Asus N56VZ-DS71 first impressions

TODAY I UPGRADED MY N56VZ TO WINDOWS 8

Yes, I took the jump - mainly because I haven't started my new job yet and am a bit bored. I opted for the upgrade option which was only £15 using the special offer I got when I bought the N56VZ-DS71 at retail from Canada Computers in Toronto.

The download was only 2GB and it upgraded my Windows 7 to Windows 8 while keeping all files, directories and programs installed.

However, I was running the OEM W7 with all of the Asus and other bloatware as I never got around to doing a fresh install of W7 - I didn't have a Windows 7 DVD. I was delighted to find that once I had upgraded to Windows 8 (on top of an already bloaty Windows 7 install) there is the functionality to do a fresh disk wipe and W8 install from the OS interface without any media! I'm not sure what sort of devil magic is involved here in regards to having all of the OS install files stay on the HDD that you are wiping but I can report back that everything works flawlessly. I also merged my two partitions before completing the reinstall and afterwards installed all of the drivers from the Asus website ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS N56VZ and Nvidia drivers from Nvidia and now I have a completely clean Windows 8 Pro install. Not bad.

Step by Step if you want to do the same.

Step 1) Purchase a Windows 8 upgrade at https://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com. This is fairly cheap I think for W7 users but even cheaper if you have a promo code from when you bought the laptop and you registered for the upgrade offer. I bought mine from Canada Computers in Toronto. If you do have a promo code you only get to enter it at the last step which is actually after you enter your credit card details - so don't sweat it.
Step 2) Download the W8 upgrade utility (2GB) and run it from W7 desktop
Step 3) Wait for it to do its magic
Step 4) From W8 open Settings > Change PC Settings > General and select "Remove everything and reinstall Windows"
Step 5) Wait an eternity for it do its thing.
Step 6) Upon completion a stock WiFi driver should have auto-installed giving you interweb access, use IE to download Chrome and Java first and then navigate to ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS N56VZ and download all of the Windows 8 64 Bit drivers you need. I recommend just the following;
WiFi, Touchpad, LAN, Realtek Audio (not video - get that from nVidia website here http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/notebook-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.97-whql-driver-uk.html), Chipset, ATK, InstantOn and Power4Gear Hybrid utilities, Wireless Radio Control and the Card Reader.
Step 7) Enjoy a clean Windows 8 install complete with keyboard backlight, Function key functionality, a simplified Power4Gear utility with only 2 modes a customised Windows 8 touchpad driver with gesture control and all the other good stuff.

Yeah Windows 8 is not quite there yet but its no Vista and its always fun to use the latest tech and when Asus have fully retro-fitted us with drivers it makes it a lot easier to make the leap.

 

So you are saying that you are using only the Atheros driver? I have them both installed and when I uninstall the intel driver the wireless is completely gone - I receive no signal at all and in the Network and sharing center - Adapter settings, the wireless is missing. I will try uninstalling both and reinstalling the atheros. This wireless issue is very frustrating - I read reviews for about two weeks before I chose this laptop - It has good hardware, nice design, comfortable keyboard and touchpad, amazing display, amazing sound aaaaand.... fail wireless.

 

Try the V9.2.0.504 thing here:
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=WLAN&p=3&os=30

What happens when you uninstall the intel driver is that the uninstall routine also wipes the "Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter", which all the wifi drivers depend on (and provide in their package) now.

But because of the beauty of this marvelous piece of Engineering artistry that is Windows, both drivers can (and do) supply different versions of the miniport virtualisation manager, and one of them might not work with the other. However, if the first driver supplies the miniport in a newer version than the one you install afterwards, the miniport "device" isn't updated.

..just uninstall the two drivers, maybe do it in safemode. Then reboot, and install the atheros driver.

And yes, it's very much possible that the oem install supplied by Asus actually will install a different driver than the one you actually need for your specific hardware. And therefore cause that funny conflict.

