S96J Graininess Issue Thread

Yes. I CAN see it while watching a DVD. And yes, I know what scaling is, and understand that DVD video is scaled by a considerably large factor to be displayed on a WSXGA or even a WXGA screen.

The pixelation from the scaling makes the image look just that. Pixelated. Everything is kind of big and fuzzy.

The graininess however appears as if there were a thin film on top of this pixelation. I can definately tell the difference between the two.

Now of course, the fact that DVD's are scaled makes the graininess less apparent, but it is still there.

 

Just received my S96J last night. The graininess is there, but i thought it would be way more apparent. I only notice it on a few colours. Haven't used the laptop for graphic work yet, but I think I can work just fine on it. Will see what the weekend brings us
Also I don't see that much when playing dvd's. Watched The Incredibles this morning and the quality was very nice!

BUT: when you buy something for this kind of money it is supposed to work flawlessly. So yes, I would like to see it resolved....

 

i had a toshiba with GO6600, It got stolen but I did notice a grainny issue with Oblivion and DVDs I watched. I didnt notice it at first until one day I put my face really close to the screen while playing oblivion. I can only notice them in black shades. I was annoyed at first, but eventually my mind just choose to block it out. I just bought a S96j (on the way) knowing this issue, because I thought i can get use to it. But if it appears in Paint and Photoshop.. I'll be really pissed off.

 

Ok, here are photos comparing my S96j with same background with winXP and Vista Beta 2. Obviously these should be viewed on screen without problem. By the way, I checked and I see no graininess while in my bios.

edit: I found a few colors in Vista with the graininess. There are many colors (like below) where the problem is apparent in XP but not in Viista...very odd.

Windows XP Pro:


Windows Vista Beta 2:


Any "grain" seen in Vista shot is just stuff on screen.

full size pixel for pixel are here:
http://i.pbase.com/o4/05/101305/1/64981031.hlsjqAaH._DSC5944_c.jpg
http://i.pbase.com/o4/05/101305/1/64981079.ys60cs9x._DSC5954_c.jpg

 

Fliptwister... the shade used in Vista looks darker. Try using different colors in vista. The one you took a screen shot of is just on that doesn't react with graininess.

I highly doubt that was the same thing. You were probably playing oblivion at non-native, and the were scaled.

I'll appear in everything that happens to use one of the "magic shades" that produces this issue.

 

JPZ, the shade is the same. It probably was at a different angle. I tried tripod and it was not working (lots of wavy lines) so I upped the ISO and shot by hand. It does not matter what shade or image I look at on Vista the graininess is not there. edit: I found a few solid colors in Vista. Dooooh! The graininess appears in many more colors in XP than in Vista.

 

If anything it should have been more prevalent on darker shades. In any case, I don't think it is darker, in reality, it's probably a camera trick because it's really hard to take a good shot of a screen and a slightly different angle can lead to huge variances.

 

Hmmm.. Have you had any problems with loading Vista on there? Any drivers that aren't available? What is your system rating?

 

I just tried safe mode and the problem still occurs.

 

After looking at a bunch more colors in Vista I have come across a few that are grainy. There goes that theory! There are a lot more solid colors in XP where there are problems compared to Vista...very odd. There are colors (like the one I photographed) that are grainy in XP but not at all in Vista. The colors that I found in Vista that were grainy were grays and one blue gray.

 

LM*AO!!!!!!!!!!

What version of Vista are you running?

 

windows vista beta 2

 

Finally got another response from ATI. After they just told me that they don't support ATI based notebooks, they send me this: THEY WANT ME TO RMA MY LAPTOP TO THEM!.

 

Just a quick question, I'm really considering buying a S96j from PowerNotebooks.com, but is there any real figure as to how bad or widespread this problem really is? I don't want to unload my cash on a new laptop and have an unsatisfactory LCD on it.

And also while I'm here, does anyone know if they apply the Arctic Silver 5 on both the CPU and the GPU?

 

Probably just the CPU. But you'd have to ask them. I don't think it is worth the extra $50 to get AS5. The notebook already runs cool. You won't notice a difference. Unless if course, maybe you wanted to OC, but then you would be voiding your warranty and you might as well get your own AS5 and apply it yourself.

It's really not that bad. And if you have trouble doing graphical design work because of it, then just hook up to a $50 external CRT. The problem does not exist on an external montor. I don't know what you mean by "widespread", but it appears that ALL notebooks with the mobility X1600 have it.

 

Just got this response from ATI. Apparently this rep suggested that we bring up the issue with Asus , because Asus will be able to get ATI's full attention.

