G73 RMA results. Were problems solve or not?

I've just completed two back-to-back RMAs of my G73JW, each with completely different results. The first took 2 months at the Indiana facility to get a new mainboard from Taiwan. This involved multiple calls to Asus and a month just for them to find out from their techs that I was waiting for a part in the first place. The reps had zero idea why my repair was taking so long since 1) the repair order didn't indicate parts were needed and 2) they can't get their own techs to communicate with them. Very frustrating. Plus it came back with a dead ethernet port, so they didn't even bother to properly test the part. Abysmal. For the second RMA to deal with that dead NIC, however, I let GenTechPC handle it. Ken made sure it went to the more organized techs in Fremont, confirmed they had the parts I needed prior to shipping it, and ensured my repair was expedited. It was repaired as soon as they received and shipped back immediately. A one week turnaround, including shipping each way, and so far everything is working well with no complaints.

 

Oh man Ninjak, I didn't want to read this post. My laptop is at Indy as we speak for a motherboard replacement... It's been nearly 3 weeks and all I've gotten from them is the laptop is "In Repair Status".

They have 1 more week to get me it, or I'm driving there and busting some skulls.

 

That is, unfortunately, exactly what I went through. My status always said "Repairing" or "Repairing - 0%" when I would check the useless status page. After 3 weeks, allowing for weekends and holidays with the 14-day estimated turnaround time, I asked for a status update and wanted to know why the repair was at 0% after so long. When I'd inquire if it was waiting for parts, 3-4 reps would tell me that it wasn't waiting for any and were confused why nothing had been done. Then they'd add they had to talk to the techs or wait for them to update the status at some point. After weeks of getting the runaround, they even tried to offer me a likely-refurbished JH claiming it was an "identical" replacement for my JW so that they could close out the ticket and be done with me. Right after I'd gone into detail with them in an emailed reply as to how different the systems were, my JW was suddenly fixed because the parts had come in. I hope you don't have to endure such a long dragged out ordeal.

 

What site did you use to check it? I couldn't find anything that worked or gave any status.

 

Go to ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-
Select "Repair" at the top.
Click "Repair Status Inquiry" on the left.
Pick USA and say that you're an end-user.
Enter your RMA number (and/or serial#, phone#, but I just used the RMA)

You should then be given a status. If it's saying "repairing" though it's been checked into the RMA system for weeks now, odds are it's waiting for a part from Taiwan. Unless you have a percentage listed next to it that has some value above 0%.

 

Lol, what's it mean if it's not showing anything?

 

That just goes back to how useless the tracking system can be. If your system has been checked into the RMA system (that is, you don't get a message saying it has no information regarding your system) and you see nothing, then the (unfortunately) sole way to get any sort of info is to phone Asus support and hope they have an update. Often times their info is more current than the web site's. For my first RMA, it showed possible stages (Waiting, Repairing, Packing, Shipped, etc) that the RMA could be in. When I let GenTechPC handle the next RMA for me, the website never even acknowledged Asus had ever had my system at all.

 

Probably means your laptop can now be found on craigslist. (j/k)

 

Like Ninjak said it doesn't mean anything, even it has been shipped they don't email tracking number unless you ask. it's better just call someone to find out.

 

Believe it or not but I think the delay is so long sometimes because they bring in parts from China and they probably ship via container ship. That does take weeks AFAIK.

But I had an Indiana adventure myself back in mid '10 in which they sent me a totally scratched to hell LCD after an RMA for GPU probs. It had deep scratches in it. Unreal.

 

The RMA (LetMeRepairUK) called me yesterday saying my G73JH repair is still in progress as they are waiting for a part from Taiwan and the repair status online says "Waiting for customer's confirmation". Weird.

I didn't actually have any problems with it. It was showing 60c on idle, 85c during hours of Black Ops and never shutdown or had any artifacts. Max temp reached while using Furmark at max for 20mins was 107c but it never shutdown.

I still simply sent it for for vent cleaning and thermal repaste after reading a few threads here, thinking it was a max 4-5 days task on 08-02-11. I'm really missing it and its going to be another week soon.

 

... one more reason to do it yourself, I guess.

 

Update: Its been exact 3 weeks today, since they recieved my laptop (03-02-11 not 08-02-11). The online status is still stuck on "Waiting for customer confirmation" and I have not been updated on the status by any other means.

So I called them today and she said my G73 is still waiting for a fan and so is another G73 since January and I am 2nd in the waiting list. She also said their supplier hasn't given them a supply schedule yet and she will email me more details tomorrow (don't know what that meant).

This is just sad. Thank God I have my back up Toshiba. Seeing that average return time in UK is anywhere between 20-30days, I hope I get it before Crysis 2 releases.

 

I shipped my G73 to ASUS in California last Tuesday. Today, one week later, I have received it back, repaired.

My main issues were resolved:

My screen was completely out. It has been replaced.

My graphics card must have been repasted, because it seems to work much better (the summary mentions replacing the motherboard. Perhaps this includes repasting the GPU, also a fan cleaning)

My keyboard seems to actually work well now. No missed strokes so far.

Not fixed:

The touchpad randomly stops being useful at all.



I just got it back a couple hours ago, so I'll keep an eye on everything.

 

Welcome to G73 ownership. That's not a bug, it's a feature.