Asus U35JC/U45JC

Can someone with a U35JC do me a favor? Download BatteryMon and tell me what your discharge rate is. I have brightness all the way down with wifi off/AV off/and battery saving on and get a somewhat high discharge rate of 11,000-13,000 average.

Quatro was telling me he gets around 7,000 with those settings. I am trying to figure out if something in the background is eating the battery or if this is normal for the U35JC.

Thanks!

 

I upgraded to the 500GB 7200RPM Seagate Momentus and i have the wine. It from some research i have done it sounds like it is actually the CPU when it enters low power states. I know many core2duos had this problem and maybe some I-3's do too.

 

With everything idle, brightness all the way down, WiFi and Bluetooth (UK version here) turned off, SHE turned on and battery saving profile, I get a discharge rate of around -7200mW (it fluctuates a bit). This means that it could theoretically sit idle like that for more than 11 hours since the battery has a capacity of 81.200mWh.

 

Something has to be wrong with my setup than because I am not seeing <11,000.

Can someone else chime in specifically with a US model? Not sure if that would even matter, but I am just curious.

 

Ahem. 7,630 mW to be exact.

Ooh, Anarkigr gets down to 7,200 mW? I can't get that low and I'm using the 350M, he has the faster 370M. That shows his SHE is probably helping there a bit.

BTW, Anarkigr, your battery capacity is only 81.2 wH? It should be 84Wh? Have you lost capacity already or were you speaking of your battery's present power level? My battery's capacity is down to 81Wh now, but I've put 5 mo wear on it by now. Yours should be new.

 

My capacity is only at 81.8.

 

Anarkigr, could you tell us, when you are in that minimum low-powered state:
1) What are the apps or tasks showing up on your lower-right taskbar?
2) Opening Task Manager, what processes are using any CPU power (when you prioritize according to CPU use)?

I'm curious to see if you have Microsoft Security Essentials installed and if Desktop Window Manager shows up in the Task Manager processes list. I have neither installed yet I'm using Win 7 Pro x64.

Thanks.

 

Are you looking at the Info>Battery Information amounts under "Design Capacity" and "Full charge Capacity"?

Capacity is listed in more than one way. You'll see different amounts according to which capacity you mean.

So mine lists:

Design Capacity: 84000 mWh
Full charge capacity: 81000 mWh
Current Capacity: 69210 mWh

Which number are you referring to?

 

My mistake. Design: 84000 mWh and Full Charge capacity is 81930 mWh

 

Still why are you and Anarkigr reporting full capacities of only 81.8-81.9 Wh on new 84Wh batteries? Mine wasn't like that at the start.

Anyone done drastic battery drains (not good for li-ion batteries).

 

Anarkigr, could you tell us, when you are in that minimum low-powered state:
1) What are the apps or tasks showing up on your lower-right taskbar?
2) Opening Task Manager, what processes are using any CPU power (when you prioritize according to CPU use)?

I'm curious to see if you have Microsoft Security Essentials installed and if Desktop Window Manager shows up in the Task Manager processes list. I have neither installed yet I'm using Win 7 Pro x64.

Thanks.

 

I didn't install Desktop Window Manager? I assumed it was just part of the OS.

 

Perhaps, but it wasn't in my install. MS is forever sticking new goodies in their installs with various companies. Mine was a fresh install from an ISO image-to-DVD.

The easiest is to see what Anarkigr has showing & active on his laptop since he is getting the correct mW discharge that you want to get.

... and I wonder if Anarkigr did a fresh install from a DVD or used the ASUS factory install!

 

Sure, sure, don't yell
Okay, here goes.

1) Volume control, Windows battery indicator, Wireless console 3, SRS premium sound, Realtek HD audio manager, Intel HD graphics control panel, ELAN smart-pad, Asus live update. These are the ones with an icon in the lower right corner. I haven't disabled anything from showing there but some apps have their icon disabled by default.

2) When sitting totally idle, the only processes using CPU power from time to time are the task manager (taskmgr.exe) itself and the desktop window manager (dwm.exe).

