A Survey on the ASUS Problems with Notebooks and Support

A Survey on the ASUS Problems with Notebooks and Support

Last update: August 13th 2008 by E.B.E.

Periodically, the ASUS forum receives complaints from dissatisfied customers that have a machine with recurring defects, or that have sent a machine to ASUS and were treated badly by the support department. This thread is intended as a summary of these reports, as well as a larger perspective on this type of problems, together with proposals of possible explanations for some of the problems. Hopefully, using this thread, a new reader of the ASUS NBR forum can form at a glance an idea about the most important problems ASUS have with their laptops and support.

Before delving into the details, let me give an essential caveat. Any brand out there, from the producers of the cheapest consumer electronics to the producers of cars, will have its share of problems; its share of machine types with design faults; its share of units that come bad from the factory (the "lemons"); and its share of inconsiderate support persons. Therefore, any brand will have its share of dissatisfied customers. ASUS is not special in this respect. I do not add this statement here to demean the people that have issues, instead I add it to put their problems in the proper perspective.

Also, please understand from the start that even if the problem that you personally have with an ASUS notebook is hugely important to you, you are still a single sample, a single individual; if the problem you were experiencing isn't confirmed by (several) other users of the same notebook, you most likely had a randomly occurring fault, which is statistically a normal phenomenon; such faults are not mentioned in this post, nor will they be. It would be entirely pointless and unuseful to try to compile a list of every individual fault experienced by ASUS notebooks.

Another essential observation is that this list of problems and the views presented in this document are not official in any way, and are not endorsed by ASUS or by the NBR staff. This is just a survey of information collected from the NBR ASUS forums over a long period of time.

Finally, note that this survey is an extended and updated version of the post ASUS Quality: Below Expectations?.


Table of Contents

1. A summary of the problems
1.1. Hardware and firmware problems
1.2. Support problems
2. What can we do about this?
3. Possible causes
4. Some more detailed caveats (or: why things are not as bad as it may seem)
5. Conclusion


1. A summary of the problems

Below I give a summary of the problems with ASUS reported on the forum. Two main categories of issues exist: hardware and firmware issues; and support issues.

1.1. Hardware and firmware problems

Some ASUS models suffer from hardware design and firmware programming problems. Namely, some budget notebooks are affected (A8, F3), as well as some business and gaming notebooks (V1, V6, R1, G1S). I only list here problems that affect a significant number of machines from a certain series. To determine whether the problem affects a significant number of machines, I use the number of times it is reported by different users. So, if a large enough number of users reports the same problem with a certain type of machine, I conclude that at least a significant number of machines suffers from the problem. Note that no software problems are included in this list.

A detailed list of the problems, including the affected models:

• A8: the plastic in the hinges breaks after extensive use (ranging from months to years). Relevant thread: A8Jx: Fixing a loose hinge (with pictures).
• F3: the plastic on the keyboard bezel, near the lower-right corner of the keyboard, develops a crack after extensive use (typically on the order of months). Relevant thread: ASUS F3 crack in keyboard (palmrest) corner.
• V1J, V6J, R1F, R1E: the battery accumulates excessive battery wear, up to a few percent at every discharge past 30%. At least some of the wear is "fake" and probably due to firmware bugs, although the precise cause has never been established with certainty. Relevant threads: Is your notebook battery losing life fast? It might not be a battery problem; Battery wear.
• V1S: also suffers from the battery wear problem, but to a lesser degree. At least for some users, the wear "resets" to 0 from time to time. For some series of modular and main batteries in the V1S, using the modular battery causes the main battery to stop working. This appears to be fixed in later series of batteries, though. Relevant thread: V1S battery wear problem.
• G1S, G1Sn: many of these machines have overheating GPUs. At least some of the machines are not affected, though. The causes are unclear, but most likely it's due to a bad design of some component the cooling system. Relevant thread: ASUS G1S resource thread.
• M50S, M50V: some of these machines (not all) suffer from keyboard lag problems: sometimes, keys pressed do not register, which disturbs typing. Some partial solutions are proposed on the thread Solutions to keyboard lag in ASUS M50 Series. Some users report that the severity of the problem diminishes with time. It is unclear whether this is a hardware, firmware, or software problem.
• C90S: certain brands of RAM cause the computer to bluescreen (or more correctly, for certain brands of RAM integrated circuit boards). This is not because the RAM is faulty, but because of incompatibility problems. The following thread lists RAM sticks that have been confirmed to work well with the C90S: C90S memory success report.

