Asus G1S Tips And Tricks

How to Select Asus G1S Hard Disk IDE/SATA Compatibility Mode

Asus G1S BIOS version 205 [or newer version] has a new option which enables you to change the internal SATA hard disk into so called "IDE compatible mode". This compatibility mode is very handy if your operating system doesn't support directly booting from SATA disk. For example, when installing Windows XP you may want to enable this feature - unless you have prepared a special installation disk with a driver for SATA disk.

Here's a recipe how to enable this compatibility mode. Reboot your Asus G1S. Press F2 when system boots and you will enter BIOS. Navigate to Advanced tab and select IDE Configuration Option. Here you can set SATA Operation Mode from Enhanced to Compatible. Finally, navigate to Exit tab, save your changes and reboot.

If you still have an older BIOS 203 or 204 and you want to install Windows XP in an easy way, you may at least now want to "Upgrade Asus G1S BIOS".

How to Select Asus G1S's Boot Device

Asus G1S can also boot from an external USB memory stick or an external USB drive, in addition to the internal SATA hard disk and CD/DVD drive. Here's a recipe for how to select your boot device. Press ESC when the system boots and you will be shown a list of bootable devices. Select the device you want to boot from and off you go. Happy booting.

How to Disable Asus G1S's Boot Sound

Here is a recipe for how to disable that default Asus G1S boot sound. Press F2 when system boots and you will enter BIOS. Just navigate to Advanced tab and disable the boot sound from Play POST Sound option. Here you may also change the speaker volume for the boot sound, if you do not want to disable the boot sound completely. Then go to Exit tab to save your changes and exit BIOS.

How to Keep Your Asus G1S Clean & Shiny

Here's a guide how to keep your notebook clean & shiny - and how to prevent the scratches:

Here's a four part guide by "CalebSchmerge" how to keep your notebook clean.

How to Upgrade Memory on Asus G1S

[This section needs contributions]

How to Test Asus G1S Memory

Go to www.memtest86.com, open "Free Downloads" page and download the zipped ISO image. Unzip and burn the resulting ISO image to an empty CD. Finally, place the CD into the DVD drive and boot from the DVD.

How to Use Asus G1S Vista Recovery Partition

So, you have messed your computer and now you need to re-install Vista. Don't worry, you can re-install Vista from the hard disk's recovery partition as follows:

  1. Reboot your G1S and press F9 when you see the boot splash screen
  2. From the "Windows Boot Manager" select "Microsoft Windows Vista" and press ENTER to proceed
  3. Wait until system has finished the recovery process - this will take some time, so be patient and don't touch anything :)

After success recovery process you probably need to re-install Vista drivers and useful utilities.

How to Use Asus G1S Vista Recovery DVD

So, you have messed your computer [or bought a new hard disk] and now you need to re-install Vista - but you have deleted the recovery partition, too. Don't worry, you can re-install Vista from the Recovery DVD as follows:
1. Reboot your G1S and press ESC when you see the boot splash screen
2. Insert the Vista Recovery DVD into the DVD drive
3. Select to boot from the CD/DVD and press ENTER
4. At "Asus Preload Wizard" select appropriate option:

  • Recover Windows to the first partition only - Most probably this is the option you want to use as this will only wipe the first hard disk partition [the original Vista system partition that you have just messed up] and leave the other partitions intact, so that you will not lose your valuable data for example on D: drive. However, this option will destroy all data on your C: drive.
  • Recover Windows to entire HD - Most probably this is not what you want. This option will wipe out whole hard disk - so you will lose all your data. Use this option only if you really want to destroy all data on your HD. Just to make sure: This option will destroy all data on your hard drive
  • Recover Windows to entire HD with 2 partitions - Most probably this is not what you want either, as this will wipe out whole HD and create two partitions for C: and D: drive - and you will lose all your data. Use this option only if you really want to destroy all data on your HD, or you have just bought a new hard disk and want to re-install your system. Just to make sure: This option will destroy all data on your hard drive

