How to Fix Your GSOD Blues

Yes, as it will ship with the stock vBIOS.

 

thank you Chastity!

 

Just got through reading through the entire 171 page thread. Wow. Good job guys! Thanks to Chastity who really should win an award for all this help. I got my first GSOD, googled up the issue, and eventually found my way here where after reading the entire thread and following the nice directions from Gary/Chastity I was able to get rid of all GSODs and even unlock the overclock settings using CCC. I'm on Cat 11.2 with Chastity's vBIOS, overclocked to 830/1000 and have been running fine ever since.

Thanks again. One of the best threads as far as helpfulness and civility I've seen in a while.

P.S. newbies, PLEASE try to read the entire thread before re-asking the same questions over and over. I cringed every time I saw that in the 170+ pages. Really, for the free support these forum members are giving out here you owe them that much courtesy.

 

YAY~ I did as Chastity said:

Updated to Bios 213 (I used the HPtool to format my USB-Drive first and made it Fat32-bootable, with the vBios files + Bios213 inside).

Using the same USB Drive, I let windows run once, then restart and spam the ESC button, selected the USB drive, typed: dir (intro), just to make sure all 3 files were there (atiflash.exe, fix_od.rom and updateod.bat). Then I typed: updateod (intro), the process completed in around 1.5 secs.

I used CRTL+ALT+DEL to reboot, since I saw it on the Video ( YouTube - G73Jh GSOD VBios update guide ), and removed my USD drive while the machine was loading.

Ran Unigine Heavens Benchmark 2.5 basic:



This were my previous results on Bios 209 + Stock vBios:



The results are literally the same, but the max temperature after the updates is 90C (5C lower than before), I guess that was because of the Bios Update 209 to 213.

I also updated the ATK package (to1.0008), to fix my keyboard missing strokes.

My next move will be to update the video drivers, I found some guides to do it. Since I'm on the 9.12 drivers I was wondering if I can just uninstall from windows then restart and install the 11.3 drivers, or if it's necessary to uninstall>restart into safemode>use driver sweeper>restart and install new drivers ^^;

There was a thread for the benchmarks, I plan to post my results on Unigine 2.5 again after updating the video drivers ^^

Thanks again!

 

You don't need a guide. You can just install one over the other.

 

thanks Chastity you info has been a godsend

 

Can anyone tell me the MD5 and SHA-1 check of this official vBIOS release?
Thank You in Advance

 

Thanks for Help and for all people behind this helps
recently i finish the update of my Ati 5870m Vbios flash whith the version of OD.
The machine works perfect, now in the night i try to update AGAIN the software of catalyst to 11-3 version.
Now i spend all night format the only 16gb kingston pendrive in fat 32, last 2 hours jajajajaja but now works perfect.
I apologize for some ortography error or bad use of times, verbs and words, but im not good english speaking, and i try to do my best. and i write these steeps in spanish for all the peoples who dont understand english, thanks again.

