Asus C90P issues

[acstech]

As some of you may recall from another thread, I'm having issues with an Asus C90P laptop. I recently sent an email to GenTech, where I bought it, that read:

"I recently ordered an Asus C90P from your site. My system is configured with an E7200 CPU, 2GB DDR2-800, and a Samsung hard drive. My problem is that when I turn the system on, the fans stay on at full speed, and after a short time will alternate between stopped and full speed. I checked the bios version; it is version 0602. I noticed on Asus's website that the first bios release for this unit is 0604, making mine a prerelease bios, which would probably explain the problems I've been having. Also I had to swap the processor out with a Celeron 420 that I normally use for testing; the E7200 would not work. The system would not power up with the E7200. However I have tested the E7200 on a different computer and it works fine.

So my question is how exactly do I flash the new bios on to this laptop? No operating system is currently installed on this unit, as I want to upgrade the bios before I install one.

Thanks for your time!"

Today Ken from GenTech called me and informed me that there is a "control chip" on the motherboard that needs to be changed, a bios upgrade would not fix it, and that I need to send it back to Asus. So he gave me the Asus number. He also informed me that they (C90P laptops) were all defective. That kind of supports my previous thoughts WRT Asus.

As many of you know I have no love for Asus. The purpose of this thread is to document my experiences with Asus support on this matter, so that others may be helped by the information. My thoughts regarding Asus could begin to change if they do a good job with support.

I'll keep you all informed.

[i4004]

Re: Asus C90P issues

i upgraded bios on my lenovo laptop by dloading the file from their web-site and then i've run it...
offcourse, that didn't solve the problem of cursor stalling for few seconds, because that had to do with audio driver...upgrading it solved the issue...

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

Yeah. It says the ROM ID doesn't match, then doesn't flash the newer bios. You can't force it either.

Anyway, it's going back. I called the number Ken at GenTech gave me, proceeded though their menu, and was surprised to talk to an actual American. That's right, I didn't have to talk to Vijay from Bombay. So after about 10 minutes on the phone, I got my RMA number. I'll be sending it back tomorrow.

So as it stands +1 to Asus for not making me talk to somebody in India.

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

Well, I called up on Wednesday about my RMA. Go through their menu and talk to somebody in... India! Anyway, after spending a few minutes trying to figure out what exactly they were saying, it looks like it'll be another week. They need to get another motherboard in from Taiwan.

Then a few hours later, they called me back and told me the same thing they told me when I called the first time. Same girl from India. Pleasant enough to talk to, but I had a very hard time understanding. Brush up on those English skills!

So now it's:
+1 for calling back.
-1 for making me talk to somebody in India. Would have been ok if I had been able to understand more than 1/2 of what they were trying to say.
-1 for making me wait another week.

So the grand total for Asus support thus far is 0.

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

It's still out. Called Asus again today to figure out WTF is going on. Talked to an American this time (+1). They said they would email the techs to figure out what's taking so long, then email me back.

So now we're at:
+1 for an American
-3 for the 3 weeks...
After a month I've decided to start docking 1 point per day. So -2 for those 2 days.

So now we're at -4 for Asus support.

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

Ok so without warning I get it back.

Not fixed. No attempt appears to have been made to fix it. Same problems as it had originally.

Here's what they wrote on the ticket:

"Bad MB. MB replaced. Unit posts with test CPU (E6350). Customer's CPU (E7200) is not compatible with this model. Customer will need to purchase a different CPU."

This, my friends, is total bullshit. See here:

http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant...duct_Code=C90P

It sure as hell is compatible! The problem is that Asus released a half baked incomplete product to market. Now I'm stuck with a laptop that does not work. At all.

Just for shits and grins, I put my QX9650 into the unit. Miracle of miracles it kind of works! Problem is that it gets about 10% of the way through the windows install and crashes. The fans are still going wacky as ever.

Asus now ranks down below Antec and Fuhjyyu as far as I'm concerned. Support is useless, products aren't even 1/4 baked, and they don't even refund your money. I am making it my mission to tell this to everyone I find. Asus needs to hurt for this one.

[i4004]

Re: Asus C90P issues

>It sure as hell is compatible!

cpu revisions, stepping?
although that shouldn't be a problem on well tested product.

