Asus G73JW Freezes after Windows 8.1 Update - Network Related

I had the freezing issue on upgrading from Win8 to Win8.1 on my G73JW that so many has reported. It couldn't get past the 'Getting Started' part of the install. Looks like I fixed it by updating all my drivers. It may work for you too.

Here's a list of the drivers I updated in the order I installed. I first did a clean install of Win8 as it seemed stable. I then installed all the Win8.1 drivers I could find and then upgraded to v8.1.

• Bluetooth: Qualcomm Atheros W81 v8.01.312
• Chipset: Intel Inf Updater 9.3.1027
• LAN: Qualcomm Atheros Lan Driver v2.1.0.21
• WLAN: Qualcomm Atheros v10.0.0.274
• Audio: Realtek R273
• USB3: Fresco v3.5.73.0 (Note: v3.5.74.0 did not work)
• Graphics: Nvidea Geforce 331.82
• Touchpad: Synaptics v17.0.6.13 (Newer version failed to install. Found this older one. Bonus!: Supports the gestures needed by Win8)
• RST: Intel RST v 12.9.0.1001

I did have one failure but realized I installed the wrong Lan driver and had not installed RST. Once I installed these two all freezes disappeared, Win8.1 installed, and my system seems stable again. I did not worry about the model laptop I had but rather what hardware was in it in finding these drivers. Seems to work great.

I'm uploading the drivers shown above to a shared folder here:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0C2TrPARs6HNkhYMDdSRUwzZWc&usp=sharing

John, your posts have been extremely valuable.  I can't count all the hours I've lost first trying multiple times to upgrade my Asus G73JW-A1 to 8.1, finally getting the upgrade to work, then having it start crashing only a week later, and eventually being forced to do a clean install of 8 after wasting a day trying to find and repair the problem with 8.1.  

And I'm not even including the problems I experienced upgrading from 7 to 8.  Although frustrating and time consuming, they were mild in comparison to going from 8 to 8.1. 

I lose a ton of large desktop programs and assorted settings each time I move from 8 to 8.1 or 8.1 to 8.  As reference, I started working with computers in the late 70s.  The first PC that I actually bought for myself ran on Windows 3.1.  I set up and maintain computers and networks for local businesses. And I have NEVER experienced as much frustration with a computer as I've experienced with trying to get Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 to run on this laptop.  In spite of all that, I really liked 8.1 in the week that I was able to use it.

Minutes ago, I got Windows 8 set up once again with almost all my programs installed and organized as I want.  One program requires Windows 8.1, so I couldn't install that one.  I'm going to wait a week or two before I try to upgrade to 8.1 again.  I'll check this thread to confirm that you're still having no problems before I make that leap.

Thank you again for all your help.

I am having the same problem.  I turned off the wireless and it seems to be working okay without freezing yet, but I need to have wifi.  I can't always be plugged in.  I went back to windows 8 and started having the same problems there also, so I came back to windows 8.1  I think the drivers from Microsoft for this device is not good enough and we need to get the driver from Qualcomm, but I have not been able to find the driver to install manually.  I have the exact laptop as you and have spent the last 2 weeks reinstalling to try and figure out what was going on and today figured out that it was the networking card.  If anyone knows where I can download a safe AR9385 driver apart from Microsoft pls post :)

I am having the same problem.  I turned off the wireless and it seems to be working okay without freezing yet, but I need to have wifi.  I can't always be plugged in.  I went back to windows 8 and started having the same problems there also, so I came back to windows 8.1  I think the drivers from Microsoft for this device is not good enough and we need to get the driver from Qualcomm, but I have not been able to find the driver to install manually.  I have the exact laptop as you and have spent the last 2 weeks reinstalling to try and figure out what was going on and today figured out that it was the networking card.  If anyone knows where I can download a safe AR9385 driver apart from Microsoft pls post :) 

I wish I could say that I finally made the problem go away, but I am typing this now with the ethernet cable plugged in to prevent the lock ups.  I thought upgrading all of the G73JW drivers really would take care of the problem, and that did seem to do the trick for a couple of weeks.  I thought I also had the USB 3 disconnection problem beaten by installing an older Fresco USB 3 controller driver.  A week ago, I plugged a USB 2.0 drive into the USB 3.0 port, and the lock ups came back.  I used the ethernet cable for a few days and then went back to the WiFi.  Unfortunately, the lockups began happening again to me this evening.  Thankfully, plugging in the ethernet cable stabilizes the system, but as you pointed out, this workaround is not ideal.  Another possibility may be tuning off the internal networking card in the BIOS (if it is possible) and using one of those 802.11n USB wifi dongles instead.

John,

Thanks for such a comprehensive list. I've never had the freezing issues (perhaps because both the G73-JW machines I have stay connected to wired ethernet; the WiFi is always disabled) but they both randomly BSOD after wake and have other strange hibernation problems. Both were rock solid under 7 and even Win 8, but both have the same issues now with Win 8.1.

All my minidumps point to the Fresco Logic driver. I'm currently running 3.5.93.0 -- going to download your driver set and see if that helps any.