My G73S is freezing during games, and I can't figure out why.

Here's my specs (which are the factory G73sw specs):

Running Windows 7 64-bit
Intel Core i7-2630QM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460m
DDR3 1333 MHz SDRAM, Two 4 GB slots with two left empty
I went with a 500GB HDD


Here's my problem. Roughly a month ago, my computer started to freeze up during games. It didn't always happen, but it happened once or twice a week. Recently, the freezing has increased substantially, to the point that I can't play any games at all, regardless of how intensive they are. I can't play FTL, I can't even play some browser games, without the computer freezing.

I had downloaded new drivers for my GPU, so I wiped those and installed some legacy ones that had worked well in the past. No dice. I then went through and did a complete system restore to a point I knew that everything was working. Nothing, still freezing. I then went on to completely reformat, and do a factory install of windows. Still freezing.

This is when I started getting more creative. I know that certain models of the ASUS laptops had some problems with voltages on their CPU, so I got throttlestop and tweaked around on that to see if I could fix it. Nothing. I got Speedfan and have checked all my temperatures to see if it was a overheating problem. Temps are staying comfortable, never saw them get past 80 degrees C before it would freeze during a game. As far is it being sound drivers, I haven't had any problems with them before, and when it freezes the sound still plays fine. I had pandora running while playing a game, and the music continued through to the end of the song during the freeze, but didn't go on after that song was over.

I have a hunch it has to do with voltage. Once in a great while, instead of just locking up, the computer would have a screen flicker and the brightness would shift and my performance would change, like the computer had changed power plans on me. But I have no idea how to fix it, as throttlestop doesn't seem to have helped as I can't change C levels on this CPU to put it into C1 and possibly override this problem.

Anyone have any ideas? I have a hunch a piece of my hardware is failing considering I have never had a problem like this up until recently, it progressively got worse, and a factory install (which prior to now worked flawlessly) didn't help it. The thing is, which piece of hardware and how do I figure that out?

 

If factory restore worked before but don't work now then it most likely is the hardware issue. run memtest make sure it's not the RAM problem: Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic

Also test to see if it will pass 3DMark Vantage or 3DMark 11 benchmark tests. even the temperature never get past 80 degrees some times it could be the VRAM is going bad causing system to freeze when playing games.

 

I may have figured out what the problem was, but I'm still waiting to see.

I re-installed the sound drivers a second time on a whim just to check. Low an behold, I have not had a single crash yet after doing so. I'm not sure why it didn't help the first time. Hopefully that was the problem.

 

So I was wrong, and it wasn't the sound drivers. It just crashed again, and the sound driver were not the culprit as even without any there was still crashing. I ran a 3Dmark test, it froze halfway through even while getting decent FPS.

I will try running memtest, but I'm not sure how to get it to work as I have no CD's or drives I can really use at the moment (well, until I find my damn flash drive anyways)

 

You can dl a memtest installer for USB flash drive

 

I once had that problem too. It worked just fine for a several months and then suddenly started crashing in any game I played. I would get "Display driver has stopped responding and has recovered" error message once in a while if it just closed the game and didn't lock up the whole computer. For some reason, forcing V-sync off fixed it. Never figured out what the problem was but it never happened again.

 

I had a similar problem about a year ago. Used some a hairdryer on cool air and opened up the cover on the underside and blew out a ton of dust. Turned it back on and my temps were below 60c and everything was working normal again.

 

could also be a HDD issue so you could also do a HDD test to see if its going bad as well

 

UPDATE:

Problem solved! I took my entire laptop apart to look at its guts. I cleaned the whole thing out, made sure all the fans were fully cleaned, and noticed a loose connection to the fan that cools the GPU. Turns out I was having no cooling at all on the GPU, which was causing it to overheat and freeze my computer really quickly. I reconnected it, cleaned it, put the whole thing back together, and I've been having normal temps since! Hasn't frozen yet.

Thanks for all the help! But all this trouble has made me decide to get a desktop, as taking this laptop apart was a complete bear. They do not make it easy to get into it.

 

The G73 is one of the worse laptops to disassemble, there are some that are much easier. That said, you can't beat a desktop for the performance/price ratio, but you loose the portability.

 

No, they don't!

So I had my G73S (no W) RMA a few months ago, had to pay the... whatever hundreds for a new GPU, has been fine since. I suspect probably the same problem as you, loose fan connection leading to GPU failure, as I never had problems when I ran tests via USB kit, except I never did graphics, so....

Anyway, for anyone else reading, freezing or bluescreen G73S or G73SW is likely the GPU or fan, and either open it up (sorry can't rmember where i got the guide from) and fix the fan, or get warranty on the GPU.

Oh and I had a problem with the screen blanking, I just opened it up again and put some non combustable foam near the top right (facing the laptop) where the monitor cable connects to the mobo, it didn't seem lose, or at least reseating the cable didn't help, but apparently putting a few degrees of angle on it did...

 

Yes the cable can be a bit delicate.