V1J/P Owner's Lounge

Ummm... why replace it with a 1GB PC6400 when you can get another 1GB PC5300 to get dual channel at 667MHz?

Also note:

http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/945gm/index.htm

Support for dual channel DDR2 667MHz memory technology

Meaning that the 800MHz will work, but you won't gain anything from it (except for better latencies *IF* the module has better latencies at 667).

 

I have ordered my V1JP in the UK and will hopefully be getting it tomorrow or day after.

I have read a lot about the bloatware that asus dumps on it's machines. My machine is being delivered with Vista Business installed.
I want to rid the machine of as much rubbish as possible, I like neat and tidy.

Can anyone list what can safely be gotten rid of and anything thats hidden that can be dumped, listed below is what I need to retain:

webcam,
finger print scanner,
quick access buttons,
power4gear thing

and apart from retaining normal functions like wifi etc, I want to strip the rubbish away.

Thanks for any help and thanks to mysticgolem and the other posters as already you have all been a massive help.

 

Hi guys!

I'm a happy owner of Asus V1 and it's battery. You know where it going, right?

Could you please tell me what is the normal Full Capacity of the battery?

I had real bad problems with my battery wear [95%... yeah, no words], so I've re-calibrated it and now NHC says that my battery wear is 0% and my Full Capacity is 979050 mWh. I have a sneaking suspicion that something is wrong here. Is it too much? It'll take ages to charge! It's now at 9% (90050) and still charging.

Help.
Please.

 

76635 mWh.

I believe that recalibrating it only makes it worse, since it discharges it, then recharges it, but the problem occurs when the battery is discharged past a certain point.

 

It's been awhile since I've been in the forum. I have the V1JP with the docking station, running Windows XP Pro. I am having a problem with my network connection. When I take the laptop out of the docking station, I will put it back in a hour or so later and when I do, I don't have a LAN connection. I have tried going in and disabling/enabling the LAN connection, but nothing seems to work. Then a day or so later, it will just start working again.

If I take the laptop out of the docking station when this happens, I can hook the ethernet cable directly to the laptop and it will connect immediately to my network switch.

I have got a RMA to send it back to ASUS, but have put it off since it comes and goes. Before I send it in I wanted to check and see if anybody else was having a similar issue.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

I haven't been using the wired LAN on the dock, but I have noticed that the laptop sometimes gets confused about what devices are present and not present if devices appear and disappear before the system is ready.

The general rule with docking is that you MUST tell the system that you are undocking before you pull the laptop off. Otherwise, it can "confuse" the system and you'll have trouble getting it to properly recognize the devices again until it's been shut down and restarted.

Also, when removing items, if you put it back before it's been recognized as removed, that can also generate all sorts of weird problems. ex: USB KVM crashes the system if I switch between the two PCs back and forth too quickly.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I always 'undock' when I am going to take the laptop downstairs. I have had a few occassions where I was moving the laptop and docking station on the desk and the laptop popped off of the docking station and it did get confused as you say. The locking part of the docking station is not that secure, so I try to be very careful now to ensure I don't disconnect it when not meaning to. My laptop for work, a Dell, locks great to the docking station. Wish my V1JP docked more securely like the Dell does.

Well, I think I am going to just go ahead and RMA the docking station back to ASUS to have it checked out. Hopefully it's not the laptop. I hate having to send my laptop in for service. It's a real pain.

 

The Dell docking stations have a latch AND a Kensington lock socket to physically prevent the unit from being undocked with the eject button. Clearly made with security in mind, likely due to experience and exposure to the corporate world. I'm not sure if it was the original intent to have a snug connector.

Meanwhile, the ASUS doesn't seem to have much of a latch at all, more like it only has a "push" mechanism to pop it out.

I doubt there's anything wrong with the electronics in the dock. It's more likely if the connector is worn down...

 

My friend's getting a V1S, and he's intersted in extending the battery life, som my questions are: How large is the extended battery and multibay battery? And how much do they cost?

 

Hi Guys (and Girls?)

