Asus G73 Upgrade Thread

After going through hell myself, and still stuck there trying to get a 920XM to work in my G73, I thought it would be a good idea to have the info on upgrading in one place.

The biggest secret problem I had is about the 920XM and the RAM. I had to remove ALL RAM after installing the CPU, boot up, shutdown, re-install the in the three slots on the bottom side of the motherboard, re-boot again, shutdown and THEN re-install the last DIMM in the 4th slot.

BUT, then I had problems with the BIOS and Windows will not start. "Starting Windows" comes up, then re-boots, I get the "Start Normal?Launch Startup Repair" menu, and the cycle continues.

Can anyone help?

 

Did you set your BIOS settings back correctly? like AHCI/IDE?

 

I don't think so, how do I do that?

I don't think I did anything with the BIOS, I go into ASUS Easy Flash and there is a list of the drives. It looks like I am supposed to load a BIOS file?

Now, it's just freezing up on me in the BIOS screen...

 

Now, it's not booting up at all and the lights are blinking....God this sucks, I'm gonna cry...

I can't even install Windows...

 

Try the RAM thing again.

It would be the delete key to get into the bios when "ASUS" is on the screen

 

I'll second that. Loose ram or Loose CPU (did you screw the CPU back in firmly?)

 

Give us an ideas of exactly what you did and what problems you experienced so we can better help you .

 

I read your other thread. Seems to me I saw someone else say you can't have any RAM in that hidden 4th slot when using that upgraded CPU. See if leaving that out altogether fixes the problems.

Cheers,

 

That doesn't matter but it's easier to troubleshoot if it isn't there.

 

I treid the RAM thing again, reset button, poweer drain and it is booting up but just keeps going into the BIOS screen??

 

what happens when you configure the bios properly and F10?

 

If the computer is booting up, that means there isn't a problem with the cpu as everything is functional. The fact that it is booting up to the bios screen right away means that your hard drives are not detected. Once again, see if your sata connection that connects your two hard drives to the motherboard is connected properly. It might be loose, not all the way plugged in, or even damaged. Then report back. Don't lose heart!

 

I really wanted to do the 920XM upgrade but so many people have had so many problems I wonder if I will go through with it.

I think I will instead build a new desktop

Lets just hope we get some kind of overclock ability for the 720QM and that will be all that 99% of us need, as the 920XM is not a whole lot faster its the ability to overclock in the G73 via bios that really makes it worth the upgrade (for some)

 

Kind of off topic, but how much ram can the g73 take? It would be a total shame if 8gb is really the max when it has 4 friggen slots....

 

Are you saying that from a hardware design point of view or that you actually need more than 8GB of RAM?

The specifications say "up to 8GB".

 

I have 12GB in mine, 16GB is the max but you have to take the computer apart to get to that 4th slot. I put 2X4GB in the top two slots under the access panel.

 

Okay, i'll try that, but the BIOS recognizes the hard drive because it is listed in the boot options, so doesn't that mean it's connected?

 

I didn't realize that you were using different rams then the ones provided from the factory. Did you try with the original rams? It could be your new rams... One problem could be your rams are defective... It could also be with the pairing of your new rams. If I'm correct the rams are paired in a certain way that it needs to have it a certain order if you are using different size or speed of the rams.

 

I agree with Si3, RAM seems to be the problem here. If you upgraded and installed new RAM, it may not be playing nice. I ran into a similar problem when my brother installed additional Ram (same brand, speeds, type, but different version) to his desktop. It would go to the windows loading screen, then mess up and go straight to bios. It would offer options to boot normal or repair or something like that also.

If I removed the new ram and just used the old ram it booted fine. Also if I booted off just the new ram it also worked fine. No combination of the ram installed made it boot fine. I guess they just didn't want to play nice, and I couldn't get it to work. We ended up sending the ram back in the end.

Hopefully that helps a little.. Goodluck!

 

Isn't RAM suppose to be installed in pairs of slot 1, 3 and 2, 4?

You could try Memtest86 and test the RAM.

 

Interesting, so the specifications are wrong.

 

I've read on different sites confliting from 8GB to 16GB. If i recall HM55 does support 16GB DDR3.

 

To get the RAM to run "Dual Channel" typically it is in staggered slots like you listed above. It can run in ajoining slots but won't get the best performance out of it.

 

Yes, I believe you are correct in the pairing layout. This is what I was talking about. Give this a shot and see if it works, but if it doesn't go back to your other rams, and let us know specifically what the specs are for your new and original ram.

 

You only need to remove the keyboard to get to the 4th slot. Nice little tip I got from Paladin44 (sp?)

 

Have you set your bios to default?

Honestly the G73 is the only notebook that can use the 920 to it's full potential. Someone can easily argue it's usefulness in any other system.

 

So you've got your 4gb SODIMMs in memory slots 3 and 4 (top two slots). As Si3, TalonUIUC, and Gruvin2 have suggested, the culprit may be memory, or memory configuration. You should try moving your 4gb SODIMMs to slots 1 and 3, which are the bottom two slots under the access panel, and see if that make a difference.

Good Luck..

 

You guys are GODS!!!!!!!!!

That was it, I took the new RAM out, it booted up just fine, shut down, put the RAM back and all is okay.

Thank you tons guys, I had given up and ordered another one.

 

That sounds like you had them with old and new RAM paired in dual channel, which will cause issues.

 

Congrats!!

 

BTW, when you put the 4gb RAM back in, did you put the SODIMMs in the same two upper slots as you had originally had them? Or did you put them in the two lower memory slots? (Just curious)

Congrats on getting it working..

 

Thanks...so yeah, I put them back in their original slots.

 

Happy to help! Glad to see it all worked out . Now have fun!

 

Be nice to see some game benchies with the 720 vs the 920 cpu, yah know.