Asus G73sw is unresponsive and freezes a lot.

Hi guys,

Im in dire need of help. REcently I purchased an Asus G73sw, which I got yesterday. I got through the first steps of Windows setup with no problems, but as soon as I entered Windows, I found that the laptop was behaving weirdly.

Every minute, the laptop would freeze and become unresponsive, I installed itunes and the music looped a lot, and "robotic" sequences could be heard... Also, when opening a program, the screen would flash and I'd get a message in the screen telling me nVidia drivers failed but successfully recovered.

I reinstalled drivers, but to no avail.

So I made a factory reset, which didnt help again... This time It couldn't even finish taking the WEI, and had to hard reset in that part.

I already tested the memory and found nothing faulty, Im suspecting it may be the HDD, or even the GPU (which I really hope it isnt). I will be checking the HDD this day with SeaTools.

Ive been reading a lot about this problems, and it seems a lot of people has been getting them, even with different brands of notebooks and GPUs/CPUs.

If anyone has fix for me or could help me I would be grateful.

Thanks and sorry fo the wall of text.

 

Try to do a fresh reinstall of Windows - not Asus' recovery. This would rule out software problems.

 

Will do so right now, I will install Win7 Professional right away. Will come back later to post results.

In the meantime, any drivers I MUST install right away, like video drivers and wifi card that will surely not show problems?

 

Just finished the clean install. It was all ok, but after the first reboot (I installed the nVIdia drivers) I ran the WEI and it didnt finish, at the Tuning Windows Encoding (or something like that) the PC rebooted by itself...

After the reboot, I let the laptop sit nearby while I downloaded all the drives needed in another laptop, when I finished, I plugged in my external HDD to copy the drivers, and well, after finishing the laptop freezed a lot. I moved the mouse 4 cm on the screen and then the whole laptop would freeze for a good 5 seconds...

Dunno what to do next, someone with any kind of advice???
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Edit: I finished now installing drivers, there were no more issues thankfully. Windows User Experience ran ok, a little choppy compared to my old G51vx, but the sad part is that Im getting 6.9 in both Graphics and Gaming Graphics department, whereas I should be getting 7.1 in both....

I will continue installing the rest of my stuff and post anything new.

Edit 2: And there we go, a few minutes later my pc gets a black screen for a whole minute, after that it returns to normal and again "nVidia Kernel mode driver stopped working"... This is getting out of hand =(

 

Are your BIOS up to date? What are your temperatures like? Which Nvidia drivers are you using?

 

I played COD:MW for about 30 min before getting another lock up (robotic sounds and stuff this time), I was running CPUID Hardware Monitor in the background luckily. I found a workaround to the lock ups, I simply put the laptop to sleep and then resume it, and it comes back right where it locked up (except COD was closed, no worries there tbh), and the temps where right as follow:

Max CPU Temp: 55C to 61C (55 being the coldest core, 61 the hottest)
Max GPU Temp: 64C

Btw, my min GPU voltage is 0.81, and the maximum is 0.91.

Right now I got another random screen flicker while typing (again nVidia drivers crashed).

Edit:
Had to chance PC since the G73sw got locked up =/

My Bios is G73sw 205, and my nVidia drivers are 267.54

But, I've already installed around 3 different drivers and they all behave the same. I think I may need to upgrade my HDD firmware, Ive got the Seagate Momentus with 500GB @7200, but Im afraid I don't have a clue of how to do it, even tho Ive googled, the steps are too vague.

 

Go through this, and make sure you've done everything correctly:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/583215-g73sw-g53sw-latest-drivers-everything-you-need-fresh-install.html

As for your Seagate drivers, you download them from here: Momentus XT Firmware Update

 

I actually followed that "guide" for my clean install. Step by step, I didnt add or omit anything at all.

Also, that Firmware Update are meant for the Hybrid Momentus HDDs, mine is a normal HDD.

Still I will clic the link and look around

 

I left my laptop during the night on MemTest+, next morning the screen was all black and I couldn't see the results at all. I rebooted immediately and everything seemed normal. I went to work and left it checking the disk.

Any other ideas as to what could be the issue? I get the "nvidia kernel crashed" every 2 or 3 minutes, and that is causing freezing and screen flickering. I cant play COD for more than 30 minuts without the sound looping a lot and having a lockup (which I can go around it just by putting the laptop to sleep and then resuming, which simply closes COD).

 

I'm sorry, I'm out of ideas. This sounds like a hardware problem to me, and that isn't my strong suit. Could you go to Event Viewer and post the errors you're getting? And how frequent they are?