I've been lurking on this thread since purchasing my V1jp last december. Apart from the battery issue (on my 2nd!), its been a spectacular computer, rapidly handling any adobe work I throw at it.

Anyways, reason I delurked. I often travel with my laptop to shoots, then when I get back have to plug in keyboard/mouse/lan/power etc. I've been wondering about getting the docking station - my question is, having just seen the V1/V2 docking station on ebay, is it worth it? Is it reliable? (after the battery problems, I have a few trust issues with asus hardware ) Or would I be better off with just a 3rd party docking station to handle lan/keyboard/mouse and manage the power separately?

Thanks for any advice

Sook

(btw, has anyone tried a 3rd party battery to solve the poor battery life problem?).

 

Depends on your budget and needs.

The dock works fairly well. I've had my V1 since February and the dock for about just as long. It's quite convenient. It remains docked most of the time and I take it with me on the weekend, then just sit it back on when I come back from the weekend.

Plugs:
(left side) 3x audio plugs (SPDIF, headset and mic), 1x USB 2.0 port.
(back) VGA, DVI, parallel, serial, LAN, power connector, 4 USB 2.0 and a PS/2 port.
(right side) eject lever, Kensington lock slot (I have not tried it yet, I don't know if it blocks the eject like Dell docks).

Features:
- Docking station convenient, you just drop the laptop onto the connector and it starts talking to everything else.
- Acts as a charger (has a 120W power brick) and a port replicator.
- Blue LED on the top to indicate you are docked and a button to undock.
- While the unit is docked, you can still use the majority of other plugs on the unit that aren't blocked (hence the ports are replicated and they are distinct, not simply brought over).

Caveats:
- It does NOT have a power button to start the laptop like the Dell docking station.
- The unit can easily come off by accident if you lift it off the dock since there is no latch that holds the laptop on the connector -- it merely sits on top of the connector.
- The power brick connector for the dock is different, you cannot plug it directly to the laptop. It is used for charging the laptop and powering the dock only.
- Onboard LAN port and power adapter plug not accessible when docked (not that you'd want to use them).
- Main battery cannot be removed once docked.
- You need to properly undock the unit before removing it, or it might crash the system.
- A bit pricey at 200$. I find it worth it, but there are other generic port replicators by Kensington and Vantec that go for less. I also have the Vantec one -> LAN, USB2.0, parallel, serial, 2x PS/2. => ~75$.

Notes:
- When using the X1700 GPU, you can have only two monitors active on at a time (I have my screen on with a Viewsonic VG2030wm, I get 1680x1050 on both units => 3360x1050 desktop). It's not that the system doesn't sense that there are monitors plugged to the input, just that Catalyst won't let you drag more than two onto the different outputs.

PS: Third party battery? Where?

 

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the summary on the docking station - I think I will try bidding for it as the price is still quite low .

As for the battery; the reason I asked was I had to buy a sony battery for an old vaio; and sonys service suck (long lead times etc as the vaio was ~8 years old). I found 3rd party battery from Duracell direct: http://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/
which to be honest seems to outperform the sony original by a good margin

I'm not sure if they have a battery for the V1, they certainly have for the VX1 - I'd need to check part numbers to see if they were the same.
Even if they are, I am unsure if this would solve the battery wear issue - I mean is it simply a rebadged Asus battery (so suffering the same design flaws)?, or is it their own design, with their own bios (from what I remember reading in various forums the problem could be with the bios in the battery?). It is awfully tempting to try, but being on a budget...

Sook

 

The multi-bay battery is a 6 cell battery, you can expect it to last 1 hour and 20 mins or so.

The cost of the battery is roughly 130$. Give or take a little.

 

Something interesting I noticed on our supplier's website, the description for the V1's 8 cell battery indicates it is also for the VX2. It would be interesting to know if anyone with VX1 has the same issue. If not, then you can definitely say that the problem is on the charger or the BIOS. If they do, then we can blame the batteries...

