Asus G71

Had asus known of the problem the laptop would have been delayed X number of days. The issue will be fixed, so delay your purchase X number of days or do what you would have done had the laptop not existed yet, buy something else.

 

"I work at my local Best Buy and I also own the G71GX. Unfortunately, I am also having the SAME EXACT issue that everyone else has been reporting about (i.e. after playing a game for a couple of minutes, even on the recommended settings, my FPS drops to ~2-4fps, which makes the game unplayable. Certain games freeze up completely and I have to restart to fix the issue. Also, like everyone has been reporting, this problem occurs once the GPU hits ~82c).

It's not so much of a problem of the GPU overheating (82c for a GTX 260 is relatively cool); rather, it's a feature that's being implemented to keep the GPU from overheating or drawing too much power? It seems that it doesn't clock down the GPU but it reduces the voltage going to the GPU from .95v to .85v (as noted in the BIOS).

ASUS> Please take a note of this. EVERY user (and that's not an exaggeration) is suffering from this issue. Every customer at Best Buy who has used their G71GX for gaming has experienced this issue as well. Thankfully, I was able to report it to the rest of my fellow Geek Squad members so we are all aware of the issue and the customer can exchange/return their laptop with no trouble because we are all aware that it as a MAJOR problem on ASUS' end.

Fix ASAP please! Do not take these reports lightly, this is a major issue!"


- some guy at the Asus Support Forum

 

the official problem has been diagnosed.

 

So whats that mean? Any estimate on how long it will be for a fix?

 

If you read the post the card is dropping voltage, meaning someone, a user, has actually diagnosed the situation. It also confirms a bios or vbios update will most likley fix it, no ETA as it wasnt ASUS making the diagnosis.

 

Someone posted the voltage problem on these forums days ago...

 

Yes he probably got the info from these boards .

 

actually, i go the info from the Asus Support board... like i said i did.

 

hahaha yeah that was me

I do work at the Geek Squad at my local BBY. I started an internship recently that is basically full time throughout the week, so I am only working at BBY on weekends. I only had a chance to talk about it with fellow employees and whatnot. The next time I work, I'm going to tell a few managers/supervisors about it and then try to send a memo to corporate to see if they will acknowledge anything about this issue. Usually they are pretty good about it, and if a memo/email doesn't work, I can call them.

I'd really like to get this issue fixed and I'd also really like to see Best Buy make an appropriate decision about what to do with this product for the time being until it is fixed/revised. I would hope that they keep it in the system but put it on "Backorder" until they receive units from ASUS that are KNOWN to not suffer from this issue.

The more reports that ASUS/BBY receive, that quicker this issue will be resolved in some way.

 

Thats not what he said, he didnt say where YOU got the info from...

 

ok, now im just confused. oh well lets just forget it no harm done. hey PAGS any way you could send a memo to Corporate... before this weekend??? that would be really cool for all of us.

 

Some photos G7Gx?

 

Pags did you used to play DoD under the same name for a clan called Allied Army?

I want to PM this to you but it won't let me for some reason

 

hahaha i think i might have. i definitely have played DoD (back in the day) and i was in a CS clan for awhile with a tag that was -[AA]-, so my name was -[AA]-Pags (i play DoD with some of the same people in this CS clan, so i used the same tag as they did but in CS it didn't mean Allied Army; rather, it meant Alviso Admins).

Also, i'd definitely love to get something to corporate about it before this weekend, but i'm pretty busy with my internship until the evening. i could probably call the customer care hotline and just tell them my employee number and get on the phone with a supervisor about it. i try to avoid going to the store if i'm not working or not buying something hahaha.

i'll do my best though and try to keep you guys updated

 

His lack of ability to pm due to no post count would be the reason for your inability to pm him.

 

Thanks Pags!

 

Who wants to be the 2nd to review this laptop on Cnet?

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/asus-g71gx-rx05/4505-3121_7-33695862.html

 

Pags,

Is it possible to negotiate with the BB sales people for a lower price? It looks like at least 1 guy from the G51 thread was able to do this. I'm wondering if this was an isolated event or if Best Buy does this often. I might end up going to BB this weekend to check out the floor models. Either way it doesn't hurt to ask while I'm there

Oh and about the DoD thing... that would be wild if it was you. But I doubt it. The Pags I know was part of the [AA] Allied Army clan. How freakin ironic that your clan had the same abbreviation! Maybe you are the same pags that I know and someone in my clan was playing a horrible joke on you. lol. Honestly I haven't been involved in that clan in about 4 or 5 years and I don't even know why I remember the name Pags.

