Break That Warranty Sticker: ASUS Says It’s OK!
December 9th, 2007 by antThanks, ASUS, for doing the right thing.
ASUS released a press release yesterday clarifying their position on the yellow “Warranty void if removed” sticker on the bottom of the Eee PC devices that covers the RAM slot:
ASUS wishes to assure its customers that merely breaking or removing this kind of seal will not void the ASUS Limited Warranty.
This is great news for those looking to upgrade RAM or to see if their Eee PC comes with a Mini-PCIe connector. Now, you do not have to worry about voiding your warranty because of that sticker.
However, on the Mini-PCIe issue, it is interesting how ASUS words one line in the release:
ASUS Computer International (“ASUSâ€) recently received feedback from one of its valued customers with questions concerning the purpose of a seal stating, “Warranty Void If Removed†over the access door to the single SODIMM slot on some models of the ASUS Eee PC
Interestingly enough, the slot(s) below the access door is only described as a “single SODIMM slot.” There is no mention of a Mini-PCIe slot.
[edit] This is from the ASUS North America website. The press release also appears on the Canada website.
December 9th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Farewell to the Mini-PCI-E Slot .. You were a noble option ..
W.
December 9th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
When they say “products that are intended to be sold in any country where these stickers are not permitted” that may reference a US law that, I’m told, does not permit such limitations of warranty. But their statement seems to be a blanket one, even covering countries where the sticker can carry real legal weight.
December 9th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I opened my black 7A. It has the slot. I guess there’s no 8GB in my immediate future unless it, too, has the slot. Otherwise, I’d be stuck at 8GB. With my 7A, it appears that the sky’s the limit (if I’m willing to wait long enough for my pocketbook to handle the cost of the mini PCIe card).
–BriAnn
December 9th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
sly like a fox art thou asus!
December 9th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
So does this apply to everywhere or just the US?
December 9th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Thank you for the update, good to know!
December 9th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
[...] UPDATE: It appears that Asus has decided that users can upgrade their memory on the eeePC without voiding their warranty which makes sense since every computer manufacturer allows this practice. (via eeeUser) [...]
December 9th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
I’m glad to see this. RAM upgrade on a laptop is a normal standard option on any laptop, there’s no reason it should void a warantee.
I just purchased the 8G/1G model. It’s nice to know I can add RAM if I want to.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
where is the Mini-PCI-E Slot ?
can anyone provide a picture of where it is?
thanks
December 9th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
[...] (via Eeeuser.com; hat tip to Joel; image from asuseeehacks.blogspot.com) This was written by admin. Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007, at 10:29 am. Filed under Hacks, Hardware, News, Warranty. Tagged Announcements, asus, eee, Hacks, memory, News, RAM, Warranty. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Post a comment or leave a trackback. [...]
December 10th, 2007 at 2:06 am
whit: that would be the Magnuson-Moss Act, USA 1975. If you read the FTC site, it covers tie-in purchases quite nicely.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:47 am
So, anyone got a handy part number/description for the appropriate 1G upgrade? (preferably a newegg link
I can only run one of kphotoalbum, firefox, or akregator at a time with 512M, now that I have “real” data loaded up instead of just tests, so it’s time…
December 10th, 2007 at 3:07 am
May: http://pic.xfastest.com/EeePC/2GB/epc-ks-2gb-03.JPG
The top part is the mini-PCIe slot, and if you look closely under the left ledge on the top hole, you will see the connector.
December 10th, 2007 at 3:54 am
VampyreWolf: So for clarification, this applies to US only? If so, it might be better to make it clearer as the EEE PC is available in many other countries other than the US.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Can anybody confirm if this rings true in the United Kingdom too? Considering upgrading RAM but this is holding me back…
December 10th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
thanks Brendan !
December 10th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
well, the best thing to do if you are unsure of coverage is to call up or email Asus and reference the article and see what’s up. While your at it, ask about the MINI-PCI-E slot and see what they say…tell us their answer of course.
Thanks
December 10th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
[...] Break That Warranty Sticker: ASUS Says It’s OK! [eeeuser.com] [...]
