Two users have reported on the forums that their Eee PC 1000H screens have cracked under low stress situations.
The first user’s screen broke after only having the 1000H for 92 hours this past October, reporting no contact with anything or droppings.
The second user added to the thread this past week, reporting a similar incident and posting a picture. Apparently, it worked fine the night before, but the next morning was already cracked when opened. The crack is not seen on the outside- there is no damage to the front of the screen or the back of the lid.
Has anyone else out there had any incidents like this, or do you think they are just incidental incidents?
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This is a surprise to me – I’ve been very mobile with my 1000H – it gets stuffed in a Ogio bag along with the corporate Dell laptop and all the other trappings and toted around, gripped tight enough to not let it slip, etc.
I’ve been impressed with it’s ruggedness so far.
I don’t think, that screen can crack by itself, without any considerable influence of physical agents. Moreover screen in Eee PC is rugged enough. However, it’s very unpleasant situation.
That is news to me wow. At the very least, it makes me a little concerned.
Aren’t ALL incidents “incidental?”
Having two havok children at home, several laptops who suffered them (one had its screen crushed the same way as the pic in the article), I’m very doubtfull about the “it wasn’t here the night before”. To me it looks like a too much rude opening of the laptop ended as a screen torn.
the LCD panel is a delicate little thing and about as fragile as a solar panel.
That’s an accidental flex of the panel imho. most probably caused by unduely squeezing the cabinet
This is a big FUD, nothing more. LCD can’t crack by itself.
I do not think the screen can crack on its own and I think the owner is not telling us something!
Yep this is stupid. They don’t crack on their own. Pets, friends, sleep walking, etc. could all be probable causes.
i’ve seen that kinda problem before. not on eeepc’s though. I think that laptop is left turned on for so long. The heat from the motherboard (or could be from other components) ‘burns’ the LCD. As one can see from the picture, the ‘tearing’ starts from below. I think it’s reasonable to assume that problem comes from that direction.
Moral: Don’t leave ur laptop turned on for so long, some laptops heat up when they’re in idle mode. Use a good screensaver to ermm.. safe the screen..
Yeah if the LCD wasn’t cracked by force then thermal stress could maybe do it. Shoving it in a case when it is already running hot could mess with the screen ass different parts cool at different rates.
oops i meant as not that other word =P
I had one dead pixel on my Eee’s monitor too, with 7 days.. the pixels are show in green..
i think they have a 30 day dead pixel warranty, Jr., u should prob send it in. as for the screen i had an SD card between my keyboard and the screen overnight by mistake and the whole top curved in the center but no screen problems… also have left it on overnight a few times, but i guess the screensaver saves it… don’t know what the problem could be…
That is weird. I dropped mine from a table 3 foot high into hard floor. Just a scratch in a coner. These machines are really well built, it’s working perfectly, not a single crack in the screen.
I had a similar incident and just posted about it, with pictures, in that very thread. Overheating (once I left it on & charging overnight!) and possibly accidentally squeezing it too tight by the hinges when closed seem the most likely culprits right now aside from “random fluke!”
I can’t say I’m pleased with either possibility because I’ve been extra-gentle with my eeepc and I doubt I’ll be able to get it refunded, but hopefully it can serve as a warning to others to be extra-careful.
Hi, this laptop on the picture above is ours, and I can assure everybody, that there were no physical damage done to the machine. Absolutely nothing. If we’d harmed the baby, then we wouldn’t be so surprised.
The EEE is now with ASUS, and they said that we did this to the screen, so they’ve billed $260 for the replacement LCD. But since we’ve done nothing, we will ask for further tests from ASUS, because we suspect some heat issues too.
hi my son has got one aswell his screen has cracked aswell
Hi Roger!
Could you give us your email address? If we could contact each other, maybe we can prove our point to ASUS service centers.
Thank you,
Dante
Defintely user negligence. Screens don’t just crack by themselves. The owners of those machines obviously handled them carelessly.
Now don’t go on discounting that some of us are having issues. I’m not, but having worked in Quality Control in the IT industry, I completely can see how this is an issue. LCDs also can crack on their own, especially from major heat issues, as I have tested on my own. Especially if the liquid inside the panel were hot enough to expand, it would easily crack the plastic holding it back. Y’all don’t be so harsh!
