U30JC discussion thread

"Life in the fast lane" as we say in the States.

I bought it when it was first released on Amazon in mid-April for $900!

 

Any one know what battery fits the U30Jc?

Will the batteries for the U35Jc they are selling on eBay work?

Any ideas?

 

as far as that deal @ bhphotovideo, i just send pricematch to xoticpc. let see what they have to offer.

 

need a new battery already?

 

Ha! Hardly. It's more about curiosity. What substitute model fits the U30's size battery? The U30Jc was an odd size and model. ASUS didn't make any more shaped like it (I think).

My battery has at least another 2 years on it.

I do have 6% wear on the battery after 7 mo use ... but there is a lesson in that story.

I was at 3% wear almost from the start (I wasn't using BartteryMon at first and had no idea about battery wear %'s, etc.)

After reading a couple of posts about "conditioning" the battery, I (foolishly) drained the battery to 1% (overriding the safety cut-off's). Then I charged it again ... and drained it again to 1% and then charged it again.

When I had finished my experiment, my battery had jumped from 3% battery wear to 6% battery wear, and there it has sat the last 5 mo.

I then read more and discovered that deep discharging a Lithium-ion battery down to 1% can be very damaging to the battery.

Lesson learned!

 

My Asus Live Update utility is showing a new BIOS for the U30Jc v2.30.3.

Has anyone installed it or even downloaded it yet? (Can't get it to fully download for three days or so).

Also, where would we find out what fixes are offered with each new BIOS.

I'm currently on version BIOS 2.10.

 

Looking at Asus website it looks like the latest bios is 2.10 and its dated back in June. From my Asus experience I doubt there will be a newer update, unless something really major crops up.

Edit: just looked at Asus FTP and the last time it was updated was back in June with the BIOS 2.10 file.

The Asus live utility is at V2.30.3, are you sure its not just the live update wanting to be updated?

 

No, I'm running Live Update 2.59.

It definitely is the BIOS it is trying to download (has downloaded 288KB out of 354KB so far - the most ever in the last 3 days).

Could you give me a link to the Asus FTP site?

See:

 

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/nb/U30JC/

 

Thanks for the link.

You were right! This wasn't a BIOS update - it was an update for the BIOS Flash Utility to version 2.30.3 - the direct link is below:

See:
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/nb/Apps/WinFlash/WinFlash_WIN7_32_64_z2303.zip



I got that file by opening up the U30Jc.idx file and following that ftp path it provides.

The latest idx files can be seen here:

See:
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/LiveUpdate/Release/Notebook/


Simply choose the notebook you have, open up the idx file in notepad and follow the ftp path they indicate.

Thanks very much othonda, +rep to you!


BTW, I see that we were probably talking about the same file, but just calling it different names.

 

Cool, that is pretty good to know about the idx file.

I wanted to ask you what are your thoughts on the U30JC?

I really want this laptop as a back up and for portability. May have to wait till the updated SB comes out. With Xmas and refying the house can't spend the money just yet.

 

I bought this notebook (U30Jc A1) at the original price close to $1K back in May (I think).

Still am very, very satisfied. Light (compared to 18.4" VAIO's ), long battery life and a more than good enough keyboard (better than the VAIO except it doesn't have a separate number pad, of course).

With the prices dropping to around $600 - $650 with the seasonal sales - I still think I've got good use out of it in the last six months.

Note that I'm running mine with 8GB RAM and an Inferno 100GB SSD.

Wish I was this happy with the Inferno as I am with the notebook.

Hope this has helped.

 

Why aren't you happy with your Inferno 100GB SSD?

BTW, for Othonda, I bought my U30Jc-A1 back in mid-April. I've really enjoyed it. Runs very cool. No keyboard flex for me. The aluminum lid +palm rest +trackpad are very nice, IMO. Some don't like the internal ODD but I use it. It's also nice to have spare room for an SSD+HDD combo when I'm ready ($$'s).

The only thing I don't like is the very limited viewing angle and light bleed on the screen. In normal use, the color & sharpness of image is great. But full-screen movies really show up the light bleed.

 

Quatro,

Because of DuraClass/DuraWrite technology and the fact that I can generate a lot of writes to the drive in a few minutes/hours.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...2379-my-patriot-inferno-ssd-performs-bad.html

 

Hey i recently bought u30JC-B1 laptop for 699+ (CAD) and was wondering if that was a good deal?

