Asus G1s GPU failure -- All G50 replacements now???

I had to RMA my Asus G1s last week (thankfully within warranty) -- purchased in U.S. but sent for repairs in Switzerland (currently residing here). After a few days, I was informed that the 8600GT gpu had failed and that a motherboard replacement was needed (no surprises there, as I'm well aware of the 8600gt issues). My RMA status was then updated to "waiting for parts". After phoning, I was told they were waiting 4+ weeks for the part to ship from Asia.

I have read some of the G1s warranty horror stories online about waits of a month or even much more, under the same guise -- long waits for the motherboard replacement, only to find after weeks and many calls that no parts were received and a laptop replacement would (finally) be authorized.

I am wondering from other recent G1s RMA posters, has anyone of late received an actual motherboard swap/repair (whether another 8600GT G1s board or a 9500GS G1sn board), or is everyone only receiving laptop replacements these days? Also, either way, was your machine RMA'd in North America or elsewhere? Any Switzerland stories even?

I've read murmurs there are no longer G1s/G1sn parts to be had, but not sure if that's speculation. Also, I hear there is variation between solutions being offered in US/Canada versus in Europe and elsewhere.

Any comments/thoughts would be appreciated, as I'm unsure whether I should "buy" their story that parts will eventually be shipped and thus, a repair made, or whether I should seek to have the replacement authorization process initiated sooner. It is frustrating to wait a month or more for parts, only to be told there aren't any, and then have to wait weeks more for ASUS to approve an alternative replacement.

Thanks!!!

 

I'm in the UK and had a motherboard failure (GPU) on a G1S. It was RMA'd back to Asus at the end of July, and I'm still without a laptop as of 5th Sept.

I've had numerous calls and emails with support, each time getting the run around, different stories and general BS. The laptop status was 'waiting for parts' on the support site for a couple of weeks before I kicked off with them on the phone. Phone support for my unit is being dealt with in Holland, but the unit was shipped to Scotland. Apparently, there is a shortage of motherboards (or so I was told) and the last units apparently went to the wrong repair centre so my unit was left without the motherboard it needed. As a result, there is no ETA currently for when new parts would be available if at all (as I suspect). I gave them hell on the phone, and eventually got to speak to a supervisor about it. Only at this point, and after many frustrated calls, did anything start moving. I've now been told that my only options are either a credit, or a G50 replacement. From that I'd suggest that people waiting for a G1S repair, especially in Europe, are unlikely to get their units back, and will probably be offered a different machine or a credit as I have. Beware of the credit - this is done back through the distributor and then to the seller, and I would expect it to be a lengthy process.

My case is still not resolved - I'm waiting to hear which variant of the G50 is on offer, and since it will be a new machine, if I will get a 24month warranty. I'm fighting for the warranty as they would only initially offer 3 months parts cover. Depending on that, I'll decide which way to go. What I do know is that the laptop has been with them for over a month, and the quickest resolution is a G50 unit, which is likely to be another 2-3 weeks. Not good. What I was also told is that my G1 is one of 30 other units in the same position. I don't know if that's just in the UK, or Europe wide, but clearly there's going to be a fair number of other people getting the run around like I did.

For people in the UK in the same position I was in, don't waste your time with the support BS you'll get on the phone about your G1. Demand to talk to a supervisor, and give them hell if you're not getting anywhere. It's a shame ASUS force you to do this, but my negative experience is now only being resolved because I beat them up on the phone. The supervisor I'm talking to is Donna King ( [email protected] or 'pursuade' the call centre to connect you to a supervisor ) and once I finally got hold of her, things are now starting to be done.

I hope that helps others, and avoids the hassle I had to go through. I think if you have a G1 and it's gone bad, you'll be waiting for the day after never for a repair. I just wish they were upfront about the G1 lack of parts from day one, and not a month down the line.

 

Not good to hear many G1 owners in UK/Europe are likely to be in trouble...