I've attached a Battery Bar screenshot. The remaining battery life is "only" 4:41 because this isn't an instantaneous prediction, I'm pretty sure it takes previous drain rates into consideration too. My average discharge rate when surfing and typing a bit, with brightness turned down completely and on the battery saving profile is about 12.000 mW. Dunno why my capacity is at 81.200 mWh, could it be a wrong reading?

Oh, I used the Asus factory install but uninstalled everything I didn't need.

 

I installed Battery Bar and its showing I got 2.5% of battery wear.

Still showing the -12,000 rate. I honestly don't know what is causing this.

EDIT: I just rebooted and now my battery wear is 2.6%. Why is this happening? Is this normal? I have only had it 3 days

 

My Battery Bar was showing some strange wear readings too, but now it's back to 0%. It's still strange why it's showing a 81.200 mWh capacity though, it's been like that since I installed it.

 

Regarding battery I'm wonderring what times are you getting, I pretty much havent been doing anything intensive, browser, Word, MSN. Im on Power4gear with screen all the way to the lowest or close to it and I've been averageing 4-5 hours. Kinda underwhelming since I was expecting atleast 7/8 especially with all this power saving.


And as for Batterybar stats: capacity of 69,150 of 80, 970.
Battery wear 3.6% of 84, 000. Just got this machine 5 days ago. Have no idea what that means, anyone wanna chime in?

 

I have been getting 5-6 hour of battery life and it is somewhat upsetting. I was anticipating 8 hours. I DID get around 8 hours on my first charge, but I haven't since. I have been trying ALL day to figure out whats causing my discharge to be so high, but no luck.

Can you please tell me what your discharge rate is at idle (screen at 0, wifi off, anti-virus off, SHE on, power saving etc). It fluctuates so let it estimate it for a few minutes. Then tell me what it is when you're browsing the web with wifi on.

Thanks!

 

I just noticed my u35jc has the exact same problem. I also did a clean Win7 install. I have no clue what it might be. Everything on my u35jc is working as far as I can tell.

The hardware IDs are:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B64&SUBSYS_10171043&REV_06
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B64&SUBSYS_10171043
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B64&CC_078000
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B64&CC_0780

 

Hey so I found a solution to my jumpy trackpad problem and thought I should share it.

All I did was install the latest drivers and turn off palm tracking. Everything is perfect now. I think plam tracking was confusing my fingers with my plam or something funky like that...

 

newest version of power4gear get s.h.e auto enable whn u switch to battery saving mode..

weird, coz mine list

design capacity : 82000 mWh
full charge capacity : 81984 mWh

 

I thought I might give you an update, in the event that you are looking to work out the kinks of fresh install like I did. I found a solution for this anomaly. You should download the Intel(R)_Management_Engine_Interface, Version V6.0.0.1179 as a driver from Asus support to remedy this.

I hope this helps.

 

Personally, I like BatteryMon more than BatteryBar. With BartteryBar, I kept getting odd time left predictions. BatteryMon stayed more accurate.

 

It's your average discharge rate you want to watch over a given setting that will tell you how much battery life you'll get on that setting doing those actions. To get 8 hrs or so of battery life, you'll need to keep your discharge rate somewhere in the 10W (10,000mW) range.

 

To be fair to yourself, 12000 mW isn't really super high. But higher than the 9-10W you need to get you the 8+hrs.

I'm still wondering what is going on in your processes that prevents you getting the same battery drain rate as Anarkigr. Sorry I can't be more help.

Instead of your hardward ID's, can you download BatteryBar and tell us what your avg discharge rate is given Relentless' settings. Then what it is if you add in wifi and one tab in Firefox (no flash video).

Thanks!

 

What is your discharge rate at idle with wifi off/av off/brightness at 0 etc? Also, have you had any issues using nvidia gpu when you want to?

Is there ANY information I could tell you that would help or is it too difficult without having the PC in front of you?

Also, about the optimus switching. Should I reinstall the 258.96 drivers or will that not matter? Or should I just reinstall the basic nvidia gpu/intel gpu drivers? Anything else?

 

Interesting! Anyone else get a "Design Capacity" reading of 82Wh instead of 84Wh?

