ASUS G73SW Owners' Lounge

Dont know why but i cant seem to get newer drivers to handle overclocking well.

The newest drivers made my computer shut off within 30-40 minutes of gaming.

Went to 267.76 , much better and it took a few hours.

Dont know why its happening at all though. Tempuatures are maxing at under 73C. And its only a 20% overclock

Trying the newest drivers one more time...

 

hi myx / rexrzer727.

my mp3s are in my d:\ and i'm using window media player. do i have to upgrade the firmware of hard disk?

doesn't occur only when playing mp3.. sometimes when playing game halfway through, the sound will stutter too.. anyone facing same problem and managed to fix it?

it don't occur very often though

thanks

and do we have to update the windows vista 7 to sp1?

 

No.

You dont have to, but theres no reason not to. And its just Windows 7. No vista in there.

 

Hi. I purchased the laptop a week ago, so far I love it and it is working fantastic. I had a few questions if you guys can help me out I would appreciate it. And bare with me I'm a complete computer tech newb.

1. How do I know if I need to update my drivers or if they are already up to date? I'm asking because I think everything is working fine however my internet speed (wifi) seems to be slower than my older laptop. Also sometimes there is some wierdness when I'm on my laptop... for example things double clicking program and it snap open-closes then I double click again and it says it's already running... And should you always update your drivers to current versions? Or is it like if it ain't broke don't break it.

2. I still haven't made a backup disc but I deleted a few bloatwares. Can I restore it to factory settings? Such as a downloadable recovery disc?

3. I'm thinking about getting a 2nd external monitor. Is it possible to run one from the HDMI port and the other from VGA port? Or do I have to get Matrox Dual Head2Go?

4. How do I combine the partitions? If the only reason for 4 partitions I have is to "organize" my things better, unless organizing my video from music from programs into multiple partitions make my system run faster/smoother, I would like to combine them.

Thank.

Dan

 

you cannot run 3 screens, you must plug HDMI or VGA, if you plug a 3rd you will get an error message: The GPU supports 2 monitors.

USB 3.0 Problem:

When i start the computer and i have a USB 3 hub connected it freezes at post.
Any time during post, it freezes completely i must hold the power button.

i must wait until windows is booted before i can connect it.

anyone experience this? what is the problem?

 

anyone experience slow wecam in G73SW ?

 

Yes, the webcam sucks. The frame rate seems to be very slow. It's a little bit better with good lighting though.

Have you tried to update the USB3.0 driver?

 

I found out how to combine partitions, and now I know I can't do triple display with this laptop. I just want to know Q1 and Q2. Could someone help me?

 

Dan, those are great questions, so bear with me while I try and answer *all* of them, one by one...

Q1) Windows is a funny OS if you come from Linux and the Mac OS like I did, and prior to that the IBM CompuScan when I was a news writer, and I write those words because it's so gol danged complicated, and difficult to maintain to boot. As for the drivers and updating them? There are two driver systems that it's always best to keep up to date and current, and those drivers are for the video card and the sound card/system, while the principal driver systems for the notebook probably don't need to *ever* get updated as long as the computer continues to run fine.

There are dedicated software driver updaters which you *can* use, such as Driver Magician, which I do own but I use it sparingly, and almost never with a new laptop...chiefly I use the Magician to help out with updating my OEM computer builds, or builds that I am trying to fix problems on during IT work of various types, be it networking, software, or hardware troubleshooting. There are a couple distinct types of drivers that Windows has/uses, and that is the corollary question to your question--ie defining the drivers themselves and what they do, and how they work, which would take me a couple hundred words to get into, so I'm not going to do that for this post.

To answer your question directly: keep the video/GPU and HDMI/sound drivers up to date and don't worry about the rest, unless Asus issues a new BIOS update perhaps, which can mean that you have to update some of the other hardware drivers also, but barring that all-encompassing BIOS update just forget about things like USB, WiFi, chipset, etc. This is a brand new laptop with brand new hardware/firmware and much of the software drivers are also brand new (like the USB 3.0 driver for instance, that is all new), so we're sort of "Beta testers" for Asus in many ways with this new notebook.

The notebook has an updated, upgraded chassis/motherboard/SATA systems/USB systems thing going for it straight away, called the "Sandy Bridge Cougar Point HM65 PCH" system, with a bunch of updated and upgraded parts and pieces because of the issue that Intel had with some of the SATA ports with the original Sandy Bridge notebooks and desktop motherboard chipsets...so that's why I refer to us being "Beta testers" for Intel and Asus, in so many ways!

That is my recommendation to someone who is new to tech work of any type, especially Windows tech work, just don't worry about your drivers other than the video/GPU/Sound drivers, and even those are *optional* in terms of updating them constantly. There are some people who never update their notebooks and have a perfectly acceptable "owner experience" with their laptops...so YMMV with any updating!