Performance-wise, G50 is an excellent replacement for the G1. But yes, only a 3month warranty is not such a good thing.

A credit back is not a very good option, I think you would only get back a part of the money, maybe not including the tax (VAT) etc.

 

@ Maxrom....thanks for the response. Although my circumstances are not exactly the same (not RMA'ing from the UK), your comments give me some perspective on what I'm facing. I will give a shot at contacting the Donna as you did. I feel like I'm in the same run-around boat that you were in. My first few calls to the repair provider, they told me they had not received my unit (contrary to the fact that I had received email status updates indicating they had received it). Finally, they acknowledged having it and then mentioned that they were "waiting for parts" for 4 weeks or more, with no definite time for getting the unit back to me. Ugh

Fingers crossed...life computer-less is a bit of a hassle.

 

WOW! I didnt know that the replacement laptops only carry a 90day warranty. I didnt have a g1s I had the g2s and they offered me a Best buy G71Gx model for my troubles. Coincidently I only had to wait 2 weeks for them to offer me the replacement deal.

 

Warranties on all G1(s)'s are all expired or close to expired by now. The standard terms for any transfer of warranty between a RMA'd unit and its replacement is the longer of (1) the original warranty or (2) 90 days.

 

Well on that point I am glad I decided to build me a new desktop. Cant go through using my wiii and PS3 to surf the net any longer

 

I'm still trying to get something sorted here. They have confirmed that the 24month warranty is not an option, even though the replacement was a brand new unit. The only option is 3month parts cover, which is poor in my opinion, especially considering the circumstances surrounding this case.

In addition to this, they have offered a laptop with a lower spec CPU and display, which frankly is unacceptable. To go through this pain, and to be offered an inferior laptop is unbelievable. I'll let you know how I get on, but at the moment, I'm not impressed, and once again, I'm now left with no ETA on when this will be resolved.

ASUS failed in the first instance to make things right, and after some hassle, I thought things were being sorted once I got a supervisor on the case. It turns out that my confidence that this will be dealt with quickly was misplaced, and at this point, I'm rapidly loosing faith, and patience, with this whole situation.

 

Well frankly, the 3-month replacement warranty is completely understandable. Normally, if they elected to repair and not replace a broken computer, they wouldn't reset the warranty from the very beginning. They would give you the exact same 90-day warranty (if needed).

And, after all, the only reason why Asus is giving out G50 replacements in the first place is that, with part shortages for the G1, it is easier for them (and you) to simply replace it rather than repair it.

Now, the chances of a new replacement unit failing are a lot lower than that of an old computer that has been repaired. So, in the end, the 90-day warranty with a replacement unit is a lot safer than the 90-day warranty with a repaired unit.

You might be able to convince them to give you a comparably-equipped G50 if you complain enough. In fact, I think others have reported a situation similar to yours in which they petitioned (successfully) Asus for a G50 model with the higher-res. screen.

What CPU was in your G1s and which are they offering you? The one in the G50 should be newer than the one that was in your G1.

 

They're offering a G50V with a 2.16 cpu - the G1 had a 2.2 cpu. That aside, the screen resolution is the main concern, as I use the laptop for development and design work and need to extra pixels, hence buying the G1 in the first place.

I hear what you're saying about the warranty, and I have accepted that this is as good as it's going to get. My argument was more to do with the fact that they have failed to act in a reasonable way with the repair, and as a gesture of good will, asking them to stand by their products and offer the 24m warranty on the new replacement that would usually come with it. Would seem to be an easy thing for them to do, in order to placate a very unhappy customer, and something that should cost them nothing, assuming they have confidence that their hardware will not fail within 2yrs of use. It's not like I was asking them for the moon on a stick.

 

So I take it that your G1s had a T7500 and the G50 has a P7450 then?

If that's so, the P7450 gives you a faster FSB but, as you already stated, it is .04GHz slower (unnoticeable) and has 1MB less L2 cache. They should perform pretty similarly though, so I really wouldn't consider it as a downgrade.

