Success: Upgrading the ASUS Vivobook S550CB

I would like to share that I have successfully upgraded the ASUS Vivobook S550CB cj111h notebook.

This 'beast' of a laptop has a standard configuration of 4GB of ram (max of 8GB) and a 1TB HDD coupled with a Sandisk 24GB cache SSD.

The upgraded items are:

• 16GB of ram - 2x Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz SODIMM 1.35V CL11 (CT102464BF160B)
• Samsung 850 EVO 250GB mSATA SSD (MZ-M5E250BW)
• Intel 7260 IEEE 802.11ac BT 4.0 WiFi Adapter

Upgrade is reasonably straight forward except for moving the mounting pin for the larger 250GB mSATA form factor. This requires a soldering iron to heat and melt the solder that is holding the mounting pin on the logic board. After which its removal and re-installation in the adjacent mount hole is relatively easy.

I then installed windows 8.1 from USB directly onto the new 250GB SSD.

Note that beforehand I had created a USB install disk via the tool from MIcrosoft. I have also retrieved the product key for this laptop before commencing this whole upgrade.

It should be noted that the install of windows automatically retrieved the OEM product key from the laptops BIOS (thx @alexhawker ) and never once asked for the product key.

With the new Wifi Radio, 16GB of ram, and the OS on a fast SSD.. this laptop is now rather snappy!

Next upgrade will be a Seagate FireCuda 2TB into a HDD caddy to replace the DVD drive.

Cheers!

 

Yeah your OEM product key is stored in the BIOS, for future reference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Can u explain more about the msata upgrade? Or can u show me the mounting spot?

 

Sure.. The following images are from this forum post which helped me decide if it was an option/possibility to upgrade the SSD.



The trick is to move the Standoff Peg to the new location as the arrow indicates in the above image.

This requires a soldering iron.

• In order to remove the standoff you use some new solder (or flux) to help reheat and melt the existing solder around the standoff.
• Once the solder has melted you can use needle nose pliers to grasp the standoff and remove (zero force should be needed if the solder has melted fully)
• Heat and melt the solder around the indicated (target) through hole and insert the standoff. Use new solder if required (tinning)
• Inspect the reinserted standoff and check to see if it is flush with the PCB and the solder has solidified such to secure the standoff in the through hole.

If all has gone well it should look as above.. Use Solder Braid to remove excess solder if required.

Once you have installed the new mSATA SSD double check clearances and make sure there nothing that is coming into contact with it.

Re assemble and boot into bios to check if it is being recognised.

From here you can install the OS onto the new SSD.

 

Now I know how to do it,thank you very much

 

Hey!
Interesting topic! I've got the same identical laptop--S550CB.
I was wondering how things are working out with your laptop after the upgrade. ASUS states that this model only is capable running up to 8 Gb of RAM. Besides, it is a laptop with 1.5v RAM not 1.35v which supports DDRL series.
My question is, is it safe to exceed the stated RAM limit?
I see that you've also upgraded your WiFi Adapter to Intel Network 7260 HMWWB.R. Is it worth replacing the manufactured WiFi Adapter with this one?
Aside from the SSD upgrade, has there been any significant difference in performance?

 

Is it safe? I don't think it'll fry your laptop if that's what you mean.. if anything it won't post and you can take out the stick.. as of today I have had not problems yet with it to date.

Yes the wifi upgrade dramatically increased performance.. especially in range..

and yup the computer now runs like it how it shouldve been configured in the first place. fast.

 

Hi,
My S550CB runs slow recently and I found your post...
For the new SSD, should I duplicate any OS/ files from old one to new one?
I don't want to touch the OS too much.
Is it possible to use double side tapes with foam instead of melting and welding?
Thanks.
Phi

 

The whole point is to put the OS on the SSD so this will involve installing Windows from scratch.. Make sure you either use your original DVD or create another one (preferrably USB).. get the ISO for the OS from here https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/

Basically you'll change the boot order in BIOS to the SSD and then install.. Your old OS will remain as is along with any other files you had on it at the time.. just that you will no longer boot from it..

No.. and No.. You have to move the Stands in order to fit the new (and larger) SSD... You cannot avoid this stage..

 

Thanks,
Can I just diskcopy the old ssd to the new ssd?

 

I am talking about the original cache 24Gb ssd

 

The SSD is just a cache.. There is nothing on it..

 

Thank you so much for reporting your experience with this laptop! I've a S550CB cj021h and thanks to your post I've upgraded it to 16gb of RAM successfully. Taken the same RAM model as your from ebay (CT102464BF160B) and it works like a charm!
Thanks again
Roberto