W3J Vista

Do you think you can upgrade your w3j up to 3gb of ram?
or the maximum is 2gb?

 

There are several variants of W3J. Those without the TPM chip obviously don't have the TPM enable/disable option in the bios

 

i see there's confusion all over the place about wat type and which.

anyways. i'd like to help... i can't install vista. but here are my specs, i bought this in august 2006:

core duo (32bit) 1.83ghz t2400, x1600, bios 210.. no tpm disable in my bios.


*Edit: my friend has a w3j too.. but the newer one.. with a core 2 duo.. t5500? the 1.83ghz. and 210 bios and he has the reboot problem and doesnt have the option in the bios to disable TPM.

we both bought it in Singapore... so maybe country of origin?

 

Anyone else here with a T2500 would like to try to see if they have the same problem?

 

ok..to add on to yours...mine is also from Singapore. Same configuration as yours....T2400...

 

To add to the confusion, ASUS can have several hardware configurations per country for a single model

 

As mentioned before I have the T2500 still have not tried installing Vista. Everyone who have problems seem to have the 1.83ghz version or the core 2duo version. Thus far i see no mention of the T2500. We need answers!


=)

 

hmmm.

we need to list all the bunch of configurations for the W3J and put a poll for those who cant install Vista.

 

I was forced to use the bootloader hack to get vista installed correctly on my W3J - had the infinite reboot loop problem without the hack.

Quick question: Has anybody been able to restore access to their original Windows XP installation after installing Vista via the bootloader hack? If so, how did you get it to work?

I did a "clean" install of Windows Vista Ultimate onto my D: partition while keeping Windows XP Pro on the original C: partition. My hope was to be able to dual-boot both Vista and XP, but after using the bootloader hack, whenever I select Windows XP Professional during boot, the computer locks-up instantly on a black screen and I am forced to shutdown.

I've tried playing around with some vista bootloader bcd editors (easybcd and vistabootpro to be specific) to try to restore access to XP, but have been unsuccessful thus far.

Do I have to wait until Asus (never ) releases a new BIOS update in order to be able to dual-boot Vista and XP on my W3J???

 

Anyone else can install vista?

 

Well he didnt check correctly he should have the option to disable tmp, i just checked on mine. On the other hand I have 209 bios i believe, but that shouldnt matter should it?

EDIT: Okay now everyone has to take pictures of their bios. The problem could be on the version of the bios, or maybe they messed up on the new 210 bios. As mentioned before I have bios W3JAS.209 and I do have TPM disable/enable options under security, but then i checked at asus.com and that version is not there....check this out.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/rhcpcrony/HPIM0195.JPG
http://members.lycos.co.uk/rhcpcrony/HPIM0196.JPG

 

Ok guys my W3J is configured as follows.

T2500
2gig ram (I added the second gig 2 weeks after so not a matched pair)
120gig hdd (Toshiba hdd =( slower than the others!)

Delivered to me early october.

I've had no problems with any Vista problems. I even installed Vista Beta 2 on the second day it got delivered and everything was good except for the lack of drivers. I am currently running Vista Ultimate and everything is working fine.

 

Un4given, thank you for your input.

Looks like those with the Core Duo T2500 2GHz Processor can install Vista without the requirement of a hack.

 

OT:

Un4given, are both your RAM 667 Timings? I have 2x 1GB DDR 667 RAM, and get a score of 4.5. What the....???

 

Un4given thanks for your input.

I would guess since your hdd is slow that it resulted a 4.2 score.

 

My C2D refresh W3j has the TPM enable/disable menu on my bios. Bios version is 210.

 

un4given, you might want to blur out your windows id in your first pic.

 

I have the first edition with the 2400 and no tmp options, and I cant install vista.... for those stating your stats, please say whether you can install or not, or havent tried

 

So for those with the t2500, do you have to mess around with the TPM setting or can you just install vista? Un4given, how did you install vista?

 

Okay, I just installed Vista on my W3J.

Specs are:

T2400 1.83GHz
1GB DDRII 667MHz
BIOS: 207
Rank = 4.4
TMP: There is a chip as there is a "+TPM" on the side of the 80GB HDD picture.

Mine is from HK and brought to N. America.

I did see the enable or disable TPM option. I disabled it. I then installed Vista from the DVD with NO problems. Boot hack was NOT required.



Bye Bye

 

This couldn't be as simple as the 210 bios just won't work? Maybe if we all rolled back to 209?

 

I think it's possible they messed up with the 210 bios. Those with the first generation w3j's and cannot install vista probably have the 210 bios. The weird part as i mentioned before is that there is no option to download the 209 bios in asus website. I have the 209, it'll be a while before i get my vista and test it.

 

yup the two sticks are both 667mhz memory not overclocked or anything.

I installed it with the Vista DVD. Boots up everytime Didnt do anything with the TPM settings in Bios either.

And I'm using the Bios version 209a.

 

hi, i have the w3j 2.0ghz, 1gb ram, was wondering if i shd get the Windows Vista Business 32-bit or 64-bit?

lolx.. coz i have absolutely no idea.. ^^;;
thx..

 

If you have:

Core Duo -----> 32 Bit Only
Core 2 Duo ----> Either

 

c2d, but which would be better?

 

Right now 32 bit Vista would be better, since there's more support for it.

Also all Vista's come in 32 bit, except for the Retail Version of Vista Utilmate which comes in both 32 bit and 64bit.

64bit Vista is better for the future, so that you can utilise 64 bit processing in the future.