However, I completely agree with you on the screen resolution. Hopefully, you'll be able to convince Asus that it matters.

 

Ok this is what happened with mine.
I had owned a new G1S-A1 when it had first came out. This was the best of the best at it's time like almost 2+ years ago. I had bought it so I could play WoW when I was down in California on vacation to BlizzCON 2007.

I had loved the thing, it had the looks (loved the carbon fibre look), and it had the right power, I had done some upgrades to it like WD Scorpio Black and 4GB Kingston HyperX memory.

Anyways my G1S-A1 had died in mid July, it was exactly like 1.5 months after warranty. I'm like wow that sucks big time. I call up Asus and they said I can send it for repairs to a repair facility, I asked if I can drop it off to them since I lived like 15mins away from the Markham location.

I dropped off my laptop, I told the guy it boots but it artifacts up, which is what happened when I woke up to see my laptop all artifacts trying to wake my machine up. I told the guy I know my laptop is out of warranty and I don't mind paying for the repairs I just want this fixed. The guy at the desk scans my laptop in, and does some computer work on the laptop and says don't worry, we cover laptops like this 3 months after it's warranty has passed, which means you'll be covered til the end of August. I'm like really?

So I filled out some paper work gave them my laptop which I had taken out the HDD (laptop had no HDD when I gave it to them), put back the crappy 4gb of ram I had, NOT the HyperX memory. They gave me a copy of my RMA form and that was it.

I followed up with it within a week asking them what's the status as it only shows as Fixing/pending or something. They said they don't have the part for the laptop and that it'll take a few more days. I told them I'm going on vacation in 3weeks and that I need my laptop back ASAP for my vacation. I wanted to have my laptop with me for BlizzCON 2009. So they said they mark it down in the notes and escalated it, I had explained that I wanted my laptop sent back ASAP so it doesn't get stuck at customs for a few days or even up to a week. I followed up on it every 2nd day, until they said they can't fix the unit but they can only replace the unit with something similar.

They offered the G50vt-X1, I was dealing with a lady through emails from Asus at this point. She asked that I send proof of payment for the laptop which I had to go through all my old receipts took like 2 hours. I scanned and sent it back to her, a day later she said they can't warranty my laptop, but what they can do is send me a replacement by having me pay for the G1S motherboard which costs $185 which is basically me covering the difference for the broken G1S for a refurb G50vt-X1. I explained that I had the higher resolution screen, but I didn't get a response as to what they can do for me, all they said is we only have the X1 replacement for me and that here are the specs. The costs didn't brother me since I was willing to pay likely around $200 anyways for the part(s) I needed to fix my G1S since I do this type of IT work, so I know the range of prices of stuff like this.

Basically I got screwed on the resolution as I had a 1680x1050 screen and bluetooth on my G1S-A1, but I gain a faster graphics card and system bus, but I loose big time on the screen resolution which is big for me.

Anyways I sent in the order form with my credit card info, they charged me $185 and they said they'll ship my laptop in the next 5 business days. This was 2 weeks before I go on vacation. I waited, 5 days gone by, no laptop. I call them up, tell them explain I'm going on vacation in a week, and I haven't gotten my laptop yet, I had explained to them, time and time again I'm going on vacation and I need my laptop before I go. They said they had escalated my case to management and that they will take care of it. I had sent them an email saying I'm going on vacation now, and I haven't gotten my laptop yet, they explained that their warehouse somewhere in Virgina or something, had no power for a few days, and that my laptop will be shipped out within the next 2 days.

