ASUS X750JB-DB71 Repair Fiasco

Hey everyone. I dunno where else to post this on the internet, so I might as well post it here. I joined a couple of weeks ago to learn about ASUS' repair processes and to see how well they worked. Needless to say, I wouldn't be making this topic if they have solved my problem back a month ago, when this whole squaredance started.

So I bought an ASUS X750JB-DB71 off Amazon as an extremely late Christmas present (thank HP for that, they shipped me a lemon of a computer and refused to fix it, so I sent it back and got my money back), and it arrived two days later as part of the Amazon Prime membership. I opened the box, and I was rolling off in laptop greatness. The laptop played games such as Team Fortress 2 and Borderlands 2 at reasonable framerates. It wasn't exactly a gaming notebook, but it was surely a necessary upgrade from my late 2000's HP Pavilion Dv5. Months later, around May, I started to come across issues with the notebook. Team Fortress 2 started to stutter and crash, bringing Steam down along with it. I decided to try reinstalling Windows through the recovery image on the hard drive. When I was back in action, I attempted to install Windows Updates, only to be greeted hours later when it was almost done installing updates with "Failure configuring Windows updates, rolling back changes", etc. It would be stuck on that certain screen for an endless amount of time. After calling ASUS' tech support, and after they have given me extremely unhelpful advice (They told me not to install Windows Updates in the first place), I decided to run a benchmarking utility, 3DMark, to see if there was actually a problem with my graphics card.

Needless to say, 3DMark "unexpectedly quit" after running a few benchmarking tests.

So I called up ASUS Tech Support the next day, and I told them all the problems I have been facing through, and they gave me a shipping label and checklist to send it in for service. I sent it in to Bizcom Electronics in Milpitas, California, and a week later, it was back in my possession, with the same exact problems.

I checked the repair summary and they said they replaced my hard drives.

After seeing Windows update fail continuously again, and as 3DMark continued to crash on tests meant for my specific notebook (Notebook graphics tests), I called up ASUS a second time to see if I could get a proper repair. Did the same thing, sent it to Bizcom, and a week or so later, it came back with them stating they replaced my motherboard. A bit more optimistic, I tried updating Windows, and I ran 3DMark and I tried out a few games.

Same problems I have been having for the past few weeks, except this time, I tried testing out a few more games such as Runner 2, Skullgirls, Stanley Parable and Telltale's The Walking Dead. The games ran fine but 3DMark didn't, so I decided maybe 3DMark was just being a bit weird with my computer. I almost went to bed, but then I received artifacts on my screen when trying to use Windows 8's gestures (closing applications, snapping them to the side, etc.), and then I received a bluescreen a few minutes later.

Frustrated, and reluctant to send the laptop again to Bizcom, I decided to call up ASUS' corporate headquarters to see if I can get some help at least in their Fremont, California headquarters. A person who I will not name for the sake of privacy decided to take control of this whole repair and had me sent the entire laptop to ASUS' headquarters instead of Bizcom again. They received it and the guy ran into the same Windows Update problems I've been fighting with for the past few weeks I sent my laptop in. A few days later, they finally admitted that they ran into the problems I have been going through with my graphics card, and decided to order me a replacement unit. Hooray, I thought!

But then this Tuesday, the guy told me that he managed to "solve" my problems by cleanly installing my Intel drivers and was able to run Unigine (some "benchmarking tool" they told me) "without any problems". However, I am reluctant to believe an easy fix like that was able to get my laptop up back and running, as he mentioned that he just reinstalled my Intel onboard drivers. I ran through many issues regarding drivers for my Nvidia card (sometimes Windows wouldn't even be able to detect the card until I restart sometimes and it would even bluescreen sometimes), and I am anticipating my laptop back either tomorrow or Friday.

At this point, I'm not sure if I should believe him or not. I'm a bit scared of my laptop's graphics card coming back still nonfunctional, and I'm not sure what actions I have at this point than to send it back and forth and start a whole square dance all over again, with strong feelings about the money spent on this laptop going down the drain.

Thoughts? Thank you.

Notebook: ASUS X750JB-DB71
CPU: Intel Core i7, 4700HQ at 2.4GHZ
RAM: 8GB of Ram
HDD: 2 1TB Hard Drives
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 740M
OS: Windows 8 x64, tried upgrading to 8.1 but it didn't solve any problems.

 

From reading your detailed description of this issue, it's possibly caused by software issue.
I would suggest to obtain the original recovery media to restore the OS first, then retest all of the testing techniques you had attempted but failed previously and see how it performs.

 

The laptop comes back tomorrow after having Windows reloaded. I'll try whatever, see what happens and report back.

 

For GPU testing, we can mix the following.
1. 3DMark 11/13
2. Unigine Heaven
3. Furmark

 

I'll try those then! I'll update the drivers to their latest versions too (if not done already by the ASUS guy) and report back. Anything you want me to do specifically regarding the benchmarks? What options?

 

Just do the standard testing parameters which should be sufficient.

 

Alright, I'll keep updated with whatever happens tomorrow when my computer gets back.

 

One thing thou, try the system out of box first before you start doing any updates.

 

Got the laptop back today, opened the box up and was greeted with "Failure configuring Windows Updates, reverting changes", stood like that for about an hour and then I was finally allowed access back into Windows.

An ASUS rep updated by graphics drivers in advance of sending my laptop back, as I can tell by the newer Nvidia icon in my task bar. I tried out two graphics benchmarking programs; Valley Benchmark Test by Unigine and 3DMark's Sky Diver and Cloud Gate tests. Sky Diver shown a blank screen for graphics test 2 and the last combined test, but Cloud Gate and Sky Diver shown graphics for all other tests. Unigine's Valley test shown graphics properly.

I tried Team Fortress 2, the game that kept crashing on me for quite a while, and it ran fine without any crashes.

I'll keep this thread updated in case I run into any more issues.

 

How did everything go so far?

 

3DMark and Unigine's Village test (the one that ASUS gave me loaded onto the computer) actually ran fine. Team Fortress 2 and what not run fine, and Windows Updates managed to install, magically. I guess it was all at the fault of my drivers not being correct.

I'll keep this thread updated if I run into any more issues. I may be out of the woods, but knowing my luck, I may find a way to be thrown right back in.