Is Asus quality going down hill?

I have been using Asus MoBos for many years. I still have my A7V
boards and earlier in test stations that have been running perfectly
for years.

This past year I have to describe the quality of the new mainbords as
very poor. In the past 12 months I purchased 8-10 of the M2V boards.
The all had some glitch that has made them not usable with a
particular PCI card that we need to run some of our test equipment.
We had to reduce the 4000+ chips to about 3200+ speeds just to get the
equipment to work.

After that we figured it might be the VIA chipset so we switched to
the M2N for the next batch of 6. We configure all the computers
exactly the same way - By using Microsoft's RIS server to
automatically install everything. Well one board would not get past
"Starting Windows" in text mode so I did a manual install to see what
could be the issue. Well despite this board being the same Rev, same
BIOS, same jumpers on the board and a line by line compare of the
BIOS, this board would only load a different nVidia driver for the
drive controller. Both board had the exact same PCI hardware ID for
the SATA controllers, but on set would load NVATA.sys and the other
would only work wit NVATABUS.SYS. How the heck does that happen????

Now I just started using the M3A boards and not a single one in the
batch were able to reboot after being used for a while. It turned out
that I had to update the bios and downgrade the drivers of the NIC to
keep the NIC from overheating. Now they appear to be working, but how
could something like this not be caught?

Now some of the board with the Attansic L1 Gigabit nic just have the
NIC dissappear. It appears in the bios, but then it is gone after the
board has been on for the day. Even when you reboot the bios shows it
is on, but if you hit the F8 button for a boot selection it is not on
the board.

Am I just having really bad luck or is Asus just really going down
hill lately?

 

Well I used ASUS in the past and there where great. This last motherboard
P5nt Deluxe has left a really bad tast in my mouth.
6 bios upgrades and it will only run for 8 to 16 hour before it locks
up.(junk)
I will never buy another one again. and tech support keeps just having me
change some setting and call them back..
I am done with these people.

Mark

 

As indicated in my post yesterday, I have not been able to get my
A7N8X-X to boot.
The onboard LED lights up when the switch on the power supply is
turned on, but
there is no response whatever to pressing the front panel button. The
mobo I'm
replacing is an IWill, and everything works fine with that board, so I
know this has something to do
with the A7N8X-X.

Like you, I've been using another Asus board for years, a A7V266-E,
ant it has been
absolutely reliable. So, I'm thinking that Asus is on a down slide.

Ed

 

snip
Agree 100% I would still use the P2B which I bought 2nd hand years ago
if it hadn't been damaged by a faulty psu.I'm looking in general terms for a mb for a new build. Stability and
reliability are my priorities. Which manufacturers currently have a good
name for quality? (not interested in bleeding edge performance)
thanks

 

Shane, your a dope. These boards hardly came out a year ago so what
is your genius advice - throw them out just because there a year
old?. I would really love to know where YOU work because we know your
products must be so overpriced. They have to be because you throw out
your computers every six months. But then again you probably throw
out your computers so fast because you think that everything sucks as
bad as your products and you naturally think that your computer is
going to break in the same amount of time.

If you actually read the post you can see that the question is about
an on going degrading quality issue from a company that has usually
done so well. But seeing how you throw out your computers so fast at
your company you probably didn't have a chance to read it properly as
you were throwing your computer in the trash at the very moment you
were typing.

Maybe you should throw your comments in the trash because they are
useless.

 

Yes Chris the P2B and the 440BX chipset - those were the good old days
where you didn't have to flash your bios 4 to 5 times and find that
exact combination of chipset driver to match.

Now on boards like the M3A I have to use the latest Beta bios and the
drivers from the previous MFG of the onboard NIC just to keep the
chipset from overheating.

It appears that that Asus is really not what they used to be. Any
recommendations on vendors with reliable track records and who can
keep their product lines active for more than 3 months. Unlike Shane
that can just throw out his computer once a week we sometimes need to
replicate a system 6 or 9 months later and we don't want to have to go
to referbs.

 

If you want reliable boards that don't have a lot of extras then buy Intel.
They do it by the book.

 

Intel doesn't manufacture their own motherboards. This isn't the best
reference, but on one of the other sites (Digitimes?), occasionally
you'll see an announcement about OEM contracts.

http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/articles/show/foxconn_975x7aa_review/

"Before that Foxconn produced plenty of OEM motherboards and even manufactured
Intel Desktop Boards"

The contract varies from year to year, as to who makes the Intel Desktop boards.
It is possible Asus made them at one time.

All it would take, is a clause in the contract, that addresses defectivity, for
improved testing to be done before shipping. If component costs are the same, all
manufacturers are using China for cheapest labor, the only other thing they can
cheat on, is the testing step. (Same goes for DIMM manufacturing, where testing
is a step you can dispense with.)

Even amongst the cheapest of the cheap motherboards, sometimes a brand "X" board
is made by a competitor "Y". So there can always be surprises out there, as to
who actually made a board.

I would say, that companies will vary in their degree of success, in moving to
China. Some will try to "shave too much of the quality" out of their product,
in the name of a few extra cents of profit. It takes a while, but eventually
people notice, and the word gets around.

Paul

 

I used to use Asus boards exclusively and I had a problem with one board and
decided to try Intel. On one of my machines I have been using a Intel
D875PBZ without a hitch for over 3 years. I suppose any board can go bad.

 

I would say downhill. I have a M2N32WS professional. The only
professional thing about this board is its name. It has serious
BIOS problems up to rev.15. It configures 4 RAM modules
with the temination settings for one. It overheats without
forced cooling.

Personally, ASUS is now a second-tier vendor for me. Unfortunately
there do not really seem to be any first-tier vendors left.

Arno

 

OK, so where do you go for your boards nowadays?

 

Somewhere on teh intarweb "" typed:

And yet, having bought two Asus boards* that have been trouble-free in the
last year, I will continue to buy their boards in future.

(*) I'll only buy Intel chipsets for Intel CPUs though, seems there's more
trouble with other chipsets.

 

..>would only work wit NVATABUS.SYS. How the heck does that happen????

A few months ago, I asked a friend of mine -- a much more experienced
system builder than me -- who he liked for mobos. He said there were
only two names he'd consider: Asus and Gigabyte. His most recent
build was a Gigabyte, he recommended Asus from past experience, but
hasn't used them recently.

Out of curiosity, I took a look in the Gigabyte NG. There are_way_
fewer gripes and problem reports there than there are here.

Maybe it's because GB sells way fewer boards than Asus, I honestly
don't know. But maybe it's not?


Reply-to address is real
John