Barebone Warranty

If you were to build a notebook from one of the ASUS barebones you apparently still get warranty from ASUS. As long as you don't mess with the barebone, meaning that you do not take out the videocard or take apart the barebone you still get a warranty from ASUS. It is not very clear how long the warranty last and the rep that I talked to wasn't much of a help however apparently you get the same warranty that the motherboards carry. As far as I know that is either 1-1/2 or 2 years. SO if in the next 1-1/2 years anythign dies without you causing the damage intentionally. You still don't get any warranty through ASUS on the CPU the HDD and the RAM but this is still a lot better that what most people believe barebone notebooks come with.

I found all this accidentally since the videocard on my z80k got accidentally fried (long story). I called the ASUS notebook support expecting to pay for a new videocard. Apparently all I had to do is to send the notebook in to be repaired at no charge other than shipping. It still sux but hey it beats the alternative. If on the other hand you have already voided the warranty or for some reason do not want to send in the notebook you can actually purchase a new videocard from ASUS. The same goes for amy other parts that come with the notebook. However, replacement parts are not available for every model and you still have to call the technical support leave your information and wait a couple of bussiness days untill you get an email from another representative with the price of the replacement part and details on how to pay for it. After that it is very much like buying from an online store.

Keep in mind that all this applies to the US and there might be some differences if you deal with the ASUS notebook support in a different country.

 

Just as a heads up, Asus doesn't usually do this. Who ever you bought the barebone from is apparently MIA because Asus first and foremost would send you to them as all warranty work, whether Asus covers the parts for the dealer or not, is something the dealer you purchased it from has to deal with.

In regards to your video card in the Z8, you're just lucky it's a removable card, otherwise you'd be replacing the entire motherboard. Now, if the damage was caused by overclocking, they wouldn't replace it. If it just died, then yes, it's something they'd cover.

But again, Asus does not want to deal with the end user on these barebone systems, so how you got around that is beyond me, but regardless, it's not a common practice that they want to get into.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Yeah it seems like I went through some loop hole last time I talked to ASUS. I received an email from the rep that I talked to saying that the part was out of stock and that I should give him a call in a week ot 2. Oh and as far as the notebook goes it was purchased as a barebone and not a compleate notebook. So there really isn't any warranty.
This whole thing is starting to really suck...

 

thats part of the problem... asus never intended any of their barebone systems to be sold to the end user that way. Some dealers thought it's be an easy way to make a buck and never have to deal with the customer again... and make them happy that they can build their own system...... but still asus will basically tell you, you should call whoever you bought it from, becasue although the lcd and motherboard are going to be covered for a year regardless.... the warranty is between asus and the dealer, not the end user. Asus has realized there have been plenty of dead beat dealers who are just selling barebones, and they aren't pleased with it.... but when they have their system available to the distribution channels, asus really doesn't have a say as to what they do.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

For the last 30 min I've been talking to the technical support rep through emails and he seems very nice about the whole situation. The problem though is that the 128mb version of the card is out of stock so for about 1-2 weeks there is really nothing that they can do. Anyway as far as performance goes how much difference is there between the 128mb and the 64mb versions? Also there is an a2k notebook that only ships to Canada that comes with a video card at a higher clock speed. Would it be possible to purchase one of these from anywhere?

 

I just responded to an email like this.. did you happen to write to us?

Asus said that 6 weeks would be a conservative estimate... they've suggested we tell customers 8-10 weeks...

I don't think the card in the a2k is any different.... just set at a higher clock speed out of the box... which is easy to do to yours.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Yes I did send the email. I was getting really desperate when I received the 1st email from ASUS. It sounded like it is pretty impossible to get a replacement for the dead part but apparently the person was talking about the 128mb version and not in general. As far as the higher clock goes when mine was working I tried setting the clock to 450Mhz (which is what the canadian version og A2k commes with) and it does not really run well. Also I think Voodoo Computers somehow got a hold of the same video cards because they usually do not do software overclocks. Anyway my video card did not die because of an overclock. It got shorted.

The 9700 that comes in the z80k is not really an awsome performer and to be honest it could probably live just fine with 64mb ram. It does play hl2 and most other 3d games although is has problems with high resolution in dx9 and above games. So I guess my question is how much (if any) performance I will loose if I go with a 64 mb version over the original 128? After all I would rather have that notebook working that gathering dust.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bugmenot

 

> Also there is an a2k notebook that only ships to Canada that comes
> with a video card at a higher clock speed. Would it be possible to
> purchase one of these from anywhere?

AFAIK the clockrate of the graphics subsystem on the A2 is controlled by registers set by the main system BIOS. In fact you'll find that different BIOSes for the same notebook may provide different default clocks for the graphics card (on some models). So, no, buying a higher clocked videocard is not really possible unless Asus have supported different cards with the same BIOS within one series.

 

performance difference is probably only 7-8% in real life situations.

