Asus Eee PC T101MT-EU37-BK Problems and Fixes

Problem: How do you fix the (Boot Booster doesn't start this time) at startup ?

I started this thread in hopes of helping each other with the Asus Eee T101MT-Eu37-BK. "The Other Geek Squad"

All Problems and Fixes are welcome.

***** WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!! *****
These are NOT "TOY'S" Do not let some young child get a hold of these Eee machines. They can turn the screen past the stop over and over till the wires rip out of the motherboard. I just bought one off eBay that said it had a broken hinge but the person didn't say that the screen was turned around so many times that it ripped the wiring out of the motherboard, socket and all.
So be careful not to let this happen to yours.
Bruce

 

Problem: Calender is blank.

Fix: Close all Gadgets then go to start and type in SFC, when you see it in the box, right click on it and click on Run as Administrator. Then open the calender gadget first and then your other gadgets. You can move them around by grabbing on the paddle on the right side.

 

Boot Booster:
The Boot Booster item in BIOS setup helps shorten your Eee PC bootup time. However, you MUST disable this BIOS item before you change any Eee PC components or perform system recovery (from USB flash disk, external optical drive or hidden partition). Follow the instructions below to disable Boot Booster:
1. Start the system and press F2 on bootup to show the POST screen.
2.Use right arrow to go to Boot and down arrow to go to boot booster, hit enter, up arrow to disable, Hit enter.
3. Press F10 to save the configuration and restart Eee PC.
Remember to enable Boot Booster after you complete hardware change or system recovery.

I'm learning as I go on this machine and I didn't do the above before I added the Ram and I haven't figured out how to get rid of (Boot Booster not working this time). Anybody else with this problem

 

Problem: How can I change the HDD to a bigger and faster one ?
Answer:

Whether your adding Ram or changing HDD, First start computer and press F2, then right arrow to boot, then down arrow to boot booster, hit enter, now up arrow to (Disable) hit enter, now press F10 to save and reboot. (remember to Enable after you make any changes).
Then Clone New HDD with a Sabrent SATA-C35U cable (on Amazon.com for $16.00) I have found this set-up to work the fastest. Download Seagate Disc Wizard software free. (Google: Seagate Disc Wizard). At least ONE HDD must be Seagate or you'll have to upgrade Disc Wizard to Acronis for $29.99 .

Remove Battery and all the screws you see, paying attention as to where they go. I lay mine on the table in groups. There's four short screws in the Battery compartment, one short one holding the Ram cover on, (be careful not to lose this one because it does come out). Six long Black screws around the outer parameter of bottom cover, Three long black screws under the 1\2" X 6" strip that you have to dig up,(it uses reusable sticky glue) And Two silver screws holding the screen hinge in place. With the Battery compartment towards you, remove the right rubber foot held on with sticky tape, it has has a long black screw under it.

Turn Netbook over, pop-up the little black cover with an arrow by the back swivel hinge, remove the TWO silver screws. Now open screen gently (remember you only have TWO real small screws holding it in place at this point, They DON'T need removed) Now take a credit card or REAL SMALL flat blade screw driver and pop-up the back of the keyboard by the screen, be careful the keyboard has a short ribbon connected to the motherboard. Now tilt the keyboard toward you and take your Ultra small flat blade screw driver and slide the black clip toward you being careful NOT to slide it too far as to break the tabs that hold it in place. Slide out the ribbon and set keyboard aside.

Now you can see the screws that need removed, I numbered them for you. You don't have to remove any other ribbon's or cables.( You should have 17 Long Black Screws,4 long silver screws and 4 short black screws, Keep looking if you don't have this number). Now close the screen carefully and take your finger nails and work around the split between the top and bottom cover remembering it's the bottom cover that you want to remove. Take your skinny screw driver and work the bottom cover out from the video plug and the headphone and mic plug's. Now you can see the hard drive and the one screw that holds it in place. Once removed, slide the HDD to your left and lift out and transfer the HDD brackets with the four screws. Also transfer the Black plastic cover from original HDD to new (It's held on with sticky glue)

I can email LARGER pictures to you, Just PM me with your email address. Now do the reverse order to put it back together. First time took me TWO hours because I had to figure out where all the screws were. The last one took me 45 Min's.
Bruce

 

Any idea how easy or hard it would be to add the BT-183 Bluetooth module?

