Asus ZenBook Pro UX501 Owner's Lounge

Thank you.

 

Hello,

I've become recently the happy owner a UX501JW 8Gb RAM (4Gb soldered + 4Gb) but had a couple of issues with it.
I would like to ask a few questions, if someone here had the same issues as me...

(1) First, I cannot enter the BIOS/UEFI from cold startup (power down, then push power up button). Pressing repeatidly/constantly F2/Echap/F10/Del... does not work!!
The only way I found is from Windows 10, hold Shift when clicking reboot and then in next menu choose to enter UEFI firmware.
Then I could enter UEFI setup (looks like a normal BIOS...), disable Secure Boot, enable CSM, change boot order...
=> Am I missing the RIGHT way to enter BIOS/UEFI from startup?? Or does my computer have an issue here?
If one day my Windows cannot boot for whatever reason, I'll probably be stuck forever!?

(2) I tried to upgrade to 12Gb RAM by replacing original 4Gb by 8Gb, I tried with this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Hype...29&sr=8-1&keywords=HyperX+Impact+HX316LS9IB/8
At first, it looked fine, Dual Channel seemed to be active (according to Speccy) and the system was running.
Unfortunately, my system became also very unstable with strange bugs (including one instance of immediate shutdown...).
After testing the RAM, both Windows Memory Check and MemTest86+ unsurprisingly found errors.
I guess I was probably just unlucky, but I was wondering if CAS9 vs. CAS11 (on motherboard) could pose any issue. If I understand, this new CAS9 memory should automatically switch to CAS11 to work with the slower soldered 4Gb memory...
=> Does someone has successful experience to switch to 12Gb RAM with 4Gb soldered config?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.

 

enter bios by holding down the F2 during power on.
don't press repeatedly. just hold it down

 

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Because it is UX501JW (Old version). Amazon is currently selling JW at $1,241.68.

 

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You should check this thread. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ZenBook-Pro-UX501VW-Notebook-Review.158762.0.html
It compares the 2 version throughout the review. If cost is concern than you can buy JW without any significant change in performance.

 

Just my 2 cents, but I believe the $200 premium is worth it for the newer VW version. You're getting the latest processor (Skylake) and better ventilation (VW has bottom rear vents, JW does not). However, if you can find one with a 1080p screen, get it. The 4K screen is a royal pain in the rear to deal with, unless you'll be doing allot of video or photo editing. Again, just my opinion.

 

ANybody with ux501 VW configuration can post average and idle temperatures for their machines along with room temps?

just interested to see whether bottom vents have made things better or not.

 

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Thank you. I'm pretty sure to have tried before, but I retried again yesterday and could successfully access the BIOS (perhaps the update to version 211 solved this, I had v210 before...).
That's a relief. One problem solved.

Now, the RAM issue (I'll try another 8Gb stick tonight)...

 

Hmm. I'm really not sure. It sounds like a version of Windows 10, but a cursory Google search doesn't make it clear what the differences are.
MY comment regarding the $200 premium was meant to say I believe paying $200 more for the VW is worth it, over the JW.

 

Have you guys used anything to change color? It is yellowish than normal and i was wondering if anything can be done about this ?

 

Hi All, new bios v2.07 for VW - what is new?

 

I thought about getting a lower CAS HyperX DDR4 for my VW but decided against it due to possible stability problems with the lower CAS set in the stick's SPD for the same speed (i.e. 2133MHz) as the motherboard ram. Apparently it can cause problems (or even potentially run at a slower speed) if you read other internet forums. I don't know what CAS or speed the memory would then be run at if the SPD values conflict with motherboard memory. I have not yet tried any different memory.

However having said that, my Asus actually fails with original factory RAM (8+4GB) in MemTest86+ in test 6 (and same test in MemTest86)... so I am not sure what to make of that but unlike yours it passes Windows Memory Check and I have not yet experienced any stability problems. I would suggest to not use memory which will use a lower CAS at same speed as motherboard memory unless someone else has confirmed the memory stick will work.

 

Anyone know why with the tunderbolt 3 Dell dock that monitors work but nothing on the USB connections to it come up? Installed the latest thunderbolt 3 drivers from asus's website. But still nothing. Video work sorry usb and netowrk do not. Have tried using another dell dock for thunderbolt 3 and still nothing on usb or network.

