How to Fix Your GSOD Blues

Fellow G73JH users. I have a question that HAVE NOT ever asked before in this thread!

And it goes like this:

Do i need to update the new official vbios if I am currently using the official Asus VGA drivers downloaded from ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support- (notebook/drivers/vga) and they are working just fine ?

My G73JH was build in 6/2010 and Bios version is 209 if it helps.

 

Well i would, but the G73JW is my only option since its the only one thats similar enough to be passed off as a G73JH to someone who doesnt know their stuff (dont ask why it must be similar, its complicated when its company owned).

 

That is my normal stance as well. Chastity gently twisted my arm to update everything. So far only a single GSOD @ 705/1100 OC so I dropped back down to stock 700/1000. Since I only use this system for games I do not let the system down clock and force it to stay at this clock. As long as I don't get any more I suppose all is well.

Cheers,

 

no only if you've Gsod pb or want to use news ATI drivers
there is some improvment too in this drivers for games

 

If your system works GSOD-free and you are ok with the stock drivers, keep your system as received (drivers 9.12 or 10.1 from asus). If you want to gain all the improvements with the recent catalyst (better FPS in BFBC2, MW2, better performance in SC2+AA, Lost Planet 2 running in DX11) and you obtain GSOD when install newer catalyst drivers, you must do the upgrade.

In my personally situation, I made the update for SC2 and trust, you will notice the difference (with 10.7a in my case).

 

Your son's laptop and your Dell have Nvidia GPUs don't they?

 

As Chastity stated, all the cards have this issue, and it is recommended that you upgrade taking the necessary steps to perform the upgrade(s) safely of course.

I was in the same boat as you being GSOD-free for 4 months until finally GSOD'ing just the other day. I waited to update because I didn't know, and I honestly thought I had one of the good GPUs. If I had known all the GPUs are of this build quality for this particular model, I would've updated a lot sooner.

So yes, I would recommend you update while your GPU is still good and new. The updates will result in cooler operating temperatures extending the life of your GPU. It will also allow you to run the latest drivers as others have already mentioned.

 

my only complaint is that we need new synaptics drivers.. they're horribly crappy and old and i'm using hp ones.

 

BTW, the buggy touchpad behavior is independent of which drivers are you using. I reported here in the forum issues with the HP ones (15.0.09 to 15.0.024) and from the asus ones, even from the one from synaptic.

 

Yes Storm_cloud all with nvidea.

 

Since repaste I've had the opportunity to play games for the first time since I flashed to the new vbios, flashed to 211 bios and installed cat 10.8s.

Previous to the repaste I was having occasional issues with youtube videos causing the display driver to fail and recover.

Well, playing BC2 was smooth except for one point at which it basically froze for 5-10 seconds before recovering.

Napoleon: Total War's screen went grey (nooooo!), then black, then returned to the loading screen and within 10 seconds recovered to where I was at.

When this happens in Dirt 2, there's no messing around, it just crashes to desktop.

Has anyone else had issues like this? I manually clocked to 700/1000 and 800/1000 when trying these. It's like it's trying to GSOD but the driver recovers?


Edit: I just flashed to the MSI vbios, I'll let you all know if the issues resolve themselves.

 

Sorry for noob question but..... how I do for change clock?

 

you can do it with "AMD GPU Clock tool", just google it. Grab the version from Guru3d wich has the 5870m support.

 

lol she must have threatened to kill u or even worse

tried it and didn't detect temps.. trying to find the proper one now.

 

I'm assuming that you can run the app. Do you see the clocks for your VGA? If yes, is detecting it. Go to the thermal sensors tab and press the start button. By default the app does not show the temps.

 

I Try start sensors but stay dead....... I can't see temperature. My clocks is 699.99 - 1000

 

Indeed there are worse things than death, however, Chastity only used verbal persuasion methods. I did not hold out long enough to determine what lay beyond that.

