ASUS G73SW Freezes When Playing Games, Please Help!!

Hi, Ive always looked at this forum when I need help with my laptop but I cant find out what is wrong with it this time. My ASUS G73SW laptop has recently started to completely freeze a few minutes into playing any graphically intensive game. The mouse is unresponsive and I cant do anything other than press the power button. There is also a continuous buzzing sound coming from the game which is basically the last sound from the game looping continuously. It happens with every game i've tried to play but I can still watch videos, surf the internet, listen to music etc. completely fine. I have cleaned out the fans by spraying compressed air into the back of the laptop and I dont think the temps are the problem as it has frozen when the GPU temperature is around 75 degrees. I have also done a clean install of windows to no avail and ensured that all of my video drivers are up to date and have tried going back to earlier versions. I am not sure what warranty I have as I can no longer access the item that I bought on eBay as it was a few months ago but there is a sticker which says Warranty :12M on the bottom of the laptop and 2011- 05 beneath it even though I bought it in December. Please can you help me to fix the problem as the reason I bought it was for gaming and I can no longer do that.

Thanks so much in advance, regards, Chris.

 

Have you run memtest86+ or the built in windows memory diagnostic?

Diagnosing memory problems on your computer

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

 

Thanks so much for the quick reply, ill run memtest86+ overnight and let you know the results first thing tomorrow morning. Thanks again.

 

Are you running Throttlestop when your playing? If not, this may solve your freezing problem.

Click Here

 

Hi BlueComet, yeah i've tried it with and without throttlestop and it atill freezes. ALLurGroceries ive ran memtest86+ for 10 hours overnight and have 5 passes and 0 errors, should I keep it running or is that enough? Also I have 2 slots with 4GB ram in each so is it teating both of them?

 

Sorry for the double post, I just realised that I havent posted my system specs yet if theyre of any help:

Asus g73SW
Intel Core i7 2630qm 2.0ghz
Nvidia GTX460m 1.5GB
2x4GB Ram
500GB HDD
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Also just a bit more info, i've noticed that I can play Football Manager 2012 for as long as I want and it wont freeze apart from when I go into a 3D match and it lasts for a few minutes then freezes, I actually have to speed the matches up to full speed so that they end before it freezes. Its odd because I dont think it is to do with the temps as it freezes around 70-80c on the graphics card.

 

Are you overclocking?

It sounds video driver related. Have you completely uninstalled and delete your video drivers and updated them again with the latest and see if that fixes it.

1. Uninstall Nvidia Drivers/Control panel completely in the windows control panel uninstallation facility.
2. Right click my computer, device Manager, display adaptor, right click 460M GTX adaptor and select uninstall and tick to delete software.
3. Run drivesweeper or ccleaner and remove all remaining Nvidia files. (should be done in safe mode) I never do however.
4. Restart
5. It will confirm ''Installing Standard VGA adaptor'' upon restart.
6. Install the latest driver package from scratch and it will confirm you need to restart once done.

 

Thanks for the help Yiddo, no i'm not overclocking anything although I did once or twice a few weeks ago but it was nothing major and didn't do it for any extended period of time.

Ive just followed the steps that you outlined and so far no freezes, odd though because I had already done that after a clean install of Windows and it didn't help. Ill run some games and let you know if it has fixed it or not.

 

I managed to get through a 3D match in Football Manager 2012 (at normal speed) and the temps of the graphics card reached 72c maximum (hovering around 70c). I then tried Empire Total War (just leaving it at the main menu on full graphics) and it froze with the usual buzzing noise after a couple of minutes. The temps were slightly higher for that one and it froze at 78c. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

Oh a buzzing noise? The screen locks up/freezes and just buzzes?

If you wait does it restart itself?

