Asus G73JW Freezes after Windows 8.1 Update - Network Related

I haven't done enough testing to nail down the problem yet - if it ever happens again, I'll re-post here with whatever state my computer was in.  Just happy to have a reasonably stable system again.

Well, it happened again today.  I logged in and within about a minute, the entire system froze.  I have not changed anything since last time.  Really, I browse the web with Chrome and play some Steam/Origin games.  I don't think I've even installed anything new since my last post.

I also have not discovered a reliable "fix."  Every time I rebooted, the system crashed about 1 minute after logging in.  So, I mucked with things:  Reenabled Bluetooth in the BIOS, Disabled Bluetooth in the BIOS.  Finally, disabling both Bluetooth and Wired LAN and disconnecting my mouse (no idea which was successful) allowed me to boot without a crash - it's been 5 minutes.  Also, several times in there the Windows Recovery screen popped up, because I have to do a hard reset each time.  I can't "Refresh" since I don't have Windows 8.1 media (?! It was an update from the App Store) and none of the other options were helpful.

So, now I'm running without LAN and Bluetooth and a Mouse.  I'll post this and plug the mouse back in - I assume it will work, it has never been the culprit before.

This seems to start happening every 10-12 days, based on my previous posts.  This leads me to believe that there is some background Windows process that is causing the issue - maybe checking the servers to reauthenticate my Live Password?  And my wireless card is being used before a proper driver loads?  No idea.

The fix still seems to be: "Mess around with networking related BIOS options and pray."

I bought a G73JW-A1 for my Daughter thre years ago, not an inexpensive notebook by any means.We have had issues with the G73 on and off, one issue was it got into a loop and wanted to recover /restore / what ever and would not get out of it.  I bought Windows 8.0 and install it and it started again, I finally got it to stop buy disabling "Fast Boot" and have not had that issue in over 10 months now.

Now my Daughter wants me to let her install 8.1, after reading all of this, I don't think so.

My question to all of you Asus G73 owners, why aren't we collectivly getting on Asus case?  I have been using PC's since 1988 and I have never seen such a miserable offering of updates for a product as this??  it's like Asus knows this notebook has issues and they just ignore it.

There is no excuse, asus needs to step up to the plate and take responsibility, this is the second Asus PC box I have purchased in the past several years and if things do not change, it is the last Asus Box.

My ASUS G73JW computer has generally been a fantastic machine, but it is certainly not without its flaws.  Some time early on, I stopped using the built-in touch pad, because the mouse pointer started to have a mind of its own -- I've been using a USB trackball (which sadly has been recently discontinued by Logitech) ever since.

The special ASUS Express Gate Cloud OS would never boot up for me, so I never used it.  I eventually uninstalled it and reclaimed the disk space it used.  

Since upgrading to Windows 8 from Windows 7, I have had issues with my portable USB 3.0 hard drive -- the drive constantly disconnects and reconnects itself, which is not a good thing if you are in the middle of writing to a file on that drive.  I think that the USB 3.0 spec had not been finalized when the Fresco Logic USB 3.0 controller was selected for the ASUS G73JW motherboard -- whatever workarounds in place to get it working in Windows 7 do not seem to have been carried over to Windows 8.

The freezing issue noted in this thread began happening to me recently in Windows 8, having not been a problem all this time since when I first upgraded to Windows 8 last January.  I updated to Windows 8.1 hoping the freezing issue would go away, and it did for a couple of days, but came back with a vengeance.  I don't blame Windows 8.1 in particular for the freezing problem, I think something has changed in general with Windows that was pushed out via a collection of recent Windows updates.  It is possible this issue may have happened even if I were still running Windows 7.  So far, I have been able to use the PC without freezing problems as long as I use the wired ethernet port.  If I go back to using the wireless adapter, the PC will work fine for a little while, but soon enough the freezing problem just comes back.

I am guessing that getting support from ASUS for these problems would be difficult because I doubt they continue to support a machine that is three years old.  There has not been a BIOS upgrade since 2011.  It seems that once the next model is released six months later, all resources are put on supporting the new model.  It is probably the same practice with most PC manufacturers.

Also, my ASUS G73JW has a Windows 7 sticker on it, which basically means that ASUS spec'ed out this machine for Windows 7; ASUS will not offer support for any other OS or version installed on the PC.

Although I haven't spent much time there, the users on the Republic of Gamers forum (http://rog.asus.com) seem to be very helpful in supporting each other with the problems they encounter on their ASUS machines.

My question to all of you Asus G73 owners, why aren't we collectivly getting on Asus case?  I have been using PC's since 1988 and I have never seen such a miserable offering of updates for a product as this??  it's like Asus knows this notebook has issues and they just ignore it.

There is no excuse, asus needs to step up to the plate and take responsibility, this is the second Asus PC box I have purchased in the past several years and if things do not change, it is the last Asus Box.

If I want a good, cheap gaming machine, I will always buy Asus.  It is three years old, now, and they cannot possibly predict the incompatibilities that their individual components will have with Microsoft in the distant future.

If I want something that will always work (but not play games), then I'd get a MacBook.  If your daughter is not a hardcore gamer, I agree - don't purchase a similar laptop from ASUS.  Are there better options?  Sure - but then I'm paying 30% more.

You can't beat ASUS's Two-Year No Questions Asked warranty and, when they repaired my motheboard three weeks out of warranty at no cost (it was my fault), they've earned my support.

It would be nice if they solved this issue, but I'm okay with it if they focus on designing my next gaming machine :-)

"If I want a good, cheap gaming machine, I will always buy Asus.  It is

How do you figure Cheep? this was over $1600,

"three years old, now, and they cannot possibly predict the incompatibilities that their individual components will have with Microsoft in the distant future.

Distant future, three years??? Heaven forbid, three year life cycle on a PC, the Life cycle on a produc is a lot longer than three years. Actually, Asus didn't even go three years, and they didn't even go as far as the 2 year warranty, they stopped supporting the G73jw a few months after they released it, go look and see when the last update to the downloads was.  Absolutely ridiculous, imagine if all manufactures worked like this, a product stops working or works intermittently and that's ok with the customer?

"If I want something that will always work (but not play games), then I'd get a MacBook.  If your  Mac

Mac Book? Apple is just as bad at supporting there boxes, I know I have a $4000 Mac Pro desktop.

"daughter is not a hardcore gamer, I agree - don't purchase a similar laptop from ASUS.  Are there better options?  Sure - but then I'm paying 30% more.

You can't beat ASUS's Two-Year No Questions Asked warranty and, when they repaired my motheboard three weeks out of warranty at no cost (it was my fault), they've earned my support.

Of corse Asus isn't going to do anything with people like you supporting them, they don't have to, you wil just keep coming back for more bad support.  Support is more than fixing failed hardware, the hardware has to work with the operating systems or what good is it?  Imagine if Microsoft just sold you hundreds of dollars in software and never supported it, they wouldn't last long, the business community would see to that.

"It would be nice if they solved this issue, but I'm okay with it if they focus on designing my next gaming machine :-)

You just keep purchasing Asus, and you can keep coming back to these forums to find out how to resolve issues with your next, and next, and on and on Asus PC, because they make such a great product and you have nothing better to do than try and figure out ways around for bad drivers and bad hardware.