(..incidentally, isn't it funny that people are paid to not solve problems like that at Asus?)

 

Hey guys, I'm looking at getting a new N56VZ-DH71 and it comes pre-installed with Windows 8. Wondering if there's an easy way to install windows 7 back on it without a cd(just the serial code). I have a program that I need to use for work which is not compatible with windows 8 yet.

 

Thanks on the info, I think it works fine now. By the way I read that when it fails the association test then the router isn't broadcasting SSID. Is this the case and why then other devices like smarfphones and other laptops can connect? Is there anything I can do about it if it is some sort of public place and I don't have access to the router?

 

No "easy" way but yes you will need Windows 7 on DVD or USB to install it. However, when I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 8 on my N56VZ-DS71 pretty much all of my apps came across. Windows 8 has a Desktop mode where it pretty much runs all Windows 7 programs so you shouldn't have a problem.

 

Thanks! I will try this and report back.

 

Hello all,

I finally made up my mind and purchased an Asus N56VZ-DS71 from Band H photo Video with these specs:

2.3GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM Quad-Core
8GB of DDR3 RAM
750GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
nVIDIA GeForce GT 650M Graphics (2GB)
15.6" Full HD LED-Backlit Display
1920 x 1080 Native Resolution
Blu-ray Player with DVD Burning Options
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
Integrated Webcam, Microphone & Speakers
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)


I had fully intended to purchase a Samsung 830 SSD and start from scratch with that drive but was in a hurry and forgot. UPS should deliver the N56 today and I need to have it up and running in 2 days as we are traveling for turkey day. Couple of questions aimed at saving me a bit of time:

Does the OS come pre-installed or will they include the WIn 7 DVD? Is there an activation/license code?

Since I will eventually ( within 2 weeks) be getting the SSD and intend to have the OS on it, is there a streamlined set up I can do where I will not have to install all the bloatware but just the most necessary drivers and utilities since
I will not be fully utilizing the N56 but will merely be using it for web surfing and checking email until I get the SSD. I heard the McAffee free trial was interfering with the audio so I know about that and will delete it. I also read where you must install the utilities first before the OS or the optical drive won't read properly?

Any new drivers from the Asus/Nvidia sites that are problematic and best left uninstalled?

Is it possible to replace the wifi card on this machine with something a bit stronger?

I would also really appreciate a link or a tutorial with step by step instructions on how to successfully move the OS to the new SSD. This should include both the physical and software aspects. I want to get a Samsung 830 series 256 while they are still around and just use this as the only drive. I will take out the included 5400 drive and use for external storage. I do have a DVD of Win 7 home premium 64 bit on hand and my daughter is in a class where she can get free downloads and licenses for most any OS so I could utilize that as well. I have an external hard drive at my disposal but I do not have any image software like Norton Ghost.



Many thanks for your help!

 

Hello
I have purchased a N76VZ after all, but the screen in dissapointing. Colours are too vivid and contrast is too low.
I have simulated the effect here

Is this normal?
Does anyone use this laptop in graphic design?

 

It's the Asus Ultraawesomepowercolour4monster app, isn't it? What's it called.. "Magicolour"? It does something to the palette. And the intel driver has some default brightness controls enabled on some of the driver versions.

At the same time, the default settings on the nvidia drivers seem to enable for programs run on the nvidia card (but not on the other card). So you could end up launching an app in an overlay with two passes.

Don't you just love windows.

Just turn all of it off, in the intel and nvidia panels. Then uninstall the asus app. Default settings with no adjustment is perfectly good, but you can get some monitor profile with some correction if you want it. The screen is the same as the one in the clevos, and other models an LG screen - LGD02D9. Should be possible to find - you just add it in the control panel.