Bueno gente el tema es asi, para la mayoria de las personas que tienen la Hermosa Notebook Asus G73 y cuando estan jugando se les cuelga la pantalla con varias lineas horizontales o verticales de colores amarillos y grices y luego se termina por colgar la maquina completa, a esto se le llama GSODs/VSODs que seria traducido grices lineas de la muerte jejejej original el nombre.
A continuacion les explico la solucion a este problema.
Primero deben tener un pen drive, si es chico, o sea 1 gb mejor sino van a tardar mucho formateandolo.
Luego deben descargar el archivo 93vBIOSa.rar o si desean una version alterna en la que esta activado el overdrive descargan la version de CHASTITY http://pcaudio.org/stuff/93vBIOS_OD.rar
Una vez hecho esto descomprimen el rar en alguna carpeta vacia.
Una vez descargado van a encontrar otros dos archivos RAR dentro, descompriman los 2 y dejenlos a mano en subcarpetas dentro de esta misma carpeta.
Ahora bien usen el archivo hpusbdisk para formatear el pendrive y hacerlo compatible para que arranque la maquina en modo DOS.
Para este paso traten de formatear sin seleccionar el cuadro de formateo rapido, y seleccionando el cuadro de sitema operativo, una vez que pida los archivos del sistema seleccionan la segunda carpeta que descomprimieron llamada win98boot, puede que halla otra subcarpeta dentro de esta con el mismo nombre, traten de elegir siempre la ultima que es donde estan todos los archivos DOS.
Aqui comienzan a formatear y una vez terminado el proceso copian los archivos ATIflash.exe, fix_od.rom y updateod.bat en el pen drive (esto es para la version OD de CHASTITY que es la que probe yo) y reinician la computadora.
Colocan el pendrive antes que reinicie y apretan la tecla ESC varias veces hasta que les salga el cuadro en donde seleccionan el disco con el que quieren arrancar la compu. aca seleccionan el pendrive. y una vez que les permita escribir, escriben
UPDATEOD y presionan enter, solo les tomara 4 segundos y ya esta. como ultimo paso, apagan la compu, esperan 10 segundos y la prenden denuevo y ya esta, despues de esto actualicen el catalys de ati y felicitaciones.

If you want to edit my post for anything, do it

 

I rest my case.

 

90 is fine for crysis 2. It's a little high, but won't be causing shutdowns.

You need to run a GPU temp monitoring program (or load crysis 2 in windowed mode and watch the temps). The shutdown is 111C.

Sounds like you've got other issues with your computer. Changing your bios doesn't affect windows, generally. Changing your vbios won't be visible at all for windows.

Also, if you fill your post with bold, and colours, it doesn't make it any easier to read, because your entire post seems to be filled with highlighting. So if you want to "bold" something, you'll need to do it for the key point, not the entire post.

 

The 5870m isn't meant to run Crysis 2 at 1080p on Extreme settings. That just overtaxes the GPU and goes beyond its capabilities.

Scale down the settings, spray out your vents (and/or do a repaste) and you'll find that the G73 handles Crysis 2 perfectly fine on High-Very High settings without breaking the thermal threshold.

 

Can i Ask Something?
Why i have the g50vt X1 with an p8600 processor and nvidia 9800gs and 3 gb of 800mhz memory and in that computer i can run a psx2 emulator and play Devil May Cry 3 without a problem and in comparison i have a g73 jh whit better memory, better graphics card, better hard disk, better machine but i have awfull results in the same game and other games,
I know a P processor interlaced have a better speed clock and can do 2 task and not overcloked in 2,50ghz and the i7 can do 8 task but the speed was 1,60ghz, and i dont know if this processors can reach to better performance when all your cores are working together???
I try to use the emulator in OC mode and no difference? somebody can say why this happens?
Thanks for the time and i apologize for my english, im latin but i do my best. thanks again.

 

i am not sure if the emulator can take advantage of the multithreaded processor? if not, then you are essentially running it on a 1.6 GHz which explains the bad performance

 

Thanks for your help, i read something more about that emulator.

 

I tried to flash my vBios using Chastity new stuff but it won't work. I use the HP app and formatted the USB drive FAT32 and used the win98 folder. I put atiflash.exe, fix_od2.rom and od2 into the flash drive. I am able to boot into the dos mode thing but when I type in VFlash I keep getting "Bad command or file name" error. Is there something I'm not putting in there? Thanks.

EDIT: Never mind. I realized my obvious mistake.

 

Hi guys,

I've not updated anything with my G73JH-A2 since I got them in July 2010. However now I have a problem with SC2 and has been directed here to fix the problem.

My Bios version is 206 and stock ATI drivers. Do I need to update anything before/after flashing this new Bios?

 

Flash bios to 213, flash your GPU vBios to either the 93vBios from Asus or Chastity's fix_od2. Uninstall your current ATI drivers and install 11.3 or better yet the preview 11.4 you can find here.

 

Hi Tijo,

Has successfully flash to 213 Bios and VBios.