Your "don't break it if it works" quote is also a good, pragmatic approach to any type of updating/upgrading it goes without saying, so use common sense and don't go doing a wholesale updating/upgrading of the notebook just because it might be easy/convenient to do just that...also always *have a reason* to do any updating, is my personal philosophy with drivers and system updates/upgrades.

The question you asked is a loaded gun question, you know? Anybody could take it and perhaps kill themselves and you too with an answer, so my answer is qualified heavily, as you might have noted above...just use your head and don't get *in* over your head also, that's the best advice I could give you.

Q2) There is nothing like a "downloadable disc" which you can use to upgrade or roll back the OS and drivers to factory standards, just like when you bought it and it was fresh and new. But there *is* the Recovery Partition in the notebook, which will, along with the Driver and Utility disc that you do have that came with your notebook, be able to bring the notebook back to Day No.1 condition. I suggest you do some reading about Recovery and using the OEM Recovery Partition if you want to bring the notebook back to OEM status. :smile:

Basically all you have to do is restart the computer and start tapping the "F9" Key above the regular keyboard, and that will initiate the Recovery Sequence. Follow the prompts, and insert the Driver and Utility disc when asked, and that will bring the notebook back to OEM standards, fresh as a daisy with all the Asus crapolaware in the house, ready to go like Day No.1 when you bought the notebook and it was fresh. :GEEK:

Q3) NO! You may NOT run 3 monitors with this GPU system! It will result in either freezing the notebook and having to restart after unplugging everything in the way of external monitors, or an error message of grave proportions...the notebook supports two (2) monitors, the OEM notebook monitor and one external monitor, either VGA or HDMI as the source, but ONLY ONE(1) external monitor, end of story. :wink:

Q4) You can learn how to use the Windows Disk Utility, you know 'Manage' under the "Computer" menu when you right/click on the "Computer" image? Do you even know about that? Or you can purchase a dedicated utility for partition management/hard disk management utility such as Paragon's Hard Disk Manager 11 Suite or Professional (versions), which is an all-encompassing utility for complete system management and maintenance, partitioning, Cloning, and all kinds of things that you can do with Windows, which you can then use to "combine" the partitions as you wrote, and get rid of the rather mundane and silly 4-partition scheme that Asus has provided the user with the two HD's in the house.

Seriously, I got rid of my two partitions in the 2nd internal HD easily with Paragon's utility, and I mean it took about 1 minute to fix that issue 100%. There is no need to have 4 partitions in this notebook, in fact I find that to be pretty difficult to deal with for my purposes, and I only have the HD as a whole entity, ie Drive "E", and that works fine for me and my media purposes.

That covers your 4+ questions, I hope! Good luck, and ask some more if you are still confused about any of that...I don't mind. I hope that others are as candid as you are with questions like those, because it's the only way to learn about things when you're starting out with any Tech work.

Don't worry about the firmware of the HD, it's not important! There are many reasons for "stuttering" with the notebook and to pin it down for you I'd have to be looking at your notebook first hand, and see what the issues are, if any. I don't think that anyone can put their finger on your issue(s), if any, in this forum, and you can't hold the notebook up to the screen for me to diagnose now either, can you?

The main thing I can recommend is that you do a Clean Install of the OS and drivers and try to get rid of the stuttering that way...often it's the unknown and unwanted Asus crapolaware that is responsible for bad performance with these notebooks, and the only way I can recommend to cure things is to do that all-important Clean Install of the OS and drivers, and leave out all the crapolaware, do it right, and get it done! There are many guides here at NBR for such an install, and I suggest that Search is your friend for such a task...use it well! :smile:

Have you done a Clean Install yet? That is the recommendation that seems to work best for all this sort of trouble, in my book this is true anyway, so try that tactic and see if it cures these issues with your nice, new notebook. I have yet to do it with mine, but I am almost there because I am tired of the little, stupid, things happening and I do know that a Clean Install seems to get rid of all such issues, bar none!

rexrzer727

 

Fixed the issue with that... I was setting my OC too high it seems.

Wish i could get higher OC's than 775/628/1550, the laptop can definitely handle it thermally.

 

To rexrzer727: Thank you so much for clearing things up for me. I have to go out now, actually I had to go out 5 min ago lol... I just wanted to say a quick thanks! I really appreciate this.

