N56vz review and owners lounge - Techno Art

Sorry for the double reply, but I've found the solution myself. I noticed Iit wasn't happening when I viewed youtube for example. So I looked for a solution in Itunes. It seems that iTunes on full volume causes tese volume jumps. Haven't done much research on this program, but it may be true that it boosts it a bit on full volume, or at least acts as a limiter.

 

Need Help!

I can not find a way to enter the BIOS on an Asus N56VZ-RH71 with Windows 8!

I have tried F2, F9, ESC at the Asus white logo, immediately at startup, held down the keys, tapped the keys, in every possible configuration at startup and nothing works!

Can anyone with this model please advise as to the precise procedure for entering the BIOS as it seems impossible!

Thanks!


...Glenn

 

Hi guys!
I am a VERY happy new owner of a Asus N56V (it's my girlfriend's, actually...but I manage to put my hands on it when she's not looking! LOL!).
This post seems great and covers most of the pros and cons of this laptop...it's just too long and I have read 12 pages out of 86 this far.
I promise I will read more as soon as I have some time to spend on it.
Just quick question: anyone could pls tell me the page of this post or link me to another post where I can read some hints and tricks in order to speed up boot up time on Win8?
I would like to disable some of the programs which automatically startup, but I don't want to mess up with important ones.
I have attached a screenshot so you can see the full list of the programs which are currently being loaded and give me your opinion.
Thanks all!

 

Ha! I hate iTunes

Hi Glenn! With Windows 8 and the new fast booting system, you get into the BIOS in a different way. Go to Windows "Settings", and choose "Advanced Startup" - from there you will find plenty of options normally used during troubleshooting and PC management. Restart to BIOS or something similar will be found amongst those settings.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how it's done: How To Access The BIOS On A Windows 8 Computer

 

Thanks for the response and info Zaphod111! :thumbsup:


I had also found this guide outlining the procedure courtesy of the Acer support site and here it is:


Accessing the UEFI (BIOS) setup on a Windows 8 system
This article only applies to: systems with Windows 8 pre-installed

On systems with Windows 8 pre-installed, you can access the UEFI (BIOS) setup screens from the Windows 8 boot menu:

1. Press the Windows (Image: icon_Windows8_key.png) key + C, or swipe in from the right edge of the screen to open your Charms.
2. Click Settings.
3. Click Change PC Settings.
4. In PC Settings, select General.
5. Under Advanced startup, click Restart now. The system will restart and show the Windows 8 boot menu.
6. In the boot menu, select Troubleshoot.
7. In the Troubleshoot menu, select Advanced options.
8. In the Advanced options menu, select UEFI Firmware Settings.
9. Click Restart to restart the system and enter UEFI (BIOS).


...Glenn

 

The easy way to enter Asus BIOS on both legacy and UEFI is hold F2 when first turn on the PC, don't just press F2 because it boots too fast and often you will missed it. so just hold F2 and the repeated keystroke will do the job.

-F2 for Asus and Sager / Clevo.

-DEL for MSI.

 

Thanks Ken! I was (DUH!) not holding down the F2 key BEFORE powering up!

Boy, that is much easier then having to go layers deep in menus to get into the advanced setup menu then BIOS!


...Glenn

 

When I UEFI boot it totally locks out bios entry, interesting that you still have access its just a short period.

 

UEFI boot doesn't locks out the BIOS entry, you just need to hold the BIOS access key instead of press it so you won't missed it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55YbBsnrVtc

 

Hi everyone !
I'm a new owner of a N56vz but I have a problem:

My laptop won't boot...
All I see is a black screen. I can't get to the BIOS.
I don't know what to do but send it back to my reseller

Any advice ?
Thanks

(Sorry for my english, I'm french )

 

That's pretty interesting, cheers. Certainly a big help for those with mech drives.

 

You can try remove one stick of RAM at a time to test see if it was a faulty RAM.

 

Thanks, but there is no change.

