Warning - Very Long: My ASUS Saga, and how they lost a diehard follower.

edited June 2012 in Hardware
Hi everyone!

Let me begin by saying that I really look forward to sharing my 10+ years experiences of geekdom and computer nerdness on this site. I will post both good and bad stories, but my first long story will begin with my years as a diehard ASUS fan.... as my kitten Poo-ma decides to sit on my lap with his paw on the right side of the track pad. Guess he took it upon himself to be my review committee.

Ah, my story of ASUS. I began my years of super computer geekdom through my younger brother, and his friends. One day in class I ran in to one of them that offered to build me a computer, for $50 labor. This was the best $50 I have ever spent! I only had to purchase the parts, so I agreed, although only on the condition that I get to watch how he put it together, ask questions to learn about parts and procedures, and was involved in the purchase process.

ASUS Product #1
Motherboard


This 1st build happened a long time ago. I do not remember the motherboard model, although I was assured that the ASUS brand was highly reliable. I might actually have this box for the motherboard somewhere. This first computer ran awesomely, though upon the build he left me hanging with an issue with some device being detected but not functioning.

This was my first experience troubleshooting, and I think it was some internal network card issue which was resolved by finding the drivers. Anyhow, this beast with all of its AMD goodness at I believe just under 1 GHz was solid. It stayed with me for about 7 years until I sold it off on Craigs to a person that needed one for their dad. I did not use it for all 7 years... I upgraded within 2 or so years... but I kept it for when I needed a second computer for internet access during upgrades.

ASUS Product #2
Motherboard


My 2nd ASUS product was another motherboard. Surely if the 1st experience was an indication of how good their product was, I could not go wrong! This motherboard used another AMD brand CPU, which I believe was the Thunderbird. At the time this was blazing fast! So, my experience with this system was again, awesome! ASUS was still the rock solid performer I expected it to be.

ASUS Product #3
Laptop: F3SV


The 3rd ASUS product was.... another motherboard? Nope! This time I wanted something mobile, so i saw ASUS had only recently started selling their own branded laptops in the USA and purchased one. This one was quite powerful for the size, and had a pretty nice LCD. I could game on this one when I wanted to, and do my engineering hw without having to be on one of the craptastic sorry excuses of a computer lab's computer.

Those computers were slow as molasses... sorry molasses, you're not that slow... in a race, you would win, hands down...

This laptop was great! Note the word "was," as I will continue on with this laptop later. This is the one I am typing on right now (6/29/2012). But why would I be using it if it "was" great? Read on, my friends, read on... let us just say, at the time it was being used, on the timeline of things up to this point being maybe 2008, it was awesome.

ASUS Product #4
Motherboard: P5E-VM HDMI


My 4th ASUS product was.... take a guess? An ASUS motherboard! This was my 3rd desktop computer. This time I was going for a really tiny space saving build, so I purchased a SUGO SG01 case. Luckily ASUS had just released their P5E-VM HDMI micro ATX board, and this just had to go in my new case! Again, ASUS impressed me with their still rock solid stable motherboards. I have still never had a problem with this one yet, and it remains my main desktop mobo to date (2012).

I slapped in an Intel E8400 and OC'd it to 3GHz. Wanted to go higher, but due to the limited space I am using a passive cooling heat sink on the cpu, so it's good enough for my useage, plus the ATI 4850 for moderate gaming (though I haven't gamed in a few years, so maybe this can't game as well as it used to). Also to keep it usable in recent times I have gone the way of SSD. I have an SSD in every computer i own except the laptop I am currently typing on.

... now the party starts dying down, and the praise, at least for me, slowly begins to subside. The shouts of how great ASUS is as the product brand to have, if you want something reliable, becomes peeps, to silence, to....

Comments

  • edited June 2012
    ASUS Product #3... wait, 3 does not come after 4...
    Laptop: F3SV

    Within a year of purchase this favorite companion of mine begins to have some problems. I notice there is a hairline crack beginning to form in the corner by the right arrow key. I initially think nothing of it, then over a few week time frame, it spreads all the way to the outer edge.

    image

    Wondering what happened I check on the internet for "F3SV Crack" and come across forums, some 25+ pages long, discussing this issue with ASUS laptops manufactured around the time mine was made. I was annoyed, but figured I would live with it and not send it in for RMA. Within time though, the video displayed on the LCD started turning pink in some areas, which I could temporarily correct lightly pressing on the area by the right hinge. Well, it was still a few months within Warranty so I finally sent it back to fix those 2 issues.

    I received it back with all problems fixed. Within a few months though, the crack reappeared so I just let it stay because it was only an aesthetics deal, and I figured screw it, I can live with it. After the warranty had ended, the video issue returned! Ugh... thanks ASUS. I looked up the issue online and found that BOTH of these were common problems among ASUS laptops manufactured around that time, not just my model. Out of warranty I figured, well, sucks to be me, but I can still use it as a laptop with these problems.

