W3V Strange Boot problem

Bought this W3V last week from ProPortable and have been very happy with it until the last couple of days.

Now however an interesting/frustrating problem has cropped up.

Sometimes if the computer has been off for a while, or if the AC adapter is plugged in the computer will fail to boot. The power and cpu lights will turn on, the hard drive and DVD drive will access for approx. 1 second and then go silent. The screen never powers up.

Eventually the notebook can be made to start up by toggling the power button 4-5 times. At this point Windows will deliver a blue screen error about some file or other being corrupted (different every time) and restart. By hitting f8 choosing a different option than "Start Windows Normally" the machine will (sometimes) load Windows normally.

At this point everything will seem to work fine for a while (even through multiple reboots,hibernations and complete shut downs) until the problem crops up again.

The problem mostly comes up (but not always) after plugging the computer back into the AC adapter.

I have tried using the recovery disk to reinstall everything (twice), updated the bios to newest off ASUS website, reinstalled all drivers from CD, advanced scanned the hard drive with the Hitachi utility, deep scanned the RAM with mem-86. No problems were found with the RAM or disk, yet the problem persists.

At this point I am using the Hitachi utility to completely erase the HDD and will attempt to use the recovery disk one more time (although it does not seem likely this will work if the other recoveries didn't)

Can anyone recommend something else to try? At this point I'm thinking I might just have to send it to ASUS down in the Bay Area.

I really like this computer and it is ideal for my needs, but not when it doesn't work...........

This is the old spec W3v w/ the 60 gig. drive, btw. I ordered and installed an extra 512 stick of RAM along with the notebook, should I try removing it? This is not exactly my first time installing memory, I'm quite sure it was installed correctly..............

 

i would try to unplugg components and reboot each time, starting by the hardrive, see what happen without harddrive... memory next,,, any wireless card, flash the bios and be ready to send back.

 

Indeed no joy from the recovery. Received a blue screen kernel error DURING the recovery.

Going to take out the extra RAM next, it could be a bad stick although mem-86 would hopefully have picked that up in the 30 or so passes I let run...............

 

Good call, I probably will start doing this later tonight..........

 

its called isolation of problem... easier on a desktop pc tho...

 

It's not recommended to rip it open since it's an Ensemble unit. It's "technically" voiding your warranty. Although its supposedly warrentied by the manufacturer, I'd give Justin at ProPortable a call anyways. He's very knowledgeable especially since he uses that model on a daily basis. If it needs an RMA, he can point you in the right direction.

 

Well, took the extra RAM out and it works fine. Sent an e-mail to Proportable to get an RMA and send the stick back......

Thanks to all who replied.....

 

Sometimes I'm amazed how fast a single post can grow in a couple hours. I don't know if Gary would have gotten back to you yet or not, but I think you've got two options...... sending the stick back here and we'll take care of it with Corsair, or calling Corsair directly. I'm not sure where you are, but we're on the East Coast and if you're here, shipping to us is obviously easier. If you're on the West Coast, Corsair is in California and the whole reason we use Corsair RAM is because it's got a lifetime warranty through them. On our custom systems, we work directly during our warranty period and then after that it's between you and Corsair (for the most part)....... but on something like an Ensemble that we'll sell sticks of RAM as an "accessory" ...... We obviously can't install them without voiding your warranty and therefore you're touching it and installing it. That's mainly why we use Corsair RAM because we're can't control an end-user's environment and RAM is so fragile that we wouldn't sell it as a user upgradable part if we had to warranty it.....

So.... You can certainly send it back to us, but the whole reason behind using Corsair is their direct warranty..... It's up to you, but if you're closer to them that may be easier and quicker for you but by no means take that as "we don't want to take care of you".... I'm just looking out for what might be easier for you.

Besides that..... yeah, it looks like you shorted out the stick. No matter how many times you've done it, if you're not in a 100% static free environment, you're taking your chances..... stuff happens, it's not a big deal... but that deffinately is your problem.

 

Hi, Just curious about the solution to this problem. Was it really the memory stick?

I've been researching a lot on laptops lately, and ran into the infamous problem with some sony vaio lines (i. e. s100/200series) and it was having this unable-to-power-up intermitten problem.

I'm just hoping this isn't the same ordeal for the ASUS as I am planning and set on the z63a. It has nothing to do with the video chip overheating or a defective memory slot#2, right? ^^;;