>The problem is that Asus released a half baked incomplete product to market.

that is happening a lot these days.
priority is to release sooner than others.
not to test more than others.

btw. this sheet says your cpu indeed is not supported
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/images/N...C90P-specs.gif
can it be problem of gentech releasing wrong data? why do they offer 7200 with it if it's not on that sheet?

data on this machine is very sparse on asus website, ergo such questions on their forum
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?...Language=en-us

one wonders is asus themselves knows what cpu can this thing take...hehe...

p35 chipset ist hosts should take anything c2d(dual or quad) but it seems asus bios is holding it back.
they released the product but don't seem to have time to write the proper bios for it.

oh well....there are better laptop mfrs anyway...

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

I wish I would have seen that sheet sooner! I figured if GenTech was offering them for sale, they would have been compatible.

The E7200 is in the computer I'm typing this on, and so I can't get revision and stepping data ATM.

I sent an email to GenTech. We'll see what he has to say. One way or another this damn thing is getting fixed or I'm getting refunded. I don't pay $1200 for bricks.

Agreed that the problem is in the Bios. I wish I knew how to write Bioses... I'd charge Asus to do it for them.

Edit:

I just got one of these for a customer:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Samsung%20R610

They're having me reload it to get rid of some of the preloaded stuff, simplify the installation, and put my recommended programs on it. Absolutely beautiful laptop. Works like a dream. Relatively light for the size, solidly built, fast enough... If / when I get my refund for this Asus POS, I'm getting one of those. Plus they've got a free camera deal right now!

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

Well I got the dumb thing working. Turns out it really doesn't like the E7200. So I tried another processor (not on their list either)... the QX9650 from my desktop. That one works. It sees all 4 cores, and is pretty quick.

The problem now is that the fans are on full speed all the time. They do that with the Celeron 420 as well, so it's not thermals. In fact, I loaded Windows Vista Ultimate on it, and speedfan says the thermals are well in check, even under load with Prime95! The real problem is the noise. But at least the thing is working.

So I proceeded to load 3 operating systems on the thing. One is Windows Vista Ultimate, which I already told you about. The other is Mac OS-X 10.5.5 (thanks to i-Deneb for the install disk). The third is Fedora 10. I've still got some driver issues to sort out, but in Windows everything works so I know all thee hardware is functional.

I'm thinking of building some kind of fan control, since Asus shipped it broken. I've seen some plans on the internet, but it needs to be very small and low profile. Any ideas?

I'm really waiting for Asus to release a real bios for this thing so I can use the E7200 in here and put the QX9650 back in my desktop where it belongs. Maybe they'll fix the fan control while they're at it.

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

So far, here's what I've found for fan control:

http://www.cpemma.co.uk/thermal.html

http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2001...n_controller/1

Ideally I'd like to be able to put it in the space normally occupied by a mini pci-express slot. Not using the connections on the slot itself obviously, just the space where it would go.

[willawake]

Re: Asus C90P issues

asus eepc i was installing a while ago had fan on all the time issue. this fixed with bios update. agree on half baked products, asus often first to the market

[agraham]

Re: Asus C90P issues

That sucks. Hey maybe if you sent it back under a new trouble ticket that mentions the fan problem and no other issues they would fix it.

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

And wait another month? Uh, no.

I have the parts on the way from Digikey to build a small fan controller. Should be interesting.

[-=cArLiCuS=-]

Re: Asus C90P issues

Hello everyone,

I was the person who requested for more info on the C90P specs on the Asus website, and no one bothered or knew how to reply

Anyway, acstech, did the replacement motherboard come with the 0604 BIOS? I can't get mine to update past 0602. Congrats on getting a quad to work in it, had I known it worked, I would've gone that route. ...and I thought I created the fastest C90P.

Interestingly, I'm using a Wolfdale E8600, and it's not in the supported list either. The BIOS whines about the CPU not being supported on power on and asks for an update. only way to move forward is by pressing F2 (entering the BIOS menu) and then exiting without saving.

I asked the seller EXcaliberPC about it and they found the issue strange. They told me to ask Asus, and if need be send it in to them so they could see what could be done. Asus Techsupport replied back saying that it was a no go since my CPU was not supported.