 

Funny thing, I don't even have the Magicolour installed (it's called Spledid).
First, since it's brand new laptop, I have spoken to the salesperson and their service department. They told me, since I can see the images on the monitor, it's not their problem and refused to replace the laptop.
Then I called the tech guy and did some calibration with Eye-One Match. But I can't control the RGB channels separately to adjust them separately so it was in vain. Even if I could adjust the RGB, it cannot be done for both graphic cads in a similar consistent manner.

I have an old Dell laptop and it has splendid colours without any correction. I thought for laptops you would not need to calibrate the colours.
I feel like I am stuck with a lemon and can't even do something about it.

 

Yes, that was it. Splendid! It's been at least ten years since an lcd was so bad it actually would look better to adjust the palette digitally. But it just sounds so great: Splendid! How Splendid! is your display on your new laptop?

There are two places the settings are adjusted by default. If you right-click the intel panel in the taskbar, there's a settings option you can pull down. Open the menu, find the display->color enhancement sheet. It's for some reason impossible to disable it, and maybe you have a default profile loaded for it with a different gamma setting if you've had an external monitor connected to vga and so on. But you can reset this to default and avoid the correction.

Second is in the nvidia panel. display->adjust desktop color settings...? Select "other program controls color correction".

Then when you open something like blender with the nvidia profile later, blender will have it's own correction, if any, and now it actually works (instead of giving you that weird ghost look). Not really that familiar with photoshop or cs, but I think it works the same way..

If you want to be absolutely sure, you should also install the newest intel hd drivers and the last nvidia driver as well. I know other people with similar optimus laptops have had problems with this - that there's some sort of profile saved that couldn't be unlocked. No idea what it was, but it sounded like what you had. Except they said they turned on the color correction in the nvidia panel, and nothing happened. Possibly the color correction overlay was adjusted on something off-screen, or something like that. Wrong buffer, maybe.

 

They should call it 'Rubbish' not splendid!

Everything is by default. Intel color settings are default with Intel latest drivers from intel website. Nvidia panel is already set to 'other programs control color correction' with latest drivers from nvidia website. I even tried the beta drivers (which, by the way, solved 3D setting management between Intel and Nvidia - apps can really choose which processor to use).
Photoshop can load its profiles, that's true, but I need color accuracy at system level, constant in all apps which can be achieved only by calibrating the monitor through an ICC profile, loaded at startup. Trust me, I know almost everything about color management and never had this problem with a multitude of CRT's, LCD's an LED's. Thing is, I can't generate this color profile because it is not possible to adjust RGB channels separately and the 2-processor gimmick isn't helping.

What is the 'unlockable' profile? can you be more accurate please? It's true that color correction does nothing in the nvidia panel.

 

*nods* Honestly, have no idea what happens. But like you seem to have, that computer had some sort of broken driver setting that was stuck.. maybe from a monitor switch.. that then couldn't be canceled out.

One last ditch attempt? Try rebooting in safe-mode (f8 before the windows boot loads), uninstall the nvidia driver, then reboot, reinstall the latest one.

Wish I could say I was surprised by how unhelpful support was, btw.

 

I very stupidly uninstalled my microphone trying to fix a Skype issue. It's gone from device manager/sounds/skype, everywhere. I've tried doing a "Scan for new hardware" but that doesn't find it AND I can't find the specific drivers on Asus' website.

Any ideas how I can get it back ?

 

I'm very interested in buying this laptop with dual boot Windows 7 or 8 / Ubuntu 12.04.

I was hoping someone might be able to clarify: does wireless networking work "out of the box" in Ubuntu?

Thanks!!!

 

Wireless networking does work out of the box, but wired doesn't; you have to install an older ALX driver for it. Also some of the media keys require some work to get working, and the graphics switching has to use Bumblebee. Other than that it works great using the integrated graphics normally.

I don't know where you're located, but I'm in Texas and looking to sell mine. If you're willing to buy from an individual, shoot me a PM.

 

I'm a little late to the party with this laptop as I just picked it up last week but this forum really helped me make my decision to buy it. So thanks for all the great input.

