ASUS G73SW Owners' Lounge

Its been nearly 5 months with my laptop and just a couple of days the screen froze and when i restart the laptop, the screen is black.( if i wait i hear the windows 7 boot sound though ) I assume this is a problem with the graphics card no? Problem happened 15 minutes ago and after turning it off and on, it came back to life. Should I send it to the service center or is there a simple fix?

 

Have you updated your graphics card lately?

 

nope... I should, shoudnt I?

 

Hello guys,

I am currently having some problem with the G73's speakers. This has been a problem since day 1.

There are 2 Speaker options when I in the SOUND settings, however, one of the speaker option plays the speaker on top (left & right), while another speaker option only plays the sound out from the subwoofer underneath the notebook.

So, what is the problem with it? and isnt the sound suppose to come out from all 3 speakers? (left, right and subwoofer)

Thanks guys!

 

Install the sound drivers, lol.

 

I just bought a refurbished G73SW-XA1 about a month ago and so far I have been lucky enough to not find any of the problems some of you have been having so I am hoping that I never get a huge repair bill for this computer. The only thing that is bothering me is that no one can tell me what I can upgrade in this laptop and if it is worth it.

 

HI sarge, would you be more specific in which driver and where can I install it from? And also, does it fix the problem i am having now, as I do not see anyone having the same problem as I do after doing a search on the internet.

Your reply is much appreciated.

 

I think Sarge would want you to use the links he has in his signature. He does seem to have a fairly easy to follow list of all of the drivers, and he has noted they should be up to date as of Nov. 2011 according to the post.

 

I was wondering if by chance anyone is having a problem similar to mine. I know it's a long shot but what the heck. I have a G73SW-A1 running Win 7 64 bit. Every so often I'll be watching something on Netflix and the screen will freeze for a half a second or so. When this happens, the audio seems to stutter for the same duration if that makes any sense. If the last sound playing was a Z sound it will play..ZZzzzzz for the duration of the freeze and then everything will continue on. It's really strange. I usually don't have anything much running in the background except maybe a web browser. My video drivers are up to date. Has anyone else had this happen when watching something like Netflix? Thanks.

 

I had a similar problem with Youtube videos. Also happened in Left 4 Dead 2 and League of Legends but not in any of my other games. Unfortunately, I have no idea what caused it, the problem just randomly stopped after about 4 months ago and hasn't happened again. Considering it only manifests itself in online content (Netflix, Youtube, online gameplay), I think it might have something to do with media streaming. Updating your wifi drivers might be worth a shot? Thinking back on it, that might have been what fixed my problem.

 

moleman4eva, i had the Exact same problem happen to me about six months in with mine.. i tried Everything under the sun to get it to work.. i could hear it go to my log in screen, i could put my password in, and viola, it would go right to the desktop.. Except, the dang screen was black.. k, had to send it off, which i thought was going to be a nightmare, but about 3wks later it came back, and on the sheet where it tells you what they did?? they Replaced the System Board, then it says, 'other', and beside it was, Replaced Cable, Thermal, CPU Thermal, and they were all in caps.. now i don't know what that sounds like to you, but it sounds like an overheating thing to me.. and the most i have running at a time is my photography on photoshop, firefox, livewriter, that i do my blog on, and that's it.. i installed speedfan and my laptop gpu runs at 40c with firefox open.. if i have ff, ps, and lw open at the same time it Rarely gets above 50.. hope that helps, and sorry for the book, just wanted you to know everything..WH ..

 

I noticed a few posts on problems with the power jack on the G73SW, but not sure if I could see any solutions.

I purchased my G73SW April 2011. March 2012 it started constantly flicking between AC and battery, and after a week it wouldn't charge at all. I filled in the RMA.

The repair took 3 weeks (longer than they claim) and on return everything was fine... for 6 days, then the same issue started again. I have just filed in the RMA for a second repair. The report from the first repair said they changed the main board. I also noticed after the first repair that the AC adaptor is quite loose in the power jack socket.

Now I have two concerns. Firstly, they failed to repair it even though they changed out the main board. Did they replace the damaged one with another faulty one? Otherwise how can the problem reoccur after just 6 days?

Secondly, I've had this issue twice. A year from not the warranty will expire and presumably if it occurs again my laptop will be worthless. To my mind this must be faulty by design, but I am unsure how I would get ASUS to fix/replace the laptop if the warrenty has expired. Even though the issue basically occurs before warrenty if it comes out of the factory with this kind of time bomb that can go off at any moment.

Very miserable right now, I need the laptop for work and have been without it for 3 weeks already, looking at another 3 weeks now and no guarantee it will be repaired even after that!!

Anyone had a successful resolution to this issue? Please!