Mine was delivered (mind you, halfway across the world in fairness) with three very minor streaks on the LCD screen which appear to be hardware rather than video driver related.
It’s not worth the hassle of sending it back, I can live with it. But it does raise the issue of packing, etc. – it seemed sturdy and cushioned enough. Or manufacturer’s quality control of course
I had the same problem yesterday afternoon with my eee 900. I was using it on my bed when I left it turned on with the panel flipped down. After about half an hour when I fliped the panel up, it was smashed. There are no scratches, no external force and no babes in my house. I can provide pics. The only reason I can imagine is sudden extraction due to heat. The problem for me is that I live in Greece and I purchased my eee from New York this summer. I don’t know what excactly is going on with warranty. Does anybody knows if we could have hope to ASUS for helping us??
Based on the machines serial number and the copy of the original reciept, the ASUS in Greece could help you. Of course, it they want to…
We still have an ongoing debate with asus, regarding this, but so far they’re reluctant to answer any of our emails… I don’t know what to do right now, legal action is still an option, I guess…
Could you upload the pictures Alkman?
Also visit this forum too, it’s useful, and has pics of numerous cases:
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=480023#p480023
So, there’s a new update in our “broken LCD screen” case, and it seems like ASUS does not give a damn, and basically said, that it is our fault.
It didn’t matter to them, that we’ve presented them all the similar (IDENTICAL?) cases from this forum, and others, they say, that this is not a manufacturing defect.
Here’s the translation of their email…
“Dear xxx,
Based on the Chech service center’s opinion, the LCD screen’s damage could not happen without external effects. No sings indicate that the panel was cracked by itself.
An external effect typically could be an object dropped on the lcd; the closure of the lcd while something is under it; or extreme heat. The nature of these effects are impossible to be identified, but these are the typical reasons for an LCD crack just like yours.
These typical effects are dicussed in the manual’s “Safety precautions” topic, and they are not part of the warranty issues. Therefore the LCD panel’s damages can only be repaired outside of the warranty.
Regards xxx”
Typical… they’ve mentioned this damned word in every sentence, but this case is as far from typical as it can get! This ASUS warranty-issue makes me wonder about this whole brand. They don’t think that if I had my hands dirty (eg: if I have caused the damages), then I wouldn’t push them this hard, and I wouldn’t have get them almost 10 users with issues identical to ours?
I don’t get it, but I’m really disappointed…
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.
I think that in several if not most jurisdictions, it’s up to the warranty issuer to prove that damage to a unit was caused by improper handling.
I really don’t believe that a statement that “based on our opinion, that could not happen” qualifies as proof.
Even less do statements that “there are no signs of self-generated damage”.
I suspect they’d have to bring up harder proof if you took them to court. What qualifies as “proof” is showing that there HAVE been external causes, not an apparent lack of internal causes.
You also say they mention that “extreme heat” is a typical external effect. Can they prove it’s external? Can they prove that it wasn’t the laptop itself that generated excessive heat, which is, in itself, a serious internal defect?
You could ask them this, for a start.
Same thing happened to my sister’s brand new 1000H; sub-surface cracks appeared in the screen radiating from one of the edges. It definitely wasn’t left on for more than a few minutes at a time before the cracks appeared so I very much doubt heat issues. My guess was torsion from opening the lid cracked it, which suggests a manufacturing defect in the screen – a laptop screen should be able to withstand the lid being opened and shut..
No pictures I’m afraid; we’ve already sent it back. We’re still hopeful about getting it replaced on warranty..
Dante would you give me your email address because I have an Eee PC 701 SD. The exact thing happened to me on Dec. 28, 2008. My laptop was on my table the whole night and I woke up and went to get on it and it was cracked. I would like to talk directly to you to get some info.
Thank You
hi, my email is dante at enternet.hu
Could you upload the pictures Alkman?
Also visit this forum too, it’s useful, and has pics of numerous cases:
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=480023#p480023
I have a similar problem with my 901. I left it at work over the holidays. It was in my work cube closed up for about 5 days. Nobody touched it. It was never dropped.
When I returned to work the screen had large black areas in the upper left, upper right, and lower right corners of the screen.
Some of the pixels in those areas have returned. There are black areas are now a slight 1/2″ round area in upper left, a large black area in the upper right.
