Gigabyte P34G

Too?
As far as I know those are the only speakers on the P34G.
The "speakers" above the keyboard are dummies.

 

Nevermind.

 

wait a minute anyone notice that the webcam doesn't work anymore?

my brother just bought the p35 and also noticed this.

 

nevermind it was off

 

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone could help.
I recently bought a P34G v2 which came with a 128GB mSSD and a second 5400RPM drive and am really happy with my purchase.
However, the primary drive being too small for my needs, I bought a new 256GB mSSD drive (Plextor M6M) to take its place.

Now my question is: not having any mSATA to USB adapter and the computer having only one mSATA slot, is it possible to copy the recovery image from the hidden partition onto a USB flashdrive, then replace the 128 mSSD with the new 256GB mSSD, boot up with the USB and install windows 8.1 with factory settings?

I have tried to use the "smart USB backup" software provided by gigabyte but It doesn't seem to work properly.
When I select the drive and start the process it either copies some files really quickly and finishes leaving the USB stick unusable and unrecognized by windows (or asks me to select an image file... there are 6 or so) or seems to be copying files endlessly (although it doesn't seem to be copying anything and the destination drive isn't accessible).

Are there any other similar software that can do the same thing? (restoring original system from recovery image, not just "cloning" my current OS as I want a clean install, and also copying the recovery partition onto the new drive). Has anyone experienced similar issues with the smart USB backup program? Should I try to uninstall and redownload from gigabyte?

 

You could utilize Macrium Reflect to clone the disk, there's a "free edition" that offers everything you need: Macrium Reflect Backup and Hard Disk Imaging for Windows 7, Vista, XP and Server 2003/2008

 

I remember I had the same problem. I think the issue was my smart backup was out of date. Also maybe check how you formatted the USB (ie nfts or fat).

 

To follow up, I managed to solve my issue.
First, I used the DOS command prompt to make the recovery partition visible so I could back it up somewhere safely just in case.

Then, because the Smart USB backup was not working (tried to redownload, almost killed my USB with that program), I used the windows 8.1 built in recovery procedure ("create a recovery drive") which solved all my problems. Rebooted with the new mSSD in (had to remove the mechanical HDD or it wouldnt work) and restored the system and my new 256gb drive was good to go.

My old rig was an Asus G73JH from 2010 (great computer) so the performance boost is quite nice. This new laptop is really portable and offers good features for such a size/price. I live in China so getting a good and affordable computer is not always easy (many foreign brands not being available or overpriced). I didn't expect the geforce GTX860M to handle games so well, good surprise.

Anyway, for anyone trying to ugrade the mSSD, go with the windows 8 stock recovery feature over the smart USB backup, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble.

Thanks for your suggestions guys, appreciate it!

Edit: Also, while I'm thinking about it, the laptop does seem to get ridiculously hot near the back while gaming. I have a Zalman NC2000 cooler at home which was pretty good for my old Asus but doesn't seem to do much with this laptop. I ordered a more portable (and adjustable) laptop cooler (Coolermaster ustand mini) to see if it makes a difference. Would replacing the lower part of the case with an aluminium made cover help with the temperatures? Chinese people are a bit ghetto so I might be able to get that custom made or find a replacement who knows. How would I improve ventilation aside from piercing holes through the bottom part case?

 

anyone figure out the problem with adjusting screen brightness after putting it to sleep?

 

I take back what I stated in the above post... the Targus PS will work fine to recharge your laptop and all, but it will NOT provide enough power to provide full gaming performance... I tested it with multiple games and I clearly don't get full performance when using the Targus...

Does someone have a PS they can confirm will provide 100% performance? I am looking for an alternative now....

Thanks!

D~

 

definitely was going to get this laptop but it took too long to come out

 

I don't have one, but according to the review this one seems to work, and is a little more compact....

Amazon.com: CODi Universal Notebook AC Power Adapter 100 Watt, Black: Computers & Accessories

 

I know temperatures have been talked about before, but I'm curious as to how your laptops are doing? HWMonitor shows this while running Civ 5. I feel like they're a bit high, but I don't know. The room I'm in is a little hot, so that's probably affecting it as well.

 

I'm very seriously considering buying this laptop for college (along with a cooling pad, of course), but the battery life is pretty worrying since on some days I need to get through four lectures along with lunch in between! Any suggestions on an external battery pack which has a tip that'll work for the Gigabyte?

 

Can anyone recommend a power adaptor for this laptop for use in the UK? I found the one below but Im not sure if it will work, 19V not 19.5V, im not sure if it really makes a difference.

Thermaltake ADP95W0003 Toughpower Notebook Adaptor

Thermaltake ADP95W0003 Toughpower Notebook Adaptor - ADP95W0003RB - Scan.co.uk

 

Crap lost the screw to the ram closure. Anyone know the size and if i can just go to the hardware store? Right now scotch tape is my friend.

 

Has anyone noticed that the sound randomly goes down like 50% in volume? I tried both the 6.0.1.1701 stable and 6.0.1.7283 "beta" drivers with the same issue. I first noticed it playing games where the audio would get really low and then suddenly return to full volume. Now It seems to be happening quite a bit in regular windows when watching youtube videos or using VLC.

