G73JH BIOS 209 Now Available

As of this morning, the 209 BIOS became official and is now listed on the G73JH download page. If you want to bypass ASUS's slow website, you can download the official 209 BIOS here.

Also official, ASUS kept the same pathetic description:

[ 209 ]
----------------------
Firmware change​

Folks, be glad you read this forum as you now know more about the 209 BIOS than every ASUS phone tech.

Normally I would not recommend updating the BIOS with such lack of information. Certainly not updating for updating sake. However, this version has been well established to fix issues. So, I will be performing the update on my own G73JH. More on this below.

As to the official BIOS file itself, here are some hashes:

CRC32: 50793B67
MD5: 7A808BB5933CA28F9B26458404B7E3C5
SHA-1: CC328E41B6630AB821C0AA9D11B0CFAB20D26D4A​

These official hashes match the original beta BIOS provided by the Notebook Journal forum. So, if you have already used the beta BIOS, you do not need this file.

Since there is some confusion about updating the BIOS, I have been asked to include a copy of my quick instructions (with additional info) in this head post. Here are the steps I did and it took all of a minute.

Warning: Do not update your BIOS from an internal or external Hard Drive. Do not use WinFLASH. Do NOT update while on battery. Make sure your USB thumb drive is formatted with FAT32. Use at your own risk.

1. Unpack the G73JhAS209.zip file and copy the "G73JHAS.209" file to the root of a USB thumb drive.
2. Eject the thumb drive and then shutdown the G73JH.
3. Place the USB thumb drive into the front-left USB port.
4. Press the Power button.
5. Start tapping F2 key until you enter the BIOS.
6. Select "Advance" tab in BIOS.
7. Select "Start Easy Flash" and by default "FS0" (USB thumb drive) will be highlighted.
8. Press right cursor once and (if needed) scroll down to "G73JHAS.209" file.
9. Press ENTER.

Wait for Erase, Install and Verify. When the update finishes the laptop will shut down and your done.

Because I made some changes to the 205 BIOS settings, when I powered up the laptop I went immediately back into the BIOS and verified my changes. These changes include:

• Placing the Optical Disc Drive before the Hard Disk Drive.
• POST Logo Type = Animated
• Play POST Sound = yes
• Speaker Volume = 1
• ASUS Easy Over-Clock = Normal

The above BIOS changes are my personal settings and are mentioned here only for completeness.

Have a safe Memorial Day holiday.

Enjoy.

 

Thanks for the find! lol, firmware change

 

just downloaded, fingers crossed for a successful flash

And, gotta agree, the product descriptions are hilarious... sad that's as much as they care.

EDIT: And yep, had to find it myself on the Asus site, link was dead... but thanks for the heads up

 

So what does this change?

 

OK, I wan't to flash via the BIOS but when I select the BIOS file it says:

No Model Name Structure Found!!

Force to Update BIOS?


Does everyone get this message ?

 

OK, just updated using EZ Flash in the bios going from my current 205, went totally painless, all lights work, went well. Did follow swiss's tip in his guide for disabling lights first, don't know if that matters, but I did as well, and all is working fine with the 209, dated May 13 I believe.

>Pulsating, all I did was unzip the bios to the root directory on a flash drive, and selected it in the ez flash menu

EDIT: FN-ESC causes no issues

 

I extracted it in the root of the boot drive but when I went to the BIOS to update the BIOS and selected that file I got that remark.

You didn't get that remark?

 

I updated my best buy version today using the EZ Flash.

I first tried to update it from the root directory, but I got the "Read file failly!" error.

I put it on a flash drive and no more error.

woot i can spam Fn+Esc all day

Hopefully the low batt throttling is fixed.

 

The direct link? I'll test it again... one second.... Tested and verified valid.

Oh I think I know what happened, I was still editing the post and had an extra bracket in the link. That's fixed.

 

Try putting it on a Flash drive instead of the main hard drive... that's the only think I could think is different between what I did and what you are doing.

 

Thanks that did the trick. Moved the BIOS file to a flash drive and got a normal question.

Really weird the Easy Flash bombs out in such a way.

 

It was your first link, back from about 30 minutes ago before you edited your post... for some reason it wasn't working, but no worries, both of your links work now. Thanks again for the heads up! Happily running 209 now!

 

Did it via a flash drive now and got a normal response. Update it and all is well.

Weird the flash utility bombs out in such a way.

 

I violated my own rule about BIOS flashing for no reason. Worked well using the flash drive method. Other than fixing Fn+Esc I have no idea what it does though I think someone said the beta 209 fixed the battery CPU throttle issue.

Cheers,

 

If you have linked here seeking the BIOS update quick instructions, please click here.

 

Read this here for more.

 

Successful flash here.

Everything thing works and as I'm typing this, every third spacebar, I spam Fn+Esc. No issues.
Keyboard backlight still shinin' strong.

Couldn't be simpler Kalim and +rep for the excellent 10 step guide.

(Your thread too stubbornswiss and cheers for taking that newbie request of mine. )

Only thing is, I open desktop gadget I noticed my Intel Turbo Boost gadget is no longer on the list. Am I the only one?

Edited to Add:
Downloaded the gadget from the Intel site and upgraded the gadget. Everything's dandy.