But I think I found the problem: the screen.
I noticed there was some access to the hard drive, like an OS booting up.
So I tried something:
When I turn on the PC and hold F2 to enter BIOS, and then hit F10 (I remembered it was save and quit which implies to reboot), the laptop reboots !
So I think it's the screen, even though it's still backlit...

 

I'm hoping to be a new owner very soon, just waiting on some funding to clear, I have a question about upgrading to an SSD, first am i right in assuming that it has a SATA III controller? and is there any suggestions for a cheap but quick SSD, (I have a media server set up in the basement so i only need limited space on the go- OS, office and a few other things)

 

The crucial M4 series tend to sell very cheap and are long established and reliable.

 

Hello guys,

I recently bought a Asus n56VJ. I'm now trying to upgrade my HDD to a SSD (Samsung 840 256 gb)

In order to keep everything the same way it came from factory, I want to recover the system using the Recovery Partition. I tried two things:

1) I Created a recovery drive using Windows 8 "Create a recovery drive" feature, with the "Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive" option marked.

I removed the HDD, installed the SSD and plugged the recovery drive i made (external HD) and I could boot into some kind of Windows recovery or troubleshooting interface. But I couldn't restore the system with any of the available options.

2) I Cloned my HDD to the SSD and tried to restore using the same procedure, had the same problem as before.


Does anyone knows a way to do that ??

I also didn't find a way to burn backup DVDs. I downloaded Asus AI Recovery Tool but it said that I didn't have the correct Recovery partition (I think that this tool is not meant to be used on Asus n56VJ with windows 8)..

Another strange thing is the recovery procedure. There's no Asus recovery interface after pressing f9 on startup, just the windows 8 recovery interface.

Thanks a lot.

 

On the default install can you create backup disks from an Asus recovery program?

 

Not completely sure how this is supposed to hang together. But it seems as if you're supposed to be able to create a set of install discs with the AI backup, that you can boot and essentially copy in an OEM install. So if you had a blank hdd/ssd, you should be able to put in the first of.. four dvds or something like that, and boot it, and get out a default partitioning scheme - with a boot partition, a windows partition and a recovery partition that contains the recovery routine, etc.

That recovery partition is accessible via the UEFI boot prompt. So if you wanted to reset your install to a fresh OEM install, because... Windows breaks, or you want to annoy someone who installed all their favourite programs on it, or something.... and you have the hdd/ssd and the UEFI boot intact - then you could use the recovery partition (with the f9 thing, and so on).

The recovery dvds are similar to that, but they're supposed to be possible to boot without the partitions on the disc being intact.

-------

Honestly, I have never managed to get this stuff to work. It's tedious, it takes forever, and fails for no reason. I also don't know anyone who have successfully managed to use any of it either, to save their content along the way. Same with the backup functionality in Windows - I literally haven't heard of one person who has ever managed to recover a PC back to a functional state, without losing at least something in the process (and then had to reinstall all the programs anyway, etc).

What I have managed to get to work is to shrink the hdd to a size lower than the ssd you're supposed to switch to. Then run Clonezilla, backup the contents. Change the hdd for an ssd. Clone the content back to the disk. And then boot - and expand the partitions to the disc limits again.

That worked. Laptop booted up, registry and device database rebuilds, all references elsewhere are intact.

(...if anyone wants a recommendation for a "sata3" SSD, by the way, I can recommend the Force GT series, or the new 256Gb Corsair drives. They're not the cheapest, but you get the most performance for the money, without any doubt. Or, they are the cheapest drives you can buy that still have the best performance on the market (500Mb/s read&write). So they're the best value if you're spending a bit of money on a new drive anyway.)

 

That's odd because the disk you create should just partition whatever drive you put in it like the factory, I did that with MSI systems I sold to restore them to default with an upgraded HDD.

 

If you want to find out if it's the screen you can connect to a external monitor to test.

 

Thanks ! And yes it's the screen

 

On an Asus N56VZ I would like to do a fresh install of Windows 8 to eliminate the bloatware.