 

hi,
i reformatted my asus but installed xp 64 as opposed to 32 bit.
Unfortunately its impossible to find drivers, so i was wondering if anyone knew where i could get atk0100 for xp64.
Also need webcam driver, and the asus software that enables me to use the hotkey buttons because i cannot install my bluetooth drivers unless i can enable the device.

can anyone help???

 

Maybe the V1S might have drivers that are suitable?

AFAIK, ATK0100 is the software that does all the buttons and such.

 

hey will it void the warranty if i open my v1jp and clean out all the dust in the heatsink and fans? i think its getting really clogged up down there.

 

It won't, just don't break any seals, they are little yellow tags located near the CPU, don't touch it either, because it can break.

Other than that, cleaning it is not a problem, simply blow it out in either direction, or both ways and collect the dust and etc.

 

Guys.. Let me know where can I find V1JP docking station in Singapore and with reasonable price. Did anyone bought docking station in singapore..?

 

cheers thanx alot

 

also will adding another gb of ram void the warranty? im thinking of upgrading my ram to 2GB, also if anyone know what type of ram it takes that would be awesome cheers

 

Adding another 1GB of ram will not void the warranty. All current laptops take So-Dimm DDR2 ram. Find reviews on the choice of ram you want, or simply get the same ram that someone else got here when they upgraded. Brands like Corsair and Kingston are decent choices.

 

cheers so my second stick of ram doesnt have to be the same as my stock ram?


also the stock v1jp ram is ddr667 right?

 

That's correct, it doesn't have to be the exact same ram. And definitely use DDR2667mhz for optimal speed.

 

Can somebody help me out with my extended desktop issue that I have been having? I have the docking station with a monitor hooked up to it. I have the monitor on a shelf above and behind the laptop, so I set up the ATI control center to have the 2nd monitor above the laptop monitor. But, everytime I undock the laptop and then re-dock, it changes my 2nd monitor to be to the right of the laptop. I am constantly changing it.

Here are some screen shots. I don't know how to tell what version of the control center I have based on these numbers. I saw a previous post to Driver Heaven, but am unsure on what version to download. I am running XP Pro. The driver I have installed currently are the ones that have been on the ASUS sight since the beginning of the year.

Thanks

 

Hi all,

I have a question regarding the batteries…I’ve been monitoring the threads but can’t really seem to find a proper answer.

1.The battery problem : Hmm…I have been using my V1Jp for around 4-5 months now….and the battery seems only able to last up to an hour ( 1 hour 20mins MAX). Is this normal ? I read that you guys mentioned disabling the Critical Alert alarm..how do I do this using Windows Vista ?

2.Moving forward, should I request for a new battery ?

3.How do I check for battery wear,etc ( sorry, noob question ! ). Are you guys using an external program and if so, any particular programs to recommend ?

4.Heat issues – any of you guys bothered by the heat from the right side ? I’m using a cooling pad yet its still pretty hot..
.
Thanks for any replies and I apologize if these questions have been posed before !

 

Hi,

1) Yes the V1JP has this battery wear issue. Normally the 8 cell main battery would last 3 hours, but after constant use your battery will start have abnormal wear, which causes you to have lower battery life.

Here's the article.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3537

2. Yes, you should request a new battery, you can either do a cross ship or you can send in your battery first. It takes roughly 2-5 days, which is pretty decent. Your battery only has 1 year warranty on it, so get it replaced as many times as needed within that period.

Many users have found that getting the multi-bay battery helps, because the multi-bay battery is discharged first, and then the main battery is discharged second. So depending on your usage, you can slow down the effects of wear on your main battery. The multi-bay battery doesn't suffer from wear problems.

3. Use programs like NHC, Rmclock, Everest, they will state wear percentages, and it has been agreed that these programs give true and accurate readings for this matter.

4. Yes, heat coming out the right side is annoying, not exactly an issue since this is how the V1 chassis was designed. If you regularly monitor your temps, you may have seen an increase since you first got your laptop. So I suggest getting a can of compressed air and blowing out the vents to clear up dust and lint build up. That should help drops the temps.

If you have any more questions please ask.

