G1s GPU Fried - Out of Warranty - Any Idea on Cost?

Mine is going to Fremont, CA. I requested delivery confirmation when I sent it so that I know exactly when to start my stopwatch.

 

Delivery of G1S carcass in Fremont confirmed @ 11:43 AM on 13 April 2010.

 

Mine arrived at 10:43AM April 13.

P8ntbala, it would be interesting to see if our cases will be handled consistently since our units are at the same facility hmmm...

 

Funny, Fedex confirmed delivery yesterday morning, but until now the status in the ASUS RMA tracker is that it hasn't been received yet.

 

When I check on mine in the RMA tracker, I get "System can't find records of your inquiry." If I'm still getting this message tomorrow, I'll call customer service and ask about it.

 

I would do it today, I called ASUS and they had my questions answered in less than 10 minutes.

I find when I am dealing with fairly large amounts of money/investment, sooner is always better than later.

 

Yeah, I'm now getting "System can't find records of your inquiry" too. What's up with that?!

UPDATE: I just called them up and the CS rep said there might be some problems with the onlink tracker, because based on what he can see on his screen/system, my unit is already ungergoing repair. Hopefully, I'll get a call from the technician soon.

 

Hi guys, I'm suffering from the exact same infernal G1S GPU problem. Has anyone had any success with the RMA process in the UK?

Right now, my laptop is over there at the repair centre (a third party called Letmerepair UK) and they're offering to replace the G1S motherboard with a G1Sn motherboard for £390 (since I'm 6 months over warranty), which is a damn lot of money. In addition, they're insisting that I pay for the repair before they contact ASUS to order the part. I've been trying to get them to contact ASUS first to see if the part is still in stock, but they're refusing to. Anyone else had similar problems?

On a brighter note, has anyone in the UK been offered a replacement or had the motherboard upgraded to a G1Sn for free?

 

Spectrum Prez -- Before I found this forum, I stumbled across a UK site devoted to the Nvidia GPU problem. The administrator there seems very knowledgeable regarding how to proceed with RMA/repair in the UK. The url is nvidiadefect.com/asus-g1s-problems-t112.html

 

This morning I called Asus customer service since I'm still getting the same "System can't find records of your inquiry" when I try to use the online RMA tracker. Apparently the online tracker isn't so useful.

At first the rep told me that repair was in progress. After I asked her to give me some more details on what this meant, she put me on hold for a few minutes while she spoke with someone in the repair department. She then told me that nothing had actually been done yet and that I'd first be e-mailed a quote (hopefully $0 ). She said that I'd receive this message within two or three business days.

 

@Ugh

Thanks for the tip, I'll post my query over there too.

Good luck with your repair. Seems like US repair costs are a lot cheaper than UK repairs right now. The quote given to me by the repair centre over here is £390 to put in a G1Sn motherboard. Ridiculous.

 

Ugh, please keep us updated. My laptop was delivered to ASUS today, but of course it still says it hasn't reached them on their tracking system.

 

Wow, this is all very interesting indeed. I bought my G1s in Canada and tne moved to the UK the same day. Just before the warranty was up I was getting very strange green stripes on the screen and sent it back with an RMA to Asus. It did take about 6 weeks before I got it back and they had replaced the mobo, GPU and wi-fi (that was not working either).

2 days ago and now off warranty all I get is a black screen, not even the Asus "fireball" splash screen, just the sound.

So far I have filled out the RMA and Asus had it picked up 15 April 2010. I am in the UK still and hope the service is good, even though it is of warranty.

It is very apparent after reading the past 22 pages that Asus has a very big problem and that this issue is well documented here. I am sure Asus will contact me and tell me it is off warranty at which point I will be armed with this very thorough thread and hope they come to the picnic so to speak. I would not mind a replacement if the cost is around the $250 mark as some of you have been offered as I certainly con not afford a new one.

My question is, if they do replace it can I get my HD back as well as the extra RAM my son installed for me? Losing my HD would be very distressing!

At this point all I can do is wait and see what Asus UK will do or offer. Hopefully they will be there for me but if they get pushy then I think a link to this thread to Asus might be of great worth.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post and lets hope we can all have a happy ending.

