Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
Problem History and Rant: Skip if you just want to see the symptoms and repair questions
I purchased this machine on newegg in September 2011; about 5 months ago (just after the warranty ended of course) I began experiencing the common issue where the display will occasionally refuse to power on when the device is booted (always after closing the lid for some period of time). I did the research and realized it was something I would have to deal with in the future but since I was no longer under warranty and it would usually power up after a few restarts I left it alone...since then it's been occuring more and more frequently (basically every time I have to close the lid for an extended period of time and then attempt to power it back on).
About three weeks ago I was using the machine remotely (with the lid closed of course...dummy) and did a reboot; of course this tripped the sensor problem since the device won't power on with the lid closed. This time I was not able to get the device to power on the display when booting for several days, so I took to a "certified asus service shop" in a town about an hour away. I explained the problem, left the device with them, and after 10 days of receiving no word on it I called them back to have the service person tell me that "the display powered on fine first try" and that they ran it through hardware burn-in tests for a couple of days straight including reboots, etc, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. I explained (again) that the issue seemed to be related to closing the lid and asked them to try to do that a few times while testing it to see if it was still acting up and told them I would come by in three days and pick it up. When I showed up to pick up the device, it was in pieces in the backroom...the issue had manifested again and they had not bothered to call me to let me know that I shouldn't come by and pick it up, and of course they had no idea what was causing it because they hadn't had time to get to the point of a full dis-assembly to investigate the motherboard/videocard.
At this point I was so frustrated (this shop is an hour away from my home) that I told them to pack up the device so that I could take it home with me and deal with the problem myself. When re-assembling it, they both lost screws and didn't reattach the power button ribbon properly...so now the device is in even worse condition than when I brought it in and I've wasted hours of my time and gas money to be even further from fixing the problem than when I started.
Current Symptoms and Attempted Solutions
- Symptoms
- Display does not power on when the device boots
- Device appears to get past POST when booting. If I place a bootable dvd in the drive it will spin and I believe boot OS is loading properly but the screen remains blank
- Video card heats up normally while the machine is running (verified by examining heatsink)
- External monitor does not receive video signal
- Attempted Solutions
- Attempted to demagnetize metal strip along touchpad ribbon...when this didn't work I ->
- Removed magnet from lid and cut out hall sensor from touchpad ribbon
- Unplugged touchpad ribbon from mainboard
- Dis-assembled device all the way to motherboard and removed cmos battery for 10 min before replacing
- Examined motherboard/videocard for obvious signs of damage - none
- Re-assembled carefully and cleaned device internals while doing so
After these attempted solutions I still have not gotten the display to power on again after bringing the device home. Since I've removed the touchpad ribbon and magnet and cleared the cmos I can't believe that the magnetic sensor is causing the problem any longer, but it doesn't seem to fit symptoms of mainboard or videocard failure either. The fact that the videocard heats up normally and the motherboard appears to be getting past POST and booting an OS makes it seem unlikely that either of these pieces of hardware are faulty. Also, when the screen display is working the videocard, cpu, memory have all been tested using very strenuous burn-in suites and have all tested perfectly. The fact that the original problems began occurring intermittently and always related to closing the lid makes the magnetic sensor seem the most likely problem but I can't understand why the problem is still occurring if all the hardware related to that functionality has been removed from the device.
Basically I'm just looking for any advice on what to investigate next as a possible cause. I have no problem purchasing a new videocard or motherboard from ebay and installing it myself, I just don't want to purchase the hardware until I'm relatively positive that I've narrowed down the cause. What else could possibly be causing this?
Thanks,
Nate
G53SW-xn1: Blank Display Problem - Seeking Repair Advice (and warning re: asus certified service centers)
Discussion in 'ASUS Gaming Notebook Forum' started by f3renz, Apr 8, 2013.