Is this a sign of hardware going bad or just bad drivers? If bad drivers, what version should I be using?

 

Anyone having issues with Bluetooth after the latest update?
I used Intel's driver utility to update the Video and Wifi drivers (I have a 7260ac instead of the stock wifi) and it found a Bluetooth driver update also.

Seemed to install ok, but it's disabled in device manager on bootup. Smart Update detects a new driver version, but when downloaded it says newer software is installed.

Installed (according to device manager): 17.0.1428.1
Installed (according to Smart Update): 17.0.1401.0422
Smart Update wants to install: 17.0.1414.3


Anyway it's not a big deal, I don't use any Bluetooth devices since trashing my old bt mouse (though I would like to remove that mouse from my devices - it always stays there in the listing even when I click remove for some reason).

 

Hi guys,

I am having a problem with my WIFI :

1) It never works when i don't have the power adapter plugged in.
2) When its plugged in and i restart or boot up: WIFI is always set to off. I always have to turn it back on

I have no idea what to do.


Thanks for the help

 

Yea this was a common problem before updated drivers. Make sure drivers are up to date. also when I had this problem it was because I didn't wait long enough for the wifi to turn on on its own.

What wifi card do you have?

 

Bluetooth works unreliably meaning sometimes I can spam the function on and off and it will connect and reconnect my devices flawlessly. Then other times it refuses to work even being connected to my device. I'll end up having to delete the device and readd it or reboot-basically not sure what fixes it.

Also I think having Bluetooth on may compromise my wifi.

I have ac7260 as well and it is such garbage. Constant lag spikes and latency issues. Apparently it's been a problem since n7260 on Intel forums. I wish I went with a cheaper card.

 

I don't know if this is due to drivers, but I consistantly get slower WiFi speeds on my P34G compared to my other laptops (Lenovo Y410P, Acer Aspire S7). Differences of 50Mbps. The Aspire S7 can connect to the 5GHz band, but the Lenovo is on the 2.4, just like the P34G. Anyone else have an issue with this?

 

The P34G has the 2.4GHz 7260N card so it will never be able to access the 5GHz band. As for the slow speed compared to the Lenovo; check that you have the latest drivers from Intel and make sure to disable U-APSD in the driver properties.

 

it's real. i got a killer gaming wifi card and no more lagging on my games. i bet the bluetooth will be stable too now.

GOOD BYE YOU POS INTEL 7260AC (btw, the 7260N apparently has lagging issues too)

 

Can you send a link to the wifi card you purchased? I'd love to get this replaced in my laptop.

Also, was the installation difficult?

 

Lol sorry it is literally called killer gaming network wifi card. I got the 1202n.

 

Just a minor niggle... I have to turn on the WiFi adapter every time I boot up, how do I get it to stay on by default?

 

Has anyone else had issues with excessive heat while gaming?

Under normal load, including 3D CAD, mine runs about 120-130F. While gaming (Far Cry 3 @ High - Very High settings) with the fans manually set to full speed, I get about 150-170F. This causes the area directly above the CPU and GPU to get very hot.

The company I ordered from was supposed to provide a "free upgrade" on the thermal compound. I'm thinking that maybe it's possible their tech did not properly apply the compound, resulting in high temps.

What sort of temperatures does everyone else see from their machines?

P34G v2-CF4
Intel Core i7-4710HQ
NVIDIA GeForce 860M
16GB DDR3L
128GB m-SSD
1TB 7200RPM HDD

 

I think this is just something we have to live with. I haven't found a fix, other than to use Sleep rather than shutting down the laptop.

 

I'm having the same thing with the yellow tint (or yellow blotches, or yellow patches, even orange blotches, etc...), is anyone else seeing it? It moves around on the display over the course of a day, sometimes on the bottom left corner, sometimes the top left corner, then extending all the way across the edges top and bottom. Right now it's bottom, right and top edges all the way around with the brightest parts in the center (the bottom has gotten brighter as I type this).

Does anyone else see this when looking at the display on full/high brightness on white (or near white) colours? Is this normal for IPS monitors or is my backlight or inverter starting to go?

Thanks,
Peter

P.S. About having to turn on the Wifi with each boot, do you turn it on through Smart Manager or Windows? I found if I turn it on through Smart Manager once, it sticks even after many reboots. What doesn't stick is Bluetooth which keeps disappearing with either code 43 errors or nothing :/.

 

So if I were considering this notebook, but definitely wanted better battery life over the 14 inch screen, the P35W has much much better life? Also, there's like 20 million versions of the P34 and P35. Which one is the most current and best battery life for each model?

 

Gigabyte P34G v2 CF4 for the best battery life in the 14 inch model.

 

It looks like this:


Does anyone else have that?

Thanks,
Peter

 

Hi, I recently purchased the V2 with preinstalled windows 7 and have had ongoing wifi /internet connectivity issues. It rarely connects at any hotels or homes. Surely other people are having the same issue with this laptop.
I have attempted upgrading network drivers, reinstalling back to factory settings, renewing ip, flushing dns, and every other thing I can find on the net but nothing works.
Has someone had this problem with the p34g and what did you do to fix it? I am desperate to fix this and am even considering ditching the laptop altogether. Thankyou.