Anyway, I'm really happy with the laptop but it does have a lot of bloatware on it so I wanted to do a fresh install of win7. So I read through nipsen's setup guide (which is very helpful, thanks nipsen) and was looking at my win7 info with slmgr.vsb and I noticed that the partial product key listed didn't match the key that was on the bottom of the laptop.

I used belarc advisor to get the whole key that's installed so I have both.

So my question is which key should I use or does it matter?

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Hello, guys:


I bought the N56VZ-DS71 last month, through Adorama.com, but it took a while to finally get my hands on it, as at the moment I'm in Colombia, and I had to wait until it was delivered.

The weekend before last I got it, with some other stuff I ordered -among them, a dazzling Intel 520 Series 240GB SSD. I tried the laptop, and found it pretty amazing, even though I wasn't able to personalize it -just did some surfing and music playing. The display is incredibly amazing, the sound is superb, and it seems solid and elegant - I fell in love with the desing and specs since the first time.

I put in the SSD fairly easily, and did a clean install of Windows 8. Windows Experience Index raised from 5,7 (default 5400RPM HDD) to 8,2 for data transfer rate. Boot time was 6-8 seconds, and I couldn't be happier. Tried some things here and there, and began downloading some stuff, when I fell asleep. Next morning, the laptop was off.

I expected it to have gone through sleep mode, so I found that rather odd -the laptop was plugged. I switched it on, and the moment Windows finished loading, the laptop shut off by itself. I tried again, same thing. Then I left it and went to the office.

When I came back, the nightmare began. The laptop turns on, but there's no boot, no POST screen, no HDD led activity, no fan activity, no keyboard backlight, no response from the BD unit. Moreover, the laptop wouldn't turn off with the power button no matter what - I had to either unplug the adapter, or remove battery. I suspected from the SSD, but the issue persist even with another HDD. I also tried switching/taking off the RAM, to no avail.

I thought it was a locked BIOS then, guessing that it may have somehow mishandled the SSD while going to / waking up from (hybrid) sleep mode. But I consulted a tech guy, who by analysing the symptoms told me it was a fried motherboard component. I really can't get how a short circuit could happen, since I had another laptop running at the same time, connected to the same outlet, and I don't have power surges at home. Furthermore, the SSD works perfectly on any other computer I put it into. So, there's something suspicious about all this.

Finally it seems I'll have to RMA the laptop, which I'll do once I return to the US this month. Even though it only lasted 24 hours, I was overall really happy and impressed with it, and I can only hope they can fix it. I have warranty to spare. I must be patient, though

I decided to post here in the meantime, however, to share this enigmatic-ish experience I had. I've been following this and other forums for a week now, and I've really enjoyed myself reading your impressions, so I would like to know your opinion about this, since I haven't found any similar issue with this laptop.

In particular, I would like to know if you're aware of any compatibility issues between the N56VZ and the Intel 520 Series SSDs. I'm aware now of Sandforce's occasional problems, and I wish I had been smart enough to disable Hybrid Sleep before all this happened - if that caused it. I guess I could update the SSD's firmware, however there's been too many negative experiences related to flashing the BIOS, I don't wanna go down that path. I've been suggested by friends not using the SSD with this laptop again, but I really wouldn't like to lose my investment - even if that means disabling Sleep mode for good, couldn't care less for it.

And of course, I'll keep you posted with the outcome of the whole RMA process - I've heard many complaints regarding Asus' Customer Service and Tech Support, but I'm planning into taking a smart approach with this

 

Yeah. Sorry, should have put that in the guide. That's the oem key. No need to unregister that.

 

I am thinking of upgrading the I wireless card on this, can anone advise how to remove it?

 

Thanks Nipsen, unfortunately I jumped the gun and unregistered it when I did the new install.
When I was activating windows I put in that oem key and it said I had to call microsoft but the one on the bottom worked with out calling. So no harm no foul I guess.

