ASUS N71jq or WIN7 freezing?

[asimov]

Since buying this laptop loaded with Win7 OS I've been less than impressed with it's freezing antics. There's been no rhyme or reason to the freezing, it seems to be totally random. I can be playing a game, browsing the net or leave the room for 5 mins to make a coffee, come back & the damn thing has frozen yet again.

I've researched the problem, googled it until the cows have come home. No milk. It seems there is no OFFICIAL reason for it. I've seen peoples antivirus being blamed, right through to drivers etc.

I'm almost ready to go back to XP.

I can't even determine if it's the laptop, or Win7 but I'm suspecting Win7.

Just wondering if anyone on this site is having this freezing problem. I'm talking total freeze here. The only thing you can do is a cold hard reboot.

:shrug:

[supernova1965]

Sorry to hear that you are having problems that machine should be ample for Win7 Iam running Win7 on an Acer one netbook with less ram than yours and it never freezes and runs real fast I would be looking at problems with hardware. How long have you had it and have you contacted the manufacturer about your issues. Is it under warrenty still and have you had the problem from when you bought it:question:.

[asimov]

Well, there's that many reports on this particular problem (Win 7 freezing) with all different breeds of computers worldwide that I can almost rule out the scenerio of it being the computer I think.

I stand to be corrected on this of course, & hence the reason for me starting this thread, to find out who here is having this problem, if any.

[supernova1965]

I can only say that I have switched over completely to Win7 on all my home computers except that I have a Duel boot on my netbook with XP because you can't get drivers for Meade LPI for Win7 my experience with Win7 is flawless on 4 different types of computer. So I have no negative experiences to draw on to help with your problem. I don't doubt that you are having problems and the only thing I can think of is hardware faults or bad drivers.

[asimov]

Thanks Warren. Yes, as I indicated above, it could very well be hardware or a driver but it's just strange that so many (worldwide) are having this problem with Win7.

Anyway, we can rule you out of the (relatively small) list of folk having Win7 issues:lol: Glad to hear your win7 experience is good though:thumbsup:

[mswhin63]

I am not really having problems with WIN7 but as i have a i7 i find my laptop is getting really hot, on 2 occasions my laptop has shutdown so i bought a laptop cooler and seems to have fixed the problem. I have also installed Core Temp to monitor heat - http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

[asimov]

Thanks Malcolm. Yeah laptops hate heat. My computer desk has a built in fan (one of my many mods) that I place the laptop over/on. The fan blowing on the casing alone is enough to cool things down considerably. it works on the same principle as having a notebook cooler.

Are you running a 7200RPM HD? I've heard they run a bit hotter than a 5600RPM'er.

[ZeroID]

If I run a laptop as a desktop for any length of time it is either in a docking station or I place something under the laptop at the back to give it some airspace for the fan to work underneath. Only needs 10-20 mm but lets the thing breathe. You can feel the difference at the air side vent volume and temp. This may be the cause of your lockups btw. We have about 40 -50 PCs running W7 now and other than tweaking some install settings for our legacy apps not having any problems other than unfamiliarity by the user, ... and me.

[asimov]

Thanks Brent, but I have that covered. I have the back of the laptop on retractable/fold up legs/feet that holds the back off the desk by about 40mm - She's running as cool as a cucumber;):thumbsup:

I must admit I'm having way less freezes after I uninstalled some next to useless programs that were on here from new - Apps that were taking over power settings; what happens when you close the lid, blah blah. I counted 3 programs fighting for control over that alone..I was having 5 freezes a day, but now I'm down to 1 every 2 days roughly since the program uninstall.

I used to stand the axe in view of the chooks when they refused to lay - I reckon this lappy might take the hint if I do the same..

:wink2:

[mswhin63]

In the lounge relaxing and working i have a laptop coller and when i bring it to the office desk it stands up on 4 posts to allow better airflow. Seems to be working only time will tell.

It is obvious that laptops are not really designed to work hard. But they seem to advertise the fact they can. I can't really use a Desktop anymore as I am constantly shifting but using it a lot as well.

As far as freezing I find WIN7 no worse than any other operating system i have used.

[asimov]

My previous laptop (Toshiba satellite A100 XP) used to run almost 24/7 literally, I used to hibernate it rather than shut it down. Never missed a beat in 5 years & it's still running fine, only it's really slow if I want to compare it with this ASUS.

I have to hand it to Toshiba, they make a reliable laptop.

I love this ASUS too for speed - That's when it's working of course:lol:

Murphy has struck too, me & my big mouth. I've had 2 freezes in a row whilst typing this. I'm over worrying about it:shrug:

[RickS]

I have a Dell Studio XPS as does one of my colleagues at work. We both had regular Win 7 hangs when we first got them. Eventually, a BIOS update fixed it.

[AdrianF]

I tried Win7 on my ASUS laptop (AMD dual core) had the same problems with freezing and BSD's have gone back to XP. Strange is that Win7 runs flawlessly on my older desktop with an old single core 3Ghz CPU.

Adrian

[asimov]

Thanks for that info Rick, I might try that, nothing to lose IMO.

Thanks Adrian, seems there is no logical explanation to this problem as yet.

[asimov]

Quick question for Rick: Which BIOS update did you use to fix the problem? I'm running ver. 206 right now. The very latest for this, now obsolete/discontinued N71 is ver. 208.

[RickS]

John: my laptop is a Dell, so the version number won't be much use to you. I was just trying to say that a BIOS upgrade might help. There's all sorts of black magic around memory timing, etc. for these recent CPUs and if a BIOS parameter is not quite right then random hangs can certainly happen...

[asimov]

Ah ok, my bad.

I've just joined a specialty ASUS tech. forum, just to try to work out if it's this laptop (hardware/software/etc) or the OS itself.

I'll either get it sorted, or it can go back for a refund.

[mldee]

Hi John,

I switched to Win7 on all four machines after buying a Medion AMD quad core desktop that had it installed. I Then put it on my Dell lappie, Gigabyte desktop and Asus eePC N450 atom. All have functioned perfectly, better than XP, so no help from me, just a tad of sympathy.

Run all the usual astro programs and remote desktop them too. No hiccups.

The Dell Lappie is 24/7 in the obs and sits flat on the bench, no problems.

Good luck.

[asimov]

Thanks Mike. No biggie really, it's freezing less regularly as I uninstall unnecessary programs & applications. There sure is a lot of needless bloatware on here.

Apart from this problem, it's running perfectly & I really like it!

[asimov]

Well, it went from bad to worse the other night. I ended up with a looping BSOD on startup. After the 3rd startup - BSOD - reboot (in that order) I realized it was going to loop like this until the cows came home so I had no choice but to poke in the recovery disc & do a reformat & clean install.

No freeze for a whole 4 days so far! (Touch wood).

Darned computers...:screwy:

[acropolite]

ASUS used to be my favourite hardware.

Over the past few years the Asus product has IMO turned to crap, every Asus motherboard I have used over the past few years has given problems or been buggy, I bought an Asus LCD screen, it had a hot pixel, of all the LCD screens I've seen/used this was the first with a hot pixel.

We built 3 Asus machines at work 3 years ago, only one is still going, the others died in only a couple of years.

I don't buy Asus anymore.