I have also followed the steps on how to remove my ATI driver and everything went fine. However now I am stuck with no drivers. I've downloaded the 11.3 software suite from the AMD website and have gone through the installation process but I am still stuck with standard VGA! HELP! =(

 

Are you trying to install from safe mode, if you are, then reboot and install when not in safe mode. Did you use driver sweeper, if yes then which version was it?

You will find the whole driver package here. That's where i got mine from and i had no problems installing what so ever.
G73 Series Driver and Application Reference

Worst case scenario, install the older drivers you can get from Asus, it won't be optimal but at least it will work.

 

Nope. Install from normal mode and installed as admin.
Yes, used driver sweeper from the same place you got yours.
What I can see now is that the only thing installed are the ATI Catalyst Install Manager & AMD APP SDK Runtime. No drivers or CCC. Sigh

 

check this thread just in case:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/571022-driver-sweeper-saga.html

If the files and folders are there, this isn't your problem though. I'm a bit in the dark right now since i never had any problems installing my drivers

You can try what's in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/573422-ati-driver.html but if you used driver sweeper in safe mode you shouldn't need it.

 

Sigh nothing works. I can't even re-install the stock driver.

Thankfully system restore works for me. Don't think I'll be getting any updated ATI drivers :s

 

If you are now restored to stock driver you should be able to just install the latest driver from AMD.

There's no need to uninstall the previous version and there's no reason to use any registry sweeper. That stuff may help if something's fubar'd but normally is not necessary.

 

Like i said, i'm kind of at a loss here, i'd wait on someone else opinions. Just make sure you're not doing something like trying to install the 32-bit version of the drivers. It can happen sometimes if you're not paying attention or you clicked the wrong link.

Direct link to the whole package for 7-64: http://www2.ati.com/DRIVERS/mobile/11-3_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe

Read this as well, but i'd try other things before doing that: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...iver-application-reference-2.html#post7025489

Sorry i can't help you more but i'm sure someone more tech versed here will figure it out.

 

Don't even bother with 11.3

http://www2.ati.com/DRIVERS/mobile/11-4_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe

11.4 went WHQL today.

 

Yep, weren't available on AMD's download site when i posted though, i checked . Installed them like 3 hours after my previous post...

 

Okay, last year I had to RMA my G73 due to a bad Blu Ray Drive. It took me 3 hours to install BFBC2, and 2 hours to install Borderlands. I fought through it because I just spent $1600 dollars on a lap top. I had the GSOD problems, but I just went with the stock drivers and dealt with it. Before I RMA'd I was having the GSOD problem, but I just used stock drivers and dealt with stupid load times for BFBC2.

I got the laptop back in a reasonable amount of time, but didn't think to check updates on vbios or the like. Asus updated my BIOS and vBios, but I still have issues. After updating my ATI drivers to 11.4 I'm having GSOD when playing BFBC2. . I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to RMA, but this is stupid.

 

The vBIOS they may have used may be old. Check what version they installed to the version listed in my vBIOS sig link below.

 

At work now, but I swore I checked it and it matched the vBIOS Gary posted. I'll double check when I get home.

 

asus won't update your vbios unless it is specifically causing the problem. So if you sent it in to be "fixed" because "it wasn't working right", they'll just do standard repair work. If you sent it in because of the GSOD /vbios error, then they'll fix that.

The tech support guys see so many laptops in and out, if you're not clear about your problem, they're not going to troubleshoot your machine for 3 hours to figure it out. They figure that the front line tech has already done that with you - and if you got mad at the tech, refused to go through the stupid script with them ... then that's not the repair-guy's fault. He's not paid to do front line diagnostics... so if it appears that those diagnostics have been done by the over-the-phone agent, he's not wasting his time.

 

Well I can confirm the increasing reports that GSOD is back with 11.4 whql combined with supposedly fixed v93 vbios. I think we should have believed HellCry when he told us ages ago that the GSOD problem still wasn't fixed by Asus and v93 was just some dirty patchwork that now begins to fall apart.