Anyways, time comes, Friday morning I fly out without my laptop. I get into LAX, friend picks me up, we drive down to Vegas. Monday my brother calls me when we get back from Vegas and I'm just saying at my friend's place in LA until BlizzCON the following week, and my brother tells me that my laptop had came in. I asked my brother what the color of the lid was, if it was black/blue or if it was black/orange. I have read on the forums some people got X1 replacements and X5 replacements for their G1S. Brother tells me it's the black and Orange one. I also asked what box did it come in, he said just a regular brown box with nothing just a sticker, so I'm like so it's a completely refurb unit, I asked him to open it and tell me if there's any physical damage to it, cracked screen, scratches, dead pixels or anything. He powered it on, and said everything looks fine, no scratches or anything.

So I'm like okay... but crap, because I prefer the X1 colors and also because it was 2.2GHz not 2.13Ghz. Anyways I had a feeling I was likely getting the X5 instead but at least it's in new like condition, considering I gave them a practically new looking G1S-A1 since I took extreme good care of it, and I still had the plastic wrap on the lid (unremoved sine day one). Anyways after rebuilding the machine the only thing that I'm not loving on the new X5 machine is the low resolution, I miss the 1680x1050 screen on my old G1S-A1. I figured I could get by for the next 8months or so, or maybe even pick up 24"LCD soon. I have plans on either getting the next year's Asus gamer laptop model or just going for a fully loaded desktop. I'm leaning towards the desktop since it's been almost 6 years now since I've built my last desktop for myself, thinking of droping $3-4k on it.

My advice is to call them every 2-3days, and follow up on your RMA, if you don't they'll put you on the bottom of the pile. You have to be firm with them, keep in mind your the customer and you have to remind them, that you've been patiently waiting and that this is getting a little out of hand with the time on return and that you want to see progress done on your RMA, then they'll escalate it. Just keep calling them and asking what's the status with it and when you can get it back, explain how urgent you need it.

 

Thanks for the comments. Not at all very reassuring! I got through to someone in Asus UK who forwarded my email to Asus Switzerland. Let's see what happens. The repair shop (outsourced?) is still being coy and vague on parts arrival and repair turn around time (It's already been 2+ weeks! ).

I'm dreading the solution to this all...sounds like a lower-res, BT-less model and/or with a dreaded French keybaord (I personally can't deal with that "enter" key and the inverted Fn and Ctrl buttons).

We'll see if Asus gets back to me...

 

I'm now at week 6+ and still waiting for a solution. I've declined the offer of a credit as I don't want to be responsible for chasing distributors and retailers to get my money. I get the feeling ASUS would wash their hands of this case as soon as that process is put in to action, and I'd be responsible for chasing to get the money.

I've also refused the lower spec laptop that they tried to put my way, and have since been provided with details of two alternatives. I'm waiting for the full spec sheets on those, but on the face of it, they sound like viable options. Screen size may be an issue still as many of their current models don't compare with the G1S in that regard. I'll let you know how I get on.

It's also worth nothing that ASUS turn around times to my emails has dropped off considerably over the past week since I started making a fuss, and I've had to get a little heavy handed to get anything out of them. Eventually I did get a response, but either they're very busy with lots of other similar cases, or they're simply not that bothered in trying to rectify this kind of situation within a reasonable amount of time. I suspect it's probably not the latter, and rather that they are currently having a support nightmare with lots of faulty units, no way to fix them and angry customers as a result. Either way, thats their problem, and whilst I may have had some patience and sympathy to start with, after 6 weeks, it's wearing a little thin.

 

@ Maxrom...Do you mind me asking what were the other proposed replacement units? I'm curious to know, as I'd also be interested in something with BT and appropriate resolution for its screen size. Also, the paint job on the G50VT doesn't do wonders for me (lightning streaks or whatever they are...). Matching the G1s' processor speed would be worthwhile as well. Hopefully what they proposed has discrete graphics.

Of course, I have the repairs guys maintaining yet that they are going to fix my unit...my confidence is not high in that regard.

Thanks!

 

my bad experience is that they took 7 weeks in australia and replaced the motherboard with another G1s. not too happy, now really stressing the machine (more gaming than ever and not using cooling pad)