W3j Owners Lounge

See my post here for answers
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=93859&page=4

 

Yes I agree, let it grow and continue because I think the w3j owners certainly need it. As for us xps m1210 owners, we either 1. have no issues with our fabulously built comps and have no need for such a resource or 2. can always rely on the top notch, 24hr, white-glove xps customer service.

 

I've got two questions:

1.) I'll usually shut down my W3J and unplug it from its power adaptor when I'm not using it. However, when I come back a few hours later and plug it back in, I see the orange battery charging indicator light up. This would suggest that the battery is losing its charge even while the computer is off. Is this normal?

2.) I've disabled PowerPlay in my ATI settings to temporarily fix the infinite reboot issue until I can mess around with my drivers some more. Does Power4Gear adjust the video card settings in addition to the processor settings, or does it only handle processor settings?

Thanks for the help!

 

ad1 Mine is similar in that way, but it could only be the trickle charge, after all battery logic does not allow it to overcharge.

ad2 Powerplay adjust graphic settings only, and it's good at it (get 6.8, or 6.10 mobile catalyst).

 

Wow! What's m1210 anyway?

 

He is bragging about a Dell made laptop that is not even in the same category as the W3j. The XPS m1210 is advertised as an ultra portable with a Nvidia go 7400 gpu. Screen size is 12" I believe, while the W3j is a 14" laptop with a much more powerful videocard.

He's been posting about his m1210 on just about every thread he visits. ^^;;

Reminds me of that one Hummer commercial where the guy goes to a market place and buys vegetarian goods.

Proud, but getting to be very annoying Dell owner. XD

 

But his screen name alone seems to show he is at least thinking of upgrading, lol, must not be that great! hehehe j/k dude, hope you're enjoying your Dell.

This one however made me fall off my chair in laughter!!! I was a very long time Dell user and quite happy until I bought an XPS and was unfortunate enough to experience the "specialized XPS customer service". Give me the Dell overseas tech help with accents any day over the six or seven asinine "American specialists" that couldn't fix a **** thing, had no follow through and no people skills what so ever! I hope you always fall into your first category "JM", cause I don't wish that kind of help on anyone. I started begging them to transfer my calls to India by the end of my 6 month long ordeal!

 

Rofl <3 W3j =D

 

Hey everybody. I hope the holidays are going well for everybody. Everything was going well for me until I woke up this morning to find the battery recharging indicator (orange) light on my W3J blinking. Last night everything seemed to be fine. Before going to sleep, I put it on stand by and plugged it back into the AC adaptor. Now, the orange light is constantly blinking and the battery doesn't seem to hold a charge anymore (the computer shuts down if i pull out the AC cord). I'm not real tech savvy, but i'm just wondering how such a battery problem could arise overnight. Any suggestions would be awesome. Hopefully I can get someone to look at this/battery replaced on Tuesday. Thanks!

 

Did you install any new softwares/drivers before the problem happened?

 

Does the w3j suffer from the same screen problem the A8js does? The light leakage...

 

According to the earlier post, i think there is some leakage from the bottom of the screen, someone correct me if i'm worng.

 

I experience none.

~ Brett

 

I'll try my set tonight, its Christmas afternoon over at my time zone. Merry Christmas everyone!!!

 

Nope. I didn't change a thing.

 

Kodene, try a search on "battery calibration" and test your battery before going for a new one. There should be plenty of reading on it, I remember reading about it a while back. I'm no computer wiz, so someone correct me if this seems to be the wrong info...

Also, don't overlook the simple things first, take the battery out and clean the contacts (blow any dust or anything out that might be in there)

I have never had any screen or light problems with mine either. Some have mentioned that one side of the screen is brighter than the other (right side brighter), but I can only notice this at the lowest couple of settings and it is very minor. I only noticed after reading it somewhere and actually looked for it.

 

The BIOS has some battery settings you can play with. I suggest using the calibration utility or tests included before buying a new one.

~ Brett

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, i'll give them a try.

 

I also notice no light leakage at all on my W3j.

 

I tested my set out, no light leakage.

 

Hey everybody,
I'm interested in buying some more memory for my w3j. I was wondering if anybody had any advice on where to get/what to get for the best deal. Unfortunately, I currently have 2 sticks of 512s in so if I want 2 gigs i would have to replace both sticks. Or I could have 1.5 gigs but I have no idea if that works or not. I would like to stick to 667 ram as that seems to be the best but maybe it would be too expensive for 2 gigs of it. So far I've looked at the 1024M / SODIMM ( DDR2 / 667, Corsair, OCZ ) from milestonepc for 140 CDN. The reason I'm asking in here is because I was hoping that a w3j owner could direct me towards some good ram that i could get in canada. Thanks y'all.
Dan

 

Corsair is a good brand.

 

Sorry for reposting this, but can anybody help me out?

I'm really interested in seeing your answers to question number 1.

