Did the service center fry my G73?

Hi all,
So I had the pretty common thermal paste / temperature issues on my G73. I called ASUS, got an RMA, and brought it to an authorized service center in Manhattan.

I just got the machine back over the weekend. I noticed some weird behavior with the battery:

• it wasn't trickle charging while the machine was on
• the machine won't turn on just on battery power
• when the AC adapater is pulled from the machine, it just shuts off
• orange flashing battery light

Now, when I picked the machine up, I saw they were using their own AC adapter that had some kind of converter or adapter on the end that plugs into the G73. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I know for a fact that there are at least 2 versions of the power supply for this machine. Is it possible they fubar-ed my battery by using the wrong supply with a dinky connector adapter? Wrong voltage could do a number, I'd think.

Also, and it may be unrelated, but my primary SSD crashed last night, with the BIOS no longer recognizing the drive. It's certainly possible that the drive was bad already, according to my research. I'm going to RMA it.

Finally, I noticed the WiFi adapter was having finicky connectivity to my access point.

Could any or all of these be related to (a) the wrong PSU being used or (b) something they did during service?

Suggestions on next steps? I feel like I should contact ASUS and let them know one of their service centers is using improper PSUs.

 

You should definitely contact ASUS about the issue, although I don't know if I would jump to the conclusion that it was caused by a faulty or wrong PSU. While it definitely is possible, generally using the wrong PSU will fry the whole machine and not just the battery. Regardless, if your battery was working before and it is no longer working, you will want to bring that to the attention of the manufacturer ASAP so they can take steps to correct it.

 

Thanks. I just contacted ASUS and asked them for advice. They told me to hard reset/re-calibrate the machine. The steps involved are:

• Remove both the AC adapter and battery
• Hold the power button down for 30 seconds
• Reinsert the battery and power supply
• See if the battery operation returns to normal

I've never actually heard of this method before. I'm going to give it a try when I get home from work. They told me if that is unsuccessful, I can RMA the battery to them. I'll post back here with my findings!

 

Menotti, If you have to RMA the battery only I would recommend requesting a cross shipment, that way you will have the new battery and the old as well and a week or so to test the new battery. They did this for me and there was not extra charge other than the cost to ship back the bad battery.

 

Thanks, good suggestion. I tried the re-calibration they suggested and it did nothing. Battery seems toasted. I'll call back and request the cross shipment.

 

ASUS telling me that my battery out of warranty (missed it by a few months) - the G73 itself has a 2 year, the battery 1 year.

I'm going to see what can be done since the service center obviously fried the thing.

 

Good luck with that. Hopefully they can get a good resolution for you on that. I know sometimes it can be hard to prove that it was fried at the tech center, but see what ASUS can do for you.

 

I spoke to a very nice supervisor who is going to look into it. I understand it is going to be very hard to prove, for sure.

If it doesn't work out, I may not even replace the battery. It's not like the G73 runs on it or is intended to run on it for very long, anyway.

Does anyone know of some kind of non-functioning piece that can be stuck in there for continuity of the case?