G73Sw -- crashes after sleep, etc; looking for updated solution

[LKaven]

I've got a G73Sw (Core i7-2630QM @ 2GHz) , Win7 x64 up-to-date. Following a pattern familiar to many, my machine will crash coming back from sleep. If I avoid using sleep, It will also crash every 1-3 days while running. A year of this, argh.

Typically it will first start to hang in one process immediately after I wake it (e.g., opening Firefox in the morning), and within a minute or two everything staggers to a stop, and I get a BSOD. BSOD lists a "stop" code. Dump fails, as many have noted. Need to do a hard power-down. Attempts to pre-emptively restart also hang.

There is of course a sticky on the G73jh, which possibly also applies in my case. The recommendation here and elsewhere is to use Throttlestop to disable CPU throttling. Most of the instructions refer to v3 of Throttlestop. So far I've been unable to apply these instructions using v4 or v6.

I've unchecked everything on the left side except EIST. The puzzle comes over the setting of C-states. On the bottom right, there is a button labeled C7. In the instructions, I'm told the fix requires getting this button to read C1. I don't know whether it is the versions of Throttlestop I'm using, or the specific CPU that I have, but no combination of clicking/unclicking checkbox options will change that button to read C1. It still reads C7.

The last post in the sticky asks about this, but has been left unanswered. [BTW, ASUS says "we never saw that one!" Don't read their own forums I guess.]

Does anyone know what settings would work for me? Are there different settings for the G73Sw?

Gratefully, Luke

[unclewebb]

On the main ThrottleStop window, click on the C7 button. This is the button directly to the right of the BCLK button. It might have something other than C7 on this button like C1, C2, C3, C6, C7, etc.

This button will open up the C States window and will look something like this.



Go down to the Package C State Limit section and see what that is set to. Can you click on the button in that section? On my laptop, this button is grayed out and can not be clicked on or adjusted. This happens when the bios has locked out this feature. If this button is grayed out then there is nothing you can do. If this button is not grayed out then click on it until it says C1 and then click on the OK button. Setting this to C1 blocks out the low power package C States and has proven to fix a lot of BSOD issues with these laptops. If this works, you will have to always run ThrottleStop to disable these C States.

Make sure you have updated your bios.

[LKaven]

unclewebb wrote:

Go down to the Package C State Limit section and see what that is set to. Can you click on the button in that section? On my laptop, this button is grayed out and can not be clicked on or adjusted. This happens when the bios has locked out this feature. If this button is grayed out then there is nothing you can do. If this button is not grayed out then click on it until it says C1 and then click on the OK button. Setting this to C1 blocks out the low power package C States and has proven to fix a lot of BSOD issues with these laptops. If this works, you will have to always run ThrottleStop to disable these C States.

Make sure you have updated your bios.

Unclewebb, thank you for coming in on this!

The Package C State Limit button is grayed-out. It indicates "C6r".

The words "nothing you can do" fall like lead. Is that the $1400 KOD?

I was not aware that there was a BIOS update. I will look for this on the ASUS support site. Is there a chance that after a BIOS update that this option will become available? Or am I just out of luck at this point?

Thanks again, Luke

[LKaven]

I checked msinfo32, which indicates I'm running BIOS version g73sw.205, dated 2/10/2011. Support site lists 205 as the latest BIOS, although it lists a date of 2/23/2011. Version matches. Unsure whether the mismatched dates are significant.

Am I cooked?

[LKaven]

Hoping to return to this issue following what appears to be have been an attack on this site and several days of downtime. >sigh<

[unclewebb]

As I mentioned, if that button in the Package C State Limit section of ThrottleStop is grayed out then that means your bios has locked this feature. Without a modified bios, ThrottleStop cannot change this setting. Maybe this register was unlocked in a previous bios.

When your laptop is idle, does it show the C6 package C State being used? My screenshot shows that my CPU spends 75% of its idle time in the package C6 state. I am not sure why this seems to cause a problem for some laptops (Asus) while other laptop models are fine.