Arch Linux

Šaran

Member

From: Bosnia

Registered: 2011-09-03

Posts: 407

Various hardware issues with Asus G73

Hello everybody,

First let me say that issue I'm experiencing is caused by hardware malfunction I need help diagnosing.
Since it has nothing to do with Arch (or any other OS for that matter), I hope this is the right place to post.

Now, let's get to the problem.

I have Asus G73-JW laptop. It's 'desktop replacement' machine from 2010 based on
Nehalem platform (i7-740QM @ 1.7GHz) paired with nVidia 460m and 8 GB of ram.
It has not so nice 17" 1080p screen and 750GB HDD and 60GB SSD as storage.

Few months ago I started playing Battlefield 3 on dual-booted Windows 7 and native Steam Team Fortress 2 on x64 Arch.
While playing those games weird things began to happen.
First, laptop started emmiting loud, extremely annoying high-pitched noise. After a while noise fades but fans start
running on full speed. Screen backlight flickers (as if it was a recording with an old camera) unless it's set to max
when picture appears normal. Keyboard becomes unresponsive. It works, but it's not enough to just press keys,
they need to be pressed for much longer than usual. Maybe for half a second or less, but enough to make keyboard
unusable. Keyboard backlight turns off if it was on (and vice versa) and can't be controlled with hotkeys.

At that time, I suspected this is somehow related to GPU since laptop was functioning perfectly normal unless in a
game or GPU benchmark. Even really CPU intensive tasks such as building CyanogenMod which drove CPU temperature
over 90C caused no issues. But after some time these sympthoms started showing regardles to GPU usage or system load,
which led me to recognising few more of them and making sure this is not software problem since it's exibited on Arch and
few other distros, Windows 7 and 8.
After laptop goes nuts, it can be normalized either by shutting down or suspending to ram.
During sleep few LEDs that are normally blinking will stay on. After they start blinking again everything will work normally after
waking up (for some time, that is) and it will be possible to wake it on any key. If LEDs are stuck, only power key works.
In the begining it took it few hours or more to become normal, but now 20-30 minutes is enough and same amount of time applies
for both powering up and waking from sleep. Even if laptop didn't 'calm down', it will be silent during wake up process, but fans will
kick in full speed right after. If power cable gets removed out while on rampage, keyboard and touchpad simply die. If I shut it down
without power pluged in, it won't be possible to turn it back on without waiting a while. Whether it's with or without battery, or running
only on battery power, makes no difference - fans keep on spinning as fast as they can.

Even though temperatures are completely normal - CPU in mid 40s, GPU somewhat hotter, I thought something that is not reporting
temperature to OS (chipset or whatever) might be overheating, so I took it apart. After cleaning everything thoroughly, changing
thermal paste and thermal pads, nothing changed besides temperatures which are few degrees lower now. While open, I took the
chance to look for anything that doesn't look normal, leaked capacitors, unsoldered components, but everything looked just fine.
I have googled my ass off, but I have been unable to find any similar reports for this or any other notebook.
As far as logs go, I don't think there is anything to give you except maybe kernel log.

I'm trying to diagnose problem myself (and, if possible, fix it) because everything that runs on electricity is so damn expensive here,
not to mention repair shop services and their prices. Warranty is long gone, and since laptop was bought on US Amazon, I'm not sure it
would have done me any good here in Bosnia.

I would really apreciate any help and if there is any useful info I didn't provide, please let me know.

Thanks in advance,
Šaran.

Šaran

Member

From: Bosnia

Registered: 2011-09-03

Posts: 407

Re: Various hardware issues with Asus G73

Since few days ago battery LED sometimes blinks red although acpi reports 100% full.