G73JW keeps locking up

[DJSirMatthew]

Hey all,

Been having this problem for a while and have been lurking for a while too, trying out the possible solutions handed by members. Basically my G73JW started locking up at completely random moments, sometimes while playing Football Manager (steam controlled game) or just when surfing the net with Google Chrome.

I did clean install, full driver update (especially the chipset one), and have throttlestop 4.00 running with C1E disabled and with other C-states at C1. But still the locks keep coming and going. Sometimes after restarting I get a message saying Windows recovered from a serious error and if I want to check online for a solution (in vain). Administrative events are riddled with the WHEA logger Event ID:17 Express PCI Root Port which seems to indicate a problem with the chipset right?

Anyone having similar issues but with a novel solution? I prefer not to RMA it.

O, the only hardware change is swapping one of the HDD (I have the non-SSD ones) with an SSD of Corsair Series 3 (Sandforce).

[dstrakele]

This is a better description of the ASUS RMA Process: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/487940-asus-rma-warranty-guide.html

It says you should've received 2 emails within 1-2 business days. The 2nd email should contain shipping instructions and have a Fedex Shipping Label as an attachment. As this is a holiday weekend, I think I would contact them if you haven't received additional instructions by Thursday.

[Drago13]

thats what I was thinking.. Thanks for your help.

[DJSirMatthew]

good luck Drago13!

It seems my problems aren't over just yet. Since I got the laptop back, I used it for 4 days and untill now I had one reset and one hard lockup... not much. I had HWInfo64 monitoring the temperatures and they did seem fine at the time of the lock-up.

Now the laptop has been on over 24 hours and I just checked the max temperatures on HWInfo64: CPU core 0 70°C (158 degrees Fahrenheit) , core 1 max 65°C (149 °F) , core 2&3 max 69°C (156°F). GPU maxed at 71°C (160°F) .

They seem all reasonable temperatures considering I did play a game for a while (Football Manager).

But the one that worries me the most is the Intel PCH temperature which almost always I've looked at HWInfo64 runs at 64°C (147°F) and has a max temperature of 78°C (172.4°F). That seems a bit too much and might be the reason of the lockups?

[dstrakele]

Sorry to hear you still have lockup issues, @DJ! It looks like your overheating issue is resolved, based on CPU and GPU temps. I've never paid any attention to my Intel PCH temperature. I think it is unlikely to be the cause of your current lockup issue.

1) What does your system look like now? I've typically seen ASUS do a Factory Restore on RMA systems. Is that what you are currently running?

2) What have you installed to your system since its return?

3) Exactly what were you doing on the system when you had the current lockup and hard reset?

4) Did the hard reset create a Mini-Dump file? If so, BlueScreenView from Nirsoft can give us the a) Bugcheck Code, b) 4 Parameters, and c) File that may be responsible for the issue.

5) What version video driver file are you currently running?

6) Some of the recommendations made earlier in this thread apply to lockups on systems that aren't overheating. What have you tried to date?

[DJSirMatthew]

dstrakele wrote:
Sorry to hear you still have lockup issues, @DJ! It looks like your overheating issue is resolved, based on CPU and GPU temps. I've never paid any attention to my Intel PCH temperature. I think it is unlikely to be the cause of your current lockup issue.

1) What does your system look like now? I've typically seen ASUS do a Factory Restore on RMA systems. Is that what you are currently running?

2) What have you installed to your system since its return?

3) Exactly what were you doing on the system when you had the current lockup and hard reset?

4) Did the hard reset create a Mini-Dump file? If so, BlueScreenView from Nirsoft can give us the a) Bugcheck Code, b) 4 Parameters, and c) File that may be responsible for the issue.

5) What version video driver file are you currently running?

6) Some of the recommendations made earlier in this thread apply to lockups on systems that aren't overheating. What have you tried to date?

Hey drstakele, thanks for your sympathy. It could be a fluke reset & hard lock-up but still.

1. Apparently they left my system as it was. They just added their own HDD (as I left only my boot HDD in) and set that port to boot in the BIOS, allowing them to have the laptop run under their settings and have some tests run (the log files were then placed on my HDD). When it came back to me, I plugged in my SSD and let the recovery DVD's run I made when I first got my hands on this beast. For some reason (faulty DVD's?) when I had the recovery installed (according to the program succesfully installed) on my SSD, the system didn't want to boot from my SSD anymore. I then tried a clean install of Windows 7 on the SSD, but he didn't recognize the SSD although it was there in my BIOS. I then had to zero-erase the SSD before I could make a clean install on it.

2. After the clean install, I installed the latest drivers taken from JRd1st's thread. Then I've put on a dozen orso games and applications.

3. During the reset I was playing Football Manager. With the lock-up I have a hard time remembering if I was starting to install something or just had something finished.

4. Installed BlueScreenView but it didn't find anything under c:\windows\minidump so I guess it happened without a minidump-file

5. Currently the 290.53 , I just got a message today a new WHQL driver came out, don't know if installing that one will make things better or worse as GPU performance is quite good for the moment.

6. Since I got it back? None to be honest, haven't installed Throttlestop either.

[dabigin]

run memtest on that laptop? Just curious. Could you also provide us with your system settings as they are listed in bios if you have made any drastic changes.

[DJSirMatthew]

Quick update:

For now no lockups or reboots but what keeps me "troubled" is the fact that the Intel PCH temperature is always higher than the CPU or GPU temperature and after some load easily reaches 80°C (176°F). Could overheating this component f.e. leading to lock-ups and general problems? And if so, is this a design problem of the ROG G-series?