G74SX BIOS v.204

[Clarkis117]

Months ago in a not too distant past... I was fighting with ASUS customer service over that fact they seemingly were ignoring the Intel Sandy Bridge Mobile Platform Specification Update, This Thing, which introduced AES-NI support and other things for various sandy bridge mobile CPUs. The 204 BIOS was supposed to address this issue but it never materialized on the Asus download site, but it materialized after numerous customer service requests, complaints, and phone calls. So, I have decided to release if myself, for everyone and anyone to use. I have been using it for well over 6 months now with no stability or performance issues to report.

This is the email that was sent to me with the 204 BIOS attached to it…
“Ask and ye shall receive. I was just passed the attached BIOS update for the G74SX about 10 minutes ago. I'm told it will enable AES-NI in the BIOS. You should take a minute to log back into the ROG forums to thank MarshallR@ASUS (do it via PM if you want) because from what I'm seeing in this email chain, he was pushing to get this BIOS revision made back in September, and was singularly responsible for it getting made. Scott Billings Asus Customer Loyalty Email: cl-scott@asus.com “

I installed it using easy flash in the BIOS menu, if you plan to update please use the easy flash guide stickyed in this forum. Make sure you are not having any power issues, battery fully charged, power supply plugged in and working, and no extraneous power grid issues before flashing your BIOS.

This is use at your own risk, I can’t make any guarantees. ASUS and I are not responsible for any bricked machines.

The 204 BIOS is downloadable from my SkyDrive, Here
Extract the file and follow the Easy Flash guide

Clarkis117

[Aphilli4]

Tired to email cl-scott@asus to try to find out more about the version changes and got a reply that Cathy is no longer at their company...

[impiusnex]

Thank you so much for continuing to host this file for all these years. AES support was something that prevented me from being able to compile the current version of qt libraries in Linux. Without this bios, I was completely stuck.

[ThatsBS]

Man, I really want to try this, but am too scared to. Has anyone else tried this new bios?? Its not that i don't believe Clarkis117, its just that there will be no support if something goes wrong later on... Does this bios incule support for better hardware? I.e Can you get 1600 Mhz ram working at that rate for with 32gig ram in the G74SX?

[A_Guy]

From the description I would assume it has that single change - to enable the on chip math that supports encryption.

That someone, somewhere is still updating the BIOS though, that is hopeful news. We paid full price for the CPU so getting access to the full features would be nice.

[selkie707]

can anyone confirm this works besides the op ? i dont want to brick my laptop again...

[JSpook84]

Ive been running it on my G74SX BBK7 for the last 2 days without a single issue. So far so good.

[ThatsBS]

Please keep us updated..

[doubledragoncc]

Hi guys just thought I would let you know I updated to 204 and it works fine. I found boot time a bit quicker too. Thanks for the info Clark

[ThatsBS]

Awesome, I will try soon. After my course im on as i am screwed for a computer if it failes. thanks in advance.

[Boosted_R]

Interesting, will subscribe..... I agree also, Support for the G74SX was extremely lacking.... Its the main reason I won't buy another Asus Laptop when this one dies (company is more focused with PC components)........ If someone figures out the benefits of .204 please post.....

- Does it fix the horrible USB 3.0 problems ? (if its even possible to fix through the bios)

- Is there any options for memory, etc ?

- Does it increase HDD size support ?