U30JC discussion thread

I updated mine, didnt know you had to do one before the other, did it right though, lol.

I plugged in my mouse usb dongle and noticed I could hear sound as I did it, like I was plugging in a mic instead. Then when I run my finger across the dongle tip, you can hear sound like I am dragging my finger across a mic. This is weird, anyone know why it does this.

 

eBandit,

Sounds like you got a 'Monday' special (you know, the first work day after all the workers were partying hard the weekend before and half/most don't show up for work on Monday and the janitor is putting together notebooks assemblies for the first half hour) - I don't know why you haven't returned it yet.

 

Yup. All updated, plugged in, no background apps, High performance setting, restart from fresh, etc. Sometimes I get periodic shut downs for no real reason. The first time i experienced this was because it overheated from excessive use with the fan covered.

I have a U30JC-B1 or something if that helps. Perhaps someone can put in 2 or 3 usb devices to see if that truly is the laptop or just my laptop in particular.

 

only because I am worried I will end up getting less specs or taking forever to find what I want at a good price. I am only shopping from one place because of all the gift card and credit money I had.

still have return time tho

 

Don't worry about the gift card and credit - you can sell those, right?

I'd worry more about getting the best notebook fit for you that you can possibly get today (or in a couple of weeks, anyways).

With what I've been reading - the current U30Jc's have been vastly surpassed with SB.

 

No I cant sell them, they are tied to my account once I entered them in online. As a matter of fact I will have to argue to get the credit part back (not as much in credits, $42, gift card was the most amount of over $300). When credits are added for various reasons, when you spend them and return something, you dont get those credits back.

I have yet to find any SB notebooks in the same price range, all I have seen are way more costly and didnt have any US release dates set last I checked.

 

Hi there, sorry to flag up an old post. Just thought I'd add my two cents to the picture and say that I had the exact same problem with a muffly sounding internal microphone on my brand new Asus U30JC. On top of that I also noticed a soft low-pitched hum coming from my speaker output, which only became noticeable when the volume on my external speakers was really high.

I uninstalled my sound card drivers and installed the latest one from the Asus website. No luck. I then made a list-ditch effort by updating the BIOS to the latest one on the Asus website. Surprisingly, that actually worked perfectly. My internal microphone works great and has a lot better clarity to it, and my speaker output no longer emits a low-pitched hum.

Just thought I'd share that in case anyone else is searching the web with the same problem.

 

does anyone have links I can see of Sandy Bridge notebooks that would be in the same price range as the U30JC ($625-$750)? And info on the release of them in the US, by what people have said they should be for sale this coming week by now.

 

Do you happen to have a link to the BIOS update? I googled how to update it thru the asus website and i had no luck. I have the same mic problem you described, and hopefully this will fix it. btw, do you no where the mic is located?

 

Hey new BIOS update v215.

Installed, rebooted, up-to-date for 2011.

eugene, go here:

See:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-


Click on the green Asus navigation wizard and follow the directions to get the latest downloads.

Good luck.

 

Just a question for others who have updated to BIOS 215.

I seem to be getting better battery life with this update! Not when I'm using the system flat out... but when I'm in reading/research mode (web, email and Word running).

I haven't run the battery down completely yet in one sitting (work won't let me), but I am guessing at least 45 minutes to an hour extra (up from about 5 hrs with the same usage pattern).

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Did you guys have to use internet explorer to get the update? Because Chrome wasn't working for me. Gahh, I don't know why I'm having trouble, but after I downloaded the BIOS update, its a RAR. And after I extract the file, its a file named U30JcAS.215. I have no idea what to do at this point. I can't open it because its an unknown type of file.

 

Put the U30JcAS.215 file on a USB drive formatted to FAT/FAT32.

Then, reboot the machine, go into the BIOS (I don't remember what key it was; it was either Esc, Del, F8, or F12)

and there should be an option to go into ASUS EZ Flash, their built-in BIOS flashing software.

From there it should be pretty self explanatory -- locate your flash drive and press enter on the U30JcAS.215 file.

 

Or, Simply use the WinFlash program in the Asus Utilities program group to do it in Windows.

Hope one of these methods works for you.

 

I just wanted to follow up on this...I'd really like to add the BT-270 to my U30JC-B1 and get onboard bluetooth. I'm not really interested in getting a new one or trading it in or anything like that. Has anyone added the BT-270 to their U30JC?

 

I just used ASUS' WinFlash to flash my BIOS to 215 (unzip the BIOS 215 to get the U30JcAS.215 file. Then install & open WinFlash and point it to that BIOS file. It does the rest.