Thinking back this was a common issue that related to sound drivers on the G73 series and was caused by the THX software. What sound drivers are you using? To diagnose this completely uninstall your sound drivers and any surround sound software you have and restart and then game again as you did before and see if you get a lock up. Sadly, you wont have sound

(Temps are perfectly normal you do not need to worry about them)

 

Thanks for the quick reply, yeah the screen completely freezes and I cant do anything and there's always a buzzing noise when it freezes unless i've got the sound muted in which case there's nothing. I haven't waited for that long after it freezes I tend to just turn it off after a few seconds, i'll try it again and wait 10 mins and see if it restarts itself. T

In terms of the sound drivers there are 4 'NVIDIA High Definition Audio' ones and a 'High Definition Audio Device'. Ill try uninstalling them all and see what happens.

 

Certainly sounds like its sound driver related. Where did you get your drivers from? Asus Website or Realtek/Nvidia website?

Nvidia display drivers install the HDMI ones and Realtek sound drivers the rest. Uninstall the Realtek High Def first and test your games without sound. If that does not work then it does sound like the Nvidia drivers so you will need to try rolling back to older ones and see if that fixes the problem. Annoying I am sure but the only way to fix the problem is to trial and error.

 

I got the Graphics card driver from the NVIDIA website, I uninstalled all of the sound drivers before I read your post sorry. As you say there is now no sound at all but I have empire running again at full settings and no freezing yet so thats a great sign as it normally would have frozen by now especially as the temps for the GPU have reached a max of 84c whereas before they only got to around 78c before freezing. Ill try installing the High Definition audio device one first without the NVIDIA ones and if it starts freezing again then ill look for an older version of the NVIDIA sound drivers. I found it quite odd that the problem started a day or two after I updated my Graphics driver but I never even thought of the sound drivers.

I can't thank you enough for all of your help I really appreciate it, ill let you know as soon as I install the driver again.

 

Your most welcome fella finding the problem is the hard part now you just need to find the right driver.

Try installing the Realtek drivers directly from their website the latest ones and then try the Nvidia latest and see if the same happens. Sometimes the Asus version can be old or not work correctly sometimes it is just a bad installation that is causing the problem.

If it does not work try an older version of the Nvidia drivers. One thing I forgot to mention as well make sure your DirectX are fully up to date.

Your temps are perfectly normal in the 70's and 80's are the norm it is when you move towards the high 90's and into the 100's you need to worry.

 

I went to that website and chose 'Downloads' and then 'High Definition Audio Codecs (Software)' and downloaded the second result, is that the correct one?

And thats great to hear about the temps because its something that I always worry about after my last laptop has real heat problems.

And yeah I made sure that my directx is up to date.

 

Yes those are the ones. Where did you download the original drivers from? Or did you reinstall from a factory image?

The factory image would have very old drivers which could be why you are seeing the problem.

 

I didnt manually install sound drivers from anywhere I just reinstalled windows of the disk and done all of the windows updates and then updated my graphics card of the NVIDIA site. After installing that realtek sound driver the laptop froze again and made the buzzing noise at 78c like before, there were no NVIDIA ones installed, what should I do now? There are 4 'high definition audio device' ones and a 'Realtek high definition audio.

 

Sounds like the Realtek ones then. But still have not ruled out Display Drivers. Uninstall the Realtek ones you just installed.

Try these they are from the Asus website and are the official latest realtek release for your G73SW Windows 7 64.

If the lockup still happens then try these, they are the latest official Asus release of Video drivers. Uninstall your video drivers first.

 

May not be the sound drivers after all, I uninstalled them again and tested it without any again, this time it did freeze right after the screen went balck and a pop up came up saying the display driver had stopped working and recovered or something like that. Should I still install those drivers?

 

Back to stage 1 again.

Yes as above go for the official Asus drivers but first make sure you fully uninstall your current ones and crap clean and uninstall the device itself so that it goes back to a standard VGA adaptor, then install them and restart and try again.

We will get there

 

Ok now i'm really confused. I've just tried it for a third time with no sound drivers at all and nothings gone wrong so far, all i'm doing is sitting at the main menu of Empire Total War with full graphics settings.

The first time I tried it with no sound drivers the screen went black for about 5 seconds and then came back on and it worked for about 5 mins then I stopped testing it and assumed that it worked, the second time it went black after a minute for about 5 seconds but that popup came up and then it froze a couple of seconds after. Now this is the third time and nothing has happened.

