Repeated Issue with Asus G75VW Notebook - Question

[Acturus]

I purchased one of these a couple of months ago:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...129&CatId=4938

I absolutely love it, but unfortunately, the hard disk crashed a couple weeks back. Afterward, I could boot it up, but would receive a SMART error at the boot screen telling me the hard disk was faulty, and would eventually fail.

I send it in for service, they replaced the hard disk, and I got it back.

Last night, the hard disk crashed again. This time, however, the only message I get is to (paraphrase) use the boot media to restart the notebook. I can get to the BIOS, but I can't F8 to start the OS in safe mode, or F9 to bypass the boot media requirement.

The ASUS customer service tech is setting me up to send it back to them to be fixed again, but I'm worried that they'll just replace the hard disk again, and leave it at that.

I know there's no such thing as a lemon law when it comes to electronics like this, but does anyone have any advice about working with customer service to try alternatives when fixing a repeated issue? I mean, can they give me a different hard disk than the "normal" one?

I worry that there will be a third time for this same issue, and if I have to call again, I really don't want to get into the habit of sending it in every month or so until the warranty expires.

Alternatively, does anyone have any good or bad stories with ASUS customer service? They've been helpful to this point, but I have techie PTSD from an old HP laptop from years ago, and the HP support sucked balls back then.

[The Stig]

I can only think of 2 things:

1. They "replaced it" by taking it out, maybe actually looking into it, and putting it back in after running their diagnostics
2. They done nothing and reformatted it for you

Kohan would probably be able to provide more insight into this.

If you're confident, you can buy a pile of hard drives to swap in yourself, if you're confident fiddling around inside a laptop.

[Acturus]

Doesn't modification void the warranty in most cases? I do want to add a SSD to run the OS from, and the laptop has room for a second drive, but I don't want to void the warranty 60 days in.

[hey]

Doesn't modification void the warranty in most cases? I do want to add a SSD to run the OS from, and the laptop has room for a second drive, but I don't want to void the warranty 60 days in.

No.

[kuronosan]

Doesn't modification void the warranty in most cases? I do want to add a SSD to run the OS from, and the laptop has room for a second drive, but I don't want to void the warranty 60 days in.

They say that at places like Best Buy or whatever to coerce you into buying their shitty service/install contracts.

[Niya]

It depends... As long as you have an easy to open service bay/hdd tray that's only secured by a few screws, it shouldn't void any warranty. AFAIK warranty voids are marked as such with the famous VOID stickers or a construction that's impossible to open without breaking anything.
But since it's the same problem for the 2nd time, i'd say send it in again. Unless their service is completely useless they should notice that and look more into the problem.

[Seraph]

It sounds like the HDD is crap. If you are planning on getting a new SSD, now might be the time. I have this exact same laptop, but some of my components including the storage drive(s) were not the default installed options. I have had good experiences with the following solid state drives:

- Intel 520 Series
- Samsung 830 Series

They are a little pricy, but I haven't had one fail early on me yet, and their speeds are pretty good too. Anything over 200GB was more than enough for my needs, but you will likely end up spending roughly a dollar a GB for a quality SSD when there are no sales going on.

Also, that model of Asus should have 2 bays for drives (3 if you want to count the bay usually used for the optical drive). You can just slam in a SDD for your primary OS drive, and get the cheap huge HDD for storing your media and crap on it. That's what I did, and it has been working well for months now.


Edit: The only issue I have had with this model is the crappy built-in subwoffer, but I use headphones most of the time so it isn't an issue. Everything else has been fantastic.

[Acturus]

That's interesting. I've enjoyed the presence of the subwoofer. I guess two years with a netbook will make anything seem like an improvement.

And I've sent it in a second time. I do hope they look more into it. Once it's over there, I'll call for a status update, and check to see if they're actually replacing the HDD, or if they're doing more/less with it.

And I'll ask about the SSD. The challenge I have is that I don't have the OS discs, so adding a second drive for the OS means I'll have to acquire a copy of Windows as well.

Cool, thanks all.

[Seraph]

The challenge I have is that I don't have the OS discs, so adding a second drive for the OS means I'll have to acquire a copy of Windows as well.

If you currently have a valid copy of windows, it shouldn't be too hard to get your codes off of the existing HDD and find a general install disk to reinstall on your new drive and use your existing codes. Something kinds like this for example:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/produc...dows-7-key.htm

[Acturus]

Yeah, I found a program some time back that would scan your machine for license keys. I just need to get my codes and look at piratebay or some such for an install disc image.

[Seraph]

Yeah, I found a program some time back that would scan your machine for license keys. I just need to get my codes and look at piratebay or some such for an install disc image.

Windows 7:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/downlo...ownload-links/

If you are using any other version of Windows on that machine, shame on you!

[Toxictaru]

Asus is pretty cool about warranty repair actually. When I had a G73 (2.5 models down from the one in the OP), I had some issues with mine. The G73 had some weird heat issues with the JH model and the AMD graphics card, mostly due to stock paste being crap. Most people found that popping the whole thing apart and repasting the GPU helped most heat issues. I was also in this boat, and decided while it was open to repaste my CPU as well. The CPU in most G-series Asus laptops are where the warranty void stickers are. Naturally, I broke my sticker with reckless abandon. Fast forward a few months and my GPU completely fails, and I end up having to RMA it. Laptop was sent back, all fixed with a new GPU and no mention of my already voided warranty.

That said, any modifications to Asus laptops aside from CPU upgrades are basically safe. Some places will claim it voids your warranty, but there is a significant enough amount of documentation at the NotebookReview forums from actual Asus reps reassuring everyone that it takes a bit of work to actually void the warranty. Aside from breaking the CPU sticker (which is hit or miss) or obviously breaking something inside while working on it, you're safe to do upgrades.