Official Asus G73JH Owners Lounge

I wouldn't worry too much about the user's post Quag. He/She's the first (to my knowledge) that reported a key being deactivated. I would recommend that they call the automated microsoft line to reactivate it.

This being said, I was under the assumption that I could put a clean Pro install on mine when it comes

...... (was supposed to ****ing come today, but the supplier was too lazy to ship it to my reseller last night, and now it's going to be either Saturday or Monday.... wooww that was a good venture off-topic lol).....

and give the included home premium key to my gf so she can update from vista to 7. Does this sound feasible?

 

That would be a pretty crappy thing for Asus to do. They advertise

Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium

as the available operating systems. Local backup and restore comes with all editions of Windows 7 (network backup and restore for Pro and Ultimate).

OEM Windows editions (if they still exist) should NOT be advertised as "Genuine", and they shouldn't come with genuine product keys.

 

Yeah.... when I think about it...

$2100+ removed from my checking account on 2/2/2010. It's now 4/1/2010, and I got to use the product I spent all that money on for less than 2 of those weeks. Looking at those numbers this laptop is really not a good value nor was it a good purchase decision.

...but I don't think about it

 

At least you got to use it for a little. I pre-ordered mine from xoticpc on 2/5 and it's STILL in the "waiting for stock" phase. And meanwhile from what I recall, powernotebooks already fulfilled orders till late March.

 

Ok, the only reason I'm into it is I want to use the iso and key since we don't get recovery discs anymore. I did for my replacement, but didn't have it long enough for MS to get in a tissy, so I was concerned of the news.
You can put whatever os you want on your pc
Sorry for your wait, but at least it's coming.
Feasible sure, legal dubious.

Even a striped OEM is still considered Genuine since it comes from MS and not some China copy shop, it's all about the deal between manufacturer and MS. As a private windows buyer, you can save a good percentage of money buying an OEM copy from Newegg over Retail, the restriction is an OEM is locked to the motherboard you first install it to and a retail copy has unlimited activations and can be transferred to different pcs (but only one working pc at a time, you can't have 1 retail key working on 2+ machines at the same time)
I could be wrong on the backup and restore, but I sure do remember on my first one (X1), it wasn't there, nor when I did a fresh W7 copy with the recovery disc. I also remember Ken's statement because the program was important to me in the early stages.
However, since evensen posted that Macrium Reflect Free I don't care about "backup and restore" since it is config restrictive and Macrium is like the good ole days on XP and Ghost9, but I do care about MS police breaking down my door so to speak and deactivating my W7.

Unfortunately I am catching up to your money gone/missing G73 stats. Any news on yours?

Q

 

Status still " Waiting-Wait for material" (since Tues)...


I'm only on my first RMA so you've got me beat in the frustration dept.

Sure, I can play games on my desktop, but the notebook was purchased for work. For that it has been virtually useless so far!

 

What's wrong with your system Mark? Win7 activation issue? I can't find where you were talking about it xD

 

Screen shot for you. I assume this is what you are talking about.

Located under CONTROL PANEL > SYSTEM + SECURITY

 

Appreciate, but its not quite what it should be. I still think this could be a lesser of the full program.

Do you have an option in it to do a complete HDD image or is it just to back up files? All I see is "Files" options and I'm aware of this smaller version.

More to the point, forget what you see in the Control Panel, do you have a folder called "Maintenance" when you do Start/Programs/Maintenance/Backup and Restore?

You really don't have to follow through here as I'm just kicking the tires so to speak, but since you chimed in you had the program, I would like to nail it down since the program doesn't seem to be the full monty. Thanks.

Q

 

Keyboard backlighting went dead.

Possibly happened when updating to BIOS 206, as other reports of this are trickling in, but not confirmed if it's related to the BIOS update or not.

Purchased new keyboard from Asus but that didn't help (now I have a new spare!).

Regardless, I want them fixed - the backlit keys were one of the reasons I chose the G73.


I did get to purchase and play Battlefield Bad Company 2 on it (all the way through) before I returned it!

