~Asus G73JH-X1 Official Owner's and Technical Upgrade Enthusiast's Thread~

How would I know they are aligned? The imaging program takes a raw image of each sector of the drive a copies that exact image to the new drive/partition.

 

I want to buy this Laptop, I checked new egg and it is out of stock, where can I get it or where can I find it in stock Now regardless of the version

 

In the link I provided it's to the ocz forums. They have a vbs script there called ssd align to verify alignment.

 

Check your PM, I have a brand new X1 unopened.

 

Ah. Alignment (for non raid) for SSDs are new to me. What is the basic importance of alignment on an SSD drive? Man that link looks like a ton of reading. Will check it out in a bit.

 

Uh, trojan? Let's hope not.

 

Ran the script and the drive is NOT aligned. Bummer. Runs crazy fast though. By some quick reading it looks like you have to do a fresh install to align? If so do you have to start with a particular disk state and how would one do that? Have a 60GB OCZ drive.

 

That link explains why to do it but I hear you are coming from. If this was a RAID setup then I would be more worried about it.

Just a joke.

If you are doing a fresh install you don't have to do anything special. Let Windows 7 take care of it. If you want to do a manual alignment so you can still clone the disk you'd have to use a program like gparted to setup the partitions first. This assumes it's not a whole disk clone and you can do it on a partition basis.

 

I wonder how important aligning is? I've just begun to read about it. I wonder if it's worth doing a fresh install just to align?

Yea I figured you were kidding. Just had to reply.

 

In my experience, yes it is very important to align but my experience is based on enterprise SANs.

 

This was a pain for me too, also Blu-ray finally installed and working.

So essentially I have an A1 without the extra 500GB platter and a 128GB SSD instead.

I am very pleased with the laptop and it will be my main for at least a year.

Anyone want to buy my old gateway FX with Nvidia 9800 mobile, Core 2 Duo, 1920x1200 screen???

Also have an extra Nvidia GTX280 OC 650mhz from MSI for the desktop I don't need anymore.

I guess PM me with an offer if interested in either - both in perfect shape.

Actually I have more than that -- even a HTPC and some other stuff, need to find a place to clean out a lot of my PCs - I was thinking and I have more than I need. 4 laptops now LOL.

 

I actually bit the bullet and ran Mandrake's fresh install instructions from a few pages ago and it was surprisingly easy. The Asus Driver disk is great. You autorun it after the Win7 install and it give a nice list of drivers & programs to check or uncheck to install. If you don't have a logon password it does an unattended install of all checked drivers & programs. Slick.

By the way Mandrake after this install, the drive IS aligned.

 

Nice

Thanks for making this easy Mandrake.

I seem to be having continuing problems with the keyboard.

That is the only issue I have ever had. If the keyboard was better it would be perfect.

 

Uninstalling the synaptics driver and disabling the touchpad in the bios has done well so far. Not much of a fix but since I use it at my desk 90% of the time it will have to do for now.

 

Dead topic?
Kitting

 

I am moving this to the Owner's Lounges subforum as it seems to be more suited there. If there are well justified reasons for keeping here please write them here and I will consider moving it back.

 

I was looking to upgrade from the stock wireless to intel ultimate 6300 card. Has anyone done this? I was looking at ebay for additional antenna, and lets say there is a whole bunch of them. Can anyone help with link to a antenna on ebay that would support both 2,4 and 5,0

 

I did a quick search. Might have missed..

Any word on the availability of a Drive Caddy?

I'm waiting for one before I purchase an SSD.

Thanks

 

Not showing up at the asus estore yet. Don't know if you call whether or not they'll sell it.

 

I've got it in writing it'll be a few more weeks till that's available to order. Talked to them a few times- very courteous, they just don't have the part in.

 

Wonder what this is: Caddy?

 

That's probably it. Course it's not available here yet.

 

thanks Guys I'll check back when I return from vacation. 3 Weeks, can't wait, Corona and a lime on the beach here I come...........

No cell, no computers, no way for work to wake me up in the middle of the night to fix a crashed server..........

 

LOL, well update. The part # is the one listed on that site. Asus US says they won't get that part in for order until SEPTEMBER. I was like, "whaaaaaaaaaat?"

... yeah, tempted to try and import it from that EU site. Comes out to like $40 though with shipping!

 

I have just find out that my wireless card is not intel, I am wonder it that only me got Atheros AR9285 wireless card?

 

Doesn't need to be cross-posted. It was answered in the other thread. The Atheros is the normal stock card.

 

I think Mandrake would probably go for it since he was offering $50 for anyone's "spare" HDD caddy.

 

Well, on a lark, I ordered it. It's sitting at "awaiting parts" and I have received NO communication from the company. If they don't get back to me with SOMETHING in the next few days I'm going to end up canceling the order.

If anyone wants to sell me theirs, I seriously would pay $50 for the thing for completionist's sake.

 

Anyone thinking of doing an eSata Hack on this bad boy?


Also has anyone successfully upgraded the Blu-Ray drive themselves?

 

Anyone know what the PLL is on the motherboard?

 

I have an extra one from my G72GX that I think will work with some very minor modifications. I plan on doing it this weekend with pics.

And you can get those for only $18.50

 

I bought the bb version and added the bd-rom after changing out the faceplate. It was a 5 min exercise.