Everyone who wishes to help in this matter, please direct your feedback to Asus rather than ATI.

Here is what the ATI rep sent me:

 

Hopefully something will come from ATI sending it to their driver team.

 

Well the best Asus reseller comes through again. Ken is going to bring this up with both his Asus and Intel rep. So at least we'll know they know about it. As for pressure to accelerate doing something about it, we'll still need the article or at least some more resellers bringing it up.

 

Thank you Ken for looking out for the consumers best interest and not settling and giving this issue a blind eye for sales purposes unlike some other resellers.

 

If you want AS5, go with Gentech, as Ken offers it cheaper.(Im not saying other vendors are bad). The grainyness issue for some is big while others cant tell. At work I showed an IT guy my notebook and told him to see it as I need another pair of eyes and he could barely tell that there was some grainyness.

 

Geared2play offers it for free. I don't see why resellers should charge so much for about 50 cents worth of AS5, and about 5 minutes to apply it.

 

It takes less then a minute to apply it and it custs but a few cents not even. A standard tube for 10$ last a hundred times or more if used right. You are suposed to apply a little speck of as5.

 

Good to know my AS5 was applied properly. =)

Any word from the review sites? Any articles posted yet?

 

I'm experiencing the same problem with my w3j. If any solution is found for the S96J, will it be applicable to the w3j as well?

 

Almost definitely. So help us put pressure on the resellers and Asus.

 

Well it would mean that a solution be possible for your W3J- but it depends on what the solution is to determine whether or not you can use the S/Z96J fix on your W3J. If it can be corrected with a driver "work-around" released from ATI in one of the next ATI CAT Mobility drivers, then you, you would be able to resolve the issue on your w3J by installing the generic drivers. But if the issue requires say, a BIOS update, then you will have to wait for a BIOS update concerning your W3J; you can't use the S/Z96J BIOS on your W3J.

 

Yes and any other laptop with the x1600

 

So am I correct in assuming that every single laptop built with a x1600 gpu has this graininess issue to the same degree? Even the nc8430, acer 5672, w3j, and the toshiba model with it? If this is true, I don't understand why there is a 30 page thread about the s96j and not even a single post about this issue with the other models.

 

Becuase asus has the most picky users i imagine. A better question is why asus s96j has a 15 page thread while the w3j has none. Look at the poll. Take a look at it your self. If you are one of those people that can not live with a single dead pixel this will bother you to death. In all honesty i for one would take this over a dead pixel any day. If you ever seen a dead pixel on a wsxga panel you will know what i mean when i say a dp is not a bother unless you are extremely sensetive. I dont know how many of you have a dead pixel on your lcd i have quite a few of them. My hd plasma my m5n my desktop has 1 or more. Doesnt bother me but i will trade a single dead pixel for the overly exagerated problem anyday

 

Well if it weren't for this thread, a lot of S96J owners would not have noticed the issue. I am sure it is the same way with other models.

The S96J is probably more popular than acer's, msi's, etc. with the X1600 in it. That also adds a factor to this.

And one of the biggest reasons this thread is 28 pages long is because a few people keep posting the same useless garbage. Most of these posts are people arguing with each other for the sake of arguing, or replies to questions asked by new posters to this thread who fail to read through it before posting.

 

I'm the kinda person that probably would never notice a dead pixel. So would you guys say that a couple dead pixels is worse than this graininess issue?

 

I completely agree. I don't have any dead pixels thank god, but i don't think i would have noticed if i didn't do the dead pixel tests. I guess excluding the people who do video/photo-editing, the problem is exagerated more because there is an actual problem than how much it bothers them. Like they can't say " man, i have an lcd that is flawless, i have an lcd without any dead pixels."

But again, if you guys need help in a petition, i will help, but i really don't see it as a problem. We should close this thread and only post if they have found a fix or a possible fix. I'm pretty sure the 28 pages of this thread has exhausted any constructive discussion. We all know of the problem and we know some people are hella bothered and some people can't even notice. Let's just end it til there's a fix. =)

 

Well I've said it before and I'll say it again. The only thing keeping me from buying this baby is this graininess issue because I don't know if its as bad as people, like zippoKC and Krista make it out to be. I'm seriously thinking about getting the acer5672/x1600 model instead of this mainly because there have been no complaints that models screen.

Again I'm the kind of user that doesn't notice dead pixels, so I still don't know how bad/noticible this graniness issue is.