 

Did you check if your soldered RAM was causing the issue?
If yes, I would raise an issue to ASUS, as it may do random harm... But, on the other hand, if Windows Memory Check executes fine, then the problem may be very seldom.
You have to decide if you take the risk or not...

On my side, I bought "QUMOX 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz CL11" memory stick: https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B010NMERA8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It is working OK, MemTest86+ executed without errors over ~2 passes so I suppose it is fine this time.

About my BIOS issue, I was having issues to enter BIOS again from power down state.
But I finally solved this issue, here are 2 problems linked to this topic:

- Firstly, I realized that by default, my Windows 10 "Shutdown" function did not really shutdown the PC but was only switching to hibernation (dumping memory contents to disk).
It explains why it was not possible for me to get to the BIOS at next startup!!
To fix that, it is mandatory to either disable Hibernation, or the Fast Startup from Windows 10 power options!!! I've done the latter and it now works ok: I can shutdown Windows 10 normally and enter the BIOS with F2.
I found details to disable Hibernation/Fast Startup here: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-10-a.html

- Second issue, when booting up with HDMI cable plugged, the startup will be done on your Secondary Display (HDMI one)!!
So, if like me you have a TV plugged to the laptop, you'll get a black screen on Main Display! So don't forget to unplug your HDMI cable or to switch on your TV to display the BIOS on your 4K display


Now I have a new issue. Windows crashes sometimes with a BSOD :-( message.
Unfortunately, it does that very rarely, and only when in idle mode (when I'm not working with it) so I could not read the message as the PC reboots in the next 2~3 seconds, and there is nothing in the Event Log (except unexpected shutdown occured...). I have to analyze all the applications log to see if it is linked to something in particular. For now I think it is a software issue, but I'm still investigating...

 

install nirsoft bluescreen view. You can get to the bottom of it. It happened to me recently due to sniffer.exe application with Adobe Photoshop. It happened a year ago due to nvidia drivers.

 

go in your applications. theres a program called asus splendid utility. Maybe that can help you out. If its not installed, you can install it from Asus support website.

 

Thank you for the tip.

I got 1 more crash today, but luckily I was in front of the laptop this time, and it dumped the memory (for previous crashes I had no dumps...)
The error is the VIDEO_DXGKRNL_FATAL_ERROR, which seems to be rather famous...
I checked NIRSoft Bluescreen View, it shows the MiniDump analysis but not the call stack, just the problematic drivers (watchdog.sys / dxgkrnl.sys)

I'll see if I can analyze the full dump (C:\WINDOWS\MEMORY.DMP) but before going into in-depth analysis, I will first try to rollback NVIDIA drivers to previous version to see if it is more stable.

 

keep scrolling down till the end. If theres an Adobe Type Manager in this report, its the same problem i had. The VIDEO_DXGKRNL_FATAL_ERROR is the same message i received. Its really vast and could be anything. The exact issue should still be identified from the report. If possible, upload it somewhere ill have a look at it.

 

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Yup, this is a known issue on SkyLake PC's. There are updated drivers for BOTH the Intel Card and the NVidia Card that remedy the issue. I had the same crashes with the same error, out of the box. Since updating, I've haven't had a blue screen since.
Note that the key is getting updated drivers DIRECTLY from Intel and NVidia, NOT Asus's driver page for the laptop, which were out of date and didn't include the fix that covers the SkyLake/Windows10 issue (at least when I last looked).

 

intel graphics drivers are so buggy.
and it's too bad we are forced to use the intel gpu most of the time.

The most annoying one is triple display problem, but they're working on it.

 

Thanks for sharing your useful experience and workarounds. Do you think installing one of the driver updating programs could help in this situation by providing all necessary driver updates through one interface instead of searching for them. throughout the Internet?

 

I don't. I believe the cleanest way is to go directly to Intel and Nvidia. They both have dedicated driver pages. Intel also has thier own utility to check and update it's drivers;
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html

Nvidia's driver page is easy and intuitive;
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

I try to keep my Window's install as clean as possible. For me, those all-in-one driver update utilities seems suspect.
Just my opinion though.

