G73JH Freeze/Hang - Updated Win7/ATI+BIOS what else?

EDIT:
After all it's now stable. I have a wire connection and disabled USB power saving, also use the MSI Afterburner to keep the GPU Clock at 700.
Maybe you want to try this in this order after a fresh install with up to date driver doesn't work.

Enjoy
-----------------------------

Hi,

I notice occasionally freeze/hang on my G73JH with Win7 64bit.

It happen during gaming or sometimes just after start or normal desktop usage.

Didn't notice it yet on Ubuntu (dual boot)

Also can't recall it before updating BIOS, vBIOS and ATI CCC/Driver. (just remember once before update all components)

Already installed Hotfix KB2265716 (as XIII. Windows 7 random freezes mentions here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/492354-all-g73jh-problems-solutions-here.html )

Here system versions:

Code:

DMI BIOS       
    vendor            American Megatrends Inc.
    version            G73Jh.211
    date            07/27/2010

vBios:
BIOS Version	012.020.000.032	
BIOS Part Number	BR038352.001	
BIOS Date	2010/08/30	

Driver Packaging Version	8.762-100803a-103697C-ATI	
Catalyst™ Version	10.8	
Provider	ATI Technologies Inc.	
2D Driver Version	8.01.01.1059	


Direct3D Version	8.14.10.0775	
OpenGL Version	6.14.10.10151	
Catalyst™ Control Center Version	2010.0803.2125.36577	

Appreciate any hint, also what is the best way of troubleshoot? The windows Event log looks not very helpful.

 

I had this. My system would sometimes lock up as soon as I started typing my password, or when sitting idle on desktop, or rarely while gaming...

I applied the patch... it went away... for a while. Eventually, just could not live anymore with a laptop that I could not trust. I spent entire days just on this...

Now, I'm happy to say that it's been a couple of weeks without a single lock up.

The solution? A clean reinstall using the guides on this forum picking what to install.
Note that I used the chipset drivers posted by Chastity on this forum. I installed 10.8mobilty. Realtek 2.52 and instaled the creative mod only after a few days of being sure things were stable.

From asus, I kept only ATK package, spendid, lifeframe and Power4Gear.

Biggest difference is that I kept the stock touchpad driver and didn't go for the fancier stuff I had before (latest from synaptics plus Scrybe.)

Just to make clear, the clean install is not a reinstall of the Asus stuff. It starts from a standard MS win7. You can easily find instructions on this forum. Also, I backed up my activation with ABR before reinstalling, restore of activation worked flawlessly.

Good luck! Lock ups are a bane. But for me, it was clearly not hardware.

 

Thanks for the first idea,

The system was clean installed (without Creative)

Then update BIOS, vBIOS, ATI , Realtek Audio. (still no Creative stuff)

Not sure if I like to clean install again.

Has anybody a clue how to troubleshoot this in general?

 

try removing the ram placements it happed to me long time ago when the unit arrived at march..then i just tried removing the ram's and put it in different places...try it..and suddenly it dosent hangs or freezes anymore till now...

 

This can be caused by a ram chip that is not seated right. It can be lose and still look like it is down in the slot firm.

Like was said above , pull the ram and re seat them.

 

Hum, you did clean install, *then* bios, vbios, ati...

I did bios, vbios, *then* clean install.

If all else fails...

btw, do you have the latests (not from Asus) chipset drivers? I looked for the link, chastity had posted it, but I can't find it back. Maybe you could write her a pm. I didn't reinstall the stock ones, went straight for the new ones.