 

Yes, you can create a SYSTEM IMAGE, CREATE A SYSTEM REPAIR DISK, or DO COMPLETE BACKUPS (manual or automatic on a schedule).

I also DO have a folder called Maintenance.

It has the following in it:

BACKUP AND RESTORE
CREATE A SYSTEM REPAIR DISC
HELP AND SUPPORT
WINDOWS REMOTE ASSISTANCE

Hope that helps!

 

OK, WHATS with the CAPS. IT's OnLy the FIRST time YOU AnsWered The QUESTIon I AskED a COUple tIMes pREVious. THANKS 4 the HELP!

It seems like there is a status movement on my 2nd RMA, it may be ready for shipment on Friday, what "it" is (component or replacement swap) is still unclear.

Q

No prob corpfan, I know your a good person on the forum and thanks again.

 

Sorry - I just list the important info that you actually see on the comp in CAPS... I won't next time...lol.

 

Seeing that through the online status inquiry thingie?

WHAT?

 

Nope, on the tele WHAT!, I said TELE.

I told the rep it was the replacement to the hardware failure I had first so you'll have to forgive my impatience as I've been without my G73 longer than I've had use of 2 of them. I think I heard his jaw hit the desk

Q

 

I have no problem using the built-in microphone with EQ2 voice chat, but it is a push-to-talk system (not VOX), so I'm not sure how well the ambient noise elimination works.

I know on my MacBook Pro with OS X, the built-in microphone is awesome and the driver eliminates all background noise but I recall during a Skype call on the ASUS that they indicated a large amount of wind noise -- probably from the cooling system of the G73JH.

 

Just to add, by the way...

Just completed a complete system backup.

Took 1h 12mins and for me was 61GB (45GB was system image).

 

I keep getting mixed answers. Some people are doing the 1 hour backup while others are going straight for a clean OEM windows 7 install. Ultimately in the end, does it make a difference? I mean, you have your drivers disk already so the only thing left is the OS.

 

Yes, my subwoofer is still working even without the Soundblaster Audigy software. I can't find any noticeable difference in the sound coming from its speakers after removing Soundblaster. So far, I did not encounter the freezing that happens while I'm online when that bloatware was still installed.

 

Somehow the fact that the Creative software has a bass boost effect got equated with it driving the subwoofer. The Creative software just provides audio effects, and they aren't very good IMO. The equalizer seems to be the only useful effect, and even that isn't that great.

*edit* Of course, the fact that the Creative software makes other software crash makes it really not great

 

What are you referring to? Burning recovery disks isn't the same as a backup. Do what you need to do. If you're fine with just reinstalling the OS and drivers if something catastrophic happens then that's fine.

I personally install all my development and game software, which can be a 2 day project, then make a full disk image (which is a backup) of the system drive. Then if I need to restore the entire system drive to the last saved state I can do it in one step instead of all those software installs.

 

Here is what I did...

1) Made the 6-DVD recovery disc set. That way, if anything at all happens at any point, etc... I can start from scratch.

2) Installed/removed, etc.... Fixed all glitches (hopefully). Dealt with everything I wanted to. Got to a "happy state".

3) Did a complete backup w/ system image. Now, I can recover to ORIGINAL STATE or HAPPY STATE...lol.

That is where I am at right now...

My plans are...

- install a 256GB SSD when they get cheap (hoping this fall).
- do a complete OS clean install on to the SSD
- remove the primary 500GB HD and use as an external backup with a case for it
- re-install everything again and get to my happy state!


Not 100% sure if I will do the SSD and start from scratch again - I may decide not to, as things are functioning well now. But everyone eventually gets the "upgrade bug", right?

 

The magnetic hard drive has always been the "choke" point on any laptop. Processors and memory speed have far out distanced the speeds of magnetic hard drives.

Then, along comes the SSD...blazing fast. Once you use one for your OS and applications you will never go back.

