Asus F3: crack in palmrest at keyboard corner

I think suing is overkill for an item such as a laptop.

Have a look at the "Survey of problems with ASUS notebooks and support" thread that I wrote (via Info Booth), and mainly the links therein (there is a thread called "ASUS warranty" or something along that line). You may find some contact information there, but I do not remember for sure.

 

I've just sent an e-mail to [email protected] where I ask the notebook to be replaced. I haven't found any suitable contact information on the pages you provided a link to; if I don't get a positive answer from Russians, I'll be e-mailing North American and/or Asian ASUS staff. If anyone's interested, I can keep you posted on how my crusade is going.

 

Sure, we have very scarce information about how things go with ASUS in Russia. So any experience, negative or positive, is useful.

 

HI All

Since my last post in march, i seem to have been jinxsed,poss by myself..

Although it could be my fault. This morning i put some new memory in, and i didnt put the screws in on the L shaped bottom plate, tryed the notebook out for 1 hour, all seemed ok, so i proceeded to shut down, when all of a sudden i noticed a 3cm hairline crack., i didnt lean on palm rest hard (it never even got warm either) but it must have cracked while testing memory, as i check it everyday.

So this morning i spent 2 hours stripping the top off and super glued the underneath, and after 2 lots of glue it melts the plastic and gets into the underside of the crack, i put loads more on where the cracks usually spread to, and all is ok now. It now seems strong again.

I took some pics earlier and will post them up soon. You can see why it cracks. Its right on the corner where the metal frame underneath all joins up, but there is no metal frame support where the crack starts, hence cracking.

Also this notebook hasnt had much use, and the paint job is wearing where the sweat off hand has been.

I will have to get either some airfix paint or stick a sticker on top of the hairline crack. If i was to put some glue onto the hairline crack and rub it in a circular motion, it remelts the plastic and the crack would then disappear.

Saves having to send it off to Anovo uk for them to demolish.

I can give a guide, if people would like to strip there top case off on next post.

I was thinking of asking ASUS to sell me a new topcase for me to fit myself, but i shall not hold my breath, maybe one will crop up on ebay. I cant wait 12 odd weeks for ASUS to sort things out.

So far sorted out myself.

 

If Asus UK won't sell you one, another option is to have a friend in the US purchase one and ship it to you

http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=4576&catid=631

 

Cheers for that.

Here is my spare part i require. $25 = approx £13.50pence.

http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=4226

Does anybody on this forum that is in the USA do this as a service, and able to send spares to the UK.

Id have thought that this would have been a good opportunety in this day and age of the credit crunch, to earn a bit of extra cash, whilst doing a favour.

Im actually going to London and also Basildon tomorrow, so i might see if i can get near Hemal Hempstead ASUS UK HEAD OFFICE. although its on the other side of the motorway. Saying that it might be best to call them first.

If anyone is available to do a post it service, please mail me or reply here.

 

Hi guys, I have the exact same problem in exactly the same place as everyone else, however the crack that I have in the lower right side of the keyboard is very faint.

Since dealing with ASUS seems to be time consuming, redundant (sending in the laptop for assessment?), and costly, I'm wondering how long it would take for the faint crack to become quite noticeable (there were some pretty bad looking ones in the earlier part of this post)? Because until then I guess I will not change the top case or ask for the top case to be changed by a technician...

Thanks, guys

Edit: also probably not buying another ASUS in the future.

 

The time that the crack becomes "noticeable" is subjective. However, I'd recommend you get it replaced before your warranty runs out. If you're in the US or Canada, parts and labor for the replacement is free. Shipping is also free.

 

Tigermilk, it took about 2-3 months for the crack in the palm rest of my Asus to become thick, then I got cracks under the left screen hinge. So don't get surprised if this flimsy thing falls apart on you one day.

 

Could you give a guide please to show how you disassembled and the procedure you used to fix the crack with glue?

Or if anybody else who used glue to overcome the problem would post a guide to show how they did it?

I recently bought a used ASUS F3SR laptop which now has a crack appearing (exactly like all the others here, same position, same angle, same unpleasantness). I came across this thread while Googling up the problem, and I wished I had known about this problem first before buying the used F3SR. But on the flipside, the laptop had really nice specs for the price I got it at. T7300 C2D processor with an ATi Mob. Radeon HD2400.

 

F3J or newer? My long-gone F3Jc didn't have the palmrest crack but it sure developed cracks in the left lower case near the hinge. Cost me almost $80 and three weeks to replace it and my warranty was nulled. I babied and sold the thing afterwards...
I still have the cracked lower case laying around, though

 

Apparently we do not have a disassembly manual for the F3 series, but maybe you could get inspired by these other disassembly manuals that we have:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=122632#disassembly

I don't know about a guide on how to glue it in place, but maybe that part is not that difficult.

