What to do with your new G73JH

It seems like almost every day someone asks how to update their bios, vbios, or reinstall windows without the disks. The answers are all available through search, but they are scattered across multiple different threads. There are also several tutorials but most of them are dated. So the purpose of this guide is give a bare-bones approach to getting a new G73JH owner up to speed by pointing you to all the appropriate threads you may need to get started.

There are 5 things you MAY want to do with your new G73JH. They are not required, but if you want to minimize your chances of having a problem and get a fresh Windows 7 install then this guide is for you.


1) Update vBIOS
2) Update BIOS
3)Backup Win 7 registration, burn Win 7 disk & Asus Driver Disk (if your laptop didn't include them), and download the latest ATI drivers.
4) Reinstall Windows
5) Reinstall Drivers & Programs
6) Optional Updates

Any time you see this color in italics it means there are alternatives. Since my goal is to provide the most simple solutions, I will not detail the alternatives, only provide links so you can research them yourself and decide what is best for you. Please note this use of purple and any reference to alternative is purely coincidental.

STEP 1)Update Vbios. The vBios which came with your G73 are most likely not the most current. To check right click anywhere on your desktop and select "Catalyst Control Center". On the top left corner of this window select "Graphics" then "Information Center". Then select "Graphics Hardware". Look at your BIOS Version. If it doesn't say 012.020.000.032, then you should update. If does say 012.020.000.032, then go to the next step. If you are using Catalyst 11.1 or higher, you will need to scroll down to "Information", select "Hardware" and scroll down to see the BIOS version. You can also hit F2 when booting up your computer to enter the BIOS, under vBios it should say 012.020.000.032.something, as long as the those are the 1st 12 digits you are good. ALTERNATIVES are Chastity's vBios (enables Overdrive in Catalyst Control Center which lets you overclock your GPU and reduces clocks speeds while on battery power for improved battery life), Hellcrys vBios (even lower clock speeds and lower voltages for even better battery life), and Ruckenmarks vBios (lower voltages and clock speeds for better battery life and lower temps, apparently good for overlocking). END ALTERNATIVES

To update your vBios you will need to download this file http://www.filedropper.com/93vbiosa

Extract the contents to a folder. Inside are new vBios, a HP USB Bootdisk utility, and the win98 bootup commands. Unzip the HP program as well as the Windows 98 boot commands each into folders inside the one you just made. Now run the HPDiskUSB program (vista users must run as administrator), select your USB drive, fat32 file system, un-check "quick-format", check "Create a DOS Startup Disk" & "using DOS system files located at", now navigate to the "win98boot" directory you just unziped (make sure it is the one with the files in it, some zip programs make 2 folders, also ignore the CDROM folder). Then hit start. It takes awhile so be patient.

Once the format is complete. Copy the 3 files in the 93vBIOS folder to your new USB stick. Now with the USB drive inserted into a port on your G73, restart your laptop, at the Asus Boot screen press ESC rapidly to load the boot menu, select your USB drive, and you should arrive at a MS Dos prompt. Once you do, type "VFlash" and your vBios will be updated. It only takes a split second to happen.

STEP 2) Update BIOS. You can check by booting up your laptop and hitting F2 as soon as the Asus logo appears. Once you enter the bios look at your bios version number. If it doesn't say 209, 211, or 213 you should update. 209 and 211 are the same except 211 runs the fans at higher RPMs, so it will keep your laptop cooler at the expense of slightly more fan noise. 213 is the same as 211 but supposedly fixes the keyboard lag issue. As the JH already has temperature issues, I recommend 211 or 213, especially if you live in a hot climate. For this tutorial we will use BIOS 213. ALTERNATIVES are the BIOS 209 and 211, if you want to use those you can download them here. END ALTERNATIVES

Update BIOS (instructions courtesy of HellCry & http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/492354-all-g73jh-problems-solutions-here.html thead)

Download the latest BIOS 213 here.

