ASUS G73SW Owners' Lounge

-Snip

NO! BIOS and CMOS are totally different things! In the laptop we have there is no BIOS "reset" function available in BIOS or anywhere else. Generally speaking BIOS is set and forget and don't ask about it in laptops...it is in desktops that you have/can have BIOS that is user accessible, and only there...sorry to say.

rexrzer727 [/QUOTE]

Just to clarify so that someone new doesn't get confused, the BIOS (at least on the G73) IS user accessible. Granted the BIOS on the G73 is VERY limited in what the user can change but the BIOS is accessible. Also, there is a setting in the BIOS where you can reset the BIOS back to the factory default settings. You can't reset the CMOS from the BIOS but you can reset the BIOS back to factory default settings, change the boot order, set passwords, etc. I'm still ticked you can't set something as simple as the num-lock state on boot, but oh well. I know this is BIOS 101 but I just don't want someone new to be confused.

 

You can reset the cmos on the G73SW by removing the cmos battery, but to do that you need to pretty much disassemble the laptop down to its bare parts. Unfortunately they removed the reset switch that was on the G73J models.

 

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but my 240 GB vertex 3 was giving me slightly lower benchmark numbers than you'd get on a SB desktop computer. It's still doing really great though and taking advantage of SATA3, so that's not an issue.

The thing about the vertex 3 series though is that they're still working out the firmware kinks. On FW 2.06, I was getting random freezes. They were gone with 2.09. I haven't tried 2.11 yet, but people are saying that it's not quite perfect yet on some other platforms. If you do get one, you'll want to upgrade the firmware on another computer, or boot windows from a HDD on the laptop with the SSD connected as well. The Linux boot disc upgrade does not work on the G73SW.

 

I agree, I was too short on time and too heavy-handed in my so-called explanation of the BIOS in this laptop. When I think of BIOS being "accessible" I think of the entire BIOS being so, and the user being able to adjust all the timings, the RAM, the CPU values and BCLK x Multiplier, RAM adjustments and timings, Disc interaction/AHCI/SATA/IDE etc.

There are many things that can be done in our BIOS this is certain, but none of the above unfortunately, which is typical of laptops, also many brand name computers such as Apple (they don't have BIOS that is accessible at all), Dell, HP, Lenovo, IBM, Acer, Asus, ooops, this is an Asus, yes? Hah Hah! It's when you get down, dirty and functional and *build your own desktop computer* or *server* that the parts are 100% user-accessible as I described it above.

I use advanced BIOS techniques for adjusting my desktop overclocking settings 100%, and I mean there is no stone left unturned in my desktops with the Core i7 900-series Quad and HexaCore CPU's, wild RAM setups to boot, such as some DDR3 Triple-Channel HyperX modules from Kingston that total 24GB (6 x 4GB DIMMs) that are fully, completely overclockable items; then you have the drive basic options also, choosing the GT/S ratio, whether you want to use IDE, AHCI, SATA (plain SATA), IDE+AHCI, etc etc for the basic functionality of how you structure the HD's and RAID systems from BIOS...it is an amazing bunch of things that one may adjust, change, negate, enable, or build from scratch in BIOS itself on an OEM computer build, and I love that sort of deal 1000%, it is the most fun a man can have in clothes I believe!!

Anyway, that is what I think of as being a "user-accessible BIOS", my bad!

The type of BIOS we have does have a "factory reset" BIOS "switch" in the BIOS's 4th screen it is I believe, but that is really nothing much other than changing all settings back to what Asus Techs want when installing the OEM OS, drivers, and apps, plain and simple, and it's not much good at anything else frankly. If you are recovering the OS from the Recovery Partition it can be of some use, when sending in the laptop for service for example, but that is about it to my understanding of why one should/would/could do this re-setting. This is also known as "Load Defaults", and we use that in the advanced BIOS interaction to NEGATE an overclocking setting, or group of settings, and just bring the device back to Square No.1 for starting the whole overclocking situation over from scratch, but that is another tale for another day.

As far as *limited* aversions go, the BIOS in our laptop is nicely done, really it is...the nice people at American Megatrends write nice BIOS in general, and our laptop is one of their creations---ie if you ask me who engineered the BIOS in the laptop that is the answer you'll get...it wasn't Asus per se, but Megatrends doing Asus's bidding such as it was, and is done these days.

I don't mean to confuse any newbies by writing the above, but I hope you can see that our BIOS is mostly instructional, and being able to change base settings such as System Volume for the speakers on booting, but there IS NOT any real BIOS interaction with the laptop's settings possible, it just isn't that type of BIOS!

As to resetting the CMOS (since someone else alluded to being able to reset the CMOS) by taking the thing apart and disassembling it down to the System CMOS Battery holder, then removing the battery for a few seconds or minutes, whatever, then that supposedly would reset the CMOS to OEM standards...this is theoretically true but again, to do any CMOS resetting you'd best have the keys to the BIOS handy as such a reset could make the laptop unbootable amongst other issues that type of thing entails. It is very complex to describe all the things that can be done to computers, and the removal of the CMOS battery is a rather drastic step, and should ONLY be done by experts, people with advanced knowledge of the BIOS of the laptop/desktop at hand, and the tech or advanced user doing such things would be "hanging their stuff out to try" for a short time, as it's possible to brick something totally if you are not careful doing such things.

I digress, please excuse the extended explanations above, but I really don't know what else to write about BIOS and this laptop...it is user "accessible" for sure, that is you can LOOK at things in there mostly, reset the boot order, set the time, the memory settings to some extent if you push and shove the BIOS around, and other simple things but you CANNOT ADJUST or make different anything substantive, period!

That's about it as far as this laptop's BIOS goes...it is a "look-me BIOS" if there ever was one, and that's about all it's good for but for upgrading it of course, and having access to Load Defaults is valuable for testing and the like, System Recovery et al, but that is about it for things a person may accomplish in BIOS in the G73SW-series of computers...Asus wouldn't have it any other way unfortunately!

