ASUS Zenbook UX303 (Nvidia GT 840M)

$85 doesn't sound bad. Plus cost of shipping to them, assuming they cover cost of return shipping, $100. If you have to do it once or twice just part of cost of laptop maintenance unfortunately. They really should address it though, and considering this model has been around for over a year, they released the UX303LB with the same hinge design.

 

Well, customer rep said its an approximate amount and the real cost might be higher. I don't think they will install new screen panel for USD 85+/-

 

I am right before buying this notebook. However there is one question i'd like to ask you: What is your impression of the speakers. I had a UX305 for one day this week but I had to return it cause of the weak speakers. Even at half-volume the membranes began to vibrate unbearably, mostly when I was watching a movie and there were people talking to each other. I tried different audio settings, playing around with the equalizer, but things only got worse. When listening to music I didn't realize something like this.

I found this in a review:

>>The sound coming out of these speakers is rather metallic and tiny and if you’ll pump up the volume, you’ll hear the distortions and feel the vibrations ramping through the laptop’s body<<

 

When I set it to power saver, the minimum I could get was 8W/h when only during idle. When I start using it, it jumps to about 10-12W/h. I am having the QHD+ version. I tried using your settings, but still could not get the same usage. I closed all apps already. Turn off backlight, reduced brightness, remove all usb, off bluetooth, only wifi on

 

You must set the ICE sound software to MOVIE or GAMING for maximum volume. No issues with tininess or vibrations for me. Plenty happy with the volume which gets fairly loud and rather bassy. Just make sure you set the right mode. I leave mine in MOVIE all the time as a result

 

I'm interested in purchasing a ux303ln because currently it is unmatched when it comes to size/thinness, 13.3 QHD screen, and dedicated graphics card, however the hinge issue is really slowing me down from purchasing.

After carefully reviewing your photos I have a suggestion to fix the hinge issue for once and for all but this requires installing a nuts either on the outside of the screen's backside or inside the screen (directly behind the LCD panel metal bracket). In the former case, holes would have to be drilled through the aluminum to make THAT the fortifying structure for the hinge (with possibly small washers inside to prevent any "squeeze). The original plastic structure can also be used after being doused with hot glue. The latter option would be to widen the holes so that the nuts sit directly behind the bracket for the panel but using the holes only to tighten said nuts. Heck, with a longer screw one can put double nuts to prevent the nuts from loosening over time.
I understand this requires drilling through the aluminum, but besides a couple cheap diamond drill bits, longer M type screws and a few nuts (all available from lowes or the like), this would be the cheapest and strongest reinforcement. Then again, I don't have said laptop of my own.
From your perspective and others in this forum, do you think the previously mentioned suggestion would work?

Then I might buy the laptop.

Cheers,
Alan

 

Any fortification of the hinge connection to the base metalic structure would reduce the stress yes.

 

Hi everyone

For the past 2 or 3 days, it seems like my laptop has been stuck on 2.7+ Ghz all the time, even when idle...
This seems to have started happening right after the latest microsoft update.

Has anyone been experiencing the same thing? Is there a way I can check whats wrong?

 

Same thing here. The system idle process is consuming to much CPU power.. my fan is blasting and i get warnings from BattaryCare about the temperature of my CPU

 

A little over two months ago I mentioned that I was starting to hear a faint popping sound whenever I opened the laptop. Since then, the right hand hinge has been gradually falling apart. Today, I finally sent a service request to ASUS. Here are two pictures of the current state of affairs, with the lid closed. Viewer discretion is advised.

 

Thanks for sharing, but sorry for problem. Same failure mode, plastic on the LCD lid breaks. I hope Asus wises up and fixes it.

 

My UX303LN was purchased Aug 2014. Used very lightly, maybe 1 hour a day on average. Got a rattle from inside the hinge, LCD area. Brought to Asus Hong Kong who fixed it unwarranty but had to resort to replacing the back cover of the LCD as well. Report says "hinge related"

Honestly i'm not super unhappy with this laptop, but I'd be hard pressed to buy another Asus again. First the yellow QHD+ screen issue and now unfixable hinge

 

looks like it settled down a bit lol
I think it was doing a huge windows update in the background and thats why it was consuming so much even in idle state, but now it looks like things are back to normal

will let you know if i see anything unusual...

 

It could be i/o conflicts causing that sort of issue or some background windows process.

 

Installed Windows 10 and found Asus Smart Gestures 4.0.5 with some new Win 10 specific features

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3clbkx/asus_smart_gesture_405_with_proper_windows_10/

 

any improvements on the touch pad? does any gesture still spike the CPU usage
?

 

Yup... still spikes to over 2.8Ghz.

 

still spikes

 

RMA'd notebook has been returned with a new screen and lid, no questions asked.

I'll try opening it up soon to see if they have revised the hinge mounting on the screen surround (doubtful).

If not I'll look at ways to reinforce the existing mount so that this hopefully doesn't happen again.

 

Let us know

Através do Tapatalk

 

In the EU you would be able to get it repaired as a manufacturing defect regardless of warranty so any people having issues from there should insist on a repair.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...3-nvidia-gt-840m.746873/page-223#post-9984294

This BIOS just doesn't work - Flash says it is incorrect (from winflash and from bios flash utility).

 

This bios is just doesn't work - flash utility says it is incorrect.

 

If you do that, could you please shot a video on how to remove the metal round cover from the bottom of the screen..? im struggling with that

 

Has there be a good solution to the distorted yellow color for the QHD displays?

 

Not a ubiquitous one that I'm aware of, only a lot of suggestions. Some help, but they're not exactly a fix.