Dan

 

Every video card is slightly different, unique in its performance windows, and there is no disputing that fact. So if the best that you can do thermally and stability-wise too is what you posted, probably it should make you happy and be satisfied with it too, as that is plenty of OC'ing for this particular GPU system. Let me tell you a couple "inside stories" about our video cards, and others like them with big VRAM such as our 1.5GB DDR5 setup. :smile:

When manufacturers install very large VRAM in a video board it is very risky for them to clock such video RAM high, and you'll find even with the premium brands such as MSI, Gigabyte, EVGA and the like that they will uniformly drop the clocks somewhat in their video boards with extreme VRAM content, that would be 1.5GB and higher VRAM setups. :GEEK:

When there's a huge amount of VRAM it's harder than it looks to "match" all the VRAM and therein lies the difficulty of clocking such VRAM setups high. With literally any of the Big 3 manufactures using nVidia hardware as the base for their video boards you will find the trend of downclocking the big VRAM cards they sell across the board, in any of their premium offerings, bar none. :yes:

It's the same with regular RAM also...the more you install, the harder it is to keep things matched and working correctly, because of a simple fact...RAM modules are all different even with the highest quality control and the best manufacturing processes possible, thus RAM manufacturers and resellers actually deal with slight variations in the module's capacity, voltage, and impedance constantly, ie it's just the way it is with RAM and VRAM. It is literally impossible to make two RAM chips 100% equal in all respects, there will be inevitable variation in the individual modules no matter how they are built, chosen, or matched with even the finest of electronics and hardware. :yes:

I have built/serviced/troubleshot many computers of the PC technology since I got interested in Windows and PC devices, both for myself and my own uses and for people I know, family and friends, and legitimate customers who have solicited me for builds since about 1997 when I built my first PC clone. I can tell you that the hardest computer module variance occurs with RAM and VRAM out of all the parts and pieces that make up a computer, and those are the parts that have over the years given me the most trouble and difficulty, consistently, to this day even.

Sometimes people want large RAM allotments in their custom built computers, and I always tell them after I finish my job of putting it all together and stress testing everything in a 72-hour "Burn-In" procedure that I will do after I build something, "Everything looks good, and it all works 100% right now, but depending on use and stress on the components the RAM and VRAM will be the two areas to keep an eye on--check/test those components first, at the very first sign of any trouble or instability." I observe the same hard and fast "rule of the game" anytime one of my computers is having trouble, and they all *do* have trouble at some point, maybe years after you build them and put them in service for whatever task they were destined...I always stress test the RAM and VRAM first, at the first sign of problems or instability, especially if the computer has been running in an overclocked state.

And over the years the No.1 problem with all of the computers I know, service, or have built personally, is with RAM and VRAM, bar none. I have exchanged innumerable sets of RAM and video cards also to get a computer back to 100% operational condition, ie the nice people at Corsair RAM, OCZ RAM, Patriot Memory, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI. and G.Skill Inc. know me well by now! I have had RMA's on RAM DIMMs and video cards at EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte, and others many, many times, and have solved many a problematical computer system by replacing the RAM or the video card, consistently this has been the case...over and over.

People don't think much about video RAM going South (bad), but it *does happen a lot*, especially if people overclock their video boards all the time this tends to be the case, and once spoiled... VRAM, like SODIMMs and DIMMs, never gets back to be right again, and one has to replace it rather than fight a problem that can't be solved any other way. b:wink:

In my own computers for example, these are recent cases too, I have had to replace the memory DIMMs in my Core i7-based Folding@Home machines, and these are computers that are stressed 100% 24/7 365 days a year with both VRAM and RAM being used for folding purposes, more often than any other part over the years. The 2nd most replaced part is the video boards...and these two potential areas of issue are at least 10X more prevalent to happen than say a power supply failure, or motherboard problem, or even a hard drive or SSD problem...it's just the way it is with RAM and VRAM, it seems, and there's no solving it as long as people continue to stress their computers heavily and overclock them in addition to that, because those two actions=eventual trouble every time.

As for VRAM modules like 1.5GB and higher concentrations of premium VRAM in premium video boards like our GTX-460M mobile nVidia video cards, these tend to be some of the most complex applications of VRAM in the business, and when things are complex they tend to go haywire easily, sorry to say. I wish it were different, but those are my observations with many, many computers, both desktop and notebook both, over the years since about 1997 as I wrote above. :yes:

My suggestion is to not overclock a nice video card like ours all the time, especially during stressful times like playing a heavy duty game, or using the video card for Folding@Home, Seti, or any of the heavy stress regimens that people use their notebooks and desktops for. The video card is an amazing thing, once you've seen one taken apart and you've looked at all of the complex arrangements inside of such a thing, all miniaturized because of the application needing a lot of performance inside of a very small space...which is what you have, especially with a notebook's video card since it is in a very small, tight space in any notebook made, and it probably isn't going to be cooled adequately in most notebooks (ours being an exception to that fact), so take care with their use. Overclocking the video card 100% of the time is a very bad idea, in my thinking-- this is certainly the case. :wub:

In my last Asus notebook, a G51JX-A1 notebook with the nVidia GTS-360M 1GB DDR5 VRAM video card, it had to have the entire video card assembly and many related parts, sensors and the like, all replaced because it simply went South on me after just 3 months ownership, and I was not overclocking the video board all the time, in fact I was doing that very sparingly, and mostly just for testing the card's performance with 3DMark06 and Vantage. I played very few intense games during the time it failed, just used the notebook nominally really, and yet my video card failed completely, so go figure!