However in a laptop be wary of the Crucial C300 SATA III drives, which have been touted to be the fastest out there, because laptops only support SATA II speeds. We will have to wait for Intel or some 3rd party to develop the SATA III controller for laptops before we will see the SATA III speeds that the Crucial C300 drives can deliver.

 

I am considering an Intel 256GB drive or a OCZ Vertex 256 GB drive.

But there is no way I am paying more than $400 for one, so, the wait will determine whether I do this or not.

 

How do I make the theme stop changing after every time I reboot? I always get the generic G73JH photo every time I restart instead of my saved theme.

 

I researched this HEAVILY and it is a Windows 7 glitch that doesn't have a fix so far. Not sure what causes it... something to do with an extra file being created when booting.

I went in and physically changed the photo file to the one I wanted on my screen.

 

Dam lol imagine if the G73 came with 2 500GB SSDs instead for the same price as now hahaha. Only would happen in a utopia xD

My mouth waters and my eyes shine up when I think about it lollllllll

 

This happened to me a few times. As I had a theme set up to rotate the wallpapers, it was really aggravating.

My solution:

Uninstall Power4Gear. This should correct it. Oddly enough, I was able to REINSTALL Power4Gear and it worked flawlessly after that. I honestly don't use it, but I hate having "dead" buttons (yeah, I'm weird) so I brought back the software. It's also nice for when I'm on business to be able to quickly switch to "quiet office" or the like to tone down the gamer-ness.

 

OK, I could be way off base, but I will try to anser a few posts here...

"However in a laptop be wary of the Crucial C300 SATA III drives, which have been touted to be the fastest out there, because laptops only support SATA II speeds. We will have to wait for Intel or some 3rd party to develop the SATA III controller for laptops before we will see the SATA III speeds that the Crucial C300 drives can deliver."

You could consider the Mercury Extreme SSDs or the Vertex LE SSDs which both use the Sandforce 1500 controllers and push the limits of SATA II. Overall, these are about the same speed as the Crucial 300s.

"I am considering an Intel 256GB drive or a OCZ Vertex 256 GB drive.

But there is no way I am paying more than $400 for one, so, the wait will determine whether I do this or not."

These 100GB SSDs will set you back $400, but to me they are worth it. I do not store music or movies, so all of my programs (W7, Office 2007, CS4, et al) and all of my files and folders only approach 75GB. This includes thousands of photos. I currently have a 128 GB Crucial 225 SSD, but my new laptop will have a 200GB Mercury Extreme SSD installed. Pricy, but well worth the upgrade, in my opinion!

"I researched this HEAVILY and it is a Windows 7 glitch that doesn't have a fix so far. Not sure what causes it... something to do with an extra file being created when booting."

I turn off all backgrounds, so it does not affect me at all, but in my roamings of W7, I found a possible solution. This is from memory as I am not on a W7 machine so...

control panel> power management settings> change plan settings> advanced power settings> scroll down to screen background or something like that. You will see a setting for "slideshow". Try turning that off.

I hope this helps!

Bill

 

OK, sorry about the above post. I am new to the site and have never posted "multi-quote" before. I will eventually figure it out!

 

Great Answer, Bill, Thanks for the info... it worked for me.. here's the sequence I took...

Right Click Battery Icon in Tray> Power Options> Change Plan Settings> Change advanced power settings> Desktop background settings> Slide show> change from "available" to "paused" on both battery and plugged-in settings.

+REP EDIT: I ended up going to C:\Windows\ASUS\wallpapers and changing ASUS.jpg background pic to ASUS.jpg.old and that seems to have made the difference. If you want the ASUS background pic back again, just remove the ".old" from the jpg file and you're in business!

 

Prior to uninstalling and reinstalling Power4Gear, I tried this and it did not correct the issue for me.

 

My background changed back to the ASUS background so I ended up doing the following and it seems to have worked so far...

Go to C:\Windows\ASUS\wallpapers and change ASUS.jpg background pic to ASUS.jpg.old and that seems to have made the difference. If you want the ASUS background pic back again, just remove the ".old" from the jpg file and you're in business! (Fingers crossed)

 

Yay! I just ended up moving he ASUS.jpg into a different folder and my problem is fixed

 

Borderlands - Half price on Steam this weekend.