I have 7 days to review and have the option to return it. So far i'm loving it, but is there a better laptop at the same price?

thanks

 

Considering I paid $300 more and still haven't found a notebook that I'll replace it with (not looking too hard though! ) I think you got an excellent deal.

Hope you're as happy with it as I am.

 

When B&H had the U30JC-B1 on sale this past weekend at $679 shipped I was so tempted, just cannot spend money till my house refinance gets done.
This may not happen till after the new year. So any after Xmas sells may be out of the question as well.

I really like the pic's of the U31JG that are out there, The black finish is my preference, way more than the silver. All I can find about it seems to indicate it will be released in Europe this month, but no word on whether it will reach the states.

Anyone have any info otherwise?

Also no word of a SB replacement either. That may be the way to go if it gets to be early next year before I can get serious about a more portable machine.

 

Have either of you noticed the nice buzz going on over at the U35Jc thread over the release of the U36Jc that weighs 3.2 lbs and is 0.74-inch thick? Seems to be using a magnesium-aluminum alloy casing or something. This is new for ASUS.

 

I've been putting my laptop to sleep the same way for about 6 months now. Fn+F1. But recently, when I do that, it goes straight to hibernate instead of going to sleep mode. Does anyone else have this problem? I tried restarting and everything.

Also, it seems that i can only get the maximum battery life (around 6-7 hours wi-fi) when i shut down the computer, take out the battery, and start it up again.

 

That just means, most likely, that P4G reset to defaults or else you uninstalled & reinstalled P4G (or at least that's what happened to me.)

Easy to change back. Right-click on the lower-right power/battery icon > Power Options > (on left) Choose what closing the lid does.

In the next screen, there are the three options: lid / power button / sleep button. Just choose the "sleep" for the "when I press sleep button". You can set the others as well. For me, I set it: Power Button = shut down / Sleep Button = Hibernate / Close Lid = sleep.

As for battery life, it just depends. Any chance you can install BatteryMon? You need to get your battery discharge rate down to around a constant 9500 mW (9.5 W) to get over 7 hrs.

Things can drain in the background. On mine, my HotSync for Palm Desktop can act up and draw extra power. When that happens, I see it on BatteryMon and have to shut down HotSync. Another person had their sound/mic set up as "Listen to this device" and that was drawing power.

Also, my battery wear now has my 84 Wh battery down to 79 Wh. Not sure what yours is.

 

Ah..Thanks Quatro. My battery wear has got my battery down to 77Wh. =[ Any way to prevent battery wear or slow it down?

 

It just so happens that I was reading a few tech papers on that topic.

The wear can't be reversed (unfortunately), but to slow it down:
1) Never drain the battery to below 5% or battery damage can occur. So the old adage of calibrating the battery by fully discharging & recharging it a few times is no longer true. Doing that to a Lithium Ion battery can damage it. (Doing that twice back-to-back caused my battery wear level to go from 3% to 6%. Lesson learned!)
2) It's best to do partial drains & charges ... like not below 20%.

 

Hi all,

Interested in purchasing a U30JC. The main attraction is the excellent battery life reviews are stating.

I'm wondering if the mic and headphone jacks can both be used as audio out?

An example would be on a plane with my girlfriend, and having both of us use headphones on the laptop while watching a movie, without needing a splitter from a single 3.5mm jack.

The HP Envy 14 I previously had ( and quickly returned ) did this without issue.

Is this the case with the U30JC?

 

Mic in won't work as a headphone out. Instead, get a headphone Y cable (3.5mm stereo male to 3.5mm 2x stereo female adapter).

 

so laptop just gave me the BSOD again.. this is the 2nd this has happened. First time it happened, I thought it was due to no ATk drivers install which somehow distorted the windows.. But this time, i was just viewing some pdf files for school and it just bsod'ed on me.. WHY? Is it because maybe somewhat corrupted windows? But i havent done anything to my laptop recently.

EDIT: also, sound distortion is more and more common now. Usually happens after it wakes up from sleep or hibernation and sometimes after starcraft..

 

In terms of adding at BT-270 to a U30JC-B1, has anyone done it? How easy is it?

I noticed that the module seems to be available from asusparts.eu.

 

George, in the long run, you may find it faster to backup your important data and reinstall Windows afresh. See if it solves your problem.

 

So, for the U30Jc, should the RAM run at 533 MHz as reported on the Memory tab in CPU-Z? Or, (being 1333 MHz rated modules) should it run at 667 MHz?