Have a good Friday nice people, and I hope that I did NOT confuse anyone about our BIOS in this derivative or the previous attempt at being a little "cute and cuddly", which I am actually loathe to do most nights when answering questions...don't know what happened the other night, and I shall lose that perspective completely for any future discourse here.

rexrzer727

 

I'll have a lot more questions soon, but here's one for starters. You said to manually install the drivers instead of using the installation utility. How do I go about sorting them out from the mess of files on that DVD and installing them? Alternately, if it's better to use the files from the Asus website, I still have no idea which files are required and which are optional . . .

In short, how do I know what I must/should install and what's the best way to go about installing?

 

Pulling the cmos battery won't break anything - it'll just give you a clean slate for the bios. That said, since it requires so much disassembly, there is a risk of physically breaking things if you're not careful, which is why it's not for the faint of heart. That'll usually kill your warranty as well.

 

Someone in another forum here (I forget exactly who is it, some celebrity of sorts) has created a list of drivers that you need/use/must include with a Clean Install, and you can search that out if you will or need to have such a thing. However it is somewhat generic in that it's not specifically for this model of Asus laptop...

I forget constantly that everyone isn't me, and that's a shortcoming I am certain, but if you think about what is necessary to run the computer the list is pretty simple. Myself and others here can simply sense/know what to install and what not to, and I suppose that is as a result of being experienced computer hackers/builders/techs, whatever. And you should be able to do the same at some point, but I understand completely how frustrating and daunting such a task is for those without a lot of experience doing installs, clean at that.

It would be good if somebody would take the time to create a Clean Install Guide for the rest of this clan in the G73SW-series of computers, and I guess I'll do that for you all this weekend. It takes a bit of time to go through the DVD and sort out the things you need and don't need, but it is nothing but a simple process of elimination to be frank about it, nothing special about such a list really. Of course you have to have the knowledge/experience that precedes being able to make such a list, and most don't here...I'm repeating myself I guess, but I'll go ahead and make a Clean Install Guide for the laptop tonight, or on the weekend, unless somebody beats me to it, that is.

I'm on deadline right now and have to get some writing to finish or I'd do it from work...however it's most likely best to do the list looking at the DVD's contents directly/the list at Asus.com/Support, so until later I'll leave this little job.

rexrzer727

 

Well, I got one thing on the list of things I wanted to do on the G73SW-A1, done today. I swapped out the stock Blu Ray reader optical drive for a a Blu Ray writer. Specifically, the Sony Optiarc BD-5740H-01 6x BD-R (purchased at Newegg). The drive came with a free 5 pack of Optical Quantum Value BD-R 1x-4x speed discs which was nice. The drive and discs were not packaged particularly well in my opinion. I've seen this before on OEM/Bare drives in the past. The ad on Newegg didn't say if it was a retail or OEM drive but given the pictures not showing anything but the bare drive I assume it's OEM and not retail. It came with the drive simply in a plastic bag along with the 5 free BD-R discs which were shrink wrapped together. The plastic bag was then wrapped in bubble wrap and then placed in a box with some paper packing material. The shrink wrap around the BD-Rs was, in my opinion, unacceptable. The shrink wrapping only covered the outside edge of the stack of five discs about 1/4" to 1/2" all the way around. This left the rest of the surface area of the first and last disc in the stack exposed. I noticed a bunch of scratches already on the data side of the bottom/last disc in the stack. I also noticed on the same disc with the scratches that there was a mark or discoloration. It goes about 3/4 of the way around the disc. It almost looks like someone took a marker and drew a line around the disc perfectly following the curve of the disc. It won't come off but I haven't given it anything but a cursory wipe at this point. I don't know if the mark will effect burning that disc or not. I suppose they were free so I really can't complain to much. However, I thought they could have done a better job on the shrink wrapping/packaging of the drive and BD-Rs.

Installation took all of about 5 minutes if that. It's very basic but if anyone wants the steps to do it here they are:

Before you power down your laptop to make the swap, have a piece of metal that is small and straight like a straightened out paper clip or in my case, one of the smallest mini screw drivers I had worked. You'll need this to put in the emergency release/back up release/eject hole on the front of the drives to open the trays up without power. You can open the existing drive before you power down the laptop if you want but you will still need something to open the tray on the NEW drive without power.

Unplug the laptop power cable and remove the battery (Might not be necessary but always a good idea. I always do it when I open the case for any reason)

Remove the two screws on the bottom access panel.

Unsnap and remove the panel.

Remove the one retaining screw on the right side holding the existing optical drive in place (it will be pretty obvious which one it is).

Pop loose the existing optical drive with a slight nudge with the screw driver and then slide it out of the laptop.

Swap the faceplates on the optical drives. Simply use a small screwdriver or something and pop the first two tabs loose from the one side (you'll know which side because the tabs are plainly visible). There are two more tabs, one in the middle which you can't see or get two and one on the other end. Simply grab the faceplate and pull gently away from the drive while lifting away and toward the other side. The third tab in the middle that you can't see should just pop loose on its own. The last tab on the other edge should pop loose on its own. If the tab doesn't come loose you can just use a screw driver to unhook it which is what I did. The same procedure is true for the other drive (or should be anyway). To put them back on simply line up the tabs with the slots and push gently.

Important: Remove the two small screws holding the small bracket on the back of the OLD optical drive and remove the small bracket. This small bracket has the tab that the retaining screw goes through to hold the drive in place. My new drive didn't come with a bracket installed so I had to swap it to the new drive. I don't know if drives differ in that respect or if that's standard.

Install the small metal bracket you just removed from the old drive on to the back of the new optical drive using the two screws from the old drive. While hard to miss, you really can't forget this step since if you do, you can't put the retention screw back in on the new drive since the bracket isn't there. Well, technically you could put the screw in but it wouldn't be holding anything in place without first going through the small bracket attached to the drive.