To stay on topic, this game can be played on a G73


My BFBC2 download took almost 24 hours....since I've been waiting for the return of my G73 I've upgraded from a ~500Kbps connection to a 10Mbps connection...looks like I could have Borderlands in an hour

 

Hey all .. just wanted to let you guys know www.portableone.com got more A1 to finish all their backorders and more comming on Monady and nearly no backorder left . Someone in the SAD/Depressed folder mentioned them so I called them. I ordered my G73JH-A1 today from them at 9am and it was shipped 4h later . Sorry for all still waiting though you might want to know.

Hope it helps .. and as a Nooby thank you all for the help in this thread...
ITS COMMING YEAH!!!

 

Is anyone else having major temp issues on the 5870? I'm hitting close to 100 celcius when playing GTA4. Not safe at all!! [using afterburner/hwinfo32 to monitor temp]

 

There is nothing wrong with temps in the 90's, that is within engineering specifications.

However I am curious about your ambient temperature, and whether you have the stock thermal paste or a premium thermal paste like IC Diamond.

 

Ambient is a bit over 20C, and it has the stock paste. Gah.. I hate the idea of my GPU running in the 90's for two years. When the warranty ends I'll probably just sell it in fear.

 

Alright, besides the loose keys, which seem to be a common problem, I've found a minor fault. The USB ports (especially the one on the left side) are loose. They work fine right now, but could this be a problem in the long run?

 

I wanted to express how happy I am with my G73. Donald set up the machine exactly how I requested and was very responsive to all my questions throughout the process.
I am missing one thing that I used to get on my 5 year old Dell- Progress bars. I have yet to see one on the G73!

I have a warranty question. Is Extended Warranty Service the same as the accidental damage warranty? My instinct is they are different.
Is the G73Jh-A1 covered by the Extended Warranty?

 

I was looking long for a wallpaper based on the Ati 5870. Couldn't find anything. I miss those old Ati wallpapers of teh steel metal gargoyle. lol!! I think that was from the 9800 series. I used to love it. More than anything...the 5800 series deserves that with a tag saying "Unleash the beast within" But I love the one which I found. I removed the AMD logo and now its pure ati. I plan on modifying the fusion in the center to a 5870 or a asus G73JH.

 

anybody have tried to boot OS from sd card or external hdd?
Also raid 0 isn't availlable, i hope asus will do something in the near future...

 

The G73jh uses the Intel HM55 motherboard which doesn't support raid is why the G73 doesn't have one. I don't know if that can be fixed unless a bios update can enable it but I am pretty sure RAID is dependent on how the motherboard is made rather than anything else.

 

what about software RAID? How effective would it be?

 

not a great deal but you need to install OS in a third hard disk (external or sd card). but this bios support boot only from 2 internal hd.
anybody can confirm this?

 

Hey All

I have 2 questions for ya...

1. I a trying to create my Recovery disk, but every time I make it to Disk 5 I get an error saying

"An exception error occurred during the burning process. DVD-5 needs to be burned again. Please insert a blank writable DVD"

I have tried to put in a few blank ones but I keep getting the same error.

and 2. Has anyone found a sleeve for this beast? I am deploying to Afghanistan and taking this with me so I need something to keep out the sand.

Thanks!!!

 

whats that gadget you are using? looks interesting

 

Here it is: http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=f02a2b14-4c5f-4d64-8920-48c81274954e&bt=1&pl=1

I still wanted the intel turbo boost...but couldn't stand how it "stood out". So I got this instead. It also gives statistics for all 4 physical + 4 virtual cores.

 

I wasted 7 dvds making the 6 recovery disks having the same problem you did. I don't have an answer or fix, however, as I was wasting the disks, I noticed that if I put the requested blank disk in before hitting the "ok" button after the error notice, it would burn that particular disk without problem. But, it doubled the disks needed because it would ruin every other disk. I hope this makes sense as I had the same problem you did.