So if someone is gathering documentation on it, perhaps a dismantling of the display casing would be good to see what’s underneath it compared to a 701 or another brand laptop of similar size? I don’t think this is anything that can be simply ignored or discounted as user error with so many people having problems. Maybe contacting some other reviews would be good as well.
Just return from bangkok. My 1000h lappie developed the exact same condition though I belive it was a combination of ambient heat and a very small amount of satic pressure from being inside a travel case. My thoughts that was probably my fault so haven’t even tried for warranty. So, I’m on the hunt for a replacement screen…there are some on ebay that should do the job but worried about the quality…Asus service centre wanted to charge me more than half what I originally paid so I’d like do it my self.
Any body replaced their screen that could share their experience.
Thanks
PS not sure how to post photo
I dropped my eee 4g from a height of about 4 foot onto a timber floor. The next time I turned it on there were dead pixels in streaks at the right side of the screen. Each time I turn it on they’ve spread further.
I’m guessing from your postings it’s basically my own fault and that in time the screen will be cactus.
my 4g has a couple of weird dead blotches in the screen. they get smaller as the screen gets warmer – after leaving it for 2 weeks off, they were massive, but after leaving it on, screen closed overnight, they were quite small. I cant see anything when the screen is off either. its annoying, but not enough to make me get a new laptop… the other fault however… some bios screw up has caused the usb to only be properly initialised about 1% of boots, so i leave it on, but yesterday some rotter turned the thing off… i have been trying to turn it back on the last hour! oh yeh and it wont halt properly either. i tried the bios flash thing, but nothing happened.
YES!
I bought my 1000HA around Christmas and my screen has now cracked as well. The cracks/lines were not there one minute and when I came back to my computer they were. I have been super careful with this laptop and know I didn’t do anything to cause it. I am going to send it back to Amazon tomorrow, but am worried they won’t want to refund my money. Did any of the people whose screens cracked have any luck? Please let me know. I am going to print this page out and put it in the box with the laptop. It doesn’t sound like an isolated incident to me.
So far, we have not had any luck with the warranty. But since ASUS failed to prove, that the damage is done by us, we asked for a replacement, based on certain local laws… I’ll keep you posted, if anything happens.
Anecdotaly, I once shut down (or so I thought) my 1000ha. Believing the process would continue with out hinderance I shut the lid. Shutting the lid overrode the shutdown process, as I suppose I was too quick, and placed the netbook in the “suspend mode”. It ran down from nearly full charge in its zipped case that came with the unit.
When I noticed it was on at a later point it had nearly depleted the battery but the screen survived with out issue. Just wanted to add a different account; I’m not saying it can’t happen.
That happened to me just two days ago the night before it was working perfectly fine but the next morning my sister opened my laptop and it was cracked..no kids no nothing nobody stepped it..what should i do?
You should contact ASUS RMA…
Can you upload a picture of the laptop?
Same thing happened to me with my asus 904, purchased in November last year. Was holding laptop in my left hand whilst sat on sofa at home, it slipped out my left hand and fell no more than a couple of inches before I caught it in my right hand. No contact with anything in between. I think slight torsion of the screen might have occurred (and I mean slight) when I caught it. The screen immediately exhibited a crack from bottom right to upper left corner and then screen bled. I was absolutely astonished that such a minor event could cause such catastophic damage, as was my other half who was sat next to me. This is like my 5th laptop or something (but first Asus) and never had this happen before. Certainly have given previous laptops more abuse with no problems whatsoever. I believe the laptop may therefore fall foul of Sale of Goods Act ie “not of satisfactory quality and/or fitness for purpose”. I am hopeful that Amazon might offer a replacement.
I design electronics and integrated circuits. No manufacturing process is 100% defect free. Not all defects are caught by final test, and some appear in the field.
The screen is made with multiple layers of metal and insulator. If there is a pinhole in an insulating layer between two metal layers – one connected to ground, the other to power – then the metal layers can short together with a resistive path. If the resistance is very low, the machine won’t turn on. If it is high, there will be a small reduction in battery life. In the middle, it acts like a heater. That could generate an intense hot spot which could put a lot of stress in a very small place, nucleating a crack. Of course, the crack can break the connection, making it very hard to find afterwards.
