first w3j failure...

well, i regret to inform you that it seems my video card has already died...no overclocking, hardly any game play, just turned it on one day and all hell broke loose...hopefully this is a predicament that my limited warranty can solve, as im sure it was no neglegence on my part...i carry it around quite often, as i use it for class, but i've never banged it up or anything, and quite honestly, isnt mobility what laptops are made for? hrmph...i am one sad space man.
anyway, my problem: the videocard will just go nuts when ever...it even blanks out sometimes if i tilt it sideways, which is weird...the system will just completely freeze, and i get a pretty light show...sometimes reminiscent of aurora borealis, othertimes just like an ugly whitewash snowstorm...and the kicker: sometimes i get no video when i restart afterwards, just a blank screen, but the computer is running...so strange.
anyway, i guess i wanted to see if anyone can offer some advice, as maybe im doing something stupid, before i take the dive and call asus for my RMA...
takk...
cosmo.

 

aww, that sucks man =/

couple of quick questions to help troubleshoot.

When you move you mouse or Icon or anything around, do bits of the lightshow or whatnot seem to follow it around? or does it seem to be underneath?

the reason for me asking is because if it bits seem to follow your icons or mouse around then that's the graphics card =( but if it just looks to be underneath, then it couldpossibly be the cable connecting your mobo to the screen, which seems likely since tilting is a factor. However both problems, I believe, you would still need to send back to asus =/

 

yeah, its kind of weird...see, it works fine...loads and everything as normal...but just at times, it will completely short out on me. Esp. if i'm playing oblivion (which it will do 100% of the time a couple minutes into the game) but even when i do mundane things, such as access the desktop settings or even, as i mentioned earlier, move it in a tilting motion (though not always)...its just really weird, but i know i didnt do anything bad to it...i havent even been gaming on it really, i havent even gotten out of the beginning cave yet in oblivion because i have too much school work. i really hope this can be resolved without me paying an arm and a leg, and hopefully asus doesnt have some sort of ram sniffing robot that can detect that i replaced my ram to 2x1g (which i will be sure to replace when i send it back, if i must, of course...) but yeah, like i said, it runs fine until the video just freezes the computer and shows the ugly colors.

 

It's a lemon, get it replaced asap!

 

Sometimes my w3j will freeze when playing Oblivion but nothing like yours.

 

so sour...

anyway, so now the plot thickens...i reformatted and such, did the full recovery song and dance...and as it loaded everything the card crapped out again...yet upon reboot, things seemed to be working a bit better...i was even able to play oblivion now. this doesnt make much sense to me...im gonna tool around with it a bit more, see if i cant get it to act up again...which im almost certain it will...but i dont understand how a reformat could improve performance in a GPU failure...uhg, computers...

 

Faulty driver installation?

 

Don't tool around with it - don't reformat, send it back! If it gives you trouble at the start, then this is most likely a temp fix, if at all. It's under warranty, they'll fix it

 

so i thought, but would it explain the fact that last night when i tilted it durring a reboot, the card crashed before windows even loaded...and when it crashed earlier when i reformatted, it was sort of tilted...im worried maybe the gpu was jolted loose somehow, and it like...moves around and crashes when it gets pooped. bah!

 

yah, at least, i HOPE they'll fix it. i've had bad experiences with service, and i fear the worst. and also, i kinda need this for school...bah! delay after delay. :\

 

Better send it back now while still under warranty. You might fix it temporarily, but it'll just be more of a hassle in the long run, when it craps out on you down the road. Goodluck!

 

I hate to be the one who cried user error but just for the heck of it did you eve wonder that it can be caused by the ram which you replaced? A simple memory test from dos will help to determine that.

 

i replaced the ram after everything, it still does it. its just weird, after the format and everything, it doesnt do it as often, but still does it...and i hope i dont send it to them and they go "oh, we dont see anything wrong with it" and i wait money shipping it... :\

 

I have the same with HL2:Episode One. But its kinda strange : during NFS:MW there is no problem at all.

 

Cosmo..... strange, but it happens.... Asus' fail rate is under 1%, but nevertheless, something has to go wrong with someone's system and unfortunately it may have been yours. I wouldn't worry so much about Asus saying there isn't a problem, especially if it continues to happen to you. If you reformatted and it's happening in just out of the box shape in terms of software and drivers.... something is up. There is a lot of power in that system and something could have happened. honestly, the ONLY way Asus would say sorry... we can't fix it, would be if they found out you overclocked the gpu - which you say you haven't..... so I wouldn't worry about it and I'd give them a call to see what they can do over the phone... tell them what you did first and that honestly will cut your phone call down to 1/4 of the time... They're probably going to want to see it, but they'll take care of it and get it back to you quickly.

 

Hmm...well, it almost sounds to me like you might have a faulty heat pipe in your laptop. At least that would explain the tilting problem and why it crashes when your running an intensive game. Heat pipes are somewhat gravity sensitive and if a little air gets in them during manufacturing they don't work very well.

 

RMA has been authorized, and my baby leaves for california tomorrow...
wish me luck.
.cosmo