Returned my ASUS G751JY

I am sad to say this, I loved the IPS screen in the G751JY, it was the best screen I ever looked at, unfortunately, here is my problem

The moment I got my laptop, I hooked up my WD My Passport 2TB USB 3.0 external HDD and started to copy my data on the D: drive, after a few seconds the laptop would crash, not a BSOD, just a full crash where everything has frozen, nothing to show in Event Log Viewer as well. Only happened if the laptop was connected to any of the left USB ports. If it was connected to the right ports, it worked fine. I was shocked as this is the same problem I had with my old G750JX and I read similar complaints about the G750JM, JS, and JZ but I thought by now ASUS would have fixed these issues with the left USB ports but it's the exact same.

I then tried a clean install of Windows 8.1, no difference, tried BIOS 205, 206, no luck....

and another problem was the random black screens when rebooting where I had to hold the power button to force shutdown then boot again it would boot fine.

Seeing that this is a new laptop, I wasn't ready to accept such crippled behavior so I took it to the ASUS service center and showed them how it freezes, within 5 minutes they took the laptop back and declared it as DOA (dead on arrival), they didn't argue or open the laptop or try anything, seems like they were aware of such issues.

I am gonna get a refund soon and for the time being I am back to my Alienware 18..

hope ASUS sorts out these USB 3.0 problems in future laptops as I don't believe any BIOS is going to fix this

 

Have you ever thought that something may be wrong with your USB drive? In the sense, the drive driver doesn't like Asus laptops.. I would find it strange that I've seen only you have had this problem.... Also what's wrong if it works with the right hand side ports? Use those... The black screen problem is probably due to NVIDIA drivers etc.. A few people have reported it.. This laptop doesn't use Optimus so the issue is there...

 

The WD is a brand new 10th Anniversary edition that worked perfectly on the Alienware so I don't know, I know it works on the right port, but I don't like the idea of paying $2500 USD for a laptop that has buggy USB ports

As for the black screen problem, many have reported it after updating the BIOS to v206 which is a must to fix USB 3.0 issues as I see (that didn't fix my issues though). Also, I always thought that having a laptop without optimus is actually better since no confusion with the Intel HD Graphics where somtimes it takes over and games run from the Intel HD Graphics unless one plays around with the global settings....

 

I've had the same problem before. It was my GS60. I sent it back for RMA because I could hear coil whine and MSI decided to change my motherboard. After coming back, I started transferring my steam folder from my external HDD. After a few minutes of transferring, the whole thing was frozen. No BSOD, the HDD LED, not blinking, etc. I had to hard reset. I tried reformatting, changing RAMs, changing HDD but still frozen during file transfer.

They fix it when I sent it back to them to do a mobo exchange and thoroughly check the system with 200GB file transfers before sending it back to me.

 

Could have been an issue with the southbridge I guess, I'm glad it's working for you now though

 

Well all the Asus G series have the left side USB ports as a daughter board for some reason they can't seem to get this connection correct for all Units most people don't have any issue at all with this but it has been a known issue at least since the G75VW

 

yeah ASUS with all their great engineering cannot make a motherboard for a laptop with properly functioning USB ports! very sad

 

The big advantage of no optimus is greater display flexibility and the ability to overclock them

 

I also am the owner of a G751JY with occasional flaky behavior. I've heard about the left side USB issues but they didn't affect me. I DO have the occasional black screen on boot though. Sending the machine into sleep mode and back (once or twice) has so far brought the screen back to life.
I've had this notebook since last November and I've been tempted a few times to RMA it because of the occasional and obviously abnormal boot behavior. The rig screams perfectly when it's up and running though so I have hesitated returning it for service because nobody seems to be able to identify exactly what causes the black screen on boot issue to begin with.
I have updated the BIOS, updated to the latest Nvidia drivers and then back to the latest "Asus authorized" driver from last November but the black boot screen still appears sometimes. I guess I'll live with it for now (unless the problem gets worse) but I sure wish someone would figure this issue out.
I've heard horror stories about people RMA'ing their notebook PC's for a minor issue and having them returned worse than they were before so I'm hesitant to return my G751JY for what I consider a minor quirk with an easy workaround. I'm not exactly happy about it though. My old W2JB lasted me for 8 years and it also had a quirk where sometimes it wouldn't boot on battery alone unless it was plugged in. Great performers these Asus notebook PC's are but it is puzzling why such an otherwise advanced company allows these flaws to make it to the consumer.

