ASUS hinge cover broken :(

Hey guys, I have an ASUS M51sn-X2. Unfortunately, the bottom right hinge cover (bottom right of the screen when open) has broken off . This laptop is under warranty, but I'd hate to send it to Australia (the nearest service center) from California when I could easily repair this myself if I had a new hinge cover. This is the number for the service center: 1300-2787-88. Would I be charged for this international call? Also, would ASUS send me the part or is it their policy that I must send in the unit? I really love my ASUS laptop but it's a bummer that this happened. Thanks.


EDIT: well, it appears that they have a north american service center.... I may try and give them a call. I hope they will send me the part...

 

Why would you need to send it to Aus from California? The US has its own service center, and the turnaround is pretty good.

Sometimes they send parts, I'm not sure they would send this one though because it may require some disassembly. (I'm not sure about that, it may also just snap out and in, depending on the model)

You could check the eStore to see if they have it in stock. You would need to pay for something that's under warranty, but on the other hand it's not that expensive.

 

Well, when I went to the site, it had me click a button such that the site would automatically detect the nearest service center...which it said was in AUS. After looking around a bit more, there are service centers in Canada as well as the US.


And yes, it is just a snapping in/out part. It just happens that one of the little plastic snaps on the part broke such that the hinge cover doesn't stay on.

 

Try calling Asus first and ask them to send you one free of charge. The will most likely do it for you since that particular part shouldn't be expensive.

 

Aha. Well then I'd just give the US center a call, give them the serial # and ask for the hinge cover to be sent to you.

 

Oh this does not bode well for me, I have just had my delivery of an M70VM confirmed and the hinges on my current Acer are broke, so I could really do without the same thing happening again...

Let us know how you get on getting this sorted.

 

I called the service center today, got connected to a tech support guy from a person that deals with RMAs.The tech support guy was very helpful and said it would be no problem to send the part but I would have to call back in 1hr since some kind of system was down. I called back, talked to an RMA person again, but this time instead of connecting me to a tech support person right away, the woman told me they can't send the part and I would have to send my notebook in. After I told her an ASUS employee said they could ship the part just an hour ago, she connected me to a tech support person. The tech support guy was just as helpful as the first one and gladly said he would ship the hinge cover to me. However, he did mention that M51sns had been shipping from the factory with "loose" hinge covers so maybe this is a more widespread problem.

In any case, I'll receive a replacement part and I'm quite satisfied with the whole process; it was very easy, but I don't think they have many ASUS tech support people working as for my second call I was put on hold about 15 or 20min.

 

I'm glad it worked out

 

I am not sure about this but I think M51 is based on an older F chassis, and F notebooks aren't all stellar in build quality (with noteworthy exceptions such as the F8). Maybe that's related to the problem.

 

FYI Gentech PC is based in California and Ken is like super awesome with any kind of repairs under warranty. It would be back to you before you know it. People get things back from them in a day or two from the East Coast.

Next time you find yourself up for a new notebook be sure to give them a ring or check out there website.