U30JC discussion thread

Quatro, I did as you suggested a few pages ago and got GPU-Z to determine which graphics chip is being used. Unfortunately it appears as though my computer is using the Nvidia one at all times, although I could be wrong and will be happy if someone proves it so.

I restarted my computer, let it sit for a few minutes not opening any programs, then opened GPU-Z. Both chips are displayed at the bottom, and when I click on the sensor tab the Intel chip has nothing going on and the Nvidia has a bunch of numbers that I dont really understand!

In my Nvidia control panel under "manage 3D settings" Integrated graphics has been selected as the preferred method.

So if anyone has any ideas it would be appreciated.

 

Not sure if you've an actual problem or a GPU-Z glitch. Open GPU-Z, select "Sensors" tab. Be sure the " NVIDIA GeForce 310M" is selected at the bottom and " continue refreshing the screen while GPU-Z is in the background" is also ticked.

Then note the numbers in graph boxes 5, 6 & 7 called:

GPU Load
Memory Controller Load
Video Engine Load

If "GPU Load" and "Memory Controller Load" read 0% then the NVIDIA chip is OFF and Optimus is using the Intel HD IGP. The "Video Engine Load" will often have bizarre large numbers in it (ie 403%) that slowly ticks down. My other two USED to be only 0% but now occasionally jump to "601% or "304%" for a half second and then suddenly jump back to 0%.

That is clearly a GPU-Z glitch with the new NVIDIA video driver. Ignore it. No %'s should ever go over 100%.

If you want to test it, play a HULU TV episode at 480p and you'll see that those three boxes stabilize. I'm doing that right now and each of those three read 3%, 4% and 9%. The "Video Engine Load" began at 203% (silly) and slowly counted down to 5% under load. When I pause the HULU video, the counters go to 0% (or quick to 1% and back to 0%). When I play the video again, they suddenly read 12%, 4% and 6%.

Ads (not the TV shows) will often be low resolution and GPU-Z reports 0% because the Intel chip is being used. When the episode begins again, the load jumps to 2%, 4% , 7%.

Also, watching in 360p or 480p makes a load difference. 380p is reading 2%, 2% & 8%. Switching to 480p, it jums to 12%, 5% & 10% because the higher rez is making the GPU work harder.

 

That is wrong. The PM45 chipset is made for the Core 2 Duo and that chip communicates with the RAM directly. The Arrandale processor has the memory Controller inside the CPU rather than the northbridge. The U30Jc also uses the HM55 chipset if Asus is correct on their spec page.

 

Excellent info! I knew the Arrandale processor had the video controller inside of itself (which I knew had been in the northbridge) and the northbridge had been done away with. But I had no idea that the memory controller was part of the northbridge as well and now inside the chip.

As for numbering of chipsets, I have no idea what they mean and so have not paid attention.

Like I said, you're the engineer. I am merely a hobbyist when it comes to PC's and architecture. And that's what happens when I lift a quote off of a thread but forget to check their statements myself!

So the CPU now completely controls the RAM speeds or does the BIOS do any thing in that area?

 

How do I set up my graphics so it... works? I don't feel as if my Nvidia graphics have been on at all, I get real crappy fps in games. I'm on entertainment battery mode if that makes a difference!

 

Try this:

Locate your icon you use to launch the game.
Right-click on the icon and select:
"Run with graphics processor" > "High-performance NVIDIA processor".

See how that works for you. For best gaming results, use "High Performance" mode and be sure under the Power4Gear GUI app that the processor is set to 100% on the maximum settings (you get to the P4G GUI by right-clicking your lower right battery/power icon & select Power4Gear Hybrid). If I'm playing on battery, then I also put my minimum processor state at 100% as well, but that may not be necessary. On battery, this WILL eat your battery up pretty quickly (2-2.5 hrs). So it's best to play games plugged in and set on high performance.

To make that choice permanent, right-click on your desktop wallpaper and select "NVIDIA Control Panel" (NCP). In NCP, on the left, select "3D Settings" > "Manage 3D settings".

Then on the right, select the "Program Settings" tab. Then click the "Add" button and add the file that launches your game. Then in #2, select "High-performance NVIDIA processor" as the preferred GPU to run that game or app.