The rar contains:

G73JhAS.213 (Bios 213)

Flashing Bios (credits to stubbornswiss):

- You need a USB stick again, but this time any will do. (it doesnt need to be bootable, but you can use the bootable one if you made it for flashing the vBios too, you dont need to format it or anything, just add the bios files onto it)

- Extract the file from the rar.

- Save the Bios on a flash drive.

- Boot up you laptop. When you see the Asus splash screen, press the F2 key to enter Bios.

- In the Bios, navigate to the Advanced tab.

- In Advanced tab, select "Start Easy Flash" (should already be selected), and hit enter.

- This should bring you to the Asus Tek. Easy Flash Utility page.

Under "Current Platform" you should have your current Bios.

- Navigate to the right middle pane, and select G73JhAS.213, and hit enter.

- It will ask "Do you want to update BIOS", and give you options "Yes and No".

- Select Yes, and the update will begin, and run through to completion.

- When finished, the notebook will shut down.

- Go ahead and restart your notebook, which should now have the new, updated Bios.

Update bios using Easy Flash utility in Bios, do not do it from windows, since that may cause your keyboard lights to go out and has more chances to completely brick your laptop!

Also a reminder, do this at your own risk, since theres always a chance a Bios flash can brick your laptop!

OK, now we have the latest BIOS and vBIOS. Now it is time to get ready to reinstall windows.

Step 3) Backup Windows Registration, Download the latest CCC, make install disks.

Backup Windows Registration- I recommend you backup your Windows 7 registration with this program, ABR (Activation Backup and Restore) | directedge.us It will save your registration into several files which you can copy onto USB drive. Then once you reinstall windows, you can run the program again and very easily register the licensed copy Windows 7 Home Premium which came with your laptop. You don't have to backup your Windows 7 registration, you can use the product code on the Windows 7 sticker to activate Windows 7 on your laptop, I just prefer saving the registration to avoid having to do a telephone activation if Microsoft doesn't accept the code.

Download Catalyst Control Center This is the main program you'll want that isn't on your driver disk. Once you download the file save it to your USB drive so you can install it after installing Windows 7. The latest version is 11.3. You can download it from AMD here. A lot of people (myself included) are using 11.4 beta and it works great.
ALTERNATIVES are 11.2, 10.12, 10.10e, 10.10whql, 10.11, 10.12RC3 END ALTERNATIVES.

Burn Windows 7 Disk-If you have a Windows 7 Home Premium disk you can use that, if not make one yourself using this tutorial... http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

Burn Asus Driver Disk- If your G73 didn't come with a driver disk you can download the .iso here. Use WinRAR open the file, then burn the ISO file to a DVD using Windows 7 or a program like ISOburn. A good alternative for advanced users is to download each program and driver from the providers directly. This is more time consuming because each program/driver must be downloaded and installed individually (when the DVD could do it all for you), but the advantage is that you will have all the most up to date drivers and you can pick and choose what you want. Chastity has made a list of all the drivers and programs with links to the most up to date versions at her reference page here. If you go this route you will still need a copy of the Driver DVD because some programs only install correctly with it. For new users who are unfamiliar with the G73, I recommend you simply download the DVD and install the programs I recommend below. You can always update to the newest versions later.

Also if you are using a Intel 6200 or 6300 wifi card you want to download the drivers here.... Intel

STEP 4&5) Reinstall Windows & Driver Disk Can't describe it any better than this guy does
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...lk-through-doing-clean-windows-7-install.html

but here is the short version...

-Reinstall Windows Using your newly burned windows disk

-Re-register Windows using the files you saved with ABR.

-Install Catalyst Control Center using the version you already downloaded.

