Asus Laptop Help

[Tangles]

Hey

I purchased for the business, around 20 months ago, two Asus F3JP-AP002P laptop notebooks.

For the two Directors.

They run Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 @ 1.66ghz, 2x 512mb DDR2 ram, Intel 945PM chipset, dvdrw, ATi x1700 video, WinXP Pro, and 80GB Sata 5400rpm hard drive.

The shop (interstate, internet) we bought them from had a 1yr warranty, but the two laptops are still under 24month global asus warranty. Dont want to deal with the original company, rather deal with an adelaide repair / warranty place.

Pretty much, they both need 2gb Ram (not 1gb), and the Harddrives, In My Opinion & from plenty of desktop pc experience, are rooted. Too many errors, loads of BSOD, just random problems with the 'brains' of the pc - like they both have alzheimers or something (G'ma had that, is very similar lol).

I can format, put stuff back on, and a day later the HD is having siezures looking for and not being able to run simple things, such as Screen Saver, or Power Options, etc. Even hibernation will result in all bad things, mmmm 'k.

So - who would you recommend to send these 2x Asus laptops to in Adelaide, to get hard drive replaced in both, and memory upgraded? They may wish to test components 1st, but Im pretty sure its the Hard Drives. I dont want to pick them apart, as then it'd all be egg on my face from the boss's if/when things stuff up in future.

where to from here?

cheers in advance (and I now officially, and always have anyways, HATE laptops - over priced pieces of shite IMHO)

[RubyRS4]

We have ASUS laptops for two of our consultants and I did have one myself. We purchased ours 2 years ago ... and bascially I couldn't wait to upgrade from it ... they really are rubbish!

If you must get them upgraded, then STAG are the guys who deal with ASUS laptops. They were located on South Road, but the bridge project at Anzac Hwy has seen them move. I don't know where to.

I'll never touch another ASUS again. The harddrives on all 3 we had failed within 18 months. The other 2 are being squeezed for life before we upgrade again, and even now the harddrive is failing again in one of them (the replacement harddrive is only 6 months old and failing again!). Programs do not run properly all the time.

My 2c worth, get rid of the ASUS laptops and buy an Acer. Much better.

[Tangles]

its crazy, I run asus hardware in my gaming pc and couldnt be happier

when it comes to laptops, everything is so over priced.

yeah, after advice of who to take them to for good service/repairs at best price

[Dohmar]

We have ASUS laptops for two of our consultants and I did have one myself. We purchased ours 2 years ago ... and bascially I couldn't wait to upgrade from it ... they really are rubbish!

I disagree. Most of them are pretty solid. Sometimes you get a lemon tho, so their Q&A team needs a kick up the arse.

If you must get them upgraded, then STAG are the guys who deal with ASUS laptops. They were located on South Road, but the bridge project at Anzac Hwy has seen them move. I don't know where to.

Stag closed down 6 months ago when they went into recievership. If its ASUS its probably from Leader computers, give someone there a call and ask them what the situation is for non-warranty repairs. They usually have a decent warranty tho, and from what was described, it could be faulty ram or a power regulator. Both would be covered.

I'll never touch another ASUS again. The harddrives on all 3 we had failed within 18 months. The other 2 are being squeezed for life before we upgrade again, and even now the harddrive is failing again in one of them (the replacement harddrive is only 6 months old and failing again!). Programs do not run properly all the time.

I can't say I've noticed the laptop hdd's having problems, tho I personally replace all 4k/5.2k RPM drives with 7200 rpm drives. SSD drives will be better once they're cheaper. Can't really blame ASUS for the HDD failures in either case as they dont make the drives (you can thank samsung for that iirc). Get a western digital and you'll notice a lot of speed increase. Same with a decent 2gb stick of ram.

Either case, what you described should be taken care of under warranty. I believe they have 2 years standard with 3 and 5 year warranty options upon purchase. Best to dig yr reciept out and make the vendor do the hard work for u.

-D

[Dohmar]

So - who would you recommend to send these 2x Asus laptops to in Adelaide, to get hard drive replaced in both, and memory upgraded? They may wish to test components 1st, but Im pretty sure its the Hard Drives. I dont want to pick them apart, as then it'd all be egg on my face from the boss's if/when things stuff up in future.

Anyone really. Laptop drives and memory are easily user serviceable. Unscrew the backplate on the underside of the laptop and remove the existing ram chip, replace with SO-DIMM 2gb. Hdd's are usually accessed via the side, so find the screws underneath the laptop near the edge and then pull the hdd out of the side of the pc (it'll be in a caddy so u have to remove it from the caddy and then add another.)

Don't buy a HDD until you know if you have parallel or serial ATA. Don't buy RAM until you know if you're running DDR1 or 2.

