Hi,

I have a G46VW, about six months old. It has been in heavy use every day with no issues at all until now. But the last time I plugged my Nexus 7 tablet into a USB socket, the laptop screen went out and to all appearances the machine died - except that the power switch and lights remained illuminated and there was NO way to turn it off.

I've been around computers a long time so the first thing I would normally have done is to pull the battery, let it settle down and then try again. But of course, there's no way to do that on this laptop short of opening it up.

So I opened it up. I've opened up laptops before, I'm not scared by the experience and generally know what I'm doing, more or less. However, when I lifted the keyboard up off the case, the ribbon detached from the motherboard. It didn't get forced, it just came apart. It didn't appear to be soldered on, and there seemed no way to put it back. I gave in and took the machine to a repair shop.

They now tell me that the machine is a write-off because it needs a complete new motherboard assembly, since there's no way to reconnect the ribbon connector outside of an Asus factory, where, they tell me, the ribbon connector is heat-sealed to the board using some arcane factory machinery.

Maybe this is true, but I don't know. To write off a new machine that costs close on $1000 because a connector has failed seems ridiculous, but this repair shop has an excellent reputation and says nothing can be done.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts about this one? I can't afford to write off this machine and can't afford to replace it. Many thanks in advance!