Asus UX31 Ultrabook

So, and excuse my n00bness regarding such matters, it is better to save the new BIOS update file to an empty USB stick then press F2 at the ASUS splash screen. After that point, it's easy, right?

I assume I don't need to do anything particularly special to the USB stick, right?

 

I think you need to make it bootable or use WinFlash from Asus.

 

I'm not touching WinFlash after their horror stories I've read on here.

How do I go about making a USB stick bootable? I Googled it, and the top result was this:-

Boot From A USB Flash/Pen/Key Drive

Is that legit?

 

It feels like I'm constantly asking questions around here, but I just want to get the most from my £1000 machine...

Saying that, does anyone know what gesture brings up this symbol? The symbol allows me to scroll up and down with only finger.

http://i.imgur.com/V1ZUx.png

I keep doing it by accident, but I want to learn how purposefully do it as I find it more useful than the two finger slide gesture.

 

Hi,
Have not seens this myself, will se if I can replicate the issue.

Will let you know.

 

I have use the HP tool in Method 2 in the past.

 

IF and only if your bios supports easyflash, you can use it as described in this guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/174395-bios-update-guide-asus-notebooks.html

EDIT: Seems like the UX31 has easyflash like most asus notebooks so just use the easyflash method described in the guide. It is the safest method, doesn't require a bootable flash drive, just make sure the flash drive you use is FAT32.

 

how to flash bios:

do not make usb drive bootable.
do not use that win flash thing
make sure battery is charged and/ or plugged in.

1. get an empty usb drive. format it fat32. check dist for errors.
2. download bios from ausus to your harddrive. the latest is 210
3. extract files to the usb drive. eg right click on file, extract all, chose the usb drive.
4. shut down your pc.
5. push power button and then the del key to enter bios setup.
6. use r arrow key to highlight Advanced. use down arrow key to hifhlight flash utility.
7. push enter, pray, and leave it alone until finished. if it is interupted you will not be able to fix it.

if you do not feel confident take it to a pc shop and ask them to do it.

I forgot one tiny thing. at step 6 use right arrow key to highlight the 210 file, then push enter.

 

BTW, I bought my ux31 a few days ago and it worked out of the box. It had bios 207, now updated to 210. I don't have a problem with the key board, it's cool. The touch pad is fine. Ihave the sandisk u100. it is fine too. This is not meant to be a performance gaming machine: it's focus is portability and long battery life.

People with the sparking power thing, and the flaky headphone jack should return their units.

I really like the audio chip: connected to a hi fi it sounds fine. Best I have heard in a note book.

 

It comes from a middle-click. I get it occasionally, but have no idea what gesture is generating the middle-click. I'd like to be able to disable it, but can't tell where it's coming from either.

 

I had no problem updating the bios twice using winflash from Asus's website. I downloaded the bios file into drive C and extracted the content into the desktop and run winflash.

 

Ditto,

Never had a single issue with Winflash, never had an issue with flashing the BIOS, I download and extract on my hard drive, the HD is NTFS, currently at 210.

 

Winflash won't brick a laptop every time, however the risk is greater than flashing the bios from the bios by using easyflash.

The most recent version of Winflash is also a lot better than the previous ones. Easyflash + NTFS is a bad idea though.

 

I am experiencing an annoying problem with my touchpad and was wondering if anybody else has experienced this:

When using two-finger scrolling, some web pages act like I'm pressing the right or left arrow buttons as well.

For example, when using Google Music if a song is playing and I two-finger scroll, it scrolls the page (like it should) but it also skips-forward or skips-backward the currently playing song (which it does when I use the left/right arrows on the keypad).

I have the Elantech touchpad, and I've tried multiple browsers with the same problem.

Thanks.

 

a number of new updates appeared on the Asus support site today: a new Inf file (complex to install, some system drivers are upgraded) , a new graphic driver, a new version of face logon, and a new version of power4gearhybrid.

I installed them all, did not notice any differences, but maybe they can solve some problems that some people experience here.