5. Here we will assume that you have selected the first option - "Recover Windows to the first partition only". Press "Next" to proceed.
6. Read carefully next two screens and start the recovery process. The recovery process will take 10 - 15 minutes, so be patient.
7. At the end of the recovery process the system will eject the Vista Recovery DVD and ask you to insert Driver CD. Do not insert the Driver CD at this point - unless you want to install Asus's bloatware to your system. However, if you do want to install Asus utilities and applications, insert the Driver CD and proceed - actually you are done now, and you don't have to read rest of the steps. If you decided to keep your system as minimum as possible, and install only necessary utilities and drivers, please continue from the next step below.
8. Power-off your notebook and reboot the machine.
9. Wait until Vista boots and initializes the system - this will take some time, so be patient and don't touch anything :)
10. The system will reboot once and the system will continue the recovery process. You will see Vista's desktop and the command prompt window. Be patient, and don't touch anything yet.
11. After the system is properly initialized, the system will reboot once more, and now you need to setup rest of the system settings like language etc. We will not go into details in here, as we assume you know how to install Vista.

Re-installing Vista Drivers

At this point we have only basic Vista installed, but we need to install the proper drivers for our Asus G1S. So, let's get started.

  1. Login to your machine and insert the Driver CD into the CD/DVD drive.
  2. On "Autoplay" dialog, select option "Open folders to view files"
  3. You may install all the drivers in the following recommended order:
    • INFUPD - Run SETUP and reboot.
    • ATK0100 - Run VISTA32/2KSETUP and reboot.
    • AUDIO - Run SETUP [and reboot].
    • BTOOTH - Run VISTA32/VFPSETUP-32 (Vista Feature Pack).
    • CAMERA - Run CHICONY/2KSETUP or D-MAX/2KSETUP depending on your G1S model [and reboot].
    • ESATA - Run VISTA3264/SETUP [and reboot].
    • LAN - Run SETUP.
    • WLAN - Run INTEL/VISTA32/DRIVERS/IPRODIFX.
    • MODEM - Run SI32.
    • RICOH - Run SETUP [and reboot].
    • TOUCHPAD - Run SETUP [and reboot].
    • TURBOMEM - Run DRIVER/SETUP [and reboot].
    • VGA - Run VISTA32/SETUP [and reboot].
    • CDROM - This is optional? Select the driver according to your CD/DVD drive.
  4. Reboot.
  5. Now you have installed all drivers. Let's check from Device Manager so that we don't have any uninstalled devices left. Open Start | Control Panel | Hardware and Sound | Device Manager. You should not have any devices marked with a yellow exclamation point.
  6. Finally, install also following useful utilities:
    • ATK_GFNEX - Run SETUP [and reboot].
    • ATK_HOTKEY - Run SETUP.
    • ATK_OSD2 - Run SETUP [and reboot].
    • ATKMEDIA - Run SETUP.
    • DCONSOLE - Run SETUP.
  7. Reboot.

You may also install some Asus utilities and applications like P4GX, but for Vista you have now installed all necessary drivers and utilities. And don't forget to install your Virus scanner software. That's it. Enjoy!

How to Use Linux Files Directly from Vista/XP

This is not exactly Asus G1S specific tip, but I have placed it here because it might be useful for multi/dual-boot systems with Vista/XP and Linux. There is a freeware utility "Ext2IFS - Ext2 Installable File System For Windows" which allows you to mount and use Linux EXT2 files and folders directly from Windows XP / Vista. It provides Windows XP/Vista with full access to Linux Ext2 volumes (read access and write access). This may be useful if you have installed both Windows and Linux as a dual boot environment on your computer. If you currently have Windows running and you realize that you need some files for your work which you have stored on an Ext2 volume of your Linux installation, you no longer have to shut down Windows and boot Linux! This utility also supports Ext3 files and folders.

How to Download and Use Vista Rescue CD

So, you messed with our system and now your system doesn't boot. Asus G1S is shipped only with Vista Recovery DVD, which doesn't contain the Vista Recovery Center. Here's the solution: Download Vista Recovery CD (120MB), which includes the Vista Recovery Center. Now you can fix the corrupted boot sector and other startup problems. In order to boot from Vista Rescue CD, just place to CD in your Asus G1S CD/DVD drive, reboot your computer and press ESC when you see the Asus boot splash screen. Then select to boot from the CD/DVD drive - and off you go. See this excellent Windows Vista Repair Site for further information.

