Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, so after like 2 years of use (always took care of my laptop) my asus board broke down and i sent it in for repairs. I never over used the laptop, it never over heated etc and after only 2 years of careful use it broke down. I sent my comp into ASUS for repairs and the wait time is pretty bad, (been a month, picking it up this thursday). I was just wondering if anyone ever had problems with their ASUS, either before repairs or post repairs… I am worried if i get my laptop back and start playing gw2 again the comp will break down within like 7-8 months or start to malfunction earlier than that. The comp i have is:

ASUS N56VZ
Intel Core i7-3630QM (2.4GHz), 8G DDR3, 750GB 7200 RPM, Windows 8 (64 bit), Nvidia GT650M 2G

Haven’t had a problem with either of my two asus laptops, the board in my dad’s computer or the board in my desktop.

I’d just look at it that something that just happened by chance.

Maybe yeah, hope their repairs aren’t kitten and they do everything professionally

I don’t think Asus skimps on anything to be honest. The Ares II 7970X2 graphics card they released was a pretty beastly example of how much effort they put in.

Asus is the manufacturer that builds the Boards that HP, Dell, and IBM now use for all their desktops and Laptops.

2 years, and you had to replace the MB. Anything can cause that, IMHO. I would request the repair and replace report from the RMA department so you know exactly what broke and what they fixed. You might have just been part of a faulty hardware rollout.

Just like the one that All HP based Notebooks that use the AMD GPU’s are affected by, Chipset Separation due to heating/cooling cycling.

Asus is overall a pretty good quality brand, honestly. I’d recommend them fairly confidently; we actually got my brother one. Your failure is the sort of hardware failure that wouldn’t really come from something you did (unless you somehow physically damaged it, but in that case they’d probably be charging you for the repair).

Just make sure to dust it out every few months and you should be fine.

sirsquishy.8531:

Asus is the manufacturer that builds the Boards that HP, Dell, and IBM now use for all their desktops and Laptops.

2 years, and you had to replace the MB. Anything can cause that, IMHO. I would request the repair and replace report from the RMA department so you know exactly what broke and what they fixed. You might have just been part of a faulty hardware rollout.

Just like the one that All HP based Notebooks that use the AMD GPU’s are affected by, Chipset Separation due to heating/cooling cycling.

So i just called them and they said they have replaced and put in a new Main Board (mother board), d/c holder replaced, d/c cable docking station and a new lower case… im not exactly sure what the holder docking station or new lower case is….

Truth be told ASUS makes quality PRODUCT, ASUS itself however in regards to customers is a different story. ASUS held for quite a long time, an F rating at the Better Business Bureau. Suddenly this past year, it jumped from an F to an A…. My thoughts are honestly that ASUS paid to get their rating bumped, as I’m sorry, you don’t just go from being an F-rate customer service to A in the span of a month.

That being said, ASUS is well known for it’s RMA horror stories taking well over 3months for many individuals. Their RMA department is one of the worst in the business, but aside from that they do have good product, which makes it troubling choosing ASUS. You either want quality with lack of support, or another company’s product such as Gigabyte which is renowned for support alongside their quality product.

sobe.4157:

Truth be told ASUS makes quality PRODUCT, ASUS itself however in regards to customers is a different story. ASUS held for quite a long time, an F rating at the Better Business Bureau. Suddenly this past year, it jumped from an F to an A…. My thoughts are honestly that ASUS paid to get their rating bumped, as I’m sorry, you don’t just go from being an F-rate customer service to A in the span of a month.

That’s sort of how the BBB works. It’s really not a great way to see how ‘good’ a corporation is; to really get rated on the site a company has to pay them in the first place.

“The organization has been the subject of controversy, particularly related to its practice of giving higher ratings to businesses that pay a membership fee.”

What I was getting at is that they held an F rating there. So what I’m saying is, just be weary/careful.

I was just pointing out that the rating should be taken with a grain of salt. Just because it’s an F doesn’t necessarily mean a great deal. It COULD, but it also might not.

Legionnaire.1586:

sirsquishy.8531:

Asus is the manufacturer that builds the Boards that HP, Dell, and IBM now use for all their desktops and Laptops.

2 years, and you had to replace the MB. Anything can cause that, IMHO. I would request the repair and replace report from the RMA department so you know exactly what broke and what they fixed. You might have just been part of a faulty hardware rollout.

Just like the one that All HP based Notebooks that use the AMD GPU’s are affected by, Chipset Separation due to heating/cooling cycling.