 

The Intel 7260 driver sucks. The most stable one I've used for 5GHz and 2.4GHz is the 17.0.6.1 one. Download just the driver, uninstall all previous versions of the driver(go to Device manager and keep uninstalling until it either shows up as an unknown device or has a generic MS driver) and then install the new driver. Hopefully this will solve your issues.

 

Thanks mate. I installed the 17.0.6.1 and it seems to be working great now for the time being. Fingers crossed it keeps working.

 

I had some connexions problems with Wifi, until i install 17.0.6.1 version (few weeks ago), since Wifi connexions working great at boot.
I have uninstalled and reboot before i install this version, so you can test.....

 

Hey guys, I made the bad decision of updating my drivers etc using the smart update. I didn't have any backups of old drivers/programs so now I'm hoping someone else has been smart enough to store copies of them and can share.

The New smart manager doesn't have the GPU options (OFF/?/Extreme) and instead puts in a calculator option!? The new Audio driver installs a new version of Dolby without removing the old one which confused me for a while but is fine now.

Really I just want an old version of Smart manager back. Does anyone have a pre 4.2.8 version in .zip format they downloaded from the website? And also if you have any copies of other drivers/updates so I can keep them as backups I'd be stoked.

Gigabytes customer service really pisses me off, you can tell they don't care just by looking at their facebook pages and the comments people leave there. They reply to maybe 1/15 comments and never follow through it seems. They don't support old versoins of drivers, but every good manufacturer should know by now to do so in case of problems.


tl;dr does anyone have a copy of Smart Manager V3 pre 3.7.2? they can share?


EDIT: Well, I managed to find another location's file list which contained two older versions of Smart Manager. Here are the links for anyone else that wants them;
http://download.gigabyte.asia/FileList/Driver/smartmanagerv3_ver_3.4.5.exe
http://download.gigabyte.asia/FileList/Driver/smartmanagerv3_ver_3.0.5.exe

 

The GPU option was removed a long time ago (at least for me). I have no idea why, though. I'll probably email the support guy and report back here.

Before it changed, I had the option set to extreme. Never got the chance to turn it off, so I have no idea if that's a problem.

 

dude i have been noticing the screen like autodimming or brightnening on it's own. maybe it is similar to what you are saying. Maybe it's a recent intel driver thing??

 

Hey azrael,

Thanks for your reply. I don't know, I think it's visible in the BIOS - I should double check but it really seems hardware related to me.

I made a new thread with better pics to show it, if you can take a look there: http://forum.notebookreview.com/gigabyte/762150-yellow-tint.html

Thanks,
Peter

 

I contacted Gigabyte's tech support and their response to why the GPU setting was removed was this: "Yes, sometimes newer utility will add or remove functions." Not much of an answer, but whatever.

I asked about the fact that I left it on extreme and he told me to check out GPUZ to compare the core and memory clocks to a stock 760M.
This is what I got. GPU Clock: 628 MHz, Memory: 1002 MHz, Boost: 719 MHz. According to Nvidia's website, stock clocks should be 657 MHz for the GPU and 2000 MHz for the memory.

I'm not really bothered by this, but I'm curious to see other people's clocks.

 

This is my result from GPUZ: http://1drv.ms/1vxKvP1

One a side question, does anyone know what's the maximum size mSATA drive that can be put into the P34G?

 

I have a serious problem. I updated my os to winodws 8.1 and after everything was finished it was working fine so i just shut it off for the night. I boot it up the next morning and now it just goes into the Aptio Setup Utility. I tried pressing the functions keys but it seems like none of them do anything and it just takes my straight to the Aptio setup. Going to the Sata Config I found that port 0 says its empty (assuming thats where the ssd is plugged in) but is reading my hard drive fine detecting it in port 1. Im in a tough bind here can anyone help?

 

Just to answer one of my earlier question as to if the HDMI port on the P34G can handle resolution higher than 1920x1080. I just got a 4K monitor and HDMI will go all the way to 3840x2160 but only at 30hz (which is fine as the limitation of HDMI 1.4a is 30hz at 4K).

 

Hi everyone,
Anyone know if its possible to put 2 ssd inside the p34g.
Ive got one 128 gb and i would like to replace my hdd.
Thanks in advance

 

As long as it's a standard SATA SSD it will work fine.

 

Thanks for your answer, this one will work? : http://www.amazon.fr/gp/aw/d/B00KFAGCUM

 

And if i prefer change the ssd 128 i must buy an msata ssd right?

 

I still think its cool I guessed in March they would come out with a 970M model for v3 - and they did . Now if only they would provide support...

In reply to hush, I have a 128GB mSSD and 480GB SSD as well - so it definitely works fine. As long as it is SATA, this laptop doesn't require a thinner than standard higher drive (ie. you don't need a 7.5mm) a 10 or 12mm should fit fine as far as I know.

Peter