Another source of cracks is “stress risers”, places where the plastic is thicker or thinner, holes or screw attachments or clips, where stress (especially dynamic stress) concentrates. This is a mechanical design defect that can only be caught with a lot of computer modeling or destructive testing. At these prices, how much of that was done, do you think? If this is the case, then the cracks will typically occur in the same few places. I suggest the victims of the cracks measure exactly where they start along the edge, and collect statistics. If the measurements cluster in one area for many laptops, then perhaps you can gang up on ASUS (with lawyers?) to (1) fix the design and (2) replace all your machines. Again, this is a statistical thing – not everybody is going to suffer from the problem, because problems that break every machine get fixed during prototyping.
Testing costs money and reduces yield, which drives up prices. At these prices, you can bet that all you will get is a quick functionality test, which will not catch defects like metal shorts or overly-tightened screws. So, expect field failures. Diagnosing failures also costs money, and replacements cost money as well. So at these prices, don’t expect much support or real warranty service. Heck, I’ve been treated like this by Levono, and at the prices they charge, you would think they would care more about their reputation.
More likely, they rely on customers who want to think they have purchased perfect quality savaging the customers who lose the statistical lottery, like this thread demonstrates.
Feel around the lower edge of the display or bezel for hot spots – if you find one, see if you can get your screen replaced BEFORE it cracks (though I don’t expect you to have much luck). One can see built-in stresses in plastic in a polarized optical setup; perhaps someone more optically savvy can tell us how to do it. But the burden of proof to find defects is on the customer, perhaps all of us as a group. ASUS hasn’t budgeted for it.
Some of the reports of broken screens may indeed be carelessness (and you know who you are) but a lot of them will stem from defects like the above. The rest of us, who have not suffered from these defects, should be thankful that it hasn’t happened to us, not vindictive towards the poor schmucks that lost the dice roll.
ASUS will keep lowering quality and reducing tests as long as they can get away with it – it is the easy way to increase shipped yield and to reduce manufacturing prices. That is one reason why these machines are inexpensive. Only pushback from customers, and lost sales from bad word-of-mouth, will cause them to expend money and attention on quality. This raises prices, but reduces disappointments. Since quality is so hard to measure anyway (typically affecting a few customers out of many), we can only get such measurements by combining our experiences and being honest with each other. If we defend crap, that is what we get.
Same happenened to my EEE PC 1000h ( Was recently travelling, my EEE PC was safely packed in my carry-on luggage in the cabine storage locker. Once on ground again i had the same effects as mentioned from other users before. Was this now due to the transport? I am still waiting for the answer of the airline. Or is this due to low quality of the lcd display of asus? I don’t know but I never ever had something like this with one of my notebooks. Very strange and disappointing. Hopefully this will not sooner or later happen to occur at each other EEE PC 1000h as well. As said I haven’t contacted Asus yet as I am still waiting for the comment of the airline.)
BTW How to upload a picture of the screen?
I had the unpleasant surprise of finding a similar problem on my Eee PC 1000 when I turned it on today. Two roundish sections of dead area on the screen just left of center at the bottom of the screen. Most unfortunate. I’ve treated this thing with kid gloves since I purchased it in November. Nobody but me has been anywhere near it, and I live alone (no pets either). The only thing that I can think of is that it’s about where my thumb would be when holding the Eee to put it into its sleeve/case. If I really managed to kill the screen just by holding it tight enough to not drop it, this thing is seriously under engineered. I am not a happy camper. I will take photos of it sometime to add them to the discussion. I also discovered I’m out of AA batteries for my digital camera and the rechargeable ones aren’t holding a charge, but we won’t blame that lack of foresight on Asus.
I just got my 1002HA last week, and when I first turned it on initially, while the screen was blue, a definite crack from top to bottom to the right of center and becoming a fork near the center.
I was devastated. I have since tried to see it, and I find no trace of it all. The visible crack was not in the glass screen, but behind it. For what its worth.
This happens when u close the screen down, and something is laying on the keyboard. CRACK
The same thing happened to me.
I have the 1000 HD and have had no screen problems, but I agree that heat CAN cause cracking of the LCD.
I am always careful NOT to leave it charging without having the screen open. And I always allow it a cooldown period BEFORE closing it after I’ve had it on the charger.
But then, I do that with ALL my laptops…
Both of these will help prevent anything like this happening.
Laura J. Underwood
I have a Eee PC and my screen cracked IT was under low stress so I thought it was strange that it cracked I bought it two months ago.
Sometime the manufacturer make the screen to tight around the corners thats why they crack.
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