Slide the new optical drive all the way into the drive bay.

Put the small retaining screw back in to secure the new optical drive in place.

Snap the access panel back in place on the back of the laptop and put the two screws back in place.

Put the battery back in place.

Reconnect the power cable.

Power up the laptop and open and close the drive a few times to make sure it works.

If you want to, go into Device Manager and find the Blu Ray drive and make sure it's recognized. Or, pop in a disc into the drive and see if it works.

Ultimately, burn a blu ray disc, DVD and CD to make sure the burning capability is there.

Done.

 

Thanks, I'm sure it will be well appreciated, whenever you manage to get this guide made.

You had mentioned that the OCZ can't have its firmware updated while it is the OS drive. For initial updates, couldn't I just plug it into my second hard drive slot before I install anything on the drive and update it then?

Also, I have noticed in most tests and benchmarks I've seen there is a noticeable increase in performance with higher capacity SSD's, so isn't that worth considering (240GB v 120GB)?

Finally, while I wouldn't want to clog up my SSD games, would there really be much harm in installing just one or two favorites to the SSD for the sake of a performance boost? For instance, I'm sure Oblivion (my one true love) would benefit from the extra speed in loading.

 

Yes, this is what I've done.

Yes. Alternately you can get the max iops version of the 120 GB V3, as that's the same speed as the regular 240 GB.

If you have the space, go for it. Games do get a noticeable boost - perhaps not so much in the FPS department, but everything else runs faster and smoother.

 

I agree with this completely. It's more a matter of space available than anything. In my desktop system I built last year I have two Intel 80GB M25 SSDs in RAID 0. I loaded my OS, games and most of my programs directly onto the SSDs and have a 6Gb/s 1TB WD Black as a data drive. It makes boot times, program load times, installations and game loading times MUCH faster.

 

Clean Install Guide for the Asus G73SW-series laptops

This install guide is not finished until you tell me that everything works, and if anything negative is in here you will tell me asap so that we can discuss/revise it, and make it accurate.

I am using the OEM Drivers and Utility DVD from Asus for my source for files, drivers, and utilities that I consider necessary/meaningful/worthwhile for the notebook's operation. If you think something is not appropriate or unnecessary please tell me asap so that we can discuss the item(s) and make this guide work for 100% of the people who own these notebooks.

The files on the Asus web page are useful to double check the files off of the DVD, if necessary. However the files here are the ones to start off with for a Clean Install. Upgrade file or driver xxx xxxxx if necessary AFTER your Clean Install is done, from whatever source you have.

Of particular importance are the three basic drivers you need to start out with, and those are VGA (nVidia driver), Sound (Realtek), Chipset and Keyboard drivers, so we begin with those. As for the nVidia driver my suggestion is to download the file from the nVidia web site and store it temporarily on a USB Flash Drive.

If there is a substantial number of drivers/files that you want to include in the Clean Install separate them, note what they are on a scratchpad or notebook (write on paper!) so you keep track of them.

Store them on a Flash Drive for use later.

Remember, if you are using a USB Flash Drive: REMOVE it from the computer when you boot or re-boot the laptop! If you don't the installer will get confused, the ongoing file changes may be interrupted during restarts, if you don't remove it, ie the laptop will attempt to start up from the flash drive and may cause problems. Better safe than sorry! Re-insert if after the laptop fully boots. You don't have to worry about CD ROM's AFAIK.

Those are all my disclaimers of note, if you don't agree or see something you don't like, feel is wrong, tell me asap and we'll figure it out. The goal here is to have a file system that works for everybody, everyone that is who has a DVD ROM from Asus!

First, after installing the OS from whatever source you are using, whatever flavor of Windows 7 64-bit you choose, power down the laptop after the final restart then use the USB Flash Drive you made for storage of the drivers. THIS IS NOT AN OPTION! If you don't store the drivers and utilities on media of convenience you are screwed...you will not succeed most likely. You cannot go between the list on Asus Support web pages for this laptop and use files from there, and the DVD from Asus both, as it's too confusing and you'll make a mistake or two, and it could be a SERIOUS mistake, so avoid that!

Start up the laptop, without drivers, and then insert the Asus DVD into the optical drive. DO NOT AUTO-RUN THE INSTALLER!! Open the disc and view the files ONLY! This is how you are going to proceed for the entire install process, unless you take all the drivers you need off the DVD and/or DVD and Asus web site and make a dedicated disc or USB Flash Drive with ALL the files and drivers on it that you'll be using.

Believe it or not this is my method, and I do use a DVD disc rather than the flash drive. It's your choice, so make a wise choice here and do not change your mind in mid-stream. Prepare wisely, use your time appropriately, because this takes a while to do, but it will be done RIGHT AS RAIN when you are finished.

On the Asus disc, go directly to "Software" and double click it. Voila! All of the drivers of note are there...this is your source, so either make a piece of media with all these drivers on it to use later, or simply use the DVD and go down the list here, driver and utilities one by one, and install them in GROUPS. Restart. Repeat until you are finished. That is the plan, and it works so do it right.

1st set of drivers:

a)Install the VGA driver, which will have all files necessary for 2D and 3D display items, the nVidia HDMI Audio, the update tool, it's all there in the newest driver packages at nVidia.com/drivers. RESTART.

After configuring your display and the nVidia CP, proceed.

b)Install the Chipset driver, the Hotfix drivers (all 6 files)--the keyboard drivers, Others (2 files-ASUS, Intel, +Gaming Mouse if you have it) RESTART.

2nd set of drivers:

Install the Audio driver (Realtek), USB Driver (Fresco USB 3.0), MEI (Intel Management Interface), Patch, RESTART.

