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Thread: Horrid ASUS headache/problems

  1. #1
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    Angry Horrid ASUS headache/problems

    Heya everybody!

    So, I figured I would share my story of extreme problems with an ASUS laptop and the RMA system. Here goes...

    Last May I bought an ASUS G53-XR1 from XoticPC for college/work/gaming. This laptop ran me about $1600, and was meant to last me throughout my four years of undergrad.

    Last Winter, around January, the laptop developed a wierd issue: every 5-10 seconds it would "hang" or "lag" for abour 3-5 seconds. No matter what it was being used for--games, music, typing, browsing explorer or the internet, etc-- it would lag like this. This made it very difficult to use for anything other than typing (and even then, my typed words would sporatically jump across the screen at the end of each lagging interval). Being that I use this computer for work (controlling machinery and recording data in a Biochemical research lab) it was IMPERATIVE that I have it work smoothly and reliably. So now comes the first time I sent it out for repair...

    I wrote to ASUS for an RMA number. Their "expected" e-mail turn around time of 48 hours was actually 6 days, a nusiance when, as a student, my time is important and packed. I recieved an e-mail written in poor, hard to understand english with confusing instructions as to what to include in my RMA package. Soon, I got my laptop shipped out to California to be repaired. About two weeks later, it arrived back to my house! I opened up the package to find my laptop absolutely covered in smudgey fingerprints and dust. The repair slip inside stated that the motherboard had been replaced, and the system was thoroughly tested at thier facilities. I booted my laptop up to find!.......... it was still laggy I was fairly angered by this, so after twice re-formatting Windows (to ensure it was not a software based issue), I called up ASUS to speak to a service team member. And now comes my second repair...

    On my call to ASUS, I was connected to a standard agent. The fellow was decently friendly, and understood my level of dissapointment. I asked to speak to his manager and was shortly thereafter connected. The manager which I speaked to seemed to be very annoyed with my questions as to how I could be helped to recieve a successful repair. He stated that ASUS "makes no exceptions to the warranty and repair policies, and that "I understood that there was a risk of bad repair when I sent the computer to them". He told me that the next time I sent it in, that "the service personell will test it for a longer time than they have before". I called him out on that comment and asked if that means that my laptop was not repaired to the best ASUS's abilities the first time, and he consistantly doged around the question. Eventually, he made a "special" service case number for me to complete my RMA with, instruction the repair team to "work extra hard" my system. So, I sent the laptop back to California, and spent another few weeks at college and work without a computer. About two weeks later, it arrived at my house again!! I opened the package to once again find my computer covered in dust, grime, and prints. The repair slip stated that the VGA was replaced. I booted up my laptop to find!......... it was STILL laggy I contacted the ASUS service department to negotiate a replacement system. And now comes my third repair...

    Once again, I sent in the computer. My service e-mail "48 reply time" took about a week again. ASUS created my RMA with the fact that I've had the same laptop there recently twice before in mind. I sent in my computer, waited for about two weeks, and just received it back today! I opened the package to, yet again, find my laptop looking like it was dropped into a Shop-Vac. And, behold, the laptop still had the lagging issue. The repair slip stated that the fan had been cleaned. Wait, what?? You cleaned a fan in attempt to repair and issue that I have with lagging and hanging?

    So here I sit everybody, with a still barely-functional $1500 piece of plastic. This has been about 6 months now that I've been dealing with incredibly poor service. I've been fortunated to borrow old computers from friends to use while at school. Frankly, I don't know what to do anymore. I start school in 9 days, so I do not have time to send it in for another repair.

    I write this to spread word about the horrible service ASUS has given me. I invested a decent amount of money into a product of thier's only to go through a horrid half year of struggles and headaches. As I'm sure everybody on these forums understands, it is a very important thing to have a functioning computer during school and work.

    If anybody has any suggestion or comments as to what I should do, please let me hear them. I'm sure you can be more helpful than ASUS has been.

    Peace -
    elykrab17

  2. #2
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    I moved this thread out of Builder Customer Relations for you as that thread is usually for Single Stage/Cascade builder Relations.

    It might get better attention over here, I am not sure. We don't seem to have a ASUS Rep section ....

  3. #3
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    Check hard drive for errors.

    WD Diagnostics tool, Seagate has a tool, so does Hitachi

    Sounds to me like a failing drive or a drive with bad sectors that are being skipped.
    Smile

  4. #4
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    Contact Xotic as well. Not that they are a repair house, but they certainly support their user/purchaser community. Since this is a very new machne they may at least be willing to perform some testng for you. I saw one other gentleman whose laptop contnued to be flaky and they actually replaced it for him.
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeepBeep2 View Post
    Check hard drive for errors.

