*Official ASUS W90Vp Owners' Lounge*

the w90 does not have a 4870x2
what it has in reality is 2 4870's in crossfire.

i really appreciate if i can get +rep as a welcome symbol <---- this....not gonna happen..*LOL*

 

Crossfire cards generally perform very close to X2 cards, performance differences are not that big, but in the desktop case the 4870 X2 performs a bit better than Crossfire 4870's.

 

Hehe... makes me wonder whether the design, manufacture, and software teams didn't really meet often enough.

Design team says 2 x 4870x2. Manufacture team makes 2 x 4870. Software team makes drivers for 1 x 4870x2

Fwiw, in theory this is my ultimate spec laptop. The price makes it my dream spec laptop... Irrespective of the cause of the problem, if Asus isn't keeping current owners in the loop, the only way to get their attention is to send it back.

 

Oh man, this is bad. My machine is dead again. Same issues as before, cannot get into vista at all no matter what. Plugged in, on battery power, doesn't matter. I realize that RMAing for a new w90 would accomplish nothing in terms of having games run, but maybe there is something wrong with my hardware. I don't know what to do, but I do know Asus just lost a customer.

 

send it in for a refund and wait two weeks to see if anything changes...

 

Doesn't NewEgg sock ya with a 15% restock fee even for RMA units?

 

good call warhammer40k... i have no clue, but knowing them....you are probably right.
that would be one of the reasons i like to get a hold of my merchandise directly. (reseller/odm/oem)

 

looks like there is someone elses without lockups here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=359690

 

Hm, . I think you're right about that if I wanted a return. Any chance of talking them out of that fee? Because honestly right now, I'd like to return it and wait for an m17 with the 4870 cards. I don't care if it's more expensive, at least I know I'd have alienware behind me. Right now, I have no confidence in Asus' ability to effectively iron out these issues in any reasonable timeframe.

And if I did an RMA, but an exchange, is there any fee involved with that? What about shipping too?

 

Wow, could newer units be shipping without problems? Maybe RMAing for an exchange isn't such a bad idea. Odd though, considering the consensus seems to be the problem is driver based, nothing to do with bad graphics hardware.

Any additional information would be greatly appreciated!

 

Well, mine has/had been problem free since the one lockup- (Grats to Bcool on his w90 as soon as PayPal does it's thing ) so, maybe it was just some units?

 

oh yea now its me too the proud owner of the beast w90 yippeee

 

could very well be thee bios or the bios is a part of the problem....

 

I'm going to call up newegg and see if I can return it. I've had this for a week, and have been unable to use it in the way it was intended, to game. To a paying customer, that is unacceptable and Asus seems to be in no rush to deliver these drivers. Believe me, I want this unit to work and I see its potential, but as a whole, it's a poor product. There's plenty of competition in the tech. market, and in this case, Asus has failed, so I move on. Perhaps Alienware can earn my money.

That is, if I can return it...which I probably cannot.

 

Thanks Striker, I appreciate you keeping everyone up to date. But I find this news horrifying (too strong?). How could the drivers not be coded for the 4870s?! Isn't that the whole point, new drivers for the 4870. That shows me that Asus has a poor understanding of this issue and cannot effectively address it. I fear that if I have a problem with the w90 in the future, Asus will be unable or not willing to help me. I'm not angry at you Striker, obviously, but at Asus. ...just venting...

BTW, another fresh f9 install has given me a stable vista environment again, but who knows how long it'll last.

 

At least your w90 turned on.....

 

i received a alienware m17 last week. out of the box, the system didnt start (one file windows needs to load was missing (probably winloader.exe or such)). so i called their service and was told to do a respawn, before that their sales rep thought of an battery-issue with removing battery for the start as this would be a common problem - which i didnt even had. the system was running without any further problems during the day i used it. but i was quite dissatisfied with the product, as i didnt start right out of the box, aw said that they would do some 200step-test before shiping, the system might have a well known battery problem, and they didnt excuse sufficient enough for my inconvenience as a paying customer.

so2 things:
- with aw you might also get problems - especialy with new 4780 cards the risk is increased.

- but at least now i will get all of my money back from them.

 

Newegg charges restocking, but they're also very reasonable with their Customer Service department so I wouldn't rule out them waiving it.

