Should I RMA ? g73 (Artifacts)

For the first month or so, the notebook was perfect - I didn't update my drivers too.

Then I tried playing games on the battery to show my awesome notebook to my friends, and saw my first slowdown / artifacts... made some kind of sense I guessed, my theory was the battery was just too weak.

Note that I don't play a lot on it, maybe an hour or so a week. Other than that I'm on my desktop | might be why it took me over 2 months to see problems.

I downloaded age of conan trial and maxed out graphics DX10 for fun - after 5m the notebook frooze. I tried again, and it frooze again.

I updated my drivers... it frooze again. I tried team fortress with the new drivers and I got greyscreens, because obviously new drivers gives greyscreen apparently.

I did a rollback to stock drivers - worked and I didn't crash in games other than age of conan.

So I told myself: I can't play DX10 age of conan. (I paid 1.8k, I should be but whatever...)

I didn't touch my notebook for about a week or so, came back to play some SC2... major artifacts in the menu, and also in game. Cleaned/Installed all kind of drivers; artifacts, artifacts. I even got some major blue/artifacted screen at some point.

Decided to do a clean W7 install; stock to new video drivers = still getting artifacts.

Tried to overclock 705/1100 and 725/1075
Still getting artifacts in games.

I'm currently using bios 206, people been saying that updating to 209 is the fix... but that doesn't make ANY sense because it was running games perfectly before, and I think my GPU burned when I tried to play some intensive games...

By updating to 209, I put myself to risk (brick) because: Without a notebook, I get kicked out of college if I don't have a replacement notebook the next day. So this better be worth the risk AKA known to fix this kind of bug. I could ask my mom for her laptop, but don't even think it could run Maple lulz.

Other choice is RMA this winter and use the G73 but not play any games til then... which sucks because I paid 1.8k for a gaming SLASH college notebook.

I'm so desperate right now, I have been up for 2 days doing college stuff and trying to fix my g73
What's left to try: Update bios + Downclock GPU + Maybe it's the CPU ? + RMA

edit: also seeing some lines when watching videos (just like if the screen had low MS)

 

Don't know about Age of Conan, but as for SC2, 10.7a is specifically supposed to fix the artifacts, ie., make the game playable. If you can, try using those. If not, then you're just gonna have to wait for the new vBIOS/modified 10.8 so we can have updated drivers without GSOD.

 

I did try 10.7a and was still having artifacts - but i'm getting them also in WoW/BF2

Will try 10.7a again with fresh install, brb

 

Also, this laptop is *not* meant for gaming on battery. In fact, if you have a recent BIOS, when you run on battery your GPU is automatically downclocked to 300, which will of course slow your games down. I trust that you now do your gaming plugged in?

 

Yeah, I always avoid using the battery now

Weird, I don't have any artifacts on COD:MW2

I went from stock drivers (the one on the ASUS cd pack) to 10.7a and still having artifacts... oh well

And a greyscreen in BFBC2... dear god...

 

update to BIOS 209 to solve power options.. just using the flash utility in BIOS... garunteed to work without loosing keyboard lights.

 

Games I currently have major artifacts: WoW, SC2
Games I do not: COD:MW2
Games I'm not sure:BFBC2 (some spots/small visual issue, maybe it's driver related ? )

temps are 95-97 max on furmark 1080p and no artifacts

i'll be trying more games/benchmarkings brb

(Stock 206bios+drivers from CD)

 

this notebook is great, but it's not recommended for a college student, this laptop lacks battery life, the size is just humongous, carrying this in a large bag everyday is a hassle. This laptop is a desktop replacement and is meant to stay on your desk for the majority of its time. As for GSOD's/Freezes, we are expecting a set of new drivers from ASUS particularly the Vbios and 10.8 that will solve the remaining issues. Playing games on battery will kill it. I play Star wars force unleashed for 30 minutes then things started to get slow so i turned it off.

 

I don't mind the weight so far and as for the battery, I don't mind either because we can plug in our notebook anywhere in the college

But I see your point, but I really wanted a LAN/College because I'm big into LANs and I HATE moving my desktop setup, which is huge.

 

Heh, I'm taking it to college in a couple weeks, I'll see how it holds up I don't mind the "large" bag at all, in fact I think it's perfect. But then again, I don't find the laptop that heavy either. It really feels like a standard sized laptop to me, all other "normal" 15 in ones just feel small.

 

same here.. i'm going in september... but to university... i already carry a 6.5lbs Dv5t bag so a 9lbs G73 bag should be nothing.

 

Zealock: hit my 3rd sig and grab the Asus 10.1 Cats. These are as stable as stock, and a bit newer, so it should help with some of those games. Do a COMPLETE UNINSTALL of your existing drivers, run Driver Sweep (also listed there), then do your 10.1 install.

When Asus releases the 10.8 GSOD fix Cats, then you can upgrade to that.

 

Still having major artifacts in SC2/WoW. Which I did not before... looks like my GPU is burned =/ but that's weird because in some games it doesn't have any artifacts like MW2 and some minors one in BFBC2, which can be ignored.

Will issue an RMA this winter, til then I'll hope 10.8 with a new bios will fix my issue.

 

I would sit tight and wait for the upcoming driver update.

 

when is it exactly comming out? They said mid-week but when is mid-week?

 

Mid-week is the middle of the week

 

lol but which day? Wednesday or thrusday ?

 

I wouldn't hold my breath for this week.

 

gary did say it was this week.. the ATI catalyst guy said it was wednesday... but is it for only desktop and no mobile? I thought both come out the same time..

 

I haven't received the product yet, because some lame-o in R&D is gumming up the process. "Oh no, we cannot let anything out until we first check it out and test it until we are fully satisfied, even if this takes weeks and can only dedicate 1 junior staff intern to this project. Then we can let the untrained and probably don't-know-what-they-are-doing outside beta testers try it out." Then ... [I had a several paragraph rant here, but I decided to be "civil"]

Anyway, nothing out to me yet, so no way in Asus will the Gary Screen Of Death fix be out to the public this week.

 

Update: After many testings and time, at some point I got rid off 95% artifacts by removing all my USB powered stuff. But it doesn't work anymore... makes me think that my voltages might be affected, possible ?

At that point I would plug my external drive and see immediately artifacts, and unpluging it would stop them.

But now even tho I have no usb stuff, I get artifacts, seems like I can go "stable" if I'm lucky...

 

If someone fix my problem I'll paypal, i'm about to make a video on youtube of me sledge hammer it....

 

update:

changed the "volt" thing in AMD clock tool and artifacts are gone.. even tho I crashed in the first 30 secs, after reboot i didn't crash... weird

will do a bios 206 to 209 later this week