I could go on for many more paragraphs about video card performance and overclocking but I think I've said enough for this post. Just be wise, and be prudent with respect to overclocking and high stress uses of the computer, because it can damage the video card and associated parts and pieces at some point if the machine is consistently overclocked and stressed a lot. It may not happen to your machine, and then again it might, it's a crapshoot for sure with video boards and RAM and CPU's too...all the above are risky business. :rolleyes2:

The above is one reason that people buy Macs also! They are not overclockable, the components are conservative and steady rather than extreme, and the emphasis for an Apple/Mac computer is on design, unique features, and using the Mac OS instead of Windows, of course.

If anyone has any questions about anything above please feel free to write your opinion/experience into this forum...I'd be happy to answer such questions also. You can even write me a PM if it seems a better idea than putting your questions out in the open marketplace of ideas here. I don't mind really, it's OK if you send me a PM--people do all the time.

rexrzer727

 

Thanks for the reply

Yeah thats very true. I only overclock it when playing Crysis (because thats the only game that needs it ) and any other time its back to stock.


Its funny with the "new" 560M coming out... its the exact same clock speeds as my stable overclock is. How ironic....nVidia cutting corners again

So since the 560M is basically just an overclocked 460M, i dont think the overclocks I'm using are anything to worry about

 

560Ms are still binned for that clock speed, so a 460M may not reach those speeds or be stable in the long run since they haven't been tested for it. That said, the 560M is a good example of what kind of overclock is possible, and as we've seen from this thread, many are hitting speeds that are a lot higher. It's getting numbers from 14k, to 16.5k in 3D Mark 06, so I think it's safe to say that we're not losing out. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

On a different note, a patch came out for PowerDVD11 now, and it fixed my issue with the 3D. Now if only I can figure out why AES-NI isn't properly detected and fix that...

 

@Skywise The 2630 doesn't have AES Intel® Core? i7-2630QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.00 GHz)with SPEC Code(s)SR02Y

 

Well, you didn't ask me about your particular overclock specifically in the previous post, and then again I should have qualified my post above for your clocks, and I did not...my bad!

I agree with you 100% with respect to your clocks vs what is possible to do with these cards, as I have been upscale and upmarket from your clocks many a time and then some, without penalties thus far. My most recent foray into the nether world of overclocks with this card netted me a grand total increase in my 3DMark 06 score of 5 points, so I think it's safe to say that I have reached nirvana with my video board...it's all she got, and then some to hit it at 858/1717/1500 Mhz clocks, you know what I am saying?

There's just not that much left to "get" at the clocks I last tried with my card, so it's safe to say that I can't get any higher score in 3DMark 06 than where I'm at right now, it's Top Gun for my card, end of story. Even if I were to somehow get it to overclock to maybe 10Mhz higher across the spectrum of adjustments, I don't think that my results would be much greater than they are right now...ya know?

I have enclosed the graphic of "getting" that score tonight for posterity and anyone's enjoyment if they think they get something out of viewing such scores, but personally I relish my previous score even more because I worked so hard to get to that overclock...this latest attempt at getting a higher score was achieved after multiple crashes of the driver at speeds much, much higher, and I had ZERO success at loftier speed adjustments than where it is there in that graphic! Crazy!

rexrzer727

 

Hello guys! I'm a proud owner of ASUS G73SW as well and I have been reading your posts for quite some hours, but it's a lot fo them
I would need an advice from you: I want to make a fresh clean instalation of windows 7 (64bit) and I hope you can help me with tips which drivers are the best to install and which of that ASUS stuff that comes along is necessary and useful... Thx!

 

Hi manti. Welcome to NBR!

If I'm not mistaken, the G73 comes with the drivers on a CD. Mine did anyway. I think the Asus drivers are more than enough. The only one you have to update is the GPU driver. Just download it from nvidia.

 

But I have a 2720QM, which does:

Intel® Core? i7-2720QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.20 GHz)with SPEC Code(s)SR00W, SR014

AES-NI was one of my main reasons for upgrading to it.

 

Hi manti, and welcome to these fine forum posts here at the G73SW owner's lounge...

I think that you were looking for something like this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/380681-asus-utility-bloatware-guide.html

That fine thread is from our friend David the NBR Random Reviewer, and his stuff is the gospel! I'm sure you will find that guide valuable as many here swear by those advisories.

As for the rest of the clean install, you'll want to do it so that you don't obliterate the OEM "Recovery Partition" as it is known, because you never know when you'll need to bring the laptop back to factory OEM status...like for service it helps if the laptop is in *that* condition.