Edit: Ok it just froze after a few mins with no sound drivers, i'm assuming that it must vary with how long it takes before it freezes with or without sound drivers. I'll install those drivers that you linked thanks.

 

Go back a page and make sure you have those Realtek drivers installed as we know it is not that. Back to stage 1 try this again:

Using these drivers.

If then it does not work you have ruled out sound and video drivers.

 

Ok so I didn't change anything to do with the graphics drivers I just installed those sound drivers that you linked and yeah it still freezes pretty quickly. Ill uninstall etc. my graphics driver and install the one you linked and let you know if it still doesnt work.

 

Still think it is display driver related but you just cannot tell like others have said it really be anything from software to hardware from HDD to RAM to VGA to drivers. Unless you get the fail code and decipher it all you can is keep trying and worse case scenario wipe windows and start again. Hopefully the display drivers help.

I am travelling now so will post in a few hours if you do not sort it

 

Yeah it still doesn't work, thanks for all of the help anyway. I might just take it down to ouR local hardware store or send it off to ASUS for them to repair it, I didn't want to have to do it because it takes 2 weeks to get it back and I think it's out of warranty so I have no idea how much they'll charge.

I've already run memtest86+ and windows memory diagnostics so I dont think its the memory, i've also already done a clean install of Windows but if doing a factory reset would make any difference then I could do that?

But if anyone has any suggestions then please fire away.

 

Can you install and run HDDTune just to be sure it is not the HDD.

Run a full health scan and it will check the whole drive and show either green or red blocks.

I agree we are running out of ideas but you would be better off trying to fix it yourself you could open yourself up to RMA hell and wish you hadn't sent it off and there are plenty more things to try first including a full reinstall of windows again.

 

Sorry for the delay, HD Tune is running now ill let you know how it goes. I'm also trying to find out what warranty I have and what it covers me for.

What difference, if any, is there between a 'F9 Recovery / factory reset' and a clean install of windows as that is what ASUS support recommended when I messaged them?

 

HD Tune has just finished with no errors so we can now assume that its not the Hard Drive, the temps, the memory or the sound and video drivers.

 

I was hoping in the meantime that someone was going to come along and show me up with a fix to your problem but I think we have covered the majority of the possibilities so far

However this was not happening prior to you reinstalling windows correct? Which means that it must be something software related.

The only other time I ran into problems on my G73 was when I installed windows and drivers and then did all the updating/service pack 1 etc.

Its long winded but might be worth just starting again, if you want to do a factory reset update windows fully with the service pack and then install all of the latest drivers. I have never been fond of factory installations myself I always create my own partition as soon as I get the model and normally install my own copy of windows from scratch as they are not fault proof.

What Asus have recommended and I personally do is to install the basic version of windows either from the CD if your laptop came with one or using an OEM installation with your code from the bottom of your laptop and registering it and then install the drivers yourself from scratch.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...lk-through-doing-clean-windows-7-install.html

 

Haha yeah looks like its just you who's helping. The problems were happening before I reinstalled windows thats why I actually did the reinstall to see if that would fix it.

Ill try doing another factory reset and updating all of the drivers and installing nothing else and let you know how it goes.

I've found out that I still have a good few months left on my 1 year Global Warranty with ASUS so if the factory reset still doesn't solve it i'll just send it off to get repaired.

Thanks again for all of your help though.

 

Can you think back to when they started? If you made any changes or updated anything that could have caused it? If that is the case then cannot rule out a hardware problem but first go with the reinstallation and then if nothing else comes to mind might need to consider knocking on Asus door god help you. hehe.

 

As far as I can remember it just came out of the blue, I think I updated my video card a day or two before it happened but that doesn't seem to be the cause.

I'll let you know if the factory reset fixes it.

 

Sound so much like Video Card it is unreal but drivers can be a pain to fix.

Fingers crossed.

 

Just another note that it doesn't seem to be happening only with games. I ran a video conversion program to see if it froze and it did twice, I just have this feeling that its something to do with the temps as it only seems to freeze once the pc is under load or the gpu temps rise to around 70c for a sustained period.