Asus said the card in that A2k is the same one that is in the Z80k, but it's clocked higher on that special model.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

> I think you are getting confused with the system bios and the video
> card bios.

No, I'm not. All it will need is knowing which registers to write to and most likely the graphics bios is embedded in the system bios itself. Just putting in a different video module, even if it will physically fit, simply doesn't work for notebooks due to the tight integration of components. You'll find that an updated graphics option means an updated system bios also and, as I said, even Asus have done post-release GPU clock speed adjustments this way.

 

The higher clocked video card in the a2k is a really cheap trick. Oh well it's no big deal anyway. Did ASUS say why they would need whole 8 weeks in order to get some more of the 128mb cards? Being that they are used in quite a few systems I would have thought that they are a lot easier to come by.

Anyway another question that is not really related to the whole warranty thing. Is there a reason why the official ATI drivers refuse to intall since the last or the pre last release? There is no problem with the Asus drivers or the omega drivers however the official ATI ones complain that there is no supported video card and suggest that I should use VGA mode. Of course VGA mode doesn't really change a thing. I know that ATI used to and probably still does suggest that you should use drivers from the notebook manufacturer but there was never any problem with the ATI drivers (at least in my experience) well there used to not be.

Also the anonumous guy should know that in this case it is different and there are 2 different modules that you can use with the z80k. This is not something that I made up but information from ASUS tech support. As far as the bios goes I suppose that you could be correct but I really don't know how ASUS controlls the gpu speed.

 

Actually, thats easy...... in a notebook the chip makers drivers usually don't work. From my experience with Asus, they never build a stock "reference" designed card..... and there are a dozen things they could have done that would have made ati's drivers not recognize it....... however the omega drivers always seem to work.... but if not those, you're best to stick with Asus'.


I know Z80k (128mb 9700) and Z81k (64mb 9700) both use basically the same motherboard and the graphics cards are swappable as I've had a customer build out a Z80k with the replacement 64mb module used in the Z81k.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Right.... but basically the modified catalyst drivers are basically what Asus is using (in most cases I've run into anyway)

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

The reason ATI drivers won't install is partly related to the above. Notebook manufacturers may do funky things to their setups that could be wildly varying as they're built to ODM spec, while all retail powered by ATI graphics cards are built to ATI spec. There's an unknown element there that ATI themselves can't control, so they leave it up to the notebook manufacturers to support it. The other part is that the end user really in't the ATI customer here. Asus is. You don't go to Compal, Samsung or Wistron for support on a Dell notebook even if the beforementioned companies really made it, no? Anyways: In 99% of the cases the Catalyst drivers will work fine if you modify the installation scripts a little.

 

True that. (I ment my reply to him and not to you, but got distracted and yours snuck in between.) In fact they almost might as well put the driver up for all their ATI-based notebooks when they put it up for any one of them. The install information for all the ATI mobile graphics chips are in there. I guess the reason they don't is that they at least do some quick testing on each model before they put it up(?). It would probably neither be a good use of resources to go through this every month just to satisfy a few users who just *has* to have the latest drivers all the time. It complicates support also. Much easier to have a nice long list of things thats been fixed since the last 'official' release than a lot of shorter ones.

 

right (you know I'm too quick..... )

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Well this problem is probably related to some Windows drivers problem and those are actually really easy to come by. The official drivers used to install just fine and I was only wondering if anyone knows of a recent change in them. I looked arround and apparently there is no such thing. Oh well not too big of a deal.

Oh yeah and on another note the ASUS tech support team actually managed to find a 128 mb card from somewhere and I ordered it today. As long as it works I really don't care where they got it from. ASUS still has the best technical support that I have seen. The thing about the old card that is really weird is that it says m10 on the pcb and the gpu is radeon 9700. I know that the 9700 is pretty much a higher clocked 9600 so I guess that's not really a problem. I only wish ASUS had used a better cooler for the video card. No wonder they have to set the clock so low...

 

well... you're right they do read m10... confused me as well.

The graphics cooler is about as big as you can get without making the system even bigger........ compromise has to be made somewhere I guess.....

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

well I am not complaining about the size of the cooler. The size is alright for a 9700 mobility gpu. What is not alright is the fact that the contact surface between the gpu die and the heatsinc is not even flat. Sire it uses a heatpipe but they could have put some effort and forged a whole metal piece rathere than this cheap thing. I would have been a couple of pennies increase in the overall price or probably not even that much. Other than that the design is good. I really like the fact that the cooling fan sucks air from the botton and the top of the notebook.

 

I never like the A2's design to begin with... thats what the Z8 basically is...... although it was originally designed as a low end P4 system with integrated video....... there was room for the dedicated gpu, but I just think things may have been better if it were designed around it to begin with. I'm not saying it doesn't work or it's a flaw in the system....... I just know what you mean when you say what you did above.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]