S96J Graininess Issue Thread

Looking forward to it here to

Cat

 

Woot! Finally, a fix!

However, can someone tell me how to flash the bios of my Z96j? I tried installing Aflash from my cd-rom and it wouldn't start... how do you upgrade bios???

 

I really hope it does include Merom support, or i'll be very disappointed

 

the new BIOS will support Merom.

 

Wouldnt it be ironic if they fixed this but screwed up something else in the meantime. Like i said above. I would caution users from jumping on this when it comes out.

 

Yea, its probably only going to be a beta that they're releasing.

I'm gonna wait until eddie tests it on one of his s96j's before I flash my bios

yey eddie

 

Dont use Aflash, thats for floppy disks. Use winflash. It should already be installed.

 

The past two revisions, ken has posted a nice and easy tutorial including a nero template file over at NBF.

 

And here is the link of easy update BIOS:

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread174504.html

 

Right now I only did BIOS updates from desktop with ABIT motherboard, but I can tell you for sure that using windows program is much better choice unless your PC is unstable (but when it's not I don't think it's good idea to update anyway). For example windows based flash (at least from abit) after flashing reads new bios and compare it to the file. I never saw DOS program doing that.

Just reboot windows, and close all unnecessary programs and you will be fine.

 

The BIOS we made was also for people who only purchased barebones without Windows installed.

 

I just spoke to the guy dealing with this issue @ ASUS. I called to talk to him about the constant flicker at around 40-60%. He told me they figured it out with the BIOS update for the other model that fixed most of the grainyness. He also said it was still in beta and they hadn't pegged a release date yet - probably 3-4 more days. He says its pretty sure it'll be ready soon since they know the code that needs to change from the other fix but they need time to make the changes and do some QA so we won't all fry our chips because of a typo. So definitely not today - but soon.

Cat

 

Ken, would you please clarify what this bios is? Is this a bios that fixes graininess? Is this still the beta one? Thanks.

 

That's the old one that makes the S96J compatible with Merom.

 

Check out this exerpt from the HardOCP preview.

Jason emailed me back letting me know they'd be investigating the graininess issue, so I'm pretty sure it's one of the things they brought up with Asus. If Asus was gonna try to backburner this issue, I'm sure having it known by a major review site was motivation.

Anyway, when this saga is overwith, I think Hard will be one of the players deserving some credit.

 

Cool.

It exists. The J exists.

In the past all of us with Z96J's have actually had Z96JS. The J has a 1280x screen, and they gave me the wrong one when I brought it in for service last week. So they have the lower res screens stocked. The S96J is pretty much the same as a Z96J except sold from smaller retailers and sooner than what that [H] Article suggets.

Anyway just thought that was interesting. I may get a copy of the beta BIOS to try and I'll let you guys know.

Cat

 

Whoooooo hoooo!

Isn't it exciting to think that our actions might have caused this to happen, and that everyone with the X1600 is going to be so happy / blown away by the results?

I'm going to get whatever version will work with the acers for my sister and she'll be just that much more excited with her laptop too

I've been a bit AFK lately and can't check the notebookforums site from work, for some dumb reason... it's blocked but this one isn't. I'll read more tonight.

Krista

 

i just spend the bulk of my morning reading this whole thread
all 47 pages of it, it was both entertaining and very educating
i went from not wanting to buy the s96j to wanting to buy it
tho i will wait with buying until i see people post results with the new bios
toshiba seemed much quicker fixing this issue than asus with a bios update
one can only hope asus will do the same next time an issue comes up

 

what exactly is bios?

 

(bī´ōs) Acronym for basic input/output system, the built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/BIOS.html

In other word, the instructions are hard wired into the chips that come on the motherboard, or, graphics processor. You can re-write this code, but if the re-write messes up, you basically get a big paper weight Luckily it's become easier with provided software tools to do these updates over the years.

Krista

 

thank you very much

 

They are still holding off on it. Should be next week now

 

*Grumble*

I wanted to play with it this weekend... Oh well.

Krista

 

That's a bummer. hopefully thats all the extra time they need before a release- i'd like to have the new bios to play with before my uni semester starts again :/

 

I've been actually having this grainines problem for quite some time now. Since I do not have the time to browse through all 48 pages of this thread, could someone kindly tell me if there is a solution to it?

 

No- to sum it up, we determined the source of the problem to be the X1600. We don't know the exact cause, but we think it to be dithering bug in the video BIOS. Asus is working on a BIOS fix right now according to some of our resellers, and should be released soon.

Between all that, there is about 40 pages of people yelling at each other and arguing whether or not the issue exists and whether it should deter people from buying an S/Z96.

