Asus UX302

I did a fresh install with no problems. Installed Win 8, installed drivers, installed windows updates, installed win 8.1, installed additional windows 8.1 driver(I think it was a LAN driver). I skipped Power4gear and the rapid storage drivers since I am using the msata as the boot drive. No problems at all. Any scaling issues are Windows related but I've been able to manage them all.

 

My advice is to not get one. It ruins the screen in my opinion. I got one for my Transformer infinity and regretted it. Unless you drop your laptop a lot or have kids that you can't control from putting sharp objects to your screen, there's little benefit to a screen protector on a laptop.

 

So you don't get the backlit keyboard flashing issue after you get out of deep sleep, and wifi, etc. works fine?

I don't have 8.0, and only have 8.1 to install. I hope that it won't be an issue, because the drivers on the asus website are mostly for windows 8 only. I'm worried that there will be issues if I try to install 8.0 drivers on win 8.1.

Thanks a lot for the quick reply!

 

I bought my computer on a steep discount due to the warped keyboard frame, and it appears that that issue is resolved now. The only other issue is a small scratch on the screen. It's vertical and about an inch long. It isn't terrible, but I would like to fix or hide it if possible. I read that applying a protector can hide some scratches, so I figured I'd give it a shot. And as long as it isn't anti glare, it shouldn't impact the image quality...the anti glare models always add a bit of graininess, at least in my experience with phones. Hopefully something works out!

 

Never had the flashing issue. My laptop has been asleep for 24+ hours and it booted fine. Wish I could say if it would be ok to install the 8.0 drivers on 8.1. I assume it would because they didn't change and they all still work fine for me. Tbh, they really shouldn't distinguish between the two - just update all the 8 drivers to work with 8.1 if they don't work. They never had drivers for Xp SP1, SP2 and SP3 - just plain XP

 

Well good luck. I've never had luck applying screen protectors. My m11x had a massive bubble that kept appearing and the Transformer infinity had dust trapped in it and the texture resembled a football. I think I'd rather see a scratch.

 

Could you please post CrystalDiskMark scores of the 128GB mSata?

 

Not great but not horrible either. Considering the lack of choices, it's fine. Write speed isn't as important to me anyways. Typically drives don't spend much time sequential writing, especially boot drives.

 

Thank you for the screenshot. :thumbsup:

 

I returned my UX302LA today because of the keyboard back plate issue.

BB did not have anymore in stock at any of their branches so they have ordered a replacement from their warehouse.
I am sort of hoping that there may be a new batch where this problem has been sorted out but I think it's the material that they use and that this model will continue to be plagued by this problem.

 

Also bought a UX302LA from Bestbuy this week - its actually for my Dad, to replace his current laptop. Was the last one in stock at the local BB.

Just opened it up all ready to set it up and noticed there are about 2 inches worth of white/grey squiggly lines/dots in the top right corner of the screen, right near the edge where the actual display meets the black border. It's very noticeable even with the screen on/off. Looks like some glue got in between the layers on assembly. Going to exchange it tomorrow (although with their lack of stock, I think i might go with return and wait a few months)

Mine didn't have keyboard back plate issue others are describing, where it was all the way level with the top of the keys. My backplate was pretty straight/flat, although it did flex down a little bit if I pushed on it in the middle by the G/H key section.
But the "E" key was completely lopsided, at a 45 degree angle sloping down from left to right. It seemed like it still worked, the travel was there, but in the unpressed state the right side was sloped down almost down below the backplate.

Looks like typical Asus quality control (or lack there of).

 

It's not really the key that's lopsided but the backing plate that's slightly high there.
Turn on the back-light and look at the keyboard from about a 45 degree angle. You will notice that you can see light coming from under most keys but in some of them it will be dark where the backing plate is slightly higher.

I used the rounded point of a disposable chopstick to push down gently on the backing pate in these areas which then positioned the backing plate correctly but only temporarily.

Someone else reported what looked like bubbling at the top of the screen.

My replacement is due in store early next week. I will check it before I leave and if there is still a problem I will also wait a few months.

I honestly never believed that buying a new laptop would be this difficult or time consuming.

 

Where did you buy it for a discount and how much did you pay?

 

Did you ask BB if other are being returned?
What did they say about the issue?

 

BB have been selling them for $799.

Very few BB stores carry them and those that do only have a few.
They noticed the keyboard issue as soon as I showed them but did not admit to having received any others back.

I know that BB have run the $799 (down from $999) before but the fact that they are now out of stock at every of the 15 stores near me and that you cant seem to buy them online except maybe Ebay or Amazon has me wondering about the future of this relatively newly released machine.