 

Well I updated the BIOS from 204 to 207 and now there are no memory errors from MemTest86, MemTest86+ and for extra measure GoldMemory. They were consistent before from both MemTests with about 10-30 errors per pass but with address range usually all over the place and different addresses each time both soldered memory and 4GB stick. I think it was the BIOS update as I cannot fathom what else could cause such a difference - I may or may not have disabled Windows 10 Fast Boot and reduced Hibernation file size during this time, but nothing else, and I cannot think how Windows 10 settings will affect such tests run from UEFI/BIOS off a boot CD.

Thanks for the tip on contacting Asus if it had continued - as most people usually report instability with the number of errors I was getting.

Note: BIOS 207 DVMT setting default is now 64MB instead of 32MB

 

Good that you solved your issue simply with BIOS update which probably fixed a motherboard memory management issue.
Note that on my UX501JW, latest BIOS is v211.
About DVMT setting, I also have 64MB (and can increase potentially until 512MB).

 

khanis12, DEFIANTLY: Thanks for your feedback and tips about the VIDEO_DXGKRNL_FATAL_ERROR, for now I'll try to fix it gently by removing some features, updating/downgrading drivers.

For my current config, I have a UX501JW (Haswell) and have installed latest NVIDIA and INTEL drivers quickly after installing my computer.
So, I don't think it is a problem of "out-to-date" driver.

I had enabled ShadowPlay (GeForce Experience tool feature) in order to do some benchmarks tests (ShadowPlay allows to display FPS). I suspect this may be cause of the problem. So, for now, I have only uninstalled GeForce Experience and see if the situation improves.

I also found out there was a Driver Verifier in Windows 10 ( https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff545448(v=vs.85).aspx). If I'm stuck I'll give it a go...

 

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Means it was on display or a customer returned it.

 

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Hi,
Im looking to pick up the UX501. I noticed on the asus site they now list two versions. A VW-DS71T and now a VW-US71T. Does anyone know the difference between the two? Specs appear the same.
Thanks in advance

 

Hello. I am getting a good deal for the asus ux501 Jw (last year) model for 1449 Canadian dollars. The same spec newer version is 1999 cad. So... The question is, why would I want to get the newer version. I know the Jw battery life is bad but can I change the battery? Thanks

 

All Asus Ux501 have bad to mediocre battery life if they come with the extra HDD. For the best battery life you need to get one of the models that have the SSD only.

 

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This 1439 model Jw comes with 512 Ssd. No hdd. But I've heard it only gets 4 hours battery life. Can anyone confirm?

 

HI All

pls check www from Poland http://www.x-kom.pl/p/297043-notebo...7-6700hq-24gb-512ssd-win10.html#specification

so 24GB in tolal is possible, but maybe we can increase it more ?

M

 

If it has the 4k screen then that number isn't far off. My personal experience is based on the UX501JW 512gb model with the 1080p screen. In my case and with a few undervolting tweaks from Throttlestop, I get over 6hrs of bureaucratic work at 50% brightness. Another time, on a train ride from Paris, I played The Adventures of Van Helsing for over 4hrs on battery power...

 

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I've just recently purchased my UX501VW, and upgraded the 8GB removable memory to 16GB without any issue. This is the one I used for the upgrade and haven't had any issues with it yet.

http://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-2133M...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

 

skylake cpu makes a lot of noise. Just scrolling through websites makes a lot of static noise

 

Hey, owners of UX501 series laptops, I have a question to ask. As so I heard, this laptop's exhaust fan is in between the keyboard and the screen, so what I wanna ask is, would the heat displaced affects the temperature of the screen. If so, will it damage the screen or will any side effects show up in long term?

 

Hi all. Somebody installed 16gb ram module in ux501jw (not vw) ? Its worked or not ?

 

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EduardoDaVinci, thats good, but im reading that core i processor 4 gen and lower can`t support 16gb modules. There installed 16gb module at core i 6 gen (vw and it works) but jw has 4 gen. So, is there real practice for installing 16gb modules on jw?
ps sorry for bad english

 

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Ok, second question
If i install 16 gb module (4gb soldered on mb) to my jw at 4gen core i, they seen 20 gb or wont started?