My A8JS is in big trouble, need some advice

Hey,

My A8JS is not working the way it's supposed to.
Basically, everything is fine except for the performance of my Graphics Card.
As you all know it's 7700Go and a 3D mark 06 score of 872 indicates that something is terribly wrong.

Also, I used to have A windows 3D and Gaming index value of 4.5, now its 3.5 and not more.

I have tried almost every driver from Laptop Video 2 go and the standard driver, still, same performance.
Also, when I check the GPU Temeprature with Z GPU it says 120C at startup of the PC and later it rises to 190C, I am not sure if those temperatures are healthy.

I am running Vista 32

Any ideas?

Thank you so much

thomas

 

by the way, I disabled powermizer.
Bios 211
Maybe I should check the GPU fan? does anyone know where I can get a dissasembly manual for the A8JS ? Also, when I check the GPU fan speed with ntune, it appears that it never changes, its always at 222 RPM

 

Download http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and post a screenshot of the first page (since you've disabled powermiser).

Also, a temp of 120F->190F (which would make more sense) is about 50C to 90C.. is a bit on the high side....

 

Weird thing is that the cpu fan is blowing normal, not too fast; CPU temps are okay.

One more thing, I had a problem with the thermal unit, (overheating issues) I sent the PC to Asus, they replaced the thermal unit, not the PC doesnt overheat anymore but whatsup wit the Graphics card ?

Should I open it up and have a look? the GPU temp is constantly over 100C with nothing running but windows and Firefox

 

I think the GPU temperature sensor is messed up, or at least the program isn't reading it properly.. because a temp over 125C is totally out of spec and your GPU would be cooked and served.

Well, I don't think I can help you anymore, I don't really have any experience past overclocking the Radeon 9600 ..lol


btw, if you have powermiser enabled, do the gpu clocks throttle down?

 

if you unplug power they do throttle down. Powermiser is really one messed up piece of software.

 

I mean your setup is getting like 1/3 of the 3dmark06 score it is supposed to be getting, so I was thinking.. either it's clocking down or ...well that was it.

 

Yeah it is definitely clocking down I checked my VGA bios with Nibitor and the Core Treashold is set at 100C which means that if the temp reaches 100 the GPU will clock down Massivly. Is it possible that vista is simply misreading the temp ?

 

Try check the temps with HWmonitor.

 

namaiki, thanks for your help man, much appreciated.
I unscrewed the back and exposed the Gfxcard while running the machine. when I touch the top of the GPU I can tell that it really is hot. It almost the same heat as the RAM, when I press my finger on it for like 5 seconds it really starts to burn, I dont know how hot it really is but I surely hope it's not 150 C like the readings tell me. + the Gfx unit does not have an independent cooler but the heat is transferred onto the Thermal module sink via pads that are attached on the backside of the rams on the vga unit toching the metal. do you know where the thermal diode of the VGA card is mounted ?

 

I thought it was usually in the core. (but I've never actually searched it up)

 

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/3323/hmar1.jpg



HW Monitor Check

 

Okay, here's something that really got me outraged now
ASUS SIMPLY FORGOT to put back the thermal unit (sink) for my GPU, so basically my GPU is exposed with no way to go with the heat, thus the temperatures. I can't believe their sloppy work. Its just sad
Here's a picture of what they forgot, I circled it, they just didnt put it back in!

 

Is that a picture of your laptop, because I don't think that computer has a GPU installed.

some reference pictures: http://techgage.com/article/asus_a8js_14inch_widescreen_notebook/4

 

This is a reference picture from the disassembly manual. the spot ur looking at is when the GPU is already taken out. See that copper square on the right side? thats what is missing with my PC now. I cant believe this

 

Could you post a photo?

Is the heatpipe still there?

Either way, I guess you'll be needing to send your computer in again or order the heatsink assembly..

 

If I had to post a photo I would have to take it apart again, heatpipe, thats whe word I was looking for. And no, there is simply no trace of the whole thing (Square and pipe), also as you can see there are 4 screws to mount the VGA board, they only used the bottom left and upper left screw to mount it. Basically the GPU has the gray thermal paste on it but it doenst touch anything to be able to transfer the heat. they just forgot to put it back in. Is that possible ?

