

 

it´s a problem which kind of everyone has, thas what i found via google, it´s not because of your notebook, it is because of a bug in the last flash player update, should be solved with the upcoming update

 

Thanks, I hope that's the case. I'm surprised not a whole lot more people are complaining about it then

 

Has anyone had any problems with memory upgrade?

I went from 4gb (2x 2gb) to 8 (2 x 4gb corsair 1066). Slot 1 will take the 4gb, but slot 2 won't. So, max memory for me is 6gb.

Asus support centre in Sydney is no help. Dude just opened up the spec sheet and said the ul30vt will only take 4gb. When I question him, he just said I am a 'lucky one'. I don't get it.

SIS Sandra reports that I can have 8gb max. Asus dude said that is a software report and not to do with ASUS... again, I don't get it....

Any ideas or anyone else with a way for me to diagnose if I can only have 6gb or if I have a mobo problem?

 

Several people have 8 gigs on the 30vt's. OTOH I would guess you have a bad module but I'm sure you tried both slots with the working 4g module?

You might try the Asus 30vt support form and post the problem there and also check with corsair on the correct modules. Let us know what you find.

Also try "Asus 30vt 8 gig" search on Google, fwiw.

 

Hi,

My left hinge is also having a problem. The little hinge cover fell out and I accidentally lost it. The left side of my laptop frame is coming off. Is there any way to fix this or are we forever stuck with this problem?

 

NVM, Win 7 install didn't have drivers needed for this. no problem!

 

The Witcher 2 is a very high end game. I would not expect to be able to run it smoothly with a GeForce 210M, even with updated drivers and on the lowest settings. It's not that the game isn't well optimized, it just has incredibly complex graphics. It's one of the best looking games out there.

 

Yep. With the original Witcher, even on low settings, my laptop plays the game at a just ok frame rate. On medium, it will struggle.. So don't even think of playing the second which is already notorious for high requirements.

If you're into slow RTS games, you should try out Sins of a Solar Empire though. Works great on decent settings on my UL30VT. : )

 

Has anyone tried upgrading the display on their notebook? I find myself becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the displays viewing angle when standing up and having it on kitchen counter. Also if I'm lounging on the couch and watching a movie, I just can never get the display at the right angle.

I was wondering if there are any aftermarket lcd panels that would also fit into this notebook.

 

As long as I'm at right angles, I can live with the screen.

To find a replacement 13", check out the several screen replacement sites found through google.

The cheaper solution would to go the external monitor, but not what you want to hear.

 

Yes, lugging around a monitor would be totes mcgoats awesome. /s

Laptopsscreen.com has two, but I think they are the OEM parts. They do have a matte screen, however: ASUS UL30VT replacement Laptop LCD Screen from $74.99 Brand-new screens (never used).

 

LOL, yea, exact crappy replacements? I would have to research on which brand, rev.# and back lighting are used in the sony or apple laptops which blow these out of the water, no?

So, way better screen that fits physically and electrically would have to be from a trusted vendor. Let us know if you go for it!

I forgot to mention the lounging around part; through HDMI to my 52" Sony, video and text looks fantastic at 1080P!

 

Are there any way at all to get the newest Nvidia drivers working?

 

For people who have used SSD based on Sandforce controller, do you have issues with the drive coming out of sleep and BSOD?

 

What SSD do you have? I have the OCZ vertex 2 and yes I have the same problem. I just put the computer into hibernate to avoid this problem. I haven't tried updating the firmware or drivers though. That might help.

 

Hey guys,

I've had this laptop for over a year now, 1 year and 4 months to be exact, and its still working beautifully for me: Battery is still excellent, nVidia GPU still kicking, etc. But I think its time for some upgrades. I want to max out this system, so I was thinking of an 8GB memory upgrade, upgrade to SSD, and replace the crappy Atheros wireless card with an Intel Wi-Fi one. Memory and SSD I can do, no problemo, but can anyone recommend a good intel wi-fi card/place to buy one?