ASUS are not acknowledging that some of these problems exist. For instance, they have never acknowledged the excessive battery wear problem. They are acknowledging to a large extent the hardware problems of the A8 and F3 models; consequently, broken A8 hinges and F3 palmrests are replaced free of charge in most countries.

1.2. Support issues

The quality of ASUS support varies significantly across the globe. Here is what we know with good certainty:

• US support is excellent, and this is reported by a large number of users. Typical turnaround times are on the order of a couple of days, with same-day returns if the user carries the laptop into the service center.
• UK support is bad; every report that I can remember about UK support indicates this. In the UK, ASUS laptops are sometimes repaired using 3rd party shops that ASUS has a contract with. In those cases, it has happened that the laptops returned with damage due to improper handling, with loose parts inside, or with unattached heatsinks. Sometimes, defective ASUS UK laptops are sent to The Netherlands. Even then, UK owners reported long turnaround times and unsatisfactory results.

Here is some information that we are not so sure about, because we do not have enough reports to form a clear conclusion. Almost certainly, a part of the cause for the lack of extensive information is the fact that these countries are not mainly English-speaking. Nevertheless this information may be helpful to know, so I am including it.

• Support in the Netherlands is somewhat of a mystery. It appears that many countries send their ASUS laptops to be fixed in the Netherlands, at least in certain instances. However, reports on the turnaround time and the quality of the service depend on the point of origin of the laptop.
  - As already mentioned, when UK is the point of origin reports are bad. That can be related to the fact that when machines are sent from the UK, they have already been mishandled in the UK so the user is already dissatisfied -- but it is unclear whether this is a complete explanation.
  - My own experience with ASUS Netherlands, while repairing notebooks sent from inside The Netherlands, is reasonable. I do not know of other experiences of people inside Holland.
  - We have one bad report from Luxembourg (laptop sent to NL).
  - We have two good reports from Germany (laptops sent to NL).
• Besides ASUS NL, there was one bad report for Portugal some time ago, and one for Italy. I am unsure where those laptops were repaired.

2. What can we do about this?

As always, before investing in a piece of machinery as expensive as a notebook computer, do your research. Look up the ASUS model you want to buy in the list of models with problems, above. If it's there, investigate the problem that it has, and see if that problem affects you, given your usage pattern (e.g., the "modular battery kills main battery" of the V1S will hardly affect you if you won't even buy a modular battery). If the notebook is on the list, weigh the extent to which the computer fits with your needs with the disadvantage of possibly having to deal with that problem. Consider alternative notebooks, either from ASUS or from other manufacturers.

If the ASUS laptop you're interested in is not on the list above, chances are it's problem free. Don't work under that assumption, though. Look up reviews and user feedback on the internet. See if there are any recurring problems that do not appear on this forum, or that I did not catch in my survey. Make your own informed decision.

With respect to support issues, if you're in the US, you should certainly weigh ASUS support positively, especially since ASUS also offer 1 year of accidental damage protection there. If you're in Europe, the situation is not so clear. If you're in the UK, you're likely to run into troubles if your notebook needs warranty service. So, for UK residents, I would suggest either a) find a reputable ASUS reseller that will help you fix the notebook in case it breaks down, without you having to send it to ASUS; or b) look at another brand. In other European countries, things are not so clear because we do not have enough reports. Check the list of "uncertain countries" above, for a rough idea of what you can expect. Do research yourself, e.g., you may find more information in pages and forums written in the language of that respective country, than on this English-language forum. If you can't find enough information, to be on the safe side, you can assume that things can go bad with ASUS support in case you need it, and work further under that assumption.