Cheers,

 

Would be interested in seeing the pics of the bracket. Didn't look like it'd work from the estore. I supposedly have one on the way from asusparts.eu

I changed my bezel and BD player out too. It's easy. If you search my posts I provided links to a Youtube video I found to be very helpful if you've never swapped a bezel before.

 

Look what i found for those having problems with swapping the hdd with ssd.
I have not tested myself, but it would most-likely work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE7yGQbSplU

 

Nice post!

I always had concerns about a W7 install on a spinner being cloned to a SSD that is wouldn't perform to standards since W7 didn't recognize the SSD on first install. I've had someone confirm the Asus AI clone did not go well on his Intel SSD. But these concerns were my own thoughts and since this comes from Intel labs, maybe the concerns are truely unfounded and the Asus clone just sucked.

Still, an expensive solution since you need to buy that stuff and it would be hard for me to justify the expense since I have nothing so great on my pcs that just can't be reinstalled, but for others with a lot of time invested in their OS installation, this could be a godsend.

I sure would like to see him run some performance tests on that clone job and compare it to a fresh install though.

Q

 

For those of you still having G73Jh keyboard problems, I posted here, in the Asus G73JH Keyboard Issues thread, that an Asus VIP forum member posted that the solution to their keyboard problems was cleaning the connector of residue plastic, ( here's that post). be77solo mentioned in the next Asus G73JH Keyboard Issues thread post, that after trying it, the keyboard seemed to respond better. It's probably worth trying to see if it clears up any outstanding keyboard lag issues. (I also wonder if this might be the real source of some of the keyboard lack of backlight issues as well..)

Good Luck..

 

Could you please tell me where did you get those SRS drivers and how did you install it?

 

Just letting anyone X1 ppl looking to buy Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G73JH-X1 NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 17.3" 8GB Memory 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870

It's down to $1500, not the cheapest, but it's cheaper than before. Dont forget about 2% Bing cashback too.

 

Can you buy an external mounter and play films from the drive via usb or ac adapter?

 

I have the A2 model and I am upgrading to a SSD. Which drive bay is the OS drive located in. I have the back panel off and I can't see any markings showing which bay is which.

 

I believe it's the "right" one as you look at the back, but the easiest way to tell would just be to remove one and try and boot up. If it does, it's that one. If not, then it's the one you just removed.

 

Yep that is exactly what I am going to do. Thanks.

 

ok quick Q

can i use acronis to copy my OS c: drive to SSD?
my Q is what about the 19.54gb recovery can i just leave that behind and not clone it, will just C: boot up?

 

The quick answer is yes, but you must be aware of some issues. Here's a rough guide

1. Create a Windows 7 system repair disc.
2. Backup your original drive using Acronis.
3. Secure erase the SSD (hdparm or HDDErase) IF needed. Usually you can skip this step if the SSD has never been used before.
4. Diskpart SSD, partition align to 1024K, make sure it is active.
5. Use Acronis to restore your original drives' image. Selese menu (Recovery->Disk and Partition Recover->Select Image->Recover Whole Disks and Partitions->Select your OS Partition. On the Next screen select Partition Location and DO NOT change the Partition Size and then continue.
6. After the Recover is completed, boot to your system repair disc.
7. It will start up and automatically detect a problem with the boot SSD and repair it. Reboot one more time then boot to your SSD.

A lot of things can go wrong in between so a clean install might just be the better option. Also if you move from an HDD install to an SSD through an Image. Defrag, SuperFetch, Drive Indexing and Prefetch will be ENABLED since it was probably enabled in the HDD installation. So you need to do further tweaking. You might also need to make sure you have the correct drivers for your SSD drive and consider things like auto TRIM (done through the driver, passed on to the driver controller) if your drive supports it or scheduled TRIM if your drive does not, some drives even run separate garbage collection software (IIRC). The consensus it seems is that the Intel RSTworks best. I know it's a bit complicated, but SSD's require some TLC

Good Luck.

 

Guys I have a quick question. I just received my X1 model from newegg but it seems like it is missing the Win7 OS 64 bit DVD and Power2Go DVDs. My question is since G73jh has many models, Was X1 model supposed to come with both of those DVD or not. If it was supposed to come I didnt get them and i ll contact with newegg asap. I hope you can help me lads. Thanks to all...

 

From what I had read G73 do not come with cd or DVDs any more.

You need to create your own ones by your self .

 

Well, it does come with the Driver / App DVD

 

You may instal the free tril vertion while you get your original license from Power2Go 6 ? Disc and Data Burning Software

 

Hello folks!

Today I pulled the trigger on Newegg for this laptop. I "was" going to buy the X3, but they sold out twice, and when I tried to buy my it on my Preferred Account, they would not let me ship to my motel (I travel for work). So when I did "buy" it, my account wouldn't ship it to the motel. By the time I canceled the order and tried to buy it to ship to my home address, they no longer supplied the X3. So I decided to buy the X1 and add a 80 GB Intel SSD with the X1.

My question is this: Is the best way to use the SSD by making the Windows Backup disks, and formatting the SSD, then using the backup disks to install Windows 7, or should I use my Acronis True image to image the current setup to the SSD and then remove Bloatware?

Either way, it sounds as if I'll be spending a few hours with my new Laptop getting it set for use.


Secondly,

I read there is no caddy, but that people actually use double-sided "sticky-back tape to mount the SSD. Is this safe and effective? I travel, and my Laptop is my "carry on bag" as it were. I want my X1 to last as long as my old Asus G2 has.

Thanks in advance for your help... Great forum BTW!