The simple fact of a clean install is to always use the OEM driver and utility CD ROM, but do NOT allow it to install the whole schmear worth of crapolaware from Asus...install the drivers off the CD with caution, and one by one, and I like to have a checklist for the clean installs to make certain that I have gotten them all down. It's common sense really what to use and what not to do.

I made a guide for a clean install for my last G51JX-A1 laptop that everybody in the owner's lounge uses, but I haven't made one for this laptop yet, and besides I have the 3DE model which is a bit more involved with drivers and utilities both. I'll probably get around to making one here eventually, maybe sooner than later.

That's about it for my contribution for your assistance at this point, and if you have any specific questions come back and ask them here.

rexrzer727

 

No problem, I've recently got one myself and have hunted down the latest drivers. Check back soon.

rexrzer727 and Vergil_Sparda, the drivers on the CD are old. It's always recommended to have the latest ones installed.

 

Just curious, does it make any difference whether I download new GPU drivers from the ASUS or NVIDIA website?

 

For all your driver needs, Chastity has a driver page. G73 Series Driver and Application Reference

Nope, actually it is better to stick to the Nvidia site since you will get more up to date drivers, which will give better performance, etc. Just make sure to pick the mobile drivers and not the desktop driver package. :>

 

Greetings,

I'm about an inch away from ordering a G73SW-XN2 but, I have one burning question that hasn't seen much discussion:

How is the battery life running in a power-saving configuration?

Experience with my current N61 which I bought in a huge rush (Sunday afternoon, need a workstation-power laptop in time for a job Monday) around this time last year has taught me the value of battery life, screen resolution and keyboard backlighting. They're all things I rarely need but, when I do need them I really miss them.

If I really can count on 3+ hours of life as suggested elsewhere in this thread, I think I'm sold.

Please share any experiences you have with G73 battery life.

 

Speaking of drivers, Nvidia 275.33 WHQL just got released. It looks like it's basically 275.27, but with a fix for Witcher 2.

 

hello guys... new in the forum. quick question: I wana update the vga drivers of my g73sw. What's the best way? do I have to run driver sweeper? I've got three things installed: nVidia display control panel, nVidia Drivers and nVidia Stereoscopic 3d driver. I should erase the 3 of them? Can someone be so kind to explain it step by step? thanx !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

chochanga, just download the latest drivers I mentioned and select "clean install".

oldasusman, Anandtech tested the battery life among other things:

AnandTech - ASUS G73SW + SNB: Third Time?s the Charm?

You might get 3 hours of usage using battery saving mode and being very careful with what you run and use it for, but I wouldn't rely on it. If you have programs installed that do things in the background, those 3 hours can easily become 1.5 hours. As the battery gets used more it'll eventually hold less of a charge like all laptop batteries, and then you won't even reach those 3 hours. The G73 series is a desktop replacement laptop, not really designed for mobility. You'll want something with optimus instead if battery is that important.

 

I get roughly 3.5-4h of battery life on battery saving mode and lights off and 30-40% screen brightness with wifi on, browsing a bit, emailing a bit, some youtube here and there. (on a clean windows 7 install)

As for the drivers, lately i've been installing them right on top of the old ones. No clean install, no nothing and have utterly no problems. Using the latest 275.27 from nvidia site with no problems. Until these drivers I couldnt use the drivers from nvidia because the screen would flicker with no apparent pattern or in any particular situation.

 

Thanks.

I'd definitely prefer something with Optimus but, everything seems to be a trade-off and I haven't had much luck finding an Optimus-enabled laptop without losing the 2630QM, backlit keyboard, 1920x1080 screen, pushing the price close to or above $2K or involving brands I don't trust nearly as much as Asus.

(Yes, I want to have my cake and eat it too.)

Of course, the cryptic names and short lifespan of most models don't help any.

 

Looks like if you want optimus and high gpu performance, the only option is upcoming Alienware and Toshiba Qosmio laptops:

AnandTech - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M: High-End Mobile Graphics with Optimus

I wouldn't exactly expect them to be cheap though.

 

Skywise, did you check the latest nvidia drivers?

 

Here you go
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...rivers-everything-you-need-fresh-install.html

 

Yes, work fine so far. No issues.

 

I'm having a weird problem.

I can't turn off my computer. (Literally.)
When I put it in to Sleep mode, a second after turning off, it turns back on again. Same thing with Hibernate and Shut down. I've only managed to shut down it after a few tries so far.

Help?

 

Has anyone found a good way to clean the rubberized surfaces on the laptop?

Paper towels practically shred on it, and even microfiber does a little and doesnt clean it much.

 

I Just use a damp washcloth from the bathroom, usually just wetting like one corner, and then using the dry corner to dry up any wet streaks.

