K53TA.. The best deal ever... could be!

So I cleaned the heatsink fins like you said and now my keyboard is not working after putting everything back together. I don't use it any ways, but how can i change the function keys on my external keyboard to match the laptop keyboard?

 

Did you check the keyboard's cable connectivity?

 

Well, the first time I did the job, I got reckless and I bent the keyboard because I couldn't find the second keyboard screw; after a little while I found it. So after that I turned on the laptop and the keys were all reconfigured. I thought it was the keyboard ribbon that was misaligned, so I took it apart again and reconnected the ribbon and turned on the laptop and the same thing happened again. Is there anything else I missed? Is there a keyboard configuration on the laptop?

Edit #2: Nevermind I got it; I forgot to close the little black tab after you push in the ribbon. On another note, my temps are so much better now after I cleaned out the heatsink fins. Before I would play a game without over clocking anything and my temps would rise to staggering 96 C and now I could play MMO's like Neverwinter for hours with overclocking CPU at 2.4 (1.500 v) and GPU 690/1000 without it ever reaching even close to 90 C. I'm going to test with some other games. Thanks link626 and Kevin, really appreciate the advice.

 

Great, you've done well!

 

Update for those of us using 14.4 (instead of 14.6):
14.4 whql SG FIX "Mobility version" has been added by mahmoud elphar.
He previously had the desktop version of the driver mod (which many of us are still using including myself). One user who tested this with 8850m+4th gen Intel i7 claims "desktop modded driver downgrades the gaming performance by 10-20%. I don't know if this driver will be any better or not on our laptop (since previous version seems fine to me as it is). But if we get bored then we can try it out in the future.
LINK >> Modded Catalyst 14.4 WHQL (switchable graphics fix) - Guru3D.com Forums

Update 6/25/14: We also have options to install 14.6bv1 SGfix or 14.6RC2 SGfix--but they have "lost AMD Radeon Dual Graphics" setting in CCC, so we cannot set laptop to single graphic card use(6650m)-which I use most of the time on PC games; we also lose [Muxed]'fixed' mode capability(even though I never use it). It will always be in 'dynamic' mode(which I use 99%time), so our 2012 bios fixed mode would have no purpose on 14.6. (so I'm staying with 14.4whql mainly because of the lost dual gfx setting.)

 

I hardly ever use my laptops internal speakers at my house because I bought some nice external ones instead. But for couple days now I've not been at home the whole day and Asus Sonic Focus is not working. I don't know what I did to disable it since the first time I plugged in the speakers like months ago they wouldn't work. I tried going into play black devices and the only things that shows up with "show disabled devices" checked, is "Speakers" and "AMD HDMI Output". I thought there was a Asus playback device as well, if there is I don't know how to enable it again. Can someone please help me out?

 

There is no Asus playback device in that menu.(only AMD HDMI output and Speakers).
Go to control panel and choose sound and right click on the device you need enabled eg. Speakers, and choose enable in drop down menu.

Are you using usb speaker or speakers connected to headphone jack? Not sure but Sonic focus may only work with headphone jack speakers/headphones.
Maybe try reinstalling Sonic Focus to see if it will work again.
The install program can be found in folder
C:\eSupport\eDriver\Software\Audio\Realtek\[Compal]_ALC269_SM_Sabine\Win7_32_Win7_64_6.0.1.6373\ASF3G UI\ASF3SF.exe
(Sonic Focus is usually installed by default on a newly purchased Asus laptop.)Hope that helps.

I also use external speakers connected to the headphone jack, and rarely disable any playback devices in Sound properties.(but usb speaker devices may disable it automatically while connected).

 

Thanks for the reply. I uninstalled the Sonic Focus file and the .exe wasn't in the place you mentioned. Also, how did you update your Realtek drivers?

Edit: Alright, so I found the sonic focus setup.exe and reinstalled it, it still won't work. I know I disabled something thinking I wouldn't be using the laptop internal speakers anytime soon and thought I would just enable it again in the future if I need to.