December 10th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Those warranty stickers are tough to remove!! It’s great that I can upgrade ram without worries but it suck that I don’t have the mini pcies bah! I’ll never need the mini pcies anyways
December 11th, 2007 at 8:31 am
When I got my E (three weeks ago) I turned it on to be sure it worked. Then I pulled out the 512 and put a gig in. I knew in spite of the sticker there was no way Asus could win saying that voided my Warranty. They had to change it, it did not make sence before….now since I am running XP on it I wish I would have went with 2 gig
December 11th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Bremen, your email is VERY interesting. Can you please clarify which model you have? My understanding is that you replaced the 512MB with 1GB, but you wish you had replaced it with 2GB. Do 2GB RAM modules exist for eee?
Thanks.
December 11th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
For those looking for memory upgrades:
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Eee%20PC%20701&pl=ASUS&cat=RAM
December 11th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Lowest price at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141297&ATT=20-141-297&CMP=OTC-Froogle&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Memory+%20Notebook+Memory%20-_-PQI-_-20141297#6931294667173328652
December 11th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141297
Sorry, the above is a sane URL.
December 11th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
I just got off the phone with Asus Tech Support in Australia and they said that the press release applied here and that there with no problem with opening it up and putting in a memory upgrade. By the sounds of it they had taken a fair few calls on the subject since as soon as I said “press release” the guy knew what I was on about and cut straight to the chase.
On a side note, the entire call took under a minute. How’s that for fast tech support!
So in short, it looks like AU is covered. Yay!
December 11th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
i just popped open the cover on the EEE at work…no PCI-E….gonna try the 2gig upgrade soon
December 12th, 2007 at 3:08 am
Anybody over in England heard anything from Asus tech support? I’m getting nothing back here but would like to know if an upgrade can go ahead or not… Cheers!
December 12th, 2007 at 4:26 am
I had a reply from Brian at Asus via email this morning: ‘…the upgrade limitation has been cancelled in the USA. However, the issue in other areas isn’t decided at present.’
December 12th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Hi Guys!
I spoke to Asus UK and was told its ok to remove the warranty sticker, it will NOT void the warranty!
December 12th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
That’s not what they said in their email to me Adam - I think I’ll wait until they’re definite!
December 12th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I just got off the phone to Asus UK and they’ve told me it is fine to replace the memory, and also told me in detail which memory to purchase. Finally!
December 12th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Great! Now… I wonder where I can find replacement trapdoor screws…
December 12th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
newegg has 2gig sticks for pretty cheap…just make sure you get a *decent* brand (doesn’t have to be most expensive) ram quality does matter with computing even if the effects of a bad brand choice are immediately apparent.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
From Technical Support regarding this in the UK:
“Dear Friend :
Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
My name is Brian and I would be assisting you today. For your problem,the upgrade limitation has been cancelled in the USA. However, the issue in other areas isn’t decided at present.Sorry for any inconvenience.
If having any problems, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Let’s discuss this issue together.
Thank you for using ASUS products and enjoying ASUS services!
Brian Zhang
ASUS Customer Service Center (Shanghai , China)
If you have any suggestions or com! plaints about our technical support
service, please e-mail your feedback to support@asus.com.cn. We will then
arrange for a specialist to work on your issue. Your suggestions and
feedback are most appreciated and allow us to serve you better.
“
December 12th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I spoke to Asus UK today and they said its fine to upgrade the memory, if you remove the warranty sticker, the warranty is not void! come on guys even in the UK a company can’t restrict upgrades!
December 12th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Just found this deal for 1GB (totally compatible) RAM for $20 shipped:
http://www.buy.com/prod/kingston-1gb-pc2-5300-667mhz-200-pin-so-dimm-ddr2-laptop-memory/q/loc/101/204884016.html
December 13th, 2007 at 11:06 am
http://ca.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=9224
Looks like the great white north is also covered.
December 13th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
“Everex Cloudbook to rival Eee PC”
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2007/12/everex_cloudbook_to_rival_eee_pc.html
December 14th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
The E beats that everest or easynote xs (uk) it has a 30gb hard drive but only 12gb is left, same size screen and is more expensive! go figure.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Peter, can you go into detail which memory Asus recommended to purchase?