Kiz, can you pull out your battery for me and tell me its capacity? On mine, it's written on the far left of the battery label. It reads: "5600mAh, 84Wh". What does yours read?

Relentless, what does your battery say on the label?

 

Mine says 84Wh as well.

 

I doubt I could see more than you've told me. I am a bit out of ideas.

I'd compare processes results with Anarkigr to see where you vary. Perhaps you could swap snip pictures of your processes lists and compare them.

He seems to have more icons in his task tray than you do! So maybe if you look at actual item-by-item processes to see where you vary. You both have the ASUS factory installed OS, so there should be a lot of similarity, which should help.

Do you know how to use the Snipping Tool to make a JPG of something on your desktop like Task Manager.

Usually, I upload the image to my free account on Photobucket and then post the link here to see the image.

 

That's what surprised me as well! The fact that he had more things in his tray than I did. I would gladly take a picture of my processes list tomorrow (Laptop is off and I am about to watch a movie).

I have been going back and forth between using my desktop/laptop because of the battery. I have done 4-5 charge cycles in the past 2 days. I feel like if I strictly used my laptop that I will burn the battery out quickly. I tried using the laptop plugged in without the battery, but it got really hot. That can't be good for the laptop. I would rather do harm to the battery than the machine itself of course. How safe is it to use the laptop without the battery plugged in often? I am likely being WAY over-cautious.


P.S. Anyone else have issues with using the nVidia GPU when they want? That's another problem I can't figure out yet.

 

A little bit probably won't hurt anything but excess heat is something you should usually keep away from. However, retail stores often have laptops on display without the battery, just the AC cord powering it.

These real use battery times aren't too encouraging but then there is the occasional user who gets 6-7 hours of wifi + internet browsing. All these acronyms and feature names are getting to be a pain to keep track of, and they're all supposed to do the same thing really. Optimus, SHE, Power4Gear, they're all marketing gimmicks. Bring on Sandy Bridge with the new game of integrated GPU and lower voltage i-cores.

I wonder how many owners are really super geek tweaking their machine out by ridding unnecessary processes & services and other seemingly small OS changes in the name of priority for running processes and power savings.

 

You don't have the GPU or CPU overclocked in any way, do you?

And are you saying you've used the laptop with the battery removed (plugged in)? If so, it's better to keep the battery in.

 

I know it has been a while since I originally mentioned I was going ahead with doing the wireless upgrade myself... about 20 pages probably... but the card arrived and I found time and I've done it!

I didn't end up doing any photo documenting of the process, I was too concerned with screwing something up to set the tools aside, take a picture, then keep going, but I didn't kill it and everything seems to be working just fine.

For anyone who's interested I put an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 card into my U35JC. The process isn't easy, there were photos far earlier in the thread of the beginning of the process but basically you're going to have to take out every screw in the laptop and completely remove the right half of the motherboard (the motherboard is split in two, interestingly enough, and connected with two many-toothed plugs).

The process is far from painless and unless you've got nerves of steel (and balls the size of Texas) I wouldn't recommend trying it. Especially since it also voids your warranty. If you really want a different network card buy it from a reseller who will do it for you. But... now that I've told you not to do what I did... here's what it takes:

You first have to remove the keyboard, then all of the screws under the keyboard, then all of (well maybe not all of, but I did to be safe anyway) the screws from the underside. Then you slide a credit card or other stiff plastic card around the edge of the laptop, between the black bottom and silver top, carefully popping the catches loose (don't push too hard or you'll break one, and that's no good). At that point the entire top of the laptop will be ready to come off.

When you're removing the top of the laptop be very careful to unhook all of the ribbon cables, you don't want to apply a lot of force to them by accident as they tear very easily.

Now, remove every screw in the motherboard. You want to get under the right side of the motherboard, so start by prying that up. You'll have to push between the case and the board so the plastic edging there will bow out a little giving you the clearance to slip the ports out (as a side note: take out the dummy SD card, or a real one you may have in the reader, before you do this or it'll make the process far more difficult).