 

I installed Realtek Audio Driver Version V6.0.1.6482 from the Asus k53ta support site>> ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download K53TA
(I installed it 2 years ago and it gave me a newer Realtek manager gui). But your laptop may already have the latest update. But try reinstalling realtek driver again & see what happens.

 

Try the latest version off Realtek, click on HD Audio Codec driver, then download it there.

 

Thank you so much for the advice guys. I tried what you recommended, by installing the most updated Realtek drivers and it worked. Again thank you.

 

Awesome! :thumbsup:

 

Good day to everyone
I have k53ta laptop with a6-3420m processor and recently have my hands on a8-3520m
Will it work properly and will i need bios/driver swap?

one more thing
ZP heatsink compounds
Thermal Conductivity:>1.22W/m.k
Thermal Resistance:<0/201°C-in^2/w
decent choice for 3520m?

 

I did that too. Dust gone but laptop is still hot.
Anyway thanks for the guide.

 

Purid,

There has been discussion of this waaay far back in the thread. If I recall (it's been a couple years since this talk), the a8-3520m should work just fine without any kind of swapping of any software, but use the search tool to make sure :thumbsup:

 

AMD 14.8whql SG Fix by mahmoud elfar has been posted.>> Modded Catalyst 14.8 (14.201.1008) WHQL (switchable graphics fix) - Guru3D.com Forums

WIKI also updated :hi2:

Someone asked if these recent drivers 14.6 thru 14.8 had disabled crossfire(dual gfx) "by default", and it turns out they did. (This whole time I thought the new drivers were 'enabled' crossfire "by default" but that was wrong.).
So for the past 3 drivers you lost ability to control "Enable" dual gfx(crossfire on), which is fine for me since about 80-90% games play better with dual graphics disabled.

Does anyone have a list of games that play better with dual gfx enabled? I know Deus Ex human rev and Crysis 3 played better. (but single gfx 6650m performance was only slightly behind in performance).:thumbsup: (I still play Crysis3 with 14.4whql, so not ready to update yet. I will update to newest drivers if I get any new games.)

 

General rule of thumb is DX9 games play better without dual graphics whereas DX10/11 play better with dual graphics.

 

you played far cry 3 with a6 3400m? did you OC CPU & GPU ? I tried to play last time, it was lag.

 

I finished it back then on this laptop. It was playable at medium. CPU was at 2.3ghz, make sure you are using your dGPU.

 

I tried far cry3 in the past with older drivers (eg.13.4) & played it for a while until I got stuck and the it was a bit laggy for me also even with ocing; it was one of the worst performing games on our laptop-but playable(15-35fps) on low-medium settings. Crysis 3 plays much better than far cry3 on 14.4 & newer drivers. (so maybe Far cry 3 is better than before.)
I've been out of playing the latest games these past 6 months mainly due to the very large hdd requirements of them. Has anyone tried any newer games - tested how well they play on our laptop? (eg.bf4,wolfenstein,watchdogs,gridautosport, others)

Unreleased games I'm looking forward to>>Ryse Son of Rome & Aliens isolation

I found youtube vids of these new games running on 6650m (but sometimes differentCPU): WatchDogs, BF4, Grid Autosport, CallofDutyGhost, AssassinsCreedIV, NFSrivals, MotoGP14

 

I have 8gb ram on this laptop, anyone have recommended setting for virtualbox running ubuntu as a guest?

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

Hi, i have problem with w8 drivers that I installed.
Can anyone give me the right drivers for w8? Sata, touchpad, Wifi bluetooth etc. Its an old pc, I guess we need to upload them and put the link to the wiki.

 

Well it finally happened - the old Asus gave out on me. After a few years of duct tape and spit holding you together and spending time surfing this forum for new ways to squeeze the life outta ya, you finally gave up the ghost with a bad power supply. So long k53TA, you have served me well.

Now onto $379 Toshiba A6-6310 with R4 from Best Buy. (Only to find out it is the most user unfriendly / Windows 8.1 suckiness -- but then again I guess it's half the fun of figuring it all out again just like we did with the Asus.