3rd set of drivers:

Touchpad (Synaptics), Creative (Audio including Alchemy, EAX, Setup, and THX, CTShared, THXSPKEQ)--the installer is in the 2nd folder, "Setup" with a little green arrow in it...double click that, it should install ALL of Creative. THXSPKEQ may be installed separately (THX Equalizer) RESTART.

4th set of drivers:

Bluetooth (Azurewave), LAN (Realtek Gigabit Ethernet), Asus (11 files there, but optional files there also...install ATK Package+ these are optional but preferred...Power4Gear Hybrid, Virtual Camera, and Wireless Console3...install the others if you want). RESTART.

5th set of drivers:

WLAN (Azurewave for those with OEM WiFi, otherwise install your specialty WiFi drivers)...this is tricky territory! Install AW-NB037_20101108 by double clicking the CD Install folder; install AW-NE785_PNP by double clicking that folder, then double click on the PNPINST64 Application file to install driver. If you have custom or specialty WiFi none of this applies. If you have a different model than an A-1 or 3DE you may have an Intel WiFi card, so choose between the 1000__without_Cliffside or 6250_without_Cliffside under the WiFi folder. RESTART.

The Intel folder proper in the main list of software drivers has the TurboBoostMonitor, which is an optional install also...this is the OLD version in any case, and you might want to download the new v2.0 from Intel's web site instead. Your choice.

The rest there in Software you do not need!

That's all as far as I am concerned. Everything left on the CD relates to AutoRun or things you don't need, so do NOT install anything else off the CD or click or double click on the other files unless you want to risk the dreaded AutoRun beginning, and it's all DOA if that happens.

Comments are welcome, in fact the more comments the quicker we will have a consensus to make the Guide permanent.

rexrzer727

 

Ok I've spent a while searching... can anyone point me in the direction of any threads/discussions on the ASUS $150 rebate for the G73? I've looked but haven't found anything yet. I sent me rebate in on my recently purchased G73SW-A1 I purchased from Amazon. I registered online for the rebate and sent in all the required paper work including the barcode, etc. I've been checking the tracking web site for my rebate which up until now has simply said that my rebate was being processed. Today I checked it and it says Status Declined - Original UPC/Serial Number Barcode Label is missing. I'll call them on Monday when they are open next to find out what's going on. The barcode was attached right to the claim form per their instructions so they only way it could be missing is if they removed it and lost it. I kept a copy of every thing I sent so I can send them a copy if needed. I hate mail in rebates and normally avoid them but $150 I'll go through the hassle. I just wanted to find out if others got their rebates without issue or if they had similar issues and if this is a known scam of theirs to say documents/bar codes etc are missing just so they can get out of paying the rebate. Thanks.

Edit to add: I went online and found several stories of people getting denied by for ASUS rebates. One of them caught my interest when it said later it was resolved. Apparently they'd been denied for not sending in some piece of the documentation required. Later their rebate was approved. They went online and viewed the documents that they had originally sent that had been scanned and there was the the piece of documentation that they were supposed to have not sent in. ASUS or whoever does the rebates had the documentation the whole time. So, I went and looked at MY rebate status online again and found I could view the documents they have that I sent in. I clicked on the link and guess what I saw? I saw scans of all the documents I sent in INCLUDING the rebate form WITH the UPC/Barcode attached right to the form. They are saying I didn't include the UPC/Barcode when it's stapled right to the form they scanned in!! Wow. I printed all the scans of the documents that they scanned in so they can't take it down and say the never had it. Are they so stupid they didn't see the barcode/UPC symbol stapled to the claim for as per their instructions? Hopefully this will be a short phone call tomorrow when I call them on this and tell them their own records show they have the documentation they are trying to say I never sent in.

 

have found this one today but im not sure if the i5 is a bottleneck in games

Asus G73SW-TY118V
have you some game tests?

 

I don't think you'll notice a difference in current games unless you have a lot running in the background, as it's a dual core cpu as opposed to the quad core of the 2630. Most games aren't multi-threaded and if they are, they tend to only take advantage of two cores. I've seen WoW use 3 threads when loading instances, but otherwise it uses 2 for instance. That's not to say games in the future won't take advantage of today's multiple cores, but coding for it is harder. Clock speeds seem to be comparable:

Intel® Core? i5-2410M Processor (3M Cache, 2.30 GHz)
Intel® Core? i7-2630QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.00 GHz)

I would put in more RAM in that laptop though and run 64-bit. I'm kind of surprised that it's limited to 8 GB - the motherboard must be different. Is it really that much cheaper than a normal G73 that it's worth getting?

 

i want a 17 inchand the i7 upgrade cost 300 more
1000 is my limit and i dont see 17,3 inch notebooks who are comparable
in power to this one.
you know an alternative?

im thinkin of buying this one use it for 2-3 years sell it and buy a new one

 

Spend the extra money for the upgrade then. The i5 would have very little resell value in 3 years, whereas the i7 would still be somewhat okay. Memory requirements in particular are just going to continue to go up, and if the laptop is limited to max 8 GB, that's a big downer for anyone interested in buying it.

 

Skywise shows a bit of insight when answering the question posed here, and your statement as to WHY you would purchase an i5-CPU'd laptop, and I'm going to agree with him 100% with respect to a recommendation. Do NOT purchase the i5-equipped laptop, as that is throwing good money down the tube, and there's no reason to do such a thing when you can find the G73SW series on sale right now for cheap prices, all models, as the yearly changeover to a new model occurs (G74SX et al).

EDIT: http://www.amazon.com/G53SW-XA1-Rep...XL3Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1314050780&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/G73SW-XA1-Rep...O9AK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314050780&sr=8-2

Click on those and see what they cost!

You may not be able to score an A-1 at a really commendable price, but then again you might if you search diligently. I was thinking of an X-1 from Amazon perhaps, maybe I am incorrect there, but those models should be there for the taking as Amazon.com ramps up for the new model, and undoubtedly their variant on it (Asus traditionally makes an Amazon.com model each model year, with variable lesser equipment than an A-1 or 3DE).

