Asus G73JH Hard drive woes.

Hey guys - There seems to be no end to the grief that my G73 is causing me.

So. I've had this since Feb'10. Mid last year I started noticing one of my drives randomly disappear (the secondary drive, so I could still boot up my laptop), after looking around for a while and checking on this forum I realized that I wasn't alone and that this does seem to be Achilles heel for this model.
So I sent it for RMA in Dec'11 and had it back in Jan'12.
A few months later, now both drives disappear, so I can't even boot the laptop, it says “Select appropriate boot device”, when I check in Bios it does not detect ANY of the drives, SATA ports are all empty other than the DVD ROM!! This happens let’s say 5 times out of 10.
I took the drives out, they have a manufacture date of 6/2011 so I'm inclined to believe that they were replaced last year and when I ran HDTune last night it did not report any issues with the drives.

So has someone else noticed the same issues with their G73 and what are my options at this point. If the drives are fine, there may be an issue with some connections/cables?

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

 

The SATA connectors for the HDDs are on a separate board that is connected to the mobo through a ribbon cable, it's possible that it came loose.

 

I´ve had same problem with a OCZ Vertex 2 SSD in the 2nd drivebay, only problems and no-show, and finally dead and off to Asus RMA, because no boot. Yes, 3 times in 2 years, and now the warranty is over, I just sit and wait for the next problem.. This is Asus, not Heesus, or Jesus, but ASUS!!

What a pain it is...

 

So did they fix the drive issue when you sent it to them? Because mine wasn't fixed when I got it back, just didn't notice it for a few days.

I'm pissed too because this seems to be a widespread issue and going by Asus's reputation I'm aghast that this is happening on so many of their laptops.

Thanks, I'll check that.

 

Also, my thread and some other threads (reporting issues with Asus laptops) say "Moved".
Is there a seperate Forum for reporting issues with the Asus G73 model, or is there a different reason for moving these threads?

 

Yes, it was fixed, but in that process they broke the keyboardlight, and I just gave up on that horrible Asus Shop (SE Asia somewhere) - and will never go back there. Warranty is over now, and let´s see how long time before the next problem(s) arises. I keep the 2nd HDD bay empty, maybe two drives is too much for the mobo, who knows? The hardware quality is horrible though, am I alloved to mention that fact, tijo? Seems there are a lot of sensitive Asus fanboys around here doing PC work i.e. "political correctness" kind of work!

 

Well, the only issue I had with my G73JH-A2 is the battery and wifi LED aren't lighting-up anymore, 1 bright dot on LCD, and the occasionally zooming/jumping touchpad. No any other major hardware issue on my unit for the past 2 years and 1 month of ownership

 

I'm having the same problem. First my SSD drive 0 started disappearing on boot and now my 750Gb drive 1 shows up after boot but then about 5-10 minutes later it disappears.

 

Hi,
I dont want to make a new thread as I have the same problem. My G73jh randomly cannot detect hard drive on boot. Thought the drive is dead, I order a Western Digital Caviar Black 750gb and another problem with Intel Rapid storage continue to give me some headaches. So I decided to return the drive and go back to the default seagate 500gb.

The disassembly I've done so far is just replacing the hard drive and removing optical drive for cleaning. I just wonder is it enough to make the SATA connector become loose? BTW, regarding to this thread
I assume the SATA cable you mention is the blue cable in page 2-20?

 

Yes, it is the SATA FFC cable on page 2-20, now the cable is short, but for it to come loose, i had to go through three full tear downs before the cable on the SATA board came loose.

 

Hmm, then with just simple hard drive replacement, there is no way it can affect the cable I guess? Anyway, I cannot fully disassemble it to check as one of the screw has been worn too much to take out even though I've never touched it before

This whole instability, ATI driver, BSOD.... just make me exhausted. The last time with Asus G series.

 

In my case, the cable was not loose, but damaged. I think this could be a common problem with the G73. In my case my hard-drive would seem to disappear intermittently. (My linux OS complained about i/o errors.) After taking the case apart, I discovered that the fragile ribbon cable connecting the hard drive HDD module to the motherboard was pinched at the same place where it was folded over. It was visibly damaged.

View attachment 88429

I contacted ASUS tech support online and sent them this picture. It took about 2-3 weeks for a reply. They said I "might have a hardware problem", and to send the laptop to them.

Instead I fixed the problem myself by opening up the folded cable slghtly, enough to insert some paddiing inside where the 180-degree fold occurred (I just used duct tape for padding). I might have removed the black tape behind the cable to reduce pressure on it. I also (very important) loosened the screw (located underneath where one of the hard drives is mounted) which connects the metal frame to the plastic case which was pinching the cable. Surprisingly this has fixed the problem. It has been a year since then. I can't gaurantee this would solve the problem for you.

It looks like there is no way to purchase the cable. You probably should send the laptop back to ASUS. (or send it to the BTOtech.com company below. They seem competent.)

I found a nice video on youtube that shows how to take apart an asus G73 here:
BTOtech.com | G73Jh & G73Jw & G73Sw Disassembly Take Apart G73 g73jw service manual - YouTube
Be very careful to open the latches on all the ribbon cables. You will need tweezers and some sharp small screwdrivers.

 

I had the same issue (the hdd made a sound and then freeze for a few seconds up to couple of minutes.
I sent it for repair under warranty, but they sent it back with the same issue.

Asparagus6000's post helped me. My cable was also damaged


What I did, is putted duct tape as he suggests between the folding of the cable and also I trimmed the back of the aluminum keyboard case at the point where the cable touches and pressed upon.