 

I suggest recalibrating your battery. I think the W3J has a utility to do this in the BIOS but I'm not sure how that works. If you run the BIOS program and it doesn't solve your problem:

• Turn off all screen savers, standby settings, etc.
• Charge your computer fully
• Unplug it and let it drain itself all the way to automatic shutdown/hibernation
• Recharge fully

This should manually recalibrate your battery. Try the BIOS program first. You can also monitor battery charge/drain with mobile meter to find out exactly what's going on. Let us know if this works.

According to the all the settings in the customizable section of P4G (right click its icon, uncheck autoperformance, select configuration), the program has no effect on the graphics card at all. Unfortunately, the card's own power saving feature, PowerPlay, is not compatible with the W3J. Hopefully it will be corrected in the future.

Hope this helps,
~ Brett

 

Thank you very much for your reply! One of the first things that I did when I received my W3J was calibrate the battery, as I wanted to make sure that I was always getting accurate battery life estimates. So, I don't believe that this has anything to do with the problem. I may recalibrate it again, though, just to make sure that my readings are still accurate.

I decided to do a more thorough test today to see what was going on with my W3J. First, I charged up the battery all the way, shut down the computer, and then completely removed the battery. I came back after a few hours, plugged the battery and power cord back in, and found that the orange charging light did not come on, meaning that the battery was not losing charge when it wasn't plugged in to the computer. So, I know it's not a faulty battery.

I then started the computer and checked the estimated remaining battery life with the Windows battery display. I wrote down the remaining battery life (~2:45), shut down the computer, and unplugged the power cord. When I came back a few hours later and plugged in my power cord, I found that the orange charging light came back on, which is what was previously worrying me.

However, I turned on the computer and went back to the Windows battery display, and, to my surprise, I found that the estimated battery life still said 2:45. So, even though the charging light came on, the battery was actually still fully charged. As long as the Windows battery display is accurate, I am not actually having any problems with the battery. I'm not sure why the charging light keeps coming on, but, as long as the battery is actually fully charged, I'm not worried.

I am thinking that I will still try Mobilemeter, as you suggested, to make sure that I am getting accurate readings. But, for the time being, I am calling this case closed. It's a big relief, since this was the only significant issue that I've been having with my W3J!

Thanks again!

 

@Nilex,

I guess a BIOS update would fix the issue with the orange charging light appearing?

I think the battery status may be read through the BIOS software? If so, flashing a BIOS update might just work.

 

Well I think this is normal, the same happens to mine and I remember someone else highlighting about the battery charge light, after leaving it overnight.

 

I updated my BIOS right when I got the computer, but, come to think of it, I calibrated my battery first and THEN installed the BIOS update second. Maybe if I recalibrate my battery now, with the upgraded BIOS already installed, the problem will go away.

Glad to hear that this issue is not unique to my computer! Again, even though the charging light is coming on, my actual battery life is completely normal, so I'm thinking that this isn't a big deal.

Thanks for your replies!

 

Hi everyone,
First i want to thank everyone who posted on this forum, it really helped to cement my choice in purchasing the w3j from milestonepc. Secondly, this probably the most active forums out here, which makes it awesome for anyone who wants to gather any info. I had the w3j for about 2weeks now, its awesome, no problems yet.
I have one question to ask. I install the omega drivers, and i think i did everything correctly because there are no problems as of yet (keeping my fingers crossed). So, next i downloaded 3dmark05, the free trial version, to see what numbering im getting; however, i'm running into a problem, where there is an error connecting online, where i can view my result. Has anyone else encountered this problem as well?

Thanks (sorry if i blab too much)

 

I'm pretty sure that with the demo you cannot view other peoples scores online- not too sure tho.

Does anybody know what the max resolution that the x1600 in the w3j can go up to with an external monitor. I am thinking of getting an LG 20.1 inch flatron to hook up to my w3j.
thanks
Dan

 

i finally got my 3dmark05 score online, it was 3933 (using omega drivers). I had to manually disable my norton internet security. Isn't this score a tad bit on the low side? I was kinda expecting something in the 4000 range, am i expecting too much?
I ran the test using super performance mode. Is there a difference between super performance mode vs game mode?
My spec for the lappy is:
w3j series
ati x1600 256mb
1024mb
core 2 duo T5500
100GB HD

thanks

 

3933 is an entirely normal 3d Mark '05 score for the spec you describe. Also, differences in the the 10's and 100's of a 3d mark test are berely perceptible when investigated under gaming conditions.

 

Hello,

I'm a potential W3J buyer with a question about its screen. I currently have a new laptop which is fantastic in all regards I can think of (my first one so maybe that doesn't mean a whole lot). However, the screen is 12 inches with a resolution of 1280x800, which is a little hard on my eyes surprisingly, and the w3j seems to be the best portable lower res compromise.

Anyway, will this screen size make that much of a difference with text readability compared to my current comp? Will the icons etc lose their sharpness at this res? Also, are most games capable of handling the w3j native resolution? Other issues with a lower resolution versus higher?

