G73 Is this normal?

When I start up the notebook cold it boots without any problems, Asus logo screen, Windows logo screen, and finally login screen.

But if I do a restart, then the Asus logo screen goes psychedelic for about 1 second, just barely enough time to show the Asus logo screen correctly, then the Windows logo screen goes ok, then the login screen also goes psychedelic for about 1 second and corrects itself. From then on everything seems ok.

I have bios 209, and stock ATI bios and Catalyst drivers from Asus. The hdmi or vga output doesn't do this, only the laptop's screen.

This behavior is consistent, and repeatable.

Thanks for any help!

 

Never have seen that, so I would say it's not "normal". However, unless there is a problem with the system, I wouldn't sweat it personally.

 

when you restart your PC you do a soft-reset (software reset) which means that the BIOS remains in RAM and the POST-test isn't repeated that's why it takes shorter time

 

What are your startup logo settings (in the BIOS setup)?

Are you using FancyStart (or whatever it's called) and/or the animated logo?

 

Never had this so far I assume is not normal, ask Ken I,m sure he will agreed with me.

 

I'm using the animated logo not Fancy Start (not installed and disabled)
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What happens if you turn off the animated logo?

I personally never saw the logo move so I disabled it when I first got the machine

 

Sounds like the beginnings of the PSOD (Psychedelic Screen Of Death).

 

Yup! Seems like my experience. You can follow my similar experience here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...-going-my-g73jh-a1s-screen-please-help-3.html

 

Oh, that would royally suck. I hope you don't get a PSOD.

 

I did disable the animated screen Mark S, but that made no difference.

I heard back from Asus support and they think something's loose, and want me to RMA the thing. I'm going to send it back as there are some other issues involved too.

When I upgraded to Catalyst 10.6 I was unable to play a simple game (Luxor 3) without the pinstripe of death screen. (yah, my screen goes all vertical pinstripey-very neat and orderly) It also did this while I was looking at the 3D settings in Catalyst itself. I re-imaged my system back to the way it was (stock Catalyst drivers) before updating Catalyst, and I am at least able to play Luxor 3 again. But the PSOD "moments" continue on the Asus splash screen (no matter which one I use) and also on the Windows login screen. It's strange though, because from an absolutely cold bootup, it will be fine. But then if I do a restart after only a couple of minutes of doing NOTHING, I will get the PSOD moments again during the Asus Splash or the Windows login, but it is a little erratic, sometimes doing one and not the other, or doing neither, or doing both. Every restart will yield one or the other.

I agree with ThongDao, it seems to be on the brink of total failure. It's probably only lasted this long because I don't really throw any hard core games at it.

 

Try doing a WEI run and see if it PSODs on you. I had an issue with sporatic PSODs when switching resolutions in games, but i haven't had it since a few days before i decide to flash the vBios and update the ati drivers.

On the other hand a friend of mine with similar PSOD symptoms couldn't run games or even the WEI test without it permanently being stuck in PSOD. RMA was his only solution.

 

I can run WEI no problems. I just did again, and I actually got a better hdd score (7.7) since I added the RST drivers from INTEL to handle my SSD.

The problem seems very much related to the change in screen resolution. It happens when rebooting, so I'm going from hd to what? when the Asus splash screen appears all fubared? Then Windows splash is good, and then the hd login screen again gets a PSOD moment (about 1 to 1.5 s) before correcting itself.

I noticed this problem within the first couple of weeks of having this laptop. But it's become much more dependable (if that is the word) for a problem.

 

Sorry to hear that! Seems to me, that your LCD will be replaced soon. Mine PSOD started the same.

 

Never mind, my bad

 

If he have this issue during Asus logo then it's not the Windows issue. It's completly hardware.

 

New update:

I noticed that I had created a system image the day after I took delivery of my G73. Office hadn't been activated yet, no programs had been installed, no updates either. IOW, a practically showroom snapshot in time. I re-imaged it back to my system thinking this way I could RMA my lappy with a clean disk (no personal info etc.) and also see what happened with my problem.

You guessed it, the problem completely disappeared! Even though it was acting like a hardware problem because the Asus splash screen itself was fubared before. No matter how much I reboot or what I do, I CAN NOT DUPLICATE THE PROBLEM anymore! This old system image is on top of the BIOS 209 upgrade, so that is the only difference from when I took delivery.