I've since put a colling pad under the laptop and ran the conversion program again and havent received any freeze yet despite the gpu remaining around the same 70c level, but the rest of the temps (processor, HD) are lower than without the cooling pad.

 

The problem with that Nvidia card is that you only get one temperature reading.

The ATI cards monitor each section of the DIE for instance the Shaders and Memory controllers etc and normally they differ, if one section of your DIE is not being properly cooled from poor application of thermal compound or degraded compound then this could be a cause of the problem. To get inside requires a complete disassembly so what should be a simple repaste job to rule that out as a cause of your problem is no easy task unless you have done it before. As you are within warranty it looks as though you are left with little else to try but to RMA.

 

Yeah I was considering opening it up at one stage to repaste the CPU and GPU but once I realized how complicated it was compared to other laptops to get into it I decided not to. Especially now that I have found out that it is still under warranty.

As you say it seems that my only option is to send it off to ASUS for repair.

I can post back here if you like once its been sent back to me.

 

Yeah make sure you post the RMA results to help others facing the same fella. Good luck

 

i just open the unit and clear away a thick dust from both the gpu and cpu fan and thats solve my problem. no more crash or loud fan while start games.ive checking this post before i decided to open it since u already did all the software issue reinstall and everything its still the same so only one thing left is the dust.

thanks

 

Just an update on the progress of the repair. A courier picked it up on the 5th of July and it arrived at the repair centre on the 10th. I messaged the ASUS customer support people a couple of days ago and despite theyre tracking website saying 'Waiting-[WF9] Wait for Customer Confirmation-NTF' they have told me that they have had to order replacements parts for it ("a replacement motherboard and VGA board as well as allocating a replacement TFT screen"). I then messaged them again yesterday asking how long, on average, it takes for these parts to arrive and after that how long it should be before I receive the laptop back. They replied this morning saying the following-

"Regarding timescales, the majority of our repairs take generally between 7 to 10 working days for a full repair. And then a few days afterwards the courier should return the unit to yourself.

However, when units require specialist intricate parts, which sadly may be the case for yourself as these specialist parts tend to be motherboards and internal components, in accordance with our terms and conditions, the devices could take up to 31 days to repair. However, this is the absolute maximum we would ask you to wait.

For yourself, this means that from when we received the unit on the 10th of July, if we have not repaired and returned within 7-10 working days, it could take anywhere up to 31 days for the unit to be fully repaired. After this point, if the unit is not repaired, we would swap the unit for a replacement."

So since they received the laptop it has now been 7 working days, if it has not arrived back by Tuesday then I can only assume that it will take a few more weeks before I receive it.

Does anyone know whether the "31 days" mentioned in the message is only working days or not? Because if it is then I could be without the laptop for a while.

 

Hey guys I've been having the same problem where if I start playing a game it crashes. I've checked my gpu temp with cpuid and the freezing usually occurs once it has reached 65-70 degrees celcius. I've tested memory, clean re-install my graphics driver, used ccleaner, tested for malware and the problem still occurs.

I'm from Australia and I bought my g73sw laptop while in the U.S at best buys and a big problem is that the ink has disappeared from the receipt so I can't show proof of purchase.

I'm not sure what to do now since I am unable to do anything with my laptop

thanks.

 

That's quite unlucky. Youre best bet is to probably to try messaging ASUS Technical Support here 'http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx' and explain the same problem that you have here and see what they say seeing as you are still in warranty.

If that doesn't provide any solutions then you could also try bringing it to a nearby hardware store and see if they do repairs. Here in the UK Currys do repairs for £50 while you wait in the store unless they need new parts in which case they send it away and you have to pay a bit extra for them but i'm sure that you can find something similar in Australia.

If you dont have anything like that nearby and want to risk voiding the warranty (remember you dont need to be in warranty to get a repair anywhere other than from ASUS themselves) then you could just go through the long dissasembly process (look it up on Youtube) and clear away any dust that may be on the GPU, CPU and fan/heatsink like another user who posted here has done and that may fix it.

Good Luck, Chris.