 

Sorry to see your k53ta go bad. Any way to repair the power supply issue? If it's the power brick, then a new one is usually less than $20. And if it's a power jack issue, then you might be able to take it apart & replace it with a new part on ebay for less than $10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSO8uipQsUk
If it's more complicated in the motherboard, then maybe time to move on.

The R4 is actually weaker gfx than our 6650m, but I'm sure it's serviceable for common tasks.
If you hate metro on win8.1 then get StartIsBack+ to get the start button back. It will make your windows feel & look exactly like Win 7 with the ability to turn off charms bar and also go into mouse pad settings & turn off edge gestures so preventing charm bar from popping out when touching the edges of mouse pad. I recently picked up an HP i5 3210+7670m with Win8 for around $350 on ebay as an extra laptop & startisback has been great...but HP reputation may be risky in the long run. It's slightly faster than the k53ta, but the k53ta runs cooler by 5-10C.

 

13.9 whql is out, does anybody install the sg fixed 13.9 ?

 

Yes, 14.9whql. I'm coming from 14.4 and made my first update in long while. Initially it was sort of unstable and buggy like pc freezes & one blue screen during install. Overall seems to be slightly faster than previous 14.4 driver (windows aero etc feels fast). Enable dual gfx works again, but I prefer to leave it as single gpu just like always, so we have the choice of dual gfx again. PC games had slightly faster FPS performance but temps seem to rise more than usual(5-15C) up to 70+C, maybe more for some games (fans ramp up). (I'm seeing mid60s C more often in games that used to run in high 50s). Idle temps will come back down to 44C to 38C, so that's still good. But high Temps may cause me to go back to 14.4 (despite higher performance).I'll keep testing games.

It installed with yellow error message, but everything works.
The CCC controller crashes if you go to information and then shutdown ccc. But CCC will work again. mahmoud posted a fix by going to c:\windows\system32\amdmanlte64.dll and rename it, so that works now.

 

Thanks for all this information,
So is it stable with that fix?

 

Yes, driver is good & no freeze stability issues. I might need to clean out the vents on my laptop if I see any high temp issues. I'm seeing mid50s C more often now, during internet browsing, when in the past I'd see it in high 40s. A cooling pad helped a little. Temps aren't too bad, just minor cleanup maintenance is probably needed. I'll venture into that in the future.(I'll try this>> http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/601808-k53ta-best-deal-ever-could-480.html#post9667955)

update: I finished cleaning it, took only 10 minutes. I saw a small puff of dust come out 2 or 3 times-didn't look like much, but it did wonders, as now I'm seeing 36C-40C when idle like brand new. It was the first cleaning in 3 years so that was an excellent tip by Link626.

 

I did that cleaning, they were clean as well, so it didn't effect to my laptop's temp. I will try this driver.

 

Hi guys, I've a K43TA which is exactly the same spec but 14inch, been using it for more than 2 years.
Lately I reformat it back to windows 7 and installed all of the necessary drivers.
Right after I install AMD catalyst, I get bluescreen whenever I boot up the laptop, so I boot into safe mode and delete catalyst manager.
it's fine for now, able to boot into OS, but i'll still get bluescreen whenever I launch games.
I tried to uninstall and reinstall drivers, check on ram.. problem exist, is there anyone else face the same issue?

 

Were you using the new AMD mobility driver? Or the original stock version?

 

UPDATE: Well, just letting everyone know that we almost lost our source of modded switchable gfx(mahmoudelfar); his download links were all removed from guru3d. He was accused for making money off of us clicking his download links, and was banned from guru3d. But we all received good working switchable gfx fixes for the past 6-8 months so no harm done to us imo. Prior to this we had Leekm's driver fixes for a year before he had to quit.

mahmoudelfar also has a blog for posting his gfx drivers so that's the place to go.
Modded Catalyst drivers for switchable graphics notebooks
CCC14.9 was the last driver that I had used. Our laptops probably have another year or 2 left to play recent games as long as recent gfx drivers are supported, so we can continue following updated SG drivers at mahmoudelfar blogspot.