Cheers

CG

 

Canada Goose -- It's standard procedure for them to do a "system restore" during investigation of the problem. During this process, the hard drive is wiped clean. When I spoke with the Asus rep last week, he made certain that I had given permission to have this done.

An added note: I can't remember if it was on this forum or another one, but I clearly recall reading of a case in which Asus gave a former G1S owner a replacement computer but would not give back the hard drive from the G1S. I would contact Asus as soon as possible to get clarification on this.

 

Update on my RMA:

Online status still says that it cannot find a record of my RMA. However,
when I spoke with a rep, she said that the repair status is "on hold - waiting for parts". I got a bit concerned since I clearly noted that I wanted to be contacted first before they proceed with any action on my unit. Rep said that he'll take note of it again and that I should be getting a call and/or email soon from a tech. I'm now worried that they'll just "repair" my unit and not offer me a replacement ... but we'll see...

 

Well I do not have any good news to report. I had an email today from the authorised Asus repair centre with the following estimate:




G1S MAIN BD._0M/AS R2.0(V:HYN 256M)(EN*44265) £220.50
Handling, Inspection and Shipping £30.44
Labour Charge £60.00
Sub Total £310.94
Taxes 17,5 % £54.41
Total £365.35

This is British pounds, not USD we are talking!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say I have emailed Asus customer service including a link to this thread and asking (kindly) for a review of not only the history of my GS1 (mobo/GPU replaced less than a year ago) but to look through this thread.

I can not see throwing over $500 on a mobo replacement and then run the risk of it happening a third time. I can only hope that they offer me a new upgraded laptop as others have had offered them in this thread.


CG

 

I sent my G1S in for repairs about six weeks ago. Didn't get an emailing detailing costs until yesterday. I've made it explicitly clear I don't want replacement parts that are just going to act up again with the exact same issues (8600GT overheating), but Asus doesn't want to cooperate with me. They've told me repeatedly that the best I can get is a "newer" G1S mobo and 8600GT. Seems I'm not as lucky as the others in this thread

$250 for repairs. I'm trying to ensure that I at least get a G1Sn motherboard, but Asus has made it pretty clear that I'm getting another 8600GT. Such a waste of my time.

As a side note, my machine was sent to the Jeffersonville repair center.

 

Hey
I'm from Germany, same problem, the 8600M GT was dead. In Germany we have a lot better guarantee, its 2 years after buying (by law).
I had the luck it was defect some weeks before the end of the 2nd year.

Now, after a lot of conflict with the vendor, i got back 1000€ = 1340 US$!
So i bought a new G72GX and all is fine ;-)

 

My dead G1S arrived in Fremont on 13 April, and I still haven't heard anything from Asus; the RMA tracker still reveals nothing. I planned to call customer service this week, but I didn't need another aggravation. I'll call Monday PM if I don't get a message from them in the AM.

I'm not sure how I'll react if I'm offered a G1S motherboard replacement for $250. I really enjoyed my G1S, but I'd rather save for a new computer if I don't have any guarantee that the repaired computer will function for at least a few years.

I've almost gotten used to my eight-year-old HP P4 again. It's brutally sluggish, but at least it's reliable...

 

The status on mine has been "waiting on parts" for a week now (it arrived on the 15th).
I've called twice asking for any details and they told me that that is the most detail they can give me. No description of what parts they are waiting for, or any eta.
I guess I will call them again on Monday, asking the same thing, and I will probably get the same answer back.
My laptop was also sent to Jeffersonville, so I'm worried I too will be offered the same deal...

 

I was "waiting on parts" for a month before getting an email from them

They like to use the line "you're out of warranty" an awful lot to justify the ill treatment.

 

everluck, thanks for posting your experience. It doesn't sound encouraging for us that have sent it to Jeffersonville though...

Mine's still not showing up in the online tracker, but when you call them they always tell me that it's undering going dianosis/repair and couldn't provide any details...

 

mine was at repair for nearly 5 month, until they told me they would not get any mainboard in the next weeks... so i took a payout ;-)

asus has not a very good support, so it could take a lot of time...

 

Wow, well if thats the case I might need to start looking for a replacement anyway.