I'm still curious as to her ultimate motivation in getting us ALL to upgrade? Surely her motives are not purely altruistic, in that her concern for our collective computing well-being is so great that she devotes countless hours to assisting us.

I've scanned for bits of random code that might indicate skynet or cylon origin but find nothing nefarious.

Perhaps she's just a kind, benevolent being send to help us in our time of need (even if some of us don't know we need).

One may never know...

Cheers,

 

weird. Try using HWiNFO32 and use the sensors button to see your whole system. Get it here

And is free

 

Well... noob is noob... all work in HWiNFO32 or AMD GPU Clock too. In AMD need clic in start, ASIC TEMPERAT....... and in Enable Reading.

My Hi Temp is 65 ºC.

Tks a Lot Nekki

 

But you were using ati's own catalyst drivers ? The GSOD's are not hardware related.This is a timing issue between the current vBIOS and the direct download ATI Catalyst drivers in certain user configurations. If it be a hardware related problem the new vBIOS would not help.

Note almost all laptops wich has ati 5000 series mobility graphic card has vbios update and had same problems. Example MSI GX740 and MSI GX640.

 

anyone known where can i get the MSI vbios?

i want to give it a try.

 

http://www.asusxperts.puchu.es/g73/recursos/MsivBiosG73.rar

 

Yes, I used the Asus 9.12 drivers for the first couple of weeks, and then upgraded to ATI Catalyst 10.5, and I've been running those ATI drivers with bios 206 problem-free up until now.

I see what you're saying, but if it were SOLELY a timing issue, why would it have taken 4 months for me to run into this timing issue now? It's not like I've changed my user configuration since then. If the timings were off to begin with, shouldn't I experience these GSODs immediately after installing Catalyst 10.5 "4 months" ago?

Yes it may very well be a software/timing issue as well, but please don't discount the fact that it could be hardware-related as well. As Chastity mentioned ... it is a possibility. Going by my personal experiences with my G73JH these past 4 months, it is the most logical explanation I could think of.

One must understand that all components have a duty cycle/life span. Some components being more forgiving and robust than others due to higher levels of engineering.

"If it be a hardware related problem the new vBIOS would not help"
- it goes without saying that engineers know the limitations of the products they've designed yes? and so if they can pinpoint the exact cause of the problem, whose to say they can't engineer a piece of software that's a little more accommodating of the issue?

"Note almost all laptops wich has ati 5000 series mobility graphic card has vbios update and had same problems. Example MSI GX740 and MSI GX640."
- I agree. Even the ones that didn't have problems like myself eventually will run into this headache. So my question is if it is in fact such a serious timing issue that eventually affects us all (and not immediately?), shouldn't every owner and future owner of the G73JH series be made aware of this issue? It's a very common issue. Why won't Asus make it an official downloadable file on their website? It's only fair that they do. It's a potential problem, and those running problem-free now should not be left in the dark.

 

hmm how much performance improvment . i mean right now i have COD:MW2 installed and i get 75FPS normally but while there are too much explosion happen then it go down to Min. 38FPS . Will test other games once i get time (too busy with work But next week will be free then will test it ) . Also i am on stuck no update till now .

 

drivers will at best give you a 50 percent performance increase, at worst none at all. it's a toss up.

 

again, depending what are you playing the improvements will range from nothing to 50%. In my case, from 10.1 to 10.7a (with v93) the gameplay in SC2 became extremely fluid. Was good on stock but noticeable better with the update.

 

thanks But what about shuttering issue people are facing in new vbios .

 

Not everyone has stuttering video problems, like myself. You won't know until you try it.

 

ok then will try every thing on Sunday or if i get time today . Lets hope every thing goes ok

 

Now this is just plain wrong. The G73JH is the only laptop that ever had problems with the mob. 5870. The vBios updates MSI, Clevo and Alienware released were not aimed at solving any problems, but improving user expirience by adding proper powerplay and overdrive. By using the first stock MSI vBios G73JH users were able to get rid of GSODs completely when there was still no beta vBios from Asus (which is still not completely fine). Do some research before you post some missinformation like that.