And lastly, FPS depends on the game you're playing and what it's graphics settings are set at. You've not mentioned the games you're trying to play nor what settings they're at. Last night I played HL2:E2 on max settings and never had a single stutter. Ran perfectly. But Crysis, for example, should be ran at mostly low settings, or so I've heard, for the 310M GPU.

BTW, what NVIDIA driver version are you presently using?

Tell us if that helped.

 

I owned a U30JC for exactly one day before sending it back for a refund. The Nvidia video chip was not recognized by the OS, indicating that it was most likely defective. this conclusion was reached after spending hours and consulting with Asus support. In addition I found the following shortcomings with the machine:

1. Display was not worthy of a $900 computer. It was more like something from a $600 HP. There was a distinct blue tint of the kind many of the cheap displays exhibit. Blacks and contrast were sub par. Forget about photo editing on this machine.

3. Keyboard flexed with the slightest touch on any key. There may be a strong aluminum base under the keyboard that prevents flex at the bottom of the stroke, but seeing the metal between the keys flex at every stroke is distracting. Flex only at the bottom of a stroke would have been more acceptable.

4. Splendid display program would not hold its settings. This may have been related to the video defect.

5. OOB experience is the worst imaginable. First boot took over 25 minutes and a reboot after that was required to get the machine stable. There are an excessive number of utilities and bloatware.

I believe this machine to be overrated by reviewers who are glossing over the keyboard and screen quality. Perhaps it is because most available notebook computers are awful to start with, and this is one of the few out there with both good benchmark performance and long battery life.

 

Ive officially joined the U30JC crew. I went to the store to look at it in person, wow absolutely gorgeous laptop. Very impressed with how solid the keyboard feels. Picked it up for $899CDN. Also picked up a 160GB SSD.

 

Sorry for your bad experience. What laptop did you finally settle on?

My U30JC's Win 7 OS saw my NVIDIA GPU immediately and even put its own default drivers in for it which I later upgraded. Sounds like yours was defective indeed.

My tint seems to depend on which gamma tint I've selected on the Splendid app, (mine's a tad pinkish). Splendid gives me 5 tint presets and I use "Theater Mode". Mine remembers my preference and does boot up with that tint selection each time.

I also find the washed-out blacks in large black areas sub-par for my tastes, but I only notice it when watching movies or HULU or some parts of a game. My wife's 1-yrs-old white Macbook has the identical problem in the screen & light bleed and it cost $1,000. Newer Macs don't have this problem any more as they improved the bottom-line Mac's screen. My Dell Vostro 1000 also has the same light bleed issue, but it was only a $500 notebook.

See this AnandTech thorough analysis of the U30JC's screen for better info:
AnandTech Examines the U30JC's Screen

My keyboard has no flex I can find or feel, so I think this depends on each unit's keyboard. The supporting plate is very solid so my guess is that it must be coming from a warp in the keyboard's back plate that causes it to rise a bit off of the support plate in areas. Mine had a bit at first, but I popped it out and fixed it.

Double-sided tape may also resolve this. ... Yes, I know. Should one need to do this on a $900 machine? But I love my keyboard now. That's my experience.

I can't comment much on my out-of-box experience. I don't remember it being 25 min, but I can't be sure. I do remember booting up and ASUS AI prompting me to burn the image DVD's (that WAS quite tiresome) and then I repartitioned the HDD, blowing away whatever had been there, formatting & then reinstalling the OS from my own DVD. I used the key on the bottom to register it, which worked fine. So I suppose I escaped the bloatware issue. I DID end up reinstalling nearly all of the ASUS apps, played a bit with each & then removed what I didn't feel I needed or wanted.

 

can someone help help me out.

I cant get my laptop to pick up my wifi connection. And everything is on. Is it wireless N in this U30JC?

Also Quatro, I agree with you the laptop is absolutely great ofr build quality. Im very impressed, no flex! wow most aussie laptops flex.

 

What wireless card do you have in your U30JC? You can see by going to your Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > And under Devices & Printers you'll see "Device Manager".

Under Device Manager, select Network Adapters. In that list is the name of your wireless card. For example, mine says "Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter". BTW, U30JC's specs say that your wireless card will be b/g/n meaning it will see & use Wireless N as well as the regular G routers used in most places.

You can go here and search for your drivers from ASUS to be sure yours is the latest.

Try 3 things for us:

1) On the front left of your unit is a small wireless switch (yes, the U30JC has both a physical switch and a hotkey to activate your wireless!). Be sure that switch is moved as far to the right as possible.