 

Okay, just one more post for today:

I just want to emphasize once again that, in my correspondence with Mr. Hsu, he never once even mentioned the existence of the 8600M GT GPU. Perhaps that graphics card is just a figment of my imagination...

 

Well, I think that's the best outcome we could really hope for being out of warranty.
I'm still waiting for any news(status says waiting for parts)... going to call again tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks for posting your correspondence with ASUS, I'm prepared to give a similar rebuttal as I'm pretty sure they are only going to offer a replacement motherboard.
At least there's still hope for something better than that.

Oh, and did they specify whether or not your replacement is a refurb?

 

Good news for me! Received an email this morning stating I would be offered a G50VT-X5 as a replacement. Very happy with this turn of events.

I'm with ugh on the res reduction, though... not totally satisfied with the replacement specs. Still, at least I'll have a machine that won't melt in a month.

P8nt, you said you sent your machine to Jeffersonville? Keep asking to speak to supervisors, as the regular help associates don't seem to be aware of the problem. Either I found someone who finally listened to my complaints, or Asus got tired of my nagging

Asus is 0/2 for me so far (besides this G1S fiasco, I had a P6T deluxe motherboard fail after a week of use), but this replacement does help restore a little faith.

As a side note: does anyone know if a Core 2 Extreme X9000 will work in the G50?

 

Mr. Hsu didn't specify if the G50VT-X5 that I'm being sent is new or is a refurb. It seems that most people have been sent refurbs, and so I'm not expecting anything more than this. Aside from the screen resolution, I still see it as an upgrade and consider this to be a fair deal.

Although I'm satisfied enough with what I was offered, I find it disappointing that ASUS apparently has decided not to own up to the fact that there ever was a problem with the NVIDIA GPU's that they used. Clearly their employees are aware of the problem since they are willing to offer discounted replacement computers without putting up much of a fight.

FWIW, I would have complained to the Better Business Bureau if Mr. Hsu had insisted on sending back my G1S to me with another 8600M GT GPU in it. It might have been an exercise in futility, but I would have complained anyway.

If anyone wants the full transcript of my correspondence with Mr. Hsu, then just let me know, and I'll e-mail it to you (though I've actually posted almost all of it here). I think complete documentation of each case is important in getting ASUS to address this problem in a consistent manner.

 

everluck -- Is ASUS charging you $250 for the G50VT-X5 or giving it to you for free?

 

Hey guy's I think my friend has the same problem. He tells me when he boots up he SEES the Asus logo and the explosion, however there are green lines all over the screen, after he can see some red squares all over the screen, then he sees the windows loading bar, but after that it goes into an infinite loop (back to the asus logo explosion). Sometimes he will get a BSOD and it will say something about failed to video card memory dump or something. PLS CAN YOU HELP HIM!!!!! WILL H

 

everluck, my unit was sent to Jeffersonville too. What's the number did you call to get in touch with a supervisor? Thanks.

 

Yeah, $250 replacement fee. I'm not exactly ecstatic about sending Asus more of my money for an issue on their end, but I can stomach $250. That was my budget for a netbook if they weren't going to do anything about my G1S.

I only called once, and didn't get much help over the phone. The number I called was 1-888-678-3688. I never got to a supervisor that way, was put on hold several times, and ultimately decided to try something else.

Most of my correspondance was done over email. I kept at it, sent three or four emails a day for three days, constantly asking for my messages to be forwarded to a higher up, and after many emails telling me a replacement laptop was not an option, they offered me the G50.

I also sent two full printed pages with my RMA explaining the situation, with statistics I found online and company responses to the problem, but I don't know how much that helped (if at all).

 

Thanks everluck. Although it seems that I won't be needing the number anymore.

Fortunately, they didn't give me much of a hard time obtaining a G50Vt-X5 replacement.

Yesterday, I got an email from a tech saying that they will just be "repairing" the motherboard and will be charging me $250 for it. I replied saying that I refuse to pay $250 for the same defective part and directly but politely asked if I could just get a replacement notebook instead. Then this morning, I got a reply from him offering me a G50Vt-X5 for $250 -- which I have accepted. Also according to him, "The replacement unit is a fully-tested recertified, reconditioned unit and comes with 90 day warranty coverage."