 

Through several hours of gameplay, on Mafia II, BC2, Dirt 2, Napoleon: Total War and TF2, I've had no problems at all using the MSI vbios with 10.8 cats and 700/1000 clocks (though 800/1000 causes graphics glitches...). I was having display driver failure-and-recovery crashes with the new asus vbios.

Luckily I won't be needing HDMI for the foreseeable future...

 

Asus people should feel pretty bad reading this

 

Sounds more like you've got a CCC/ATI problem there.

Slightly off-topic (okay, very off topic), but asus installed the latest vbios for me, and I still had problems. I was 99% sure it was a hardware problem before sending it in for RMA, and the vbios update did not fix it... and asus did not test it before returning it to me.

Long story short: I had my laptop returned with a GSOD-ing gpu (when I sent it in for a mobo problem), and my 2nd RMA got the vbios update (rather than a replacement GPU) ... and it still had problems. 3rd time I've sent it in (yes, no G73 for 50-ish days, apparently asus sees it as 30 business days or something like that) ... and they're repairing it again. I wonder if I'll have it during september at all ... because I didn't have it during august (which was okay, because I wasn't lecturing at that point).

I'm waiting to see if they can make it right on the 3rd RMA. I understand they get a lot of people sending in laptops with software problems, but I'm very clear on the phone when RMA-ing it, that it is *not* software, and usually a factory-restore (if not, then a fresh-from-Microsoft-DVD-windows-install) and yet they still treat it as a software problem.

MY POINT(s):

1. Demand 2 way shipping. It is part of your purchase price, if you got an -A or -B model. Make them pay the $50 or so to UPS it. Every dollar it costs asus to repair the G73 is motivation to fix it right the first time. Because asus didn't return my box when I dropped it off (I thought I'd get faster service if I took it myself), my reseller is taking care of the shipping.

2. Call and ask for updates. Ask the call centre folks to update your file. Make it obvious to the technicians when they look at your file that you *will* follow up and send it back if it isn't fixed properly. Ask the call centre people to request that they test your G73 before returning it. Ask them to make a note of that in the file.

3. Remember: Asus does make good products. Yes, they dropped the ball on this one, but they're fixing it. Make SURE that you get yours fixed, because as much as Gary is doing, he's not going to hold your hand and ensure each RMA is done right. He's going to try, but he's not fixing them personally...

4. Make your voice heard. If you have problems, let other people know how you have resolved them. That way, they can benefit from your troubles.

Remember, The vBios WORKS if you don't have faulty hardware. And very, VERY few people should have faulty hardware at this point, they have had several hardware revisions since release, and the vBios is finally, FINALLY going to allow us to use ATI drivers.

And also, there are some very good people working on this problem. Don't forget to thank them.

 

And why does the MSI vbios work perfectly well for people with "faulty hardware" as you put it? I guess there might be some faulty software work still with this v93 Asus vbios instead.

 

I wondered about this as well. If the MSI vBIOS works but loses HDMI etc, how hard would it be to start with that and fix those bits that are missing? (Of course I'm no programmer so for all I know it could be like reverse engineering the pyramids by just looking at the outside.)

Cheers,

 

Who is chastity? does she work for asus?

 

what is sc2? what r the numbers? driver versions?

 

Fine dont belive me. Allow me to quote a few examples:

From MSI Forum:

"GX640 crashes with games "

"Moderator: Flash it to the latest VBIOS:
MSI Europe ? Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Mainboard, Graphics and more
>>Use the MSI HQ Forum USB flasher<<"

"MSI GX740 BSOD Help."

"Robocaspar: I recently received my GX740 I7 720M from ncix. The laptop runs good except a rare BSOD that seems to occur during gaming. It's happened once during Starcraft 2, once in World of Warcraft and another time when I was asleep with a movie playing, frequency is about once a day."