@ bball
When I was reading through this thread I believe someone did make a post about how to take the card out. I can't recall where it was exactly but its there somewhere.

 

Its held in place by one screw that can't be removed because of a piece of overhanging plastic. I trimmed it with a craft knife to get the screw out although I have read of people dismantling to remove it!


Sent using Tapatalk

 

i need help

i bought myself an asus n56vz,installed win7,i have no problems with touchpad,sounds .... ,it all works great but i cant get my gpu to scale games full screen,i have black bars on all sides when i use lower ress than my fullHD

on my nvidia control panel i dont have option to "adjust desktop size and position",and it seems that my intel control panel doesn't work when i put scaling on "scale full screen",pls help because this thing is so awesome .... but i would like amd graphic card because i used that for last 10years and i know how it works -.-' ....

i hope there are not to much mistakes in my text,i never learned english.and tnx for help ...

EDIT: ok,i found solution,it scales full screen but my desktop ress need to be fullHD,than it scales full screen in games,

 

Does the touchpad have multitouch features? Is it possible to scroll up and down with two fingers like on Mac?

 

yes you can,you can even pinch to zoom,rotate pictures,you can with 3fingers move left or right for next picture .... ,when you swipe down you go to desktop and when you swipe up you can go "windows+tab" and than you can swipe left or right to other open programs and when you swipe down with 3fingers it opens you the window,program or whatever what you chose

my english is not the best,but the touchpad is awesome

 

After reading up on the battery issue is there a way to replace the battery with something bigger/stronger?

I'm getting my N56 tomorrow, I can't wait.

 

Hi there,

first, this is a great forum here and one of the best sources refering the Asus N56VZ I've found so far.

Just got the n56vz-s4066v with the i7-CPU and the 750GB HDD, one of the last units with Win7 (at least in Germany) and my first impression is positive. I just love the display.

After testing throughout the 30 day money back guarantee, I want to upgrade the notebook with ssd, 16 GB RAM (I'm aware about the certain thread) and I want to change the wifi card.

Got a few questions ....

1. What's about the BIOS 215 upgrade, which obviously also update the GT650M vbios? Any further experience? Still problems with the high fan speeds after 211 update?
2. Is the 215 version still compatible with Windows 7?
3. The atheros wifi card has both wlan and bluetooth, right? So I also need the Intel wifi card also featuring wlan and bt.

Thank you very much and happy new year everyone.

brgds,
Ron

 

I have BIOS 215 and I don't experience fan issues, when do these fan issues occur? Maybe I could test it for you. Yes it is compatible with Windows 7. I only downloaded the Atheros LAN, Intel Wireless, and Bluetooth had Atheros and Intel (guess it just installed as such) and it all works good.

 

Thank you Necrodox.

Some users experienced higher fan speeds after updating to the 211-version, so it might be fixed now(?). Unfortunatly, the information regarding the bios updates are very tiny.

 

I think so, the fans haven't revved high enough for me to even notice haha. I haven't been gaming on it but tons of web surfing with music and no crazy fan speeds. I think you should be safe with BIOS 215.

 

Hi,
So I am just basicaly copy pasting a question I posted on another n56 thread as this one is more active it seems like.

I have been reading lots of pages about the n56vz and I became a member to ask this questions.

So I ordered the N56VZ-S4195H which is as I can see the same as the DH71 and it has windows 8 pre installed. I should have the computer in a few days and when I get it I want to do a clean install of windows 8. Now I have read alot and I havent got any smarter (Im not that good with computers and windows as I have only been using macbooks until now).

So I want to keep the HDD that comes with the laptop and make a clean install of windows on it to remove all bloatwares etc. There is no product keys on these new laptops with windows 8 so I wont have that either. Also I dont have anybody who has a bought windows 8 disk.

I would really appreciate if someone could like write down in a simple way the steps I have to go throught to get a clean windows 8 on this and I appologize if my knowledge in this field is not so good.

