Asus X401a upgrade to ultrabook status

Just thought I'd share my little project. I purchased the laptop as stated in the title. My plans are to swap in a i5 and a SSD to have a make shift ultrabook for sub $500. I'm doing this because I could'nt locate a sub 15" laptop with decent processor/graphics that didn't break the wallet. The only games I intend to play on the go is Starcraft 2 which run fine on low always having 30+ frames and med 18-30fps when hectic online. This test was with the Pentium's crappy HD2000. So far I've open the laptop to check the insides out and will be replacing the pentium b970 and slow 5400 HDD with an SSD. If anyone intends on doing the same then it takes the the standard 9.5mm Hard drives and it's the G2 socket. I will upload pics of insides shortly.

ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS X401A

Update: Ivy Bridge cpus work but will shut off after 30minutes. Unable to resolve currently. Tried i3 and i5

Untested: sandy bridge processors

Disassembling tips:
-Remove all the screws from the bottom then grab the laptop and have the keyboard up facing like you're going to type and start at a bottom left or right corner. I stuck my fingernail in between the top and bottom and wedged it pulling the top from bottom until I heard the clips unhook. I did this slowly moving down the sides pulling the top while trying to pull down and out the bottom to unhook the clips. I broke 3 clips but they are minor and shouldn't cause an issue since screws also hold the top.

-All the screws except for two by the battery are the same so don't worry about what screw goes where. The two by the battery or the longest screws.

- It's self explanatory once laptop is open as there's just a few motherboard screws nothing to note.


Misc info:
Motherboard model Hannstar J 94v-0 mv-4
Ram 4gb DDR3 1600 1.5v

 

Nice idea but it still weighs in at 4lbs. I'm much happier having bought my Sony SB series for 500$, its 3.6lbs with AMD 6470m and I was able to upgrade the screen to 1600x900. And you can get them for under 500$.

 

does the X401a comes with a pci-e port? I want to remove the wireless card it comes with and replace it with one that has bluetooth like the Broadcom BCM94313HMGB card.

 

Yes it has a mini pci express port.

 

I added pics. This uses the hm76 or 70 chipset which supports ivybridge also. I'm curious as whether the ivybridge i3 would work in this since it's the same socket and the chipset supports it. I guess that would depend on bios. I'm debating on buying a few processors to see what does and doesn't work in this.

 

Hey, fellow X401A owner here, please keep us posted no this process, I'm very interested

 

Thanks for posting this - I just got my X401A and want to install an SSD and upgrade the Memory.

Any other tips to taking it apart you can share would be GREAT.

This is a great little laptop - just wish they made it easier for the consumer to work on

 

This comes with bluetooth 4.0 support already.

Only one ram slot uses ddr3 1600. Opening the top is the hardest thing as you have to pry it carefully to not bust all the clips but other than that everything is easy.

Will do, I ordered a i5-3210 that will be here in two days. Ill try that and if it doesn't work it's going back. I'm working on getting a sandy bridge i3 and i5 also. If any of them work then I shall celebrate even if it's a measley i3.

 

Awesome, thanks for sharing with us

 

I may get processor in today!

 

Did it come in? Also, do you think the standard heat sink will be adequate for the i5?

 

Guys I have news...... IT WORKS!!!! I upgraded from pentium b970 to ivy bridge I5-3210M and it works. Booted and is recognized by windows. I'm going to reapply artic silver and seal it up. Ultrabook status achieved. My ssd is getting ordered. I will do further testing to make sure everything stable. The i5 is the same wattage as pentium so it's fine. Do you guys know what this means? When the x301 comes out you can have a true ultra book as it's 13.3" and probably slightly thinner and less weight. After seeing ivy bridge cpu work in this laptop I feel confident a sandbridge i5 should work and will run you less than what I paid for Ivy.

 

Just to give the run down because I'm so excited. I paid 270 for this laptop, after $50 giftcard applied at bestbuy and $130 for cpu off ebay. Going to add a $60 ssd so my total for this project is $460 for a 14" ivy bridge i5 laptop that's only a 1" thin and 4lbs has usb 3.0 and wifi with bluetooth 4.0... Tell me you can find a laptop with similar specs for sub 500!! I may just stick to slow 5400 for right now as I only browse web and play SC to save me money for the moment. I'll get pics up of course of cpuz and such just for any who don't believe.

 

Congrats! So you went from a Sandy Bridge Pentium B970 to an Ivy Bridge I5-3210M? That's pretty cool, all without any BIOS modding or hacking? What chipset is this? How much of an improvement are we talking about here?

EDIT: Seems like a big upgrade all around.

 

It's the newer 7 series chipset for Ivy and sandy. Hm70 is the one in this laptop. No mods just swap cpu and power on. Huge going from 2 core 2.3ghz to 2 core 2.5ghz with turbo to 3.1 I think, hyperthreading, intel hd2000 to hd4000 graphics, 22nm so better on power and the list goes on when compared to a pentium.