The steps above can be applied right away and their consequences are immediate. On the longer term, we, as an ASUS user community, can try to raise awareness at ASUS about the problems that they have, either by emails and other benign communication, or perhaps using lawsuits when the problems are severe. Somewhat cynically perhaps, I will say that this doesn't have much chance of success. Big electronic companies don't really care about reports or even lawsuits from a few customers. Unless it's something really bad, e.g, health-threatening (exploding batteries is a good example), the company will simply tend to turn a blind eye and leave the problems die out on their own. Legal action is rarely likely, because it can easily cost multiple times the price of the entire notebook -- so it's hardly worth it for an individual user. There remains the option of collective legal action, but again, unless the problem is really bad, I do not believe there is enough motivation for a group of users to really go into such a thing.


3. Possible causes

Realistically, I think that these problems are "normal". I put "normal" in quotes for good reasons. In the capitalist economy, the actions of a company are dictated first and foremost by the profit that it makes: the bottom line. All else is just marketing (which is a nice way of saying that all the rest is lies), which is itself motivated by profit. I think that the laptop types with design problems are released for the following reason. The ASUS managers push for a fast product design cycle, which enables them to get new types of machines out of the factory in a short time. This is extremely important for an electronics company in the present times, when electronic technology becomes obsolete over an interval on the order of months. There is not always enough time to iron out all the problems, even if the engineers know the problems exist. Once the manufacturing line is in place, it's all downhill. The cost of changing the line is so large, that it will take a very, very significant problem for ASUS to be motivated enough to do it.

With respect to the support problems, things are less clear. It may also be a problem of money. Maybe ASUS simply thinks there's not enough reason to invest the funds necessary to change or improve the support team, even if it does perform badly. ASUS may also be locked into contracts with 3rd party shops such as those that damage laptops in the UK. The central management levels at ASUS simply may not know about these problems, or they may not consider them important enough; to them, support in a European country is only a very small part of the big puzzle which is the multinational company.

Another theory with some empirical support is that these problems were caused by a change in the orientation of ASUS, which occurred a few years ago. ASUS initially offered high-quality laptops for a niche market, consisting of people that knew about ASUS from perhaps their reliable desktop motherboards, or from other people that had bought ASUS notebooks and were impressed with the quality. The quality came at a price premium, but those willing to pay it benefited from a well-built, reliable laptop. Later on however, ASUS entered the mainstream notebook market, where price, and not necessarily quality, is the main driving factor. To do this, they had to cut on the costs. These cuts may have affected the design stage, BIOS/firmware programming, and quality control.


4. Some more detailed caveats (or: why things are not as bad as it may seem)

In this section, I give some more detailed considerations aimed to put the problems described above in perspective, so that a new reader is not scared by these problems for the wrong reasons.

As I already mentioned in the beginning of this survey, ASUS is not special in having design and support problems, and therefore dissatisfied customers. Any brand has its share of these things. An important question is whether ASUS manifests design and support problems to a greater or lesser extent than other brands. Since I do not have experience with other brands, I cannot make that determination.

The problematic models mentioned above are a small part of the entire range of notebook models sold by ASUS. They also have models with excellent track records. These good models belong to the business class (e.g., the M6, V6 that I own), as well as the consumer class (e.g., the F8 series is very reliable). The U series (U3, U6) also gets a lot of praise, and there are no significant issues with the W series, either. There are also many owners of the problematic models who are quite happy with their purchase. This is usually because, due to their usage pattern, the problem does not affect them.

Moreover, we have to keep in mind the negative bias that a forum such as this has. Most of the people will come here to report and solve problems. From the people who have problems, a large percentage do report them on the Internet, and certainly many of these people arrive on this forum, because it is well-known. By comparison, a much smaller percentage of the satisfied customers will come to a forum to report their satisfaction -- they will just be glad their computer works, and they will keep on using it without advertising to the world that it does work. Add to this the fact that there is a significant amount of positive feedback on this forum, of people who do say "this ASUS is a great machine, and I am happy with my purchase". When correlated with the negative bias that I explained above, this makes a strong positive statement about the overall quality of the ASUS notebooks.