 

Using the original SATA driver v. 8.9.2.1002 and setting the minimum processor speed to 0% has been the only solution to this for my SSD drive.

 

The problem with the A1 variant is only a single antenna exists, while the inferior X1 model has two. Before you replace the Atheros card try adding a second antenna.

Replacement of the Atheros card, if necessary, would be very easy.

^ The tech support guy is an idiot. I'm running 2x4GB Corsair sticks. Try putting the non-working stick into a slot you know works. If that one doesn't work, but the other 4GB stick does, then its obviously a bad stick.

I can't believe how stupid "tech support" people can be. This computer has a 4500MHD northbridge like millions of other laptops which basically all support 8GB.

^ Let me know how this goes. I would KILL for a good Matte upgrade.

 

Can anyone recommend an external optical DVDRW drive that is compatible with the UL30VT-A1? I tried the slim Asus optical drive and Windows 7 wouldn't recognize it so I had to return it. Looks like driver compatibility is a major issue with these external USB-powered optical drives. I want to buy one that has a proven success record with our machines.

 

Liteon eTAU108 works fine External Slim DVD Drive

 

What I use. It will blow the doors off ANY laptop drive.

It's bigger than the slim but they are going to have to pry my cold dead fingers off it...

Amazon.com: LG Super-Multi External DVD Rewriter with SecurDisc and LightScribe GE24LU20: Electronics

Yours is the first report of the asus slim drive not working with W7? Did you use BOTH usb ports for added power?

 

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. Yes, I used all possible combinations of ports (using the Y cable) and the drive was never recognized in any. The model I purchased was: "Asus USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive SDRW-08D2S-U (Black)"



Windows couldn't even find generic drivers for it, and when I went to Asus' website, they said they didn't have any signed drivers for Windows 7 either! I was very disappointed at the time.

Are there different Asus slim drives (and maybe I got the wrong one)? Of course, "fool me once..."

 

I used this drive with my old 1201n which was W7, no problem.

Are you saying this is a UL30vt only problem? Possible bad drive? I'll do some searching, that's a new one on me.

Check here.

cheers

 

Yes a UL30VT problem only, or maybe I did get a bad drive. That link you sent is interesting. I remember visiting it when I first attempted to connect my drive and I think it said it wasn't officially supported (this was a couple months ago). I wonder if official compatibility changed with Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or maybe Asus finally completed their certification or something. In any case, the drive was never detected on my UL30VT-A1, but older machines in Windows XP detected it fine.

I may give the Lite-On a try since I need something slim/portable.

 

Longtime lurker, wouldn't have purchased my ul30vt if it werent for the owners lounge, and the redux thread on it.

Anyway, speaking of service pack 1 compatibility, my ul30vt updated itself yesterday morning and installed service pack 1. after all the installations and reboots were complete, my audio was not working. I was running on semi updated, non stock audio drivers from Realtek. the audio device showed up in device manager, but video playback would stop due to an audio problem, and youtube would chug at 4 frames a second or so, with no audio.

I went to the Realtek website and downloaded the newest drivers and installed them, without much better success. This time, system sounds would come through, such as when i click on a folder in Explorer. but youtube was still chugging and videos and mp3s came back w/out anything.

At this point, I completely uninstalled the drivers for the sound card in device manager, and I let windows auto install off the 'net. Audio is back now, but everytime i boot up, it says an SRS Compatible Device is not found. I suppose the next step would be to reinstall the newest Realtek drivers again and see if the issue was resolved. Anyone else run into this problem? I also wonder what took my system so long to autoupdate to SP1.

O, last question. Why does the bottom right of my desktop state:
Test Mode
Windows 7
Build 7601

I bought my ul30vt off Amazon in June of 2010, and i sent it back to be serviced in January or so and the RAM and hard drive were replaced.

