Asus G50VT-X5 dead after 1 year

So I bought an Asus G50VT-X5 from Best Buy last year. 1 year and 29 days later, a short somewhere on the motherboard kills the system. Naturally this is 29 days over the standard Asus warranty, and a call confirms that there's no help to be offered unless I feel like eating the repair cost. An estimate by Best Buy comes to around $1200 for the repair.

Seriously, what kind of crap is this? I hear how wonderful Asus is supposed to be, but I fail to see it. If I was 6 months out of warranty, even that I could understand....but 29 days? The thing is barely a year old and the system is now $1000 brick? What kind of product support is that? What a terrible company and backing of your product.

 

For that price you could get a whole new laptop way better than that. If it was me i wouldnt expect them to do it for free because it is over warranty but I see your point.

 

I'm sorry to hear about mishap. It is unfortunate that your laptop broke down just after your 1 year warranty has passed. However, seeing how all Asus laptops sold at Best Buy have their specs and warranty watered down to almost the bare minimum, the price you paid reflects these potential short-comings and unforeseen events. But to address your issue, there is a somewhat brighter side where you won't need to spend $1200 on a repair (which is absolutely ludicrous). If you're certain it is a short or faulty motherboard, you can contact the Asus estore and purchase a motherboard replacement for about $200 and make your next weekend a DIY project. You can use THIS G50 disassembly guide for reference and hopefully have it up and running again in a couple hours.

 

Thanks for the great link David. I've been having a problem finding the motherboard info anywhere on the net (still waiting for it to come back from the bozos at geek squad). Any idea on what mb the g50vt-x5 series used? Or is there an easy way to figure this out without ripping the unit apart?

They also said something like the top display unit went south too....I assume they were referring to the entire media control/on/off switch area board. Not sure if they sell that via Asus as well?

 

yes, that would be the inverter board that controls the LCD panel. That part is usually about $10 from the Asus estore. Link here.

Although the estore doesn't list the motherboard for sale, you can call them directly and ask if they have them and/or request them to order one for you from Taiwan. Just tell them you're looking for a motherboard replacement for the G50VT-X5 and they'll know what part is needed.

 

That's just rotten luck.
Yeah I would go with DAVID's idea and see what you can do.
Good Luck!

 

Are there mobo's from other models with similar form-factors, such as a g60? Why not upgrade the cpu and the gpu while he's at it?

 

The same thing happens to me but I fix it in electric engineer
it cost about 45$ it was one of the transistor after power plug now its working again thank God

 

You can.
But that can get expensive really quick too, you would have to buy a new GPU and CPU which would cost hundreds of dollars apiece.

 

Thanks for the info David. Is it typical for the inverter board to go when the motherboard shorts out? I'm used to repairing desktops, but not laptops so I'm taking this as a learning experience.

 

Did switching the motherboard fix the problem. I have the same computer with the same problem.

Thanks,
Seth

 

Well, you are completely wrong here... If the terms say "1 year" that means that the company (whatever that is, Asus, dell, hp etc) will not accept 1 yr + 1 day. This is nothing to do with the product support. Every company sticks to whatever has been specified in the agreement exactly. Yours is just a tough luck.

You may consider thinking twice before blaming someone who is sticking to the agreement. You could have flamed over here only if they did not take care of your laptop within 1 year.


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i heard the laptop gets really hot, have you tried to monitor the temperature?
it is likely to be caused by the heat

 

The lappy gets pretty hot (I got the X1) but it's a pretty rough piece, mine is 2 years old and I only got like 5 bluescreens and use it sometimes for up to 4 days without closing it or even restarting it.

However I will also have to open it as I spiiled some wine on it ... 4 days later however it was back and running (slightly crippled meaning a few keys were not working but in the end those recovered to)

 

Would not use my personal experience as a standard or something to be expected but Nintendo replaced my launch DS 3 months after warranty expired. Good customer service goes a long way.