[GSOD Fix?] Beta vBIOS update for G73JH

1) Your current BIOS
209
2) stock beta vBIOS or my modded one
Stock Beta
3) driver package you are using, and if desktop or mobility
I used the 10.7a download provided via you, Chastity. I also used 10.8 Mobile (64 bit)
4) clock speeds
Unchanged. 700/1000 according to GPUZ.
5) Driver installation method used
Catalyst Install Manager

Here's the score:
Black horizontal lines in all cases except the last two. Even black bars and screen jumping without a crash.
2 Brown Screens of Death w/ stripes
1 Black Screen of Death
1 White Screen of Death during a YouTube Video

And a GPU that when under load, it sounds like it's going to blow.

 

i am going to try to go back to best buy and beg for a credit and if i get one im getting the best thing i can that has a nvidia card......i tried asus/ati with an open mind but i have to say, i never had anything even remotely like this with any other laptop i have owned.....i really like this laptop, but if i cant play on it, what is the point? Thanks for all of the help (and entertainment value)....im going back to toshiba/qosmio i think

 

its not ati's fault. it's asus's fault for releasing a faulty vbios.

 

Nope I'm not kidding. The actual number of G73s having issues is less than 1%

And I am not surprised that when GPU needs replacing there is a wait. Asus is using whatever GPU they have to sell notebooks. The G73 continues to sell faster than Asus can make them.

It's that simple. People forget the G73 is still the best bang for the dollar 17" notebook worldwide and it's very successful.

 

I would wager it's far higher than that. Keep in mind:

• You have to stress the laptop to hit the GSOD, many users aren't stressing the laptop enough to even hit the GSOD, so problem laptops are masked
• Not everyone with the GSOD issue complains or even contacts ASUS, I know I didn't and haven't
• While it may be true that people here could be seen as a population already having an issue, thus not representative of the g73 population to GSOD problem ratio... I know for myself, I was here BEFORE I had an issue, because I was looking for a good laptop and it seemed the one. What are the chances... 1% then that I would see the issue as minor, buy the laptop then have the issue? Well it's 100% for me so...

I love that we are getting involvement from Asus, and I really hope for a solid resolution, but this is a big issue and it is affecting a LOT of people. Evidence that many who decided to replace the laptop have had the issue with 2, 3-4 or more laptops following, very clearly shows that it is widespread, and lack of widespread RMA's is more due to people not stressing their machines, or simply not caring. The possibility of getting 3 GSODing machines at 1% ( something like 1 in a million?) is approaching impossibility if that % is to be believed. Yet it has happened to several customers.

 

If it were 1% affected and you have to know over half (at least) of that 1% wont even update drivers/stress the system enough/report issues, so thats really not enough people to make Asus go to work on releasing a new vBios but would just replace those units. My info tells me the problem is widespread and yours tell you its 1%. Someone is lying and again i wonder which its more likely to be.

 

I am still going to best buy and begging for my money back but i am begining to believe there may be some truth in the whole unplug-replug in your system before you run the tests theory.....we all know it drops the clock and voltages....but i am seeing if i do this b4 i stress test, no crash....its so hard to test a thing that only happens randomly but, i think there may be some truth here. did anyone quantifiable disprove this yet?

 

Sadly its true. My 2 friends who have G73 doesn't update their machine.
They just want to play (they are a bit console minded).
They bought the G73 only because its powerful for gaming but they did not really tweaked it.
They are just installing their game and copying image/ porno / mp3
Im the one who keep their machine updated.

 

I know many different PC gamers that absolutely do not update their video drivers on their laptops or their desktop. I know 2 other people who bought this laptop. One of which had exchanged it 3 times in microcenter here in New York (great store and they will do anything to make their customers happy). I am one of 2 people in the groups of people I game with that updates there drivers (not related to the G73 but in general). Don't believe me? You can look me up on xfire and ask anyone on my friends list or even find me on steam and ask anyone on my friends list there. The person that returned their laptop 3 times was due to me pushing him to update his video drivers before we found this forum so I am partly to blame for him exchanging his laptop so many times. I was on the 10.6's for nearly 2 weeks playing battlefield bad company 2 on the road before I started to get the GSOD issue. Just because people do not post here does not mean they do not have the GSOD issue as I have not posted here up until today when I seen someone ask a question I was wondering about as well.

 

i think my ealier post got lost in the suffle....are we sure that the un-plug / re-plug isnt a fix....it seems to be helping me all day........

i reboot and run furmark = crash
i reboot, unplug/wiat 10/replug, run furmark = no crashes

Im jsut saying it could be coinceidence...can anyone confirm?

 

With the new vbios, I still got a crash with this. I just have less chance of it happening.
So its not really a fix. It help thats all.