Moderator: Go to BIOS Setup and paste info from System Information
You probably need a VBIOS update if you have retail version of GX740 "


"GX740 screen driver stops and BSOD?"

hi i have Gx740 and, it has not working properly, at first start up I got 3 BSOD and now I have Windows7 at some times in the game so it goes in the stand, also comes with the Display driver stopped and has been restored. Should I wait for a BIOS update or send it in for repair?"


From BTOForum:

" BillATI Moderator :In this thread were going to guide you on how to fix these problems on the Gx640-098US Notebook. Many have been wondering why their desktop flickers and distorts all of a sudden while playing video media; Here is the solutions. Where going to begin by explaining how to flash bios using a bootable usb drive in DOD....."

" Did BTO report the GSOD to ATI?"

Users talking about the GSOD issue on G73JH....

"Admin: gx640 had the same problem too"

 

mmm Very interesting, it seems that msi stock vbios had problems too.

 

Their problem was software, drivers crashing and BSODs, unlike our GSODs. As i said, many of us tried the stock MSI vBios and it never ever gave anyone a GSOD, where the Asus vBios does. Theres also the fact that there is always a percentage of faulty cards in any manufacturing proces.

 

And as I said, the asus vBios and MSI vbios fix problems for most cards. It's funny how these points keep coming up, and being refuted ... if only the newcomers would bother to re-read old posts...

 

Asus wont support the new vBios because if you screw up in flashing it is your own fault. You cant blame Asus then and they are not responsible. The latest models has already updated in the factory like the latest bios.

Of course the heat limits down the life span of laptop or any desktop computer. Example It is not uncommon that two year old graphic card or motherboard breaks down.

I had have had my Xbox 360 (revision Xenon) sent to rma twice because of faulty vga card and second time prosessor brokes up. It gave me three flashing red lights ""Red Ring of Death" wich means general hardware failure. Xbox did not show any presymptoms before hardware failure. SO i'm trying to say that electric devices does not worn down like mechanical devices example car brakes. They just die.

I asked two electronics engineers about this issue: "That does software update extend the life span of computer." Answer: no they do not. "If example graphic card is faulty or damaged does updating it fix it". Answer: No it wont.

And I dont belive that Asus Company Representative would lie. Why? Computers do have problems so this is nothing new. I am been messing around with computers since 1995. This why game consoles are so popular nowadays and computers are losing ground every year as an gaming platform. Plug and play.

 

No, but sometimes I feel like it. Maybe Gary should make me the forum's Tech Rep. I could use the 2nd income I doubt it tho, since I am already doing it for free. At least then I could call Mason and be his new nightmare.

I'm just a forum member who did alot of research into the GSOD problem, and worked out a fairly successful workaround until Gary showed up. He then contacted me and invited me to help work on a solution as a beta tester under NDA.

Oh and yeah, at one point I got frustrated at the techs and emailed them the MSI vBIOS. "Here's a tip: figure out why this one works, maybe it'll provide clues." Apparently it helped.

 

Industrial espionage.....lazy techs......Chastity is a girl..... that becoming juicy

Anyway, if you want to became Company representative you have my support.

 

Thanks Nekki, I'm sure your vote of 1 will overwhelm Gary's thoughts into his mechanized plans to rule all of Asus....

 

I actually almost bought the MSI unit instead of the G73 and was idly wondering when I started having problems if the MSI system did it too and it was something endemic to 5870M cards.

 

i see tons of notes from you. how do you know so much abt this pc? do i really need to do these update even tho i neveer have this problem in 2 days?

i may try. ty

 

Fixed it.. But i'm using HWinfo32.. this is more for ocing..

Just get a bloody clevo or a JW and stop ranting... brb.. ur starting again.

Loved the first part... really juicy ... but u have my support too.. u did a lot of work which really u didn't have to.

 

Any update on what the VBIOS did? Timing? Voltage? ????

 

so guys (and lady)... to sum up the whole situation: the vbios and bios updates fixes the g73jh GSOD problems as long as you don't have a defective GPU from factory? That's the final veredict? case close?