BTW, I turned off the wireless adapter (WiFi), my antivirus and any other 3rd party programs running in the background that I could (like O&O Defrag, TomTomHOME & Palm Hotsync) and I made sure the notebook was plugged in and the power setting on High Performance (nothing goes off at any time).

I've done this method with every BIOS update I've done with my U30JC (and my ASUS 1000HA netbook) with never a problem.

Sorry, Ubertrout. I've never installed an internal BT as I haven't seen the need. I use the tiny IOGear USB BT Micro Adapter when I need BT and it works well for me. Just part of keeping it simple for me.

 

Yeah. I actually use the exact same model. It works great (especially with the MFR's driver). I dislike how it makes the laptop look, though, and means I have to be more mindful of which way I put it in my bag.

Also, at least for me, it doesn't fit in a USB Port quite right. I literally need to use pliers to remove it.

 

thought it would be worthwhile to point out that a new flavor of the U30JC popped up on Amazon a few weeks ago: the U30JC-XA1.

Looks almost identical to the U30JC-X3K except that this new version appears to have an i3-370M vs. the X3K'si3-350M.

And of course the X3K's are no longer sold.


I'm holding on to my UL80Vt while waiting for the Sandy Bridge versions of these computers to finally start coming out.

 

I thought the XA1, like the B1, had been out for a while. It looks like a black version of the B1 (which also has the 370 processor.)

Good idea on the UL80Vt -- waiting until the new Sandy Bridge processors come out. That should be exciting.

 

Be carefully!!
DON'T TRY THE FLASHER EMBEDDED IN THE BIOS WITH the file saved in the HD.
That killed my notebook.
And because de lack of warranty in my country (Argentina), i have to pay...

 

tux topo,

That is how you're supposed to flash the BIOS?

If you simply downloaded 215 and flashed with Winflash v230.1, then something else went wrong for your BIOS update to brick your system.

Some possible causes:

Power fluctuated too widely during flashing procedure...

Windows was/is not in a stable state...

Another process tried to run during flashing and interupted the update.

Hope it didn't cost too much to get the BIOS re-zapped?

 

Actually Winflash didn't broke me any motherboard yet (i'm flashing bios since the year 2000)...

I thought that using the updater from the bios, would be safer ... obviously I was wrong. Apparently is some kind of bug that appear when the file to flash is in the NTFS hard disk...
The service don't know the cost yet... so i'm waiting...

 

Like I stated before, all my updates (8+ yrs) have been from the Windows O/S and all from NTFS file systems. Not one problem.

Your case; something else must have been going on.

Hope the cost is low for you.

 

I think what Tux Topo means is that he flashed his BIOS from within the BIOS itself using the AFlash internal utility that ASUS provides on the BIOS chip.

Several people indeed bricked their notebooks flashing with AFlash (instead of WinFlash) when they used the BIOS update stored on their HDD instead of on a separate flash drive.

But using WinFlash (not AFlash) and having the BIOS update BIN file on my HDD has worked well for me every time.

Every Flash-bricked ASUS laptop I've read of here has been from using the AFlash BIOS utility & having the BIOS update stored on the internal NTFS drive.

 

Thanks Quatro, that makes sense now.

That should be included in the read me for AFlash, hmmm?

 

Thanks Quatro... you translate the idea...
My bad english failed me here (i speak spanish)

 

Any benefits seen from updating the BIOS?

 

As I mentioned one or two pages back, I am getting better battery life with v2.15 vs. v2.10.

However, as I'm fooling around with ThrottleStop and disabling various C-States, the battery life has dropped again.

But, the response of the system with 8GB RAM and a multi-partitioned 500GB Scorpio Black is very, very impressive.

An example of increased response is refreshing (F5) the forum site here:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/


Without TS 2.99.5 it can take up to 10 seconds for the page to refresh and display fully.

With TS enabled (and MAX C-State selected), the refresh/display is in real-time (less than 1/3 of a second).

I thought the system was fast before, but with TS it is performing better than when I had my Inferno SSD inside.

 

as someone mentioned before, it fixes your mic. very happy with that =] thanks for the help on updating my bios!

 

JUst curious any owners of U30JC-B1, actually modded their laptop ?

Also any idea where I can order matte (non glossy version) of LCD screen protector for my 13.3" LED screen ??

New owner of U30JC-B1

 

hi guys, i have a quick question. So when im on power saver, my taskbar goes on auto hide. And when im on high performance, it isnt.. i tried to change it through right click on task bar and unclick "auto hide" but after my power state changes, the taskbar auto hides again.. Is it some kind of setting in my power4gear hybrid?

 

Yes, there is a setting in power4gear that does this. Yes, you need to turn it off in P4G.