I just checked their website

http://www.asus.com/zenbook/us#product

where both the UX301LA and UX302LA are listed. However clicking the 301 takes you to a dedicated page about the 301 but clicking the 302 takes you back to the Asus USA website?????

Also search on their website will find the UX301 but not the UX302.
Something fishy?

 

Hmm
UX302 is not listed on Asus global site either...

I had the UX302 Asus support page bookmarked
http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX302LA/#support_Download

and now when you click on it,says we are sorry,page cannot be displayed.

must be some issues,or maintenance on the website,links are working again

 

This site still finds the UX302LA but then one would expect that to support all of the current owners.

ASUS Service | North America

It's the fact that it's MIA on the pre-sales sites that has me wondering.

 

That page went down sometime last night. I was looking for specs and couldn't get to them even though I was able to view them yesterday morning.

Edit: Something is wrong with their servers. take the "https://" out of the link and it loads fine.

www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX302LG/

 

I've been using the UX302LG as of late and have come across a couple of questions concerning the fan. Upon opening a few tabs on Firefox, the fan suddenly turns on, an effect which obviously has an impact on battery life. After a few closes of programs and a switch of battery modes, the fan generally then calms down. Why is this? I'd hardly think opening a browser would result in the need to turn on the fan. Is there something wrong with the internals?

Also, is RAPID MODE SSD a battery drainer?

Thanks!

 

Any opening of program will require the processor to perform, and when it does it consumes power and generates heat.
RAPID mode uses system memory therefore it will consume more energy.

 

If not set up properly, Firefox can and will use a lot of CPU resources. There's a help section on Mozilla's website to optimize it but it's usually plugin related. The more CPU it uses, the hotter things will get. I don't think the fan controls are set to go on strictly by temperature - if it detects something requesting 100% CPU usage, it should kick in the fan. That might be the case with you. What you can do is find a CPU monitor and see what is really going on when you open Firefox. You can also try a lightweight browser.

RAPID mode uses more Ram, so it likely will use more battery. I have no benchmarks to prove it since I use it in a desktop, but theoretically it will consume more power. I would be hard pressed to enable RAPID mode in this Ultrabook. Really, the drive performs well by itself and the pros of having it enabled don't outweigh the cons. I keep it disabled on my desktop because it really doesn't help a whole lot. Some things have even shown to be slower actually. 4K IOPS are faster, which is nice, but boot time, game loading and large file copying are unaffected. If it did use more battery, leave it off and you'll still be happy with the drive. It's still better than most of the competition and it costs way less than the high end models.

 

Has anyone tried a generic AC adapter with the UX302LG ? I want to buy a spare one but the LED in the Asus adapter makes me wonder if there is some kind of communication going between it and the laptop that would make a normal adapter incompatible.

 

Thanks Xentar712 and Kevin for the replies!

 

I'm sure a generic will work. I doubt that charger is communicating with the PC. Chances are all it is is a bipolar LED hooked up into the circuit. When current is flowing into the battery, the leg powering the orange part of the led is active. When current stops(the battery is charged), the path of least resistance leads the current through the other leg of the LED, making the indicator green. The circuit in the PSU probably looks something like this. The connection on the laptop itself is no different than your typical laptop.

 

Makes sense, thanks for the explanation.

 

Hi

Have anyone tried Windows 7 ?

I manage to get everything to work except Intel Rapid start.
Well I did manage to get Intel Rapid start and Intel Fast response to work
But somehow the 16G SSD is treated as a drive and not used as an accelerator

In the UEFI I have to Enable CSM, but with that turn on the only option for Harddisk is ACPI, I could not enable Raid on Sata to turn on Intel fast response.

Does anyone have a solution for this ?

 

Asus didn't open up the bios to make any changes that would affect caching. At the beginning, I questioned whether or not the cache drive did anything at all because the bios wasn't set up in RAID. I immediately replaced the cache drive so I didn't find out. On previous computers, I was able to open up IRST and configure the drive to be a cache drive. The program looked like this. You also need smart response technology(ISRT) installed, which I don't believe Asus provided in their list of drivers. Not sure if it was originally installed at all either. Might want to try to install a generic version from Intel and see if that works. If you get everything working, please let us know and/or if there were any particular drivers you had to use. Win7 as a dual boot option may be useful for some of us.

Edit: I just read that Asus sometimes uses their own caching software. ISRT should still work though, if you install it.

 

I recently got a Asus X550CA. 3rd gen Ci3, 2gb ram, 500gb hdd, 15.6", win 8.1.
My battery charges till 100%. Is there a way where I can stop it at 80%
The Asus software provided with the laptop does not help.
Thank yolu.

