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pdm0118 · ‎11-05-2013

Hi.

Recently my laptop's charger pin is broken during my attempt of fixing the bootup blank-screen issue.

The warranty on this G53SW is expired, so I might have to spend a lot to fix this. So I'd like to know which option would be the less expensive and/or the quickest.

1) RMA. I'm worried that if I make a RMA request and send this to ASUS, they'd want me to replace the whole motherboard, which costs about $150. They might charge additional fee because of my blank screen issue.

And how long does it take for my laptop to be repaired and shipped back?

If ASUS were simply to replace the port in my laptop's motherboard, how much would it cost? (The customer service didn't have an answer to this)

2) Taking it to some individual repair shops would cost about $70.

Really not sure about this idea.

3) Fixing it myself. I've opened and accessed to where the memory and hard drive slots are, but never gone further. So it'd be somewhat of adventure if I do it myself.

The replacement ac/dc power jack plug is pretty cheap on amazon, but it'd take up to a month to be shipped.

Help me here. What'd you do?

One more question. Do you think sending a RMA would make me lose all the data in the hard drive? I certainly hope not.

Uh and as for the blank screen issue, Today I'm planning to see if the magnet trick works. Did the magnet work for you?

cl-Albert · ‎11-05-2013

pdm0118 wrote:

The warranty on this G53SW is expired, so I might have to spend a lot to fix this. So I'd like to know which option would be the less expensive and/or the quickest.

1) RMA. I'm worried that if I make a RMA request and send this to ASUS, they'd want me to replace the whole motherboard, which costs about $150. They might charge additional fee because of my blank screen issue.

And how long does it take for my laptop to be repaired and shipped back?

If ASUS were simply to replace the port in my laptop's motherboard, how much would it cost? (The customer service didn't have an answer to this)

Just curious if you did anything to damage the DC jack if it matters, but from what I've been hearing the U.S. repair department often doesn't charge for the G53 DC jack replacement right now, but if the motherboard needs to be replaced (for related or unrelated issues?) there normally will be a charge for this, so your unit needs to be checked by repair first before we can have a better idea of what will be involved (and if there are other issues to solve, etc.).
Not sure about the repair time though and you might want to try to get more information and confirmation from ASUS support about what I've said, but it also depends on what happens after we receive your notebook.
I may not be able to help a whole lot, but if you end up sending it back to ASUS, feel free to send me a PM at cl-Albert if there are any problems or delays and I'll try to look into it more.

pdm0118 wrote:

One more question. Do you think sending a RMA would make me lose all the data in the hard drive? I certainly hope not.

Before you send back your notebook to ASUS, you will be asked to back-up your data and informed ASUS will not be responsible for the data.
Although it can make it tougher to check problems without your hard drive, it may not be a big deal this time if you prefer to just remove your hard drive before sending it back.
Repair may also not be able to easily check everything without your hard drive, or it can slow down the repair at least, so you may want to decide which way works better for you.

Well, hopefully others can provide more info too.

pdm0118 · ‎11-05-2013

Thank you for the reply, cl-Albert.

cl-Albert wrote:
Just curious if you did anything to damage the DC jack if it matters,

I have been using the laptop without any extreme action that would be considered 'maltreating' the device. What I did yesterday was flipping the laptop front to back with the charger cord attached. Then I found the male pin broken, stuck inside the female charger. (I managed to pull the pin off the charger)

cl-Albert wrote:
so your unit needs to be checked by repair first before we can have a better idea of what will be involved

Do you mean getting it checked before sending RMA to ASUS, or sending the laptop to ASUS so they can check?

cl-Albert wrote:
Before you send back your notebook to ASUS, you will be asked to back-up your data and informed ASUS will not be responsible for the data.

You mean ASUS will ask me if I would like my data to be back up, while processing my RMA request?
So sending my laptop to ASUS with the hard drive attached won't necessarily affect the data, but there still are risks. Am I correct?

Since I think that the charger port and blank screen aren't hard drive related issues, I might just leave it in the laptop. For the sake of faster repair (potentially)

Oh and one more question, do you think it'd cost extra fee if ASUS takes care of the blank screen issue?
I will try the magnet trick today, but if it doesn't work, I'll just send it right away to ASUS.

cl-Albert · ‎11-05-2013

pdm0118 wrote:

Do you mean getting it checked before sending RMA to ASUS, or sending the laptop to ASUS so they can check?

Sorry for the confusion, but meant to say you may need to send it to ASUS before they can give you an exact cost if the notebook is out-of-warranty although you might ask ASUS support again for estimates if you talk to them.

pdm0118 wrote:

You mean ASUS will ask me if I would like my data to be back up, while processing my RMA request?
So sending my laptop to ASUS with the hard drive attached won't necessarily affect the data, but there still are risks. Am I correct?

Since I think that the charger port and blank screen aren't hard drive related issues, I might just leave it in the laptop. For the sake of faster repair (potentially))

Actually, ASUS support will warn or remind you that you need to back up your data before sending your notebook to ASUS.
If you send in your hard drive, you may lose the data, so please be aware of this and back-up first if necessary.

pdm0118 wrote:

Oh and one more question, do you think it'd cost extra fee if ASUS takes care of the blank screen issue?
I will try the magnet trick today, but if it doesn't work, I'll just send it right away to ASUS.

Hmm..the blank screen issue does complicate things if you are no longer covered under warranty and there will be a charge to fix it if you are no longer covered.
Hopefully the magnet will help solve it, but if you need to get it repaired, you may want to ask ASUS support what it would cost for an out-of-warranty diagnostic.
Everybody's different, but personally I don't like spending too much money for out-of-warranty systems.

Anyway, you may want to get more opinions about it too.

pdm0118 · ‎11-05-2013

Thanks, I think I'll contact the customer service again and ask about out of warranty repair costs.

And In that case, I might just remove my hard drive for the sake of data preservation, if I cannot fix the screen issue.

**UPDATE** : I have successfully fixed the blank screen problem using a magnet. Now the charger pin is the only problem, so I'd just RMA now.

G53SW charger pin broken (USA)