I know that the Product Key on this notebook resides in the BIOS on the motherboard. My specific question is, if I have a new retail copy of Windows 8, can I install the retail copy whenever I want and use the motherboard resident BIOS product key and ALSO install the retail copy on to another different PC using the retail copy supplied Product Keys?

In other words, can I use the new purchased retail copy of Windows 8 on TWO PC's at the same time? One being the N56VZ with BIOS supplied Product Keys and another PC using the retail copy supplied Product Keys!

Thanks!

 

Yes you can. When you use your own copy of Windows 8 to install on Asus laptop it will read the digital product key from the system BIOS and activate Windows for you. And if you use the same copy of Windows 8 disk to install on another PC without digital product key then it will ask for product key from the retail copy.

Bottom line, if the PC comes with Windows 8 pre-installed with digital product key embed into the BIOS/ MB it will automatically input the product key for you from the factory. If the PC does not originally came with Windows 8 pre-installed then you will need to input the product key from the retail version.

 

I have been having one issue with my N56 that nobody seems to be able to solve. When surfing in Internet Explorer (I have tried versions 9.0 and 10.0), I can not complete forms on any of the Google properties (Gmail, youtube, Google search). For a gmail user, this is a fatal flow since I can not use IE to do mail. Yes, I could use Chrome, but Chrome has its own issues that are not computer related, and I would rather be able to use a single browser. I have checked my ASP settings in security, and they are OK. Has anyone else BTDT?

Thank you,

 

It's probably got to do with any amount of IE idiosyncrasies on formatting and referencing DOM elements. Functions supported in some versions of IE, not supported in others, so enumeration scripts fail, no one can really tell what happens, or what changed between the versions. Only Microsoft knows.

Any webkit browser, Opera or Firefox are all generally so much better than IE, that I kind of fail to see why you can't change browser, though.. If it's not a work-computer, and your admin is a dork, and someone high up bought a script out of the back of a truck that only runs in IE8, or something like that, I mean.

 

Though I actually use other browsers, there are times when *They* do not work, and I find that overall, IE is the most consisent performer. I have difficulty understanding why a $1000+ computer can't support a widely distributed browser when every other computer can run the software and pages fine. It fails to work across several versions of IE, so it doesn't feel like an idiosyncracy, but some sort of a structural issue. I will see if Microsoft has any ideas. Asus hasn't been any help at all.

 

HI....first post here...i have just received my n56 uk spec laptop, but unfortunately have a broken hand at the moment, so she still is unboxed.
What i would like to know is when i receive my samsung 840 pro, will it just fit, or will i need to make/buy spacers?...i know that the original is 9.5mm and sammy is 7mm. Thanks in advance Grant.

 

Also has anyone got a good link for the correct win8 iso,ready for clean install..thx.

 

Hi Grant,

The Samsung 840 Pro SSD will fit in perfectly fine with no spacers needed as my new 840 Pro install went smoothly ! :thumbsup:

*** NOTE: Be careful to remember where each of the the (4) screws go back when removing the metal caddy that holds the HDD and /or the new SSD as THREE of the screws are the same length and ONE is shorter then the other three! ... Therefore be sure to be aware of which screws go where when replacing them back!

Also, after you remove the (4) screws holding the hard drive retention bracket there is a small plastic flexible pull tab tucked down below in the space on the side of the drive that you will use to pull the drive slightly up and then out sideways. Replacing the drive is just the reverse order.

*** NOTE: after you install the new Samsung SSD you will want to check to see if the FIRMWARE is the latest version!
To do this you will first install the new SSD hardrive and then you will have to install your OS so that you can get web access to check and download if necessary the latest version firmware from Samsungs site. Right after your OS install you should be able to get web access as the OS supplied default drivers are enough to get things basically working.