 

Underclocked in comparison to what?
The 260M that comes in the g51 is not the usual 260m that comes in other laptops like Sager 8662/Clevo M860TU?

I'm thinking of getting a G51, could you please clarify?

Thanks.

 

According to the published clock speeds of the GTX 260M , the unit in the G51 and G71 is not the same speed, though a simple bios flash could fix that problem. I believe the speeds actually match that of the 250M which uses the same parts.

 

send it to me lol jk

 

Has anyone noticed a repeating keystroke problem? I swear I am not going crazy, this thing double types at random intervals.

 

My Asus W90 used to do the same thing, Its prolly something to do with asus

 

Well yesterday my asus g71 finally found a game that makes it run hoter, and harder, Keeps my cpu most of times between 90% to 100%, this would be gta 4, i am kinda worried because laptop goes hotter than usual, heres what it goes, The cpu Jumps from the normal 44º of other games, to 54º and my graphic card jumps from the usual 71º to 79º this was the max temperatures i registered since i turned gta on till i turned it off "played 4 hours" should i be worried?

 

Those arent bad temps by any regard. Dont worry about it. Both your CPU and GPU can hit 100 C before they are too hot.

 

oh, you are 100 sure of that number? heres the laptop i got http://www.fatech.com/site/prodetail.aspx?id=52013, its because i am using a program called "speedfan" to see cpu, gpu heat, and in that program the gpu shows always as to hot, and when the cpu gets above 50 shows as to hot also (maybe possibly because that program is made for deskopts to?)

 

Ha, speedfan is telling you it is hot! Yeah dont take that programs credibility. Here: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/Intel-Core%202%20Duo%20Mobile%20T9550%20AW80576GH0676MG%20(BX80576T9550).html scroll down the data sheet, this is for your processor. Look at near the bottom where is says max operating temp is 105C, I dont have a link for the GPU but trust me 79 C is excellent you have nothing to worry about.

 

thats great!but am.. aint it kinda bad that my CPU is running at 100% while playing? i mean.. i dont know why it does that, i played games with better grafics like crysis and cpu keeps on 60-70% but, to be honest, inside the game, i got 0 lag, i play all the time fine

 

No its not bad. GTA4 is just a game that requires considerably more CPU power. It is recommended that you use a quad core with that game. So as long as you are getting good FPS you have no worries.

 

So if this is a voltage issue, A bios fix would fix this? If that is the case I will go ahead and buy this and just wait it out since I only game with my lap top at work and it is so cold there I have to wear a winter coat.

 

might be time to wait for some nice referbished deals on all the returns.......since if it end up being a bios fix, then there really was nothing wrong with the machines.

 

That is a great point, but I dont think they will sell refurbs online so i wont be able to get one. I think Ill stay with my FX anyway, I like the fact that it has seperate cooling for CPU and GPU plus I already know how stable the FX's are. I got stung bad by issues with my W90 (asus), lost around $500.00 on that deal and Im not about to jump in the dog cage again.

 

It's hard to say. It really depends on your store, the person you deal with at customer service, and the manager/supervisor who would approve the price override.

Sometimes they will make an exception every now and then to keep customers happy, such as the customer who was very willing to buy the G50 because it was in his price range but could not afford the only similar product in stock, i.e. the G51, because it was just outside of his price range. By giving that customer a discount that one time, they know that he will trust BBY more and will return to make future purchases.

As for the guy who got a discount solely because he purchased a warranty, I've never heard of that happen before. He might have really really pushed for it. He probably said "I can definitely afford this laptop, and I definitely want a warranty, but I cannot afford a warranty AND the laptop...can you help me out??"

Since this issue occurs 100% of the time with this model of laptops, BBY probably wouldn't make an exception because it's not an exceptional issue. It's a very very common issue (so common that it's "normal"). But, hey, it's worth a shot!

When you go to customer service, tell the representative about this issue and how everyone who purchases this model is basically purchasing a defective laptop. Try to imply that they can either sell the laptop at a slightly lower price or just never sell that laptop at all OR that they can sell the laptop but you will end up returning the next day anyways so they will have to deal with selling an open-box item at a discounted price anyways or they will have to DEVO the laptop anyways (basically means sending it back to the vendor).