 

I have a question regarding V1 Docking Station. I can't find any information about SPDIF output located on docking station. I know that SPDIF on V1S is optical (combined with headphones out). Docking station's SPDIF output is separate, so my here is my question: is it optical or coaxial?

Thanks in advance

 

The V1JP headphone port has a combined optical SPDIF function.

 

Hey everyone,

I've got my V1Jp for about a year now and it's acting up. It hangs very often and when disk check is running after I do a forced shut-down (because it hung), it hangs again during scanning itself! And thus, I skip the whole thing and let my windows load. However, it still takes about 30 minutes for it to fully start up. And when I click on, say, My Computer, it takes another few minutes for the system to load its contents. I suspect that some files are corrupted because when I try to delete or move certain files around, an error message going, "Cannot delete [so-and-so]: Data error (cyclic redundancy check)".

I backed up all my stuff onto an external hard disk and tried to reformat the "Extended Partition" of my hard disk, the D:\, in safe mode, but I can't even enter safe mode.

I've installed a few of my games (Championship Manager 2007, Company of Heroes, Max Payne 2) and a Print Screen application on my D:\. Is that the cause of the problems? Maybe because they're not in C:\, the Primary Partition? The games do crash to desktop or hang pretty often.

The temperature of my CPUs are about 66 deg celcius each when I'm just surfing.

I'm thinking of using my recovery disk, but am not sure if that would solve the problem. Could this be a hardware fault?

 

Hi, My V1jp also gets to that temp when surfing at sometime peaks at 70 thus turning the fans on high and i have a constant whirr sound... As for the rest of it, it does sound hardware related tbh. I havent had that problem on my windows or linux OS

 

Hi elmatador, how do I turn the fans on high? I'm using a Windows XP Pro. Does it make a difference which OS I use, though? I dread sending it in for repair because I bought mine in Singapore but am now in Australia for a year, and what I've heard about the Australian Asus service support so far is not very comforting.

 

Well im not too sure on how to control the fans, they are on a preset. so automatically switch according to the temp. I have tried places to change the speeds but have not been successful.

Notebook Hardware Control is a good program to view temps etc.. but cant find away of controling the fans. The operating System doesnt really make a difference, but if it was Windows problem then it wouldnt occur in linux.

I say you can try your recover disk and see if problem persits, if so its off to Asus im afraid.

 

Hi, I also have a V1JP that is 1 year old.

1) Your system hangs because there could be viruses, a lot of spyware, start up programs and etc. I suggest back up everything (which you have already done) and do a format. [Technically we should be formatting every 6-12 months to keep our computers at optimum performance]

2) Nothing wrong with your partitioning and installing your games on your D drive, in fact that is what I do. Most games I play do not cause my laptop to hang, I have pretty much all the latest games. COD4 seems to be the only game that causes my computer to slow down after playing it.

3) As for your temperature issue, your idle temp should be 50-55 degrees Celsius. What happens overtime is that your vents and cooling system gets clogged by hair, lint and dust. You will need a can of compressed air and blow it out. You will need to open ur laptop and blow everything out and that should bring ur temps back to when u got ur laptop.

If you have any other concerns plz ask.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Thanks. I think I'll try the recovery disk. Will update! =)

 

Hi MysticGolem,

1a) I haven't scanned it for viruses in a while because my anti-virus subscription has expired. Any good (and hopefully, free) virus- and spyware-scanning software I can download to use?

1b) I've tried formatting, but Windows won't allow it. An error message pops up saying, "Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other programs that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of the drive. Then try formatting again." Thus, what I did was close every process under my user name in task manager and trying it again. But, to no avail. Then, I tried to start Windows in safe mode by pressing F8 during start-up. After making the appropriate selection, the system hangs with the screen displaying lots of names of start-up files. What should I do? Does using the recovery disk mean the formatting of my drive and re-installation of Windows? I was thinking of using the recovery disk to restore factory settings, then formatting my drives.

1c) How is it possible to format your primary drive, in most cases, the C:\. Isn't that the drive that contains Windows? How did you format yours?

2) Glad to have confirmation that I'm not the only one installing my games on another partition. My girlfriend keeps saying, "why can't you install stuff the 'default' way?" and thinks I'm weird.

