Problems with an ASUS W3V Notebook                

Asus service department response times. (there is not one)

Here is the short version.

• Purchased Asus W3V in September 2005

• Machine regularly bluescreens without logic as to what is causing other than always a graphics driver error. could happen twice in one day or once a month..

• Machine has been shut down several times placed in carry bag and when removed fan is running, blue light flashing and machine extremely hot.

• Tested if unit can be turned on with lid closed and does not start while lid is closed so cannot explain how this happens

• Many people comment on the heat the notebook emits when in use

• Had to install Powerstrip to manage graphics in effort to minimise lost time and work from unrecoverable blue screen shut downs which occur without warning

• Purchased a BENQ S61 to replace Ausus as day to day machine in February 2007 due to having bad feeling about Asus reliability. (had 2 Asus desktop mainboards fail recently, 1 mechanically and the other electrically)

• Asus W3 used only occasionally from February 2007 up to August 2007.

• During this time 2 USB ports start failing and then fail altogether.

• In August the Asus notebook shut down/FAILED completely after running for about 1 hour. will not start at all All that happens is a few of the way too many blue lights on this notebook come on.

• Owner swapped RAM out of unit (2gig Kingston) and reinstalled original stick 512 stick with a kingston stick before taking to service centre.

• While swapping RAM cleaned dust from around intake cooling fins and cooling fan which is well away from the mainboard with ArmorAll.

• Asus service centre claim liquid has been spilt all over mainboard and want $600 to replace mainboard and the RAM that was not even in the notebook previously

• No liquid has ever been in contact with the mainboard or RAM - EVER. this includes anytime after the unit failed completely.

• Spoke to Asus service centre about this. The Asus service centre claimed to have pictures of the liquid spilt on the mainboard and RAM which need replacing at my cost.

• Owner decides without having to think about it, not to throw another $600 at a $2700 notebook that has not performed very well or at all reliably since new.

• Benq S61 Joybook was $1000 less to purchase and is a far better and lighter notebook. this was before the 2 gig of Kingston was swapped in and now it is even better!

• Owner just built 2 new totally ASUS free desktops 27/08/2007. this will be the first of many more ASUS free purchases for friends and family.

• If you are looking for parts for one on these overpriced crappy notebooks contact me, mainboard excluded

• Owner spent over 15 years as a national sales and service manager and know from experience I could take this further or I could even claim on insurance but after this I would rather just tell everyone about how crappy and overpriced Asus products are. I already wasted too much time driving it out to Silverwater in the first place and talking to an idiot.

This Asus W3V notebook used to regularly experience blue screen errors when it was first purchased in September 2005 and each time the error was ativdag or something similar from memory.

This regular error was finally over come by uninstalling all the video software and using powerstrip to manage the graphics.

On at least two distinct occasions I have shut the Asus W3V notebook computer down and placed it in the carry case to travel somewhere and when I removed the Asus W3V notebook l on arrival found it to be running with the fan going at full speed, while the lid is still closed.

The unit on each occasion has been extremely hot. The heat has been at a level where I could not hold on to the unit for any length of time.

This alone I feel is a major fault. How can a laptop that has been shut down and had the lid closed be able to run and generate so much heat while in a carry bag?

Many people have often commented about how hot this Asus W3V notebook used to run. I visit many customers in my line of work and many have commented about how much heat the Asus W3V notebook pumped out.

I have been getting a bad feeling about this Asus W3V notebook for some time and in February 2007 purchased a BenQ Joybook S61 which has been used as my main machine since then.

The BenQ is an excellent notebook so far and it was $1,000 cheaper than the Asus W3V notebook and easily outperforms the Asus W3V notebook. Both had a 1.8 processor.

I have only used the Asus W3V notebook once or twice a week since February and occasionally not at all for a week or two.

For the past few months the 2 USB ports on the left rear near the vga port on the Asus W3V notebook have only been working intermittently and in the past month these 2 USB ports have not worked at all.

On Wednesday the 15th of August 2007 the Asus W3V notebook was booted and had been running for about an hour.

The Asus W3V notebook was sitting idle for this time apart from downloading Windows updates.

All of a sudden the Asus W3V notebook shut down without warning, the screen went black and now it will not even boot to even the setup screen.

I removed the 2 x 1 gig sticks of Kingston RAM that had been in the Asus W3V notebook and replaced them with the original 512 stick and another 512 Kingston stick that was brought with the Asus W3V notebook initially.

While I had the keyboard out replacing the RAM I wiped it over with ArmorAll to clean dust off.

The Asus W3V notebook was dropped out to the Asus service centre in Silverwater on Thursday.

I was telephoned on Friday by Donald who informed me there was evidence of liquid being spilt all over the motherboard and the ram and that the motherboard and RAM would need replacing at my expense.

I would like to point out the following facts.

1 - There has never been any liquid spilt on or into the keyboard of this unit.

2 - The RAM in the top slot was swapped into the machine on Wednesday night and the 2 x 1 gig Kingston sticks that were in there since the 23 august 2006 removed so I fail to see where ram that is in there is water damaged.

3 - There appears to be no water or liquid marks anywhere on the mother board that I can see at all. I don’t believe Donald even looked this far now, even still.

4 - When I removed the Keyboard there was still a smear of ArmorAll at the back of the keyboard on the black plastic

5 - What is very noticeable is a lot of HEAT discoloration right across the copper coated plastic heat sink that is located above the mother board.

6 - If copper gets wet it OXIDISES and has a film form on the surface. There is zero film or oxidisation build up.

7 - When copper gets hot it discolors and gets a reddish rainbow effect in some areas and darkens generally.

8 - This copper coated plastic heat sink in the Asus w3V is displaying evidence of extreme heat which radiates out from around the Fan/CPU area and also looks like a lot of heat has been applied to the area above where the Keyboard plugs in. There are reddish rainbow effects in places and heat darkening in others.

9 - Also please note that the white retainer for the keyboard connection to the motherboard has not been replaced.

10 -  I firmly believe that the Donald’s assessment from the ASUS warranty service centre in Silverwater a suburb of Sydney that liquid being spilt into the Asus W3V notebook is totally incorrect. This fault is due to heat damage. This heat damage has been caused by the unit somehow starting and running with the lid closed while it is in a carry bag and after it was shut down.

11 - I believe this is a fault of manufacture or materials and should be repaired under warranty especially since this unit is still in the 2 year warranty period. This failure is most likely due to the extreme heat this Asus W3V notebook has developed  through the starting or running wile in the carry bag and the high operational heat the notebook develops generally.

12 - It seems this is not an isolated case of an Asus notebook overheating as information at this link suggests Google Asus Notebook Overheating Problems and it also seems mine is not an isolated case.

I am not about to spend $600 on repairing a $2,700 notebook that has performed below expectations since day one. I own or have owned several notebooks and none have performed as unreliably as this Asus W3V notebook. The continual blue screens and loss of productivity on a regular basis before I replaced the graphics management software with Powerstrip were reminiscent  of using Win 9X again.