 

Bill_the_Bear,
I had the same problem with my AC jack a while back under warranty. I called, set up an RMA and returned it. I actually did have good luck with the turn around time and the fix (so far, knock on wood). They turned mine around in like a week and a half or so with travel time. So far the fix has held (it's been several months). I do live in fear of seeing that light on the front flicker and the little AC / Battery icon on the screen flicker also. All the sheet indicated for my repair was 'replaced AC jack'. It didn't say the replaced the main board. Although, when I remove the access cover on the bottom of the laptop I don't remember there being as much thermal paste (at least I assume that's what it is) oozing out from around some of areas. It's almost as though they did replace something extra and had to reseat some things. I don't know. Like you I am very wary of the repair and wonder if it will hold. I see your concern if there is a flaw/defect in how the AC jacks are mounted to the main boards and all they do is slap in another main board with the same defect what good does it do? While I have seen a handful of laptops on this forum with the same problem and similar resolutions, I don't know what the overall numbers are for the failures and if it constitutes a manufacturer's defect or not. I of course think they have a problem that is bigger than what we know about but have no way to prove that and I'm not sure you could do much of anything about it anyway. I guess in your case I would go to the ASUS web site and fill out one of their problem/question forms whatever they are and explain your situation and your concern and explain you are worried this will fail after warranty. That way at least if it does it will hopefully be on record and might do you some good. Calling several times about the issue might help to get it on record as well. The more noise you make about it now might help later if it fails post warranty. Just a thought. I hope they get your machine back to you quickly this time and that the repair holds. At this point I'm almost thinking a repair of just the jack might be the better of the options at this point, who knows.

 

my question is below.. sorry, i forgot to put photo of hd in message, couldn't delete this one.. thanks..wh

 

just wondering.. i installed speedfan, which was recommended here, and when it goes through the motions upon starting up showing you what's in your computer, and mine is showing that i have a toshiba hd.. i looked on google and it reads it's a 250gb hard drive.. i also googled my other hd, which doesn't have a name beside it, and it's a 500gb hd.. k, the specs on this machine reads it has a 500gb hd.. would this mean that the place i got it put an extra 250gb and my lucks good, or am i not seeing something?? thanks in advance..wh

 

Bill: I've also had this issue twice. My laptop flicked between AC and battery constantly until it eventually wouldn't charge anymore. I RMA'd it and ASUS "fixed" it. After repair, the jack felt very tight--too tight--but it worked (complete opposite to what you feel after the first repair). A few months later I RMA'd it for a completely separate issue (so I thought: PC refused to turn on after half of my screen went gray, but I had no issues at the time with the AC/battery flicker) and to my surprise, the ASUS report showed that the jack wasn't repaired correctly the first time and so they fixed it again, along with replacing the display. I have no idea what the actual failure was, but one or both of those components were responsible for the laptop failure. No problems since the second repair (has been 5 months) and the jack feels right. Cross my fingers...

Second RMA is the way to go. Hopefully you'll get better service this time, and hopefully this will be the last time you have this issue.

 

Hi guys, I currently have the version 267.54 NVIDIA driver, is it recommended to update it to the latest driver or any specify driver version? Battlefield 3 always prompt me to update my driver when i run it, and now i started to have 'hang' when playing the game.

So, should i update it to the latest? what version are u guys using now?

I am reluctant to update it due to fear of having problem after instaling the latest driver.

 

You really shouldn't have to worry about the latest drivers so long as your GPU is listed as being supported for the driver. When you do the install of the new drivers, just make sure that you select the Custom install and check the box to Perform a Clean Installation.
If it fails to work, or you are having issues, you can always go back to your drivers included with your laptop or you should also be able to get them from the Asus website.

 

atheros sucks so much.

 

Agreed, its well worth upgrading to an Intel card

 

The most stable driver is the 8.0.0.259, after trying over 10 of them.

 

was having issues with my gigabit ethernet port, not giving me max speeds online. im on 50MB with virgin and my ethernet connection was struggling to give me 5mbps downstream and 5mbps upstream even. after disabling interrupt moderation, my ping times dropped from about 15ms to 6-8ms on speedtest.net and i am now reaching 48-50mbps downstream. my wireless always used to give me the full 50mbps and this is why i was wondering that the problem was with the ethernet port. when my network adaptor was set to auto negotiation sometimes it would only connect at 10mbps, and i had to keep unplugging and reconnecting the ethernet cable to get it to perform at 100mbps, it would never connect at 1gbps, however now it always connects at 1gbps and i get my max speeds! yay

 

Anyone have the stock vBIOS for our laptop?

 

Recently I've been noticing that my G73-SWE has been slowing down greatly, for example Skyrim used to play smooth but now its all jerky and the framerate seems really low, also PCSX2 a PS2 emulator used to give me full 60 fps on most games, now I'm lucky if i get 30.