3) It's the first time I've heard this suggestion. Sounds good and I'm gonna try it. But isn't opening up the laptop voiding the warranty or something? Are there "safe" parts to open?

Thanks for your detailed reply. And apologies for the many questions. I really have no clue about laptops. Thanks very much again for your help. =)

 

1a) Here's what I use, AVG Free, Spybot Search and Destroy and Adaware, all free, you can google each of them and download them. They will update themselves and everything.

I personally only leave AVG on startup to let it scan, the other two I manually scan when I feel it is necessary. Also with AVG Free, there's a nice feature when you download anything it will automatically scan it, or you can easily right click on the file and scan it.

1b) For formatting there's two ways, EBE"s method which uses the recovery disks and then a few other programs to get the laptop the way you want it.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81828

1c) The other method is where I used my own copy of XP Pro and installed it myself. No you can't right click on the C drive and do a format, you can do that to the other drives provided that they are not in use. Other than that you need to insert the Windows CD and from there you will have the option to install a clean version of Windows and set the cluster size.

Then I used partition magic to partition the drives the way I wanted and then started to install everything. Just make sure you have all the CDs, drivers, back files ready to go, makes ur formatting easier if you didn't have to look for drivers when u need em the most.

2) Yah I have all my computers partitions in to 3 drives, C = Windows plus main drivers, D = Applications and Games, E = Downloads, Movies, Music, ISOs.

3) Sure at first I was hesitant to open my notebook but when i realized my temps were way to high, i sat down and spent some time to take care of it and it works perfectly.

You will not void the warranty doing this, you will see seals, they are yellow in colour that will say do not break. Obviously don't touch them because they are fragile, also take your time.

You will pretty much have to remove all the panels from the bottom of the laptop and you will need a small screw driver.

no problem about all the questions, its good that you ask, cos its now been 1 year since all of us V1JP owners have had this laptop and i'm sure others are going to be doing this too.


Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

1a) I've downloaded and installed all three programs. They're pretty nifty.

1b & 1c) I managed to format my hard disks by pressing F9 when the computer's booting up. It brings me to a page where I've got four choices to choose from - I forgot what they were. Anyway, I chose "restore windows xp to two partitions" or something like that. And about 15mins later, it's done! I can't choose the partition size or whatever, though. It's all set by default, I think.

2) That's a good idea. But since I can't have a say over how many partitions I want or the size I want them to be, I'll just make do with the defaults.

3) Haven't done the opening up of my laptop, yet. But will, soon, once I get that can of compressed air.

Well, I hope my queries and your answers have helped other V1J users, too. I know it has helped me. HEAPS. Thanks so much, MysticGolem!

Oh, there IS one more thing. I accidentally spilled butterscotch on my keyboard and the keys are all sticky and hard to press. I really feel like plucking all of them out, giving the base a good wipe, then putting them all back in. Is there any OTHER less damaging way to get the area underneath the keys clean? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

 

Regarding partition size, even tho you have windows installed already you can still use Partition Magic the newer version, the older versions aren'ts so great, but look into it. There's a small chance you can loose ur data by messing with ur hard drive size too much.

Also read the manual on partition size its about 3 pages with images so its not that bad and you'll learn how to use partition magic quickly.

As for your keyboard, I have no idea, i was thinking put water through it, first take out the keyboard and then wet it, and let it for dry, but that may not work. Ask around, cos others have spilled other things into their keyboards hehe.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Hi guys, today my V1JP is 1 years old. I'm loving it so far, but the notebook is far from being 'perfect' at the moment, especially after I upgraded to Windows Vista recently. Here are some of my issues and I hope some of you can help me out

1) Recently my fan became really loud and it's permanently running. I went ahead and bought a compressed air duster like many of you suggested and this seems to fix the loud whirring noise! However, I noticed that my CPU temp rises quickly to 65C when browsing the Internet normally. I read somewhere that idle temperature should be around 50-55C. Is this something that I should be concerned about?