 

Personally, I think it's more annoying than a dead pixel would be, because this affects the whole screen, in dvds, images, blank pages. Even just surfing this forum the colors look grainy. As others have said, it's doesn't exactly render the screen useless (unless you're dealing with textures in photoshop); it's just that you expect the highest quality when you buy a new asus laptop. This is something that one would expect of a dell, not a high-end asus.

 

When I first received my S96J I noticed this graininess on certain colors, mostly grey ones, and it didn't bother me at all as I figured it was just something with the panel. Then one day after installing ATI Tray Tools something changed, my PuTTY windows with black (#000000) background had graininess... and it didn't disappear no matter what I did, until I launched the ATI CCC and clicked default on the color options. Still have slight graininess on greys/etc, but nothing on the black.

I still like my S96J though, I've no issues watching movies on it, nor playing CS:S. Sure, I'd like to get rid of all the graininess, I mean, who wouldn't? But it's not like I'm gonna go around stabbing people in the face until it's fixed.

Ahwell, my 0.2e

 

There have been complaints of that model as well: http://www.notebookforums.com/thread147968-3.html

 

I think it was Krista who said that her sister's acer looked much worse than her S96J. Meaning the graininess was more noticeable on the Acer than the Asus.

 

If you can find a model with similar price and similar specs, I wouldn't get the S96J. It is a problem whether it is minor or not. If you are using it mainly for web surfing and word processing, then it isn't noticable at all. But then again, why would you buy a laptop with this kind of graphical power if you are using it like that.

I bought this laptop because it had great graphical capabilities. If it did not have the x1600 I wouldn't of even considered buying it. This is the main reason why I am pissed off that it has a defective screen.

I dunno though. Should you really listen to the opinion of an angry customer?

 

The acer 5672 has the same graininess problem. I know because I own one and there is a discussion about it at www.notebookforums.com, I am afraid I do not know have the exact link at this moment. I sent mine away for "repairs" because of this issue and will get it back tomorrow. Acer told me they had fixed the problem, but I doubt it. We'll see .

 

The Z96J screen is flawless. If you haven't been paying attention, the issue is with the X1600. EVERY laptop with the X1600 has this. So whatever you would have gotten, it would have had this issue.

 

I can't find this problem with the X1600 on my NC8430. Anyone know a good way of seeing it? Tried DVDs, games, comast.net. And no, my eyes are fine and have no color problems.

But there are much more popular notebooks with the X1600 in it. Especially the Acer 8200 and MacBook Pro.

 

Comcast.net or Microsoft Paint drawing large rectangles in darker shades of blue or gray. Again these look like freckels close up and graininess from a little further.

Take a close up pic of a dark gray rectangle in Paint if you would.

 

It depends on his default color settings. Depending on how his graphics card is configured, it might be using different shades of blue for comcast webpage that do not produce the graininess.

Also note, it is much more apparent when screen brightness is all the way up. Mind telling us what your clock speeds are on the X1600, and what drivers you are using? Perhaps the HP drivers allow some sort of work around to correct the issue, and if we could somehow use the HP drivers, we might be able to rid ourselves of the graininess.

 

Look at that screen, perfect!!!

Bad Camera though, 3.2mp 3yrs old...

 

Hi,

I tried paint, but I still cannot see anything. Mabye someone can take a picture of word for comparision. The HP ATI drivers can be found here-

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqnk/us/locate/64_6264.html

The card clocks in a 3800 3dMark. Celondil says the stock clock is 425/378, which is a little underclocked. Gamma is 1, Brightness 0, Contrast 100 according to ATI's control center.

 

Thanks for the link. Which version are you running though? The new or the old version? Oh, it looks like you put a direct link to the hp driver you are running.

You can try using ATI CAT MOB 6.7. If you do, let us know if the issue appears. Performance very well almost might go up. Who knows?

 

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqnk/us/download/23533.html

I believe that is the one being used. I tried to use 6.7 CATs for ATI's website, but it doesn't allow me to install them.

 

Excellent! Ken's with gentechpc.com right? Well I know who I'm looking to in future and continuing to recommend.

Krista

 

What you need to do is use the exact download link. Just google "catalyst mobility download link" and you should be able to find it posted on nbr.

 

I purchased an S96J yesterday from MilestonePC and I decided not to bother to edit my BIOS, and I wont attempt to do anything. The reason?

- Well, all this whining from these people has been only BS. The screen is totally flawless, I have absolutely no grainess at all, i've tried every single color in paint from the premade ones and I still saw nothing, except dust that sticks easily on these glossy/lcd pannels.