G1S failure: GPU or Backlight?

Ok, so while I love to search the forums for an answer to my question, Im strapped for time at the moment, and with several midterms coming up before break ( all my teachers got together and decided it would be nice of them to give everyone midterms right before thanksgiving break ) I could use as much help as possible as quickly as possible.

So, as the title noted, I have an Asus G1S. I take pretty good care of it, nothings broken, and Ive never dropped it. The most noticeable wear on it is the letters on the keys missing, and the space bar being glossy from me typing on it so much. So, this morning, I go to turn on my laptop, and I get nothing but a black screen. I reboot, and get the same thing again. I hit all of the FN+f5,6,7, and 8 keys, just in case the backlight was turned off or the output was set to a different monitor. Still got nothing. So, now im wondering if something is wrong with my backlight ( which I doubt since I cant see anything at all; normally with the backlight off there is a trace of something ), or if my GPU has indeed fried like many others. After my coming class Im going to call Asus to issue an RMA regardless, but Id just like to know which the problem is.

Also, if the GPU is indeed fried, can anyone tell me what systems I may get? I heard that they were replacing the motherboards with G1S boards ( which I dont want ), then when they ran out they were using G50VTs as replacements? Anyone have an idea of what I might get?

 

Plug in an external - that should answer your question.

 

Try that first, but it's most likely the infamous G1S GPU issue. If you do get a replacement option, you'll likely get the G50VT-X5, a very good replacement for the G1S, but you'll lose the higher resolution screen which is the only negative, other than that everything else is plus.

 

wow it seems to be the same problem i have with my V1S (GF8600GT):

My V1S screen remains dark all along and after the booting process, it remains dark even through the bios/asus welcome screen. It's like the screen is disconnected. I know that the system still boots because I can see the laptop on the local network. This problem occured after a simple reboot and the laptop haven't been moved at all or knocked before and during the reboot. Plugged-in TV remains dark while connected through HDMI or S-video. This highend-nearly-2000$-Asus-laptop got 3 RMAs under warranty that expired just 2 month ago...
I sent a email to the asus tech support. I feel that the cost of any sort of fix will not be worth doing on a badly designed product.

here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=145847&page=76 someone else has a similar problem. Probably a dead or dying gf8600GT.

 

I tried that and got nothing, so yea, my GPU is toast

This G50VT-X5? It says the resolution is WSXGA+.

Yea same here; I turn it on and get no visuals. Sounds work fine, but I dont see anything. I paid like $1500 for mine as well, and to have it break down right before exams and not too long before finals is very very inconvenient.

 

Happened to my G1S-A1 too. They replaced it with the G1Sn motherboard now with the 9500M GS... a bit slower, but at least it runs a lot cooler.
I doubt they can put a G50 motherboard in it, though. The entire case layout is different. The battery is located at the front for the G1 series whereas it's at the back for the G50 series, just for starters. If you still have warranty (and I imagine the 2 year warranty is running out very soon...) you should call in ASAP and see what they can do. Chances are, if they still have G1Sn motherboards sitting around they'll do that sort of a replacement, if not, they may give you a new system.

 

Were you still under warranty when they replaced your laptop?

 

I realize they cant replace my motherboard with a G50 board; I was asking about which G50 I could possibly be getting since Ive heard people getting them as replacements due to Asus running out of G1S and G1Sn boards.

 

G50VT-X5 is a 1366x768 screen vs the G1S which is a 1650x1080 screen, ie. a downgrade, but everything else is an upgrade well.... minus the CPU slightly.

The X5 they will replace yours with is the bestbuy version.

 

Not according to the link I posted, unless theres for some reason more than one G50VT-X5?

 

I've edited my post when you were posting. The X5 they will replace yours with if you do get the replacement option will be the bestbuy version which has only the 1366x768 screen.

 

Im definitely going for a different one; the upgrade in GPU is nice, but most of my apps are CPU bound, and I need a larger resolution for CAD

 

Ok, so I got an email today from Asus, but it said that by the serial number, my laptop was out of warranty even though the 2 year mark from the purchase date is in 3 months? Anyone else have similar issues?

 

Where did you purchase it from? Do you have the receipts?

 

I bought it from newegg, so I still have access to the online invoice.

 

Give them a call. Similar thing happened to me in the past as well, told me i was out of warranty when i still had heaps left. Tell them you have the proof of purchase.

 

I will definitely be doing that in the morning, as I am really not in the mood to have this company try to mess with me.

I just found it weird because, on the same email, my purchase date ( which was linked to the serial number of course ) was included. So, Im not sure what exactly happened. Hopefully he was thinking about emailing someone else what he emailed me.

 

Yeah if you show them a receipt they will take care of you.

