G73JH BIOS 206 Available

Hello,

There is a new v2.06 BIOS available from the G73JH download area at ASUS. While you should not install a BIOS just because one becomes available and without knowing what improvements have been made, ASUS certainly doesn't make it easy when the description only reads, "Firmware change".

There is another addition to the download area, but I have yet to determine what ASUS added.

Update: It looks like they added a generic USB mouse driver. I suppose that's for the G73JH-A1.

 

My G73 is functioning just fine. So, I'll leave it be for now. I agree with you. Updating a BIOS may be the cause of problems that didn't exist before the update.

 

The USB mouse download is a utility to configure the profiles for the 5 button Asus ROG mouse.

As for the BIOS I installed it hoping it would fix some 30 second lockups I'm getting, but I don't think it did that. And this morning when I booted up my machine the keyboard wasn't working during the pre-boot phase for some reason, had to power the laptop off and on again to get it working. So, yeah, stay away from 206 unless you're trying to fix something.

 

i hope it enable Raid 0 via bios (maybe it's just a dream )

 

no raid yet

 

There's no raid for G73JH since the mb is HM55 which can't support raid...

 

Wow really? That G73JH doesn't support raid?
I am pretty sure i read reviews which say it does support raid..
Does anyone got a link to a page where it says it doesnt raid?

 

You can check the official website, it says the mb for G73 is Intel HM55 not PM55. Only PM55 supports raid

 

Seems like you are right:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...board_id=3&model=G73JH&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

Wow..that is disappointing....mmmm not sure if i still want to get one now .

 

wasn't the chipset orginally PM55? Also can't u do software RAID even if hardware RAID isn't supported?

 

Software raid is not as good as hardware raid though.
Secondly I don't believe you can have a software raid because last I checked you needed non partioned hard drives that were completely empty in order to set them up. Correct me if I am wrong though.

 

well can't u do a clean install and do software RAID? There must be some way to do it.. Any take from experts on this?

 

Bump!!!...

 

Software RAID in WIndows 7:

http://www.alanjlee.com/blog/a-few-notes-on-windows-7-software-raid/

 

Search Help for "Striped Volume" to get the directions.

 

Oh, but NO WINDOWS SOFTWARE RAID ON PORTABLE COMPUTERS

 

Intel Matrix RAID is a Firmware, rather than Hardware, or Software, RAID implementation. As with Software RAID, Firmware RAID requires that the system CPU perform the RAID processing. So the Intel Firmware RAID implementation isn't at all comparable to Hardware RAID, and in some test results, such as those documented by this blog post, there's little performance difference between Intel's Firmware, and Windows 7 Software, RAID. The one thing that the Intel Firmware RAID does do, is make it easy to setup the RAID volumes, and most importantly, boot from them. In fact, that's the real benefit that Intel's Firmware RAID delivers.

Since the G73Jh doesn't support Intel's Firmware RAID, then the only realistic RAID option is Software RAID, (since it's a two drive system that means either level 1, or 0). For Linux it's well documented how to setup small RAID-1 boot, and swap, partitions, followed by a RAID-0 volume for everything else, using Linux Software RAID. It looks like Windows 7 also provides a way to configure Software RAID-1 and RAID-0, for 2 drive systems, it just doesn't seem to be as well documented. In addition to the above referenced link, there's this thread, a Microsoft description of the Diskpart utility, and a general Windows Software RAID guide, that all provide interesting reading on Windows Software RAID.

BTW, anyone will tell you that RAID-0 is never a good choice for a boot volume. A much better idea for boosting disk performance is to simply use a good SSD drive.

Good Luck..