 

everytime I had sent my previous ASUS gaming laptops for any repair or job, they returned it worse than before, mostly they are unable to properly connect the screen cables so when opening / closing the screen I would get a fuzzy or distorted image unless I position it in a certain way. don't trust the muppets that works at ASUS and just live with this black screen although I couldn't. If I pay $2000 and above for a computer, it ought to be perfect or back it goes for a refund. I wouldn't accept that black screen issue

PS: try downgrading to BIOS 205 if you're on BIOS 206 that solved the issue for me btw.

to downgrade, you need to run the winfslah command in an elevated command prompt:

Windows BIOS Flash Utility 2.42.0 Download




The only problem was that the ASUS Windows BIOS Flash Utility won't let you use an older BIOS image and gives an error saying that The BIOS file is older than the current version. The button to flash the BIOS is greyed out and not an option.





The easiest solution to this BIOS downgrade option is to launch ASUS WinFlash through Command Prompt. (Command Prompt can be found under Start Menu under Accessories.) Once you are in Command Prompt you must navigate to where you have Winflash installed. If you installed it with the default settings on Windows 7 it will be located in the C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\WinFlash directory. Just enter the command cd C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\WinFlash to get into that directory.

Once you are in that folder you can run the command Winflash /nodate and the utility will launch like normal. Only this time it will ignore the date of the BIOS images that you are trying to downgrade to.



Now you can select your desired bios file, ignore the warning about it being an older version and press Flash. After the WinFlash utility tells you it is done, you can reboot your computer and should have successfully downgraded your BIOS.

This should work on desktop and notebooks and is an easy way to fix the issue of how to install an older BIOS version. I see this being a problem for many in the future, so just wanted to point it out.

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Thanks Ferris for all that info,

I'm currently running BIOS 205. The occasional flaky boot exhibited itself with the stock 204 version. 205 was reported to address left side USB issues so I immediately upgraded thinking that it might solve the black screen thing too. No dice. It still rears it's head once in a while. Since 206 is reported to deal only with additional hard drive installation I haven't bothered with that yet. Maybe if they release a 207 it'll hook me up.

I understand your reasons to return under my circumstances but it is (for now at least) only an occasional glitch and when the machine runs, it runs as well as any PC I've ever seen. It's a most impressive performer. I scoured the web looking for my next notebook. I don't get one often and usually shoot for as much horsepower as my cash allows at the time. This G751 came out on top of the selection process and so far it hasn't let me down aside from the occasional black-on-boots. Heck, as much as I dreaded it I'm not even hating Win 8.1 as much as I thought I would. People can flame the OS all they want but one thing it is....is stable.

So I guess I'm just an Asus fanboy who's willing to put up with a glitch to enjoy the rest of the package. I would however be glad to entertain any ideas or discussion on this issue. It has been regularly reported but there is a dearth of info on the possible causes or cures. Thanks again.

 

Good to hear that people who get over the Windows 8.x start screen annoyance, start to appreciate the OS for what it really is - a really good and reliable OS that will get even better in it's next iteration, namely Windows 10.
I also hesitated to move from Windows 7 until I got the G-series laptop which supports only Windows 8.1, so I installed it and never looked back.
I have tried Windows 10 TP as well and it's amazing, cant wait for the final release.
Anyway people should really look beyond the start screen to really appreciate Windows 8.1. Apart from that minor annoyance it really is an noticeable improvement over Windows 7, in almost every aspect.
Sorry for the offtopic

 

Other than the left USB port issue that I experienced which I could not ignore since it would cause my whole laptop to a complete crash/freeze with no error messages, the performance of this laptop is great and the screen is one of the best screens I've ever seen on a laptop.

 

Actually you don't need to put up with the Start Screen or Metro screen, Classic Shell, will do away with the metro and start screen. you can set your screen to be like XP or 7 and boot straight to log on screen.

 

While it should have been patched into 8 officially, at least the upgrade to 10 is free.

 

I'm just wondering - why would you buy a G751 when you have an AW18?

Besides the screen, the ASUS is pretty much a downgrade across the board.

 

Just wanted to try out the 980M Bro, but when benchmarking, the 780SLI gave me around 10% more performance than a single 980 and that's when I started to have buyer's remorse so I returned it because of the issues I've mentioned as well

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-770M-SLI.103771.0.html
Give it the time for more optimized drivers, 980m is faster.
The display is just average with mediocre deep black 0.49, and poor 72% NTSC Gamut and 40% Adobe RGB. Mine has an annoying yellow tint. Besides G751JY I have a B156HW01 V4 on my other MSI GX660 and is another world with Adobe RGB 96%

 

Well you always want a single card over an SLI setup scoring the same, in games the single card will win out due to smoother frame times and less driver worries.