 

Pics added to first post

 

Just to update things are working fine except for a shuting down after about a hour. I'm looking in event viewer and it's event ID 41 kernel power. I'm looking into the issue as everything seems fine it's not overheating and I can do whatever I like fine until almost a hour and then it shuts. I'm wondering if Turboboost is playing into the issue of this happening or some power limit set somewhere. I'm working on a fix but if this fails I'll downgrade cpu to a i3-3110 and see how that works. I refuse to go back to sandybridge as HD4000 runs starcraft 2 so much better than HD2000 did.

 

Thanks for keeping us posted!

 

Does the i5 draw the same amount of power as the Pentium? If not then that is probably the problem, and there is no way of changing the power to the CPU from the BIOS :\

 

It's 35watt. I don't think it's a power issue per say as not enough more like a setting as I said I can use the laptop and run whatever I like. I played 30mins of starcraft 2 online with no issue. Temperature and voltage appear fine. Don't worry I'm working on custom bios right now to enable options and make sure the micro code is in their for the i5. I'll update after I finish and if it works.

Well this thread will be filled with my ramblings but oh well. Looking into the bios the micro code for ivybridge is in there which is good and explains it working so only thing I need to do is figure out what setting is effecting it power wise. I'm going to unlock all the options in the bios and play around to see if I can fix issue.

 

I'm still working on modding the bios to show more options for tweaking. In the meantime though if I can't get the i5 working properly I have a i3-3110m coming next week. I feel confident about that one as this model has that listed as a option for processor but I will verify that next week. It won't be a huge performance loss goin to that as the turbo avg is 300-400mhz higher than the i3 speed.

 

Mind uploading that hella cash sounding BIOS?

 

LOL it's called credit. Once I'm done I'm selling the things I'm not using and making my money back. Someone has to do the research for the greater good of the community lol. The problem is either a security feature or setting that laptop doesn't like thats in the bios so it's just a matter of time before I find it I hope.

 

I'm going to flash the modded bios I completed today. If it goes well it will unlock all options so I can control turbo, hyperthreading and I can see if any of those are the cause of the issue. I'm thinking though and wondering if it's just cpu being the issue and not settings as it was a used one off ebay.... I will confirm this idea when my i3 is here in a few days.

 

any luck fixing the problem with the i5?
also can I swap in a 8GB card instead of the 4GB one?

 

Not yet, I have ideas but the bios I modded isn't flashing so I must figure that out. Yes it's replaceable. It has only 1 ram slot so only 1 stick is needed.

 

I posted a guide on how to open it on the main ASUS board.

 

I don't know what you're talking about by credit, but I've seen your post on the Bios Mods forum and I hope you get a reply from someone.

 

Was talking about the cost of everything lol... Yeah I hope so too. I modded it the bios but having issues flashing them on still sigh. I'm going to try i3 and if it does the same thing cutting off then my final processor will be a sandy bridge i3 or i5 to conclude my testing.

 

i3 is here so as soon as I'm off work I will be installing.

 

Keep us posted when you can! Thanks for your hard work...Very exited to view the outcome!

 

Thanks. Well ivy bridge is a no go as of right now. The i3 did the same thing the i5 did. There's a incompatibility issue or something to prevent it from working in the bios. Reason why I say that is it works perfectly for 30 minutes letting you stress test, game, or whatever you like until it just shuts off at that mark every time. I never seen a computer do that would do that unless somethings triggering it at the 30 min mark. I went ahead an put the original CPU in it and returned it. There may be hope though once the official models with the ivy bridge i3 come out though. Then we can see if it's the exact same hardware or not and if it is then make use of those bios. I wish they would get a release date or something as I would love to have the smaller x301. For now i'm going to mess around with either a Pavilion m6 with the a10 or a acer v5 11.6". I didn't test a sandy bridge processor though so that's up in the air if anyone wants to try that out.

 

Sounds like the issue is/was the cooling system?

(The cpu's thermal protection kicked in to prevent itself from frying).

 

Or a faulty sensor he might have damaged during the modification. Either or, have you turned off the safety heat shut down feature in bios? I am going out on the limb but I really hope this goes through! I really want to do this to mine!! I know you are aware of the update on the bios from the asus site version 205, but if not try updating it. Best of luck mate.

 

Hi,

You cannot replace your processor with an "Intel Core" One.

Asus X301A and X401A are sold in two flavors (details on Asus website) :

X301A & X401A with Intel Pentium Processor and based on an Intel HM70 express chipset.
X301A & X401A with Intel Core processors and based on an Intel HM76 express chipset.

Chipset (details on Intel website) :
The Intel HM70 (Value Chipset) does support only Celeron and Pentium processors based on sandy or ivy bridge architecture.
The Intel HM76 (Performance chipset) does support both second and third generation of intel core family.

This is why you cannot upgrade to a core processor family.

And I know this because I have done extensive research for my Asus X301A (Pentium B970), wich if you don't know has the same motherboard as X401A.
When I have replaced my X301A Hdd with an Ssd, I have saw a sticker with "Ref: X401A" on the motherboard.

Hope this help.