Sorry for all the questions, but the screen res is really the only reason I would switch, and its not something I wish to do lightly as I can only sell my laptop now, and it will in all likeliness result in a loss of money for me. Any input welcome, thanks in advance!

 

Yes, I also know that I could just get an external screen, but to me that just kind of defeats the purpose of owning a laptop.

 

Screen is great on the w3j. Most games I've played look fantastic on it.

By the by, I just got myself a beeeeautiful LG 20 inch widescreen and it is fantastic when hooked up to my w3j. Everything is perfectly crisp at the monitor's 1680x1050 res- and this is thru the VGA cable! Very impressed with the monitor and my w3j right now!
thanks
Dan

 

Hi, I'm wondering if is it worth it to pay an extra USD$65 for a c2d 2.0ghz 120gb hdd from taiwan or just get a 1.83ghz 100gb hdd locally [in singapore]?

is there much diff?

Thx~

 

I would for sure if its only 65 USD. However if there are other costs like shipping, tax, etc, then might not be worth it. Its always nice to have the newest, biggest, fastest tech in a computer!
Dan

 

Was wondering if anyone has managed to solve the random click sound from the HDD yet?

And is there a solution to remove the blue blox on the top right corner when you press the Fn + key?

 

it'll remove automatically..

yeah.. i get the random click sound too...

-EDITED-

 

How do you remove it?

 

Does anyone get random headphone static when you unplug the ac and turn off bluetooth? If I start playing mp3s or anything that has sound it goes away but as soon as I turn that off it comes back. If I turn on bluetooth it goes away, but this is only when off ac. A possible ground issue?

 

So I've got a Core 2 T5500, 1gb ram, 100gb fujitsu drive setup. I've already flashed the bios to fix graininess with version 210 from the asus site. I was wondering if anyone had a similar setup with their w3j, and if you feel like you've found the right mix of drivers for the "best experience you can find with the w3"? hehe... specifically, which video drivers, as well as whether you're using the P4GEAR or NHC to handle power. Thanks in advance.

 

I get little noises when the hard drive is reading in my earphones =P

 

Hello all.
Im a proud new owner of an asus w3j laptop and its awsome!
Just had one question and or problem. Ive been seaching these threads and have found that many people are having this similar problem but so far i have not seen any definate solutions. I have an optical battery that i use along with the main battery. When on battery power the laptop will drain the optical battery and instead of switching over to the primary battery it will just hibernate. Anyone know of anything i can do to make it switch over to the primary battery with out turning off/hibernating? Again ive searched these threads but found no real definate solution. Thanks in advance for any advise!

Edit. Bios is up to date and using ati catalyst 6.8 (seems to be the most stable and used version for this laptop. At least thats what people are saying)

 

In terms of drivers, I left everything the same when I reformatted except for Omega Drivers, Newest ProSet (Wireless Drivers), and Newest Intel INF Updater (Mainboard Driver). I use both P4GEAR & NHC although I'm pretty sure P4GEAR doesn't do anything for me other than make pretty boxes when I push the button.

Me too!

I've read this problem as well. From what I remember, the solution to this problem was to completely reformat the computer. I'm unsure whether from the hidden partition or the cds. Personally, I'd reformat using the cd's and then download the drivers from ASUS (with the exception of Omega Drivers, Intel ProSet, and Intel INF Updater) then install them in the order shown on the Drivers CD.

 

Hi

Has anyone got Vista working on there W3J? I remember there being a problem with the BIOS, has that been fixed yet?

ta

 

We still have to be patient...

 

I didn't realize PowerPlay didn't work with the W3J. Do you know if it is a driver issue or just because of the way the card's BIOS is?

Someone else mentioned the Asus CDs....
If you reformat with the Asus CD, is it a clean install (no drivers, no software) or does it install drivers and some software with it? If it is a clean install, I'd consider doing a clean install, with just installing drivers and the basic keyboard control software.

Thanks for answering my questions.

 

Powerplay WORKS with W3J, but there is a driver bug at least in 6.9, 6.11 etc.

The safe drivers are stock, 6.8, 6.10 (in most cases).

I'm using 6.10 right now with powerplay.

Also some observations about powerplay and 6.9 (the bugged one):
-When default settings are for powerplay, it works fine on AC, but not on battery
-when you change the mode for AC from max performance to other, it will reboot in that moment, setting should not be remembered
- when external monitor is connected to VGA, powerplay disables itself (at least on AC), which is quite neat, because you can set powerplay to max savings and in the moment you connect it to monitor it goes into full performance

 

hmm.. im getting some odd things regarding my bluetooth after i reformatted my notebook. i didn't use the rescue dvd.. i just installed everything manually. i didn't install the wireless console, tpm driver, and IR driver. the problem i'm having.. is that when i disable bluetooth using the hotkey on the side of the notebook and boot up the system after it has been on standby or hibernating, bluetooth becomes enabled instantly. however, the bluetooth indicator light on the notebook isn't active.
did i forget to install something?