W2V: After the enthusiasm... disappointment

Hello all!

I own a W2V and if you have read my "review" at the "Asus W2v -user impressions", you could notice that I was really crazy about this little “baby”.
Well today my little “baby” really disappointed me. The DVD-RW just died in the morning.
This is the story:
Today I tried to open a cd but the DVD-RW didn’t manage to open it. In the beginning I thought that maybe there is a problem with my cd, so I tried to read my cd with my desktop pc. My desktop pc opened it so I thought that maybe there is a problem with the notebook’s DVD-RW (Mat****a UJ-845S Firmware version 1.00). So I tried to read some other cds, dvds and audio cds. Unfortunately after a lot of attempts I found out that my notebook’s DVD-RW is “dead”. When I put in a cd, I hear that the DVD-RW starts working and rotating the cd but after a second it starts making some odd noises (today was the first time I heard these noises). After a while (and after a few noises) it stops and in windows explorer it seems that there is no any cd or dvd inside the DVD-RW. In Device Manager and Nero InfoTool everything seems to be OK. Generally all the programs present the DVD-RW to work fine. But when I put a cd or dvd it doesn’t read it right so it seems that there is no cd or dvd inside.
It seems that it is dead and that I will have to send it back for fix. But for me this is a disaster because I will be without my notebook for about a month (because in Greece there is no Asus support center).
I use pcs and notebooks since 1998 and it’s the first time that something malfunctions so quickly (I own the notebook for 2 months).
Have anyone any idea for this problem?

 

.... you don't have to send the notebook back to get a new dvd drive..... it's held in place with two screws and if Asus sets up an RMA, it should be turned around in a day or two.

 

Woow!
That's great news!!!! I will contact tomorrow with Asus support to find out what i have to do. It would be relief if there is possibility to send them only the drive.
Thanks PROPortable about the information!

 

This picture below sort of shows where those screws are:

The little rubber foot that is between the Asus w2 label and the windows label... if you remove that, you put a screw driver in there and move it to push the drive out of the bay. First, you need to remove the screws that hold it. One is located just south west of that rubber foot and the other (which is hard to see in the picture is just north east of the big round foot on the right side...... Hopefully that helps. The drive on the W2 is a great drive, but that whole slot action, as cool as it is.... may be part of the problem. In the end, you've got a warranty on it, so it's really not that bad and in actuality probably isn't any more fragile than any other drive.

 

PROPortable, I am really grateful for your help.

I contacted with Asus and we arranged to send them only the DVD-RW.
But I have a question for you…
Looking the problem again, do you thing that there is any possibility that the problem isn’t only the drive. According to your experience, is there any possibility to exist more problems to my notebook (maybe a faulty controller or something else)?
I am asking because it will be very stupid if I send only the drive and there they will find that the drive is OK. As they said to me if the part is OK I will pay a cost for the check.

 

Posible but unlikely. I have had one or two times where the controller it self broke and about a dozen times where the modular drives just had to be reseated. You may try doing that.

 

Yeah, well try to reseat it for sure before you waste your time, but it's most likely an issue with the drive than anything else.

 

Wow, you guys seriously saved this guy some pain in his rear-end. HAHAHA

Goodjob~!!!

I hope now you're not so disappointed with Asus Hyper, as these things can happen with any vendor. Optical Drives can and will fail. Not a big deal as your W2V is a dayam sexay thing.

Cheers,
Mike

 

THANKS for your responses and your help!

Finally i sent only the drive. Unfortunately there isn't Asus Support Center in Greece and I had to send it to Italy. That means that the whole procedure will last about 2 weeks. I should sent the notebook but I need it for my school and 2 weeks are too much time. So I decided to send only the drive.

Shampoo, if it ends quickly and positive then I will not be so disappointed with Asus. But I can't say that I am not disappointed about the fact that a notebook from Asus which costs so much money, appears problems after 2 months. I had a Compaq Presario 1400 and it appeared problems after 8 years!!!! My sister has an Acer for 2 years and until now it works great!