 

Hi all,

Heard back from ASUS support today. Below is the last email between them and I. I feel a little better that they have stated that there IS an issue. Better than the f9, boot to safe mode, uninstall the enhanced turbo, boot up, reinstall, it's you, not us emails I have been getting. One thing that bothers me as simple as it may seem, but a "were sorry for any inconvenience" would have been nice. I will tell them that as if it will make a difference, but hey, my parents trained me right!

Anyway, I am keeping the faith, silently holding a candle behind -=$tR|k3r=-.

Dear Customer,

Thank You for contacting ASUS Notebook Technical Support.

This issue has been recognized on a couple of W90VP units. We have forwarded this case to our Global Support Engineers for testing/duplication. It seems to be that is issue is with ATI video drivers. New drivers will be released on our website available for download as soon as our Engineers have collaborated with ATI for a new driver release.

If there is anything else that We can help you with, Please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank You for Supporting ASUS Products.

ASUS Notebook Technical Support

888-678-3688 option 3
---------- Original Message ----------
From : *******.com
Sent : 3/5/2009 11:48:06 PM
To : "[email protected]"
Subject : Re:Re:Re:Re:<TSD> Notebook W90VP [ID=***]

[CASEID=***]

Hello,

Again, this is not resolving my issues! I did another F9 recovery and followed your
directions to the letter. I am still having the same issues. Windows is reporting it is
the video drivers still. The system is still unstable. I have also contacted the phone
support. They have told me that ASUS is working on new drivers? Can you clarify this
for me. I certainly don't mind waiting a little longer if this will indeed fix the problems
that this laptop in having but I am approaching the point of being completely
dissatisfied as this is 11 days since I received and I cannot use it for the purpose
that I purchased it for. I am also concerned about the only way to reboot after these
issues is to hold the power button down and any problems that can occur from this
out of the normal operation.

 

Haha, yeah, I guess that's an improvement, lol. I don't want to seem like an unreasonable person with no patience. There's just a certain expectation of mine that when I pay a good bit of money for a product, that it should NEVER come in a completely crippled state. I don't think I'm wrong in expecting that.

And I must apologize to whoever was waiting on memory tests. Needless to say, I cannot get those to you yet. Keep in mind though, that overclocking the cpu also pushes the memory to 800mhz. I know it seems odd to have only 667mhz memory in a computer with such exceptionally fast components, but the overclocking tool is so easy and everything remains cool, it's certainly feasible to keep the memory at 800mhz during normal use along with the cpu at 3.3Ghz.

 

Well said in your section of the email! I too have only received the "it's not our fault" emails, so this is refreshing to hear....even if they don't really admit the extent of the problem. "A couple of W90VP units," come on now Asus, let's be honest here.

 

your not wrong at all in expecting that....when i got mine and it would not turn on at all i immediately contacted asus and sent it in to get a new one right away. Needless to say, it is very frustrating when you cant even get windows to load even once.

 

Maybe asus is hard at work to fix current problems with the W90 and restock it.

 

This is going to sound like I'm instigating again but take it however you want:


AMD/ATI has a Certification Program that offers their partners (in this case ASUS) the option to have AMD/ATI fully test that a product meets design specifications. Products that pass certification are then supported by AMD/ATI. The Certification Program however is completely voluntary and there's nothing to stop ATI's partners from changing design specs.


What I'm getting at is this....if ATI designed the 4870 to use GDDR5 then they're not obligated to build drivers that support a 4870 that uses GDDR3.

ATI's drivers likely don't cause lock-ups for ATI's reference cards.

 

We have no proof either way stating if they did or did not go threw this process. We can speculate, but have no proof so it's not worth discussing further.

 

Identifying where a problem lies is part of solving the problem.

The drivers don't work but are they not working because the drivers themselves are crap or because there are conflicts with the card's build?

For example modding drivers won't fix anything if a VBIOS needs to be flashed.


And finding out who is responsible for the problem is also important. W90 owners should look into whether or not ASUS got their cards certified by ATI so that they know who's responsible for getting the system working.

Is ASUS blaming ATI to cover up for their own mistake?

 

667mhz?????? Where do you get that?

Both ASUS and NewEgg state DDR2 800.

How does one verify if they are not using DDR2 800 RAM as advertized.

