Maximum PC

well, i could give you the extremely enlongated version of this, but i will try to keep it fairly breif.

i've got several friends (3) that have ordered asus motherboards. friendA ordered a motherboard that he had to RMA to zipzoomfly because it was DOA. after getting his new one everything seemed in order. friendB ordered an asus motherboard (same model as friendA), and got an all in wonder 9800 pro. this video card would not work with the motherboard, despite trying it on many other motherboards with success. he goes with the suggestion of my cisco instructor (it's kindof like a ring of idiots) to get an asus 9800 pro and send his back. this works, everything seems in order. friendC gets an asus motherboard from some place i have no clue where. he gets it with multiple problems, including the pci slots not working properly and audio being weird; along with a memory bank being dead. he gets a refund and gets a full sized SOYO kt800 iirc. this new motherboard works fine. in the mean time, friendA is having reoccuring problems with his motherboard. it's beginning to do some strange things now, like clearing the CMOS by itself and refusing the boot/post at times. he tries getting a return and asus labels the problem as "cmos curruption" but refused to fix because they claim it's between he and the people he bought it from.

well, after all of this has happened... i decide i will build a new pc. keep in mind every person's motherboard previous to this has been for pentiums, so our motherboards are completely different. at first i wanted to avoid asus like the plague, but after reading so many good reviews and people praising asus i decide to go for it. i figure it was just a coincidence that everyone i knew with an asus motherboard had gotten a bad one.

well, after doing so, i get my PC and my system wont boot at all (i purchased an asus a7n8x-e deluxe from newegg). it turns on but no beeps, no signs of life at all. the only thing that happens is the fans turn on, that's it (december 14). so, concerned about this i call newegg. newegg tells me to try and troubleshoot the problem with asus and try to fix it; if i can't get it sorted, call them back for an RMA. well, i called asus (not a toll free number), and i got a person answering the phone saying "all of our technical support agents are currently busy, give me your name and phone number and i will have one call you as soon as one is available. so, i follow directions and wait. this was at a friends house i might add, i had stayed there for about 3 weeks during the holiday season (yes, i have a dysfunctional family, but that's a whole different can of worms). i get no call within a week, so i call back and exact same thing happens. i wait again, thinking maybe they lost my number or something. after 3 weeks and 3 calls had gone by, i was back at my house and quite thuroughly mad. i had no response what-so-ever. i call friendA who had delt with asus so much, he informs me that when i do get a hold of them they will send me to this site. he gives me the site, and i fill it out. well, after about 3 days i finally get my first response. it was an FAQ that gave me basically everything on the FAQ pointed to my processor as the culprit. coming close to my 30 day warranty from newegg, i decide i'll just call them and ask what to do. they take an RMA for the motherboard and send me another.

well, i recieve the replacement motherboard. really excited about it and thinking "thank god i finally get to use my new comp" (around january 14th), i put it in and *drumroll* you guessed it, no boot. matter of fact, this one didn't even acknowledge i pushed the power button. nothing at all. i tried dry booting it, i tried everything i could possibly think of (resetting the CMOS, booting without a processor, etc). i call asus again. same message, same instructions, same response. i go to the website, and post a new report (totally different user/e-mail, so no way of knowing it was me again)... they give me the SAME FAQ! i was mad. i started even doubting my processor at that point, but found it rather peculiar that my second motherboard was doing something totally different. if it was indeed the processor, i assumed the second one would atleast turn on. well, i was mad and i was sick of dealing with asus. so, i call back newegg and get another RMA. they said after the second return they will just refund my money. they do, along with $15 for shipping costs. i get a DFI LanParty Ultra B with the refunded money. get it in the mail february second, plug it up and cross my fingers. boots up flawlessly. not only did my processor work great, but it would even overclock from xp2500 to xp3200 speeds on the default voltages; indicating it's a bit better than the average processor.

after all of this, i can't help but to think asus hand picks perfect working products for review sites and magazines etc in order to assure "quality control". i honestly doubt i will ever buy from asus again after all of the hell i've been put through. one last thing, after a total of 5 phone calls at 2 different locations and 4 different phone numbers (the inventive use of cell phones), to this day i not once received a return phone call from asus (which, btw, was not a toll free number).

ok, sorry that wasn't too breif. i could have made it much larger though, promise, lol. i actually had a fourth friend who had troubles with an asus motherboard, but the only thing i know about that incident is that he was having problems.

I'm sorry to hear that you and your friends have had so many problems with Asus motherboards. I myself have one and have never had a problem with it; however, just knowing that you had so much trouble reaching technical support for you problem is enough to steer me away from ever buying any other asus product. Thanks for the feedback you've probably saved me a ton of money and future headaches.

I am on my 3rd P4P800 Deluxe. I have had a similar experience with their less than shitty customer service. No returned phone calls, excessive hold times, no follow through by RMA department. My kick ass PC has been down for over a month. Things are so bad my wife even complains that my PC isn't working yet. I will never buy another ASUS again. I am an MCSE and I also build custom PC's. I have always used ASUS but when it comes to performance customer service plays a big role.