    WD Diagnostics tool, Seagate has a tool, so does Hitachi

    Sounds to me like a failing drive or a drive with bad sectors that are being skipped.
    Thats what I thought also. But should this have been found by the first RMA and not making have to go through what 3 now ?

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    Thanks for the replies, everyone.

    I have already done extensive checking of the hard drive for errors... and I agree, even if I missed something I would have expected ASUS to have found it by repair number three....

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    As said above, what does the store, XoticPC, do with your problem? I don't know what the procedures in the USA are but here in Europe you make an agreement/buy a product from a reseller (XoticPC in this case) where you've got your warranty (for atleast the first (2) year(s)) and thus has to fix it in a decent amount of time or else replace it with an equal or better product.

    Might give them a call/email and explain that you bought your laptop at their store, have had contact for 6 months / 3 RMA's with Asus themselves, might even include the emails to Asus as proof.

    Perhaps they can put a little pressure on Asus or even replace the item out of courtesy.
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    UPDATE -
    I posted this on the ROG forums as well, and have been in contact with ASUS personnel over there. Sadly, they have, so far, been decently slow in responding to my questions pertaining to possible replacement options for this computer. I will update you all with what happens, and (hopefully soon...) what the solution has come to. Thanks for the help!
    Quote Originally Posted by Source View Post
    As said above, what does the store, XoticPC, do with your problem? I don't know what the procedures in the USA are but here in Europe you make an agreement/buy a product from a reseller (XoticPC in this case) where you've got your warranty (for atleast the first (2) year(s)) and thus has to fix it in a decent amount of time or else replace it with an equal or better product.

    Might give them a call/email and explain that you bought your laptop at their store, have had contact for 6 months / 3 RMA's with Asus themselves, might even include the emails to Asus as proof.

    Perhaps they can put a little pressure on Asus or even replace the item out of courtesy.
    I just talked with a service and support manager over at XoticPC. He gave me some tips as to communicating with them about a replacement plan. Helpful and friendly guy, was worth the quick chat!
    Last edited by elykrab17; 08-15-2012 at 07:03 PM. Reason: Silly typo :P

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    Well.. any IT tech that has any kind of competence level should immediately, and I do mean IMMEDIATELY, think failing HDD or bad software install. The fact Asus had the laptop 3 times and didn't replace the HDD is epic fail on them. Its one reason among many why I won't touch Asus if my life depended on it anymore. Just imagine if Asus were doctors, they would probably prescribe estrogen pills for heart failure

    Due to the incredible incompetence of Asus, THIS would also seem to be very relevent. Don't worry, you'll get a good laugh

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    UPDATE -
    I've been referred to ASUS's "Customer Care" department, with whom I now need to argue terms of a replacement. Representatives have told me that after my 2nd failed RMA my case should have automatically been escalated to the Customer Care team. ASUS (or thier RMA system) apparently failed to do so... so now time for more conversations

    Quote Originally Posted by Ket View Post
    Well.. any IT tech that has any kind of competence level should immediately, and I do mean IMMEDIATELY, think failing HDD or bad software install. The fact Asus had the laptop 3 times and didn't replace the HDD is epic fail on them. Its one reason among many why I won't touch Asus if my life depended on it anymore. Just imagine if Asus were doctors, they would probably prescribe estrogen pills for heart failure

    Due to the incredible incompetence of Asus, THIS would also seem to be very relevent. Don't worry, you'll get a good laugh
    Exactly my thoughts - they should have picked up on that immediately. And as a pre-med student, I enjoyed the doctor joke
    Last edited by elykrab17; 08-19-2012 at 06:49 AM.

  11. #11
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    When I got as far as "every 5-10 seconds it would "hang" or "lag" for abour 3-5 seconds" I thought hard drive. If you don't have time to send it in, another option is to run HDD Regenerator from http://www.dposoft.net/. At $60 it's quite expensive, but I've been using it for a few years and have brought "dead", out of warranty hard drives back to life which are still functioning today. There is a free trial which will do a full scan and report of the hard drive and repair the first bad sector found, so maybe give that a go before buying the application as it MIGHT not be the cause (but I can't think of anything else. It fixes bad sectors but not "slow" sectors - sectors which are slow to respond but not completely bad yet. The only way I've found to repair slow sectors is actually shown on their site:

    HDD Regenerator's Delays Detected
    • If you see delays under Windows, it is recommended to rescan the drive from a bootable regenerating CD or flash.
    • If your hard drive is external, it is recommended that you connect it as an internal drive.
    • Generally, 1-2 delays are not a problem.