Given the same amount of money involved, I'd rather have a "slightly upgraded" replacement laptop instead of another "ticking time bomb".

Kudos to the tech who handled my RMA. It was pretty smooth compared to the other nightmares I've read in this thread.

Thank you also for the people in this thread, you guys have been very helpful. I'll keep you guys posted once I receive my G50Vt-X5.

 

I also suffered the dreaded black screen of death. I sent my laptop to the Fremont, Ca facility and received the offer of a motherboard replacement costing $250. I asked about a replacement laptop, but was informed that the replacement motherboard fixed the GPU problem.

I asked what the fix entailed and was told that the replacement motherboard has a newer revision of the NV 8600 GPU. Does anyone know what the revision does to fix the original problem with this GPU?

I like the laptop and would pay the $250 if I knew the revised motherboard would actually fix the problem.

 

As far as I know, all mobile 8600s are affected by the heat issue. The rep I emailed implied something similar to what you've been told, but wouldn't come out and say "the problem has been fixed." When I asked for more info (I asked the same thing you're asking right now), I was told by the rep that she "didn't know." That's when I started asking to speak to her supervisor, which ultimately worked in my favor.

 

Was anyone able to get in contact with their repair tech before they e-mailed the offer first?
I called today, and explained that my laptop has been "waiting for parts" for two weeks, and that I would like the know what the part is and when they expected it to arrive. After telling me that he did not have any contact with my repair tech, the service rep said he would escalate the case and have an e-mail sent to the repair center asking for this information, and that he would e-mail me what he finds. I was hoping to be able to contact the repair tech directly as he is the only one likely to know anything about the issue, but they have been very reluctant to give this information to me so far.

Do I have any leverage until they offer me another G1s motherboard, or do I just need to wait until they finally e-mail me the quote?

 

P8ntbala, unfortunately there seems to be no way for us to get in touch with the repair tech directly until he sends you that first email (usually containing a quote). Then from there, you can start corresponding with him via email.

So yeah, not until you have received that email, all you can do is inquire with a CS rep, who just acts like a messenger between you and the tech. I also had the impression that the CS reps are from an out-sourced call center (probably from the Philippines -- based on their accent), so I doubt they would know anything about the details of the repair other that what the repair tech has logged into their system.

 

ugh -- Thanks for the info. I again e-mailed ASUS asking more specific questions about what changes the revised motherboard incorporated. I asked about the type of solder and about temperature fluctuations, etc.

The response from ASUS was again vague, stating that it was a newer motherboard with a newer revision of the GPU. However, this time I was offered a replacement laptop ($250) as an option. At this point, I feel more comfortable taking my chances with a refurbished G50VT-X5.

Perhaps the ASUS tech support people don't know the specific fix or are not permitted to talk about it. I like ASUS products and considering that the laptop is out of warranty, the ultimate resolution seems fair. But it did take some effort and several e-mails to reach this point.

 

Posting this reply from splashtop on my "new" G50vt. It's obviously a refurb. The outside casing is like new, but there are a few scratches around the screen and keyboard.

I had trouble installing Windows (apparently the key on the bottom of this machine is invalid!), but I have a spare HDD with a W7 install. So far I'm impressed by the G50. It's quick and responsive, and seems to have a better build quality than the G1S. Feels sturdier. I even like the lightning bolt design. Didn't think I would

Only problem I have so far is the "stickiness" of the keyboard. The buttons are textured, for traction or something. I don't know. I'm sure it won't be an issue as I get used to it.

All in all, I'm happy with it, and very surprised it got to me so quickly. I forgive you this time, Asus.

 

Did you mean the G50 doesn't come pre-installed with any OS?
Or was it pre-installed with XP or Vista and you just wanted to switch to W7?

 

Still waiting for my G50VT. I was sorta hoping it would arrive today, as I live only ~90 miles from Fremont. Oh well. This morning I e-mailed Mr. Hsu for a tracking #, but I didn't get a response. Maybe he's been reading this thread and has ensured that mine will get lost in transit.

I sure hope it arrives with OS installed, as I don't have a spare 150 bucks lying around. Actually, the spec sheet pdf I was sent indicates that it comes with Vista. So, if it doesn't, I'll pester ASUS about this.