 

My ASUS F3SR has just developed the dreaded crack. It is about 18months old and I am the UK. Should I contact my supplier or ASUS directly and how long is it likely to take in the UK?

 

It's an F3K I got. Is it a newer mod? Same here. Cracks in the left lower part of the case below and to the left of the hinge. Smaller pieces of broken plastics have fallen out and there's a screw sticking out now. Ugly stuff. How on earth they could charge for that? Huh, I got a palmrest crack first though.

 

They charged because Eastern-European computer wares distributers' warranty rules are only to protect the company in case something breaks that can be blamed on the customer. Such policy is unofortunately quite common around here. The reseller sends the laptop to the distributer, who provides the warranty service. The distributer's warranty department is a bunch of bitter and spiteful a-holes. Too bad I learned of this just after I sold my F3Jc, as I've had to deal with them at my own job.
F3K is a newer model but seems to use the older lower chassis.

 

Are you saying you got your F3J without a manufacturer's warranty? Mine has come with a 2-year Asus-backed warranty. I'm also in Eastern Europe (Russia), and I'm trying to negotiate a replacement. I may be a dreamer, but I'm angry and will raise hell in America if they don't take responsibility here in Russia. Asus provides international warranty and class action suits aren't uncommon in North America...

 

I had a 2 year warranty, used it to correct a sound-related fault during the first half year of use but the distributer (not ASUS) has its own warranty rules regarding physical damage. Shipping the notebook to Russia would have cost a lot more than having the chassis replaced without warranty.

As far as I know, its is still running fine after 1,5 years after I sold it.

 

I would suggest contact ASUS directly, that may mean that they send it to Holland. The UK repair centers have very bad reports. The NL center doesn't have stellar reports either... but it may be a slightly better option.

 

Thanks for your advice. I have contacted ASUS and they have agreed that cracks do appear more often than not and that they can repair ir under warranty.

However I am also experiencing issues where the system suddenly locks up and powers off, possibly overheating. This occurs when the cpu load is quite high although it has also happened when simply watching YouTube videos! This happens when the Notebook is placed on a desk and the exhaust fan is not obstructed. The only solution I have found to this problem is to use Power4Gear and set the maximun proccessor state to 70%, therefore it can't run flat out.

Any ideas?

Mat.

 

Have you cleaned the dust from your fan blades, and from in-between the fan and the radiator (fins)? If not, then that's a major suspect in ovearheating problem, and I recommend you clean it ASAP.

 

i would hate to be you, make sure you don't let up on the asus service, don't stop trying till you get what you want.

I heard horror stories of asus service in th UK, (not getting laptop back for 5+ month ect ect)

 

I have an F3SA-A1, it got the palmrest crack a few months ago, it's about 18 months old. It also developed a big crack by the left hinge, between the two screws beside the battery. I submitted an RMA and a few days later Asus sent Fedex to come get it, they got it on a Friday and I had it back with a new body both top and bottom , the following Tuesday. I'm in Canada and it was inside the 2-year warranty period. Asus has dropped down my preferred vendors list a bit because of the F3 quality, but the warranty service quality was impressive.

 

I would just like to update this thread with my experiences with the Asus warranty service in the UK.

My notebook was collected and on a Friday and returned to me the following Tuesday. It appears that the lower case (originally with stickers) was completely replaced (without stickers) and the crack is no more

Needless to say I was delighted with the service provided by ASUS in the UK. I believe it was with a company called Triage Computer Services.

Thumbs up

 

Now that is very interesting to hear. Maybe they changed their repair company to a more competent one after so many bad reports? I think the previous company was called Anovo somethingorother.

 

Hello all, I'm from Ukraine.
I bought my ASUS F3E a year ago. And have the same crack.

 

Hey everybody, check this out, i had the crack problem AGAIN and took my notebook to service and they replaced my Asus F3Sa's topcase and bottomcase with a used F3Sv's topcase and bottomcase..

I hate Asus, and I'm not going to buy anything from it..

(By the way i recognised that the staff at Asus uses HP PDA phones :S )

 

At least they replaced it?... maybe that's the only thing they had in stock.

 

Hi,
where can I find instruction for Disassembly my ASUS F3Jc?
I am searching and searching, and I can't find anywhere an instruction to demontage the Cover of the notebook.
If somebody can help me, it is a ASUS Z53J / F3JC

Thanks

Ensar