 

For less headache's I would add this bluetooth Dongle. 39 new ones from $8.50

Amazon.com: Asus Mini Bluetooth Dongle (USB-BT211): Electronics

 

To see what Bios you have, boot System up and you can hit F2 or after boot up, Go to Start, click on all Programs, click on Asus Folder, click on Asus Update for Eee PC, click on Asus Update, when the user account control screen comes up, click YES , In the select the update method box, click on down arrow and click on " Check BIOS Information", click Next, If the Version is 1101, your good, if not click Back, click on down arrow and click on Update BIOS from Internet, click Next. You'll see another box that says " dlsvr03.asus.com", click on the down arrow and select " ftp.asus.com.tw". click on Next. You'll get another box that says " Please choose BIOS file from combo box", click on down arrow and choose 1101 (04/27/2011). Click Next, it down loads the new version and gives you " For Microsoft Windows Platform" screen. Click Flash. It will Erase the ROM then Flash the Rom and then Verify the Rom and give you a screen that says " System needs to reboot". Click yes. When the System reboots and shows you a new black screen with print hit F2 to continue.
Now Your BIOS is Up To Date.

 

Nice work, Batman1. Good information for T101MT-EU37-BK owner's. The instructions for the teardown for HDD replacement is great. +1 Rep for what you're doing.

 

Thanks Mr Fox, I have Two of these and I was surprised at the difference between the Seagate Momentus 500 GB 7200 RPM and the Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB 7200 RPM SSD Drives. I'd like to make a video for YouTube but I need to get a tripod so that the camera is steady.

Bruce

 

I'm subscribed to your thread, so I'll keep an eye open for your video.

 

To order the Asus Restore CD , when they get back in stock that is.

http://us.estore.asus.com/index.php?pg=1&l=product_list&c=89

You could call local service center for help as well. The telephone number is 888-678-3688 (24/7 support) for Notebook/EEE PC Technical Support.

 

Dang! That's a steep price for a restore CD, especially for Starter Edition. Asus is mighty proud of that disc.

For $50 you'd be better off getting a full-featured version of Windows for a little more money, or just purchasing Acronis or Macrium and creating an image of the HDD to restore with. In fact, you can do this with the free version of Macrium Reflect or any of a few other free disc imaging programs. A restore image will be better because all of your drivers and software will be saved and reinstalled exactly the way you like them.

 

I know, I should have done that before I formatted D: Drive and extended C: Drive.( Now that I have 500GB HDD's I can afford to use 117 GB for boot Booster and Restore) It's where Asus must keep Boot Booster and Restore files. I can't find any place on the Asus site to download it and I also found out that if you clone the HDD from one Eee, it won't work on the other even though they were made on the same day. Heck, at least HP TX1000 (only) and TX2000-2500 models, I could. I would clone the one with all my stuff with LightScribe and Finger print reader for all the others and just go back in and change the Product Key #'s for Windows and Office and then uninstall the software for LightScribe or the fingerprint reader if they weren't equipped with them.
This thing is a real challenge to try to make it into something it's not. Stinking Nvidia and Milberg, they should be put behind Bar's along with their Buddy Judge Ware. I DON"T mean Bars for Booze either.

 

Nice addition to the boards Bruce. The wife didn't send in our POS DV2000 until 7 July, so I guess I'll be visiting Mr. Fox's CQ56 board sometime in November for upgrade ideas. At-any-rate, Rep +1. Pleasure working with you!!

 

Nice to have you back home Dave, Missed your LOL at my stupid Jokes.

 

Asus had plenty of room to put in 2GB ram with the smaller chips instead of using these LARGE chips for only 1GB.

 

Hey Batman1, I'm having trouble resizing the pics with ms paint. Can you please send them to me? I would really appreciate it. I'm expecting one of these any day now SO EXCITED!

 

I'll be happy to email larger pictures to anyone wanting them. Just PM me with an email address to send them to. I just got my tripod so I'm going to start work on the video for YouTube soon.

 

Looking forward to your video.

 

Actually I was able to do it by myself, but thanks anyways. I am also looking forward to the video!

 

The area near the taskbar, and in my case near the bottom of the screeen, does not register touch anymore. Not through the pen or finger. I would really appreciate help. Thanks!

 

Did you try rerunning the "Digitizer Calibration Tool" ?

 

Yeah I did and still it does work. It's under control panel, right?

 

Any other suggestions? This pretty renders this TABLET pc useless.

 

Problem: I deleted the 15 GB and 117.87 GB Partitions and extended C Partition but, How do I get rid of the 16 MB hidden Partition ?