Also if this is true (667mhz RAM) then is this enough of a misleading/misrepresented specification paired with the ongoing issues to request an RMA with 100% refund. (not that I want one at this point, but always nice to have that ace in the sleeve)

 

The memory does in fact run at 667mhz stock, and 800mhz with turbo gear overclocking. CPU-Z can confirm this. I've posted screenshots for verification. I suppose that would be false advertising, but I doubt that would be grounds for a full return. They'd probably change it right after you alert them.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the RAM used is in fact DDR2 800, however at normal (read: standard) performance levels the memory runs at a down clocked 667MHz.
When you overclock the system the memory will then run at its full rated 800MHz

This wouldn't be the first laptop to do so. I'm pretty sure a number of the Asus Gaming machines do this.

 

Is there anything in the device manager etc that would say something to the effect PC2 6400 (which is 800) not PC2 5300 (667). In essence we got 800 but they have it throttled down?

Anyone care to stab at this one.

 

run everest, pcwizard or cpu-z

 

CPU-Z reports it as 800. Everyone is freaking out about small details. You'd never notice the difference in RAM speed anyway unless you ran synthetic benchmarks, which are not indicative of real-world performance. Seems someone is passing around a jug of hatorade.

 

I'm not complianing. but it isnt really fair for them to post specs that isnt true.

 

it probably is only part card drivers, but the rest is probably more about the bios.... if the bios isn't fully coded right, the computer wont run right as well...and it sure is starting to look like that.

for those that have the current model, take note of your bios version...when someone picks up the new one...have them check the bios to verify it's the same...this can help allot in find out if it is bios related or not.

 

So, without turbo, they reduce the Memory power

 

some kind of downthrottling for saving energy consumption?

what rates do you have at full load (without this turbo-overclocking-thingy) ?

 

Someone tested the W90 running a single card, if they feel comfortable, and it doesn't void their warranty they could try running each of the cards individually in each of the connection slots.


If the cards still use a master/slave bios then the notebook shouldn't start with one of the cards. Or on the other end of the spectrum if both cards work in either connection slot then it could mean some other kind of hardware conflict....even something with the notebook motherboard or x38 chipset.

 

wow, are they that touchy with the warranty???

rjtech/clevo we're like:
reinstall os and vga driver
pull the cards out and reseat them
check the sli cable
switch the cards around
try one card at a time in the master pcie slot
show us a video of what's going on so we can tell you if you should send it in
upgrade the bios if it isn't up to date already
reset the bios
pull the cmos battery

none of that stuff worked huh? and we see your video...ok, we will pick it up and fix it free of charge.

that really sucks if it's really like that..(now talking about the W90VP) get to touching some screws on the bottom panel and they get to screaming void! or restocking fee....all i can say is WOW! if that is true....

 

I don't know how ASUS's warranty works so it's better to be cautious.

 

i am realy surprised about that restocking fee even for defective products. i thought, the american customer would have more rights against their dealers than we here do.

is/was newegg still the only shop to buy this nb in the usa?
if so, why is this? do they have a special deal with asus?

 

agreed.....

 

Newegg is the only vendor providing that Beast with code X1
Other such as xotic pc provide the one with A1 only in the mid of march, I suppose (wow, that's my prelim exam) spec with Q9000 quad core...

 

Hi All,
just a quick post of my follow up email to the reponse I got from ASUS yesterday. Probably won't do much but I figured what the heck....
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thank you for your reply.

I certainly have a few questions/concerns about both the product I received from your company as well as how I am being treated as a customer.

-Do you or your company have an estimated time frame for these new drivers? I am sure that your company has had a similar issue in the past to gauge an estimated time frame. It has been close to two weeks now since I received the unit. I have not been able to utilize this unit since receiving.

-Will I be notified when these drivers are posted or will I have to continually check to see when/if they become available?

-How can I be certain at this stage that this is the only issue that is affecting my unit? Are there any other known issues that your company is aware off with this product? If so, will they be disclosed or will I have to wait to experience another problem until I am able to be privy to this information about the product I purchased from your company?