Bottom line: the Core i5 Dual-Core CPU-equipped laptop that you are considering because it's about $1000 to purchase now is not a worthy competitor in the market, and will be worth a paltry sum should you want to sell it in 2-3 years...you will be hard pressed to get more than $200-$250 for it down the road methinks, while a Core i7 with the ability to have 16GB of RAM in the house will be a much better value retainer.

The Core i5 model doesn't have the same m'board as we do in the i7 models, and it's basically a cheap, flimsy, non-desirable variant that Asus makes to capture people like yourself, people who want 17" laptops at any configuration and a cheap price...which is all wrong from the get-go. If your supposed "limit" is $1000 on a laptop, perhaps an Asus G73SW-series isn't for you...if you are absolutely locked into that artificial price point. I'd simply look elsewhere to Acer or Dell as they have cheapo laptops with 17" LCD's galore, and you will not lose your shirt there as I see the market--vs spending $1000+ on an Asus 17" laptop with a crappy CPU, jinxed motherboard, and lousy features but for the LCD itself.

You might have to scramble to score an Asus 17" full HD 1920x1080P laptop with the Core i7 CPU, the nVidia 460M video card, and all the other stock items it has (BT, SATA 6, BluRay reader optical drive, the big RAM allocation, etc etc) but you'll be much, much better off for that scramble and paying a trifle more than your supposed budget. :confused2:

Xlnt insight from our other member, and I agree with that 100%. :yes:

rexrzer727

 

Got my G73SW back from repair today - so nice to be able to finally use a non-sucky computer again. Almost forgot what it was like not having to wait for applications to open or switch.

 

I had a similar thing happen last year when my G51JX-A1 was in the shop for, of all things, a bad BIOS update that ruined my Bluetooth! After a new MB and BT module things were good after that, and I really realized how much that notebook meant to me back then, big time!! So I've been there, done that, felt the same maybe...

 

Thank you so much for making this guide. I'll be doing a clean install as soon as I get my SSD in September (I think I've decided to get the 120GB Vertex 3 Max Iops). I just have a few questions about drivers.

Should I use the "run as administrator" option while running driver installers?

To install the patch do I just run "ActRec"?

In the USB driver folder there is a file called "addpatch", I assume I'll just need to run this and let it do whatever it needs to get done once I've installed the driver?

Is there anything in the Sonic folder that really needs installed? I ran Setup as a test, and it looks like it just installed Roxio Cineplayer, a junk application (as far as I know) that I uninstalled when I first bought my computer.

Also, does the ATK driver from the disk work? I know that in the past when my keyboard backlight stopped working, I could only fix it with the driver from the website.

Lastly, I just installed the most recent version of the Turbo Boost Monitor, only to find that it is now an application, not a gadget, is there no gadget version available? Not that it really matters . . . I just don't like change, and now I can't adjust its opacity and it's always on the taskbar.

Again, thanks for your help!

 

Hello, I ordered the G73SW-A1 and while waiting to get it, I have a few questions I hope someone can help me clarify.

1) I'm going to do a clean install using a Windows 7 *WITH* SP1 integrated - would I still need to install the 6 hotfixes on the drivers CD or are they already included in the SP1?

2) I upgraded to the Intel Advanced-N 6200 wireless card - and was wondering if the intel drivers include bluetooth or I just need to install the bluetooth driver seperately from the Asus site? I wasn't sure if the intel card had bluetooth integrated in it or not.

3) Do I just need to install the RealTek Audio driver on this post (option #1) ONLY or should I also install Creative THX_MUI driver from Asus site in addition? will THX give me better sound than if I would install just the RealTek driver alone?

Would really appreciate any help,
Thank you!

 

Roxio Cineplayer is actually a pretty decent BD supported media player, and especially when it comes to 3D titles you may want to leave it installed. Those have very varying compatibility and I've had to switch from PowerDVD to Roxio several times in order to get a disc to play (the other way around also applies).

Tweety:

1. You'll need to install more patches, but it's all taken care of through Windows update. You won't need to download or install specific hotfixes separately.

2. Bluetooth is provided by the drivers from Asus. Installing the Intel card has no effect on this.

 

Thanks for the reply,

I know I would need to install updates through windows update later but I was told there are 6 specific hotfixes on the Asus drivers CD that comes with the laptop (G73SW), I wasn't sure if those specific ones are included in SP1 or not.

Any idea about the THX driver if I need it in addition to the Realtek driver?

Thanks again for your help!

 

You asked good questions, and I hope that others who are not sure about things will do the same. You will only get familiar with the system of the DVD by wrote mistakes and finding files that don't work. Do NOT be discouraged when this happens, just ask the question and I'll clarify it for you, or continue to double click on the obvious (hopefully so) actuators in the last folder...you will eventually hit paydirt and the driver/utility will install.

rexrzer727

 

The Hotfix drivers are what you are referring to above, and there are in fact 6 of them in my Clean Install Guide on page 182. I don't know what you are referring to with click on "that file" back a couple posts, but my Guide has the correct drivers for the laptop OFF THE DVD from Asus, not a hodgepodge or drivers from here and there.

Check out my recommendation on the Creative drivers in my Guide also if you want that answer too...all you have to do is read a little, that's all! The Creative drivers install a shirtload of apps fyi, and Realtek should ALSO be installed. Together they compliment the onboard audio in our laptop, not separately!

rexrzer727

 

Well, I'm in the process of "making" screws for the harddrive bracket/caddy that I ordered. I didn't want to order them online, so I picked up some screws with the correct thread at hardware store, and now I'm in the process of cutting them to length, straightening the threads on the cut ends and (here's the best part) filing the screw head down so it actually fits in the harddrive bay. Fun stuff!