 

Sorry, I meant to say trouble activating, not trouble installing. It seemed that Vista 32 bit was installed from the get go, but it wouldn't activate with the key stickered to the bottom of the notebook. The recovery disks Asus sent with the machine were all for Vista 64 bit. It wasn't a huge problem, as I called Microsoft's automated activation service and was able to get it working.

Whatever issues I had with the initial Vista installation really didn't matter, though, since I had my 500GB Scorpio Blue with W7 and just swapped it for the included Seagate Momentus 7200.3.

I was surprised at how quick the 7200.3 was, though. I know it's a 7200 rpm drive and common sense would tell you it ran faster than a Scorpio Blue (5400 rpm), but all comparisons I've seen online have favored the Scorpio. I can confidently say this wasn't the case, and am considering moving my W7 install to the 7200.3, though I'm not sure if the difference in speed was simply due to the Momentus being a "new" drive.

I did find one significant problem since my last post: the screws holding the heatsink over the P7450 are all stripped, so I'm having a very tough time getting my X9000 installed

It's very frustrating and I'm not sure what I can do about it.

Besides that, the usual G-series issues are present when doing a "fresh" W7 install (in my case, it was more like a "fresh" switch): Fn buttons not working, driver conflicts causing certain hardware to show as unknown, scroll function on mousepad unresponsive, and Asus software like Power2Go not functioning at all.

 

Well, just got the mobo offer and sent back an e-mail to ASUS. Let's see what the response is...

Out of curiosity everluck I have a HD with win7 on it as well from my g1s. Can you really just swap it into the G50, or are you doing something more complicated than that?

 

Technically, you won't even need to swap out the HDD. The G50 has room for two 2.5" drives, but I'm assuming you probably don't have a spare HDD caddy to secure your W7 drive in the extra slot. If you simply want to use your G1S drive in the G50, that's totally possible. It's what I did. You may need to find an alternative way to activate Windows, as your install probably won't recognize the hardware in the new PC. I called Microsoft's automated activation number and had my copy of W7 verified in about ten minutes.

As a side note, I found yet another niggling problem with my G50: there's a constant buzzing sound when using headphones. Seriously annoying :/

 

everluck, where can I get this "caddy" so that I can use my original G1S HDD side by side with the G50's HDD?

Do I really need this? I though I just had to plug-in the extra HDD and secure it with the black plastic block attached to the HDD? (like how the HDD was secured in the G1S).

 

The caddy is the small metal casing that holds the HDD in place, like in the G1S. The plastic block you're talking about in the G1S was there (I'm assuming) as further security to reduce vibrations and as an aid in removing the HDD. The G50 has a more efficient system, so the caddy is all that's necessary to hold a drive in place. I guess you don't necessarily need the caddy if you just want to plug in an extra hard drive for a few minutes, but it'll likely shake itself out place and I definitely wouldn't recommend moving the notebook around while using a set up like that.

This is the part in question.

 

@everluck: Oh i see, thanks for the info. Too bad it's out of stock in the link you gave me. I'll try to look for it from other online vendors.


Update on my RMA:

I was at work this morning and was surprised when my wife called me up saying that my G50 has arrived.

I didn't expect it to ship that fast since I have just sent them the credit card form the other day. And the funny thing is that, the unit arrived first before the email from ASUS notifying me that the unit has shipped out

Can't wait to get home!

 

No fair! I just called ASUS customer service. Despite the fact that my credit card info was processed on Monday (and my card charged on Tues), they still haven't shipped my G50VT. The rep said that she had no new info to give me but that she'd "escalate" my case, whatever that means. Hopefully I'll get some info soon.

 

Hang in there bud. I'm pretty sure yours will arrive in a few days. Maybe the Jeffersonville facility is just a little more efficient than Fremont in shipping out stuff.

Have you tried emailing Mr. Hsu again? I'm sure he knows when yours will ship out.

 

OK, was offered and accepted the replacement unit today. I'm pretty satisfied with this result, even though it's still a little disappointing how ASUS dealt with the GPU situation on the whole IMO.

Do all of the G50's have that orange trim? I've seen some that are all black, which would be much preferred.