Did nVidia release a new driver update recently? Like within the last month, or is something just up with my system.

 

Maybe it is time to clean out the dust in your fans.

 

Which one do you need? Regular or 3DE?

 

Regular

 

The only driver I've seen recently is the 300 series beta. Using it my "driver has stopped responding" TDR errors have stopped. I don't know about slowing down as I just put a new MomentusXT and upped RAM to 16GB.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

I think it's this file: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8126588/BACKUP.ROM . I downloaded it way back when I did my voltage mod, to see which bits had been changed.

 

Thanks alot!

 

hello guys... I have the BestBuy version of the G73sw and I'm planning on doing a clean Windows 7 installation. The question is: which one is my wireless card? On the asus website there are several drivers. Does anyone know? Bye! Thanks!

 

Well there was more than one BB version of the G73sw. I think more information would be needed to answer that question. I for instance have the Bst6 version. I think the other model was the Bst8. I do not however think there was a difference in the wireless card between those two models.

 

You mentioned planning on a clean Windows 7 install; can you see what driver it's using right now? Beyond that, opening the large plate on the bottom (two screws, then pop up) will show both hard drive bays, and in the upper left (as it sits upside down, touch pad towards you) is the wifi card, which I hope is labeled. I just bought an Intel 6200, and replace the prior one, myself.

 

If any of you can help shed some light on my problem, I'd appreciate it. As it is, my hard drives are no longer always recognized by the BIOS, which seems very strange.

Note: It's been back to the factory once for a main board replacement - the screen went completely black and the HDMI and VGA ports did nothing, so I suspect GPU failure.

I've been using the same OCZ Vertex 3 as Windows boot drive, and the stock 750GB Momentus as a Linux multiboot, for about a year now, without many problems. Note: Both drives stayed home when the laptop went to the factory.

Several few weeks ago, I upgraded firmware on my Vertex 3, with no immediate issues. A couple weeks ago, the OCZ Vertex 3 in the left-hand bay started failing to show up in the BIOS drive selection screen all the time (I use Escape to select which drive boots), and it's showing up less frequently. The Momentus in the right-hand bay was fine. I did discover that I was short one screw, and had not fully secured the Vertex caddy; it had rotated loose a little bit, though not much. I reseated it and applied two screws, to no real effect.

As a second problem, sometimes when the Vertex does show up, I get solid disk activity either at the Truecrypt prompt (which makes no sense) or at the Windows swirling graphic screen when it freezes (for 10+ minutes), which also doesn't make sense.

Moving the drive to a desktop in order to take a backup resulted in no issue at all.

Swapping the Vertex to the right-hand bay and the Momentus to the left-hand bay resulted in the Momentus no longer showing up all the time... and the Vertex continues to show up even less often.

BIOS is still stock. I've decrypted the Vertex 3 entirely; it doesn't show up. I've tried updating its firmware, but that's already up to date.

I run the drives in AHCI mode, and always have.

Are the SATA ports having problems? How would I prove that, and can I RMA it without shipping the drives along with it?

Prior to shipping it back, I did have the "New Revision Certified Design" sticker, and the sticker remained - that was early this year.

ETA: After powering on and off over and over, if I can get the drive to display, and the OS to actually boot instead of freezing on startup (requiring a hard poweroff), everything is fine, for days on end. Having to reboot dozens of times to get it to come up, however, is a pain.

 

Nadrek - I've had the same problem. Like you, I haven't found a solution other than to keep powering off, then on again. Sometimes pulling the battery helps too. If you have any USB devices connected, I recommend disconnecting them as well, as the resultant power draw may be big enough that it prevents the HDDs/SSD from initializing properly.

 

I have a question. I'm thinking seriously about getting the new Catleap monitor for 2560x1440. Will this be compatible with my G73SW? Do I need a dual-link HDMI to DVI cable?

Thanks,
Thomas

 

I was getting down to having to power off and on dozens of times; yes, pulling the battery did help. Not having USB devices plugged in didn't seem to make much difference.

I just replaced the Vertex 3 with a Vertex 4, since the problems seemed centered around the Vertex (mostly), and after several reboots where the Seagate Momentus was also not recognized, it seems, so far, to be a little better, but I haven't done enough testing yet.

HDTune is showing the Vertex 4 at only 100MB/s ish for 64KB chunks, which is extremely low, but I haven't run any other benchmarks yet, either, and at 8MB chunks, it was above 250MB/s, which is better.

I really am wondering if the laptop needs to go back for service, and if so, whether they can do the service without the hard drives.