Once you've got the right half of the motherboard out you should be able to see the wireless card, pop off the antenna connectors, undo the two screws, and replace it with your beautiful shiny wonderful "advanced" new one. Put the antenna connectors onto that, carefully slide the right side of the motherboard back into place (making sure that all of the many, many teeth of the plugs from the left side properly fit into the holes on the right side... don't push if you've got them wrong or you'll bend up those little things, and don't miss the holes or your machine won't work).

Screw the motherboard back into the case (and pay attention to which holes you need to use, there are only about six screws in the motherboard, the rest of the holes are used to hold the top in place) then put the top back on. Now put all the screws back in the bottom. Plug the ribbon cables back in, plug the keyboard's ribbon cable back in, pop it into place and start it up. You're done!

If you've actually ignored my warnings and tried this yourself there are a couple things I discovered the hard way so I will give you a heads up so you don't have a heart attack should you run into the same difficulties:

1 - If, when you hit the power button, nothing happens but when you plug it in the machine automatically starts don't worry. You didn't kill anything, and it will start up just fine (aside from the fact that your power button, and the power mode button on the left, do nothing and don't light up). You didn't fully connect the right-most ribbon cable, remove the keyboard and reseat the cable. It should be fine after that.

2 - If when the machine starts up the fan is going full tilt no matter what you don't have to pull the entire thing apart again to make sure you didn't miss some connector on the motherboard. You just need to properly reseat the left most ribbon cable. It seems to be in some way related to the temperature sensor, and the fan (rightly so) defaults to fully on all the time when there is no sensor data.

3 - If your touch pad and buttons don't work you haven't destroyed anything, you just need to reseat the bottom most ribbon cable, that's the one that runs down to the pad and the buttons. (I didn't actually have this problem, this time, but I've seen it before so - in case you have that problem too - I thought it was worth including).

Well... there we have it. Nice and simple, right?

Now I'm running at a full 300mhz connection and finally get to use the fancy 5ghz band on my router, so I'm happy. (But really, don't try this at home, I can't see how it's worth the trouble to just about anyone. Shell out the extra $30 or $40 to a reseller who will do it for you. Make them do the work.)

 

The GPU will turn on when needed, and will stay off when the intel graphics are adequate... the whole reason you pay the extra $$ for a system with two gfx cards and the Optimus is so it does the thinking (mostly) for you, and you don't have to worry about it. Turning on the GPU when it isn't needed will do nothing more than increase battery drain.

That being said, if you have a program you feel is running poorly (game?) and the GPU isn't kicking in, you CAN direct the GPU to work for that specific program. Go into the NVidia Control Panel (right click on the background and select it). Select Manage 3d settings tab on the left... then Program settings in the inset. Under program settings you can add the program in question (that you want the GPU to be used for) and then under item 2.,select "high-performance NVidia Processor"... then click on Apply! This should force the GPU to work for that program.

Hope that helps!

 

I have tried doing that. I select firefox to run with the nVidia GPU. I hit apply and go to turn on Firefox. I start a nextflix HD movie and it does not kick on the nvidia gpu. It obviously isn't very "smart" because a Netflix HD video was chugging and the nVidia card did NOT kick in. It seems to only switch when I want it too IF I REBOOT. It would be fine if it worked as it was supposed to. Obviously this isn't normal, but I can't figure out the problem.


And quatro, yes I used it for a few hours plugged in without the battery. I thought that would be fine to do until I realized how hot it got. I guess there is no way to truly maximize the longevity of the battery.

 

Just tried Netflix in Google and couldn't convince it to work either... will keep messing around and see if I can figure it out...

UPDATE: Here is an interesting test... (used NVidia Optimus tool: NvGPUStateViewer)... ran Netflix in Google and viewer showed 'NVIDIA GPU: OFF'. While the movie was playing, I brought up the Nvidia Control Panel. Clicking on 'adjust image settings with preview' on the left menu, causes the GPU to turn on (viewer changes to 'NVIDIA GPU: ON') while on that menu item (spinning NVidia symbol rendered, I guess that is why). When you click the 'Manage 3d Settings' menu item, the GPU turns off. This allowed me to watch the video and switch between the two menus, turning the GPU off and on. I was unable to see any difference in quality or framerate of the movie image between the two GPUs. Not a conclusive answer, but all I could figure out so far. Still can't force the NVidia GPU to turn on/stay on... anyone know how to do that?

