G73 VGA Port Spark, Adapter not working

Dear All, its with a heavy heart that I write this.

Yesterday, I updated my drivers from the stock 9.12 to the 10.1 from Asus's G73 download page.

It should be noted that apart from uninstalling the bloat and creative (also bloat as some would say), everything else was left stock. No other changes apart from the VGA driver update.

Everything worked fine until I tried hooking up my Phillips 22" through the vga connector. While the monitor worked without any issue on the 9.12 (the day before). With the 10.1 installed, while i was connecting the vga, there was a spark, in the vga port, and the laptop immediately shut down

Also, the multiplug which was connected also burned out. there was some brown residuals that formed near the power button as well. Im guessing the vga port is fried. Heck now that I think about it, I hope the adapter port (which is located right beside the vga, did not get fried...but without an adapter, I cant know for sure...)

On a side note: The phillips 22" still works without a hitch with my Acer 5535.

On the upside though:

The laptop still turns on, with the battery, and I have tested as much as I can, and everything seems to work. However, I cannot see the windows logo (when the sound plays right after it finishes booting), but theres a 1-2 second delay before the display shows the login screen.

Worst thing is, the power brick no longer turns on. So I am looking for one of two things.

Is there a way I can fix the adapter locally? I'm currently living in India, whereas my lappy was bought from TD in LA.

If not, then where can I order another charger online?


I hope, this serves as a fair warning to everyone....although everything I read on this forum suggested that Asus's official 10.1 were very stable, my experience just shows that there are a large number of caveats (apart from those discussed already in this forum), from moving away from the stocks.

Just curious, did something like this ever happen to anyone with a Asus / Ati combo? I have owned 3 laptops so far, and have never had a spark large enough to burn out a vga port before!

 

You can order a replacement from mwave. I would still go ahead and get ASUS involved though. I'll dig up a link.

*edit* Here ya go. I have this (as do others) and it works great. Using it now, actually.

 

thanks Aramis,
but the link does not work,

could u tell me the name and model / part no. to look for at mwave?

 

guys, saw this at provantage...will this one work? If yes, is there anyway to get this at a cheaper price from somewhere?

http://www.provantage.com/asus-90-xb06n0pw00040y~4ASUL0MK.htm - nevermind, its backordered.

 

Targus 180W Universal refurb $50.75

Targus 180W Universal refurb $49.95

I have this unit, doesn't get as warm as the Asus supplied unit, and one of the included tips is a perfect match. (Has same black ring)

 

Thanks for the reply Chastity, just a few questions.
The first link says the item condition is new........although you wrote refurbished.
If its new, then I would definately go for it.

Is this targus the same as the one in your link? seems to be a little cheaper and new:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Targus-180W-Uni...=Laptop_Adapters_Chargers&hash=item588752198e

Also, I was looking at this one,

150W AC Adapter Fit ASUS G73 G73Jh, G73Jh-A2, G73Jh-X1 - eBay (item 260597317521 end time Jun-03-10 16:08:59 PDT)

Did anyone use this before?

 

Sorry about that. The SKU is AA38200. For some reason mwave's searches are a mess.

 

Thanks bro, better late than never!

but that sku leads me to:

GALAXY 2500SGCB 2.5" aluminum metal casing....:S

 

Link? I've never seen any driver other than the original on the official Asus G73JH downloads...

 

Doesn't your G73 come with 1 year international warranty and accidental coverage? You shouldn't have to pay anything for the power brick for normal use, asus would probably help you with that. I'm sure they have an office in India

 

Yep, the model in question is the APA05US.

 

Well over here, they have an authorized reseller, but I have already contacted them, and they are reluctant to get anything done, since (as they pointed it out), I purchased it from the U.S. They advised me to contact Asus directly in Taiwan.

 

Well MarkS, I used the VGA driver update found in the downloads section, dated 29/1/ 2010.

You can find it using the following sequence:

Notebook > G73 > G73 GH > OS: Win7 64 > VGA

The driver version is 8.692 if memory serves me right, whereas the stock were 8.683....

 

Are both your monitor and laptop's powerpacks, power plugs and powerpoints all grounded?

 

yep, both the montior and the laptop comes from the same power source, and is grounded.

 

Guys, one important question about the Targus 180 watt adapter.

In many places in ebay, its priced at $39 whereas in places like mwave, its $101!

Am I looking at the same thing here? if so, what's the reason for such a price difference?

Thanks for everyone's reply.

 

Branding mostly, I doubt Targus makes their own adapter, probably bought from some Chinese OEM for 10-20 dollars and rebranded it and resold, some peep who knows probably bought the same thing from those Chinese OEMs to sell at a lower price on ebay.