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

Yes, the replacement came with the 0604 bios. I have the quad overclocked to 3.33GHz at the moment. I could go higher, but the bios doesn't have multiplier control, ram dividers, or, and perhaps the most important with this unit, a changeable performance level. I checked in memset, and it's locked at 6. The FSB on this unit tops out at about 370 to 375. I'm sure it could go higher if I was able to change ram dividers and performance level. Normally I would think that the memory was at fault, but I changed the SPD down to 667 to limit memory speed, and the FSB still tops out around 375. Oh well, it makes enough heat as it is!

Does the fan control work properly on yours?

[-=cArLiCuS=-]

Re: Asus C90P issues

By fan control, you mean how the turbo gear fans control their speed right? Well, yes to some degree. I read on the other forums that with the C90S and the C90P, the fans are controlled solely by the CPU temperature. Other pips had problems when they put lowend processors into their units as their GPUs overheated when the control only detected a cool running lowend CPU. The design was stupid IMO. If they went that far already might as well have the GPU temp control it as well.

As for mine, it doesn't run all the time, and its usually running at minimal speed... but around every 5 minutes of so it does come on briefly for a few seconds and then goes back to minimal again. No heat issues... except a few weeks back I brought it to school and had to switch classrooms, I made the unit go to sleep - but it doesnt - only the LCD turns blank. I carefully packed it into my bag and around a few mins later it sounded like an elephant was trapped in my bag, the unit was hot as hell. So it has sleep issues.

On another forum, some guy soldered 2 wires from the 4 fans and into a switch he drilled into the front. That way he could control fan speed. It works, but would you be willing to drill a hole through your notebook to place a switch?

I'm hoping that intel releases a Q9650S CPU so it would have the same TDP as the E8600, as this CPU seems to be the sweet spot on how the fans run (not all the time but doesn't get hot).

Did they scratch up your unit when they replaced the mobo? I'm on the fence now as to whether or not I should have it replaced. What changed from 0602 to 0604? There seems to be absolutely no documentation on the changes.

Oh yeah Turbo Gear Extreme doesnt seem to be able to overclock my CPU. In fact, it downclocked it when I turned on Performance mode and had 3Dmark vantage report it. Weird.

[-=cArLiCuS=-]

Re: Asus C90P issues

BTW there's a new BIOS out that's not on the website: 0704. I'm not sure if that would help with your case - didn't seem to do much for me, and had to have my motherboard replaced.

Seems like the technicians did something wrong on the reassembly, as the Expresscard slot case doens't seem to be leveled.

[acstech]

Re: Asus C90P issues

Where would I obtain this bios?

[-=cArLiCuS=-]

Re: Asus C90P issues

I called tech support and they emailed it to me. I still have the email too if you have problems obtaining the file. Although the CPU is still not supported, I noticed that my C90P is quieter now - none of those few second high speed fan bursts anymore. Don't use the AsusUpdate Application though to update the BIOS as it screwed my motherboard up big time and I had it replaced.

[Wizard]

Re: Asus C90P issues

My unfortune situation when I had a chance to revive Asus V7100 is in big doubt. This is a widescreen semi-DTR notebook with P-M 1.73GHz and has a double oddball Go6600 chip. Daughterboard non-standard MXM, this is smallest with LCD signal connector and this said chip is soldered is equally odd so make rarity a high chances.

Means 200 bucks and out of production from Asus and Ebay has one from time to time and extremely high, around 300 plus.

Reason for this high price is too much demand from users who had their die due to extremely bad design of heatsink that uses thick too soft pad that mushed down once and also staddles the northbridge. So lot of of dead Go6600 chips, far as I can determine, this particular 128MB (4 chips soldered at corners of the Go6600 package is unique to Asus it seems to be.) The ones that uses Go6600 chip has external memory soldered to the standard MXM types or on the notebook's mainboard.

This particular GPU Asus uses:

http://www.jienida.com/productshow.asp?product_id=173

Anybody happen to have a good Go6600 chip? 64 or 128mb version or a alternative Asus MXM daughterboard with lesser GPU?

Sigh. Cheers, Wizard