UPDATE 2: Found something out that helps... there are two options worth turning 'on' in the Nvidia control panel. Open the control panel and click on the 'view' menu on top. The bottom two options are unchecked by default. By checking 'run with graphics processor' to context menu, you can right click on program icons and force GPU usage. Nvidia states it will NOT switch if the program is not tasking graphics or CPU... so it isn't broken just because it doesn't go to the GPU for basic browsing. I tried this on my browser and it started with the GPU off... when I played a YouTubeHD file, it immediately kicked on for the video, and kicked off when I stopped playing the HD file. The second option: Display GPU activity Icon in Notification area ... does just that! When checked, this puts a GPU icon in the tray that displays when it is working... if you click on the icon, it will show if the GPU is working, and which programs are using it! I had never seen/heard of this before so figured I'd post

 

What can I say? Under the 258.96 drivers, I can request that Optimus run Firefox under the nVidia GPU, and it just does it even before I get to HULU.

If I set it to "Auto-select", and the general menu to "Auto-select", it runs FF with the Intel IGP and turns on the nVidia GPU when the show starts in HULU.

If I tell it to run FF in "Integerated graphics" then FF & HULU run ONLY with the Intel IGP.

It just works now (it didn't with older drivers).

Have either of you added in nVidia System Tools? I can't imagine that would make a difference, but I have that installed as well.

 

I think the option (posted above) in the control panel kinda makes the system tools unnecessary... right? Seems like mine is working as well... not for Netflix, but that could be a Netflix issue?? Works fine for both YouTubeHD and Hulu for me as well.

 

beavertank, I appreciate that info. I was looking into buying a Centrino 6200 or 6300 for this notebook.

 

That did the trick for me. Thanks for the tip!

 

nVidia System Tools (NST) puts a Performance > Device Settings section in the nVidia Control Panel for overclocking.

The nVidia Test Tool gadget is a wholly different thing that doesn't come with NST.

 

This comment intrigues me. What do you mean about rebooting & the nVidia GPU only being on if you rebooted? I have no idea how to even do this on mine.

If I select "High-performance NVIDIA processor" in the NCP general "Manage 3D Settings > Global Settings" and then reboot, nVidia Test Tool shows me that the IGP is still on at the desktop after reboot, not the nV GPU.

Even there, I must launch an app that is specified "NVIDIA" or "default" (which means NVIDIA when that is selected in the global) for the NVIDIA chip to turn on.

Is that how yours works?

Somethings sounds odd in what you're describing.

Oh, and yes, in your situation, I'd uninstall BOTH nvidia & intel drivers, REBOOT, and then reinstall them both. It may not help, but it can't hurt either.

If that fails, I'd try to go back to whatever nvidia driver ASUS recommends on their U35Jc page, which is the 189.64 drivers. See if that helps. Then try to go up a version, etc.

BTW, you do have Intel Management Engine installed, right? You should see it listed in your Programs list in the Control Panel (where you uninstall). You can also see it listed in your Device Manager list under "System Devices".

 

Thanks Quatro, never really figured that out... downloading now. Can you confirm the latest version is 6.06?

Side note on this... I noticed on the NVidia site there is actually a driver for the Optimus, latest version: 189.79... it lists the U30JC as a 'supported device'. Just for kicks I tried to install on my U35JC and it said there were no 'supported devices' installed so it terminated installation.... I notice you have a U30JC... do you use this driver?? Any clue what it does? To find it, go on the NVidia site under "technologies" and "Optimus" and you will see it on the bottom left side (one 32 bit, one 64 bit).