 

Thanks for the instruction. Just a question; have you yourself flashed your G73 with bios 209? Thanks

 

I think he has enterbay.

 

Works like charm, thank you.

 

I cant see it on the download page and direct link very slow...

EDIT : nvm , see it now but the bricked report below has scared me into not flashing yet

 

Flashed the 209 bios using EZ flash from my main hard drive & it appears to have bricked the notebook. Won't turn on at all, power button doesn't do anything, plugged in but even the light indicating its on AC power on the front doesn't come on. Does anyone have any suggestions other than an RMA? I already called ASUS and got a case open, so I'll be able to do the RMA if I can't fix this before Tuesday.

Tried using the pinhole reset on the bottom of the notebook, tried leaving the battery & ac out for ~1 hour & plugging back in but still nothing.

Flash appeared to be successful, erased, flashed, verified, & then shut the notebook down but now it appears completely hosed.

 

Thats pretty bad... at a minimum it should be able to power on. :/ Not sure what you can do minus RMA it. Hopefully someone else can help you.

 

What message did you get when doing this from your main harddrive because I got a message that made me NOT flash untill I put it on a USB drive.

It's pretty bad that if the flash utility can't flash from the boot drive it actually allows you to select that drive and file. Looks like another mistake they have to correct. But please fix the video BIOS first.

 

No type of warning message at all... definitely something I would have noticed since flashing the bios is such a serious upgrade with potential to brick a computer. From what I've been reading getting to the mobo to jump the cmos isn't even really an option because you have to essentially disassemble the entire notebook, which I'm pretty sure would void the warranty. Too bad there is no easy access via the panel on the bottom.

 

Thanks.

After finishing with the BIOS update, I booted into Windows and the Intel Turbo Monitor gadget was still on the desktop and in the same location as before.

 

Indeed +1 rep Kalim.

 

and the question is: did you guys experience any B/P/GSOD with the new bios?

 

Video related problems will not be solved by this BIOS. Asus needs to issue a new video BIOS to fix any problems. In the meanwhile just about every manufacturer has issued new video BIOS with working memory downclock except Asus.

 

I was getting GSOD with any drivers provided directly by ATI before the update but at the moment I am still running the 10.1 ASUS drivers so I can't comment.

I won't have time to actually swap back to the ATI provided drivers till later on this week.

 

just updated to 209 bios with EZ flash with image on flash drive. Worked like a charm

 

I'm sorry to read that. I don't know what else it could be other than flashing from the hard drive. Although the quick instructions I wrote use a thumb drive, I've added a warning just in case that was the cause.

I'll going to throw this out here, maybe, and I say maybe, this guy can help you. User rorage said that "there are recovery procedures." You already did the one I'm familiar with that any user can do, pushing and holding the reset underneath. Perhaps contact rorage and see if he can help. It's a shot in the dark.

 

Kalim could you post the step in your first post? This will reduce the number of bricked owners when the failed to see your post on page 2.

 

I just updated the BIOS successfully using a thumb drive

 

Bricked an N61J using the easy flash method from the hard drive. Will be using a thumb drive from now on, but there should be some type of warning or error message if flashing from the he'd is the cause of this issue.

 

Isn't this BIOS for the G73JH only?

 

flashed to 209.... all lights still on...

start monitoring the temp...

 

I think he's just saying the hard drive method is suspect regardless of the model.

Cheers,

 

I didn't see the GPU auto downclock to 500 Mhz yet even on web surfing... any observation from you guys??

 

Are those guys who upgraded to 209 beta leak also updated to this one?

 

Yes, let me clarify. I updated with the 2.09 BIOS for the N61J. Others in the N61J owners lounge and on the Asus forums have repeated the same results (bricked machine, no LEDS, power). I'm not touching the BIOS on the replacement unless I deem it necessary.

 

Its unfortunate that my update guide was not linked in this thread, as I came across this exact same problem regarding trying to flash off the hard drive, documented it, and instructed to use a flash/thumb drive.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/486047-g73jh-bios-update-step-step-newbie-tutorial.html

Hopefully this can still be helpful to some people.

 

I added a reply to the thread rorage was posting in. Hopefully he has some method of recovery that will help so I don't have to RMA the otherwise perfectly fine laptop.

 

Does anyone here think one of these methods referenced at this site would work on current BIOS config. Many systems are now EFI sortof and I don't know if this stuff works anymore. I know in days gone by "blind bios recovery" was possible.

Cheers,

 

am i the only one who used winflash provied by asus .
i downloaded the file. unzipped.
ran winflash and selected the file.it did its thing and then shut down.ed

i then checked the bios and shows g73 209 as bios version.

am i missing something here or is there anything else to do? or am i good to go?

 

A good number of people using WinFlash wind up disabling their keyboard lights permenantly, so using that method is not recommended.

 

I used Easy Flash with the file on the hard drive and it worked fine.

 

I used to update WinFlash program w/o problems, but when I reinstalled VGA driver I got PSOD, now I sent to RMA it .

 

Just updated mine using stubbornswiss' Guide. Perfect! Worked like a charm. now on 209 Bios and FN+ESC doesn't freeze the laptop, awesome I have yet to see the down clocking of the Graphics card though.

 

I didnt have downclocking of the GPU earlier, now its downclocking to 500 core speed randomly... :/