 

i was planning on doing a fresh copy this weekend.. i guess this is my first dislike of the computer

 

CPU-z is correct at 533MHz. The i3, i5 can only run memory at the 1066 MHZ frequency, so your 1333MHZ memory is downclocking to the CPU's rated speed.

 

othonda,

thanks for the confirmation.

I was going to state the same basically from my research with these two links primarily:

See:
Intel® Core? i3-350M Processor (3M Cache, 2.26 GHz) with SPEC Code(s) SLBPK, SLBPL, SLBU5, SLBU6

See:
DDR3-1333 Speed and Latency Shootout : The New Mainstream Standard?


I'm just surprised that the processor would be still dictating the RAM frequency - I thought that with an integrated memory controller that was all in the past.

Unless it is the chipset and not the processor that is limiting the RAM modules used?

Of course the chipset and processor are tied together, but which one has the final say of the maximum RAM bandwidth modules that can be (fully) used?

I'd guess the chipset, but does the cpu limit it too, in any direct way?

(Btw, the i3 and i5 can both use 800 MHz and 1066 MHz memory modules).

See:
Intel® Core? i5-430M Processor (3M Cache, 2.26 GHz) with SPEC Code(s) SLBPM, SLBPN


Thanking you in advance for any further insight into this!

 

Tiller,

Ah! I can see why your a bit surprised. Your looking at the PM45 chipset that is used on core 2 CPU's.

Your laptop uses the 5 series (HM55) of chipsets in particular this one:

Mobile Intel® HM55 Express Chipset

Also look at page 11 of the spec sheet of the i3 350M, it shows a nice block diagram. It clearly shows the memory getting accessed directly from the CPU, with no interaction with the 5 series chipset.


The memory specifications start at section 2.1 on page 20 that show the module configurations, timings, and the organization modes.

Edit: What's interesting is the spec's show the timings, but they are not set in stone. I use in my laptop the Hyper X memory which has CL7 timings, even though the Spec's clearly state timings of CL9 at 1333MHz (in the spec sheet of my i7 920) My memory is running at the 1333MHZ (667MHZ) clock at CL7 in every diagnostic tool I have used to check this.

 

othonda,

lol... I was responding between two or three different computers and didn't pay attention when I brought up CPU-Z that I wasn't on the U30Jc!

You're right, of course - my chipset is the HM55 as CPU-Z correctly reports (when I run it on the right computer. lol...).

Thanks for pointing out the Block Diagram - very useful to 'picture' it in my head.

I'll also edit out my post above (with the obviously wrong information) so that others don't go down the same rabbit hole I did.

 

What's up everyone, turned the U30JC on for the first time in a couple months... thought I'd come on and say hi! The only nightmare I've found so far that I haven't spent a lot of time on yet is the fact that some steam games don't have an exe that's easily found to add to the nvidia panel. I'm still running default ASUS drivers that my laptop was shipped with and it's still running great. I should install black ops and see how it runs on it. I finally got l4d, mw2 and portal running smooth though.

 

Hi everyone,

I'm having some problems with my laptop and I'm hoping someone has the answer.

Basically my laptop randomly freezes and all I can do is turn it off using the power button or I can use ctrl+alt+del and log off then log back on which brings it back. Regardless it just freezes again after a random period of time.

There is no pattern that causes it to freeze from what I can tell (no specific program use or me constantly doing the same thing). It does happen quite often after resuming from hibernation.

It was working fine a week ago and the only thing I ever did was install microsoft critical updates...I've since uninstalled most of those (painfully slowly) but the problem seems to be persisting.

Googling I see that a TON of people have had this problem but none of the fixes I've found seem to work...I tried changing the harddrive shutoff in power management to never, tried disabling windows network service in services.msc, tried uninstalling P4G, but no dice.

Anyone have suggestions? I could reformat but from reading online it seems like a lot of people have had the same problem come back even after reformatting.

I have a U30JC-B1 and have updated all of the drivers to what's on the ASUS website.

Thanks.

 

Try updating all your drivers to the latest versions:

P4G Hybrid v1.1.41

Intel HD Graphics to 8.15.10.2246

nVidia GForce to 8.17.12.6099

Intel IRST driver 10.1.0.1008

Those should be the main drivers that are making your install so unstable.

Good luck.

 

Hey can someone please help me out. I cant play streaming videos anymore as of a week ago (dont know what happened), cause this pop up will come up each time while the screen flickers for a quick sec just before. I have reinstalled the Nvidia drivers through the device manager but it keeps flickering after. Almost like it is trying to resize my resoluation when attempting to play video.

