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GSaunders · ‎02-01-2014

Long post ahead, I've been bashing my head against this problem for a while now. I'm hoping it's just a driver problem, there are clues that suggest it is, and others that say it might not be. It's a puzzle for sure. Ok, here we go.

Laptop:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
4gb RAM
Intel Core i5 2430M 2.4GHz
Dual hybrid graphics; Intel and nVidia.

I've installed a new motherboard for the above laptop, the old motherboard burned a hole in the charging circuits. It's the exact same model number as the old one 'K53SV Rev 3.1.' It boots normally to Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit loading logo, but then 640x480 directly afterwards. Turns out it's defaulting to VgaSave so it's not recognising the Intel graphics I assume.

In device manager the Intel Graphics has the yellow exclamation mark and reads "This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12). If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system." Resources tab reads the same.

Windows update installs the driver as "Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000," it's Hardware ID is "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0116&SUBSYS_15F21043."

Through Screen Resolution (which can't go better than 640x480 and 16colours) advanced settings, it lists the display adapter as VgaSave. It's resources are conflicting with the following:
"Input/Output Range 03B0-03BB used by:
2nd Generation Intel Core processor family PCI Express Controller - 0101
Input/Output Range 03C0-03DF used by:
2nd Generation Intel Core processor family PCI Express Controller - 0101
Memory Range 00000000000A0000-00000000000BFFFF used by:
2nd Generation Intel Core processor family PCI Express Controller - 0101"

In device manager the PCI Express Controller above has no errors though the above I/O ranges etc. are listed along with 2 other memory ranges, 1 other I/O range and an IRQ. This is part of the chipset driver, I've tried both Asus' and Windows'. The Windows one says it is "Intel 6 Series/C200 Chipset." Now onto the nVidia graphics.

None of the nVidia drivers I've tried have worked straight away, not from the Asus site (v268.56) nor nVidia. This is due to the hardware ID being: "PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1051&SUBSYS_00000000."
This leads me to believe I may have a motherboard with a duff nVidia chip on it. However, after an .inf edit to either the latest nVidia site driver or the Asus site drivers it seems to install correctly without any exclamations or errors; "This device is working properly." The Intel driver still has the same error as before. I think I need a nVidia driver that has Hybrid Power enabled as it was discontinued a while ago, but the driver from Asus should have that.

I've also tried using an Ubuntu Live CD just to boot into something that isn't Windows. And to my surprise it loads to desktop in full colour 1366x768 resolution. So at least one of the graphics is working correctly (to a point), but how linux did that is a mystery to me, all it says under the settings is "Graphics: Unknown".

Other things I have tried so far:

Reinstalled Windows 7
Reseated CPU/RAM
Swapped hard drive, fresh Win 7 intall (whole set up is in 640x480 presumably VgaSave)
Hiren 15.2 Mini XP (Still uses VgaSave)
Reinstall from the Asus recovery partition - it hangs part way through driver installation, presumably at the nVidia driver

I would very much appreciate any help, hints or leads to follow that might save me from sending the motherboard back. If you need more information please let me know.

Many Thanks.

cl-Albert · ‎02-03-2014

Although I haven't dealt with these K53 models much myself, if the hardware is working okay, there normally shouldn't be too much problems doing a clean install along with the drivers from the ASUS download site, so my guess is something isn't right with the hardware, but you probably want to get more opinions.

Also, your title mentioned the K53SC model, but you report it having a K53SV motherboard originally (?), just wanted to confirm you are replacing with the same model motherboard since I show there are different motherboards for the K53SC and K53SV models (our website shows they have different nVidia graphics at least).
If necessary, go into the bios and press the 'F12' key to check the bios model that appears at the bottom of the page which is assumed to also be the model of the motherboard.

If you really installed a replacement K53SV motherboard, try installing the K53SV drivers from the ASUS download site to see if they work any better, but not sure if everything will run okay this way even if they do.

You probably already know, but consider sending back the notebook to your local ASUS service center for repair instead if this will work any better for you.

Good luck!

GSaunders · ‎02-04-2014

Thanks for the response!

The BIOS says it's a V model. I did wonder about the motherboard model, I assumed that the K53S V and C shared a motherboard and the difference was in other features. This laptop is second-hand so I'm unsure of the originality of the parts but the dead motherboard had the same number and was working until it fried.

I've tried the ASUS drivers for 'K53SV' and the results are the same. I think it probably needs sending back anyhow.

Asus K53SC Laptop, VgaSave, nVidia 520M + Intel gfx/chipset