-Insert the Asus Driver Disk, run InstAll.exe, select "Advaced", remove the check mark from "select all", then select the following... (you can change this to your needs, this is just what works for me, the walk though describes everything in depth so you can decide what you need and don't)

INF (R) Update Driver
IMSM
(you don't need ATI b/c we already installed it)
Intel (R) Management Engine Components (you don't need it but a device won't be activated if you don't)
ATK Package
Keyboard Filter
Touchpad
LAN Driver
Bluetooth (if you have it)
Wireless LAN driver
Audio
Camera
Intel (R) Turbo Boost Technology Monitor
(DO NOT SELECT Creative, we'll get that later)
Multi-card Reader
(DO NOT SELECT BIOS Flash, this will break you laptop!)
LifeFrame3 (so you can play w/your camera, but you don't need it for the camera to work)
Power4Gear Hybrid
Splendid (so the (S) button on the top left of the keyboard will work)
Screen Saver (b/c it you paid a lot for this laptop & it's cool)

This whole process takes awhile and the laptop will reboot several times. Be patient.

STEP 6) OPTIONAL UPDATES
Since we didn't install creative you can do...
this... http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...creative-mb-upgrade-g73jh-13.html#post6913757
or this... http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...ative-x-fi-mb-your-g73-realtek-hd-2-48-a.html

If you want all the latest drivers I suggest you use Chastity's driver update guide here.

If you have an SSD do this... http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-intel-series-4-5-965-chipsets-jjb-tweak.html
and this... The SSD Optimization Guide | The SSD Review

CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR G73 should now be up to speed. There may be some better drivers here and there but you can find them on your own using search.

 

Great Job!
+rep

 

It's unfortunate that this thread had to made to be honest, a quick search and referring to the sticky pretty much solves everything but I guess nobody does that. Great job.

 

Great job. This would help everyone how just got their G73/G53.

 

Even a good info is to use Ziddys VBios, its up to date and he has changed somethings like voltage and clocks for energy saveing / low temps. Normally you can overclock your 5870 to 800Mhz on the chip from 700Mhz with out any tempdecreases BUT ONLY with a moddet VBios.

 

You are absolutely right, and I was getting tired of retyping links to everything, this way we can just post one link.

I'm going to add the alternate vbios when I get a chance along with brief explanations of each type. Probably wont be till after Christmas though, but this should help people for now.

 

1+ rep. good guide there

 

Reading through this now, and so far it's a great guide and summary of the other threads I've been reading through. If anything, it helps me organize my thoughts and creates a "cliff's notes" of what I've read.


One minor typo to address that I noticed: the line that says " G73JhAS.209 (Bios 211) and G73JhAS.211 (Bios 211)" should probably say "G73JhAS.209 (Bios 209) and G73JhAS.211 (Bios 211)". VERY minor adjustment, but I do a mental double-take every time I read that. Also, I realize that HellCry originally made this typo, not you. Again, just pointing it out for you in case it helps the guide.

 

Thanks, fixed it. Hope it helps.

 

No problem. And thanks again! +rep, for sure!

 

I just follow this guide .. Great work. Thank you!

 

Thanks for this guide!

I tried making the boot disk on my usb flash drive (16gb) and I get an error message: Device Media is Write Protected. Any way to get past this?

 

You probably have a small write protect switch on the flash drive that you need to switch off. Look on the side or edges of the stick.

 

no switches anywhere

edit: nvm i solved the problem

 

I got my g73jh yesterday and this guide helped a bunch. Thanks!

 

Glad it helped. Alot of other people did the real work of paving the roads, I just wrote out a map.

 

I followed everything from ValkerieFire and for the life of me I get to the c/ thing when I reboot the computer but it wont find the vflash any thoughts as to why??? Need help!!!!

-D

 

At the DOS prompt (the "c/ thing") type "dir" without quotes and click enter. Do you see "VFlash.bat" in the directory listing?

 

Great guide-
I have a G73JW-XR1 on the way-

How much of this applies to the JW?

 

Unbox your g73. Hook up external monitor. Install BC2. Win. Thats all! =-)

 

Turn on your G73, install League of Legends, install mumble and play.