WARNING: (DON'T DO THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DELETED THE ABOVE PARTITIONS AND EXTENDED C)

Answer: Go to Start and in the "Search Programs And files" area, Type in " diskpart " , you'll see it at top, Right click on it and click on:
" Run as Administrator ", you'll see the black Command Prompt box come up and it will say:

DISKPART>

Now type in" list disk " and hit enter.
It will now show you "Disk 0 online 232 GB 0 B"
At the DISKPART> prompt, type in," select disk 0 " and hit enter.
It will now say " Disk 0 is now the selected disk "
DISKPART>

Type in " list partition " and hit enter.
You'll see: Partition 1
And also: Partition 2 Primary 16MB
DISKPART>

Now type in" select partition 2 " and hit enter. It will now say:
Partition 2 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART>

Now type in " delete partition override " and hit enter.
It will do it and give you the DISKPART> prompt again, so now type in" exit " and hit enter, now restart your computer, then go to start, click on Control Panel, then click on the Green ( System and Security ) and at the bottom click on ( Create and format hard disk partitions ). Now right click on the BIG box with the ( C: ) and click on (Extend Volume ). Let the computer do its thing then close all the boxes and restart

 

The Digitizer Calibration Tool should be right on your desktop unless you deleted it, but don't worry, just go to start and type in calibrate and you'll see Calibrate the screen for pen or touch input. Click on that and it will give you the Tablet PC Settings screen, then click Calibrate to recalibrate the screen using your stylus (pen) to touch the + marks, then make sure you click yes to save the new calibration setting.

 

I tried running it, but I can't get through it because I get press the crosshairs that are near the bottom of the screen due to that part being unresponsive. I don't know what to do.

 

Try clicking on start and type in " Restore", then go up and click on " Restore your computer to an earlier time ". See if that will correct the problem, if not, you could contact customer service @

http://support.asus.com/ServiceHome.aspx?SLanguage=en

 

I tried system restore and still nothing

But aren't I screwed because I took off the warranty seal and installed the SSD + RAM upgrades?

Thanks Bat, you've been a great help

 

It sounds like software problem, not hardware problem. They should be able to help you through email. Takes two to three days but they will get back to you.
Just remember, what they don't know about hardware change won't hurt you.

Did you use my instructions to do the upgrades and if so, were they clear enough ? If you could improve them, What would you change ?
I'm trying to get my DUCKS in a row for the video I'm about to make on doing the upgrades.
Thank you,
Bruce

 

You might try this Asus Self Diagnostic Tool.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support-

 

I have my T101MT that came as a replacement of my failed HP tx1000. I would like to thank any and all that have and will participate in this thread. I hope we can help each other make the best of this bad situation.

One thing that I have found is that you can make a backup of the recovery partition on the hard drive by using a 16Gb flash drive (no smaller) and going into the recovery program by pressing F9 at start-up. I have done that and then copied those files to a blu-ray disc, as the files are larger than will fit on a dual layer DVD. I have not done a restore yet, but I am sure that will happen at some point.

Another problem I've had is with the LiveUpdate program. It would report a new version every time I turned the computer on, then report that I had the newest version. I resolved this by installing the latest version from the Asus website. LiveUpdate now works but it sometimes leaves a "phantom" box positioned just about the Windows start menu.

I've tried using the ExpressGate "cloud" OS. It seems like a good idea that is very hard to actually use. I mainly use this computer to pack to work and use my own wi-fi hotspot to check my personal email as my employer doesn't allow me to use my work computer to do that. ExpressGate would be just right but unless you actually shut down windows instead of hibernate, then pressing the button just fires windows back up.

I am now looking for a good case for this thing and would be interested in anything that anyone has found to be a worthwhile accessory. If anyone has upgraded Windows7 I would like to hear how that went.

I've added a Kingston 1GB stick of memory and can confirm that it works well.
Amazon.com: Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 800MHz PC2-6400 DDR2 CL5 SODIMM Notebook Memory (KVR800D2S5/1G): Electronics

I'm looking forward to the upgrade videos as I will probably put a SSD or hybrid drive in this when I can justify the expense. (I've like all the Batman movies so far, maybe you can get Jack Nicholson back.)

 

GP - welcome to NBR forum. Glad you joined us. +1 Rep for the humor. I'm looking forward to the Batman1 video as well.

Looking forward to seeing more posts from you.

 

A few of video's on the Asus T101MT that might be of interest till I get my video done for everyone to upgrade the HDD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moq9wvAEFXA&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvwBLkBwcuk&annotation_id=annotation_395766&feature=iv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgscMc7PrOA&feature=related

 

Hi
I've the same problem

Has any one got any solution to it?

p.s : I restored the windows and the problem still exists, and I can not calibrate the screen because in calibration steps I should touch the bottom of screen which is not possible.

Thanks in advance

 

Did you switch out the HDD also ?

 

No I didn't. It's just about 2 days I have bought it.

 

I've been working on tablets since 2007 and this is a new one for me. I would take it back and see if they can help you, then please post the results here.
I was wondering if you guy's FLASHED the Bios yet?
I did all three of mine and I'm not having this problem.
Go to page #1 and permalink #7 for directions on updating the BIOS.

 

I posted this over in the other thread, but figured I would add it here as well.

Anyone interested in adding the internal bluetooth,,,,,,,, it can be done, but I recommend a USB dongle at this point.