    OH, but the story does not end there. A few months later, the underside and side of the left hinge area began to break away. At first I was thinking it was something I had done; although I babied this laptop, so that didn't make sense. Continuing to use this laptop normally, the problem just got worse. One day, I just heard a CRACKLE sound during the time I was closing the lid, as the entire left hinge pops up a little bit and the back area of the laptop loses chunks of plastic.

    image

    What happened is that there is a metal piece which just presses again and again against the area, and sooner or later it just causes the plastic in that area to fail and fall apart. I could not close my laptop, but could open it back up because the metal part only pushed against the outside while closing the lid. I did some data transfers, then found a flat object to push against the metal piece that would rotate outward while closing. After some time I finally closed the laptop, and put it in a tomb, with the intent on it to never be used again.

    I looked on the internet for this new issue of "F3 ASUS Hinge Crack" and well, what do you know... another common issue for models manufactured around the time mine was. Mind you, not just my model, but others of ASUS manufactured during this time period. All it looked like they did was keep remedying the situation by replacing parts under warranty, but never admitted to any design flaws. Did I learn my lesson? Heck no! 1 bad experience would not, could not, deter this man!

    Well, the intent was to never use the F3SV laptop again... I am using that laptop right now. You may ask why, but read onward my friends, for Sparta.

    ASUS Product #5
    Netbook: 1000HE


    There was just something I had to have for mobile typing on the go without worrying about finding a power plug, and this little guy was the answer to my prayers! This netbook worked wonderfully and could go hours upon hours without a charge. One day though, out of nowhere the Wifi stopped working completely. Dead. Completely, dead. What good was mobile computing if I could not use the internet? I had to call ASUS to get an RMA.

    It's always wonderful when you call their customer service for an RMA, back then, and even today, especially since they almost always treat you like a moron and trying to find a way to blame you for the issue. Anyhow, off it went. Away you go little one, back to ASUS with you for fixing!

    I received it back within a couple weeks, working again like the champ it was. They could not figure out what was wrong, so as usual, the fix-all solution was to replace the motherboard, just as they did for the F3SV. This netbook still works even now. Well, I must have learned my lesson here, with their excellent customer service? No way, Jose! I am all about ASUS, for life!

    ASUS Product #6
    Laptop: K53TA


    It was about time I reintroduced myself to the world of laptops that could game on the go. Thankfully around the time I was in the market for such a laptop, ASUS delivered the goods! They released the K53TA! This was a very inexpensive laptop for the gaming power it delivered, and AMD Quad core goodness. This laptop was incredible. Slapped in an SSD and RAM, and it was almost as fast as my OC'd desktop. The glory days of ASUS were back! Sadly, back, oh yessirree, like the 2600 from Atari.
  • edited June 2012
    At around month 9 there was some heavy usage during the day while working on my thesis, well, heavy time-wise, not anything more intensive than reading and typing. I shut it down for the night and then opened it up the next day to get to work. Plugged it in, got all comfy in my chair, pressed the power button... and awwwwwww yeah, the glory of no video appearing at all on my LCD!

    Bless your heart, ASUS! I looked up the problem, read some forums, and tried a few possible remedies to get the display working again. Some said to pull the battery and unplug the power, then hold the power button down for a minute... then plug it back in and power it on. Tried that a few times and it didn't work (Poo-ma is back to check on my progress). Also tried an external monitor, which worked, and detected the LCD of my laptop. Figured maybe I dumbly pressed the function key strokes to switch off the LCD. Nope, that didn't fix it. Tried to flash to a newer BIOS. Nope, not that either. Well, guess I'll call ASUS and getter fixed. So says the believer that ASUS is all about their customers and taking care of them.

    The RMA person has me try the power routine trick which I had already tried, and eventually let me set up an RMA. I find out they only do free shipping for their customers from their facility back to the customer, but do not provide shipping on their defective product from me to them. Win for them, if they're trying to make an annoyed customer even moreso.

    Around now I am getting the feelings of yesteryear with my F3SV. So I call the company I purchased it from, Best Buy, and they tell me that since it is under warranty they can do free shipping both ways to their own facility, as they are an Authorized Service Provider. This means they can do warranty work and the product remains under warranty. I looked it up, and being an Authorized Service Provider is supposed to mean they received the training to work on that brand of laptop (correct me if I am mistaken). So, away it goes to be worked on.

    I received it back within 7 days. That turn around time was incredibly fast! I did learn 2 things though:

    1) The in-Store Geek Squad has far more information and up to date status than the 800 Geek Squad telephone number, and the 800 Geek Squad has more information than the online Geek Squad agents... and

    2) The Best Buy system for customers to track RMA status online is updated with the slowness. Usually way behind what has actually happened. I only knew my laptop was there because I had called the local store. The day after they received it, and after I had picked it up, the system was updated to show the store had received it and it was ready for pick up.