 

Hi rexrzer727,

I actually did read your guide post but I already got all the latest drivers from the various sites a few days ago according to this post.

But thanks for clarifying it for me that I will need to install the THX driver in addition to realtek for the full sound and still need to install those 6 hotfixes even though I will already have SP1 installed. just thought they might be already included inside the SP1 but guess not.

Have a good day

 

Hi all, I'm encountering a glitch when playing a Blu Ray movie with Roxio Cineplayer on my G73SW-A1. I'm wondering if anyone has noticed something similar. The player plays fine but if I close the screen for some reason wile the movie is playing (or paused), I get no video when I open the screen. The movie still continues to play and there is audio but no video. There is just a blank gray screen with the controls down at the bottom of the screen for play/pause/stop, etc. The only way to regain the picture is to stop and start the movie over again.

I have the options for what happens when you close the screen set to do nothing for when running on battery or when plugged in. Cineplayer is updated to the most current version (updates automatically). I checked for firmware updates for the drive but found none for this model. I also have the most current video drivers. I have swapped out the stock blue Ray reader for a Sony Optiarc 6x burner. I'm guessing it's a software glitch but I'm not sure. Again, just wondering if this same thing happens to anyone else. Thanks.

 

That's a software glitch all right, and it's most likely the Roxio software that is behaving badly. Have you updated the software to the latest iteration? If you have, then I'd suggest a different software for your movie playing, unfortunately. I have been convinced by Cyberlink that their software is Da Kine for BluRay and DVD playback on a laptop, and on an HDTV playing off the laptops, any number of laptops of the PC variety I've owned recently...the alternative is going to cost you some change, sad to say. But then you won't have to worry about playback issues ever again either...so that's a big consolation to me.

I bought Cyberlink's PowerDVD 10 Ultra 3D Mark II about a year and a half ago, and it's served me well for any BluRay playback I've done, the same for DVD and HD DVD and CVD playback to boot (from Asia...my wife's from thereabouts), so that's right up there at 100% playback success---you really cannot do better than that. The current version is PowerDVD 11 Ultra 3D Mark II, and unless you can catch them for an on-sale event the product costs about $100 with shipping, slightly less @ amazon.com.

Amazon.com: CyberLink PowerDVD 11 Ultra V.11: Windows: Software

($81.97 today @amazon.com)

You're most likely not going to find a culprit anywhere but the Roxio player because basically their software s**ckis egg**s bigtime. There is no substitute for something that does work, and the PowerDVD system seems to be IT these days, bar none. I don't like their update system that much, but if you can angle and meander through that part of ownership (which I manage to do, and so could you) then you are safe, sane, and easy money$$ done with issues with playback.

Good luck---that's my recommendation, and I guarantee it's a solid gold one at that!

rexrzer727

 

Hello all, can anyone confirm if they successfully use 3TB external drive(s) (single GPT/GUID/NTFS partition) in a harddrive docking station/enclosure connected to USB3?
This is as a stable data drive only (not as a EFI/UEFI boot drive) thanks.

Using a stock ASUS G73SW-A1 Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit, BIOS version/date: G73Sw.205, 2/10/2011.
Startech SATDOCK4U3E USB3/eSATA Docking Station (3TB 'tested'), 3TB 'green' drives for media data storage/playback only.

Specifically interested if BIOS/Chipset/OS natively supports 3TB data drives and/or if anything additional may be needed; and, if anyone experienced stability issues.
Shame the G73S does not seem to have flexibility to setup eSATA port-multiplier/PCMCIA ExpressCard connectivity somehow; but,
I guess the design intent was primarily as a mobile gaming machine.. (I would have loved to setup an external storage RAID array)
thanks again to all, I really appreciate this forum/users!

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I assumed it was the software as well; I was just wondering if anyone else experienced the same issue with Roxio's CinePlayer. And yes, as my post indicates, the software is up to date.

I'll have to see, I'm not sure it's annoying enough (yet) to warrant buying different playback software.

 

i used a Western Digital my book 3TB USB3 drive and it worked fine as a GPT disk. I did not test it in the BIOS to see if the drive is seen or not since I am planning to use that drive for storage only. Technically, USB3 is supposed to be faster than eSATA anyway since eSATA would be only running at 3 gbps and USB3 is supposed to be 5 gbps.

 

It's a very nice, complete BluRay/DVD playing suite from Cyberlink, and you will be able to use it on ANY device that you own to boot, ie it's a multi-license software as long as you are the owner of the computer it's used on...I have used it on every single desktop of any note in my studio as well as the laptops with BluRay media playing ability.

I believe that Skywise also suggested getting the software in a round-about way by his discussion where he used both the Roxio software and Cyberlink's player to view certain movies, where compatibility is the issue. I've never had a compatibility issue with the Cyberlink PowerDVD 10 program, none whatsoever, so I don't know what he is writing about frankly, but the thought is a good one...it covers all bases to have both players in the house.

The only Roxio sofware that I have used with any success is their Toast 11 software for the Mac, which I've had for a couple years, and it does work a treat with the Mac OS X format and burning movies, CDs, compiling features, etc...I was not under the impression that their PC software was as good as Toast is though. I may be completely off-base with my thinking, but the Cyberlink suite is as good as it gets compatibility-wise and overall program excellence with PowerDVD 10 and 11.

I'm sorry that it's so expensive, but I don't set the prices of these things. It seems like they are the only player other than Roxio in the PC market for BluRay playback programs however, and I do think that there are vast more users of the Cyberlink suites than Roxio's playback software.

I am not affiliated in any way, shape, or form with Cyberlink, and my preference is purely functional and realistic because I've had such a good time using their BluRay suite, and before that their OEM suites that came with BluRay drives and the like. They are a class act and have nice programming for playback and burning too, so that's where my prejudice for their software comes from.

rexrzer727

 

thank you lnxpro, that's all i wanted to hear before taking the plunge thanks again!