 

Ibelieve you never had an issue with winflash. It isn't as safe as doing it the other way. The individual seemed to be getting some misguidance ie make usb drive bootable and I had visions of the individual spending days workinf on going down the wrong path. Anyway, Iagree, winflash is probably ok from fat 32 drive...but safer still from bios flash utility. I know one who paid to get a new bios chip...not to mention the agonizing downtime.

 

I upgraded via WinFlash and had zero problems.

Thanks again, guys.

Anyone figure out my mouse gesture question from earlier..?

 

Thanks for the headsup...

Cheers

 

Hi im new,

I'm probably the first one with this problem, but last night my screen didnt turn on anymore. It was in sleep mode, and after turning on the screen it stayed black.
I tried hooking it up to an extarnal monitor and then i could see my screen. i tried fixing it by changing the resolution and that didnt help.

Then i tried booting it up in safe mode so it doesnt use the grapichs card and that didnt worked either.

The odd thing is that the monitor is on, but just showing a black screen. if i press the button the turn the monitor manually of i see the screen flicker a bit ?

So i guess the connector inside is loose? but how? i never dropped it.

Is someone else having this problem, I already send it back to my retailer....

 

have you tried the fn+f7 key

assuming you see the computer post and startup.

can you get into bios

 

Haa, I've experienced this on a MacBook Pro before. My Zenbook is currently on week 2 in RMA, hopefully this isn't ANOTHER issue to watch out for.

 

havent tried that, but i dont see anything, not even bootup, i can watch it on a external monitor if i want to but if its the connector ( thats what i think is the problem ) i will never see anything on the screen...

what happend to ur zenbook ? and what caused the problem on the macbook pro ?

 

If you cant get the screen to load even when

- the external screen is disconnected
- after the bios has been rest to default
and
- you have done a hard reset by holding the power key for 5 secons

its faulty.

 

I agree with Decworld's diagnosis, I had the same issue on my LG notebook a few years back. Firstly, the LCD back light power unit failed and then the screen as well. And this was only after 4 months of use. Got it replaced under warranty.

 

I didnt try to reset the bios, but i know for sure there is no problem in the bios. It was in sleepmode and i guess the computer cant make any changes in the bios while its a sleep.

And still dont get how it happend? it was in sleepmode for about 3 hours and after that the screen didnt respond. In wich way is it able to fail ? a loose connector seems a bit odd but its the only logic conclusion to me.

 

it may be the cable that connects the screen has become disconnected, cause by opening/closing the lid.

if you look at the screen while shining a torch at it can you see the picture, which will be very dark.

 

thats a good idea but its already back at my retailer.

 

Just to let you guys know, this cable worked for me:
Gold Plated 1080P HDMI Male to Micro HDMI Male Shielded Connection Cable (1.5M-Length) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

 

Hi guys, I just registered my device on Asus site and got VIP status automatically on my login. Found that the Driver downloads on this site has additional drivers released 2012-01-10 that are not yet listed on the standard downloads location.

ASUS Member Login

Some utilities and a touchpad driver update, I have not installed any yet.

 

As far as I can see the new drivers are available on the support site, and not only for VIP status holders. There are quite a number of new drivers, and the new touchpad driver is really nteresting and works well.

 

why is the version number lower than all? which touchpad is it for?

 

I doubt it is at all intended for the UX31: It is apparently a driver for a tablet PC.

 

Is it for Elantech or Sentelic?

 

Hey,

I was using my just purchased (5 days) UX31-E DH-72 yesterday and when was installing the Windows Virtual PC I got the Windows blue screen...

After turn it on again it entered straight to the BIOS and the SSD could not be recognized anymore... I cannot access the machine and when trying to install a new clean Windows it denies due missing a hard drive.

I was running the BIOS that came from the factory (206 I believe) and after that updated to 210 through the BIOS but nothing happened.

Anybody had the same issue? Any help?

Many thanks in advance!