I was actually in the same situation just a month ago. I got my g50vt replacement today =p

I was out of warranty for mine, but the first time i sent it in they repaired it for free. When I got the g1s back though, it idled at 90c! so i sent it back in and they offered me a g50vt-x5.

Big pain in the arse, but I got a much better, performance wise, replacement. The screen is abysmal when compared to the g1s' samsung, but the positives outweigh the negatives IMO. If they don't give it to you at first, insist. If they don't give you the option just accept the g1s and it will most likely be dangerously hot. then you complain and they make you the offer =p

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/7268/charts.png

charts don't lie!

 

Yea, I know the 9800mGS smokes the 8600mGT, but the screen resolution is a huge factor for me; its one of the reasons I got this specific laptop. If they send it back to me again ( this will be my second RMA ), I will be furious, and garner the attention of a 4-year old brat in walmart, in the same fashion a 4-year old brat would do so in walmart

Youre right, charts dont lie, but liars make charts

And btw, I have the T7700, not the T7300, so the CPU would be a downgrade as well.

 

This actually just happened to me not 10 minutes ago. I was using my G1s, when the screen went all garbled and the system locked up. When I tried to power it back on I got nothing but a black screen. The hard drive grinds away for a second or two, but the screen remains black. Has my 8600 bit the dust as well? I purchased this computer in the summer of 07 when it first came out. Am I SOL?

 

The 8600m has the known faulty core.

The BGA cracks causing a bad connection to the motherboard.

So if you're out of warranty, there is an easy fix.
It's called a BGA reflow. Heating up the GPU until the solder "reflows" and then letting it cool, fixing the bad connection.

Some people do the "oven trick", but that's not good unless your GPU is removable.

If your GPU is soldered right onto the motherboard, you can use a heat gun to reflow the solder. Get one from a local hardware store, around $20.

Set it to 300C and heat up the GPU for 1 min.

There are many guides on the net and on youtube.

Here is a nice vid to watch:
width='560' height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NJlgPbELL0E&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NJlgPbELL0E&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='560' height="340"></embed></object>

 

After letting my computer sit for a minute, I tried restarting it and was greeted with the splash screen and windows actually started (before it just remained black). Tried a system restore, but the screen went garbled halfway through. After letting it sit even longer I did manage to login, and everything looked good for about 20 seconds then I got this.



: (

 

that looks beautiful.

Just keep it the way it is. like a work of art. I made it my wallpaper.

See attached:

 

Unfortunately, when the screen goes all psychedelic, the computer also hard locks and I'm unable to do anything but hold the power button until it shuts down.

Just an awesome time for this thing to crap out on me. I'm borrowing my mothers computer to post here, and looking at Dell Studio's.

^^^^That is too damn funny. I took a picture of my screen with my camera, and now it's your desktop. Ha.

 

Before you buy a dell, try to repair that thing.

Go to your local repair shop, ask them how much it would cost for BGA reballing/reworking of your GPU.

If it costs too much, DIY. Unless you want to sell the thing.

 

So I sent one of the reps a screenshot of my invoice which was enough to verify my purchase date to note that my warranty was in fact, still intact. So I got it to the mail center, but it wont ship until tomorrow. Anyway, does anyone know if my only option is the G50VT-X5? The better GPU and dual HDD are nice, but losing out in resolution as well as CPU performance is painful as well. Are there any stories or instances of someone getting another model?

 

I got the replacement

the gpu is wonderful, it plays games much better than the g1s. maxing out dragon age atm, and borderlands, and wow

 

Ugh. Awesome news.

Got my service number, calling Asus tomorrow. I'd be just thrilled with a replacement right about now for a minimal price. I kind of need a computer for school and work and can't keep borrowing other peoples computers/hanging out in the library to get online and check my email. Plus, I don't have the cash right now to go out and buy a new one, and I certainly don't want to spend money for a craptastic 400 dollar Best Buy special.

 

Trust me when I say, I know exactly how you feel, except for borrowing other peoples computers. Thats like...sharing a toothbrush to me

 

dude,if thats ur opinion then i've been using peoples' dentures for a loooong tyme. couldnt rma mine early cuz i'm in an 'uncharted' country and i'm still waiting for mine. anyway they told me its been fixed and that they used a new mobo minus the overheating.that was like 3 weeks ago but another guy says they offered him the g50 replacement. do i tell them to give me the g50 with the crappy screen or accept the 'fixed' g1s? HELP(shipping error so still with them)

 

Personally, Id go for a replacement and see what they have to offer; from what Ive gather, pretty much all 8600mGTs are pretty much broken out of the box, so "fixing" yours and giving it back to you know will only set it up to fail again down the road, when you have no warranty and would need to either pay for a new laptop or pay Asus to fix it, which IMHO, would be pretty ridiculous. Im going for the replacement if I can, and Im going to push for the G50VT-X6 ( better or equal all around ) if possible. I dont want to get my G1S back, only to have it fail again in another 6 months, when Ill likely need it but be out of warranty.

