G1S dead --> Now to warranty service

So my G1S decides to die on Christmas day (nice present), and now it's got to go in for service. I live pretty close to Toronto, Canada, but being a student I don't have the time to go in to deliver it myself. The computer won't boot now, press the power button and all the lindicator lights come on except the biggest one: the screen, which remains black. No further HD activity either, suggesting the BIOS didn't even load.
It's one of the original G1S's, with the 8600M GT that, yes, is probably affected by nVidia's unfortunate slipup.
Now I am wondering about a few things:
1) Asus' website says that WE have to pay to send it in to them, is there any way of convincing them to send me a prepaid box instead? Also, for the return trip, do they cover the costs?
2) What have you people (those with broken G1S) received in return? A fixed G1S? G1Sn? M50?
3) If I want them to replace it with something other than the G1S (boy, the G1S has more problems than Vista, everything from sound card not switching to external to overheating), how should I push for it? Write down the gargantuan list of complaints and hope they find it too much of a hassle to fix? Or does it have to go in repeatedly before they are willing to do an exchange?
Thanks guys~

 

My G1S is going in the mail on monday. I had a CS Rep send me the information needed including shipping labels. They pay both ways however I need to provide the initial packaging. According to another Rep, if it is infact a fault GPU then they replace the motherboard with the G1Sn model. If you want a different laptop, youll probably need to have RMA'd several times to have a clear cut case that your laptop does not work and you need a new one. Otherwise it'll just be that you regret your purchase and want something else/better to go with the times.

 

Thanks.
The odd thing is that for some reason it started working again... Last night I tried no less than twenty times to get it to boot but it didn't work, I even let it sit there for three hours but nothing changed. This morning the screen came back on.. What should I do now? Would they accept my word that it was not working before? Or do I have to wait till it dies again? This is such a pain... I already wiped the hard drive, too...

 

I'd wait...

Anyway, if its the first time you rma, itll be prolly replaced by a G1Sn.

(when did you buy the lap?)

 

I was thinking of sending back for RMA as my warranty expires in about 6 mths. I can't confirm the GPU problem but mine is a A2 revision according to GPUZ. I bought my G1S in June 07 just a few weeks after released from Taiwan!

I always had stuttering of the games and of course it runs hot. But the games were still playable despite the slowdowns and in order to improve gaming I always try not to increase the settings to the higher levels.

Recently, on random times when gaming or watching a full screen screening video, the screen will just start to show artifacts like vertical lines running down the middle of the screen or just freeze. Then the computer will just reboot. I have tried to get the BSOD error message by disabling auto-restart in WinXP system properties, but it just reboots automatically. Moreover this are the times when the fan whines. I have checked my fans/vents to be clear. Even my laptop is elevated to allow airflow with my makeshift 12cm fan blowing from right to left to create more airflow.

I could not get any drivers or windows error reporting from the system log in event viewer, which usually logs system/software errors, hence I highly suspect this is a hardware (GPU) problem.

GPU idles at 71 while typing this. Riva tune is turned off. running 180.77 driver from laptopvideo2go.

I have not tried a complete reformat yet. Any1 think this is a good stand for RMA? or any suggestions are welcomed!!
Btw, how likely they will replace with a G1Sn board?

 

I doubt you can RMA it for high temps. They would wait till it dies again.
I bought mine in July 2007 as well. This is certainly stupid. Now I got to reinstall the system... I'll call the Asus reps and see.

 

RMA for random reboots? which is clearly graphics due to the artifacts?

 

Ah sorry I did not read your thread carefully.
In that case, I think you can send it in. The difficult part is when the problem sometimes appears and sometimes doesn't, in which case... I really don't know how they would deal with it :S.

 

its in fact very likely theyll replace it by a G1Sn bacause they dont make G1s MoBo anymore. And 1Sn, they seem to have more of them in stock of that type, so they replace it with that

and yes stalker, Id rma too..

 

do you guys think its more of a GPU hardware thing than software like drivers, windows & programs?

Moreover the reboots occured when Rivatune was turned on!

 

Have you tried to reinstall the system? If it persists, then it probably is a faulty GPU that is causing problems.
The G1Sn has an inferior video card, and apparently there is an appreciable difference between the G1S and G1Sn. As well, I hear the G1Sn comes with a T8100 where as the G1S has a T7500, in which case it would be another downgrade. Do you think there might be a chance for them to replace it with something of the same grade?

 

@ min: if they change it to a G1Sn MOBO then your gpu WILL BE 9500GS notin to do bout it because its soldered into the mobo.

Good news: ofcourse they dont change your cpu, so the T7500 stays

 

It once again stopped working.
Question: can a faulty GPU prevent the BIOS from loading? I turn it on and NOTHING happens, no hard drive activity either, just black screen and all indicator lights on. I know it's not a software problem because I just reinstalled it using the recovery disk. Why?

 

i got mine back a week ago and the only thing they did was to "clean out the dust and replace the thermal paste"

guess what, its going back to where it came from sometime next week, because it came back exactly like i sent it in

 

What did you quote your problems as? I can see that as being their fix if you just said it was "overheating"...