S96J Tech support number?

Anyone have the tech support / repair number at Intel for the S96J laptops?

Krista

 

Intel doesn't seem to offer tech support or repair directly to the public, as far as I know. You'll need to go through the reseller whom you purchased it from.

 

When I called the reseller (Mwave) they said I had to go directly through Intel. And they gave me a number... but I didn't have my laptop with me at the time and couldn't give them the serial # so they wouldn't help me. Then... I lost the number. I suppose I can call the reseller again. I bought the barebones, not a build machine.

Krista

 

you probably have a vbi model. it may be possible to email a reseller here that used to sell that model for the tech support line....donald of powernotebooks perhaps.

 

I wonder if I can find one who will just let me pay them to ship it in for warranty work. Mwave, I guess, had the right to sell but wasn't one of their builders and won't handle warranty. Intel gave me three local "premier providers" to try but two of them don't handle laptops and the third seems completely thrown by the idea... ah, just got on the phone with another tech guy there, they're refusing to send it in for me.

So now I'm up a creek. Personally I think I need a replacement for the entire barebones, but a replacement for the motherboard will take care of the majority of its problems, I believe.

Krista

 

Well, finally I got directed back to Mwave again. Mwave said, #1 there was only a 1 year warranty (Intel says 2.) and that no, they won't honor it.

Then they said, Okay we'll send it in if you pay for shipping and _labor_. I'm like... What labor? They're like, "we have to charge you something".

Then they sent away again, came back and said, "Use our reseller ID and send it in... ", I said, "You want me to call Intel and pretend to be you?" and they said Yes!

So... I called Intel. No I didn't pretend to be mwave. I explained the situation to them. They were rather grateful that I told them what mwave said, and it's been escalated... my warranty _will be honored_ one way or another. But he did say that it might be through mwave *groan*.

Lesson learned... Never buy from mwave again... at least, not this type of product.

Krista

 

You should talk to either Ken at Gentech or Donald at powernotebooks since they also sold the S96J. Since this model has now gone and S96S is up now, it might be hard though to find parts.

 

well....if you can't find anyone to get it done, you may be able to fit in the z96j motherboard that they sell on the asus estore....not 100% sure of that, though

 

I think it is supposed to be pretty much the same system... I can't remember off the top of my head what the slight difference was. Hmm. Well I'll try the warranty... Intel must have parts, as I bought it when the model was very new, and it does have a 2 year warranty. If not... I guess I'll work on it myself. I have another year warranty, through my credit card, but I'm a bit worried about having a local shop that doesn't work on that model, fixing it. Maybe I could send it off to gentech or one of the others and have my credit card pay the bill.

Krista

 

Be very careful about mainboards from different models, as I said on another thread lately, anything from different port layout, to different heatsink layout (e.g., dedicated vs. integrated GPU which is a big difference) to screw locations may mean you'll not be able to use the mainboard from the other model. So be very sure before you order it.

 

we get a few mwave customers for out of warranty repair and a few who were in your situation. alot of them pos ton our forum or private message me. like ejl said the vbi program requires the reseller to take charge and support. intel only handles the actual repair. at this time they dont even repair them they usually ship you a sealed box. they even leave the power supply keyboard and heatsink even though you ship it without any of that. vbi program failed. well the management failed. the idea was good

 

I'd like to thank Ken from Gentechpc who private messaged me and _Saved the Day!_. I've always heard great things about Gentech, and this really isn't the first time he's come through on this model (and I'm sure many others) to help us all. (Anyone else remember the graininess issue? .

Thank you! If I buy Asus again, it'll be through you.

Krista

 

I remember. I found the cause and effect and ruled out the lcd and hardware. You never thanked me.

 

Oops! Sorry I um sometimes get you two ... confused... in memory, it's been awhile.

Thank you too! The screen / graphics were superb after the fixes.

Krista

 

we are brothers from different mothers