G73 Various problems/questions

Hey everyone,

I've been G73JH-RBBX05 owner for a couple of years and now encountered some problems and decided to update few things.

This is the model I have Asus - Laptop / Intel® Core™ i7 Processor / 17.3" Display / 6GB Memory / 500GB Hard Drive - Black - G73JH-RBBX05

Problem 1: About 3-4 months ago out of no where AC adopter began giving me trouble. The laptop stays stationary connected to a monitor and the only way it would charge is if there is pressure applied to where power cord goes into the laptop. As in i have to bend it sideways for it to work.

The solution i found here is to probably get a new AC adapter. Can anyone give any other suggestions?

Problem 2: About 2 months ago I did a clean wipe of the operating system, and using the help of one of the board members here restored all of the drivers. Now the problem that started happening is ONLY while playing World of Warcraft the screen would become one color with vertical lines(different colors at different occasions) and in about 5 second just lock up, forcing a hard restart.

By researching here I've found some answers to GSOD, but I am not sure if that's what I have. Any ideas?

Now the suggestions

Suggestion 1: I've bought Vertex 3 120gb SSD, I know I can't run sata 3, but can someone direct me to a thread that has the tricks of how to properly install SSD on G73, or can I just Plug and install a fresh copy of win 7?

Suggestion 2: I've also bought 2x4gb Gskill 1333 memory. My current setup has 3x2gb setup with 1 free slot. Is it ok to remove one of the 2gb sticks and replace it with 4gb stick? Basically is it ok to have 2x2gb and 2x4gb?

 

Problem 1: New adaptor. This is a simple fix and is caused by the fact the JH came with a jack the was not positioned at 45 degrees this causes stress on the connection and the wires become loose.

Problem 2: You need to update your Vbios to the latest .93.

Instructions here: By Brian at Asus
File you need here: .93 Vbios OD2 - for better battery timings

Compliment to Chastity.

Simply to need to create a bootable USB flash drive and put the files required to flash the VBIOS onto the drive. Reboot and hitting esc select the bootable USB stick with the Vbios files on and type OD2 and it will do the rest for you. Update to the latest drivers and your done.

This can also happen if you overclock too high etc as this will be the display driver crashing and normally you get a message it has stopped responding if you have the CCC tray icon open.

Suggestion 1: You want this and this.

Suggestion 2: This is not my area of expertise but I think you will face problems because of the dual ranking of the RAM you should have the same slots ie 4x4 or 4x2 not mixed and matched. This will most likely cause a BSOD.

 

AC Adapter: I fixed mine. I cut the thick rubber strain relief and soldered the metal blade back together. If you cut it open and look at it you will see why and how it broke. I wish I had taken pictures, but I didn't. I also have two of the Targus 180W supplies. When I travel I take one of those. I don't trust the soldered up unit with the electrical tape for travelling. It sits on the desk where it won't get moved around much. I don't know if it's worth all that trouble. The other ones were like thirty bucks. I decided to fix it rather than throwing it away.

GSOD: That is a GSOD problem. There are excellent instructions on how to update your vBIOS in the sticky thread. It looks like you are running a current version of the video drivers with the original vBIOS which will cause GSOD. You want BIOS version 213 and vBIOS from the sticky thread. There is a vBIOS from ASUS but there is also a vBIOS from Chastity in that thread. Hers downclocks to 405MHz at idle to save heat and power but clocks up to 700MHz if you start a game. That's the one I run.

SSD: You can run any SSD you want as far as I know. Our laptops can only do 3Gb/s but all SATA drives are backward compatible as far as I know.

Memory: You can run two fours and two twos. That shouldn't be a problem. If it is, it's to do with the memory timings being different not a size difference. It should work, though.

I hope that helps.

I didn't see Daller's/Yiddo's post before I started so some of it is redundant.

 

It is fine for the RAM, i'm running a 2x2 + 2x4 setup myself. What you want, is to put both 4GB SODIMMS in matching channels. That means that you want to put them in slots 1 and 3. They are the two ones closest to the motherboard when you remove the back panel. Make certain to get RAM with the same frequency and latencies.

 

Thank you very much guys!!!

Yes, the ram is so-dimm 1333, I am going to do the install tomorrow and let you guys know how it goes.

do you happen to have a link to that targus 180w adapter? all the links i've found were outdated

Thanks!

 

I don't have a recommendation for a vendor but here is one I found via Google: Targus Power Adapter

The item you are looking for is "Targus Apa05us 180w Universal Notebook Ac Adapter"

 

Thanks Jody.

Everything went just fine with the hardware/windows installation tonight! However, I do have a few questions.

1. I need the drivers for things like the keyboard lights and turbo technology. Previously I've downloaded a pack someone posted on here, but now all the links seem to be outdated. Does anyone have a working link to Pack of drivers?

2. My lapy came with only 1 HDD that I currently replaced with SSD. I'd like to put the 500gb Seagate in the second slot, but the mounting is missing. Anyone know where I can pick one up, or what would u suggest i use to maybe make one?

Thanks!

 

You can either get a caddy from the Asus e-store, there is a HP caddy that fits the bill as well: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...m/545115-found-alternate-g73-drive-caddy.html. I'm pretty sure there are still some for sale on e-bay.

This should suit all your driver needs: http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?1150-G73-74-53-Series-Driver-and-Application-Reference. They might not be entirely up to date, at least until chastity comes back to us from Asus boot camp.

 

Thank tijo!

Yea the link to Chastity's updates is dead. And when I try to DL the turbo drivers from ASUS site, it comes back with an error saying that this version is not compatible with it.

What other drivers should i pay attention to?

Also, whats a good software to test the write/read speeds of SSD?

Thanks.

 

Crystal Disk Mark, HDtune and/or AS SSD for the SSD.