If you get real stuck, I can probably do something on the w/e

-D

[Tangles]

I can do it all, I love to design and build pc systems

but thats desktop

Ive never attempted pulling a laptop apart, and dont want to start with the boss's because then it really WILL be my problem if they fark up in future (these guys are completely pc illeterate, the laptops are just to view pam anderson & jenna jameison)

anyone got someone they swear by for service/repairs for laptops? Im sure I can fix it no issue there, but frankly Im sick of repairing their PC's (software) and having the bone pointed at me when they constantly f-up due to the (hardware) issue.

[Redback]

anyone would be good enough to fix the,... well you'd thing so if running a business. but if oyu want to claim the extended warrantee you will have to deal through asus them selves. give them a call and ask. they will probably have a service agent in adeliade for the extended warranty.

[Dohmar]

I can do it all, I love to design and build pc systems

but thats desktop

Ive never attempted pulling a laptop apart, and dont want to start with the boss's because then it really WILL be my problem if they fark up in future (these guys are completely pc illeterate, the laptops are just to view pam anderson & jenna jameison)

anyone got someone they swear by for service/repairs for laptops? Im sure I can fix it no issue there, but frankly Im sick of repairing their PC's (software) and having the bone pointed at me when they constantly f-up due to the (hardware) issue.

Take it to Lam at Notepaq on Torrens road (Same side as bombay bicycle club but a little further down). He's pretty good at what he does.

-D

[Madaz]

if you want to come to my neck of the woods then

AES computers can fix it

[typevu]

I disagree. Most of them are pretty solid. Sometimes you get a lemon tho, so their Q&A team needs a kick up the arse.

I agree. My Asus laptop is on its 3rd year and is solid as a brick! Used everyday as a desktop really - no problems ever. Its getting outdated but it does the job what I want it to so it makes me real lazy to bother to upgrade.

[Ryanrb25]

my acer lappy and my old ladies are around 2 years old and (touch wood) has never ever skipped a beat. They get cained on a daily basis. I was using mine to write programs for CNC and also 3d modeling, CAD, inventor 10....still going strong.

my 2 cents.

[4door_Sleeper]

Stag closed down 6 months ago when they went into recievership.

More than 6 months ago, I was one of there last customers.

I dont believe it was recievership, just a good time to cash up with the compulsory purchase of the building.

I support 12 ASUS laptops, all have worked faultlessly with the exception of 2 with liquid spilled on the keyboard.

[RubyRS4]

Then we prob go a bad batch. All 3 ASUS laptops have failed.

Sorry, but 3 strikes mean we don't think much of them.

[Luciano]

anyone would be good enough to fix the,... well you'd thing so if running a business. but if oyu want to claim the extended warrantee you will have to deal through asus them selves. give them a call and ask. they will probably have a service agent in adeliade for the extended warranty.

Agreed.

Get onto Asus about it, and report the fault under warranty. They should send out a contractor to come and test + replace hardware.

I work on an IT helpdesk for the state gov. My dept has 98% HP machines, and any hardware fault (that we can't fix) = call to HP call centre management, give them serial #'s, and they send contractors straight to the site. (we usually diagnose the problem for them first, so they arrive with the parts and do a quick swap [ie - test RAM, HDDs, etc]).

One would think ASUS would do the same thing.

[Nightcrawler]

nah sounds like the laptops are totally stuffed Tangles - better offload them to me and I will dispose of them thoughtfully. :)

A nice tax writeoff for 2 new lappies just before tax time Oh, and if you bought them from me you get on site service

[bezender]

I disagree. Most of them are pretty solid. Sometimes you get a lemon tho, so their Q&A team needs a kick up the arse.

im with you on this one... ASUS are not a premium brand, but they are by no means shit, i have had a couple of em, and i love my eee pc, got ubuntu gutsy gibbon on it

[Dohmar]

im with you on this one... ASUS are not a premium brand, but they are by no means shit, i have had a couple of em, and i love my eee pc, got ubuntu gutsy gibbon on it

Absolutely. Im waiting for the 3rd gen EEE and I'm gonna chuck HaikuOS (BeOS) on there... ASUS aren't a huge name like sony, but they manufacture the majority of their components. They've also been one of the fastest growing companies in the last 3 years, so they might be experiencing some growing pains (the occasional lemon) but I have had more problems with MSI and Acer than I have ASUS.

New EEE is gonna have a bigger drive, more memory, bigger screen, HSDPA (nextg modem builtin) and rumors of integrated GPS are flying around. Definately a good buy for the car, esp coupled with Conzult...

-D

[gtrkiet]

sony vaio for the win

[AMS]

With my new business, I must have about 40 odd ASUS lappys out. Never had a problem with any of them. All come with a 3 year onsite warranty, which helps.

[KISIN]

sony vaio for the win

im looking at getting 1 now Vaio AR 17" with blu-rayzZZZz y0.

Edited May 25, 2008 by KISIN