 

Have the same problem here, already instal Hotfix KB2265716, CCC10.10, bios 211, vbios by chastity, new drivers from chipset.
It doesn't happen before I do a clean install =/ but I will try a clean install again and see what is causing the hangs. It doesn't happen on games only on desktop.
Another thing, I remove de RECOVERY partition then I loose the express gate, I intall the one from asus support but it doesn't regonize, I'm missing something to reinstall it?
Thx

 

I had a simular problem, but it only happened when i played exactly 10 minutes of BFBC2. Than it crashed. Appearantly it were the audio drivers that were causing this problem. I deinstalled all the audio drivers using ccleaner. Installed the stock (from the dvd) realtek driver, than the creative driver from the dvd, than upgraded the realtek to the latest one (2.53 if im not mistaking).
It solved it for me.
However, has it somethin to do with the vbios switchin between 405 and 700 mhz clock speeds? mine used to crash often when i switched clocks...
Let us know

 

Hi,

thanks for the tips, I removed the 3 RAM modules and put it back in a different order. (Memtest runs fine) I left one module untouched.

Just had a freeze again. (Win 7 just desktop with iTunes)

Btw, I have the realtek driver 6.0.1.6194 (which is 2.52) will try 2.53 right now.

Also I don't switch clocks (at least not actively)

 

Realtek update didn't help. (didn't have any Creative driver)

updated today ATI to 10.11 (clean install) but just had a freeze.

Notice last week that Windows reported that the ATI driver didn't respond and Windows successfully restored it. Not sure if this is related to the freezes.

Kind of helpless, where is the fourth RAM module to check?

Thanks
Tilo

 

Under the keyboard. Other side of the MB from the others.

 

Tilo I found this in another forum:
Three of the sticks are very easy to get to (just take off the bottom panel that covers the HDD slots) but the fourth is under the keyboard and takes a bit more disassembling to get to.
Hope this helps, J

 

update,

Ubuntu 10.04 never crashes so far, Win 7 keep crashing even so in light use (just browse, Desktop no game)

so I just did a fresh Windows today

- Win 7 64
- AntiVir
- Update Win
- Chipset Via Intel WebSite
- ATI 10.11
- ATK package
- KBFilter
- Wireless Console 3

I didn't install sound or any other driver (windows default)
But just during download some games it just freezed/locked up!!

I'm totally puzzled. Didn't dare to check the 4four RAM module but suspect this is not the issue here (memtest did fine 6runs)

So my guess is the ATI driver somehow. Will install the kb fix and then maybe try the old official AIT driver from ASUS again. Maybe this helps.

Any other thoughts. Consider RMA, but not sure what the guys want to replace.

 

Still not sure that you've got the latest vbios. Double check that. Should be version: 012.020.000.032.0383.G730 (BIOS) 012.020.000.032.038352 (as reported by HW apps) - thanks chastity for these numbers.

I'd blame your antivirus or wireless console, since there is nothing else there that causes problems. Which AV are you using? And wireless console? no need for that.

 

vBios displays in BIOS as 012.020.000.032.0383.G730
HWinfo shows: Video BIOS Version: 012.020.000.032.038352

CCC:

Code:

Primary Adapter		
Graphics Card Manufacturer	Powered by ATI	
Graphics Chipset	ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5800 Series	
Device ID	68A0	
Vendor	1002	
	
Subsystem ID	1C02	
Subsystem Vendor ID	1043	
	
Graphics Bus Capability	PCI Express 2.0	
Maximum Bus Setting	PCI Express 2.0 x16	
	
BIOS Version	012.020.000.032	
BIOS Part Number	BR038352.001	
BIOS Date	2010/08/30	
	
Memory Size	1024 MB	
Memory Type	GDDR5	
	
Core Clock in MHz	700 MHz	
Memory Clock in MHz	1000 MHz	
Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s	64.0 GByte/s	

Should I anyways reflash vbios?

I use AntiVir and WirelessConsole 3.0.16 from ASUS.

Why is there no DUMP or log for a freeze?

After next lock up will flash chastity vBios and let see how this goes.

 

There is one thing that you might check. On two systems that I have worked on in this past summer had an issue where they where putting all the hardware on one IRQ, no matter what I did or how many times I reloaded the same thing happened.
When this happened I got these lock ups and the sort. You might check this and see if this is going on with your system.
I re flashed the Bios on the systems and on one it fixed the problem. But on one it did not and had to be sent in for repair.
You might take a look and see if this might be what is causing your problem.

 

Small question, do these lockups require a hard reboot or not?