 

-----------------------BIOS Version: 1001--------------------



About This BIOS:

Support products: S96Js
Release date: Sep 22, 2006
Version:1001


New Fixes/ Feature:

Fix identical GUID issue

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-support/10775/eng/S96JBIOSv1001.zip

could this be it? the fix we've all been waiting for?!!! anyone dare to try?

 

I tried this bios. Issue is still there...

 

That sucks. Eh... intel. I'm waiting for the Asus version.

 

Hey, I just realized something. Read the release notes. It says "NO KNOWN ISSUES!". Either someone typed that out of habit and screwed up, intel is no longer addressing the issue, or this BIOS is supposed to fix it.

 

and also why does it say Z96j.rom...

 

Haha, didn't notice that. Sure it doesn't say Z96Js.ROM?

 

no "s" at the end, so I guess it's not for us Z96js users

 

Every Z96J/S96J has the label "Z96Js" on the bottom of it. This is the model name for the barebones designed by Asus. Intel took Asus's Z96Js and put a low-res WXGA screen in it, and labeled it their own "S96J". Asus sold their barebone with a WSXGA screen and bluetooth to resellers under the name "Asus Z96J". They're all the same. Just different screens.

 

Neither of my Z96Js's had Z96Js written on the bottom. Both have Z96J written on the bottom.

I think the Z96J is the same as the S96J except sold under the ASUS name and supported by them rather than Intel. A few places have reviewed it as such and a I had an issue with the ASUS service depot putting the Z96J screen on my Z96Js and giving my nice more expensive system a 1280x native res till I complained (which took me about 1 minute after bootup lol). Not sure if it will have bluetooth or not. A couple of places such as [H] have mentioned it potentially being released as a kit to the more mainstream retailers in the coming months. Not sure how different that will be from how things are currently but I thought I'd point it out.

On the BIOS though:

Products: S96Js

-----------------------BIOS Version: 1001--------------------

About This BIOS:

Support products: S96Js
Release date: Sep 22, 2006
Version:1001

New Fixes/ Feature:
Fix identical GUID issue

Known issue:
None

That's the latest from the Readme. When I spoke to the ASUS tech he told me the fix doesn't completely eliminate the problem but it does make it better - but this is not what this is meant to fix (see the GUID post). Known issues sounds like a sort of side-effects section. Like if there was something non critical such as the version number not coming up correctly or if the Merom didn't work with it (more critical but not essential if you don't have the new proc yet) and other info like that would be written. The New Fixes/Feature section is what really changed. Strange that its called the S96Js update and it has the Z96J rom name, but nothing out of the ordinary since thats what the BIOS lists it as. Z96J is the motherboard name more than anything else.

Cat

 

I've got the Z96JS beta BIOS. I'll give it a try and let you guys know how it goes.

Cat

 

ken posted on NBF saying he got the beta bios today..which could mean that were talking about 2 different bios updates? http://www.notebookforums.com/thread173555-3.html

 

It's probably the same one. Version 1101. He probably got it in the same e-mail as me from the source. It was sent just before 12 noon EST but I've been a bit too busy with work to check my home mail too much. I'll give it a shot when I get home in about 2 hours or so - if anyone ends up killing their chip with it b4 then please let me know...

Thanks,
Cat

 

Ok Ken over at NBF just posted the Beta Bios update he received today.

It solved the grainyness issue for me!

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread173555-3.html

 

Yep, same version. I used the rom file i got directly rather than his packing and it worked great. The grainyness is gone, will test some more to see about the flickering.

Cat

 

Gone for me in everything. Tested Phtotoshop, screensaver, Paint, movies, games. Awesome.

 

it works for me too
here is a link to the nero file that gentechpc posted at notebookforums
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/images/Notebook/Asus/96J_1101.nrg
boot off that and type update

 

Any instability issues with the beta bios?

 

None whatsoever for me.

 

Asus did take this into consideration and that's why this new bios was made.... I'd urge against using the beta bios, but as long as you know you may run into problems and know how to update it when the final version comes out and/or revert back to the old one... you should be fine. This version is still in testing but it does seem to help take care of the problems.

 

wow... installed the beta bios. it's beautiful. beaaaaaaaauuttiffullll. no graininess at all. brings a tear to my eye.

thank you to every single poster in this thread. i am truly grateful. thanks again. btw, thank you.

 

Well !

THANKS a lot Ken !

You solved an invisible problems !

.... according to someone else.....

 

Don't forget someone else localized the problem to software and not hardware.
And a lot of other people made this enough of an issue to be addressed by the manufacturers.

But wow, really thanks a million Ken for bringing this to fruition. The screen on my S96J is just incredible now---awesome clarity and brightness as it was intended. The extra mile you went really paid off for all of us. +++Reps

 

lol, I remember the Geared2Play guy saying it was the low quality screen.



But who knew it would be such a simple fix.