 

You will want to try updating your Intel HD Video Drivers and your nVidia Video drivers to the latest available:

See:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...+Graphics&ProdId=3231&LineId=1101&FamilyId=39


See:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 260.99 WHQL


Good luck.

 

What should be the CPU temperature i5-520M at idle (queit office, plugged in)? For me it is at 50 C, and the fan comes all the time in "second gear". Are these normal temperatures?
Laptop is new, has one day. The previous model, I5-460M processor seemed to be quieter.

update:
on battery, entertainment mode, maximum procesor state 75%, moderate battery saving = ~41C

 

I have a quick question. I had BIOS 204 and just upgraded to 210. What are the things that this BIOS update fixed? I can't find a change log anywhere!!
Thanks,
Nick

 

I have two U30JC-X3K notebooks in front of me from Amazon, a mess up caused me to get two (at least one needs to go back), one had a scratched screen so they said open the other one and test it out. It tested great and looked great (actually better test scores, especially on the HD and slightly less life used on the battery 1.4% versus 3.4%). But it often has a whine sound that I cant stand. Sometimes it does it nonstop then stops for a bit. Any fix for this or exact cause. I am searching the forum but haven't located it "yet"

Weird thing is, the other laptop doesn't do the whine noise at all, no matter what I do, it will not make this light high pitched whine noise. With average background noise the sound isn't too bad; but in a quiet area it bothers me a little. (no where near the HP whine I never found a fix for years ago).

thanks.

And ASUS tech first blamed it on the speakers, then said defective motherboard and told me to return to Amazon (which is out of stock with no restock known) or to ASUS for repair. I almost bought the Samsung Q430 with the i5 but wasn't sure about the 6 cell battery life and a little extra bulk/weight. getting the ASUS with DVD drive over the thin & light versions already maxed out the weight I wanted. I really like this laptop though and want to keep it if the noise can be fixed any (even do it less often maybe) or if I can deal with it. If all of them did it, I might find it a little easier to deal with; but knowing the other doesn't do it will make me wonder, could I have found one that was in fine condition, no noise or issues etc...

 

eBandit, as I've never read of a 100% fix for the 'whining' problem...

My advice is return both. In a few short days/weeks you'll be able to get much better prices, product or both.

The little things (like the whining you're hearing) makes or breaks a notebook's positive experience. This annoyance will be with you long after cheaper, faster and more desirable notebooks will be available.

Return them both, wait and look - then pounce on the best deals to be had - I'm guessing even better than the 'black', Xmas and Boxing day sales.

Good luck.

 

Thanks. After $75 rebate (if I kept and sent off for it) I would have cost $624.99. I wanted about 13.3" screen or very close, not too too heavy, dedicated graphics, Core i3 or better. Decent battery life (and prefer DVD drive).

Any info on what else I could look for? I was only shopping Amazon because I had over $300 in gift cards that I got for free a few months back. What kind of deals are you expecting and why, if I may ask?

I did all current windows updates and since reboot it has only slightly hinted of wanting to make the sound but hasn't really. Doesn't mean that it wont pop back up since I don't know the actual cause. Does anyone know what causes it and why some do it and others don't? I was now told to see if it can be fixed locally and they will pay for it. Fix what though, I don't know if it even can be fixed.

Spoke too soon, now it is doing it non-stop, dang it. Its not that loud, but doesn't need to be. I'm so aggravated that after 2 months of searching and watching Amazon prices, reading reviews etc. I find something I like and now this dang whine noise. Most other laptops this size and specs they have are either higher priced or lack feature
i want like DVD drive (if other specs like CPU, graphics, battery life etc. were better I might drop the DVD if I had too)

 

The below fixes the whine (as posted all over) but isn't a usable fix. I guess it will hurt battery life since the CPU now just runs full speed and doesn't adjust speed as needed when I have the power settings on the custom one I set up. So if the whine is the speed-step in the Intel cpu, then why doesn't all cpu's of the same model do it?
Fix the whine but it kills battery life and makes the fan run non-stop.

1. We have to change the registry.
Typing in the command line "regedit", you go to the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Power \ PowerSettings \ 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 \ 5d76a2ca-e8c0-402f-a133-2158492d58ad

2. Included option in this branch will enable and disable the idle processor. In this case, it should be included.
To enable one or another hidden parameter, it is necessary to find and edit the value DWORD, changing its value SettingValue from 1 to 0.