2) If #1 is okay and you've toggled your wireless hotkey (Fn+F2) and seen the floating green wireless icon come up bright green (not grayed & X'd out), then at the lower right should be 5-signal bar symbol of the wireless. If it's off, it will be greyed out and have a red X through it. If it is greyed out with an orange dot on it, it needs your help to choose which network signal to use.

Left-mouse click on it. In the list, you should see your router's name or signal name (whatever that is). Click on that and tick "Connect Automatically" and click on "Connect".

If it's the first time the PC's tried to connect with your router, it will ask you for the router's passkey or password. Input that and Enter.

If it was correct, you should become connected. The 5-bar wifi symbol in the lower-right should be all white.

3) Lastly, if Device Manager shows a yellow question mark over your wireless card, or you want to update that driver, you can download & install the latest driver from ASUS for your wireless card.

BTW, I noticed that in your sig you list the NVIDIA GeForce 330M as your GPU. Is that a typo (as the rest of us have the 310M) or is yours some kind of upgrade??

Let us know how it goes.

Sometimes it can be as simple as step 1.

 

double-post.

 

I have the atheros or something like that.

I got it fixed after wasting an hour on the phone with asus calling them 3 times. I had to call my ISP to get my router f/w updated.

But I am very unimpressed with ASUS tech support. Neither of the 3 people knew what they were talking about and totally reading off the binders while constantly pausing being stumped and putting me on hold every 2mins to ask someeone else. Very unimpressed. I thought I bought an ASUS not a dell!

 

2 Questions:

1) Where did you get ur U30JC?
2) What SSD did you get?

Thanks!

 

Great info, but need would like to know what you ended up with as Quatro has commented on.

Thanks!

 

Memory Express here in Calgary, AB.
I got 160GB Intel X25M. Havent installed it yet though cause Im not sure how to after I pop it in! haha

 

To be fair to ASUS, in helping other friends troubleshoot problems, I've talked with HP/Compaq support, IBM/Lenovo support, Toshiba support, Dell support and all of them outsourced and all of the tech support people read off of prepared sheets. I recently called AT&T with a DSL router issue ... and got India and repeated people who refused to think, but just read from sheets. With Apple, I talked to someone who was in the US, but they read off of prepared sheets as well. I had to push to get higher level tech support until I reached a manager who was more experienced or knew how to analyze a problem rather than throw rote answers at it.

I have no experience w/ ASUS tech support, but if they're outsourcing to the Philippines or India, and the tech support people read from prepared sheets, you'll not find it any better with the other major notebook makers.

The biggest difference I've found is Apple's Apple Stores. Their willingness to help and resolve issues is amazing and exemplary (I've been to them 3 times for my wife's MB and her once for her iPod Touch.)

 

Helpmyfriend, I'm still intrigued by your sig. Does your U30JC actually have the NVIDIA Geforce 330M GPU instead of the 310M GPU the rest of us have??

 

Maybe it also depends on who you call. In the past I didn't dial the support, but instead directly dialed the RMA center. So I really had a Dutch person in Holland on the other side of the line . Also the contact during my RMA in the past was very good. No mails, just contact over the phone.

 

Gentlemen,

After returning the U30JC, I bought a 13" Macbook Pro. I was a big hesitant to try a Mac due to the lack of familiarity with OS X, but when running the same applications, things are 95% the same and overall the adaptation process was not painful. I don't consider myself to be an Apple groupie (some of them are nuts) and not everyone can afford their high prices. Needless to say, the display on the Mac is its best feature IMO.

I did notice that Splendid would give reasonably close to natural color using the gamma correction profile, but it lost the setting every time I logged off. This may have been due to the Nvidia video defect. From what I read above, it appears that my keyboard was not assembled properly either. I guess my machine was built on a Monday morning.

To everyone here, I wish you happy and trouble free computing with your U30JC notebooks and let's not get into an Apple vs Asus mode, they are different machines for different users.

 

Install Windows 7 From USB Drive/Pen Drive

I followed this guide for my SSD installation

No problems, except they forget to mention that you need to run 'cmd' as administrator for bootsect.exe.

Formated a 8GB USB as explained in the guide, made it bootable, then copied a Win 7 Home Premium DVD, turn on AHCI mode in the BIOS, used the win 7 key from under the laptop, and off it went.