*** SEE BELOW for Windows 8 Installation stuff!

Windows 8 Upgrade ISO - Download or Create

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with[1]=General Tips

UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

To check what firmware version you currently have and to be able to easily download an update if required from Samsungs site you will need to use the Magician Software that normally comes on the supplied software disk. I was not able to use the particular Magician software that was supplied with the drive ( maybe for Windows 7) so after loading Windows 8 I right away went to Samsungs support area for the 840 Pro and downloaded the latest Windows 8 version of Magician.

After installing Magician software, I clicked on the desktop icon for Magician and found that my current version was the older DXM03B0Q version so I then downloaded the newer latest DXM04B0Q version. You can now also see if your SATA configuration is set to the recommended for SSD ACHI mode which mine was but I had already checked in BIOS beforehand and my particular N56VZ was in the ACHI mode by default.

Very easy to physically remove the HDD and install the SSD... took maybe 5 minutes tops! The Magician software download and firmware update took another maybe 10 to 15 minutes. The whole HDD removal, SSD install, Magician software / firmware update thing is a 15 to 20 minute job and the fresh Windows 8 OS install from an OEM disk I have took maybe 15 minutes.

The thing that took the longest was for me to install the various Drivers & Utilities from the Asus supplied disk. I installed the Asus disk and then installed all the Drivers first and then I unticked the Install All box for the Utilities and cherry picked the things that I wanted to install. It takes a bit of time when installing things from the Asus utilities disk as you have to restart the computer a number of times between items.

*** NOTE: After you install the utilities that you want you can insert the Asus Utilities disk at anytime later and it will show you the items that you have not downloaded yet so you can start out with just a few key items and then come back and install whay you may want later!

*** NOTE: After I completed the SSD install, clean Windows 8 OS install, Drivers & Utilities install and SSD Magicain software and firmware update I was notified at one point that there were 29 various updates awaiting. I was not prompted again nor did I see any downloading activity regarding any updates but when I later accessed the Power icon in the Charms Bar (upper or lower right corner UI) I noticed that the "Update and Restart" button was available now so I clicked that and the various updates began to commence.

In closing, keep in mind that my particular SSD install was easier than some as I was removing a brand new HDD and installing the new SSD, freshly reinstalling the OS and Asus Drivers & Utilities (minus the Bloatware ) from an OEM disk and Asus supplied Utility disk with no migration of any existing data. Of course, if you are replacing an HDD with resident personal data you would have to backup your data first and then restore all that after the SSD and OS install. I also installed Windows 8 from an OEM disk and since the Product Keys are embedded within the BIOS I did not have to use / waste the supplied product keys, hence I can still use the OEM Windows 8 disk for another computer / install.

After my upgrade to SSD, from initial power on to Lock Screen the boot time went from 11 seconds (HDD) to 6 seconds with the new SSD... impressive indeed!



Hope this helps!


...Glenn

 

Hey, it's my first post here and I am hoping you guys can help me.

I am looking to purchase the N56VZ and I would just like to confirm if there are any differences between the N56VZ-DH71, N56VZ-RH71, and the N56VZ-QH71 models. They all appear to have the same specs, just want to know if one is better than the others, and know which one has the most up to date drivers, etc.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

There are a number of various iterations of the Asus N56VZ out there such as the N56VZ-DH71, RH71, DS71, QS71, QH71 etc.

Some are US models, some are Canadian and then there are even various European versions. There is also the N56VJ models and they appear very similar although they feature the slightly less performing (compared to GT650M) GT635M graphics. Where the real differences lie is in how the various models are SPECIFICALLY equipped!

There is even the N56VZ-ES71 and that particular model features the i7 6310 processor, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM, DVD player, HD 1366x768 (Non Full HD) screen and Windows 7 OS.

So, the moral of the story is that you have to be extra diligent in reviewing the actual specs on these models as the specific components can really vary!

Some things to look for are 1TB 5400rpm, 750GB 7200 rpm, 500GB 5400 rpm HDD drives. GT 630M, 635M or 650M graphics cards. 4GB, 8GB RAM. Blu Ray/DVD or DVD only. 1366x768 HD or 1920x1080 FHD (Full HD) screens. Windows 8 (just about all models) or Windows 7 (N56VZ-ES71 model).