 

ASUS doesn't have such software to control the level of charge.
If you are concerned of battery life expectancy then it's best to discharge it to 70% and pull it out.

Many years ago, Compal laptops had such option where they use software control and hardware button to manage the battery level through EC to switch between 50%, 75%, or 100%.
I have also seen this feature on a Lenovo laptop before, but it is rarely implemented widely by other brands.

 

Anyone got speed data on this drive?
EDGE Boost Pro 480 GB Solid State Drive ( EDGSD-230043-PE ) - Hard Drive - Edge Storage
I'm considering grabbing it to swap out the UX302LG's.

Also, other high-capacity SSD suggestions?

 

The drive you are looking at is 0.4 inch think
Which is 1cm or so, I suspect it is 9.5mm which is the industries standard

But the original drive in the UX302 is 7mm
I have tried to place 9.5mm drive in the system, but you could need to remove the bracket and the lid would be very tight.
There might be some stress at the PCB as well

Just something to consider before you place the order.

 

Thanks for the tip. Anyone tried the Samsung 840 Pro?

SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD512BW 2.5" 512GB SATA III (SSD) - Newegg.com

 

Excellent drives and at 7mm they will fit in pretty much any machine.

 

Okay. After that, I wanna throw this in there:

Newegg.com - Patriot Viper SODIMM 8GB 204-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop MemoryModel PV38G160LC9S

Anyone know the voltage, cas latency, and timings of the ram that ships with it?

EDIT: Found the ram discussion section. I think I'll just go with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231699

 

Hey guys. I should be receiving my ux302LG-C4002H (i5-4200U, 500GB HDD with caching, 4GB RAM, GT730M) later today. If people want me to I could share my experiences in my 14 days trial period. If I keep it after that I will perform and possibly doccument a RAM and SSD upgrade.

~Cheezzzus

 

Cl9 1600mhz 1.35v is pretty universal.

 

I think it has to match the2 Gig RAM that soldered to the MB.

 

Default is CL11, so it is correct that you should go for GSkill one to match the internal one.

 

11 or lower will work just fine, the system will default to the slows settings.

 

Yes, it's true, but at cost $10 extra per module, plus the CL9 timing being wasted. Not worth it.

 

I have the UX302LG-DH71T-CA and was trying to upgrade the SSD and memory.

I tried upgrading the RAM to 12gb using a single 8gb mushkin CL 11 1.35V module. However, after installing it, the laptop doesn't even boot. The power button comes on, and about 2 seconds later it shuts off. If I install the stock 4gb ram that came with the laptop, after powering on it boots into bios. I can see the SSD, so I can assume the hard drive is fine.

The question that I have is, is the RAM DOA? or do I need a 1.5V module? Because on the memory DIMM slot (where you insert the ram), it has 1.5V written on the top. I am curious to know which voltage ram I need, because on the forums, people have stated you need a 1.35 module and proved it using cpu-z screenshots.

I currently have the ssd and battery installed, and really don't want to reinstall the originial HDD to run a CPU-Z myself. Would someone that owns a UX302LG-DH71T-CA be kind enough to answer this question?

 

This could be caused by a compatibility issue therefore you had to replace to another brand/model.
The processor is a Haswell mobile processor therefore you can only use 1.35V DDR3L memory.

 

I see. Well then I hope I can return the mushkin for a refund. I'll try to get a different brand. Any recommendations?

Thanks a lot!

 

You can try this one instead with similar spec such as frequency at 1600MHz, CL11, and 1.35V.
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model F3-1600C11S-8GSL

 

Thanks a lot. Instead of the G.Skill though, I saw that the crucial module is a little cheaper. I will be going with that instead. Hopefully it works.

Again, thanks a lot!

 

So a word of warning about the Asus Zenbook UX302la....

I bought mine on 12/31 from Best Buy for $799.99. I absolutely love the thing. The screen is amazing, it is compact and lightweight, and is surprisingly powerful. But after owning it for 20 days, my HDD failed. Best Buy's return policy is 15 days so I could not simply return it. And this is actually a much bigger issue than it seems. The entire HDD failed, so that includes the recovery partition. I lost all of my files (though there really weren't many on there since I've only had it for 20 days, and I save all my school work directly to DropBox so it gets backed up automatically). ASUS tech support says that the only way to get it fixed (officially) is to ship it out to them under RMA so that they can replace the HDD and install Windows 8 on the new HDD. Or, alternatively I could bring it in to Best Buy and Geek Squad will service it under the ASUS warranty. I brought it in to them to see if they could fix it in-store, but they told me that they too would have to ship it out to replace the HDD. Geek Squad estimated it would take 2-3 weeks and told me that if I shipped it to ASUS it would probably take twice as long. Now I've had this laptop for less than a month, and my college spring semester just started, and I need this laptop for school. So I decided to fix it myself. The problem is, neither a copy of Windows 8 installation media (disc or usb) nor the serial number are included with the laptop.