I'm not sure if you've tried this, but I'd pull the battery out, unplug the ac, and hold power button for 10-15secs to drain any extra power. Also would go into bios and reset everything to defaults. Have you installed any new lately, even perhaps a windows update?

 

I installed Nvidia 275.33 (the latest driver) and it significantly lowered my StarCraft 2 performance. I don't know why. Did Nvidia miss something? Or is just me haha!

In the 270.61 version, I get about 25fps on average. In the latest driver, my fps dropped to 15 on average. That is a significant drop. Mind you I play using FHD and almost everything in ultra. Here's my configuration:

SC2

• 1920x1080
• everything ultra except in Shadows option

Nvidia 3D control panel settings (270.61)

• 

You might say, why not lower the settings? Well I am a Graphic Artist and I love playing my games with all the eye-candies possible. So I am willing to sacrifice a bit of performance for the sake of quality.

I have to revert back to the 270.61 because SC2 plays faster in that version. How about those of you who play SC2, do you also notice a drop in fps after installing the latest Verde driver?

 

Ah ok thanks! ill try it

Thats very possible. Newest drivers arent always better. I got much higher OC's with older drivers than the newest one.

 

Actually I prefer the drivers off the DVD-ROM for everything except the nVidia drivers for VGA and Sound (HDMI Sound and VGA Sound by RealTek) on a clean install: reason--you can always update the odd driver here and there with new ones, but the base drivers that come with the laptop are the most stable configuration, ie just like an OEM install but minus the crapolaware is where I like to start.

YMMV with the above, but it's my personal preference in spite of what is on the web site, barring a BIOS update, which we will be getting one of these days on the G73SW's of all types (*just watch and see about this*), and at that point I'll reconsider my statement above, but only after that BIOS update happens. Otherwise I'll start a clean install with OEM drivers off the DVD-ROM.

GPU drivers are best downloaded from the GeForce/nVidia.com web site, which will have the absolute latest, and up-to-date drivers from nVidia, or so I have found.

Your expectations are not realistic unless you plan on running the laptop with nothing on, the screen dimmed to 30% brightness, no lights at all, no background processes ongoing, BT and WiFi "off", and minimal activity. The Core i7 2630QM is a battery monger like no other, save for the older 740QM perhaps, has no particular circuitry in it for maximizing battery life; the GPU is a stronger user of power than most, especially if you have the 3D 120Hz goodie like I do, and basically the laptop will give you 1.5-2 hours maximum with the OEM battery and minimal apps running, WiFi and BT "on".

In this case you can't "have the cake and eat it too" unfortunately...get the newer laptops coming out *with Optimus technology* if you want 3+ hours of battery life and and Core i7 CPU's.

Download the drivers from GeForce/nVidia.com; Quit all running applications except the installer; use Clean Install option, bar none, if you don't want problems; Restart the computer; Restart again when the installer has finished...done deal.

The LCD was flickering because you had multiple drivers installed on top of one another, silly guy! nVidia does not recommend driver installs, "right on top of the old ones" I assure you, and they specifically have the Clean Install option for those of us with any sense about us, I assure you again!

There can't be any good come of a notebook that has multiple driver installs crammed into the Registry and applications/drivers/sudo/(subheads) et al, this is certain, and it is highly NOT recommended to install drivers one on top of the other--by nVidia and yours truly also after many years of computer IT work and hardware installs/builds, nor do any of my friends and associates in the IT field recommend installing drivers, or anything else "one on top of the other", for that matter...the lone exception being software that has to have a predecessor application in the mix before it will actually commence updating.

I have little else to add to the above, just use common sense nice people, and your computer experience will benefit greatly!

rexrzer727

 

Actually rexrzer727, the screen flickering was something caused by the G73, not from installing the driver wrong. I beleive it may have had something to do with the hannstar panel since I have a CMO, and when I updated from the Asus drivers to 266.58 I never flickered. Yet a friend's G73SW had a hannstar and his flickered after a clean install update.

Nvidia even addressed officially on their forums and is why it is now fixed. So myx did nothing wrong.

Just as a small hunch before reverting back, can you run SC2 with Realtemp 3.67 logging in the background on the 275 drivers? I'm curious if the performance boost is causing the GPU to get used more which in turn would start to throttle the CPU like it does in GTA4.

Alternatively, downloading and running Throttlestop 3 then running SC2 checking to see if the frames are any better would tell me/you that throttling is definitely occurring

 

Ack, I already switched to the older version. But I will do all that you asked, install the newer driver and try to check it out. I'm curious you know haha! I'll post some info soon. Thanks for the response.

 

My Power4Gear widget was randomly gone when I started my G73 today, any ideas why/how can I get it back?

I still have the intel "gadget", but if I right click on my desktop and click on "gadgets", nothing happens . . .

Edit: And then it was being weird and saying my battery wasn't detected, so I finally just restarted, which fixed everything of course. Yay common sense?