 

Sooooo, after talking to CS today, apparently they want to try and fix my laptop ( at least, thats what I was able to gather ). Thats nice and all, but does anyone know what the chances of failure are after they "fix" my laptop? Has anyone had their laptop "fixed" once or twice while in warranty only to have it die after the warranty expired?

Also, I found it quite interesting, that when I was transferred to an upper level CS agent, that she said something along the lines of "no one in our corporate department has acknowledged the high failure rate of your GPU", in response to me pointing that out. I find it interesting because, she became very quiet when I told her that that Nvidia admitted to it over a year ago, and that Huang himself ( im pretty sure it was him ) admitted to the chips being faulty. Her silence continued when I told her about the $200M that Nvidia payed out to OEMs in part for this issue. Am I wrong for thinking that CS should know things like that?

 

So I send my fried G1s on Tuesday and they got it on Saturday. It says under my RMA that they are "waiting for parts from HQ". Do they usually contact you after a couple of days or should I call them up?

 

My gpu quit less than 1 month out of warranty. Getting G50VT-x5 for replacement. I had to talk to a supervisor before I got any action. My replacement is with Fedex now, should come next week.

 

Call them. Everyday.

Howd you get them to replace it out of warranty?

 

Well like I said, I got the "repair" back but it was idling at 90c so I called and flipped a .

I called and the B**** pulled out some technicality TOS - BS about not offering replacements and only doing repairs. Then I asked her what the TOS said about selling defective products and she went silent. Then I asked, "aren't there laws against that"? and she was silent as was I and then said I'm sorry sir we're doing everything we can blah blah blah

Next day asus guy emails me offering a replacement =p

And yeah they told me they weren't aware of the failure rate either. Worst part is im sure a lot of the customer service people don't know about it, I mean the ones I talked to couldn't even tell me my payment options or if i needed to send in my power cord. terrible...

 

Idling at 90C? Sounds like a misapplied HS.

Nice going with replacement #2, are they offering you another version of the G50 or another G50VT-X5?

I think its messed up that their CS is uninformed about such an issue, I mean, when you consider how big this issue was ( or am I trippin in thinking that $200M is a lot of money ), I would think that someone would tell them to be prepared for people complaining about their laptops not working properly, especially the upper levels.

 

I went through pretty much the same deal you are going through now over the summer. I sent my G1S-A1 in for a faulty GPU. I called them after a week and they told me they were waiting for a replacement motherboard from the manufacturing facility and it would be an 8-week wait time. Needless to say I was livid because 8 weeks is not only a ridiculous time to wait for a repair and because I ABSOLUTELY need my laptop for school and the 8 week wait time wouldve put me without a laptop for 3 weeks during school. So after complaining and moaning to the atrocious level 1 and 2 customer support I checked the online repair status thing and it said my laptop was being sent back repaired. Needless to say when I got it back they hadn't even touched it.

At this point I was beside myself...I called Asus claiming to be the BBB and was transferred to what I believed to be a level 3 or 4 customer service rep who looked up my information. I was then transferred to a very helpful customer service rep by the name of "Donnald Painter". Donnald was extremely helpful and understanding with my frustrations. He offered me a G50vt-X5 as a replacement and also offered to have a bluetooth radio installed on my replacement because my old G1S had bluetooth and the G50vt-x5 does not from the factory.

In the end, I am quite happy with my replacement...its faster, runs cooler, has more HDD space etc. etc. (I understand this is not the case entirely for you). My only complaints are the stupid design on the lid, the 15.6 screen/resolution, and if I have something plugged into the USB ports near the headphone jack I get some annoying static in the headphones.

I'd say if you can get a different revision of the G50 then more power to ya...but if they only offer you the X5 then go for it, chances are you wont be disappointed.

-Ryan

 

My G1S-A1 (purchased in August, 2007) died on the weekend, exactly like those of so many others. I've always had some screen weirdness with the G1S--vertical blue lines that would occasionally appear on all the white parts of the screen, and would go away when I rotated the lid back and forth on its hinges a few times.

But over the past few months, I've been having random display freezes in games which would totally lock up the laptop, requiring a hard reboot. And then on Saturday, the G1S wouldn't reboot at all after one of these freezes. No video signal (though the backlight was still working), a bit of disk activity (though not nearly enough to be actually booting), and then ... nothing.

So I called the Asus Canada Service Center today (1-888-678-3688), and spoke to Val (a guy, incidentally). After asking the regular stuff (serial number, etc.), Val asked what operating system I was running. It came with Windows Vista, but I recently upgraded to Windows 7, and Val politely tried to imply that that was the problem.