Luckily, I had planned on adding an 8 GB stick of ram (replacing the 2 GB stick for a total of 10 GB), and replacing my HDD with an SSD before the drive had even failed. So luckily, my new SSD shipped about 3 days after the HDD had failed. I installed the new RAM and the new SSD, but I had no official way of installing Windows 8. ASUS would not give me my Windows serial number or a copy of Windows 8 installation media. I tried downloading the installation media directly from Microsoft, but that requires you to enter in your serial number before you can create installation media. So what I ended up having to do was pirate Windows 8 Retail x64, put it on an 8 GB USB drive, and install that onto my new SSD under the pirated serial key. This left me with an unactivated version of Windows 8. I then downloaded WPKey to look up my legitimate Windows serial number (which is actually tied to the motherboard's BIOS and therefore was not lost with the failed HDD). I then changed my serial key under system properties to my legitimate key and activated Windows. I then got all the drivers off of ASUS' website, and my laptop is working fine now. I guess if I run into any other hardware troubles, I'll have to swap the old (failed) HDD and the old 2 GB stick of RAM back in before I send it out for service.

Also, I was able to fix my warped keyboard by simply pressing down very firmly on the metal between the keys and holding for ~ 5 minutes. The laptop seems very sturdy and can handle heavy pressure. The metal has stayed down ever since, and the keyboard doesn't have a scratch on it. And, of course, a single stuck pixel on the top left of my screen has appeared. It is barely noticeable and is in an unobtrusive spot, but it seems ASUS' quality control is just awful. Despite all of these problems that I've had, I still love the ultrabook and am happy with my purchase. Especially with the added RAM and SSD! I just wish ASUS had better QC and had provided a Windows disc or USB with the laptop.

Edit: And if anyone is curious, I got the Samsung 840 Evo 250 GB SSD and the G.SKILL 8 GB Cas 11 1.35V RAM.

 

Question to people who have reinstall the OS.

How do you boot using UEFI, for the OS. I manage to install windows 7 and windows8.1 in CSM Enable mode.
But I would like to use Fast Boot and see if it makes any difference. I would like to try out full UEFI mode

Would also like to see the support for GPT when 2T and bigger drives become available.

 

First up, I am a newbie and joined up after being impressed by the useful info on this thread! the forum and you guys ROCK! :thumbsup:
Second GT Ragnarok thanks for the detailed review- ended up pulling the trigger on UX302LA on BB at 799USD. However am now having nightmares about deadpixels, screen bleeds, unstuck chassis etc also thanks to you guys However I know I will get through it all with the support you guys give
Finally wanted to contribute something, for those who upgrade to SSD on this machine (one of the major attractions IMO) I found that this software could be very useful. Its got good reviews and seems to do what Norton Ghost used to do and more, except that its free and has superb support as well. Heres the CNET dl link Macrium Reflect Free - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Well thats it, thanks to everyone again for the input on this forum!

 

GOOD FOR YOU!
This is the best post in this whole thread.

"F" BB and Asus and for that matter MS for not helping you.
BB support is the worst. You would think that buying from a brick and mortar store would add value....."Geek Squad" my

 

Hello,

Ive had the ux302LG-C4002H for a few days now and I stumbled upon a very annoying problem which I've not been able to solve after half a day of googling and figuring things out myself, so I'll start with posting on this forum.

The problem is related to games not scaling up to fill the display whenever i choose a resolution lower than 1080p, this results in having a small screen with big black borders around it. I did figure out that this most probably only happens with dx11 games, for the problem doesn't show in games like burnout paradise or mirrors edge, but it does in crysis 2 and battlefield 3. I know how to fix this problem on the desktop, you just have to change the scaling options in nvidia control panel... but with the 730m the control panel only shows 3d options and the intel graphics control panel doesn't give me any display scaling options either.

And yes I did update ALL of my graphics drivers using a clean install etc, I turned off windows scaling and tried troubleshooting the program itsel, but all with no results

I hope that someone here knows how to handle this problem, otherwise I'll post this on some different forums aswell and come back with a solution as soon as I have one.

As far for the laptop itself (hardware wise) I'm loving this thing, I've got absolutely no issues with build quality on my model, everything is where it should be and it looks gorgeous. And the keyboard also types like a charm, definitely one of the better keyboards on 13 inch laptops!

~Cheezzzus