I ordered the bluetooth adapter from ebay for $20, but it doesn't come with the correct cable. I hunted and hunted for the cable, but couldn't find it, so I just soldered the wires to the board. It does work, and works perfectly, but even with my YEARS of experience soldering, I feel I had a bit of luck with a successful solder job. At some point, the cable should be available, and at that time adding it would be pretty simple, but until then, I can't recommend doing what I did unless you are very experienced at soldering. It's a bit like trying to solder a hair, to another hair, while the hair is laying with many other hairs.... Here is a picture of what I did, but keep in mind, the size of the connector is about 1/4" long, and there is 5 solder connections made, and 6 pins in that connector...

Sorry, these pics are from my phone, and it's not the best at this macro stuff.


Notice how small it is, that is one of the screws holding the laptop together.


This picture makes it look big, but notice the size of the screw head. There is about 4 connections in the size of that screw head. You better have a good tip on your soldering iron.


This one is pretty blurry, but it shows where I mounted the board.


Onboard bluetooth enabled in bios.


Notice it says HP bluetooth module. The board I have was pulled from an HP netbook, but is the same model number as we need. I really hate the fact that it says HP considering all we have been through with them...

 

Kleake: Great post. Thank You for your Expertise.

 

Agree - nice job! +1 Rep.

 

Thank you very much for the disassembly instructions for the Netbook. I took my T101MT, which I received last month as a replacement for my little Tx1320, and upgraded it by adding an additional GB of RAM and a Crucial M4 SSD. Your info was very helpful when I did the "surgery". For me, the most difficult and frustrating part of the whole exercise was removing the keyboard, and reinstalling it when I was through.As careful as I was, the slide-out retention clamp that holds the ribbon cable just came right off when I removed the keyboard, I managed to wedge it back on when I reinserted the cable, and hopefully it will stay in place.

So far I am not overwhelmed by the performance, although the upgrades seem to help. I may try what I have read about others doing, and put Linux or Android OS on it.

 

One of my kids has a Dell Mini with a dual core Atom CPU and Ubuntu works totally awesome on it. It had an old WinXP installation that was getting tired and needing to be refreshed. He resisted my recommendations to install Ubuntu versus XP, but now he couldn't be happier. I don't know if Ubuntu offers touch-screen support, but I would not be surprised if it does. He primarily uses it for web surfing and occasionally uses OpenOffice for a school report, so he doesn't need the versatility of Windows. For him it was a good fit and it actually seems to have a lot of pep now.

 

It was a hardware problem, the service center changed the lcd panel. And now it's working fine.

 

My sister just informed me the other day that she'd been having this problem too. I took a look, and sure enough, the bottom of the screen starting several millimeters above the Win 7 taskbar was "untouchable." However, as I was tinkering around, it started working...then stopped responding again following day...and finally started working again 10 minutes later (thus bringing us to the present). I hope it will continue to work, but I doubt it.

Googling around, it seems that quite a few people are running into this unresponsive strip, according to a handful of ASUS forum posts, and Newegg and Amazon reviews. Everyone seems to be just sending it in to ASUS for repairs...Although I am reluctant to do so currently since my sister will then be without PC for a month or so, and a couple owners related that they experienced the same problem even after getting it fixed. This indicates that there might not be a permanent solution as of yet.

I'm a bit miffed that my defective HP tx1000 was replaced by yet another defective (although less fatally so) machine. I guess I'll just have to make sure to get it fixed under warranty.

AC0014 and Charlie2 - Did ASUS tell you anything about why this problem is occuring?

 

No.
I took it to a asus service center in my country and they just said that they have changed the LCD panel.

 

OK, thanks. The touchscreen has been fully working since yesterday, so I think I'll hold off on RMAing it for now.

 

Mine will be going back for the second time for another failing touchscreen. This time is even worse than the first. Leave it to nvidia to replace one problem child for another.

 

I got mine the same way you did. I just ordered the 1G RAM. I had the same problem an attempted solutiion on the Live Update and get the phantom box also. Had the same CloudExpress experiences!

I did download all of the hardware patches from ASUS and will apply them after upgrading the RAM. I may also upgrade from Win7 Starter at that time.

Thanks for the tip pm backing up the restore partition.

 

OK HERE IS MY FAULTY TOUCHSCREEN STORY. This is a design flaw, I'll start with that. It all started about a month in, bottom taskbar not responding. Sent to Asus, got in back 17 days later. Within a month it returned. Sent it in again, 18 days later it returned. Took it out booted and it was wore than what I sent it in. Now taskbar and center vertical inch not responding. Sent it in yet again, this time i requested a replacement. They granted it( offered me several choices, 12"netbook, 9" netvertible. And tf101 android) i still went with the t101mt. Got it in on Friday(24 days), it worked great until today. Now the right 40% of the touch not functioning. I called and requested yet another model( highly upgraded ep121) we will see what will happen.
I think we need to keep a close eye on this problem, even the slightest Bit.