 

That could also mean that not unplugging the power supply but setting the Power4Gear setting to battery for 300/1000 clock and then going back to 700/1000 clock could help also.

 

stop crying boys and girls, gamer? use the msi bios, audio/video-->hdmi? use stock vBios and default cata and wait for asus to release the all mighty "fix", all games work fine with that driver, Asus know they got problems with the g73jh, if your machine is working fine we dont care and make the "read" of these forums less extensive plz

 

Agreed. There is a problem, they are trying to fix it. Let's talk about the solution and results from testing. 2 people arguing with everyone else about how prevalent the problem is doesn't accomplish anything.

 

Folks, this back and forth stops now. If it continues the thread will be closed and any posts which are OT will be deleted. Any further disregard of the forum rules will result in infractions and temp bans.

Learn to disagree - debating is fine as long as its on topic and insults are left at the door. If you want to debate ASUS response or whatever, start another thread. DO NOT derail this thread again.

Do not post questions or comments related to this mod action - if you have an issue, PM your forum mods or any of the other mods and we will respond.

Thanks.

 

1) Your current BIOS: 209
2) Beta vBios or Modified Beta vBios: Beta vBIOS
3) ATi Catalyst Version: 10.6 and 10.8
4) RealTek ATi HDMI 2.49 Drivers used?: not installed
5) Clock Settings: 700/1000
6) Driver installation method used: uninstall previous driver, driver sweeper in safe mode, install driver

Results:
Both 10.6 and 10.8 did not give GSOD while running WEI score, on default vBIOS both gived GSOD while running WEI
Both 10.6 and 10.8 gives Red Screen of Death during Furmark. 10.6 gived after 1-2min, 10.8 gived after 10min. 10.8 also gave screen flickering
10.8 gave GSOD in L4D2 Hard Rain, only improvement that it gave it a few min later than with default vBIOS

I analyzed the memory dump that was made after 10.6 and 10.8 crashes, here are the results:
10.6 Furmark crash
10.8 Furmark crash
10.8 crash in L4D2

 

this is not looking good.. i'm thinking of cancelling my B1 and getting an MSI GX660 instead... but i'll wait.. something good better come out tomorrow because all i see is bad bad news.. anyways , how do u update vBIOS? I made bootable USB stick but i don't know a guide for updating vBIOS and BIOS.

P.S : first post has for vBIOS but is it same for BIOS?

 

For Bios:
The is an utility call EzFlash from inside your bios (F2) to access it.
THere you will be able to load the 211 or 209 from your usb stick.

 

updates anyone? I'm still waiting for gentech to get B1 stock.. wait wait wait... this seems to be the case for this laptop for everything..

 

UPDATE:

I would like to thank everyone who responded with their results and their insights on this matter. It has shown that SAM is not quite 100%, however 212 computers tested at R&D + 32 in Gary's abode has shown a significant improvement in stability when gaming, tho Furmark has proven to be a despondent niggler. (go ahead, google that ) My own tests seem to confirm what they have found, plus also demonstrating the importance of doing really thorough updates to the drivers.

I would also point out, hopefully for the LAST time, that every G73JH unit has this issue. The fact that it doesn't blow up on you means you have a very tolerant unit, tho is no guarantee that you will not have occasional ones, or that they may rise in frequency in time. Since this problem is so marginal and evasive, it would explain why the vBIOS managed to get past the company's R&D and QA phases. Quite possible that the test units were of the highly tolerant category.

Be that as it may, now that the problem has been identified, Asus will work in conjunction with ATI to see that you get a properly working unit, even if that means having HellCry test every unit coming off the assembly line.

I am sure there will be several revisions of the vBIOS made before a final revision is generated, so let's keep things civil as we all work together to getting this solution in hand. If you choose to use a foreign vBIOS as a workaround for the time being, that is your choice, but please do NOT recommend this to others. It can lead to people bricking their units, or losing warranty coverage, and removes potential candidates for providing feedback in this beta phase.

I would ask people to stop posting results for now, and please wait for the next release, and we'll start fresh in a new thread.

 

Sitting here reading your comment Chastity, I notice that there's a bit of static or movement in my LCD screen, seemingly only on the light grayish color of the post box. Is this normal? I've never noticed a static thing like this on an LCD screen before.
It's almost like the "snow" static on a TV. Except the static particles are really tiny. :3

 

I had a lot of this on my AUO screen. After returning it and getting an LG screen I don't see it anymore.

 

Bugger. =/
The quality of this screen is really crappy for the amount of money I paid.
Ung. I don't know about getting another Asus. My first experience so far hasn't been so fantastic.
I'm starting to think I should have gotten a Mac. *Cringe*

 

are you saying if we RMA they are now going to give us a working GPU/computer instead of just rolling back the drivers?? is this official?