Also thank u for the awsome thread...This and the other n56vz threads have helped me with my choice!

 

Hello Everyone!
I'm pondering buying this machine. Could you please tell me if this can be used outside (even in sunlight) comfortably? It's very important to me.
My other question is for short-sighted owners of the device: Isn't it a problem for you that the screen is FullHD? Isn't text tiny on it? Can you scale up programs (e.g. office programs) to see the elements comfortably and without distortions?
Thank you!

 

The matte screen makes it much easier to use outside in comparison to a laptop with a glossy screen. As for the resolution, if you're struggling to see the small icons you can always either enlarge the font/icons on the computer or lower the resolution.

 

Thank you, JoshPiger!
Could you (or anyone else) please check it out for me what the system (the OS interface and e.g. Microsoft Office) looks like on a lower (1366*768 and 1600*900) resolution? I'm curious if it looks blurry or not. Thank you!

 

Hello! I just got this laptop and everything works great but I'm just worried about the 'clacking' sound the touchpad makes whenever I slightly click the center of the touchpad. Is it supposed to happen or is it a defect? Thanks!

 

Can someone please tell me what the difference is between the S4394H and the S4195H version of the Asus N56VZ?

Thanks in advance

 

Hi everyone!
Hope you're all going well. I'm doing a bit of a thread catch-up, so hopefully this issue hasn't been discussed in past.

I just installed a Crucial M4 512 (it's amazingly great obviously!) into my N56 S4387H and have found that the back removable panel doesn't snap 100% back in.

If I take the whole HD caddy out and snap the panel back in, the panel slides in with no gap, however, with the caddy and SSD in, it doesn't appear to slide completely back in and leaves about a 2-3mm gap.

It's noticeable enough that when I place the laptop in front of me and feel under the right front side where the HD bulge is, I can feel the sharp join where the plastic panels don't slightly line up.

I'm going to look at the caddy tonight and see what may be stopping it. Has anyone else noticed this issue?

Cheers, Jim

 

It Sounds like the two tabs on the front edge of the access panel are somehow not engaging the corresponding tabs on the chassis bottom. The access panel tabs have to HOOK UNDER the chassis bottom tabs! Either the SSD height is somehow hindering the panel tabs from sliding UNDER the mating chassis tabs OR maybe the access panel tabs themselves are mashed down a bit and do not have a big enough gap to slide UNDER the chassis tabs.

If the SSD is pressing against the access panel a bit while you are seating it you might also want to try and gently place a bit of extra pressure on those two tabs before and while sliding the panel back in! Again, also check the access panel tab gap to be sure it is large enough to slide UNDER the corresponding chassis bottom tabs in case they somehow got mashed down!

Tonight I hope to install a new Samsung 840 Pro SSD in my N56VZ so we will see how that goes!


...Glenn

 

no, the touchpads are kind of loud...also they can be touchy. Look for proper drivers. I think elan ver 11.x

 

Thanks Glenn!

I had another look mate and found it was the tabs on the HDD caddy sitting too close to the plastic case leaving no gap for the two plastic hooks on the access panel to slide into. I opened them up a bit more with a flat blade screw driver and now clicks shut with a normal sized gap (1mm).

I think with the design of only one screw, this is about the best it's ever going to get. It pretty much relies on sliding plastic tabs to keep it secure. A couple more screws would have been nice Asus!

 

Glad it worked out for you Jimbo! :thumbsup:

Last night I was able to successfully remove my 750GB 7200 rpm HDD and install my new Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD!

I did a fresh install of Windows 8 on my N56VZ-RH71 and went from an 11 second boot to a 6 second boot up from first power up to log on screen ... Man, this thing really flies and I am really liking this N56VZ and also warming up to Windows 8!


Cheers!


...Glenn

 

Hi glen, how did you go about the fresh install?..use disc or iso file? any problems getting all the drivers?
Are there any asus programs you definitely should install also?
thanks grant.