 

You've done enough troubleshooting, @HavokD. Since you've just purchased the laptop, contact your retailer and see if you can exchange it for a new unit. If that is not possible, tell them you wish to return the defective unit for a refund.

Don't let them talk you into an RMA for Warranty Repair. Once you RMA, the laptop is yours with all its problems and the retailer is off the hook. Let the retailer and ASUS worry about how to fix THIS defective laptop.

 

I bought the laptop through ebay, and even tho I could ask for a full refund, sadly I had to pay for custom fees since I'm in another country, and I would be losing around 250 usd of fees and shipping. So I don´t think I would like to lose that much...

I already contacted the seller, Im asking for a partial refund (if it' a hardware problem I hope to be able to correct the issue with the money I get back). Ive read a lot and it seems these problems are very frequent on nVidia drivers, tho some people have gone through them I tried their solutions and nothing works.

I will post my Event Viewer logs after I return from work, so in around 4 hours. Im using my asus G50vx in the meantime.

Btw, I think it may be a problem with my power supply, so I was wondering if I could use my G50VX power supply to see if something else happens during gaming, etc, without frying my motheboard or hurting the G73 in any way?

Thanks a lot for the help guys!

 

1) What Antivirus, AntiMalware, Firewall, or Remote Access software is installed to your system?

2) I couldn't find what NVIDIA driver version you are currently running. If I was in your situation, I'd be tempted to try the NVIDIA 285.62 WHQL driver: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windo...ok-win7-winvista-64bit-international-whql.exe

I would boot into Safe Mode, launch the NVIDIA installer, choose "Custom Install" and check the "Clean Install" checkbox. Safe Mode will disable any running drivers that may interfere with your NVIDIA installation.

You may need to run Driver Sweeper in Safe Mode and possibly CCleaner to completely remove any NVIDIA remnants that are not being uninstalled.

3) What evidence or behavior leads you to believe it is a problem with your power supply? It is a possibility. Can you run your system successfully with battery removed? Can you confirm the outlet you plug into is well-grounded?

 

Wow, thanks for all the help guys, I solved it!!!!!

I run nod32 btw xD

This is how I fixed it, this morning I left the pc doing a full check and fix on my HDD. WHen I arrived at home my laptop was sitting happily where I left it in a rebooted state awaiting for my login password.

So in the morning I found out about throttlestop. I downloaded it and ran it in the background. Did my things, went to youtube, no problems, opened SolidWorks (Cad thingie) and did some renders, NO PROBLEMS! I was extremely happy. I ran my COD games for an hour with NO problems No freezes, no NOTHING!!!

My temps: CPU is at low 60s C, GPU was at 70C.

This laptop is a beast. I will monitor the lappie for the next days, I hope this never comes back! THanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it. Any problem I have I will give it you a shout! Also, I will lurk around to try and help people aswell!!

Thanks!!!!!

 

Glad to hear you're now running as you should! Could you please answer some questions to help others with your issue?

1) When you say "a full check and fix" on your HDD, do you mean CHKDSK C: /F /R ?

2) Does the "Chkdsk" source event in the Windows System Event Log report that any errors were found during the HDD check?

3) How did you configure ThrottleStop after launching it?

 

Right now even tho I havent had any screen flickering or driver issues, it seems my pc is a little bit slow sometimes (but there are no freezes yet). Anyways, it is much much better than before.


1) I right clicked on my drive, then chose Properties, Tools and Check now. And it scheduled a Drive check for the next time I booted up. So I did.

2) Please tell me how to check that, I spent 10 minutes looking around in Event Viewer but found nothing related to Chkdsk.

3) No configuration at all, I just open the .exe and minimize immediately. Just by doing that it prevents the CPU from going down to 800mhz at any time.

 

Sorry, @HavokD! I gave you some bad information... To find your CHKDSK results, you want to view the details of the Wininit source event in the Application Event Log closest to the time you restarted the system. You may find it easier to filter the Application Event Log for Wininit events:

Launch "Event Viewer" and expand "Windows Logs" and select the " Application" log. From the Event Viewer top menu, choose "Action - Filter Current Log". In the resulting dialog, click on the down-drop arrow on "Event Sources" and scroll down and select " Wininit". Then choose "OK" to filter the Application log for Wininit source events. In the one closest to startup, you will find the CHKDSK results in the details.

 

Ok, found it, I will put the results at the end of the post.

Btw, I was in Java class and got 3 hard locks after having issues with the nVidia drivers again =/
After that Ive been using the laptop with no other issues, so this seems to be an issolated issue.