3. Then, through the control panel – power – in the settings mode select power management processor.
There will be an option disabling idle processor and high pitched noise immediately disappears.

 

The kind of deals I am expecting is that whatever is available now will be somewhat available in a few weeks time - but with Sandy Bridge notebooks introduced, they will be going on sale at all time lows.

On the other hand, if the SB notebooks prove to be so much better than what we have available now - you'll pay the same price (or very, close to it) and get significant improvements in battery life, performance (per clock and overall) and be at the introduction of a new tech node instead of at the old tech's final hurrah.

Don't misunderstand me - the U30Jc is great as-is (I use mine daily) - but great doesn't mean it can't be further improved upon.

Hope that clears it up for you?

I agree that the 'work around' you found for the whine is not really working.

I stand by my original recommendation to return (both) and wait to see what's coming down the line.

Good luck.

 

This is what I'm hoping for. I got my U30Jc a week ago for $625 after rebate from Amazon. Was excited to upgrade from my UL80vt (which I absolutely LOVE) and while the new machine is nice I think I'm going to try to flip it on craigslist or ebay. The upgrade from i3 to SU7300 is nice, but it comes at a the expense of a noticeable drop in battery life when compared to the UL80vt. The laptop is also thicker and heavier than I expected. Optimus is cool.

I'm hoping that the next generation brings performance improvements without sacrificing battery life. I'm especially interested in the ultra low voltage Sandy Bridge processors that have been reported. I've only found mentions of a ULV versions of the i5 (i5 2530UM is mentioned in this article), but hopefully there will be i3 ULV's or the i5's will be affordable.

 

Well after realizing that when this laptop doesn't whine, if I stick my micro usb dongle for my mouse in, it will start right away. So I plugged it in the other laptop and boom the one that hadn't had the whine does when USB is plugged in! So they both whine I guess.

I never liked a whiner. Must not be enough people sending them back and complaining so the manufacturers don't bother with fixing it or put much effort into solutions.

Have any model numbers I can look into to see expected retail prices and features for the new models coming out? I assume you are talking about models already out in areas of the world and possibly tested by some websites etc. and we are just waiting on US retail release? I just dont want to be in limbo for months waiting for that deal.

Why does Performance test by PassMark show the Intel graphics scoring higher in 3D graphics? Its like 190 for 310m vs. 560 for Intel. The Intel cant do the last DirectX 10 test though, but the 310M on the very last 3D test only had a couple FPS anyway. The Simple 3D test is one place the Intel chip blew the nVidia out of the water! To even test the graphics on that benchmark i have to select that only the nvidia graphics is used for that application in the nvidia control panel or Intel is always used.

Just wondering if the 310m and optimus is worth anything at all?

 

has anyone had theirs randomly shut down? When playing COD black ops it just randomly shuts down, not from heat. Because the fan is cool when it turns back on. Also has anyone had trouble booting from sleep or rebooting it when there are usb devices attached? It just hangs on the BIOS screen when i have my mouse and my phone usb cable attached.

 

The only thing I noticed was once while my USB mouse dongle was in, I started back from hibernate and right before it pulled up the user screen the screen turned off. I hit the power button again and it came back on to the user login screen. Dont know if that is normal or why it did it. Please update if you find anything out because I am still on the fence on keeping this machine or not.

Was it plugged in?, no low battery settings cause a shut down or anything? I doubt it, just trying to think any reason. Any chance something got messed up installing COD that would cause this? Do you have the latest video drivers installed? Are there are benchmarks or software you can run to put it through its paces similar to like the game would and for a similar time frame to see if it still does that. To see if it is with the PC itself or just related to that game?

About switching to a new SB laptop, does anyone have any US release dates for these?
Some of the SB laptops that are out in other countries are pricey so I am not sure about that. i would love a new SB low voltage i7 with better graphics or even the i5 but they show they will be twice this model in price and above. I dont play too many games so better graphics I dont have to have. I do like good specs on machines though because it makes it easier to sell when i upgrade within the next 2 years. I have never kept a laptop beyond 2 years, ever. Some for only 1 year.

 

No random shut downs (but no games either, here).

To me this sounds like a badly coded program (COD) or a mismatch between the game and the video drivers.

Make sure you have the latest video drivers for both the Intel igp and the nVidia gpu installed:

See:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...ProductProduct=Intel®+HD+Graphics&ProdId=3231


See:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 260.99 WHQL



First install/update the Intel driver and then the nVidia.

Good luck.