 

I guess it is.

I hope you can also get Asus to also replace your card because with those temps you reported before, there could be some damage done.

 

Namaiki, thanks for the help/attention here; this is the 3rd time I send in my device, I will demand a new laptop.
I will let you know how it went
cheers

 

Yeah, I hope you will have some better luck in the future with notebooks/Asus..

 

OP, it seems that you are located in the Netherlands. Is that correct?

If so, I am going to downgrade my opinion on the Netherlands service by a couple of points. Forgetting to install a heatpipe is really unforgivable. That immediately also tells you that they did no testing of the notebook upon finishing the assembly...

I am sorry about your trouble, and you should indeed demand a replacement at least of the GPU if not the entire notebook. Given this major screw-up I would say it shouldn't be difficult to get them to agree.

 

E.B.E,

yes, I am from the Netherlands. The service of Asus in the Netherlands is terrible. I send the device in 3 times for the same problem and they just did not manage to fix it, it seems like they never test the devices that the send out. It also took them 5 weeks to attempt to fix the device and send it back. I am really really disappointed and I will demand a new notebook since I only had trouble with it from the beginning on. I am positive that they forgot to install the heat pipe. I will let you all know how it turned out.

 

There is mixed experience with Netherlands service, actually my experience from a few years ago is quite good. In my case, for the V6J, they were also not able to fix the battery problem that I had, but there was a clear explanation why -- it was not fixable

Other than that, their work was fine, they also fixed my M6BNe after a car crash that ruined the notebook, and it runs well to this day.

I have however also noticed they don't always test their units when they are done fixing them.

 

I know I'm not contributing anything other than adding to the outrage, but...

How does someone, as a trained service tech, forget to replace the heatsinks?! I mean... wow!

I'm with the "demand a new laptop" crowd... I honestly couldn't trust them to fix the damage they'd done, given their apparent lapses...

 

Here's a good one;

I have sent in the device 3 times by now for various problems.
I called them this morning and told them about the heatsink that was missing for the GPU and they started being really unfriendly. At last, they accused me of taking it out myself because apparently I am that idiot that takes out a heatsink just to make use of their excellent customer service and wait for his laptop for another 10 weeks to return.
They wanted to charge me 75€ for shipping and 40 € for the heatsink. That is when I lost it and told them that I will call managament in Taiwan. I asked for her name. That is when she hung up on me, WOW. I called again and spoke to a different person, I told this person the story and they said the only thing I could do right now is send it back in. I demanded a GPU replacement as well; he couldn't guarantee it.

Ohwell, this would be the last time i buy an asus notebook.

 

OK, if you haven't yet, don't send in your notebook to them - get on to ASUS Global. Go to the ASUS.com site, register if you aren't already a member, get on the global site and contact their online customer support with an honest but polite account of what's happened so far.

Tell them you feel you have been treated very poorly, and are looking for them to replace the heatsink and GPU, or whole laptop if they feel there may have been additional damage done.

They'll get back to you within 48 hours.

ASUS Online Support (in my experience) is very helpful, and I'd suggest you bypass the a$$holes at ASUS Netherlands, because ASUS is generally very good and generally treat their customers far better.

 

In case i missed this question. Did you remove the fan and clean out the radiator behind it? if you did then your vga card is not overheating and the temp would be within a few degrees of original temp the first day you got it. You can apply arctic silver to the gpu die. Normally it does not help but in this case it will decrease it maybee 2 centegrade.
the a8js is prone to the following defects
1. bad hinge/lid design. needs extra screw inside the bezel
2. bad touchpad cover. will break on the bottom portion
3. paint wear. very comon
that is all there are no other known defects related to hardware. If you had it in for service overseas i can assure you that they did screw it up in some way and missed atleast a couple screws. That is what you can expect from their usa depot. They are fast but attention to detail is at a minimum

 

I am not sure I follow your post, Eddie. He had his laptop serviced by the service center in the Netherlands. They forgot to install the heatsink. Some of them are trying to avoid responsibility. That's basically it.