 

e3,

sounds like a bad OS install from repair? Look thru the posts and do a usb OS W7 fresh install after you back up your stuff. Or take a chance with asus if your not comfortable with this. I'm not happy with asus service so will only buy from a reseller from now on.

I have both clean install and updates, NP! You can also purchase install disks from asus to use with USB burner as another alternative.

 

Thanks for the info, Hydra. Man, that bites. I am glad i made recovery discs when I first got the laptop, and I am comfortable doing a fresh install, but i'm not too thrilled about reinstalling and downloading everything. Too much trouble to setup PCSX2, and download 20+ GBs of steam games on a 300kb DSL line. O well, I'll live with it for now. Not a huge deal.

I still love this laptop, by the way. Only wonky issue is the LCD is still atrocious as ever. My old VPR Matrix 220a5 had a GORGEOUS screen compared to this.

 

I got an OCZ Vertex II 120go too and I got the same problem, I found some solutions though :

*Updating the Hard drive firmware to 1.33 => OCZ Technology
*Activate the hybrid sleep in the power setting

I still got some BSOD but only 30% of the time I wake it up.


@sputnick69 Oh and BTW could you explain how you set the minimum processor speed ?

 

I use regular sleep, having disabled hibernate.
The easiest way is to set Minimum Processor State to 0% via Power4Gear Hybrid.

I have also found that flashing the firmware and changing the default OC % in the bios can cause BSOD resuming from sleep, but loading defaults in bios can fix this.

 

Lite-On arrived and had the same problem as my Asus slim drive (Windows not recognizing it). I used Microsoft's CD/DVD "Fixit" repair utilityto fix the driver problem, and now everything works fine. This would have likely made the first external optical drive work too, but I'm glad to have the Lite-On because of the clamshell design (vs. slot) and handy USB cord storage on the underside. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

I've had luck with multiple Samsung slim drives. No duds so far.

EDIT: Ignore this, sorry.

 

my UL30VT ac adapter is smoked... and it always has a very high fan noise... When I does the turbo stuff its takes a deep breath and restarts... I dont think it will survive any longer... R.I.P?!?!?

 

Cleaned your vents lately?

You can pick up another 19VDC supply here.

 

Thanks for the tip! Dont I destroy my warranty if I tear the computer apart? (excuse for the bad english, im from IKEA sweden... hehe)

 

No, use your vacuum along with a can of compressed air. You are just cleaning the heat pipe vent along the left rear side of your UL30; also any built up dust along bottom of laptop. So, at this stage, you are not taking laptop apart.

Run this utility to report your CPU temperatures. Use the free version.

 

still noisy :/

 

The vent checks were easy.

If your fans is "always" running fast, this begs the question for how long has this taken place?

There are many reasons which may cause your fan to run fast. The obvious is high temps in your CPU/GPU. This may be caused by thermal grease or bad heat sink, virus, or other hardware problems.

So, when did you first notice the high fan speeds, what were you doing when this started? Are you still in warranty?

How do you run your laptop with bad AC adapter?

Big question; are you interested in spending money to keep the laptop or is it just RIP? Do you have good Asus support in Sweden who may have FLAT RATE repair?

Anyone else?

..wait, you do have warranty. Well, there you go..

 

where I can buy this carbon skin? -->
Asus ul-30a - Kaskus - The Largest Indonesian Community

 

ebay /. ,

 

I don't understand why people still pay close to $500 bucks on asus 1215n intel atom d525 or the 1215b amd fusion when they can pick up a new Asus UL30VT for $500 nowaways which has a superior core2duo cpu and G210m over the d525 atom and e-350 zacate.

 

whats a normal CPU temperature for this machine? i think mine is getting hotter, or maybe its just the summer lol, by normal i dont mean playing games and topping CPU usage etc...


also i've noticed video lockups while playing flash vids, is this a problem with the flash versions or the machine itself? i dont experience any of this while playing games or doing anything else heavy, just flash videos, even youtube sometimes when i open multiple videos, i've only begin to notice it after the Windows 7 SP1 update while was awhile ago