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xKroniK13x · ‎04-07-2014

Hello all, I'm new here but decided I'd make an account to maybe help someone else out with similar problems. As some background, I bought a G73Jh laptop quite some time ago. I upgraded a a 120GB OCZ SSD with a secondary 640GB Seagate (that came with it) and also installed 4GB Corsair RAM making me have 10GB. I also upgraded a new Intel Centrino Wifi/Bluetooth Enabled WAN Card, but more on that later...

I decided to make the leap to Windows 8 on a very spur-of-the-moment night. I had the key for a while, and decided it was time. I downloaded a Windows 8 Pro x64 ISO from MSDN and got started. I installed Windows 8, immediately did all of the Windows Updates and went straight to Windows 8.1. Suddenly, the laptop started locking up with ANY wifi interactions (this was still on the stock Intel wifi chip). If I removed the chip, it worked fine... so I assumed it was the chip. I bought a new one online and installed it... same deal. At least I have Bluetooth now. So upon Googling around, I found that LOTS of people had this same issue with no clear resolution, so here I am with - what I think - is the answer.

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I believe that the Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 transition causes some driver corruption (I work in IT and saw numerous driver issues when transitioning). So, this in mind, I decided to do a clean install with 8.1, instead of doing the Windows Store method.

Download the 8.1 ISO from Microsoft using a Generic key (find these on Google... not sure of the legality and don't want to post anything illegal). This generic key is just for temporary, but for whatever reason a normal Windows 8 key will not work with 8.1. But it does activate. Burn the ISO as normal and boot into it and do a normal install. Have ALL of your hardware installed. If you have a secondary drive, just be careful at the partitioning screen. Choose the Custom Install option, because the Upgrade option may still corrupt drivers. Delete all partitions on your main hard drive and install to the Unallocate space of your main HDD. WARNING: This deletes all data on your main HDD... back it all up on an external. If you are careful and only touch your main HDD, no data will be lost on your secondary.

After installing... DO NOT TOUCH THE DRIVERS! Activate your Windows (change the key from generic to your own) and run a Windows update. There will be a driver for the Atheros NIC, HIDE the update. Now, from here, I installed the Audio and Touchpad driver found on this thread (I know it's for the G73Jw model, but it's close enough for most things). I found the latest Windows 8 drivers for my video card, and installed those. I used the default chipset that Windows found, and also the default WAN/ethernet drivers. I have since played online for about 8 hours with zero issues.

As seen in the Microsoft thread linked, the G73Jw seems to have the same problems, and I assume this install guide would work just fine on it as well but cannot confirm anything.

I hope this helps someone out, I was frustrated to no end with my laptop and am happy it is finally working! If I can answer any questions, just let me know!

IM0001 · ‎04-19-2014

Nice write-up, however I do not think it is as simple as this. My G73JH recently started locking up in the Windows 7 Install I have had on it for years, only after installing some of the more recent Windows Updates. I am still researching into which ones may be the cause, but in an attempt to see what a fresh reinstall with Windows 8.1 would do, I seem to have the exact same lockup with Windows 8.1. The system will run rock solid to install 8.1, installing any driver I choose manually. (ATI Latest 14.3 Beta 1, Chipset driver, ATK, RST, etc.) Will all work perfectly. Then after installing the list of 8.1 updates without any Drivers from Windows Update, upon reboot, shortly after, it will hard lock semi randomly. I can have the Atheros WiFi disabled, BT disabled, Battery removed, power removed (Not at the same time 😉 ), none of those little changes help. It's frustrating because once the lockups start, it is nearly impossible to do any troubleshooting after since the computer will lock up before you can enable/disable and hardware or make any software changes. It is tough.

I plan to install each update one at a time and see which one starts the lockups, but it is a time consuming process. I cannot say it is hardware related since pre updates, the computer will run just fine for days on end. After updates it won't run 5 minutes without a lock. Since it has spread to my Windows 7 install, I have to discover what it is that is causing it before I can actually use the machine again. (Windows 7 is on the stock HDD's. New 8.1 install on a 120G SSD for testing before swapping from the 2x500's to 1 120G SSD & 1TB HDD.

Was sure hoping to get a few good years more out of the machine... It still works great, when it works.

xKroniK13x · ‎04-20-2014

IM0001 wrote:
Nice write-up, however I do not think it is as simple as this. My G73JH recently started locking up in the Windows 7 Install I have had on it for years, only after installing some of the more recent Windows Updates. I am still researching into which ones may be the cause, but in an attempt to see what a fresh reinstall with Windows 8.1 would do, I seem to have the exact same lockup with Windows 8.1. The system will run rock solid to install 8.1, installing any driver I choose manually. (ATI Latest 14.3 Beta 1, Chipset driver, ATK, RST, etc.) Will all work perfectly. Then after installing the list of 8.1 updates without any Drivers from Windows Update, upon reboot, shortly after, it will hard lock semi randomly. I can have the Atheros WiFi disabled, BT disabled, Battery removed, power removed (Not at the same time 😉 ), none of those little changes help. It's frustrating because once the lockups start, it is nearly impossible to do any troubleshooting after since the computer will lock up before you can enable/disable and hardware or make any software changes. It is tough.

I plan to install each update one at a time and see which one starts the lockups, but it is a time consuming process. I cannot say it is hardware related since pre updates, the computer will run just fine for days on end. After updates it won't run 5 minutes without a lock. Since it has spread to my Windows 7 install, I have to discover what it is that is causing it before I can actually use the machine again. (Windows 7 is on the stock HDD's. New 8.1 install on a 120G SSD for testing before swapping from the 2x500's to 1 120G SSD & 1TB HDD.

Was sure hoping to get a few good years more out of the machine... It still works great, when it works.

Interesting. I've been running solid ever since I did the above steps with no lockups, fully up to date via Windows Updates (minus the Atheros update, of course). Out of curiousity, does it work in normal safe mode (no networking). Also, be sure to use the Chipset INF update from Intel, not the chipset driver on the Asus website.

Either way, if you find the update, let me know. I have a friend with a G53 laptop that is having a similar problem. I have yet to be able to try this guide on his laptop, though.

I should add that I have since flashed my vBios to the latest version found on a stickied thread here. After the install, my computer would occasionally lock up with graphically intensive games (and Furmark), but after the flash I have frozen zero times.

IM0001 · ‎04-21-2014

I believe I have gotten 8.1 to play nice. It pretty much involved me installing 8.1 RTM, installing every single latest driver I could get my hands on. (Chipset, Broadcom BT, WiFi, LAN, AMD, RST, etc) and then installing all the 8.1 updates. The system seemed to work fine after all that, but I have not extensively tested it quite yet. (Waiting on my 1TB drive to arrive).

However going back to my Windows 7 Drives with the install I have been using for years, I cannot for the life of me, get the system to run over a period of time without locking up. I can only assume either the install is hosed, or the drive(s) are dying and they are not telling me anything...

So I will report back once my 1TB arrives and I can make the switch over, until then the laptop is pretty much useless at the moment.

drmrsolds · ‎08-21-2014

I had this same problem with my jh model. I would do a reinstall of the factory recovery, and when windows updated to a certain point the system would freeze right after booting. I tried this with a fresh windows 7 install not the factory one, and still same.
Once more I tried with a fresh windows 8 install, same thing.
Finally I was playing with another computer and needed to swap wifi cards. When I finally got back around to this one, I installed an Intel wifi card and did a fresh restore of the factory software and have not had a problem since, no matter what update has come.

HOW TO: G73Jh Windows 8.1 Install