 

How do you flash the OD version? It can't find the ROM file apparently.

 

I've got no official info on this at all, but your conclusion is very far off from what I read out of her post.

Things take a bit of time to propagate trough a large corporation, what you want here can't even propagate down trough since the fix isn't available yet.

As it's not a hardware issue either the new unit you'll get back sooner or later will be, physically, identical to what you have in front you right now.

Basically, just wait for the fix to actually be final and working and follow the presumably easy to follow steps asus will design for us to follow and all will be golden .

 

is it true that we void the warranty if we apply new thermal paste to our g73 laptop?


Nevermind. I figured it out

 

Good work. I hope we get to hear what it actually was but it does sound a lot like timings in conjunction with brand of memory.

It didn't make sense Asus took all this time for just 1% of a problem. It's a 100% problem. I hope it is fixed now though so Gary can get to proper power saving support in the video BIOS.

 

You just wrote this in such a manner to make it quite confusing.
Are you suggesting i keep changing units/GPUs as i have been doing? Its real tiresome you know... But you also tell us that every machine has the problem to some degree...
And what has been identified? Have they actually found out something new or are you just referring to Asus (or Gary) just recently admitting there is a problem?
Be a bit more specific please.
Are you telling us to swap units or to again keep waiting and hoping theyre able to produce a working vBios?

If Gary can arrange to get me one of the working (or as you say "tolerant") machines from the factory than by all means send one to me to test (and keep ) becouse i cant get one myself and im getting real tired of swapping parts.

 

As I read it, it means they will create a video BIOS like the MSI one which is more tolerant. Which may mean you loose 1 or 2 FPS in a game.

I don't know what it is exactly because they are not telling but it might be something like the CAS memory settings for motherboard memory.

 

Ill let Chastity answer this to get info from the source if shell have it instead of trying to guess. Im most interested if they know yet where the problem lies and what it is. If they actually compared the vBios they could just build one thats the same as the MSI but build in HDMI and VGA code for the G73JH and all should work fine but i guess they dont want to do that...

 

ughh.. what's SAM? And to put it directly , are u saying its going to be months before a proper fix comes although quite a lot has come in 2 weeks? ... i think u need to clarify chasity.

 

If they tested 212+32 computers, how come neither of them gave GSOD in L4D2? I loaded up Hard Rain map and got screen flickering and eventually GSOD (a bit later with the new vBIOS tho).
Only improvement I experienced that it did not give GSOD while running WEI and it gave the GSOD a bit later in L4D2, but it is still there

 

Sam was the extension of the vbios file. G730810.sam So this is why we call it sam.
I don't think it will take month to get this fixed and I wouldn't be surprise if some of us get a beta vbios for testing. ( i sure hope I get my hands on one )

 

Your avatar is not cute enough for that

 

It is. I did get access to "sam" before it was posted here.

You dont like my avatar?

 

No, it scares me

 

Got something related to HellCry avatar.

 

i don't mind if they take 2 weeks because getting my G73 is going to take that long.. if it has GSOD's then , they better run.. but seriously , the progress being made is excellent.. i wouldn't be suprised if we got something next week.. i'm only scared in flashing BIOS and all because unlike my hp , u have to do it through BIOS.. on hp , u extracted the compressed file and did it in windows with 1 click..

 

Don't worry , its almost easier and is a lot safer Flashing from the bios.

 

some good results and some not so good results huh? Well, I'll wait for the official vbios to be released. Can't afford to screw up anything.

 

Well, my GSOD-free g73 returned from RMA with GSODs (why did they replace the gpu? I don't know! It wasn't causing problems!), and has gone back again. I'm with Xellon though, I'm waiting for an official fix ... until then, I'm going to keep RMAing it, because it's not my job to fix my brand new computer.

 

What I am saying is that hardware RMA on the issue is going to be a crap shoot on whether you get a tolerant setup or not. However, Asus did some research and compared their vBIOS to some others and got some ideas / insight on the matter, in addition to some other stuff they did. The next beta should be bearing the fruit of this research.

If you want specifics, I cannot give them since I'm not privy to it myself.

So, in a nutshell, hold off on the RMA until we have a final release, and if you still have issues, then RMA.

 

Some ETA ? today? next week?
I have nothing to do @job today ,except read this forum/ trying stuff.

 

Watch some anime. I was watching Code geass in 1080p and got a gsod from it xD

edit - strange... I can't add to chastity's rep points

 

life is so good for you

 

rep someone else first, then rep me repeat as necessary !

just a FYI, I do all this stuff during the week from my lappy in a van wandering around the Bronx, doing my regular job.

 

So can you promise us a FUL REPORT after the NDA???

(with all the technical info)

 

Not funny.

 

the fourth time they just give a new one, so .... just continue with the RMA's. Maybe your lucky