 

Hmm. Slowly my U30JC has been slowing down and buggering up. I was wondering how to reset/format this laptop to stock/factory settings. I didnt make the backup disk like I was supposed to (lazy and impatient ) I hear there is a recovery partition that I could access?

Or if anyone is kind enough to upload/torrent a backup disk that would be just super-duper!

 

Shut down the computer (completely).

Start it up and press F9.

Good luck.

 

thanks! I will do when I find the time.

One final question: Is there a way to tweak the fan settings? I tried going to the BIOS but found no such setting. It is annoyingly loud sometimes (especially noticable in the school library when studying)

Edit: Another question Is there a guide or something that would explain how to install a SSD/HDD tp the optical drive of this laptop? I have no real use of the ODD and figured a good ssd would be nice

 

The way I control the noise (when I also don't need the full power of the system...) is by using the 'quiet office mode'.

See if it helps in your situation.

Don't know of any guide, but I would recommend installing the HDD in the place of the optical drive - and the SSD in the drive bay.

Install the O/S with just the SSD installed first - then, when it is all up and running, add the HDD too.

Good luck and, you're welcome.

 

thanks a bunch! now I just need a guide so I cant mess anything up

 

Just a quick question regarding RAM upgrade for my U30JC-B1, currently I am running Windows 7 Professional 64bits and have 2 X 2 GB of RAM, if I am planning to upgrade the ram to 6GB, can I throw in 1 X 4GB and leave the other 2GB intact ? Do I need to run dual channel of RAM (like 2 X 4GB) for my laptop ?

Please kindly advise ASAP.

 

Going from 4gb to 6gb will be just as unnoticeable as going from dual to single, unless you have some very specific usage patterns. But yeah, no problem.

 

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone could help me, i have the first u30jc, recently whenever i try to do something that involves the webcam, the green light blinks once and then nothing. cant seem to get it to turn on..any ideas? thanks.

 

I was going to check this out for you (we have the same system...) but my 'clean' install of Windows does not include the webcam for me (I've never used it though and never will).

Sorry, no help from me - but consider this a 'bump' for you.


You can try to:
Update the BIOS,

Re-install the software/drivers,

Use other software to turn the camera on,

Unplug the charger, take out the battery, press every key/button on the machine and leave it for a few hours (a couple should be enough) to see if any static charge is affecting the system.

Check the BIOS settings to see if the camera is in fact enabled (can it be disabled?).

Good luck.

 

thanks tiller, ill keep workin on it and let ya'll know if i find some solutions.

 

Hi everyone, I'm an owner of an U30JC, and this is my story with him.
I've bought my laptop in 11/2010, and it was a perfect machine.
But in january, my hell began.
I had the same problem as Phmoschetta: "the intel display driver has stopped responding and has recovered".
I have tried to update the intel and nvidia driver, first from the asus site, and then from intel and nvidia sites; but the problem was still there.
Then I have tried to perform a clean install of Windows 7, but nothing to do, the problem was still there.
I have also tried to update the bios, but this was the last futile attempt.
On the 1st of march, I've phoned asus, and I've sent my laptop in RMA.
A few days later, I've mailed the laboratory, to find out what had my notebook.
They told me that they would have replaced the motherboard, the touchpad, and the top cover.
Now I'm waiting for receive the repaired laptop, I will update you for any news!

PS: I'm from Italy, so forgive my poor english!

 

I have a U30JC-B1, I have 3 questions regarding upgrade for this laptop ?

(1) Is this laptop only support SATA2 for hard drive connection ? Will this laptop supports SATA3 at all ??

(2) Can I upgrade the CPU from Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 370M 2.4 GHz to a 55 CPU ?

(3) Can I upgrade the RAM for more than 4GB ?

Please kindly advise.

 

1) Only SATA2 - SNB based notebooks have chipset with SATA3 connections.

2) Never heard of a 55 CPU...

3) I have 8GB RAM in my U30Jc for almost a year now.

 

still cant find any help?

 

Take a look at this ASUS U30S appears overseas with Sandy Bridge and NVIDIA GT520M graphics -- Engadget

ASUS U30S appears overseas with Sandy Bridge and NVIDIA GT520M graphics

 

1) Sandy Bridge only
2) i think you mean i5. There is an i5 version already.
3) yes

 

Press the Windows key, type Power4Gear in the 'search programs and files' dialogue box and select Power4Gear Hybrid in the search results.

Now, choose the power profile you're interested in and change the various settings as required.

This should be all you need to do.

Good luck.

 

so i opened power4gear, then i went to advanced setting. I still dont see the option that disables the auto hide taskbar option..