-Once/If your company provides a fix for the driver issue that you mention, will instruction be provided on how to update my F9 service partition? Will I be provided with an updated set of both the Recovery DVDs and the Driver and Utility Disk? I would certainly hope so. Anything less would be considered subpar in my opinion. I purchased this unit new and fully expect and deserve to have all the benefits of a working system and working support software.

A global company such as yours certainly has the resources to rectify a situation like this. Please don't lose sight of the customer's satisfaction. I could only imagine the amount of email inquiries that your company's support team must deal with. But please remember on the other end of all of the emails is a person. A person who chose your product over many others. A person who felt that your product was superior to all of their other choices. So when an issue such as this arises, a simple apology and reassurance that it is a priority to correct the issue would go a long way. I don't believe that any customer wants to feel as if their issue is insignificant. All customers want to be appreciated.

I will await your reply and again thank you for your time.

 

sry again, im not familiar with your right system there , i cant find that customers buying a notebook only can demand proper hardware, here its different to that: if you buy a complete system - like a nb with the os - you can expect a proper working system - regardless if the defect is caused by hardware or softwarebased.

 

Direct from ASUS customer support chat session (a couple of minutes ago)
Looks like were gonna have a little while longer to wait for new vga drivers



"As to an eta i stated we currently have not been supplied one by ati or the software contact team. I would approx though at least another 7 to 14 days as the issues have already been reported"


"please understand it is not a question on our internal development team. We are waiting on a response internally from ati and a new build for the vga driver from them."






Me> i am having problems with my notebook
Me> reference above 3 support inquiries

NBTSD - Juan01> In the future please communicate what it is that you are copying. I have already replied to your email you sent to technical support sir. We are currently awaiting on a new driver build to be supplied to us.

Me> ok
Me> do you know how long it will take
Me> a week?
Me> a month?
Me> a year?
Me> can you send me an email with a support ticket # and a statement that you are waiting on new drivers?

NBTSD - Juan01> Currently the only driver that is functional for installation and contains the corresponding inf data for the graphics board is the driver supplied within the recovery image of the os. As i stated in the email i would advise you removed the turbo enchaned vga driver. As to an eta i stated we currently have not been supplied one by ati or the software contact team. I would approx though at least another 7 to 14 days as the issues have already been reported

Me> ok

NBTSD - Juan01> As i stated sir, i have already replied to your email you submitted to technical support indicating that we are awaiting on a new driver build that will hopefully resolve any of the issues tied locking or instability.

Me> i have done everything that has been advised in the technical inquiries yet my system remains unstable. A re other owners of this notebook experiencing the same problems?
Me> can you resend the e-mail to me?

NBTSD - Juan01> not all w90vp owners have reported issues but we have had other customers contact us with issues in relation to booting into the os or within the os having stability issues. Currently we have found the best resolution is to recover the system using f9 and then to enter safe mode and uninstall the turbo vga enchanced driver
NBTSD - Juan01> i was sent approx 1 min before you signed on and it can not be resent. once submitted from the email queue. It should be at the email you sent your question from.

Me> thanks
Me> sorry for the hassle
Me> i guess ill just wait on the new drivers

NBTSD - Juan01> it is ok i understand you just want to have a system that wokrs normally

Me> yes

NBTSD - Juan01> please understand it is not a question on our internal development team. We are waiting on a response internally from ati and a new build for the vga driver from them.

Me> i dont mean to be a pain but i spent alot of money and the system keeps crashing
Me> and i appreciate all of your help \

NBTSD - Juan01> We fully understand sir and this is the first model in current and eol production we have ever had this type of issue with but please be assured that we are continually working to ensure a resolution as soon as possible.

Me> ok
Me> thanks
Me> have a good day

NBTSD - Juan01> No a problem sir, have a good day.

 

Another update from my support story....I am not liking the brush off and think that I am going to start calling. Maybe it is me and the way I am feeling. Perhaps I am misinterpeting the mood of these email responses. But here is the blurb..........

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hello again,

I am sorry, but I do not see in which email you have replied to my questions. If you would please take the time to read my email below date and time: Sent : 3/6/2009 11:01:59 PM and give me specific answers to the questions listed in that correspondence.
In brief I will paraphrase them:

1) "Do you or your company have an estimated time frame for these new drivers?"
2) "Will I be notified when these drivers are posted or will I have to continually check to see when/if they become available?"
3) "Are there any other known issues that you or your company are aware of with this product?"
4) "Will instruction be provided on how to update my F9 service partition?"
5) "Will I be provided with an updated set of both the Recovery DVDs and the Driver and Utility Disk?"