    Permanent delays mean that the hard drive has sectors with long access time. A drive with permanent delays is actually a failing drive and may cause data losses. You can try to regenerate such sectors using the "Regenerate all sectors in a range" option. Also, the delays can be regenerated in the “scan and repair” mode, if the following both conditions are met:
    1. The hard drive has been completely scanned at least 1 time.
    2. The hard drive does not contain bad sectors.
    Give this a try, I know it should be swapped under warranty but if you're pressed for time and can't afford another two or three weeks without your laptop it might be your only option.
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    If its was me I would image the entire drive to a seperate hard drive. Then just get my own replacement dive and reimage back.

    I would image it so I had kept the backup partation intact incase I ever needed that + I would not need to to hunt down drivers etc. and have to deal with a new OS.

    I am not sure if things making this drive act up would move with the disk image tho...

    The cost of a new drive can't be all that much vs sending this thing back again. Unless they do a direct replacement of the laptop.

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    If imaging would carry the issue across it would be a software issue. However, bad sectors can cause a failed clone. I'd run HDD Regenerator before doing so, it's one of my favourite utilities of all time.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jowy Atreides View Post
    Intel is about to get athlon'd
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    Quote Originally Posted by elykrab17 View Post
    UPDATE -
    I've been referred to ASUS's "Customer Care" department, with whom I now need to argue terms of a replacement. Representatives have told me that after my 2nd failed RMA my case should have automatically been escalated to the Customer Care team. ASUS (or thier RMA system) apparently failed to do so... so now time for more conversations



    Exactly my thoughts - they should have picked up on that immediately. And as a pre-med student, I enjoyed the doctor joke
    I enjoy coming up with new and novel ways to highlight the incompetence at Asus In all honesty if I were you I would purchase a new HDD and deal with the issue yourself. Given the terrible condition your laptop has come back in every time next time you may not be so lucky and get it back with a smashed screen or something which Asus will then blame on you or the couriers...

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    Good point Ket.

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    I second (or third now?) raise my hand for HDD issue. I guarantee you their "checking the HDD" was to look for SMART errors and if no alerts fired it was just passed on. Don't rely on their warranty service to do formal diagnostics; a lot of warranty replacement places have a set script to follow as far as diagnosis and I'd say 15-20% of the techs don't think outside the box. Prime example is the new Geek Squad at Best Buy. When they were their own company they were awesome, and when I was working as a black shirt on the tech bench at BBY they were great too. But after the merge corporate pushed all of the techs to start pushing sales instead of true fixes, and for years they languished in incompetence.

    Anyway, I digress. You can get a 2nd HDD for dirt cheap from a lot of places. Just image it real quick and see if you still have the same issue. The issues you describe are textbook HDD I/O issues and 90% of the time it's evidence of a failing HDD. The other 10% is an actual bad SATA/IDE controller on the motherboard itself, which usually you can only diagnose with a 2nd hard drive anyway. Good luck and keep us posted!

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    Quote Originally Posted by WangChung View Post

    The issues you describe are textbook HDD I/O issues and 90% of the time it's evidence of a failing HDD. The other 10% is an actual bad SATA/IDE controller on the motherboard itself, which usually you can only diagnose with a 2nd hard drive anyway. Good luck and keep us posted!
    That's what I thought too but Anus have said they replaced the mobo.................not that I would believe anything Anus told me

    Much easier to just bite the bullet and buy another HDD unless Anus/reseller replaces with same or better.................good luck
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    UPDATE -

    I've been in contact with ASUS's customer care department. They say that my only option is to send it in for yet another repair (and if they can't fix it, they'll replace it...). Grrr, I'm already up at college - without a laptop now! Hopefully I'll have something working soon... my laptop arrived in thier shop on Thursday, I hope to get it back shortly. It's pretty important for education and my job!

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    Order this hard drive:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822178240
    Use this promo code by tomorrow:
    EMCNBHG39
    And you'll have an awesome HDD for ~$77 shipped. Just ordered one for my GF tonight to upgrade her old(ish) HP DV5.

    *EDIT* - I misunderstood, didn't see that you've already sent the laptop back. Hope they just replace it for you then!

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