It is also essential to understand that a certain, small percentage of the units sold by any company will be bad or break down in a short amount of time (these are the "lemons"). Because ASUS sells a very large amount of notebooks, that small percentage translates into a significant number of bad units. Reducing the percentage of bad units that pass quality control is a difficult tradeoff for the company, a tradeoff that requires costly investment. Beyond a certain, small enough threshold on the percentage of bad units, the investment no longer makes sense for the company, because it cuts into the profits too much.

Also, when we are talking about individual random faults, which are not recurring in many machines of a certain series, we shouldn't be scared that the frequency with which they are being reported on the forum is constantly increasing. This is again a statistical consequence. This time, it is a consequence of the ASUS brand becoming more popular, and people buying more ASUS computers. Since statistically the same percentage of the computers will develop problems (all other things being equal), the total number of computers with problems will increase, and the frequency of problems being reported will increase. This is not a sign that the brand quality is decreasing.

One more thing. Some people report they have bought in the past computers that have caused far less issues than their new (ASUS) computers. I think this phenomenon is also not restricted to a certain brand. In recent years, I have observed a trend of reduced reliability in all electronic products, starting from mobile phones to laptops. As already explained in this document, the useful life for the company of a certain generation of technology keeps decreasing; a certain laptop model nowadays is sold for a few months, maybe half a year at most. Therefore the design cycle has to be shortened as well, to maintain the competitiveness for the firm. This directly leads to more design problems not being fixed, and as a result to a worse overall reliability.


5. Conclusion

This concludes my survey of problems with ASUS laptops and support. Hopefully, it will help people understand these problems better. Thanks for reading.

Here are some related threads, discussing complaints about ASUS support and quality:

• ASUS Quality: Below Expectations?
• ASUS Warranty Repair
• Tell us your Asus RMA Experience

 

Very informative and nicely said

 

awesome post as usual E.B.E! Rep up!

 

Agree. Well done and written.

This needs to be added to the sticky so that it can be referenced easily from various threads and doesn't get buried as time passes since we know it's going to be needed.

 

I'm sorta scared...

see, I opened the CPU cover panel and removed the warranty sticker in order to repaste... BUT I ended up chickening out and now the sticker won't stick back the way it used to AND its very slightly torn. I swear, I didn't modify or change anything (I didn't even touch a screw with a screwdriver)! If my lappy dies because of NVidia's fault, will ASUS still fix/replace my machine despite the busted sticker?

 

What about the keyboard lag in the M50 series?

 

Not a problem. All you have to do is "swear" to Asus that Nvidia made your sticker not stick & were so dumb they even tore it.

I'm sure Asus will give you a new "lappy".

 

Yep, I was thinking about that. But I'm not sure that's not a software problem, since it gets "better" with time and there are also (partial) software fixes to it. Still, it's worth mentioning I think. I'll add it on the next edit.

Well... what you did was voiding your warranty, so they don't have to honor warranty on your notebook anymore. Still, (depending of course on your location), ASUS service are pretty relaxed about this sort of thing, so as long as you didn't damage the CPU, scratch the heatsink, or anything like that, I suppose it can be ok.

 

We'll see. They've been good with me in the past so I think they might still help me, like you said, considering that I didn't actually DO anything to the computer. I'm in NYC.

But hopefully, I won't even have to worry about my machine crapping out...

 

I didn't know that it gets better over time, but it seems like a BIOS fix could take care of it, from what I've heard the touchpad and its many functions may be conflicting with it, but I hope it gets fixed for good.

 

Updated: added info about M50 kbd lag; C90 being picky about memory. Also added relevant links for each problem, and improved some formatting.

 

You might want to add the "S" behiind the C90 since the C90P is around the corner and it might cause some confusions between the 2 models.

 

Right, thanks.

 

I'm on my second G50Vt-X5, both of them have issues with dropping the internet connection, verified on the first machine by Best Buy and replaced, now the second one is doing the same thing. I've seen a couple of other reports about it doing this, but nobody seems to have a fix. The guy at best buy said something about the network cards being used having problems.