In addition, could you please provide me with contact information for both your company's corporate counsel and/or the corporate ombudsman?

I do not feel that these questions are of an unreasonable nature. After all, I am your customer.

Sincerely,






---------- Original Message ----------
From:ASUS TSD
To:****@****.com
Date:2009-03-07 01:42:46


Hello,


In have previously replied to your questions in your other email. At this point we currently are awaiting a new driver to be supplied to us from ati and then to our software design and testing team. Once validated it will be posted to our site. In reference to any of your other concerns please be assured we will assess what is the best way to ensure you have a functional ( in regards to our hardware or drivers or apps supplied ). Once these drivers are supplied if you have any additional questions for clarification please contact us directly and we will clarify any details you might have in reference to your situation. Thank You for contacting asus notebook technical support and for using asus for your computing needs. Additionally if you have any other questions please feel free to call in at 1-888-678-3688 option 3 then option 2.

With Regards,

Juan Jose Guerrero III

---------- Original Message ----------
From : ***@***.com
Sent : 3/6/2009 11:01:59 PM
To : "[email protected]"
Subject : Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:<TSD> Notebook W90VP [ID=RWTM***-135]



[CASEID=WTM***]



Thank you for your reply.

I certainly have a few questions/concerns about both the product I received from your
company as well as how I am being treated as a customer.

-Do you or your company have an estimated time frame for these new drivers? I am
sure that your company has had a similar issue in the past to gauge an estimated
time frame. It has been close to two weeks now since I received the unit. I have not
been able to utilize the unit since receiving.


-How can I be certain at this stage that this is the only issue that is affecting my unit?
Are there any other known issues that you or your company are aware of with this
product? If so, will they be disclosed or will I have to wait to experience another
problem until I am able to be privy to this information about the product I purchased
from your company?

-Once/If your company provides a fix for the driver issue that you mention, will
instruction be provided on how to update my F9 service partition? Will I be provided
with an updated set of both the Recovery DVDs and the Driver and Utility Disk? I
would certainly hope so . Anything less would be considered subpar in my opinion. I
purchased this unit new and fully expect and deserve to have all the benefits of a
working system and working support software.

A global company such as yours certainly has the resources to rectify a situation like
this. Please don't lose sight of the customer's satisfaction. I could only imagine the
amount of email inquiries that your company's support team must deal with. But
please remember on the other end of all of the emails is a person. A person who
chose your product over many others. A person who felt that your product was
superior to all of their other choices. So when an issue such as this one arises, a
simple apology and reassurance that it is a priority to correct the issue would go a
long way. I don't believe that any customer wants to feel as if their issue is
insignificant. All customers want to be appreciated.

I will await your reply and again thank you for your time.

 

Yeah, those 200 steps are them picking it up and carrying it to the FedEx truck....

 

Well I have officially had enough of this runaround we get from asus and the problems of my computer. The hard drive is unbearably loud and clicky, my headphone jack is unusable (high pitched loud squeal), very frequently locking up on startup, needing to do an f9 install every other day it seems to keep stability in vista, cannot run games (which is what I bought it for), and horrendous customer service. I think that is more than enough reasons to try to get a return, even if I'm hit with some sort of restocking fee. I'm mentioning this because I want to ask if anyone has a suggestion on how to proceed with this issue once I contact newegg or asus about it. I just have no confidence anymore in this machine, even after a driver update. Again, I'm not here to rain on the parade, but I'm asking if anyone has an idea on how to get a return, because right now, the best thing to do is to go to another company. Thanks.

 

Try just getting a new unit. I had to do the initial F9 reinstall, but after that it has been stable, fast as hell and amazing.

I have been getting into trouble because I try to show it to my friends but they are blinded by it's awesomeness!! That's not all, women flock to my bed and my baldness has been cured. My wife likes me again, my boss gave me raise and I finally earned my fathers respect.

OK, maybe I over sold it a bit but if you try a different unit, I am sure you will be able to experience that same blissful computing experience I have been gifted with the past few days.

 

Lol awesome Madmech hahaha makes me want one even more