If you have a DVD drive, you should just be able to install from DVD though

 

No worries. You'll get few arguments here on it. My wife has a MB and I think they are truly wonderfully constructed, esp the MBP! My wife's transition was minimal and it just works for her.

My only regret a year ago, was getting the white MB w/ it's (then) inferior screen compared to the MBP (they're both top quality now.)

Congrats on your purchase. They are great machines.

 

After installing the driver for Optimus, making my Nvidia control panel go poof, I actually accidently uninstalled the control panel and was about to go nuts. But i restarted my computer, and it magically reinstalled itself, so it appears now.



Anyways, I've read on other forums that it's good to remove the battery during AC mode. Does that really extend my battery life? I make sure to only recharge when I'm down to around 10% battery life.

 

Quatro, Thank you for the kind words. I have not jumped ship completely. My i5-750 desktop runs Win 7 X64. Going back and forth between OS X and Win 7 gives one food for thought as to the different choices in the user interface and features. Of course, under the hood they are very different.
-Ron

 

Nah, lithium ion batteries lose charge as soon as they leave the factory. I forget the number, but you would have to be pretty obsessive compulsive to adversely affect your battery condition through excessive charging.

 

And that is a bit my quandary. I always assumed that one day my wife & I would both move over to OSX, but after helping her make the move, the more I use hers (and at my business site), the more I admit I like Win 7 64-bit. The OSX menus feel so limiting to me and iTunes feels as if it wants to run so much. I keep finding myself trying to find ways to get OSX to do what is easy for me under Windows 7. That's just me.

To add to it, I still use a now-archaic Palm TX as my PDA. There is so much I've invested in this platform and in my apps under Windows, I hate the thought of ever leaving it.

My wife was just easier about it. She had increasingly used her Palm PDA less & less. Since she principally used her PC for email, docs & multimedia, the move was simple (a few transfer hiccups). She dumped her Dell & PDA and got a MB & iPod Touch ... and they really do work together beautifully. Her next purchase upgrade will be a MBP 13".

Perhaps I'm happy with the Win 7 tricks I know and don't want another learning curve, and OSX, while nice, isn't a big deal to me.

But Apple's workmanship on their notebook unibodies, parts and in-store support is really very impressive (IMO).

... Oops. This is supposed to be a U30JC thread! Enough on Macs.

 

So are your present Optimus NVIDIA drivers working now? No problems?

On your battery question, if I were you, I'm PM someone like GENETX who is an engineer and would have proper technical info on battery care & recharging life of lithium Ion batteries.

I've read that some li-on batteries have an optimum 1,000 charges. Other places say no matter if you charge or not, they begin to degrade life anyway.

I don't know what the truth is. I've no idea if charging it less will prolong the life, though on my Palm TX PDA, I've gotten WAY over 2 yrs life and it is a li-on battery pack. I charge it about every 3 days.

 

I personally think the U30JC is a steal for what you get. Priced very nicely. I'm just not a big gamer to take advantage of the machine and it was a little chunkier than what I expected.

I did however, recommend it to a friend who is a huge gamer going off to college. Optimus is one of the best things to happen to laptops since Core Duo I think.

 

Batteries don't have my focus, so I really don't know all facts. Typically there are 3 important things in battery wear level:

1. Number of recharges
2. Ammount of energy stored
3. Temperature

Some people say that batteries should be charged up to 80% and get no lower than 40%. A complete drain would be destastrous to the health of the battery. But then, get it completely drained also recalibrates the capacity. That number is needed for Windows and a mismatch between the expected capacity and real capacity usual leads into Windows shutting down while the battery isn't empty yet....

Other users also take out the battery if they work with energy from the socket. The idea is that the notebook generates heat which also decreases the battery capacity.

Some others also work at least twice a month on the battery while there is a socket available, just to keep the battery in condition.

So, everybody has it's own tricks. But I don't understand batteries at all. The one in my Asus F3Sc is just being used when I need it. Always sticking in my notebook, complete draining it in college, always overcharging, small discharges... I do not use any of the tricks above, I'd rather kill batteries with my use. After more than 2.5 years, being a student, my wear level still is only at 7.8% . The same is true for my Asus A6T which also didn't show much wear... Also, other Asus A6 and F3 users at the dutch site tweakers.net don't complain about their batteries.