 

Also could be OEM packaging and refurbs. Mine was a refurb I got from Fry's and works just fine.

 

Thanks. Maybe I missed it while it WAS up. I still only see " Version V8.683.0.0" dated 2010/01/29.

 

Just as an update for everyone, I got the adapter repaired from a local tech store that specializes on fixing this sort of thing. I am getting the targus 180w in a couple of weeks time as well.

So far everything seems to be in working order. Benchmarked GTA IV, and also updated to Bios 209. Updating to 10.1 actually resulted in GTA losing 3-4 fps compared to the 9.12. Also, graphics and gaming graphics jumped to 7.2 which seems consistent with other users.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and support!

 

Wow, that's cool! A lot faster than the RMA process

 

Well, I've got my closure.

As noted in the op, after upgrading to the 10.1's from Asus website, while connecting my lcd monitor, there was a spark from the vga port, which subsequently burnt out my adapter.

Latest Development

Last week I went back to the stock 9.12, and today I finally mustered up
enough guts to try and connect the laptop to my lcd (again!). Surprisingly (or not), things wen't perfectly well, and it would appear that my VGA port wasnt fried after all.

So this got me thinking, and I called up one of my mates, who is about to RMA his unit, Asus just sent him a shipping label in the morning. So I thought, there's nothing to lose, might as well try out a theory.

1. I updated his card with the 10.1 cats.
2. Turned the unit off. (as Kalim pointed out, maybe last time, hot plugging cause the spark)
3. Attached my Phillips 22" Brilliance through the VGA port.
4. Turned on LCD monitor. (oh good, nothing bad so far).
5. Turned on the G73JH X3.

3 seconds later, internal spark (near the power button), and the laptop powered off. Just like before, the multiplug was fried and in all probability the adapter as well. The laptop however, did power on, on battery, and seems to be working properly.

Given my experience (and the subsequent verification), it would seem its not an isolated incident anymore, and while I do not recommend ANYONE from TRYING this at home, I would really like to know if anyone with the Asus 10.1 connect their lappys through the VGA port experience this issue.

 

I use ASUS 10.1 drivers and a VGA cable to monitor. No issues.

 

Perhaps it's his monitor in combination with 10.1. You wouldn't happen to have exact same make and model VGA monitor?

Cheers,

 

Several Non-g73 possibilities - a ground fault in the VGA/LCD cord, damp environment, bad power supply in your country.

It does seem less likely now that it has been reproduced, but now you're up to 2 cases on a forum of thousands! (Okay, tens...)

 

its a Phillips Brilliance 22". And immediately after the spark happened, ( I was worried about my monitor being burnt), I connected my Acer 5535, and it worked without any problems whatsoever. So I doubt if it was grounding that was the problem or bad power supply. However, as Panzer06 pointed out, it could be the combination of the Phillips monitor along with the 10.1s that brings about this issue.
I can assure you both the devices were grounded.

Also on a side note, I have been using this monitor for about 1.5 years now, and has been connected to a myriad of other laptops including a HP, a Vaio and a Thoshiba (In LAN Parties we often use the monitor for cloning the desktop to allow others to watch games like PES and NFS).

 

I'm going to agree that it's probabaly your specifix monitor in combination wit 10.1 drivers. My vga works fine with my AOC monitor.

 

Did you ever try it with the old drivers on your buddies machine?

A lot of smaller Phillips products are made under license by companies in china. They kinda pay tribute to put the brand name on the item but it really doesn't have anything to do with Phillips.

To me it sounds like that monitor is junk. I think some where between you using it on the old drivers on your laptop, and updating your drivers, it broke. Now it's on a port-frying tie-raid. I would guess it would fry any port you connect it to now.

Also, have you tried a different DVI cable? it could be a short inside the cable it self.

 

It's also incredibly humid where you live. That, and a poor ground on the monitor ...

 

Next time, please read the O.P before coming to such drastic conclusions. The monitor is working perfectly, with the same DVI cable with my Acer A0521, and a HP Envy 14. It did NOT fry any ports, just caused it to spark (but then you would've known that had you read the thread properly - ADD is so common these days). I don't need to try a different cable because the current one is working perfectly with every other machine apart from the G73 with 10.1 drivers. Fyi, mine was manufactured in Taiwan, bought directly off an authorized distributor (read. not retail).

So in conclusion, the monitor isn't junk, your opinion is.

 

u always say that the adapter is burnt? Do you mean the cable or some adapter ur using to convert the signals?(like from HDMI to DVI ).. it might be the fault of ur adapter.

 

read o.p

10char