Asus UX31 Ultrabook

Those with Sentilic touchpads, does the two finger right click work for you?

Also, which gesture essentially lets the touch pad act as the scroll wheel, so that you can scroll up and down with one finger as opposed to the normal two finger scrolling? I've done it a couple of times accidentally, but I can't seem to replicate the gesture on purpose.

 

yes, two finger anywhere is right button

 

This ultrabook is so beautiful, but how do they compare to other offerings from other manufacturers?

 

I found out the reason for the utterly annoying Windows Explorer has stopped working error that kept crashing the Explorer constantly, pls see here:

Asus Zenbook Windows Explorer Crash caused by Asus WebStorage

The issue can be fixed simply by uninstalling the crapware/bloatware that comes preinstalled, Asus WebStorage in this case.

Cheers!

 

Hi!

I have a problem: suddenly my UX31 won't boot anymore!! It just goes straight into the BIOS. I hoped maybe the F2 key was stuck or something but that's not the case. The problem started when I was in Windows, Firefox hung, I clicked End Process and when I came back it was in the BIOS.

Maybe the SSD is dead. Where is/should the SSD be listed in the BIOS so I can check? Should it show up under Boot Option Priorities? That list is empty

 

Yes, it should show your SSD also under Boot Order Priorities. If it's not there, you got a big problem. You can't really disconnect the SSD by accident as I think it's soldered onto the motherboard. You need to RMA this thing ASAP.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for your help. Oh crap, this is looking bad then. Should the SSD show up under SATA Configuration also? Ports 0-5 are 'Empty'.

Is there anything I should try before I go for an RMA? Updating the BIOS is probably not worth the trouble? I have the 206 version.

 

may be obvious but reset the bios to default as step 1.

step 2 boot from a usb stick to ubuntu and see if the disk is visible.

its 99% a software issue so best to triple check everything first.

 

Now I'm running Ubuntu from an USB stick. lshw gives the following output:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lshw -c disk
*-disk
description: SCSI Disk
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@6:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
size: 2009MiB (2106MB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: signature=95523e18
*-disk
description: SCSI Disk
product: xD/SD/M.S.
vendor: Generic-
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@7:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sdb
version: 1.00
serial: 3
capabilities: removable
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/sdb


The first drive is my 2GB USB stick. What about the second entry, is that of any help?

Also flashed to BIOS version 210 and the SSD still doesn't show up there And yes I did a reset to defaults in the BIOS as well.

 

Is it normal for the battery to drain 2-3% a day when completely powered off and not used?

 

I'll tell you about the changes! I flashed mu UX31e this version this morning with easyflash and it completely bricked my notebook. It won't turn on at all! I can't believe this: after many years and many motherboards, PCs, and notebooks this has never happened to me.

I downloaded 210 from the web, extracted the BIOS to c:\, restarted, and applied the flash. It complained that the structures (or something) weren't found but I went ahead. I had always used winflash before so I wasn't sure if this "Warning" was normal. It erased, programmed, and verified fine then restarted and it's dead. No lights, nothing!

A few searches seems to indicate that the only recourse is an RMA. Or I could return to Amazon.

Can you guys let me know:

a) if there is any way to debrick the UX31?
b) is RMA my best option, and if so how long will it late and will I get my original notebook back with data intact (no big deal but would be nice)
c) should I just shaft Amazon and return to them and reorder?

Thanks,
D

 

Are you sure it's completely off and not just in the "instant-on" mode? And LIPO battery have a high self-discharge rating.

 

the second disk is the memory card reader, it seems the ssd is dead.

 

Yea its completely off. Don't even have the instant on thing enabled.

 

2-3% a day seems high, but not outside the possible, in particular from 100% to 90% where the battery will discharge faster.

remember off isnt really off, its still powering it keyboard as a minimum waiting for the laptop to be started,

darkfinger, if you cant get it to post in any way you are really stuffed.

does nothing happen atall when the power button is pressed even with power attached.

have you tried holding the power button down for 4 to 5 seconds....

 

Ok thanks, forgot about the reader. Gonna make the RMA request now.

 

dont tell you used any third party software to flash the bios, just tell them it went dead.

 

Yes I'm stuffed. There is no activity at all, no lights, nothing. Holding power down did nothing.

 

It wasn't third party sw. It was the bioses own updater

 

ok, fair enough.

but certainly seems like its a warranty issue now.

I have bricked a new motherboard and an all in one pc via bios update errors and neither of which were under warranty, so it could be worse.

 

I called ASUS today. The rep seemed capable enough and told me to "hard reset" the UX31 by removing AC power and then holding the power button for 60 seconds. Then he had me reattach AC power and try powering on. No dice.

He then went off for a while and came back and said I needed to RMA. But he couldn't give me an RMA number since their own system was down (!) so I had to call back tomorrow.

Feeling so dumb...

 

...I have the sandisk u100 with i7 and my zenbook seems REALLY slow. When i watch movies they sometimes lag.. on a ssd???? Also my zenbook sometimes lags when i have a lot of documents and program open at the same time. I've found that my 2 year old asus u30jc with a:
Hitachi Travelstar 5K500.B 320GB 2.5" 5,400-RPM hard drive
Intel Core i3-350M 2.26GHz easily feels more responsive than the zenbook in multitasking. I'm not sure about how the how well the zenbook runs with the adata ssd though.