It's always smart to keep copies of modded drivers for future use; my most recently archived drivers on discs were 13.12whql, 14.4wqhl and 14.9whql sg mods(but I never got 14.9.2 or 14.6 thru14.8).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: (IF WE EVER LOSE OUR MODDERS)
Another user in the past (Vfriend) sent me instuctions how to mod. He came up with instructions on how to modify the new drivers to allow SG menu to work(mahmoud elfar has been making these mods for us). Vfriend told me how to modify with instructions below, but I never tried it. So we have to figure this out ourselves if no one makes the driver for us. You have to edit the .inf files inside the CCC driver
Specific for each windows os (Win7,8,8.1 have there own inf file).
These are the instructions how to make the mod:
EDITS are described in textuploader document:
'Untitled Post' | TextUploader.com
Look in AMD CCC DRIVER for the INF files to moddify:
Look in Packages>Drivers>Display>WB6A_INF
mod all inf C7xxxxx, C8xxxxx, CUxxxxx .inf files
Use notepad to modify .inf
C7xxxxxx.inf for windows 7
C8xxxxxx.inf for windows 8
CUxxxxxx.inf for windows 8.1

I've tried the mod on 14.9.2beta for Win7x64 & it works. It's easy to figure out & use for new CCC drivers. I have compared these edits to some of mahmoudelfar's old drivers, so it's possible to do. So now we'll always know how to make these mods ourself & be self reliant.

Update 2: SG FIX Patcher (install after installing any official AMD drivers). This is an alternative method instead of editing the INF files ourself. I have yet to try it, so YMMV.

 

When I graduate college in a month, my K53TA will be retiring to become an HTPC. I see this as the natural next step for the little guy, as the need for portability is diminished, especially due to having a smartphone. Fear not, for years of gaming lie ahead with Steam in-home streaming!

 

AMD-Catalyst-14-9-win7-win8.1-64Bit-dd-ccc-whql-MODDED SG FIX
See original thread with instructions & notes>> http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=393375
Backup download links:

Code:

File is divided into 2 rars
http://www54.zippyshare.com/v/9363665/file.html
http://www71.zippyshare.com/v/79199724/file.html

All respect & thanks go to the original creator of the modded driver & Vfriend for instructions to make this SG FIX Mod.

update: (I recently got official AMD 14.9.2, & made the edits in the .INF & the display driver and CCC seem to have installed fine...however I did get an error on install - "package source could not be found"--but everything seems installed ok-all version numbers were updated & overall performance is great.)

UPDATE1:
mahmoudelfar is back so we don't have to worry about getting future drivers & can continue getting his mods there. First he posts Win8.1 driver mods & then later he posts Win7 64bit versions.
Next CCC (coming soon)>>14.11.1beta.
http://mahmoudelfar.blogspot.com/


UPDATE2 : (Leshcat also shared a SG FIX Patcher for any official AMD driver -made by user FunkyMike)-this may be the easiest method to getting SG Menu to function again. I have not tried this yet, but this may be all we need in the future.
Direct DL Link>> http://www71.zippyshare.com/v/3901800/file.html
or forum thread>> http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=4952235&postcount=5

 

anyone been able to get FF13 to run on this? i am trying everything i can think of but i only get 14~16 FPS. i have upgraded to the 3510MX but still on the stock single 4GB memory but that is next to go. i cannot tell in afterburner if the game is using the APU or GPU (crossfire off) because both stay flat line when in the game. any idea what to try next?

 

Hi everyone,

Been a long time since I was on the forum, I just reinstalled windows and was wondering what are currently the best graphic drivers?

I remember using a custom modded enabling the possibility to select high performance for every .exe file. Currently I installed the whql 14.4 which has the possibility to switch of dual graphics but not individual selection.

What was exactly the difference with modded drivers and how has everything evolved? Havent checked the forum for over a year....

im running HD6720G2

p.s. also noticed that afterburner isnt working properly anymore, cant overclock, but im looking into that on different forums....

 

Are you on Win7 or WIn8.1?
I found 14.9.2beta to be the best on Win7x64bit, but you need to install a mod for it to get SG menu to show up; A mod is ready made for Win8.1x64 & is available at http://mahmoudelfar.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-11-03T17:37:00-08:00&max-results=7
For Win7x64bit, I made my own mod by editing INF. There is also a patcher that is supposed to bring back SG menu, but never tried it.