 

Thanks shotgunb for the tip about going to "adjust image settings" for the nvidia gpu to turn on. It worked. I felt more optimistic today and tried to see if I could get it to work today. I right clicked Firefox and chose "Run with nvidia gpu"(which is what I always do when I want it to work with the nVidia card". I noticed it switched when I went into Netflix. It didn't do this before so I hope its not just a lucky day and it won't work tomorrow or something. I tried to view a Youtube HD/Hulu video and it didn't switch to the nvidia GPU until I made it full screen. Once I made it full screen and backed out it turned on the nvidia GPU. Very happy that it seems to be working today. Lets hope it stays that way. At the very least I am happy that shotgunb informed me of a way to turn it on automatically (hopefully that sticks as well!) Thanks.

And yes Quatro, I have Intel Management Engine installed. What would happen is when I reboot after I put nvidia preferred as a global setting and reboot it would have the nvidia card upon reboot IIRC.

As long as Optimus continues to work correctly, the only issue I need to resolve is my discharge rate at idle. Hopefully I can figure out how to squeeze an 8 hour battery life out of this like I did on day 1.



Here is my task manager when wifi is on with firefox open. Anyone see anything that can be hogging battery life that shouldn't be there?

 

Seems like with 7% CPU usage, it is unlikely any of that is causing a drain... During this charge I have been running in 'quiet office' mode with no other adjustments (brightness is on 8)... moderate web browsing, lots of installations (still newish) and a little bit of Video and I have been going for about 4-5 hrs (didn't keep great track of time) and am at 40% remaining... so should easily go 8+. The battery life number seemed to vary wildly throughout... some times changing hours of 'battery life left' on the stock gage in just a few minutes.

Not sure that helps... but seems like I am getting about what I expected based on the benchmarks on the reviews and the (always ridiculous) claimed life.

 

I don't see a way to turn off Palm Tracking... did you mean 'smart area'? Or did you just alter the slider on Palm Tracking? I had a jumpy mouse until I installed the latest drivers... but it still jumps badly at times when doing two finger scrolling... minor annoyance but figured I'd give your idea a try... but there is no on/off for Palm Tracking that I can see...

 

Would you mind doing me a favor? Download BatterMon. Put your brightness at 0, WiFi off, AV off, power saver etc. Tell me what your discharge rate is. It will fluctuate so let it run for 2-3 minutes before you tell me your average discharge rate at idle. I would really appreciate it. Another user commented on his 7,200 or so discharge rate while I am unable to get <10,000 mW at idle. Trying to figure out why that is.

I got those numbers on my first charge. I hit just about 8 hours. Although, I haven't seen that since the first charge. I would be very happy with a constant 7-8hr battery life like many reviewers stated. 5-6 hours is rather upsetting.

 

Ran for three minutes and discharge rate fluxuated between 8100 and 8300... I actually didn't turn off WIFI, just disconnected from the router... that may be the difference between the 7000ish and the 8000ish?? My 'discharge rate' while idle (I assume that would be synonomous with battery life in idle?) is 9.94 hours.

 

Ugh, this is frustrating. I cannot figure out why I cannot get that discharge rate. Is there something possibly wrong with my battery? Defect or something?

 

CPU's make up a small amount of the power consumption pie and unless it's running at high speeds for long amounts of time, it is pretty efficient with its sleep states. Memory, HDD and GPU are the real heavyweights.

If you have the time and the streak of hardcore in you, what you should do is go into Administrative Tools and disable or set to manual every single process you don't need. You WILL notice a little difference in performance and boot times (I'm on Vista though) and you'll use less memory. Check out your startup processes and do the same. If you don't know what a process is, Google it and you'll have dozens of results telling you what it is, what it's part of and if it's recommended to be shut off.

You can disable search indexing with no problems, Java update manager, Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service. I've read about people disabling the Firefox plugin container (how much mem does your Firefox.exe use?). Look into what the icon utilities and tray modules do. If they just clutter up your system tray, set them to manual. Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation is an audio component for Vista. Try setting it to manual, does your audio still work? Do you have a Microsoft mouse or stylus? If no you can shut down MS Pen and Touch input component.

I have 56 processes running now with Opera, Skype, Battery Bar, Throttlestop, Comodo and Avira going. This was down from around 70 after the initial Vista install. Also, it's FREE!