I guess this is a really good reason for making a system image as soon as you take delivery of a computer.

Obviously I can't send it in for an RMA now, since there's nothing to fix (at least not in the hardware.)

I'm going to revert back to my current image now, and start by totally uninstalling the Catalyst drivers and reinstalling the Asus ones, (the Asus one WAS what I was using, but I had been tinkering with the new Catalyst 10.6 drivers before I replaced them again with the Asus default one, and no, I never tinkered with the vBIOS.) and then see if I can work out what is definitely a software problem somewhere.

 

Several hours later..................

Cloned back the problem image.
completely uninstalled ATI drivers, went into safe mode using driver sweeper, and then re-installed Asus VGA drivers
* problem still there

Removed Creative software and drivers, went into safe mode using driver sweeper,
* problem still there

Removed Brittanica desktop encyc. (never used anyway)
Removed Creative Audigy SoundBlaster HD
Removed Asus fastboot
* problem still there

Finally.........
Went into Power4Gear and checked and updated settings

*Ta Da* problem gone!

Apparently I was starving the graphics card with a slowed down processor (and that was all) I had it set to quiet office, and my settings may have been wrong too.

I wish someone would publish a guide for the best way to use that Power4Gear so that us noobs wouldn't get ourselves into such trouble

STill, it seems weird that Power4Gear settings can affect the Asus Splash screen before any Windows stuff loads. I wonder how it does that.

It all fits though...
I noticed the problem even before I started tinkering with the ATI drivers
But I had never touched that program until a week or more after getting the Asus

So the clouds are lifted, the sun is shining, the birds are tweeting, and the Asus is back on top in my opinion!

 

P4G Hybrid can control how much voltage the unit is fed, ergo, dropping voltage under some load = FUBAR. I suspect this is probably an accomplice/factor to why many people have issues with GSODs.

 

billyray

Dude, I wish you had figured this out two weeks ago. I ended up sending mine in for repair with PSOD and its been sitting in CA "Waiting for parts" now for over a week! Since it was happening on first boot I assumed it was a hardware problem. They really shouldn't allow a setting that breaks a piece of hardware. They also should have better than trained monkeys answering their support line who can suggest this to fix it. Actually, ASUS probably hasn't figured this out yet.

Still ASUS-less in Seattle

 

I'm still waiting to hear back from Asus myself! They should be sending me an RMA, but I haven't heard back from them yet. If/when they do reply, I'll tell them the story. Sorry I couldn't help sooner.

 

You are the man Billyray, nice troubleshooting work. I admire your determination and ability to put technical things in language that even I can understand. I think your thread reply answers the PM question I sent you about Vbios.. I am not changing it. Thanks again for sharing, you should get a job with ASUS!
PS when you did the initial image did you use what is built into windows or a third party app? Thanks

 

I use Clonezilla on a boot usb flash drive (I have a boot CD of it too.) I back up to a usb external WD MyBook. The great thing about Clonezilla is that it is able to recognize many devices in it linux environment when it boots up. I am even able to use it on a Windows 98 machine that barely recognizes flash drives at all in Windows. It also can recognize almost any file system, ntfs, vfat, and all the linux file systems.

The only problem is that Clonezilla is definitely techie oriented, and not terribly kind to n00bies. But if you get used to its technical lingo, its a great cloning system. Oh, and did I mention its free!

I use Windows Imaging routinely too, on this G73. But periodically I do an external clone using Clonezilla.

 

Happy Acronis user here Grabbed a couple of the 880G USB drives that Best Buy occasionally puts on stupid-low sale and use 1 for image backups.

 

Acronis users are practically a cult in their devotion!

 

uhuhuhuhuhuh

 

What setting was causing the problem? I have the exact same symptoms, and when I think about it, the problems at startup began when I changed settings in Power4Gears.

I even tried to uninstall this bad boy, but the problem is still there... Maybe there is a setting in Windows Power Settings I need to change? I'm using the "High performance" power plan.

Your help is greatly appreciated

 

I tried to reset my BIOS to default and I restored my system. The problem is still there...

 

Have you tried updating P4G Hybrid?

 

Yes, I downloaded the latest version and I have the same problem...