 

The patch i posted somewhere in this thread makes a great improvement. I don't even notice the issue now.

 

Regrettably, a fix for this issue has not been released as yet. If you have experienced these symptoms please reach out and email us at [email protected] and let us look into some repair options

 

Very nice! I wasn't downplaying that either.

 

New touchpad and ATK drivers are up at http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX303LN/HelpDesk_Download/ for Windows 10

ATK is version 1.0.0039, which is slightly newer than the ones posted from Windows Update earlier in this thread.

 

Hi there,

I got my ux303LN last December (FHD version). I started overclocking the 840m realy early and got some great results (15% - 30% more frames in games).
But I was wondering if I could make those changes permanent via bios flash. I even found a tutorial:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/overclocking-nvidia-gtx-860m-850m-840m-765m-etc.767280/

But after doing as the tutorial tells me, the bios won't accept my changes in clock speed. Has anyone tried the same and had success with it?
(the flashing and all was going well, because I made some changes in the BIOS regarding the visibility of the options and these get (partially) displayed now. Here is the link if someone is interested: http://www.win-raid.com/t18f16-Guide-Manual-AMI-UEFI-BIOS-Modding.html)

I also undervolted the i5 4210. Is there a way to make this permanent (currently using the autostart service of the Intel Extreme Tool)?
Also, I would like to underclock the IGP of the Intel SoC, so the fan will be off all the time while surfing. With the Intel Extreme Tool I had no luck... doesn't change the multiplier.

MORE IMPORTANT: did you guys recognize a flickering of the LCD? At first I just saw it on grey colors, but now I see it everywhere.
I don't know if you guys already discussed that all, but here is a video that presents a solution:



Unfortunately the tool that is used in the video doesnt work with Haswell ... ???

 

The only way to make CPU changes permanent is through and unlocked system bios that has the settings exposed.

Remember not all systems have certain settings unlocked so you may never be able to change them, at idle the IGP wont be consuming anything really anyway.

 

For those who have Windows 10; Which resolution are you using?
Also I installed the new Asus Smart Gestures for windows 10 and ATK, they seem to take a while for loading at startup. Anybody experiencing this ?

 

How long is it taking exactly?

 

It took at least 1 minute, but this issue disappeared after rebooting multiple times.
I had a stable windows 8.1 os and upgraded to windows 10, and it seems somewhat slightly less stable. I had this ATK bug a couple of times but it disappeared after 2 reboots, I also had a login bug that persisted after a couple of reboots but disappeared by itself, and now I'm having a very weird bug;
The wifi signal significantly drops if I plug in 2 usb sticks at the same time (one in the left and one in the right side). My network signal drops from 5 bars to 1 bar (and disappears sometimes) and all the other connections disappears or have 0 bars. I wonder if it is a power issue that can be solved by a driver update...
Other than that everything is working well, battery life seems somewhat the same, the new Asus Smart Gestures has this nice 3 finger movement to launch the "task view" which is the clone of "expose" on mac os.

 

bios is locked so no you can't lock your 840 on a particular amount of mhz.
I posted a unlocked bios in this topic, you can use it to unlock it. THough there are no GPU settings in it.

After reboot the bios puts the amount of volt back to default, so you always need some sort of service to put it back on boot.

TO fix LCD flickering, downclock/remove your undervolt to fix prob.

 

Due to all the updates and driver processing yes it will take a little longer to boot after an OS upgrade for a few times.

 

Could you explain that in more detail please? I don't see any connection between undervolting and flickering.
When I use the 840m the flickering also occurs. The 840m isn't undervolted.

 

Since the IGP is powering the display in 2D the dedicated GPU is off and wont have any impact.

 

I know. But the point is, if the flickering occurs with the IGP AND the 840m (IGP undervoltet but 840m not) there is no connection between undervolting and flickering (as rilapwn suggested).
Also I see no technical connection between undervolting and the display flickering.

The problem is -in my opinion- that the PWM frequency of the displaycontroller is too low. For the Intel IGP display controller you could change the Frequency of the PWM, but it seams that with Haswell this is no longer possible or it is because of Win 8.1...

When I compile und run the program (watch the video above) I get an assertion error.

 

Any news about fixing this stupid hinge ? @iaTa did you decide to open your RMAed laptop ?
I wonder if Asus is acknowledging this issue and is looking into fortifying the hinges after so many returned laptops... @Asus_USA

 

Not as yet but I will.

 

Has any one changed thermal paste on ux303ln so far? if yes, how much time has passes since purchase? thinking of doing that next month (gonna be a year since i got the laptop)

 

you will void warranty if you remove the CPU heatsink

 

hm... then gonna wait tilt it expires in Sep

 

IC diamond is a good choice, just make sure you press down to help spread it while tightening the screws.

 

Hi to all.
I want change my ssd with another one more big.
Is the Samsung Evo 250 a good choice?? Any suggestion??

 

Avoid Samsung SSD's like the plague. Go with Crucial or Kingston or better yet Sandisk.

 

why? I install 850 evo, there's nothing bad about it so far

 

Issues where it can slow to a crawl. Wear leveling isn't working. Two firmware updates and still isn't fixed:

http://techreport.com/review/27727/some-840-evos-still-vulnerable-to-read-speed-slowdowns

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...d-performance-issues-being-prepped-by-samsung

those show 840 but the taste is bitter in most people's mouths at this point. 850 seems better, but only time will tell. Although I'm tempted by the 2TB 850 Evo. It has an all new controller and different implementation than other drives.