 

hi BattleNut how do I check the IRQ setting you mention?

btw, freeze is total lockup so need a hard rest (press power button long to shutdown)

 

You have probably already tried this but... After you have recovered from your hard reset shut it down again and restart it normally. I noticed that mine after a freeze would lock again unless I did a normal shut down and start up. Not really a fix but it seems to help.

 

Tired many things,

Insert Battery -> Didn't help
Old Asus VGA driver -> Didn't help
Turbo setting in BIOS -> Didn't help

Now have the overdrive vBIOS with the latest CCC 10.12 plus MSI Afterburner. (without the Afterburner, looks like the the GPU clock switch from 700 to 400)
Keep you updated if this solved it.

 

try updating wifi drivers as well.

 

Just got another lock up. (during low desktop usage)

Wifi is Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter on driver 8.0.0.316.

Not sure how wifi is related to lock up but anyways will try to use LAN for a little bit so check this.

 

Can you go into and check the error files to see if it logged the error that caused the lockup?
I would like to see those , it may help us find what is causing the problems you are seeing.

Check your Action Center and see if that logged what happened. If we can get more data it will help quite a lot in finding the error or errors.
If you can get this copy it or zip this up in a file that we can get access to. Or post it here if it is allowed . Just delete any personal data that might be there so it will not be posted.

As of now we do not have much to go on to see what is happening with your system. This will take most of the guess work out of what you are seeing.

 

BattleNut with all due respect, I crawl hours thru my Win Event log (App and System mainly) which gave me no clue about what is going on. (beside the Critical Unexpected shutdown I have a few warning: WLAN AutoConfig service has successfully stopped.

I'm happy to hear a good way to troubleshoot/view log/dumps for freeze/lockups. My ears are all open =)

Thanks.

btw compare the IRQ, and the system information are same as with stock drivers.

 

I'm now having random problems with this. One time it froze about a minute after the laptop was booted up. I rolled back my ATi drivers and it still keeps freezing. I figured I'd post here before I call Asus India... I wonder if they have a US support number so I don't get POed at a foreigner

 

Just thought I would ask as some do not know to look. This type of shutdown can be a hard one to find.

 

I wonder if you are using a modified vBios or using some clock frequencies that are unstable?

I've done that before and the laptop would lock up at bootup.

 

I just had a random lockup. I had to hold the power button down to reboot. It then locked again right after the desktop appeared. I rebooted again and then managed to shut it down and do a normal start up. It has now been on for 5 minutes without locking. This is the first lock up I have had in a while ( a few days ) I had Steam open for a few minutes just prior to the lock. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. Temperatures are fine and Steam did close normally. Has anyone else noticed lockups after using Steam. I do not use it very often, so I am thinking it might be the problem.

 

I have not had this happen with Steam, but I have had it happen with ITunes, It will lock up if left on to long. So this is the only one that causes this with my system.

 

With the stock Realtek audio driver, yes.

The newer Realtek drivers (R2.54+) work with Steam without freezing.

 

Yeah I had lockups with the stock drivers and when I started using the latest Realtek audio drivers all of that stopped.
But I still get a lockup every now and then with ITunes. But that is ITunes as it is.

 

Mine locked up after I exited Steam so I am not sure if it is relevant or not. Did your lock up occur after you exited the Steam program?

I am using all of the drivers listed in the Gary Key keyboard fix.

 

No it was at Steam startup. Probably not relevant.

 

My machine and touchpad are working really well right now so unless I start getting a lot of lock ups I think I will just leave it as is. If I do have to take action I think the place to start would be with the video drivers.

What I do find puzzling though is how after a hard reset it is prone to lockup again right away. Why would a lock up / hard reset have a residual affect on the machine? I takes a normal start up and normal shut down to get the machine stable again.

 

This fixed my freezing in Windows 7 but now my sound is horrid. It only uses on of the speakers on the left side of the laptop

 

It kind of sounds like the Realtek drivers did not install correctly. The sound is probably coming from the woofer speaker on the bottom of the laptop.

 

Thanks! Reinstalled and it works great again