The total incompetence of "Gary's team" is shown because going back to good old MSI vbios fixes all the problems *again* and also gives a solid 5-8% perfomance boost in every benchmark

 

Enjoy your AIDS.

I've been testing a few games under 11.4 WHQL, including Dirt2, Starcraft 2, Dragon Age 2, Mafia II. Sorry I don't have Crysis 2 to test, but checking if Asus has any keys for that. So far I've had ZERO GSOD's.

Please leave a list of games that are GSOD'ing on you.

 

Posted this on another thread:

Okay, I didn't have the 093 vBIOS updated, but I just updated. Kind of nerve wracking to do for the first time, but got it done by trial and error, some help with from this forum, and google. I'm going to run Furmark and some BFBC2 while watching the mavs game. Wish me luck!

 

My guess? You'll be a happy camper now

 

Yep. Ran Furmark for 30 mins. Max temp about 95. Played BFBC2 for about an hour, and no issues. Thanks for the help guys!

 

i am new to the forum and new to modding my G73. by modding i mean vBIOS flash because i have not flashed the vBIOS since i bought the computer 4/20/2010. Updated graphics drivers, catalyst, etc every few months but always had overheating problems. RMA'd it through Best Buy and got it back in 2 weeks. Seemed great, for a little while, then back to the same old GSOD all the time. I could play Black Ops @ 1280x768 with low settings and it worked great for a while, and somedays I'd get a GSOD before the game actually loaded at same settings. Now I updated vBIOS with v93 and updated Catalyst with all the new drivers, and I haven't seen a GSOD one time since.

Thanks for being helpful to those of you who are on here helping people fix their G73s. Chastity, mad props for all the people you are helping on here, and I'll update on here if I come across any games that GSOD on me, but so far all seems good!

 

Thankyou so much! I am new to the forum but I just used this and it fixed my G73 perfectly. I can run furmark in stability test for 30 min and reach only 88 F with the newest ATI drivers.

 

Nevermind, figured it out. Apparently some flash drives don't work. Hopefully it works. Thanks a lot.

 

Well, I thought that my problem was fixed. I followed the OP's directions exactly and flashed the vbios to whatever version is linked in the OP. Before, I could play Portal 2 for maybe 20 minutes before GSOD, after the flash I could play for around two hours. Still, after two hours, it came back. I'm on ATI's newest video drivers. What to do?

 

Did it occur only once or is it a recurring problem? If it happened only once, dismiss it as the driver crashing due to some random problems. If it still persists, i fear you'll be forced to RMA it.

 

Only once. I'll play some more games tonight and see what happens.

 

i can confirm too that the vbios is not GSOD free
for some maybe

i had GSOD 1 or 2 times after flashing it
after 3,4 months no GSOD's so far

 

Anyone know why I get error 0FL01 when I try to flash it?

Fixed*

 

So, is there a way to save the old vBIOS before updating to the new one? I'd like to update my card, and then get the latest drivers, but I'm stable right now with NO GSOD, and I'd like to be able to fall back on this configuration if the new setup is giving me errors. I've got the original video drivers saved that shipped with this computer (8.6.something), and they are rock solid. Never a GSOD. But I'd like to get the 11.4 stuff, so if you know how to save/backup your vBIOS, please share Thanks!

 

Use GPU-Z. To the right the bios revision string, click on the chip icon and you can save a copy of the old vBios.

 

Neato, thank you

ETA: How can I load one if I screw the pooch?

 

I've recently started getting GSOD. (I got it first but updating the catalyst drivers killed that issue. But with 11.4 and upward its back. And downgrading back to 11.3 didn't solve it. :/)

I have the BB model of the G73jh.

 

Well, what vBIOS are you on?

 

I'm not sure how to check that. Could you tell me?

And oddly going back to the 11.4 drivers STILL gave me a GSOD but...the comp didn't die. It just grey screened for like 14 seconds before it keep going on with the game.

 

GPU-Z will give you the vBios revision string. You're probably on the original vBios and in need to update it.