December 15th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Memory update;
Eee PC has (1)stick 0f 512K Ram in 1 slot. If memory compartment is open, it will break the Asus seal. (The seal say, “Void Warranty, if break”.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:13 am
I just watched an 4G Surf get unboxed on YouTube, and there is no panel on the back to upgrade the RAM. Can anyone with a 4G Surf tell us if when the rest of the case is removed, if we still then have access to a RAM socket to upgrade the RAM from 256MB to 1GB or 2GB?
AND if there is a miniPCIe behind all that missing 2G Surf and 4G Surf missing back panel bull that ASUS is pulling on us consumers?
December 15th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
At has been my understanding for quite some time that while RAM of the G4 is upgradeable, RAM of the G4 Surf is not.
December 15th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I have emailed my contact at Asus UK to see if theis applies to the UK. They were sticking to void if removed on tuesday as I have the honour of having the first DOA unit in the UK
and asked them if i could check it with a different dimm as it appears to be a memory fault and they wouldnt allow it despite the fact they cannot replace the unit!
December 15th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
that’s completely wrong
we have a black 4G surf and it has upgradeable ram and the area where the express card would have been…we are planning on putting a 2Gig card in so I’ll tell you how that goes
December 17th, 2007 at 3:06 am
“Seraphim wrote:
Bremen, your email is VERY interesting. Can you please clarify which model you have? My understanding is that you replaced the 512MB with 1GB, but you wish you had replaced it with 2GB. Do 2GB RAM modules exist for eee?
Thanks.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 3:11 pm # ”
Hi,
They do exist.. I just upgraded my Eee PC (4G) from Newegg.com: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145172
Model: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Notebook Memory - Retail I also bought the 8GB SDHC: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211180 Model: A-DATA Turbo 8GB Secure Digital High-Capacity(SDHC) Flash Card Model TurboSD SDHC 8G - Retail. Which both I can confirm works with my Eee PC.
Quinten
December 17th, 2007 at 3:13 am
All,
From NoteBookReview.com you can see what type of RAM it has (http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=28066) and how the inside looks like.
If you must get the same RAM from SiS here is a link: http://cht.sis.com/support/support_memory_16.htm.
For newbies who are not that aware of PCs: Any standard RAM with this specification should work: 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667.
Quinten
December 17th, 2007 at 3:15 am
Go here: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4062 to see what it looks like inside your Eee PC.
Quinten
December 17th, 2007 at 6:43 am
2G Surf is out… seems in the forum that someone got one (but it has 512MB, not the 256 as advertised)?
Is this true? 512MB not 256MB?
Also - since 4G models has about .7GB of space left, much more than 2GB used, then with the 2G exactly what has been left off (software wise)?
Does the 2G Surf have OpenOffice.org still?
Would love to see a comparison of software between 2G surf and 4G versions! Anyone know?
December 17th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Do NOT remove the sticker if you’re in the UK.
“Dear Friend :
Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
My name is Brian and I would be assisting you today.
For your problem,the upgrade limitation has been cancelled in the USA. However, the issue in other areas isn’t decided at present.Sorry for any inconvenience.”
December 18th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
WARRANTY
I went to the ASUS site to look at the details of the warranty. It says there IS a limited warranty, but fails, AFAICS, to state the term. Is it a year??
Or something else.
December 27th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Can anyone has picture on where the SSD on the 4G. Is it upgradable? how about in 2G surf?
January 4th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
[...] hat außerdem mitgeteilt, das man Modifizierungen unterstützen wird und das Öffnen des EEE nicht zum Garantieverlust führt - sehr [...]
January 11th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
we are waiting for an official announcement about warranty stickers in France
March 17th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Hanging problem on the Asus eee pc. My laptop, the 4G model is hanging after every few minutes. The only thing we use is the Excel type package provided on Linux platform, We have not installed any other programs. We also use a little bit of email and the internet. I find that the mousepad area gets very hot during usage and I feel it may have something to do with this and the RAM. Any ideas anybody? It is brand new and I bought it only on March 27th 2008, at the TataChroma store on Brigade Road, Bangalore, India
Nachu