2) My Asus hotkey buttons and the brightness/volume control keys (Fn+F5 for example) do not work after I installed Windows Vista. I've downloaded and installed all the drivers from Asus' website. Is anyone having the same problem? Also, which specific driver controls this function?

3) I'm wondering what is the appropriate BIOS version and ATI Card driver for my system (V1jp, windows Vista). For comparisson, my current video driver is version 8.352.0.0. I don't know how to look up my current BIOS version, but should I be updating anything?

Thanks for reading my long post Any help is appreciated.



One additional thing, I just realized today that the casing at the bottom of the screen (near the hinges) are starting to crack on both sides too. Is this something that I should be concerned about? And does the warranty covers this?

 

Crappy Vista driving up your GPU and CPU utilization, hence more heat. And since utilization is up, depending on your power profile it might kick the CPU into high-speed mode.

65C isn't bad but I suppose with the fan on it's annoying. You could always try to run it at half-speed to see if it does anything for you heat-wise.

Didn't the upgrade come with a driver CD?

AFAIK you cannot use the WinXP ones for some of the stuff (no, I haven't installed the Vista Upgrade on my system yet, I don't want to have to reactivate all my legit stuff again -_-).

I think you need 0314 BIOS to get Vista running right. The video BIOS is built into the system BIOS update. You can see the actual VBIOS version on the info screen in the BIOS.

Probably. I don't have that on mine (yet). I suppose they might cover it. Those sorts of things are typically done on a case-by-case basis.

 

Anyone RMA their battery lately?

I got a new one a few weeks ago and I discharged it completely four times. The first three times it had 1.5% wear. The fourth time I had the modular battery attached and I completely discharged both. What was strange was that when the thing fully charged up, after hanging at 99% for about 10 minutes, the battery seemed to reset itself to 100% and my wear value went down from 4% to 2%??? Someone in the V1S thread that happened to them. Maybe they're shipping out V1S batteries for V1Js now?

In any case, the part I shipped out seemed to be a different part from what I got, the serial number was obviously higher but the part number was lower??? Or maybe this was caused by the modular battery? (but it never did that before with the modular battery connected)

 

Well maybe they changed the firmware in the newly produced V1J batteries... or like you say they are just shipping V1S batts. Hopefully you'll get more use out of your battery like this.

 

I have the same problem. The casing of the LCD seperates when the laptop is open. I also have a small crack



I have sent my laptop of to Asus repair for this, but aslo becuase i have a faulty battery and dvd burner. It has been in repair for 2 weeks now and they are awaiting parts. I am annoyed that it is taking this long.

 

Looks like ASUS need to improve on their plastic mixes... having this hinge problem on a supposedly business model is very worrying. Hopefully they are isolated incidents, and the repairs will fix them.

 

That would be pretty sweet! My battery is forever stuck on 100% and there's no way to tell what's the charge level. All recalibration guides are so confusing and it's been too long to RMA it.

 

It does still have that charge problem where it doesn't get 100% for a while. It's just that it seems the wear "fixes" itself, though I'm not sure how much I should trust that. Also, I haven't depleted it completely again ever since, since I still use the modular battery first. At least the modular battery doesn't seem to kill the main battery like in the V1S (but again, I haven't completely discharged the main battery since then... I have completely discharged the modular one, though).

 

No, I've never seen the modular kills main problem mentioned on the V1J.

Yeah, you can never completely trust these buggy batteries, just use them as long as they are usable... You can hope that you will be able to use them longer, that's the only thing.

 

I rang ASUS to see whats the status on my repair.
They have ordered loads of new parts such as a dvd drive, new battery and LCD cover. So if you do have a crack they will replace it. I'm hoping that my hinge is fixed. Before it was really stif to move but the LCD was flimsy (if that makes sense) and i think this is what caused the crack

 

Hey guys, I swear I've dug through the forum and haven't found decent explanations how to install RAM into V1j! Is it below keyboard? Or on the bottom? If on the bottom, do I have to unscrew main cover first and ram cover second? Because I've tried to unscrew cover that seem to be marked as ram and it wouldn't budge Help?