Good luck in your quest as the N56 line of Asus notebooks are really great! I looked around for a long time when searching for the perfect notebook for myself and I ultimately settled on the Asus N56VZ-RH71 as it is the highest spec'd N56 model currently available and I am in totally in heaven... I just love this thing! :thumbsup:


...Glenn

 

Thanks Glenn

I ordered the N56VZ-DH71 off amazon.ca last night

I also have a 16GB ram kit and ssd on the way. I hope I don't run into issues like others have with the ram, but I'll have to wait and see.. And I have already set up a UEFI windows 8 boot drive for a clean install. So I'm hoping that will go smoothly.

I'll update you all once i have the new hardware installed.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

Andrew,


Congrats on your new N56VZ purchase.... I am sure you will be pleased!

Please do update as I have now realized that I have an issue where I can not get into the BIOS in the usual manner of holding down the "F2" key while pressing the power on button!

Maybe now that I have the new SSD installed it is booting up so fast that the window to access the BIOS just zips by!

Let us know how you make out with your new notebook and see if you have the same issue with not being able to get into the BIOS during bootup after the SSD install.



...Glenn

 

Is the ODD in the N56VZ connected through a SATAII/SATAIII or USB port? I would like to replace the Blu-Ray player with a caddy and place an additional SSD in it for running Linux/Ubuntu...but only if it uses SATAIII.

 

Glenn,

That's pretty weird. I'll let you know if I run into the same issue. Can you just remove the SSD then access bios?

I thought i read a post saying that it was SATA III but I'm not certain.

Andrew

 

This is from the original post on this thread, "Sata connector supports Sata 3, in case you want to shop the fastest Solid State Drives to replace the one shipped with the notebook (transfer speeds easily peaked out on 500Mb/s read&write on my Corsair ForceGT). The laptop defaults the two sata ports to autodetect, so no worries with time-outs or lower speeds with an upgrade later on."

 

That's right, listen to the authority around here! Hahahahahaha! BWWAAHAHAHAHA!!!!

*cough*

Only problem is that the caddy could have a converter unit of some sort. Take a look here in this thread.

 

I have been reading through here and saw you (nipsen) mention the Killer 1202 wifi card as an alternative upgrade. I purchased the card and started on my way to a swap out.



It's not as easy as I thought it would be. Would you or anybody have a go to place to see how this is done?

@nigmol did you find the wifi swap walk-through?

Thank you

 

I thought this was valid for the normal HDD connector, but the ODD is also connected through a SATAIII port?

 

Hi Repoman - where in Qatar did you get this Laptop? - I am currently based there myself and really fancy this lappy.

Cheers

 

So update on my N56VZ-DH71. I received it in the mail yesterday and so far I am loving this notebook. I upgraded to 16GB ram (CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10), and surprisingly I didn't run into any issues with it (fingers crossed).

Also flashed the bios to version 2.16 and did a clean install of windows 8 on a Samsung 840 pro.

Glenn, i have the same issue in accessing bios now on booting. It boots to my desktop in 5-6 seconds . I have found how to access bios while logged on though.

UEFI Firmware Settings - Boot to from inside Windows 8

Now I'm only waiting on my ODD caddy to come in so I can swap in the original HDD.

Windows 8 is taking some getting used to, but I'm liking it for the most part. I did however install StartIsBack, I couldn't stand the new tile start menu..

Anyways, that's all I got for now, I'll most likely update again after the caddy is installed.

Andrew

 

Thanks for the help guys

I was able to figure it out.

 

Andrew,

It looks like I was able to solve my issue (at least for now) of not being able to access BIOS on bootup by holding down the "F2" key while pressing the power button!

I went into BIOS after logging in and I "disabled" Fast Boot and saved and exited. Then I went back into BIOS and then I "enabled" Fast Boot again and saved and exited.