    Oh well, i got it back and was happy. They replaced the motherboard, and that fixed the problem. Before I left I asked if they had flashed the BIOS because the color output looked a bit off. The lady said yes they should have, and I believed her in the excitement of having my laptop back.

    After I got home I checked and the stock old BIOS was on it. I flashed the BIOS and was back in action... for 6 days...

    What do you know, the same problem came back. Well, off it went. While it was away being fixed, a Geek Squad agent at the repair facility called to ask me how it happened and how often it happens.... after I explained it to him, he said that those motherboards are hit and miss for my issue. Now, that's comforting, isn't it? Thanks, Agent "Bummers" (his name rhymes with Bummers... and it's hopefully not bummers for me in buying a doomed ASUS laptop... sadness).

    Hopefully it will be back in my hands no later than 6/29/2012 (it is on its way back, and I asked for a UPS tracking number from Geek Squad). Let us hope that the laptop is really fixed this time and I didn't get a "hit" issue laptop. I'd prefer to not have the issue return again, though I am afraid it'll happen soon enough. Looking around the internet I found a youtube video showing how the issue looks like, though this is not an ASUS laptop... and looking further into the issue it looks like this issue may effect several manufacturers as of lately.

    youtube.com/watch?v=yl8YAG5aBk8
  • edited June 2012
    ASUS Product #3.... Rise from the grave!!! /Casts Life 1 (not 2 or 3)
    Laptop: F3SV

    Well, I need a mobile computer with some CPU power and a large enough screen to use. Sadly, the netbook does not fit the bill here. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I had to resurrect the F3SV to use during the recent times I am without the K53TA due to the 2 times of RMA. Thankfully I could open it up, though closing it, well, yeah, that's not looking like it'll happen again, or at least not without some serious effort.

    I am actually using the F3SV right now to type this. I have spoken with Chris Ambrose of ASUS recently about this laptop, and he asked for pictures. I pointed out the facts of the numerous forums regarding the faults in this laptop's design. I emailed him about 3 days ago... checking email... sent it on June 27th. He responded stating he received the emails. Waiting on a response.

    Actually, in order to have the ability to talk to anybody at California's ASUS office, the lady made me call and talk to the 888 ASUS line and told me I had to talk to a supervisor first. The first person took 45 minutes to go through, 10 minutes of which he was denying I ever RMA'd this laptop. Only after finally getting irritated by him basically calling me a liar, I was like, hey, I am not here to argue with you the fact that I RMA'd this laptop. I did RMA it, and ASUS did perform work on it.

    Somehow, miraculously, he found the information within several seconds of me saying that. Then when I mentioned the forums upon forums of ASUS customers showing pictures and discussing all of these issues, his response was to the effect of, well, anybody can post things on the internet, and that doesn't make them true. I remember reading a similar response a customer posted on a forum from their own conversation with ASUS's Customer Service. I am wondering if it is ASUS's trained Customer Service response to defend their products.

    After that first Customer Service rep, I finally asked to talk to a Supervisor. Talked to "Roger," for about 15 minutes, told him what I told the other person. He basically told me I could RMA it for a fee. I was like, seriously, even though it is obviously a design flaw? I let him give me an RMA number just to complete the whole deal of having to speak with a Supervisor as instructed by the young lady at ASUS's California office.

    Why did I contact ASUS? The laptop is obviously out of its warranty period, leave it be! Well, ASUS burned a lot of its long time followers with this laptop and they should make it right, somehow. Also, these are not just issues which existed in the US. If you look it up, it's an issue that exists in several countries and all around the period of time this laptop was manufactured.

    ASUS Product #....7....?
    Hm...

    So, after my experiences with ASUS, I am now very doubtful I will ever purchase another one of their products again, let alone recommend their products to people as I have done over the past 10+ years. If anything I'll recommend products from manufacturers that have a good, naye, excellent track record of taking care of their customers.

    I will post links pertaining to the F3SV problem on this page when I have time, and believe me, there are a lot of them for every problem I listed. Hope you enjoyed this.

    There are probably still good ASUS products out there, although when there are glaring flaws in a series or line, like the F3, and the manufacturer does not own up to the fact and make it right by their consumers, well, plain and simple, they lose them.
  • tl;dr guy had a crappy experience with Asus and Best Buy.
  • edited June 2012
    Haha, yeah. I changed the title of the thread to reflect the long length. Also changed formatting, added pictures, and made paragraphs out of the walls of text.


    Crappy? Yes and No, for Best Buy. Crappy is a sad understatement for ASUS.
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