 

Hi all, a new N56VZ owner here... I've got a bit of a problem with my laptop, and I've read through a fair bit of this thread before purchasing but don't remember reading anything similar to my problem. It was working fine all day yesterday, I got the drivers and things installed, Windows 8 did a few updates, tested a little bit of gaming and everything was good.

Today, I turned the laptop on and it boots into Windows 8 fine. I can log in and get to the screen with all the tabs on (not sure of the correct names for anything yet, still used to Windows 7). As soon as I click on anything (Desktop, Chrome, any games, calculator, news articles, Skype etc) I get a black screen. I still have the cursor at this point. In the top left corner of the screen there is a slightly lighter grey square with the battery icon inside it which flashes on and off rapidly. This lasts about 5 seconds, before the screen goes black again, and it reverts back to the first screen you get when you boot the computer on (the one before the login screen) and then asks me to log in again. Rince and repeat. There's nothing I can seem to do about it because the computer won't let me do anything at all within Windows without crashing.

The nature of the crash suggests to me that it could be a driver/graphics problem. I've tried booting into the BIOS in order to disable the dedicated nVidia 650m GPU and hopefully use the onboard Intel HD4000 instead. No luck with that because I can't seem to find any option to disable the GPU. I don't really want to go manually opening it up and unplugging hardware because even though I'm completely comfortable with that I'm not sure where I'd stand in terms of warranty etc, and I really don't feel like I should be doing that with a computer that's less than a day old. I'd rather not have to take it back to the shop and ask them to take a look at it for me already, so I don't really know where to begin trying to deal with this problem.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

Heard several people have problems when combining the last directx update with an older intel driver (i.e., the one asus/any provider provides in their database). Since the old driver uses a workaround for the indirect rendering schema that breaks both aero and metro.

So.. safe-mode? Then find the new intel drivers, update the nvidia driver as well.. I think it's "shift+f8" at some point during bootup. And then you need to find an option down in some "recovery console" mayhem labeled "advanced options". Then when you've accessed that, you can boot into safe-mode through the recovery screen you get when hitting f8 at bootup again, like in win7, etc.

If you can't access internet, or do much at all during safemode - try removing the very last windows update. Should be kb2670838. Then reboot, and then prepare for the updates with new intel and nvidia drivers.

 

Oh no, this sounds really bad.
Should I hold off on updating to the new windows update? I haven't updated my Intel drivers in a while (and when I do, how do I do that?)

 

Hi Grant,

Read this response to your other post in the Owners Lounge.


The Samsung 840 Pro SSD will fit in perfectly fine with no spacers needed as my new 840 Pro install went smoothly ! :thumbsup:

*** NOTE: Be careful to remember where each of the the (4) screws go back when removing the metal caddy that holds the HDD and /or the new SSD as THREE of the screws are the same length and ONE is shorter then the other three! ... Therefore be sure to be aware of which screws go where when replacing them back!

Also, after you remove the (4) screws holding the hard drive retention bracket there is a small plastic flexible pull tab tucked down below in the space on the side of the drive that you will use to pull the drive slightly up and then out sideways. Replacing the drive is just the reverse order.

*** NOTE: after you install the new Samsung SSD you will want to check to see if the FIRMWARE is the latest version!
To do this you will first install the new SSD hardrive and then you will have to install your OS so that you can get web access to check and download if necessary the latest version firmware from Samsungs site. Right after your OS install you should be able to get web access as the OS supplied default drivers are enough to get things basically working.

*** SEE BELOW for Windows 8 Installation stuff!

Windows 8 Upgrade ISO - Download or Create

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with[1]=General Tips

UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

To check what firmware version you currently have and to be able to easily download an update if required from Samsungs site you will need to use the Magician Software that normally comes on the supplied software disk. I was not able to use the particular Magician software that was supplied with the drive ( maybe for Windows 7) so after loading Windows 8 I right away went to Samsungs support area for the 840 Pro and downloaded the latest Windows 8 version of Magician.