My PC installed a few Windows Updates, maybe that was the cause so I will roll back to a restore session I made earlier today and I hope everything runs ok again.

 

It looks like CHKDSK did some cleanup, nothing major.

If you keep experiencing lockups with your current NVIDIA driver, I would recommend a clean install of 285.62 WHQL from Safe Mode as I posted earlier.

If that fails, I would probably next try uninstalling your nod32 Antivirus, reboot, and attempt to reproduce the lockup.

 

I just ran Furmark for around 20 minutes with absolutely no issue whatsoever. I would like to stay with these drivers unless something else happens, for the moment.

I will be running superpi and 3Dmark and post results as soon as Im finished.

Also, I dont like being without an AV, I trust nod32 a lot, been using it with ALL my laptops with NO issues whatsoever so I would like to simply discard that possibility.

 

No need to fix it if it ain't broke...

 

True Still I think the nVidia crashes are isolated issues now, and that makes me happy.

When I first used the laptop this saturday I was having crashes every 5 minutes, literally. Also the mouse would be unresponsive for some seconds, then let me move it freely for another 10-15 seconds and become unresponsive again... Now that is completely gone, so I must've done something right.

I'm downloading 3Dmark06 atm, and I'm installing Crysis 2 right now aswell. Will post results after doing three cycles of Reboot-3dMark06- Furmark for 30min- Superpi -Crysis 2 - Reboot and repeat.

I want this laptop to be as reliable as it can!

Edit: Well it is too late now to do those cycles, still will run them individually.

First thing : Crysis 2. Ran in Advanced Graphics (It only has Casual, Advanced and Hardcore options). Vsync on. 1920x1080 resolution. After around 45 min my temperatures are as follows:

CPU: 64C in coldest core, 69C in hottest.
GPU: 79C Maximum temperature.

No artifacts seen, everything was good. I don't have FRAPS yet, but I calculate around 30-40 fps with those settings. Having Hardcore selected yielded around 20fps, so it wasn't a good idea.

Still waiting for 3Dmark06 to finish downloading. Will run furmark for a while in the meantime. I will edit this post later on.

Edit2:

Well I never closed Crysis 2, was in the middle of an stage and decided to alt+tab away and run furmark with crysis in the background. Left it for 25 minutes, max temps of 89C. No issues whatsoever. Everything was good.

I'm currently installing 3Dmark06, again will post results at the end.

Edit:
Rebooted to run 3Dmark. When I wrote my password, the pc hung up some seconds after opening windows. I waited and I got a blackscreen that wouldn't go away. I waited a bit, then I decided to hard boot the laptop. Next boot was finished in seconds, extremely fast, and had no issues whatsoever after it.

Got around 14k at 3dmark, a little low for my taste, I got a low score on CPU. I ran wprime aswell and it finished in a fairly low time. No problems whatsoever. Played some COD, all was good.

It seems the worse you treat this laptop, the better it reacts

 

it might be windows issues at first, if u already checked and make sure it was not windows problem, that might be HD problem, focus on HDD, if u hear any weird sound from ur hdd when playing or transfering data, get RMA !!!

 

Yes, a loud clicking can be heard time to time (almost every 15-20 minutes) but I already ran SeaTools and everything is fine.

Also, the first time I did a clean install, I did it in another HDD (took the original one out) and I had even more troubles... So I will discard the HDD for a while.

 

I too had a very similar issue. I upgraded my memory from 8 to 12 gigs using corsair value ram. everything was fine then the same things started happening to me. I tried a lot of the same things you have done. My issue was corrected by reinstalling my old memory and problems went away.

 

Those freezes were probably caused by the intelligence parking feature of your seagate HDD. Turning its APM (Advanced power management) off is normally the solution to this kind of freezes, especially to Seagate and WD HDDs. The reason you are hearing the clicking is because the HDD was parking its reading head. Download quietHDD and use this as a guide: [Must read] Save your HDD before is to late. - Community - KickassTorrents

 

I still have the same problem to this date. But then again, I don't turn off my laptop and it only flashes black screen and back after some native host crashes from time to time. An instant power cycle solves it. I have tried different versions of nvidia drivers but all seem to be the same.

I'm using an Intel SSD, so it couldn't be the that.

 

I sent the laptop back for RMA and everything is working as intended now. They didn't even format my HDD, and my problems are gone so they were caused by a faulty gpu and mobo for sure!

Thanks for the ones that try to help tho, that's good advice but my particular solution was elsewhere.