Configure Switchable Graphics Menu is not working on the latest official AMD graphic drivers from 13.6b onward, so we need to use modded driver.
Modded drivers allow the SG menu to work so you can configure each program to high performance or power save or based on power. But there is a bug where some movie players MPC-HC and Firefox browsers are locked to power save if you don't install 13.4 drivers first and then configure them to high performance and then overlap install a newer AMD CCC (eg.14.4 or 14.9 etc). So it's a multi step process required to get it right.

On newest drivers Fixed mode does not work. This allowed forced use of dGPU & it last worked on 14.4whql. Fixed mode was opened up with a bios mod on our laptop. But everyone usually runs in Dynamic mode, so it isn't really a big loss for most of us. Slightly better game performance& optimizations for new games is gained from newer drivers 14.9 and 14.9.2.

A simple registry edit "to DISABLE ULPS" should always be run as your final step after AMD CCC is completely installed. (Disable ULPS allows overclock of GFX, Enable ULPS prevents overclock of GFX)
Here is a link for that>> http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/601808-k53ta-best-deal-ever-could-49.html#post7861621

 

win7x64bit

Thanks for the info and help! completely back up to date
I can confirm that the patcher works flawlessy, needed to install it in safe mode or else the patcher hangs.

Already figured AB out, but thanks anyway!

 

I successfully installed "Official 14.11.1Beta by installing the driver modded for 6000 amd cards by Asder, & using the patcher in safe mode.
6000 mod>> http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=394584

SG Patcher(in safe mode)>> http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=4952235&postcount=5

But after installation, I got some errors eg. could not find driver package source, and some hanging on first bootups; but everything really went ok.
-I also renamed mantle file to avoid any other problems-eg. rename amdmantle64.dll to anything else like amdmantl64.dll @ (C:\Windows\System32\amdmantle64.dll)

-I also disabled ULPS so gfx can be overclocked.
So everything was installed ok, & runs fine after a couple reboots.

- 14.11.1B has been amongst the best peformance for games so far. (Fast FPS)
update:
New 14.11.2 Beta was just released >> http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=394776
....It comes 12hrs after I installed 14.11.1B. So I'll wait on more feedback before trying it. The version posted on guru3d by Asder is ready to use for our 6000 series gfx cards. Then use SG patcher after installing.

-You also have the option to use mahmoudelfar's modded SG fix drivers >> http://mahmoudelfar.blogspot.com/

notes: more optimization for FarCry4 with new patch & DragonAge; one person claimed much better improvement in Watch Dogs & Shadows of Mordor.

 

Delete Please....

 

what do you mean by the stock version?
I tried to install beta and the latest one ( both downloaded from AMD website )
whenever 6650m kick it, it bluescreen.
Any idea whats the problem?

 

Stock version form ASUS support website, see if it results with the same symptom?

 

same result.
as long as 6650M kick in, it bluescreen..
sigh

 

I tried stock driver from asus website. no bluescreen until I run some graphic intensive stuff which trigger 6650m
I tried to download the latest driver from AMD website ( I get bluescreen whenever I boot into OS )
I tried the modded driver, same issue.

Is it possible to be hardware issue ?

 

Don't give up yet.
Try a clean install of OS, then load the latest drivers.

 

how do I know whether my GPU is burnt?
I did clean install, swap HDD, I sold my SSD, there is no such problem when I was using SSD, now I tried 2 different HDD, I get the same problem.
I wonder is it possible to be adapter problem due to high resistance.. my adapter is 90W adapter.
is there anyone else face the same issue ? I spend days to debug, I couldn't find out what's the problem

 

Get memtest from Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool, download the ISO version, burn it onto a disc, then boot up from the disc to verify memory integrity.

 

I swapped ram, tested two different slot. is it possible to be my GPU issue?
I run memtest now. Update again on tomorrow

 

memtest passed
OS crashed, couldn't automatic repair. Will try to install a clean OS again later.

 

Ok, please keep us updated, and good luck!