If the customer service rep seems bound by the rules of BBY, politely ask to speak with a manager/supervisor who might be able to help you. You might have to wait a minute or two for a manager to arrive, so just step aside and let other customers return their crap. As long as you're polite but also firm with what you're saying/requesting, there's a decent chance they might make an exception.

My question is...why would you pay any money for this laptop when you know it's going to be defective? haha, jw.

you know what...Allied Army is kind of ringing a bell. What was your alias for the clan??

 

i just realized something.

without a fix the temps go to 83*C, then it basically shuts down so it gets cooler...


AFTER the bios, is it possible that it will get higher than that? is there a way to put better fans in it or something? i mean, other than a notebook cooler? I can't see a notebook cooler doing 20* difference

 

I 95% sure that there is not easy way to constantly keep the temp below 82. That is a medium to high operating temp that is really hard to stay away from.

 

Hey guys, as I said, I'd post today about my G71-RX05.

Picked it up from BB yesterday, after cleaning the extra crap software, etc, getting most of the windows updates, I installed Crysis, and updated it with the most recent patch - 1.2.

It was about 22C in my house at the time... I had a relatively cheap Belkin chill mat under the thing...

I played Crysis on (all settings on high, some on very high) for 45 minutes...then ran the GPU Crysis benchmark through twice in a row.

It didn't so much as stutter one time, much less drop to 1 frame/sec

I got tired at that point... called it a night.

I want to retest, I'll go in my studio space in the attic where it's much warmer, and perhaps not use the chill mat - and I imagine I'll get the same result?

IMO, even if you aren't sure about buying this, you should as it seems certain that ASUS will release a fix (bios update probably) - and you should probably invest in a good chill mat for any gaming laptop anyway as it'll prolong the life of your components, and just keep things running a little smoother overall for little cash.

ALSO - I did notice in the BIOS, under Power, you can set the monitoring of the GPU temp to "Ignore"

Would that be a simple solve until ASUS releases a fix? Seems like it might, though I was unable to test as I was unable to duplicate the severe down clocking issue...

I do have a question though, as I did monitor the CPU temp, (went from 50-55C) however what's the best (preferably light weight) app to monitor GPU temps?

 

This is making me hesitant, even if they do fix the GPU issue. Is this is a wide-spread issue or is it isolated? "Double typing" is no good for me as a gaming laptop or a work laptop (my work involves alot of typing and if I have to make additional keystrokes to emit characters that were double typed, it would hurt my productivity). Is there any known fix for this?

 

I have had no keystroke issues...

 

i believe its an isolated issue

 

After reading Kipker's post, I might have to go out and purchase one. I was planning on buying a laptop cooler either way, any suggestions on which is best? Unfortunately my local Best Buy was sold out of these machines when I was there yesterday, but I'll have to check around and hope to find one relatively close to home.

 

its only a BestBuy thing. you'll just have to wait i guess

 

Can anyone confirm if Kipker's proposed solution of "going into the BIOS under Power and setting the monitoring of the GPU temp to ignore" fixes the underclocking issue?

 

Problem reported to Asus on Sunday the 28th, they are already working with nVidia, the new BIOS to fix heat issue will be release by the end of next week.

 

Timely update Ken, thanks

 

Thanks for the update! Ken, you're the man. Side question, if I bought one of these from Best Buy, would I be able to take it to you and could you perform after-market upgrades without voiding the warranty or would I have to send it into ASUS to do that? Reason I ask is I have relatives that live in Covina so if I go to visit them, your shop would be near by.

 

I can confirm from my end that it did not work.

 

Hey Tom,

I definitely changed this value on the model in store. If you go to Best Buy, I bet the dude will gladly reboot it for you and enter CMOS, and show you from there. - I did that in store with the BB guy before bringing mine home.

I just ordered a better cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834998686

Mostly for durability - aluminum mat - but also read great reviews about it + it's designed for the larger laptops.

Glad to hear ASUS is working with nVidea on this... is that verbatim what the ASUS guy said over the phone?

 

You are welcome, Asus don't perform any upgrades, I'll send you PM.

 

Hey Ken, is the BIOS update you are referring to the FPS throttling that occurs @ around 82C for the g71gx-rx05?

If so, I may just keep this notebook...but if that doesn't work out, my time is running out >.<

 

Ken, do you have specs on the 260GTX installed on your site? I'm wondering if it's the same 500gpu configuration as BB.

This one is going back because of repeating type. At random intervals of course while overclocked. Stock speeds it doesn't happen.