 

Only 3.2 Gbps or so is realistically attainable however, and I don't think any current USB 3 controllers support that kind of speed in practice yet. Just look at tests of USB3 SSDs - they're topping out earlier than the same drives would on a SATA3 port.

I think the benefit of USB3 is more in the form of being able to hook up multiple normal HDDs (not SSDs) and not suffer a performance hit, plus of course the increased power supply, letting you easily use optical burners etc.

My problem has been mainly with 3D movies, and there was also a problem with compatibility with one of the newer Nvidia drivers and PowerDVD11 for a while. If you don't watch 3DBDs, then either PowerDVD or Roxio should work.

Incidentally, the media player is not something Roxio made from scratch but I believe they bought Sonic Cineplayer, which used to belong to yet another company that originally made it. It's one of the original DVD players for Windows and has a rather long history, together with WinDVD and PowerDVD.

 

Thanks again for your help. I have one more question (for the moment). I may have just somehow missed this in your guide, but do I install all of my Windows updates before or after the drivers, and is there any reason not to use the Windows 7 iso with SP1 integrated?

 

The install order really doesn't matter, but one thing I do recommend is that you don't install any drivers through Windows Update. They're usually outdated and can easily break things if they're not meant for the exact hardware in your computer. If there are any driver updates in Windows Update once you've installed everything, check with with the chip manufacturer for newer drivers instead.

And using the Windows 7 iso with sp1 integrated is recommended, and shouldn't be a problem. It saves you from having to download it later.

 

So, my laptop all of a sudden wouldn't turn on after I shut it down. I actually had to remove the battery and put it back in for it to turn on. Is this normal?

 

I'm doing my clean install and when I go to install the hotfixes I am told try are not applicable to my computer, does anyone know why this is happening or what to do about it?

 

I got my OCZ Vertex 3 today after some reservation. I decided to chance it even given some of the bad press and problems. I'm really hoping I didn't make a bad decision. I removed my secondary HD from my G73SW-A1 and installed the Vertex 3. My intent was to check and update the firmware on the Vertex three with it in the secondary drive bay (since you can't update the firmware with the drive as the primary (OS) drive. I was then going to move the Vertex 3 to the primary HD bay and do a clean install of the OS.

After installing the Vertex 3 in the secondary drive bay, I rebooted the machine and went into the BIOS to make sure the drive was recognized (it was) and that AHCI was enabled. I booted into windows to run the OCZ Toolbox (as administrator) to check the firmware and update if needed. However, when I run the OCZ toolbox (as administrator) it doesn't show the Vertex 3 at all. It says "No OCZ Technology Drive Found!" and the options are grayed out. It doesn't show in Windows Explorer either. It does show in the BIOS (as mentioned) and in the Device Manager. Although in Device manager under Properties and Volumes, under Status it says "Uninitiated". I assume it's probably just needs to be formatted. My concern is why it doesn't show up in the OCZ Toolbox and allow a firmware upgrade. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I hoping I didn't get a bad one right off the bat.

 

I'm trying to partition my hard drive right now and I can't make my OS partition any smaller than 350GB even though it only contains 30GB of data. I've ran defrag and it didn't help. Do I just need a better defrag utility (I welcome recommendations) or does anyone have any other suggestions? I assume this is related to unmovable files. In the worst case I can always partition now and redo the whole installation . . .

Ignore this post, worked it out with partition wizard.

 

I love your explanations, they are clear as a bell!

On this problem: Catch-22!!!

You obviously are not familiar with the OCZ stuff, and don't frequent the Forums there like I do either. Here's what is going on, and none of this is your fault or the SSD's either--that SSD is FINE, 100% so, trust me on this.

The Intel driver that you are using for the controller is not allowing the drive to be recognized, pure, plain and simple, aka Catch-22!

You will have to search out the earlier Intel RST Driver and find 9.6.6.1.0 driver to replace the 10.0.1.x.x.x.x driver that is in there now, sorry to report, and THEN and ONLY THEN will the drive be recognized by the OCZ Toolkit, such a toolkit as it is anyway...I like to call software from OCZ "stuff that the Devil made" because it's always got some caveat or issue, you cannot ever count on the script and code writers at OCZ to field a bulletproof, easy to use command line like Intel does, for instance (the Intel SSD toolkit works every time, no caveats at all for example). And that's a shame but that's the way it is, baby!

Once you install the 9.6.6.1.0 driver and RESTART the computer all will be well. If you so choose you can reinstall the latest and greatest IRST driver from the Intel site once you have accomplished the firmware fix, but it's really not necessary. I've been operating with the new firmware (v2.11 firmware) for awhile now with the 9.x.x.x.x driver without any issues, but YMMV there...some complain about this and that syndrome with the old driver in place, but as for my $$$ it's a non-issue!

That's the thing you need to read, and all you need to read, and that will fix you up 100% with respect to the firmware of the SSD from Vertex 3 Land of Plenty Fast Things...and then you can use the new SSD to your heart's content and do all the wunnerful things that owners enjoy with the Vertex 3 SSDs. I really like mine, when I use the laptop, and could/would never go back to a platter-mechanical HD in that machine when the SSD is soooo fast and amazingly responsive.

rexrzer727

 

To get the OCZ toolbox to recognize the drive you can also run it in XP compatibility mode, as administrator. It's kind of finicky, so if it doesn't find the drive at first, restart the program and try again. The latest RST driver also fixes this (10.6.0.1022):

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...rsion=Windows 7, 64-bit*&DownloadType=Drivers

If you need to "initialize" your drive, you can do that by clicking the windows orb, type in computer management, click on Storage, then Disk Managment. If you don't get a question about it, right click the drive (not partition), and there should be an option to do it. This is harmless and will not damage any existing data on the drive.