 

You're saying that newer drivers are less stable than the stock ones?

There's nothing wrong not using the Clean Install option. The nVidia installer isn't dumb, it removes the old driver before instaling the new one in any case. They never go "on top of each other", that would be ridiculous. The Clean Install option just deletes the custom settings and game profiles that you may have set. It's there for those occasions where your settings are messed up and you can't find which ones, or when you are installing over some very old drivers.

 

Same thing happens to me. When I shut it down it acts as a restart.When Windows loads and I select shut down again it properly stays shut
The same with hibernate or sleep, they just power on again.

The only solution,for me at least, to shut down or hibernate is the unplug it and let in run only on battery. Strange thing is Sleep doesn't work at all. And I don't have any device set to wake up the laptop.

With the original windows, sleep works. I haven't tried Hibernate yet.

So, when I'll have the time to do a clean install I'll try to see after installing anything if they work.

 

Nvidia 270.61, SCII Gameplay performance screenshot

Hello Dkillone,

Click on the link to see my screenshot on my CPU and GPU performance during an SCII gameplay. It is the 270.61 version of the Verde driver. I will install the latest one tomorrow ASAP. and take more screenshots.

Note that I am currently in the tropics, so higher temperature readings are normal.

 

Tried that, didn't work. Windows Update did install 82 updates... crap.

 

Do you work for nVidia as a programmer? Software engineer? Didn't think so...

Au contrere' mon ami...the nVidia installer will not remove everything with respect to the "old driver" before it installs the new driver, even if it appears to be doing just that. The only way that happens is when you choose Clean Install, and that's why that option is there. There are Registry entries, there are many, many dll files of the "old driver" that get removed by the installer when choosing Clean Install that are not touched with the option not being chosen, sorry to report.

The alternative is choosing "Driver Sweeper" and all those type of utilities, which can be destructive to the system files in some cases, so the nVidia installer's Clean Install option is always preferred.

It's always better to choose Clean Install if you want the system to work 100% correctamundo and be optimized for the new driver that is installed. If that isn't the case the option wouldn't be there in the 1st place.

rexrzer727

Have you done a Clean Install of the laptop yet?

This sounds like you have a messed up Registry with hundreds of errors in the mix...do you ever use a Registry editor or utility?

Here, try this out:

Glary Utilities - Reviews and free Glary Utilities downloads at CNET Downloads

Use the free Glary Registry Cleaner and see if that helps the situation some, or fixes it 100%...if you never have done a Registry service you have literally hundreds and hundreds of mismatched files, orphan files and Registry entries, all kinds of stuff going on that should not be happening.

After you fix the Registry see if it makes a difference with the shutdown issue...if not, you probably have a hardware issue going on.

The way to prove it one way or another is to use the Recovery Partition and get back to Square No.1 with the laptop and see if that cures the issue. If the Recovery process works then it was software-related...if it doesn't you have a hardware issue of some sort, and should call Asus tuit suite' mon ami!

The Recovery operation will only take about an hour of your time to see what the problem is, if the Registry fixing doesn't solve things...good luck...

rexrzer727

 

Nvidia 275.33 driver, SCII performance sreenshot

Hello,

So I installed the latest Nvidia driver (275.33) and played StarCraft 2. This is the second time I installed that driver and I am pretty sure that it is responsible for significantly reducing my FPS (about -10 FPS!) when playing SCII. The game is too choppy for my taste.

See link above for the CPU/GPU performance screenshot before, during, and right after the game. Again, I am currently in the tropics, so high GPU and CPU temperatures are normal.

I am reverting now to the previous driver version. BTW, SCII is, for now, the most demanding game I have installed on my G73. I plan to purchase Crysis 2... or maybe wait for Heroes 6 or Diablo 3 hmm...

 

Do you?

Do you have any information to support your claim?
NVidia has done at least a hundred driver releases. Do you think that with their expertise and experience in the matter, they would release installers that don't do what they should unless you select the clean install option?

Yep, did that just after getting the laptop.

The point of doing a clean install was to start with a clean version of Windows with no pre-installed bloatware and crap. So the recovery partition was completely useless to me, and was deleted along with everything else.

Fortunately, I have made several backups, so I will just check if the problem persists on an earlier version (before applying Windows Updates, for example).

Thanks for trying to help though. I see that Drizzt89 is having the same problem as well though, maybe we'll come up with a solution.

 

Jahim, that's a very brave thing that you've done, all the work installing and reinstalling drivers and the like, good show my man! I see you've just proved part of my so-called outlook to be true in some respects, at least in this case it seems to have prevailed...and that would be the case for an older driver being better at a task than the newest, greatest, and latest driver!

