G73jh ethernet and bios question

Has anyone had any issues with their onboard ethernet? I have the G73jh-a2 and am now having a problem with the ethernet not always working. Most of the time it doesn't work at all. But every once in a while it will work. This is s huge pain because it's being used on a wired network so the laptop isn't much good to me right now. This is after having RMA'd and the motherboard was replaced. The previous problem was fixed, but now this has taken it's place. When it doesn't work you can't even see the device under "device manager" but when it is working it shows up fine. I have already done a fresh install of windows with no difference and then restored it from the backup and still same issue. I'm guessing that the board they installed just has a bad NIC on it, but asus is telling me to try to flash the BIOS to 209. I don't see anything about this being one of the fixes listed, but I'll try to flash anyway when I get home this afternoon. I was just wondering if anyone had any other ideas.

 

If the software/bios doesnt fix it, then either the ethernet chip is unseated (can only be fixed by disassembling the lappy and requires some expertise) or it is a bad chip and can only be RMA'd.

 

This is what I'm guessing will have to happen. I've had a few issues with this laptop already and I'm starting to see their pattern of how customer service handles everything. Their first suggestion is almost always the Bios flash, but they never have a reason for doing it. I've tried asking very specifically in the past to tell me what the Bios flash will fix or why I should do it and never really get an answer. Last time I refused to do it because they couldn't even tell me what the update fixed in general and I had heard about all the issues with keyboard after update. I don't think updating the Bios will fix this either, but I'm not hearing about any major problems with 209 so I suppose I'll give it a try before I RMA this thing for the 3rd time.

 

If you haven't already, you might want to read this thread here.

Basically your observation of a pattern is correct. They have absolutely no clue what any BIOS update will do and still recommend to people they update their BIOS. Even if that update will kill the keyboard lighting, such as what happened to many people with the 206 BIOS following their recommendation.

To the LAN issue, you said that you did a "fresh install of windows with no difference", but you didn't mention whether that included installing or reinstalling the LAN driver?

 

Well the problem with reinstalling the LAN driver is that it will only work when it actually sees the NIC as a device under the "device manager." I tried installing the drivers when it didn't see it and it wouldn't work. But when it did list the device and everything was working I did go ahead and try to install the driver again and it did install. But it didn't change anything. It still shows up once in a while under the hardware listing and works, but it still doesn't work most of the time.

I was just about to try to flash the Bios and got a reply to my second email to Asus and this time they just sent me an RMA. I hadn't gotten a reply to my first email after 3 days and copied the body of the message and submitted it again. So now I can't decide if I want to try the flash or just RMA it. Everything else is working fine and I really doubt a Bios flash will solve my LAN problem and maybe just cause other ones. I'm always reluctant to flash my Bios. What does everyone think? To Flash or not to Flash and just RMA it...

 

Looking at the http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/475907-asus-g73-series-disassembly-guide.html the LAN is on a separate card from the motherboard. It appears the connector is on the top of the motherboard at the back. Most likely the connector is loose or damaged.
Thanks to David for posting the guide.

 

NIC is screwed up again........ same exact issues. I think I'm done with this laptop.