I (equally politely) informed Val that this was nonsense: This is a well-known hardware problem with laptops running Nvidia 8600M GT graphics, is a chronic problem in the G1S family, and has affected other manufacturers as well.

So Val gave me an RMA number as well as the standard warnings about my responsibility for shipping and repair costs, since I am out of warranty by three months. I will send the laptop out tonight, if possible, and keep the forum updated on my progress.

 

I sent my G1S to Asus in Fremont, CA and they received it on 11/19/09. The status on their website said, "Waiting-parts shortage, wait for parts from HQ".

I called and ask them what parts are they waiting for and I thought they had to contact me to authorize anything. Their response was that the technician is still doing "diagnostics" and it would take 3-5 business days.

 

See my post above.

When I called them they told me they were no longer keeping G1S motherboards in stock due to it being an old model. As of the summer (Late July) when they were replacing with G1Sn motherboards it was an 8-week wait for the boards to come in from overseas.

Call then again, ask for the supervisor on duty and you may be able to get a better answer.

-Ryan

 

Thanks Ryan, I will do that.

 

I would not pay for them to "fix" your laptop; it would cost likely around $300 before its all said and done, which is quite expensive IMHO.

Im fairly certain the parts shortage is BS; they dont exist. I called yesterday and the lady told me that they were waiting for a part needed to fix my laptop. Of course, she could not tell me the name of the part needed, nor the ETA of the part.

Being it that they got my laptop on 11/19, which was also noted to be rushed, I informed her that 3 days should be long enough to fix my laptop ( assuming it could be done ) on a rush order if the expected time frame is 3-5 business. I further informed her that if she called me the next day ( i was having her call me to tell me the status of my requests ) and I felt like my laptop was not given adequate service, that I would filing a complaint with the BBB. Im not sure if it was just a coincidence or if that raised a head or two ( that was of course, the third time I called ), but today, I was able to check my email, and it seems that not too long after we talked, I was offered a G50VT-X5.

 

From what everyone else is saying, fixing isn't an option since they don't have the parts in any case. According to reports over on the Asus Official G1S Forum Asus Canada seems to be offering the G50VT-X5 as a replacement, even for out-of-warranty customers. But even that's a little bit weird: Some people are getting them free, others are paying $250 or so.

 

just called again and same run around that they have to get word from their "technician" about authorizing a replacement laptop. I guess I will have to keep at it....

 

update: I wrote a scathing email basically saying I did not like getting the run around and I would not buy ASUS products in the future. Well lo and behold I get an email saying they're replacing with a G50Vt-X5 a few hours later. The email I sent my complaint to was [email protected]

 

I sent my laptop in last Tuesday and they received it on Saturday. I called Monday after seeing my RMA status as "waiting for parts" and they said to give them a couple more days and call back on Wednesday. Well I was about to call just now and I received an e-mail from them saying they are offering me a replacement G50Vt-X5 for $250 since my computer was long out of warranty. I'm gonna take the deal as it seems like my best option at this point in time.

 

OK, so my G1S arrived at Asus' facility in Markham, Ontario on Monday. I called on Thursday and was told that it was still being diagnosed.

I called again today (Friday) and the support person told me that it was in repair. I very politely expressed concern about this, explained that I knew that the problem was very common with the G1S notebooks, and was worried that a repair would only result in the same failure further down the road. The support lady promised to follow up with the service people and have them call or e-mail me.

This afternoon, I received an e-mail from Asus offering me a G50VT-X5 for $250 (US$ or CDN$, I don't know. If it's US$, that's about $265CDN). They sent a form for me to fill out with credit card and address information and fax back to their California office, which I did immediately upon receipt. I expect that nothing will happen until Monday, but will update when I get the tracking number.

I know some out-of-warranty people have received the G50 for free, while others have to pay. Either way, it's a decent deal (lurid graphics notwithstanding), so I took it. I'm not sure if they would have actually tried to repair my G1S if I hadn't objected, but I'm glad I spoke up.

Oh, also: Asus will not be transferring any data from my old hard drive to the new one. Fortunately, I had removed my G1S hard drive and used an aftermarket enclosure to transfer all important data to my desktop computer (then put the G1S hard drive back in). If you want to keep your data, this is a necessary step!

 

Good deal. The G50vt-x5 is over twice as fast as the g1s in terms of gaming. Trust me, you'll love it. I'm maxing everything and never going above 86c (without a cooler or mods which im going to do soon)

Screens a little weak but not enough for me to care =p

 

Yea the screen is going to anger me, so is the lack of BT and the weaker processor. Whats worse is, I wont upgrade it becuase i know theyre expensive, and wouldnt really be worth it to upgrade, but rather put that money towards a new one laptop.