I know that the u30jc has a full powered cpu but i wasent expecting the zenbook to this slow :/

Is it just me or do you guys think the zenbook feels rather slow.

 

It seems that there's no solution for my "auto brightness" problem. No matter what i tried, including turn all the power settings to maximum performance both on batt and plugged, the display always changes the brightness level on its own. What the heck is going on? Why on earth could have this very weird issue on a high-end device worthing over a grand? Absolutely meaningless

 

the ssd wont be the cause if the lag, even a first gen ssd is more than capable.

i would check whats running in task manager and much cpu is been used

 

Glad to hear you got the ADATA! I've sent an email to Dustin asking if they know whether or not they will send one with the Sandisk or ADATA SSD once they ship mine (they'll be getting some new ones on the 16th). I'd really hate to be disappointed with a slower SSD since I've heard so much good about this ultrabook being really, really fast.

 

Hello everybody. I bought the UX31E and also felt missleaded by Asus because it shipped with a 256 Sandisk SSD when all benchmarks from major reviewers were done with the ADATA SSD which it seems to perform much faster.

I´ve done some tests on my Zenbook but I still feel the results are really low. Can someone share experience on this and how to improve the SSD performance?
I am a little bit lost on how the 4K and 4KThrd tests would affect my daily use.



I´ve installed a Crucial M4 SSD to my older laptop (Lenovo X200) and the result other than Seq. are way much higher I am doubting if I should use the Lenovo X200 with the SSD or the new Asus Zenbook UX31E

Check the Lenovo X200 SSD benchmark with a Crucial M4 128 GB SSD:




Thanks a lot!

 

You are getting 328mb write speeds.

I get 135mb write speeds with the adata.

Thats double....

 

Oh! Can you please post an AS SSD benchmark? What is the model of your notebook? (When you run it make sure you dont have any antivirus or real time scanner running).

You can download AS SSD from this direct http://www.alex-is.de/progs/AS%20SSD%20Benchmark.zip

Thanks in advance!

 

it reports 110mb write and 461mb read, which is similar to that reported by crystal disk mark.

i have no anti virus and its a UK 31e with 128gb adata, 4gb and core i7.

 

You can't. This ultrabook use a different port.

 

i get 284 write and 420 read with 128 gb and core i5

 

is that the adata and what benchmark tool are you using.

i can get higher writes but not sustained over several GB.

and assume you have the adata version.

 

. i have the Sandisk version, and I use the AS SSD Benchmark proposed by surferride.

 

another possible benchmark is pitstop pc; There i get an overall 201 MB/s disk speed and a 340 MP/s video speed, withCPU speed at 25973 and RAM at 19559

 

I mean the whole machine not to exchange the SSDs...

 

i get 284 / 309 write and 420 / 448 read with 128 gb and core i5

 

Without being picky, does anyone knows for real how would the bad SSD performance of the Sandisk SSD on my new Zenbook will affect my daily use or in which kind of use the low speed will be noticeable?

 

I think the sandisk has a much better performance than the adata, given the figures that have been shown here

 

how would you know if you get the adata or sandisk ssd? UX31 here is very expensive..about 1.4k USD if you convert it..

 

The only way afaik is looking for a small transparent sticker on your Zen's box. Mine is located on the left side, and due to its transparent colour over the dark theme of the box, it's quite hard to realize at first.

You cannot ask for a Sanforce or Sandisk when making your order, neither Elan or Sentalic touchpad.

 

^ thanks for the response..will try to check for that sticker

 

so the tables have turned, tests now shows the adata to be worse than the sandisk.

but, from all the posts I have read I think we have 3 SSD`s as follows

128 Gb Adata
128 Gb Sandisk
256 GB Sandisk

please correct me if wrong.

perhaps a good idea would be to collate all benchmarks in one thread to get the bottom of the speed differences.

 

I just found this link in one of the earlier pages of this thread and would like some confirmation:

AnandTech - ASUS Zenbook (UX21) Review

It clearly states that ALL of the 128GB SSD's are Sandforce (ADATA) while the 256GB ones are Sandisk. It also states that this division isn't random, which sounds good, since I ordered the i7 128GB SSD and I'm really hoping it'll be the faster ADATA SSD that comes with it. "Amazing speed" was a big reason I decided on this ultrabook after all.

 

Thats odd then as I am getting 1/3rd the write speed as engadget gets, and the same read as engadget.

it also looks like my adata is in line with others

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/810/adatavssandisk.jpg/

 

So let's get back to that mystery port. Someone posted a mini VGA http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ni-VGA_cropped.jpg/250px-Mini-VGA_cropped.jpg connector a mini DP http://www.roughlydrafted.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/200810201137.jpg and the Notebook Reviews - Laptop Reviews and Netbook News Picture notebook. That can't be a mini VGA 'cos it has a little 'tongue' in the middle! Do we know whether it's a mini DP or not?

 

UX31e has mini HDMI and mini VGA..... thats it. The mini VGA looks like many other connectors but it isnt.

plus it seems apples mini vga is different to a pc mini vga

 

Just thought I would share my experiences here with everyone who is having really huge lagging issues with their SSD.

I reinstalled Windows on my ux31 after i experienced music lagging, movies lagging etc.

Now apparently the fact that I had my SSD filled up to 81% was causing problems, people told me on this forum.

I don't know if my problems were solved due to reinstalling Windows (and getting rid of all bloatware, or because i emptied my SSD) but in any case I no longer have any issues.