Wouldn't you know it, I can now immediately boot into BIOS in the usual manner by holding down the "F2" key while powering up and all seems OK now!

The toggling of Fast Boot from enabled to disabled and back again to enabled seems to have done it! :thumbsup:

I will keep my eye on this and let us know how you make out!


...Glenn

 

Glenn

I tried that fix for the bios and it seemed to have worked for a couple boot ups but now it isn't again lol. Anyways not a huge deal for me, as its easy to access bios after logging in.


My Optical Drive conversion tray came in today and I now have the original 750GB harddrive setup in place of the blu-ray drive. And the blu-ray drive is now in an external USB enclosure and works just fine from in there. If anyone is interested, this is the conversion tray/ enclosure that i have. Newegg.ca - SilverStone SST-TS06W Plastic with diamond shape exterior 2.5" Black USB 2.0 External USB Slim Optical drive Enclosure with 2.5" SSD/HDD Conversion Tray (White)

Also moved the User directory from the C:\ drive to the D:\ drive to free up space on the SSD. I followed this guide to do that Move the Users Directory from SSD to HDD in Windows 8 | Prasys' Blog

Andrew

 

Hey fellow n56 owners,

Is there a way to disable the integrated memory in BIOS settings? im trying to run a program (Alias Automotive 2013, CAD software) and even if i switch to the nVidia card as the default card, it boots up and only sees the integrated card, resulting in an error message before opening. I am not too familiar with bios settings (noob) and am afraid it will boot up to a black screen if i mess around in there.

I have a n56vz-dh71, i7 3630QM + GT 650M, 8GB ram, Windows 8. This program has been tested working in W8, i ran it in W7 compatibility mode also.

thank you!


Here is the Autodesk error log that comes up in case, its also only detecting 1 cpu core....:

Machine Configuration
Machine Name : RANGER
Operating System : Microsoft (build 9200)
Processor 1 : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz
Number of Logical Cores : 1

Memory Configuration
Total Physical Memory : 8077 MB
Available Physical Memory : 5462 MB

3D Device
Vendor : NVIDIA Corporation
Video Processor 1 : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
Video Processor 2 : GeForce GT 650M
Video Memory : 63 MB

WARNING : Your current Graphics Hardware (video card) is below Autodesk
recommended levels. Alias might run, but may have bad display performance or
instability.

 

I have no idea. BUT - have you tried opening another program that uses the Nvidia Card and then leave it running on your desktop while you open Alias Automotive - that might force Alias to see the card at boot up.

If that doesn't work, maybe even go as far as running it on a second monitor (defaults to the Nvidia Card) and see if that solves the issue.

I'm not sure there's a BIOS workaround to disable Nvidia Optimus.

 

It seems to be using a normal device-enumeration for detection. So either setting a profile for the exe for the detection program.. (both should turn up in 3d-settings in the nvidia panel when you click "add")... or setting the "global" preference, should change the default device.

But you need some reasonably late drivers before it works properly, I think.

 

^ This was the first thing i tried. changed exe profile to the program, and to the syscheck one. changed global setting as well, still only detecting the integrated card. I will try the external monitor. Although it is giving me the error warning, it is possible that it runs fine under load; i havent encountered problems yet. It even shows as running the gt650m in the nVidia tray activity popup...

thanks for the responses.

 

So there's N56VZs going around with a GT 650M with 4GB integrated ram, is there a performance advantage of the 4GB version over the 2GB one?

 

@kranger: ..I'm not completely sure how they do it, but there is some sort of combined mode for the entire autodesk and maya stuff in the nvidia drivers.. Hopefully it doesn't conflict with some other detection, though. But it is supposed to be there by default in the unified 3.00+ drivers, with updated profiles, and so on. You can see the settings they use (and override them) with nvidia inspector if you want to, though.

@mmk92: Nope. You could get lucky and get some new ram module with higher overclock potential, though ..actually that could go either way, I guess.. But it won't perform worse than the other versions on standard clocks.