So i just called them and they said they have replaced and put in a new Main Board (mother board), d/c holder replaced, d/c cable docking station and a new lower case… im not exactly sure what the holder docking station or new lower case is….

They basically replaced the lower half of your laptop, and then put the palm rest, your LCD, and all the Ribbons from your laptop into the new Base.

that happens when the DC charger board wears out and shorts the Motherboard. Which is not all that common, but does happen.

Fermi.2409:

I was just pointing out that the rating should be taken with a grain of salt. Just because it’s an F doesn’t necessarily mean a great deal. It COULD, but it also might not.

They went from F to A because of their partnerships with the 3 big Manufacturers, HP, Dell, and IBM. The BBB does their rating based on Corporation reports as well as Consumer.

So yea, in a way Asus bought that A rating by being the source for the Motherboards that HP, Dell, and IBM use.

I always build with Asus motherboards. I’ve never had a problem and they last a long time – with the exception of their chipset fans on older boards – but those can be fixed with silicon grease.

My gaming system is old (built it in 2006) but it’s still very good (motherboard = Asus A8N5X; CPU = Athlon 64 FX-60 @ 2.8Ghz). I can still run most newer games smoothly, although I may have to drop down some graphics settings.

Avelos.6798:

I don’t think Asus skimps on anything to be honest. The Ares II 7970X2 graphics card they released was a pretty beastly example of how much effort they put in.

I’ve had two separate occasions where ASUS disappointed me. The first was with my Xonar DG card (driver support was shoddy enough to make me use a modded driver).

The second was ridiculous, basically, it took a few hours to realize that Windows can’t allocate resources to audio properly on a UEFI install. 5 different calls to ASUS support didn’t point anywhere near this being a problem. It took a claim from a random person on some obscure forum with a different ASUS laptop to figure it out (he had the same problem). Reinstalled Windows in BIOS-mode, and all was well.

Espionage.3685:

Avelos.6798:

I don’t think Asus skimps on anything to be honest. The Ares II 7970X2 graphics card they released was a pretty beastly example of how much effort they put in.

I’ve had two separate occasions where ASUS disappointed me. The first was with my Xonar DG card (driver support was shoddy enough to make me use a modded driver).

The second was ridiculous, basically, it took a few hours to realize that Windows can’t allocate resources to audio properly on a UEFI install. 5 different calls to ASUS support didn’t point anywhere near this being a problem. It took a claim from a random person on some obscure forum with a different ASUS laptop to figure it out (he had the same problem). Reinstalled Windows in BIOS-mode, and all was well.

And in reality, neither of those issues are to fault Asus. EFI support is a windows thing, and driver support is a chipset manufacturer thing.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, appreciate it, i just have one final question. Instead of making a new thread i thought i would just ask here. Once i get my laptop back everything will be re formated, all files lost etc.. I don’t remember what i had updated etc when i was running GW2 so can you guys suggest step by step what i should update/install before playing (i.e direct x, geforce update etc)

Legionnaire.1586:

Thanks for all the feedback guys, appreciate it, i just have one final question. Instead of making a new thread i thought i would just ask here. Once i get my laptop back everything will be re formated, all files lost etc.. I don’t remember what i had updated etc when i was running GW2 so can you guys suggest step by step what i should update/install before playing (i.e direct x, geforce update etc)

Get drivers from the manufacturer (like Intel, AMD/Nvidia…ect) then update your drivers. Make sure windows is fully updated as well. Other then that, burn your laptop in for a couple days before settling on it.

Prime95 for your CPU
Memtest86+ for memory
Any of the latest GPU benchmark suites for the video card.
and IOMeter/Crystal Disk for testing your HDD/SSD.

Your Builder does this for you, but I never trust them to be thorough.

Honestly, make sure your drivers are good, wipe the bloatware, then get whichever apps you like to have.

Fermi.2409:

Honestly, make sure your drivers are good, wipe the bloatware, then get whichever apps you like to have.

Ill be sure to update my drivers and install the latest nvidia updates/ necessary windows updates. As for the bloatware, is this a trustworthy program? http://www.decrap.org/ … If not can you suggest some free software to remove bloatware with ease.

Don’t install bloatware to get rid of bloatware, pro tip.

If it were MY laptop, I would go to the ASUS website, download the ASUS N56VZ drivers, place them on a thumb drive, reformat Windows so no ASUS b.s software is installed or Norton, or any other piece of crap. Then, roll from your own fresh install with NO bloat, install your drivers + programs YOU want.