 

That is a possibility even though temperature was fine. If it was a signal that wasn't being sent that wasn't there so at a preset time it would shutoff. I did see something in bios that listed times..

It listed as hm76 not hm70. Once a oem get's the chipset they can do whatever with it making changes or modifications to do what's needed. There's models out there you can buy now that use hm70 with i3s. I decided to just try it just to see what happens as you never know. It wasn't a complete fail for the fact that it worked for 30minutes. If I could figure out what was going on after that it would've been a utter success

 

It listed as hm76 not hm70.

(First post corrected, 76 instead of 77)
both hm70 & hm76: ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS X401A

There's models out there you can buy now that use hm70 with i3s
--> Have a link ? For me it is just impossible.

 

Answering right away, Acer Aspire V5-571-32362G50Ma. I found 1 or 2 other models that use it two but I have to dig for those again. I contacted Intel about this and their response on the matter was they can't tell you what the chipset supports as oem may have made changes to it too support other things.

 

Seriously, there's near no reference about V5-571-32362G50Ma on all internet and all google can find about it are two or three commercial link.

here is one wich says it has a hm70 :
Aspire V5-571-32362G50Ma | Executive Technologies Limited | Windows 7 Buying

here is one wich says it has a hm77 :
Aspire V5-571-32362G50Ma | Executive Technologies Limited

I never trust technical specification about computers when they come from commercial links. They usually makes mistakes.

If you look at least like me on ten different acer websites (different country) you will find that there are no models with an i3 and an hm70.

So for me, i3 and hm70 is a no go.

hm70 express :
Mobile Intel® HM70 Express Chipset

Quote : "Supports PCs with the Pentium or Celeron brand processors from the Intel® microarchitectures code named Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge."

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for such a informative post. Where did you purchase a x301a from?

 

Amazon.com: ASUS X301A-EB31 13.3-Inch LED Laptop (Black): Computers & Accessories

A quick Google search I found this, hope this isn't the retail price...Doubt he paid/got it from here

 

From "FNAC" (Paris), this is a french shop :

Asus X301A-RX054V 13,3" LED - Blanc + Sacoche + Souris - Fnac.com - Ordinateur ultra-portable

As you can see it is listed at 499€, but I've got mine for 399€ because I was not interested for the software pack that came with it (Microsoft Office).

 

This one more expensive because it's the core i3 version, not the pentium b970 one like mine.

 

I would like to upgrade a X401A only with a SSD. I was wandering if u know how does the B970 2.3Ghz+SSD fare performance wise compared with a i3 (1.5~1.7 Ghz) ultrabook or even a i5 (1.5~1.7 Ghz though the i5 has turboboost).
I'm a desktop guy but a need a portable laptop once a week. No gaming or video editing just Excel+Word+max 20 Tabs in Google chrome at the same time. Will the X401A with a SSD do the trick? I don't really feel like paying the $500+ premium for a ultrabook.

 

That stuff shouldn't be a issue with the speed of a SSD.

 

I wish there was a date on the 301 here sigh. Amazon's price is inflated.

 

Hi Ceausaudrian,

I don't have an i3 or even i5 ultrabook, so I cannot seriously compare them against b970.

But I think there's not much difference between b970 and i3@1,5 or 1,7Ghz regarding pure processing power. I even think the i3 is a little slower because I don't think hyperthreading will be able to compensate the 600Mhz difference between the two.

Just keep in mind b970 will not be as good as i3 for playing/encoding HD Video because it lacks "intel quicksync" feature. (720p are playing fine, but I have still not made any test with 1080p).

With the native HDD the x301a is a little slow, each time it needs to access the HDD is a pain. This is why I have changed HDD for a Samsung 830 SSD : and the result is far better than what I was expected at first. (X301a do support Sata6)

I can guarantee there're no problems for all office work and web surfing with lots of tabs. Actually I am even playing Starcraft2 on it without a problem at native x301a resolution (1366*768)! And yes it's smooth! (Settings are a mix between middle and high settings except for shaders and shadows wich stays at minimum settings).

So yes, the x301a with an SSD is very pleasant to use, and there will nothing you can't do with it except real gaming or photo/video editing, or running virtual OS (because it lacks VT features for emulation).

Hope this help.

 

I installed a Samsung 830 in my X401A. I picked the 830 because it has the lowest power use of any of the SSD's. (that I could find, anyway)

Hard Drive "experience" now 7.9. 4-5 hrs real battery life.

I'm not crazy about this notebook but,then again, it was very cheap..

You get what you pay for...

 

While the 830 has lower idle power usage (still not great though), it has one of the highest power consumption rates at load of any modern SSD (right along with the OCZ V4).

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...-agility4-vs-samsung-830-a-2.html#post8742845


The only SSD that I have used that has delivered on it's promise of low power usage vs. a HDD is the Intel 320 Series 160GB SSD.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/449726-u30jc-discussion-thread-208.html#post7766632

 

Samsung says .127 watts Active and .078 Idle.

That's the lowest I've ever seen.

See Samsung's white papers on the 830.

A $100 for a 128mb with those kind of numbers?? I'm good...lol