 

Have you tried reinstalling the wifi drivers? Do this issue occur in safe mode?
If it works in safe mode, it's most likely a software clash and you could pinpoint the program that is giving you the issue by uninstalling all unnecessary programs one at a time.

 

Wow, i never even seen this list before plus rep E.B.E.

 

Pretty big post full of info, respect.

 

Nice post. I can say that for my part the two Asus NL RMA's that I've had have gone pretty well, sent from Finland (which I believe is just handled by ASUS Nordic, since we don't get any proper native support).

1st time around my G1 GPU died, I sent it to NL and got a fixed one back in around 3,5 weeks. A bit loose keyboard from one end and missing rubber pads, but I didnt stress about them.
2nd time the RMA'd G1 started making some weird noises I wasn't comfortable with (specially in quiet places) and I sent it back.
They sent me a brand new G1Sn back, which is quite an improvement from an old G1. Well, this one is having some heat problems but don't think its NL's fault.
Got the new one in about 6 weeks.

 

thats pretty neat they sent you a brand new notebook only after sending it back twice, really cool

 

Yeah but on the other hand missing rubber feet and loose keyboard after repair... not good! Perhaps if they had fixed it properly in the first place, a second repair would not have been needed. So another negative point there for ASUS NL.

Arauge, did you solve your WiFi problem using David's suggestions?

 

No disrespect towards ASUS, but the entire piece reads like corporate apologism IMO.

 

Well I'm not associated with ASUS in any way so it's certainly not corporate.

I was trying to make it objective, and that meant avoiding bashing ASUS or drawing unjustified conclusions. Hence the mild tone. Do you have any particular complaints/points where the text could be improved?

 

ok my Exp. with Asus "Support", since i worked for a long time in CSC for the biggest Cable Company @ Germany i just call it "suppbs".

RMA for Germany are done by a company called "Let Me Repair". Asus HQ does have one of the unfriendliest CS-worker... they dont have a clue what id going on, delete RMA-Orders and so on....

RMA Nr. 1 = Noise on my G1s. Changed mainboard, but no fix to my noice problem.
RMA Nr. 2 = Noise + GF9500. Changed mainboard back to 8600GT BUT still no fix to my problem.

After 7 Weeks of "RMAing" I still wait for my Replacement... 3 Asus NB i had, Im gonna for a Dell next time.

 

I mean in general, I go to one board that's always making excuses for charging collectors through the nose. They're not affiliated with that company, they just believe it makes them more mature to be all "Dem's deh brakes".

 

The guy at BB updated my wifi driver from Intel. Problems continued in the store, he told me to try a restore when I got home and if it didn't work he'd give me a full refund or "try to find a comparable model".

When I got home I hooked it up using an ethernet cable to try a few last-ditch things that people had recommended before doing a restore. Immediately I got a prompt for a windows update, updated and rebooted, and haven't had a problem since.

The update was just security stuff, so I don't think that's what fixed it, I think the guy at best buy just didn't fully install the new driver. I'm not sure if he rebooted or not afterwards as he had the computer facing away from me.

 

Do we have any reports of ASUS machines having DPC latency problems? After buying the Dell Studio and having to return it because it couldn't even remotely do anything "studio" related due to massive DPC issues, I am a bit gun shy about buying a new laptop but so far I like what I see from ASUS.

Anyone familiar with DPC spikes, or want to download a DPC spike checker tool and run it on their ASUS for me?

 

Hi. I run a small business and my comp is totally critical. Twice I've phoned the toll free number on the bottom of my computer, once for the screen going dead, and once for a HDD failure. Both times, without hesitation, the very nice lady on the other end of the phone asked me for my location, and before the end of the day fedex had picked up my package. i got it back in less than 4 days (from when i called) both times. I would reccommend asus 100%.

i saw somebody comment on 'maybe this is a corporate apology' thread started by asus. good, i hope they did. it shows they are trying to rectify the problem and they want to hear from customers.
just my 2 cents. i love asus and will buy another for myself and my wife when the time comes. (I bought from Gentech, who was awsome imo).

 

Great thread, EBE! A couple issues from notebooks "before your time":

Z71V: batteries would fail to charge. Asus eventually replaced all the affected batteries with working ones 8 months after the notebook was released.