I would just use it as you like it. Most batteries keep an acceptable capacity for 3 years. And I don't know if all those tricks really help. I probably get more frustrated if I would handle my battery with care instead of just using it the way it is meant to be . Oh, frustration is unhealthy for humans

Edit:
Oh, your real question. I would kepp it in the Asus U30Jc constantly. The U30Jc runs very cool if the reviews are accurate. So the temperature, which isn't much higher then room temperature in idle, won't make a huge difference. Only remove it when you won't use your laptop for a few weeks.

 

Oh cool. Thanks! I went in store to test out an U30JC. Very impressed with its build.

 

Quatro, I made an errory sorry I haev the same graphcis card as you.

Anyways can I please have some help installing my Intel X25 SSD? I popped it in and booted off disc but it keeps saying "please reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device"

I had no idea what this was so I called asus (and what do you know i got another retard reading right off his books). He said that

1) ASUS laptops no longer come with recovery OS disk. You either recover from the hidding partition on the default HD or order one from the estore.

2) I told him the disk i put in is different and not the factory one. Then he goes on and lectures me about how thats why ASUS no longer supplies factory restore disks to avoid this.

So he said that i can only do recovery off the hidden partition on the default disk. AM I SUPPOSE TO DO NOW?

So now i have the SSD in there and i cant do squat! How am i able to install W7 on it?

FREAKIN #*%%$%$#^$# IM SO PISSED!

 

Get a copy of Windows 7 and use your existing key
--yes, it's dumb you don't get an actual win7 cd

 

So i have to now go out and buy a full version of W7? Are you freakin kidding me? Wow this is absolute garbage I have to say. Id rather just bring back the SSD and stick with the default drive if I have to.

Uncalled for move by Asus. COmpletely unacceptable!!!

 

The first step is to take a deep breath & relax.
1) You don't need to go out & buy a copy of Win 7 x64. There's a legal link for that.
2) The ASUS rep is correct. It's not his job to format your hard drive or install an OS for you. He can help you restore the OS if it's on the same ASUS-installed HDD w/ it's restore partition.

There are many ways to go about this.

Before you install the OS onto your SSD, you'll need to partition & format your new SSD or get Windows to do it on install. It might be easier for you if you just use a DVD copy of Windows 7 x64 & install from that if using a flash drive is confusing.

Go here to download a legal copy of Windows 7 x64 Home Premium.

This page has full instructions.

Below is the direct link for the 3 files needed:
File 1
File 2
File 3

Here's the direct link for the ISO to burn a DVD of Win 7 Home Premium.

But to download & burn a DVD, you'll need to have the old HDD in first so that you can download the tools you'll need first. Or if you have another computer, you can use that.

I usually use GParted to partition & format my HDD's (fast), but that's not good for you if you don't know how to use it.

As well, here's a good link with instructions on how to boot from a flash drive and then let Windows partition & format your SSD & install to it.

So Step 1: download a legal copy of Win 7 x64 Home Premium and make a DVD from it or put it on a bootable flash drive.
Step 2: Partition & format your SSD.
Step 3: THEN you can install Win 7 x64 on it.

Be aware that your Product Key on the bottom of your laptop is only good for Win 7 Home Premium, not any other versions.

Another idea is to boot up from the original HDD and ASUS AI will immediately prompt you to insert 4 DVD's to burn an image of your present OS+drivers+apps+trial software. (So go buy some blank DVD's if you haven't already.) This burn process is very slow and takes around 2 1/2 hrs. But at the end, you'll have DVD's to setup & install onto your SSD. Of course, then you'll need to remove the trial software and any other ASUS apps you don't want, etc.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Thanks bro, I really appreciate it.

Im just downloading the ISO right now on another computer. Figure it sounds a lot easier, burn and pop in right? Once i got the ISO burned i should be able to just reboot off the optical drive right?

I hope it works!

 

Yes.. but don't burn the whole ISO *file* to a CD.. you want to actually burn the contents of it. I believe Windows 7 supports this, if not you should download a free program called ImgBurn. It should let you burn the ISO image to a CD effortlessly

 

I know this laptop uses the Nvidia optimus technology. With that being said has anyone tested or used the Intel Wireless Display Technology (WIDI) with this laptop as it is supposed to work per this video:

YouTube - NVIDIA Optimus Works Perfectly With Intel Wireless Display (WiDi)

 

Oh! Good catch. I forgot to tell him that.