After installing Magician software, I clicked on the desktop icon for Magician and found that my current version was the older DXM03B0Q version so I then downloaded the newer latest DXM04B0Q version. You can now also see if your SATA configuration is set to the recommended for SSD ACHI mode which mine was but I had already checked in BIOS beforehand and my particular N56VZ was in the ACHI mode by default.

Very easy to physically remove the HDD and install the SSD... took maybe 5 minutes tops! The Magician software download and firmware update took another maybe 10 to 15 minutes. The whole HDD removal, SSD install, Magician software / firmware update thing is a 15 to 20 minute job and the fresh Windows 8 OS install from an OEM disk I have took maybe 15 minutes.

The thing that took the longest was for me to install the various Drivers & Utilities from the Asus supplied disk. I installed the Asus disk and then installed all the Drivers first and then I unticked the Install All box for the Utilities and cherry picked the things that I wanted to install. It takes a bit of time when installing things from the Asus utilities disk as you have to restart the computer a number of times between items.

*** NOTE: After you install the utilities that you want you can insert the Asus Utilities disk at anytime later and it will show you the items that you have not downloaded yet so you can start out with just a few key items and then come back and install what you may want later!

*** NOTE: After I completed the SSD install, clean Windows 8 OS install, Drivers & Utilities install and SSD Magicain software and firmware update I was notified at one point that there were 29 various updates awaiting. I was not prompted again nor did I see any downloading activity regarding any updates but when I later accessed the Power icon in the Charms Bar (upper or lower right corner UI) I noticed that the "Update and Restart" button was available now so I clicked that and the various updates began to commence.

In closing, keep in mind that my particular SSD install was easier than some as I was removing a brand new HDD and installing the new SSD, freshly reinstalling the OS and Asus Drivers & Utilities (minus the Bloatware ) from an OEM disk and Asus supplied Utility disk with no migration of any existing data. Of course, if you are replacing an HDD with resident personal data you would have to backup your data first and then restore all that after the SSD and OS install. I also installed Windows 8 from an OEM disk and since the Product Keys are embedded within the BIOS I did not have to use / waste the supplied product keys, hence I can still use the OEM Windows 8 disk for another computer / install.

After my upgrade to SSD, from initial power on to Lock Screen the boot time went from 11 seconds (HDD) to 6 seconds with the new SSD... impressive indeed!



Hope this helps!


...Glenn

 

Hello everyone. Just got this laptop last week. BIOS v2.16. Could not get a clean install from DVD as always got something like "use another key". Never got to the choice of entering my paid key. Question is why can I not use the Optimized Defaults in the BIOS and use Secure Boot? I have to use CSM mode in the Boot menu and disable Secure Boot to get the ASUS logo on boot and get into Windows. If I use BIOS Defaults (Fast boot) and Secure boot enabled I just get into the BIOS again (without seeing the ASUS logo) and not Windows 8 until I change the boot menu to CSM and disable Secure Boot.

This also happened with the original BIOS that shipped with the laptop. Forgot what version.

Had to clean install W7 Pro then upgrade to Win8 Pro. Hated to do that as I always clean install. No problems though.

i7 quad 2.4
16 gig 1600
250 Samsung 840 SSD
Nvidia 650 2 gig

Thanks,
Robert

 

What is the maximum speed you can achieve by using a HDD/SSD in the ODD caddy?

 

I'll become one of the n56vz user this week.
After read the whole tread and some other
tread , i'm little concerned. There's constantly
little problems appearing in the laptop, just
like Bios, keyboard, gpu, cpu, temperature. Is
this really a bad laptop? Before this one i
ordered a hp envy dv6 7214nr, the one with
FHD and nvidia 650m. But it was DOA. Sinds
my first laptop i was disappointed about the
reputation of hp.
So , is n56vz even worse than the hp?