Replace or Repair?

Dear Friends,

My ep121 blows its fans at full bore, the battery is malfunctioning so I have less than five minutes of unplugged time before it shuts off without shutting down, and one of the fans is grinding its bearings. My computer sounds like a motorcycle.

I could send the whole thing in for repairs. It's my primary PC, so, in this scenario, I'm without a computer for about two weeks. Other threads have seen estimates come back from ASUS for repairing the thermal cable alone at $400. (If memory serves, ASUS wants to replace the motherboard under such circumstances.)

I could roll the dice, order a thermal cable, and see if that repair will actually work. CF, I think, tried repairing his this way and it didn't end up solving the problem. For other people, it's worked. My search results indicate that I can buy one from France for around 30 Euros (excluding S&H), or I can buy one on ebay for $75.

If the thermal cable worked, I'd still need to replace my battery and my fan before I had a unit that didn't blow noisily, or motorcycle-y, and that had normal battery life. Parts will cost about $300 total, ordered from France.

I'm not sure how to tell which fan to order. When I open up the back, it's the one on the left that's busted. If anyone has run into this situation and solved that problem, I'd appreciate their advice.

Alternatively, I can order a Surface Pro 2 for about a grand. Or, upgrade to the 256GB/8GB model and enjoy the upgraded hardware, battery life, and suffer the smaller screen.

I've decided to and ordered the thermal cable from France -- two, in fact, just in case. I'll gamble the $70 and see what cards I get. If it doesn't work, I'll get an estimate on total repairs from ASUS, and likely as not just buy a Surface.

Writing to share my experience and solicit advice, if any. Will update upon receipt of thermal cable.

Best wishes.

 

You have two problems.
Can you elaborate how the fan became loud? did you openned the back?

 

Certainly. The fan started going full speed after I opened the back to secure the video cable, which was fritzing out. Having successfully opened and shut the back before, I felt more or less confident that I'd be able to do it again, but not this time.

I've tested the cable's connections with a multimeter, and they seem ... ok ... but I'm not sure what connections it's even supposed to have. There is a light crease across part of the cable, which might be where it got hurt.

The first problem, indeed, is just that the fans are always on high.

After the fans were on high all the time, the computer started chewing through its battery more quickly than the auto-shutdown anticipated, and started killing its battery without shutting down. I started assuming that I only had 50% as much battery time as the computer estimated, but even this, as time went on, was overly optimistic. Eventually, the computer notified me that the battery was malfunctioning, and was liable to die without warning; at this point, it would shut down inside of five minutes of being unplugged.

Also, with the fans being on high all the time, one of them seems to have fallen off-center or something -- in any case, it now sounds, as I said, like a motorcycle. Sometimes it will find its center, seemingly, and stop sounding horrific, but any little change in the angle at which the computer rests, never mind picking it up or reorienting it, sets it to grinding again.

So, I have thermal cable, fans, and battery to contend with.

CF77, I appreciate very much your thorough competence, your attention, and your presence in this forum. My respect and gratitude.

 

If it was the cable, then you should be ok with new one. if you had inserted cable wrong before, then the line buffer on the super i/o would be damaged..it is a bit difficult to diagnose. if it is component failure.. get a new device is your best choice.

you can get new ATX packs of same dimension and solder them yourself. or get used one that may also wear on them.