 

My G73jh runs fine on stock bios, and seems to have normal temps, should I regardless still update both bios and vbios or leave it as is? What would I stand to gain if I changed these two things?

 

I use my G73JH as:

1) a portable gaming station for my RPGs
2) a home theater player using HDMI and PowerDVD 10 Ultra (I like its upsampling of 480p sources)
3) secondary station for video encoding
4) a portable office
5) a portable movie viewer for in the car

 

You don't have to do either. But they were made to improve stability. Bios 209&211 fix several problem listed in the Problems&solutions thread. The vbios fixes the Gsod issue. If you aren't having problems now that doesn't mean you won't eventually run into those problems. But if you are happy you can stay as you are and update if and when problems appear. Most people want to update to proactively prevent problems. I would recommend updating. Then if you have a problem at least you know what it is not.

 

Just bought a new G73JH for myself and found these forums and this great thread. Since I have been using my laptop less than a few hours now I have not experienced any problems yet. I thought I would go ahead and follow the upgrades on this thread just to be on the safe side.

I am having a problem with the zip file from filedropper. The "Windows 98 boot.rar " file will not unzip. The other files in the Zip file are fine. Thinking it might just be a corrupt file I downloaded it a second time with the same results. Anyone else having this problem or am I doing something backwards?

 

What link are you downloading from?

 

I was using the link from the first post on this thread.

 

I can't get to my computer until Friday to test the link but you can try these alternate instructions and files if you want. They are altogether different so use these or the ones I posted (but not both since reference different stuff). http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...492354-all-g73jh-problems-solutions-here.html

Just follow the link and scroll down to the vbios section.

 

thanks for this <: D

 

Use the link from my sig link below. It contains the same files, and I know they're all good.

 

Thanks for pointing that out, I'm using your bios too. I'm going to add your vbios as an "alternative" once I go back to work (at home w/ a new baby now).

 

Congrats on the new spawn!

 

I really don't have any experience with updating computer bios and I have heard horrible stories of their G73's getting bricked. I'm frequently getting the following error on Windows System Log:

The embedded controller (EC) did not respond within the specified timeout period.

and Chastity suggested that I should update my bios 206 to 209 or 211.


I would like to ask the following if it's not too much, before I update my bios:

1. Should I connect my G73JH to my battery that's charged to 99% while on AC too to make sure power will not interrupted?
2. Should I disconnect any devices on my USB ports except for the USB Flash Drive containing the 2 bios (209 and 211)
3. Should I connect the USB Flash Drive on the front left USB port (as I have read on Kalim's post)?
4. Can I choose to update my Bios first and skip vBios for now?
5. Should I format my USB Drive first to Fat 32 before pasting-in the 2 bios (209 & 211)?

 

1 Yes
2 Yes
3 Yes
4 Yes
5 Yes (and you can go directly to 211)

 

I love that I found this place, and found that iso of the drivers and utilities. I can't believe that ASUS would not even send me that.

I went through and found which drivers had been updated on asus's website, here, so I figured I would share it. You could add it to your guide or not.

So I will put what it is called in InstAll, and then the category on the driver website, and the version number. If you have already ran InstAll, you can load the program again, and click on advanced and it will tell you what you have installed. And then you can see if you want to update the drivers or not.

INF® Update Driver - Software\Chipset\Intel\INFUpdate\XP32_Vista32_Vista64_Win7_32_Win7_64_9.1.1.1023

Chipset > Version V9.1.1.1027 Intel INF Update Driver​

ATK Package - Software\ASUS\ATKPackage\XP32_Vista32_Vista64_Win7_32_Win7_64_1.0.0001

ATK > Version V1.0.0005 ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities​

LAN Driver - Software\LAN\Atheros\AR8131\Win7_64_1.0.0.1

LAN > Version V1.0.0.29 Atheros LAN Driver​

Multi-Card Reader - Software\Alcor\AU6433\XP32_XP64_Vista32_Vista64_Win7_32_Win7_64_1.5.17.25482

Card Reader > Version V1.7.17.25416 Multi-Card Reader Driver​

Wireless LAN Driver - Driver\AW-NE785_PNP\Win7_64_8.0.0.238

Wireless > Version V8.0.0.316 Azurewave Wireless Lan Driver and Application​

*I did not install the utilities because I found them pointless. They may or may not be updated.