From my understanding MS will offer an upgrade from 32bit to 64bit in the future, for the other forms of Vista.

 

Ok, well does anyone have a 209 bios laying around? Think you'd be willing to put it up for a few of us?

 

MilestonePC, have you tried installing vista in a W3J?

 

Sorry no I personally haven't, but I am sure there are some users here.

 

i you are looking for different versions of the bios... check asus ftp site, they are all there.. and i've tried them all and it doesn'd make a difference.

i dont have ftp access right now so i can't check the exact adress.. but im almost shure the w3j vista problem has to do with the revsion number..

 

You've tried every bios and none of them install vista? expletive deleted.

 

No they're not all there. I have the 209 version and they dont have it on the site. But i dont think its the bios anymore, im confused.

 

Anyone heard anything from asus?!

 

OK so i want to try out vista but i don't wanna mess up my computer

is it possible to install vista on external USB drive and if it won't work just unplug the drive and use the XP ??

 

Looky!

Asus have put all the Vista drivers for the W3J up on the website.... but still NO BIOS UPDATE!!

 

i tried and the vista setup did not let me install on the external drive

 

On another note... I'm wondering what the hell Vista has installed on my laptop... I only have 2 GB of program files installed as of now (Basically Office, Adobe, etc), yet I have 40GB of HD space utilized already. If anyone has some insight, it's greatly appreciated

Edit: :::Sigh::: Sadly, I seem to have forgotten the massive amounts of music I've transferred over after my Vista installation.... Please forgive my idiocy

 

Wow, catching up on this thread after finding that Asus did post Vista DRIVERS for the W3J. There seems to be a mix of systems that can and cannot install Vista. Various different revisions, CPUs, etc. I believe it comes down to this, all the documentation on at least the earlier W3J's(like mine), state the TPM is an option. Why some got it and some didn't, who knows. All I know is that mine does NOT have the actual TPM chip, and thus Vista doesn't install without the bootloader hack.

What would be interesting to know is this, those who DO have the TPM, AND the option to enable / disable it in the BIOS, what happens when you try to install Vista and the TPM is Enabled in BIOS? Then test to see what happens when the TPM is Disabled in BIOS. I have a feeling it would work either way.

My theory is this, for systems with a TPM, when Vista makes its call to query the status of the TPM, the system responds with a status of enabled or disabled, and Vista proceeds accordingly. For those systems missing the TPM, when Vista makes its call to query the TPM status, the system trips up and goes, "Uhmmmm I don't know?", which causes Vista to immediately give up the ghost and reboot. Essentially the BIOS isn't giving Vista the response it is expecting of Enabled or Disabled, or that there is no TPM. The fact that the TPM is an option on the W3J is where I think the problem is. For instance, my older desktop system with a Asus P4C800-E Deluxe MB (Intel 875 P4 chipset), has no TPM, never did, and was never an option. Vista installed and ran beautifully on it. So basically my thinking is this, Asus didn't write the BIOS code to respond properly to TPM calls if the OPTIONAL TPM is NOT installed.

I'd like to see people who DO have the TPM try installing Vista with the TPM both enabled and disabled in BIOS and see if that makes a difference. I'd also like to know if anyone who can confirm beyond all shadow of doubt that they do NOT have the TPM, and yet have been able to install Vista with no hack, what BIOS version they have. I'm wondering if this mysteriously missing 209 BIOS version is what those of us without the TPM need to install Vista without the hack.

 

I have one of the first gen w3j's(purchased in June '06), so I assumed mine didn't have the tpm chip.

Odd thing is, when I did a fresh install of the OS using my recovery cd's, I noticed it loaded a bunch of tpm drivers. Is there still a possibility mine doesn't have the tpm chip and Asus just included those drivers on the disk knowing their future models would have it?

I'm confused.

 

Yoseph - I noticed the same thing when doing a restore. However, for 2 reasons I believe my W3j (and maybe yours) doesn't have the TPM. First, when the driver disk during restore automatically installed TPM drivers, the refresh wouldn't complete and I had to start over, installing drivers manually to skip TPM. Secondly, when I tested it to manually install TPM, the installation failed; it said there's no TPM hardware installed. If the drivers do in fact install on your W3J and you can run the associated TPM software, you've got TPM.

 

I decided to give up waiting for Asus to provide a BIOS update for the Vista install/boot issue and used the hacked boot loader. Guess what; after I'd installed Vista they posted BIOS 211...

"Modify the system can't boot in Vista".

The main Asus site is "too busy" to allow the download so I got it from here:

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/nb/w3j/W3JAS_211.zip

 

Thank you very much for the link MikeMcr!! Now I'm running Vista with no problems.

 

The Vista BIOS is up on the Asus Website!

Ive not been able to download it, i keep getting "Page Unavailable" or "Service Unavailable"

Was almost to good to be true!

 

Does BIOS 211 for the W3J just fix the Vista booting problem? If that's the case, I'm not going to bother with it (not planning on using Vista on this laptop).

 

so it says its for vista.... does this mean that it doesnt work on xp? I am planning on installing vista, but not to day, and was wondering is updating would make any problems while I am still on xp

 

It fixes the Vista installation problem, so it will still work with XP. I'll stick with 210.

 

OK, I'm slightly confused. I intend to keep running XP for a while, but like to keep up to date. Can I download BIOS 211 and keep using XP? I figure I will install Vista when it's had a chance to get de-bugged and more than likely "service-packed"