G73JH Hard Freeze (Eventid 13?)

My G73JH has been randomly hard freezing in the past week (can't move mouse). I've had this laptop for a little over a year now so this is a new problem and don't believe it's temperature related. I am running Chastity's modified vbios so the clocks are 250 / 500 when this is occurring and GPU/Mem temps are all below 60 degrees C.

Usually I leave the laptop running overnight with the lid closed and upon opening, the laptop will be frozen. I've turned off sleep/hibernate/hdd shutdown and make the laptop "do nothing" when the lid is closed so I know it's not related to that. I've also uninstalled asus power4gear in attempt to troubleshoot but the problem still persists.

I took a look at Windows Event Viewer and it appears that my system was experiencing ACPI errors every 15-20 minutes over a period of 12 hours before finally shutting down:

Event ID 13 (Level: Error; Source: ACPI)

The embedded controller (EC) did not respond within the specified timeout period. This may indicate that there is an error in the EC hardware or firmware or that the BIOS is accessing the EC incorrectly. You should check with your computer manufacturer for an upgraded BIOS. In some situations, this error may cause the computer to function incorrectly.

I am also occasionally receiving the following warnings:

Event ID 15 (Level: Warning; Source: ACPI)
The embedded controller (EC) returned data when none was requested. The BIOS might be trying to access the EC without synchronizing with the operating system. This data will be ignored. No further action is necessary; however, you should check with your computer manufacturer for an upgraded BIOS.

Event ID 1 (Level: Warning; Source: LMS)
LMS Service cannot connect to Intel(R) MEI driver


Further Specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium w/ all windows updates
Chastity Vbios installed
Bios 2.13
Cat 11.5b
Uninstalled Power4Gear


Anyone have any ideas on how to fix my lockup problem and if the eventid 13 and 15 are indeed the culprit for the random hard freezes?

 

Did you also make sure the HDDs do not turn off?

 

Yes I have. Any other suggestions?

 

What else are you running / have installed?

 

Is there an easy way to display that info? In my taskbar I have the following running:

Realtek HD Audio Manager
Bluetooth Devices
Intel Rapid Storage Technology
Synaptics Pointing Device
ATI CCC
Microsoft Security Essentials
utorrent
Hwinfo32
Daemon Tools Lite
Wyse Pocket Cloud Windows Companion
TightVNC Service
PlayOn Media Server
DropBox

 

Go to control panel, programs, programs and features and take screenshots.

 

I actually just rebooted the computer and now have some crazy rainbow colored lcd. I am typing this post via HDMI out.

https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/28944685/1/Asus G73JH?h=2bc609

Is this vbios related or is it rma time? Like I mentioned in the first post, I am running the modified Chastity vbios and cat 11.5b. Should I try reflashing the vbios?

 

I may be wrong, but that looks like the PSOD from way back when, the only way to fix it was an RMA for a screen replacement. Chastity or someone else may need to correct me though.

 

Did some more research on my own about the PSOD. Seems like I'll have to go the RMA route to fix the LCD. Couple of questions:

I replaced the stock hdd with a 120GB ocz SSD. Is it okay to ship the laptop with the SSD in it?

Should I also mention to them how my laptop has been hard freezing randomly? Not sure if this will eventually lead to replacing the motherboard and/or repasting the GPU and CPU?

Thanks.

 

1) May as well include all your issues.
2) Don't ship with your SSD. If you can, put the original hdd back.
3) Backup before sending.

 

Thanks Chastity. Regarding #2, I no longer have windows installed on the original hdd. Do you recommend that I put in the original hdd and reinstall windows 7 on it or just ship the laptop back w/o a hdd?

 

Put it back and do a factory restore if the recovery partition is still on it. Chastity has an image of the restore disc on her driver page if you don't have a recovery partition. You could just ship it without the OS and the tech will probably load an image of the factory install on it anyways.

 

I thought it wasn't good to leave the laptop closed while running as the fans will be blocked? I always leave mine open while on to be safe.

 

Easy way to check is to run a temp monitor and log your temps, with and without the lid closed. I think you will find it won't matter.

 

Given the space between the hinge cover and screen even when it's closed, it won't matter. Heat leeching through the kb to the screen when it's closed during gaming might not be good though. I had a screen that went bad due to that, well i think that was the problem at least.