a8jp graininess update

I called ASUS tech support today, primary topic was the grainyness issue that people are suffereing with on the x1700. I was pleasently suprised to hear the reaction that the rep had to the topic, compared to the first time I called and they had no clue at all.

He said that they had just recieved an email about it from their managment, and that it was an issue that they were well aware of. A request had been sent to taiwan to have the problem resolved for A8JP owners, he wants me to call him back next week (gave me name, ext) as he said that it seems like they are working on it now or at least aware of it to the point where they should be working on it soon.

Anyways, just wanted to give ya'll a heads up.

 

Any info on whether this is a hardware or software issue and if it affects other A8J models?

 

Yes! Thank you. I would love my a8jp even more if it had a clearer screen.

And I'm sure this is something a BIOS update could fix, since a BIOS update has fixed the graininess on other Asus models.

 

Yep, it's a bios update that will eventually fix the problem, at least so they think from past experiences with other models. It's good though, as it seems that thanks to everyone calling in that we might soon have a fix. I advise everyone to keep calling and not to stop now, so that this will be turned into a major problem in ASUS's eyes.

 

dumb question but can someone briefly describe what you guys mean by graininess? I've glanced at similar topics b4 but never seen a picture of the so-called graininess problem. Just wondering cause I'm a proud A8jp owner too and wanted to know if I suffer from this problem. Muchos gracias.

 

when you tilt your screen back maybe 110-145 degrees and against grayish background (like notebookreview.com's bg) you'll see distorted pixels that are not uniform in color. it'll look like white and light blue sand. it'll basically look really messy. hope that helps...

 

So if this turns out to be a BIOS issue does it mean that every A8JP and A8JS is sure to have graininess?

I was thinking of buying one of these, wondering if it's worth waiting around for a BIOS fix or if I should buy something else.

 

The graininess issue randomly affects any notebook with a x1600-based GPU (the a8jp uses the x1700, which is based off of the x1600). From what I've read it seems as if it affects a minority of a8jp owners (though its certainly worth fixing still). I don't think its a problem on notebooks with other types of GPUs.

Boradori is right. Look here for a pretty good example.

 

Are ATI looking into the problem too?

If it's a random issue how is the BIOS problem a plausible culprit? Are different manufactures using a BIOS with this same bug/problem.

 

I'm just guessing here, but I think it may be that an unfixed BIOS doesn't render images properly on certain types of screens (since manufacturers switch between screens from multiple brands even on the same notebook model)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Been doing some reading over at notebookforums.com This is what I've gathered.

It's a know issue that only a combined NB and VGA Bios update will fix. The topic people with this problem have to read is this one:
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread173555.html

This is what graininess looks like:
http://www.notebookforums.com/post2474863.html#post2474863

You have to contact Asus in your country and request a NB/VGA Bios update to fix the graininess. Asus in your country then have to relay that information to Asus Taiwan headquarters, it seems that that's where the orders for fixing these Bios are being taken. It may just be that Asus are already working on an the Bios fix for your notebook, I really don't know.

There's already a Bios fix for the F3jp which also has an x1700. So I'm guessing it wont take long for the A8Jp fix to come along:
http://www.notebookforums.com/post2571519.html#post2571519
http://www.notebookforums.com/post2561470.html#post2561470

It seems that some Acer and the Macbook Pro with the same cards are also affected.

Good luck!

 

Wow. That photo really illustrates a problem. A problem I do NOT have with my A8JP. I've looked at it from all angles and brightness levels. No grain. I'm on the 08 firmware downloaded from the Asus site a couple weeks ago. No graininess.

Am I alone?

 

I believe I have graininess but not that severe.
If you stare closely you can see a little blue/grayish on white backgrounds and when i looked at high definition pictures and videos

sigh... there are always flaws in buying electronics.. but I'm not complaining, if there's a fix I would like to fix it though

 

I had this problem on my Dell i9300. Though it's more of the coating they put on the screen, seeing as how I had a 6800 and then a 7800gtx in it and it never went away. It's something that I've become used to, but hope my new a8jp doesn't have.

 

Are there any people with the A8JP that don't have the graininess? Please post!

Any news from Asus on the NB e VGA Bios fix? I've read that they sometimes send out beta versions to correct the problem.

I ask because I've ordered a A8Jp and I'm seriously having second thoughts.

 

i dont have any graininess. from that macbook pro picture i could definitely tell something was wrong when tilting my screen back. even looking at it straight on at 90 degrees it did look a bit off, but it became even more apparent as i pushed my screen down. i have to say that relaly sucks if you have that problem. i am using vista 32bit so i updated my bios to the latest version (2.08). originally it was 2.05 i'm not sure but it definitely needed the update. not sure if i had the graininess before that because i almost formatted as soon as i got it.

keep this updated until a fix is in sight. that is a terrible problem

 

I had a A8js, and it seems a little grainy to me too. Well, it's noticible when I use to Splendid tech to enable vivid mode.

 

edit: I'm gonna cancel my order tomorrow, screw Asus! Can't be bother to spend money to risk waiting around for issues as important as this to get fix. Good luck to the rest of you.

I thought only notebooks with the ati x1600 or x1700 which lack a VGA Bios fix are supposed to be affected by this problem?

 

maybe i am too picky about it. But i did hear some others mentions about the same problem (grainy) with A8js either in this forum, or other places that I went..

 

I'm a picky too. So I think it's best I cancel my order while I still can and rethink which notebook to buy.

 

beside the issue with screen and keyboard (flex on the top left corner), everything else in this notebook is great. plus, just $1500!

 

I don't know why folks with A8Js graininess issues are posting here, since they are different machines. Not sure if they have the same screen manufacturer, but I've had no problems with mine.

There is also a seprate thread in the Asus forum for graininess BIOS fixes, too.

 

Yeah it would be nice if this thread and the a8jp issues thread could both be merged, perhaps into one of the bigger threads since they all are competing with each other right now.

But anyway... Any updates, Blull?