Hah Hah! Amazing, huh? So the newest nVidia driver for VGA takes some 10+FPS away from your laptop's performance, rendering the video useless and choppy? I see...well like I wrote above, good show and thanks for helping me prove at least a small part of my contention that the OEM drivers can sometimes be a boon to us, even with Clean Installs in the works.

It's not that I particularly value a specific driver over another, because I'm too much or a pragmatist to feel that way about anything frankly, it's simply that the OEM driver group is the most stable of all for a given laptop or desktop because *the machines were built and delivered OEM fresh with those drivers in place, for better or worse, and it forms the base value system for a given laptop or desktop*!!

Now you can quote me on that...and I stand by those words 100%. :smile:

It's also the No1 reason that the factory Tech Support at Asus wants a laptop or desktop computer to come to them 100% Recovered and in the base state when they get the thing for repairs or adjustments, as it gives them the chance to gauge the laptop/desktop's performance against that norm above, the base OEM driver/software group. :wink:

That is Asus or Apple or any manufacturer's outlook with regard to doing repairs, upgrades, fixes, or simple adjustments on machines that have somehow gone awry from the base standard for that machine...they want to see a laptop or desktop in its OEM configuration if possible, just to eliminate all the variables that occur with newer drivers and hardware. :yes:

When I sent in my last laptop for a VGA board and associated parts replacement, ie the video board and the sensors et al, I sent the laptop to Asus Tech Support in Fremont 94538 with the OEM HD in the machine with the base OEM drivers and software configured as new, just so they wouldn't have any trouble figuring out that my video board was indeed shot to Hell's Bells! And so they found! From that moment on it was simply a matter of replacing everything to do with the video system in my laptop, which they did tuit suite, and I had my laptop back in my hands in less than one working week's time, an amazing thing if you take into consideration what they did to my G51JX-A1 notebook! :wub: :GEEK:

That's about it as far as my theories on problem solving with these Asus laptops...I have little more to add other than to say it is wrong and a mistake to completely obliterate the OEM Recovery Partition just because of the reasons like above, where one may at some point want to have the computer in *that state*, the OEM state, for service/Tech Support to come to the rescue with all guns blazing and fix your laptop. :cry:

I always take it upon myself to REMOVE the OEM HD, with everything intact of course, and place that HD in service as a backup unit perhaps, or in some cases I just "put it into stasis" and leave it in an anti-static bag out of service (like I did with the G51JX-A1's HD system...and I used an SSD for daily use and work). I never, ever get rid of the OEM Recovery Partition, as I've found it has some value, as above, when things go South with parts and pieces, things needing service or repair because of parts failures or anomalies. :yes:

For the present laptop, my G73SW-3DE machine (that I love very much by the way!), I have chosen to use the DATA Partition of the OEM Seagate XT 500GB HD for my backup uses with this laptop, and so it is inside of a USB 3.0 enclosure and in use daily, as I backup my laptop daily with a fresh image of the System via Paragon's utilities such as Hard Disk Manager 11 Suite, (an invaluable tool by the way), because after all it only takes about 10 minutes to make such an image via USB 3.0!! Isn't that amazing, an "8-10-minute fresh image every night"?!!

The OEM Recovery Partition is intact, and ready and willing to go into service should I ever have a tech support case for Asus, a parts failure perhaps, with this fantastic, new machine...and that is my outlook talking, and it works folks, it works to keep the OEM Recovery Partition "handy-dandy" so to speak, ready for any action or necessary evil of the Tech Support at Asus in Fremont, CA 94538.

Maybe you all will double-think what I've just written and start to consider it as your modus operandi, so to speak, because the system works like that, and you have all bases covered 100% to keep the OEM Recovery Partition viable, intact, and ready to rumble should the need arise to use it, a dire need at that! :wink:

I have been doing this sort of thing with my Asus laptops since I started on the ownership trail with this marque, and it will continue unabated I assure! :smile:

I apologize if this was long and somewhat windy in nature, but it is late and I didn't want to miss a beat with respect to personal outlook on problems, service, and the OEM Recovery Partition and what it means in the big picture. :yes:

Keep your Recovery Partition intact nice people, for the day may come that it serves a useful purpose for your needs in a bad time, when a part of significant means fails perhaps, when you are having trouble like the notebook won't shut down, whatever...whatever the issue is...it pays to keep the OEM Recovery Partition in the mix, ready to go if need be, end of story!

I do hope that you don't have a hardware issue of some sort, as that would indeed be a drag. It is a shame that you wiped the OEM Recovery Partition as I've just explained, and it's my contention that everyone should keep theirs intact for just such a situation as you have right now. YMMV with my philsophy and pragmatic approach to service, Tech Support at Asus in Fremont, 94538, and things going South on you for some reason...but that's what I do, and it has worked for me 100% in the past.

Good luck-- I can only wish you good hunting with the problem you're having, as you will need it I'm afraid.

rexrzer727