 

1. try to reset the bios back to default

2. disconnect power and hold down power key for 10 seconds

3. try and boot again and see if disk appears in bios or windows installer

if not it sounds like a faulty ssd

which ssd do you have ?

 

Has anybody found somewhere to buy a spare power brick?

 

I am on day 3 of my RMA after the BIOS screwup. It amazes me that easy flash can mess things up. They clearly have ntfs support since the utility can browse the file system but it's also obvious they have problems since sometimes you can't see files in all of the folders. At the very least easy flash should check the integrity of the bios file before programming it.

I've never had an ASUS before. Bit of an experiment for me. I'm wondering whether I should keep it or not but I don't believe I will ever buy a notebook from them again. It's bad that easy flash and win flash are problematic but it's insane that there is no dual bios or other recovery mechanism!

 

a spare power adapter, they are like gold dust

asusparts currently says 1 to 4 weeks

asus themselves cant supply one

i am awaiting a compatible china charger and will post here if it works

plus neither igo or innergie supplies a tip

 

I bought a power adapter from Asus direct. The link was posted many pages back. It took 4 days to arrive in California.

Innergie said tip L works

 

i am in the uk, so asus uk has none and us wont ship to me.

innergie told me yesterday

"I had a discussion with our Compatibility Engineer and he is working on acquiring an OEM replacement charger which Asus just made available over the past week. Right now, we don't have a tip that supports the UX31 or the UX21."

 

Care to repost it?

 

Darkfinger:

Just bricked my new UX31E 256gb same way you did (ofc i didnt read this before AFTER it got bricked).

Weird thing is: I have a UX31E 128gb as well. I've BIOS updated this several times on NTFS drives without any issues.

1) How did you figure out that updating from NTFS was the issue

2) Did you solve the issue in any way yourself (or did you send it in)

3) Did warranty cover if you did send it in (i cant find anything in the manual saying that FAT32 is a requirement).

Im thinking of disasempling the unit to find the battery myself but hesitate since i know this will void the warranty.

Best regards
Jens Andersen, Denmark.

 

Jens
I'm not sure it was ntfs. I read it in this forum thread and the Asus sticky in the forum. I tend to believe this was the issue because I noticed the bios couldn't correctly navigate through the filesystem.

I tried to fix it but couldn't and had to send it back. So far I believe it will be warranty - it should be, it's their error not mine.

Having said this, I did void the warranty by taking the back off so I could disconnect the main and CMOS batteries. It made zero difference.

D

 

Hi Dec, thanks a lot for your answer!

I already tried the steps 1 to 3 that you've mentioned and nothing happened.

Will try to boot via USB with an OS installed (like XP) and try to use some tool to recover this SSD. If it not works I will open it and try to check the motherboard and SSD phisically.

'll let you know

 

Don't open it up, lerry!

Just RMA it if the previous steps do not work.

 

Is it possible to upgrade from 4gb to 8gb of ram? And can I upgrade the ssd to a "OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G 240gb"?

Thank you.

-RaymanDK

 

Looking at this:
http://images.anandtech.com/doci/4985/asus-ux21-internals.jpg

and your SSD:
OWC OWCSSDAPE6G240 240GB Mercury Aura Pro Express... in stock at OWC

the seems to be the same...

 

Hi Rayman,

Ultrabooks in general are really small form factors so the parts internally would be in most cases designed specifically for the device.

Firstly, for instance the SSD is not in the standard 2'5" design are more like a DRAM memory stick. I would suspect that you would be able to remove the SSD but to find a replacement that will fit is another matter.
Secondly, for the memory I would think that this will be soldered to the main board and you would not be able to remove it.

Lastly, you require opening the base plate of the Ultrabooks which will most certainly void your warranty.

Hope this helps, and I have not made some wrong conclusions.

Feel free to comment.

Regards

 

I stand corrected on the SSD

 

For the price and trouble of these upgrades, surely purchasing the dearer UX31 would be the more viable option.