Z70V/Z70Va: ubiquitous red ghosting problem on screens, also very common audio board failure.

 

The recurring-issue information on thread is pretty out of date by now... many new models and some of them with issues that aren't mentioned in the main post. On the other hand, the main line of reasoning still largely holds, I believe.

As to corporate apologism, I repeat, definitely not as I was the one to write it.

 

ASUS support in india is the worst which is handled by rashi peripherals - distributors of ASUS product .

 

Im an owner of a g2s-a1 and many of these notebooks have failed gpu's due to the nvidia defect, presents with a black screen when you try to boot up.

Ive had my g2s independently inspected to confirm the defect, even after sending a copy of this report to Asus, they refused to acknowledge the problem.

Also another confirmation here of how poor the uk service is.

 

G51 series throttling and BSoD (throttling is not specific to ASUS, but BSoD seems to be the one). Those threads are freaky long. I really retract myself from buying those regardless being the best spec'd machine out there (for the money as well).

 

Is this a good way of complaining to Asus?

I have had problems with my Laptop and it is about to expire in its Twelve Months Limited Warranty.

I live in the UK and the warranty leaves much to be desired (as we all know)

I have sent my laptop back for repairs twice, this will be the third time. The second time I sent it back they poorly fixed my problem, took six weeks and cause slight damage to my laptop.

Do you think this complaint/damage description reads ok. Or is it a bit rude?

This message follows:

"I am writing to you as for the Past week the screen randomly flickers, it isn't very common but it happens and i'm worried that if I leave it as is it will get a lot worse. I also have evidence of this incurring in several other k50 series laptops – so it must be a common flaw which should be rectified.
I also want my computer completely checked out to make sure there are no problems.
I also want the chassis replaced as when your resting your hand on it whilst using the trackpad it makes a “squeak” noise. It also isn't attached to the laptop properly. – This occurred after the last service.
I would also like the space key to be replaced if I am able to have it replaced.
There are also a few stuck pixels on my screen, not a huge problem and I understand there is a certain limit of stuck pixels you have to have to justify an lcd replacement or repair which I understand.
The bezel also seems rather loose.
I hope this doesn't sound rude but I have encountered manufacturers before who do not do their job properly. Please be aware that I will make no hesitation to contact a small claims court if the service is not performed to an acceptable standard without justification.

Please make the repair as quick as possible - last time it took several weeks which I find completely unacceptable. Damage also occurred on my laptop during the last service like a slight scratch on my screen - however, if you refuse to replace this for any reason I understand. I also rarely notice the tiny dent on my screen.


This will most likely be my last service as my warranty is soon to expire. However, I do warn that even if my warranty is expired that I will contact the small claims court if the repair isn't acceptable.

I refuse to pay any fees incurred.
I understand the limited warranty doesn’t cover accidental damage but all of these problems Were either onset from a previous service by you or through a fault in the laptop when I purchased it or through a design flaw.
This is the third time I have had to return my laptop.
The first time resulted in a loss of data.
The Second time was only to fix hinges and instead I ended up with a slightly marked screen, a damaged space key, dis-attached bezel and a slightly dis-attached chassis. The job wasn’t even done right as the hinge covers seem rather loose!
I really hope this job is fixed fine otherwise I will contact authority because of stress from previous repairs.
Thank you,

Mr Broad"

Please give feedback on it, do you think I will send it or will Asus refuse to fix my laptop?

 

Definitely send it!

I bought an Asus N61V nearly 12 months ago. The USB ports dropped in and out and the computer shut down on a regular (e.g. up to 5 times a day) basis. I contacted Asus support and they advised restoring it to the original factory settings. I did, the problem remained. I sent it in for repair and a week later got it back. The third party Asus had engaged said that they couldn't replicate the problem but predictably, both faults remained. I sent it back for repair again. It was returned a week later with a note saying the main board has been replaced. Still the problem remains. Asus will not replace a faulty machine unless there are a minimum of 4 hardware faults. My advice is steer clear of Asus machines. The 2 year warranty is useless.