**I am not sure about these realtek drivers, they have varying names for no rexplained reason, I can only assume they are the same driver from the version number. I downloaded drivers from the realtek site.

Audio - Software\Audio\Realtek\ALC269\Vista32_Vista64_Win7_32_Win7_64_6.0.1.5978

Audio > Version V6.0.1.6122 Realtek SRS udio Driver​

I don't think this is every driver that has been updated, but It is a start. Their driver page is very sloppy I saw a couple of duplicates and typos.

 

So aside from what is in the OP what are the must update drivers? I'm going to do a fresh install of windows 7 so I'll be on the drivers from the disc which I assume most will be outdated.

^ That post should help with most. But what else should I update?

 

Anyone have an iso of the asus driver disk? Mine didnt come with one

 

Courtesy of Chastity.

The forum search functionality can be your friend

Latest display driver from AMD.

Rapid Storage Technology driver 10.1.0.1008 from Intel.

Realtek audio codec driver R2.55 from Realtek (codec driver and ATI HDMI audio device driver).

 

And it is in the first post of this thread

 

lol sorry, must have missed that part! Thank you.

 

No sweat, I added a BOLD header to make it stand out a little more (but I think it just blends in more).

 

This is a great thread! Big round of applause for this. People underestimate how hard it is for new people (like myself) to collate the wealth of informations (and problems) with this G series, and THEN go about applying fixing it all. It's a big headache for both the user and the forum goes trying to assist.

I'm about to purchase a g73-3de, are there any other steps for this specific model? I hear of VGA issues that need fixing, yet havent seen a fix thread.

Thanks again!

 

Wish I could help you with the 3DE, but I don't know much about it. Best bet is to try a search. The good news is you could try the steps in this thread, BIOS, windows, drivers, etc, but just substitute the correct bios for your version from the Asus website.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Thank you all! I finally can said that I got my machine fix.. is running @ 50 and when gaming around 80.. not more color screens while playing and I update most of my drivers. I just have two final questions.

1)I download the ati HDMI and sound driver from realtek as per previous comments.
I notice that some post some srs drives

This model dont have SRS right?
Audio - Software\Audio\Realtek\ALC269\Vista32_Vista64_Win7_32_Win7_64_6.0.1.5978
Audio > Version V6.0.1.6122 Realtek SRS udio Driver

2) I am trying to install the intel driver but have two choices chipset and imsm? the second one i dont know if i need it. can someone explain to me why do i get two. thank you!
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...oductProduct=Intel®+5+Series+Chipset&lang=eng

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...apid+Storage+Technology+(Intel®+RST)&lang=eng

 

G73 Series Driver and Application Reference

 

Thanks for the link to the drivers. I install intel drivers working good now but the question about the audio drivers got more complicated... I install the v2.55 drivers but dont know what is benefits to use Creative Audigy HD can u explain that for me.. thanks for the Patience for the newbie.


[JH] Creative Audigy HD MB package 1.0 (easiest to install if you use version on Driver CD)
[JH] Creative Audigy HD MB Windows 7 Compatibility Update (install this after main suite is already installed) On Win 7 x64 system, run included FixAMD64.exe in /Driver directory after update is installed.

also can you tell me whats the differences between regular mobile driver and this. 10.12 Hotfix RC3

THANK YOU FOR THE HELP!

 

I understand that is extra software but i dont know the benefits or cons or running creative.

 

To make your subwoofer work by making use of Creative's Bass Boost.

 

Thanks for that answer. That means my subwoofer is acting as a speaker now just with the realtek drivers? whats the benefits of running the x-fi package. and paying the 30 dollars?