 

In my case the Vertex 3 was always discovered, but sometimes one of the HDDs were not. I did swap out the HDD caddy for the optical drive slot with a different one, which seems to work better, but it's still not sure thing. I should mention I'm using 1 TB HDDs, and they may pull more power during the initial powerup phase than smaller capacity drives.

 

hello again... I have the G73SW-BST6. Which one is the wireless card? cheers!!

 

Hello there/ I also have the asus notebook G73Sw. I would like to upgrade to 16GBS of ram for gaming that would replace the current samsung ram I have now, which is DDR3 Samsung PC3-10700(667)MHZ. I want to increase ram performance with a better brand. Any suggestions?

 

Are there any custom BIOs?

 

can anyone confirm if the g73sw-a1 is capable of driving a 30" external monitor at 2560x1600 for gaming/media purposes? thanks.

 

HD issue: The Vertex 4 is performing reasonably well, and both it and the Momentus 750GB are working almost all the time. The Momentus did drop completely offline while I was running Portable Crystal Diskmark once, but I'm in a generous mood.

The Vertex 3 is about to get the 2.22 firmware, per OCZ's recommendation, up from the 2.15 firmware.

chochanga, you can download InSSIDer at: Download inSSIDer and Discover the Wi-Fi Networks Around You | MetaGeek which will give you a pretty good idea (upper right, near Start/Stop); you can also take off the large panel on the bottom nearest the space bar (but on the bottom), and look in the upper left as the space bar is towards you and the machine is upside down, that little card with the two wires is your WiFi card, and should have some form of label.

 

Man, thank you so much for posting that. I just ran into the same issue for the first time. Never had cause to even try and plug into the ethernet port before. Today i did, first thing was to head to speedtest and i almost cried a little. But your little fix w/ the interrupt moderation disabled took me from 8mbps to like 50 (my current advertised rate from oceanic), so, super duper. thanks again.

 

hey all.. got a problem with temperatures in the cores(?).. my GPU is running at 40C but my cores are running at 60C.. it reads like this on SpeedFan.
GPU:40C
HD0:30C
HD1: 32C
Core 0:58
Core 1:59
Core 2:60C
Core 3:60C
the cores have flames beside them.. and i just realized this thing is suppose to be a Core i7.. shouldn't there be more core temps.?? i Really need you guys help.. my warranty is almost up and i need to know whats up.. i've blown the back vents out with that electronics air, and that didn't even help.. the first time i did it, it cooled everything down a degree or so.. oh, i was running photoshop, windows live writer, and firefox when those temps. were taken.. i've already had to send this thing back once because of temp. issues, i'd hate to have to do it again.. and the Core i7 thing?? help Please.. Thanks..

 

Yep! it wont have any problem.

What are your temps when idle with nothing running?

Also, try using a more reputable and widely-used program for temps like HWMonitor or HWInfo32/64

60C is fine if your doing intensive work. Sometimes Photoshop can be enough to push them up there, so check your idle temps and report back

And no, that is the correct number of temps. There are 4 physical cores in the Core i7.

 

thank you for the response [>>ahl395<<], great, that's good news. i might not be able to push the 460m too hard at 2560x1600; but,
at least i know someone else out there got the 30" monitor to function. thanks again.

 

thanks for replying.. sorry mines so late.. health problems keep me away sometimes.. i have both speedfan and HWMonitor.. they read practically the same.. here's the temps of both SpeedFan and HWMonitor..

HWM SpeedFan

THRM 37-38C GPU 38C
Core 0 37-38C HD0 27C
Core 1 29C HD2 28C
Core 2 28C Core 0 38C
Core 3 30C Core 1 30C
Package 38C Core 2 28C
Core 3 31-30C

right now running only firefox, speedfan, hwmonitor..

same order as above
hwm
38C speedfan
38C 45C
32C 31C
29C 31C
31C 38C
38C 38C
29C
32C

I tried to do that best i could.. the order is the same on both as the one's above.. i Really hope it's not too hard to understand or long.. i hope you can tell what's what..
Thanks so much.. i'm just afraid this thing is running hotter than before cause i Really don't think when i first installed both speedfan and hwmonitor the cores got that hot.. when my computer messed up the first time they had to replace the system board, cable, thermal, cpu thermal.. any thoughts on this are welcome and appreciated muchly..

 

Glad i could help mate, i thought i was the only one with this problem, was messing around with my settings for ages trying to figure out what was going wrong heh

 

Absolutely nothing to worry about!

Those temps are perfectly fine and some are actually quite cool. For normal usage, (browsers and the like), in the 40's and below are acceptable . And at heavy load, under 70-75C is acceptable. Medium load from Photoshop and more intensive programs will be somewhere inbetween. Your temps are perfectly fine, and lower than most laptops