How to Recover Your Data When Your Asus G1S Won't Boot

So, you messed with our system and now your system doesn't boot - and your precious data on the hard disk needs to be rescued. You have backups, don't you? No? Rule #1: Don't panic.

Try to Repair Vista

First, see our wiki article "How to Download and Use Vista Rescue CD" and then read this short article "Vista Startup and Repair". If this didn't make your system boot properly, then proceed to next two sections "Use Knoppix Live CD as Resue CD" and "Use an external USB-SATA-enclosure" .

Use Knoppix Live CD as Resue CD

You can also download the Knoppix Linux Live CD image KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso [696MB] and burn the ISO image onto a CD. Then insert the CD into your Asus G1S's CD/DVD-drive, reboot your laptop, press ESC at boot splash screen and select to boot from CD/DVD. When you see the Knoppix boot screen, please type this command to boot Knoppix properly on Asus G1S:

knoppix screen=1680x1050 noagp xmodule=vesa

After the KDE desktop is loaded, plug-in your USB-memory stick and copy your valuable data to the USB-stick. In the future, use that USB-stick to backup your valuable data regularily. :)

Use an external USB-SATA-enclosure

If you cannot download or you don't want to use the previous Knoppix Live CD method, you need to remove the hard disk out of your Asus G1S and use another computer to read data from your hard disk using an external USB-drive. Remove the internal hard disk from your Asus G1S and install it carefully inside the external USA-SATA-enclosure. If you don't have needed enclosure at hand, you can easily buy one from your local computer store for something like $20 / €20. Connect that external disk drive to some other computer's USB-port and read your precious data from your disk to a safe place. After you have rescued your data, unplug the external disk and install the original drive back into your Asus G1S.

P.S. It is a good practice to use C: drive only for the Windows Vista/XP system, and D: drive for your data. In case of system crash, you can "safely" reformat C: and re-install Windows Vista/XP.

How to Make Dual-Boot System

You want to install XP to your Asus G1S, but want to keep your Vista installed anyway? Read this article Install Windows XP In a Dual Boot With Pre-Installed Vista for more information and step-to-step instructions.

If you want to make a dual/multi-boot notebook, read this excellent article "The definitive dual-booting guide: Linux, Vista and XP step-by-step".

How to Adjust Hard Disk Partitions

Warning: This is for experts only. Backup your data if you are going to mess with your hard disks!

So, you want to adjust your hard disk partitions using Vista's Disk Manager for some reason [like wanting to create a dual-booting system]. Here is an article on "How to Resize Vista Partition Size using Vista's Disk Management" and here is a supplemental article on "Working Around Windows Vista's "Shrink Volume" Inadequacy Problems".

So, you want to adjust your hard disk partitions, but you don't want to use Vista's partition manager for some reason. First, download Vista Recovery CD (120MB), which includes the Vista Recovery Center and burn it to CD. Then, read this article on Using GParted to Resize Your Windows Vista Partition. Finally, download freeware GParted, burn the image and reboot your system with the CD and resize the partitions.

GParted is an industrial-strength package for creating, destroying, resizing, moving, checking and copying partitions, and the filesystems on them. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganizing disk usage, copying data residing on hard disks and mirroring one partition with another (disk imaging).

How to Use Linux SystemRescueCD

Warning: This is for experts only. So, you really want to mess with your hard disks. Download free SystemRescueCD (163MB). Then consult the Online manual. Think twice what your are doing, backup your data and go for it. :)

SystemRescueCd is a Linux system on a bootable CD-ROM for repairing your system and recovering your data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the partitions of the hard disk. It contains a lot of system utilities (parted, partimage, fstools, …) and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It is very easy to use: just boot the CDROM. The kernel supports most of the important file systems (ext2/ext3, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs, vfat, ntfs, iso9660), as well as network filesystems (samba and nfs).

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