This is because the hotfixes are either already installed or have been superseded by a newer patch that is installed. Just ignore the hotfixes and use Windows Update instead.

 

BTW, fair warning - I started experiencing crashes with firmware 2.11 on my Vertex 3, but 2.09 was stable. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to revert back to 2.09 since that procedure requires the (non-working) linux update. I'll need to hook the drive up to a different computer most likely to do that.

If your Vertex 3 works, don't update the firmware. If it doesn't work, 2.09 gave me the best results.

 

"To get the OCZ toolbox to recognize the drive you can also run it in XP compatibility mode, as administrator. It's kind of finicky, so if it doesn't find the drive at first, restart the program and try again. The latest RST driver also fixes this (10.6.0.1022):" Skywise wrote.

I rarely enjoy conflicting information and this is a prime example of that thought. If it's "kind of finicky" why do it, bother with it? I guarantee my solution (two posts UP from this one) works 100% of the time, every time, and no harm will come to any components because of using the 9.6.x.x.x.x IRST driver, it's harmless. I don't understand the "also fixes this" explanation either, go figure! That is the latest and greatest Intel RST driver, this is true, but nonetheless I don't get this whole line of reasoning involving things that are "finicky" or just work "some of the time".



Skywise also wrote: "If you need to "initialize" your drive, you can do that by clicking the windows orb, type in computer management, click on Storage, then Disk Managment. If you don't get a question about it, right click the drive (not partition), and there should be an option to do it. This is harmless and will not damage any existing data on the drive."

EXCUSE me!! "Initialize" the disc (I assume the SSD) will wipe every single solitary piece of data that is on the SSD tuit suite mon amis! It will be rendered blank, because initialize to my ears & eyes is the preparation for "formatting" the disc. If you use the "initialize" command you are wiping the SSD 100% down to the rafters and floorboards! That's what the term means on the Mac side in any case, ie initialize, format, wipe, it's all the same but for "formatting" being the given the choice of block size, etc.

I went a bit farther and researched what the Microsoft TechNet has to say about initializing new discs:

"Initialize New Disks
Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2

Backup Operator or Administrator is the minimum membership required.

To initialize new disks
In Disk Management, right-click the disk you want to initialize, and then click Initialize Disk.

In the Initialize Disk dialog box, select the disk(s) to initialize. You can select whether to use the master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT) partition style.

Note...
The disk is initialized as a basic disk."

To my understanding when you choose MBR or GUID (GPT) for the disc you are determining its file structure and whether it's going to be simple or dynamic in nature, and thus the command obliterates any and all data already on the disc, wipes it clean quickly, and voila! New Volume appears with the appropriate identifying letter and file system chosen.


rexrzer727

 

Thanks to both rexzer727 and Skywise for responding. I knew the drive wasn't being recognized because it wasn't formatted so I went and did that. I knew it wouldn't effect the Toolkit issue bit I figured it was worth a shot. After trying several things and no luck I figured the drive was alive as it was being recognized by the BIOS so I figured I'd just go for broke and 'hope' I had the latest firmware update. I went ahead and did a fresh install of the OS and it went fine. Well, the first install didn't go well as the method I used for creating the OS and so forth wouldn't take my CD key. It gave me a message that the SKU didn't match. So, I went with the 2nd method (I had followed two different methods to get the .iso). The 2nd one which allowed you to pick from any version of Windows (for which you have a valid key) ended up working just fine.

Once I was in Windows I knew I couldn't update the firmware with the SSD being the boot drive but I thought I would see if I could just check the firmware version. It did work just for that. I have v. 2.11. I was hoping for 2.09 as I had read on the OCZ forums that some people who were fine with 2.09 went to 2.11 and have had problems. Now I read the same from Skywise. That's not good. Oh well, I'll see what happens with it. If it starts giving me ANY trouble, it's going back. I was was hesitant to purchase from OCZ from the start given what's been going on but I got the feeling things were resolved or well on their way to be resolved. The idea that they are continuing to sell the drives with as many people having trouble as there appear to be is rather disheartening.

I didn't get your answers until after I'd already installed the OS and so forth but at least I know now what the cause is for my inability to get the toolbox to work. I'll go ahead and download the latest RST drivers per Skywise's link so I have them. You'd think if nothing else OCZ would be able to make it so people can roll back to a previous firmware if a previous firmware didn't give them trouble. That would only seem to make sense. I don't know how partical it is from a technological standpoint though. Anyway, thanks again for the help. Please let me know how things go with your Vertex 3 drives and I'll do the same. It's nice seeing that 7.9 for the WEI score for the drive again. I'm used to that on my desktop machine (2x Intel 80GBl x25-m in RAID0).

 

Mac != Windows. The act of initializing a drive is non-destructive and will not harm data on a formatted drive. It's only when you start formatting and/or creating/deleting partitions that you delete data. A new drive doesn't have a MBR or GPT yet, which is why that's created at the same time. On a drive that already has a GPT/MBR, it's basically just enabling Windows to see and interact with the drive. I actually had to do that last week on my external NTFS formatted USB HDD to get it to work. You'll normally get the prompt when you open the storage management console, and it should fix the "uninitated" problem at least.

I managed to revert back to 2.09 now by the way - I had to use the Linux boot USB method and edit the configuration file for the flash in order to force flash 2.09. It now seems to work without the drive requiring to be "unfrozen" looks like, which means it should be easier to do on a G73SW. I'll let you know if I get any BSODs or issues with 2.09, but I don't expect any at this point.

 

Good news on being able to revert back to 2.09. That's good to know in case I run into problems with 2.11 on my SSD. If I run into issues I may ask for help in the steps for reverting back to 2.09.

 

Hey guys. I was wondering something about the G73SW. Does anyone know if it is possible to remove the mesh panel that lies on the speaker area under the screen? I seem to be collecting some dust in it and can't get it out...