True confessions, the first time I dealt with an ISO file, I didn't know any better and just burned/copied the ISO file right onto the DVD.

And then I had to learn how to use Nero or (back then) a Windows patch/app that could see & burn the ISO image onto a DVD.

 

Ya I unzip the rar file and take all those files inside right?

 

This is really pissing me off! I finally burned the iso but its not reading off the damn disk!!! grr

 

I suspect you're doing this wrong, hence your frustration.

You don't unzip the ISO file like a rar file and burn those files over. It's not that simple. Your DVD needs to be bootable, not just have Windows files on it.

I think Windows 7 can do this. Here's an official Microsoft How-To:
Burn a CD or DVD from an ISO file

Or you can do as MasterEvilAce suggested and download ImgBurn. Have you done that yet? You can get it here

Here's another free program called ISO Image Burner

Do one of those methods and then show the program where the ISO file is. The ISO is a CD/DVD IMAGE file that will create a bootable, exact-image Win 7 CD/DVD. You shouldn't just unzip it. You need to use a program that knows how to use an ISO image file to burn a DVD.

When ImgBurn goes to burn it, be sure you have a blank DVD in your drive, not a CD (this happens.)

Here is a good Microsoft instructional article on Burning a Windows 7 ISO File on a DVD. Reading it might explain some things about using ISO files.

Do that 1st and then get back to us.

Sorry you're frustrated, but just consider it a learning time. That's okay and you'll get there if you're patient and don't jump to conclusions. There are many here who will help you step-by-step, but we have to figure out what you do & do not know as well and then we can better advise you.

 

Ive burned ISOs before I dont know why this W7 one is such #%@#$!!!

I installed the ImgBurn like you said. I go select iso to burn or whatever it was. I browse for the iso file, it burns all 3.2GB and still doesnt boot up.

I tried the MS download tool and says the iso is invalid. I even created 2 ISOs and neither work!!!

OMG IM GOING TO LOSE IT.

Im burning this on my other PC in XP, is that it?

 

I downloaded the file as a rar. I then upzip it and extract all the files inside to new folder that i created on my desktop. Does it matter if i extract or highlight all files and drag and drop into new one on desktop?

I load up image burn and i select "select files to creat image" I can just select the folder i created right?

 

Why am I getting RAR files when im creating ISOs? !!! I just used imageburn and it created an rar file.

 

Quatros and anyone else willing to help. Please bring this discussion over to my other thread so its easier to keep track..

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...sds-cant-used-asus-laptops-3.html#post6377380

 

If your extracting the contents out of an ISO file you are going to lose the bootable data from the ISO. Use like magiciso to extract the bootsector then extract/edit the iso files then put the bootsector back and burn.

 

Sorry but i have no clue what you just said, way beyond my tech knowledge.

Im not extracting the files from the iso. When i create the iso, im importing it directly from image burn and even tried MS d/l tool. When i burn it, it says its burning good but the damn thing wont work!

 

Honestly, ask a friend to help. This seems to be beyond your technical expertise. Keep reading if you want to keep trying.

It sounds like you are not burning the iso file correctly. You shouldn't have to do anything to the iso file. No need to extract or create, that has all been done for you. Just download and save the iso file on the hard drive.

Then launch imgburn and select "Write image file to disc" and point the source to the iso file and click the burn button.

 

Sorry, Helpmyfriend, I have no idea what you are talking about here. There are no RAR files involved. Where are you finding RAR files?

I think I've confused you with too many methods and the creation of the giant ISO file from Microsoft's 3 files isn't very straightforward. FORGET THIS METHOD.

Just go and download the huge ISO file directly. You can find Windows 7 x64 Home Premium ISO here. (The file is named X15-65733.ISO)

Be sure & use a download manager to get the file as it is very big or at the minimum, use Firefox to download it.

Then use an ISO burning program to burn that ISO image file AS A BOOTABLE DISC IMAGE to a DVD. You don't extract any files nor do you burn/copy the ISO file directly to a blank DVD nor do you create an ISO file from any other files or folders. Just use the one provided in the link. You instruct the ISO Burning program to use that image file to create a bootable DVD.

 

Is there any way to use the volume and brightness buttons without holding down FN?

My sister has an HP and the media buttons share the same key as the F1,F2, etc. except you don't need to hold two buttons simultaneously to active it