HELP! My G74SX female socket SATA on MB has cracked. Cant plug in ribbon cable. HELP!

[Dave_Simmons]

I have an ASUS G74SX-A1 and it has 2 Hard Drives. My problem is this, The female SATA plug on the actual MB cracked as a result of simply disconnecting the ribbon cable so I could try to reformat back to factory OS all because my BDE DS4E1S drive does not work. So I was going to reformat my main HD with my backup discs to factory default and I hoped it was only a driver issue.
I backed up the main Hard Drive (HD) onto the second HD with all my documents, etc. and after i discovered the optical drive was not working and would not read any discs at all I went to plug the ribbon cable from HD 2 back into the MB. That little snap lock that holds it tight broke. I mean its a plastic clip that was not tightening the ribbon cable to the MB.

So the result is I cant access my backup HD and want to know if this is something that can be fixed. To make things worse the female plug has a hailrine crack in it now. This is all because those lousy Blue Ray burners Model # BD E DS4E1S stop reading all discs.That blue ray drive has not been used maybe more than 10
times since I owned the notebook and I have read so many posts that others are having the same issues with that model DVD drive. I am out of warranty so want to know if a local electrician or a local PC repair can fix this or am I screwed? I have an email into ASUS now but due to the holiday I am not expecting a reply until next week. Meanwhile i have my main HD working but the optical drive does not work nor will the secondary HD. I am so upset. I love my notebook and I really need it working.Please advice. Thank you all for any help or advice given.

[cl-scott]

Well, there are basically two options as I see it.

The first option is to take it somewhere and have them replace the motherboard. Considerably more expensive, but the better long-term fix.

The second option would be to break out the electrical tape and try to just pin things in place as best you can. Then resign yourself to the fact that you'll probably be redoing this every couple of months. Also accepting the fact that unless you're very careful, you might end up lifting a resistor off the PCB and compounding your issues. You'll probably just want to be adding a screwdriver and roll of electrical tape to the list of accessories you take with you everywhere you go with the laptop.

It's not out of the question that someone could remove the SATA port and solder a new one on, but I'd be a bit leery of that. Mostly because those things are intended to be soldered by machines with a level of precision beyond most humans.

[Dave_Simmons]

cl-scott wrote:
Well, there are basically two options as I see it.

The first option is to take it somewhere and have them replace the motherboard. Considerably more expensive, but the better long-term fix.

The second option would be to break out the electrical tape and try to just pin things in place as best you can. Then resign yourself to the fact that you'll probably be redoing this every couple of months. Also accepting the fact that unless you're very careful, you might end up lifting a resistor off the PCB and compounding your issues. You'll probably just want to be adding a screwdriver and roll of electrical tape to the list of accessories you take with you everywhere you go with the laptop.

It's not out of the question that someone could remove the SATA port and solder a new one on, but I'd be a bit leery of that. Mostly because those things are intended to be soldered by machines with a level of precision beyond most humans.

I have tried taping it in place and even tried another unused ribbon cable I have. No good. I realize that soldering another is my best option next to replacing the MB. I myself once had to fix a ribbon cable socket on a Kenwood Car stereo and I was able to do it. It was actually a bit more soldering if not about the same as i am looking at here, very similar. Do you think if I send it into ASUS they can fix it? My wife last night was driving me nuts with her super glue ideas. No I will stay away from that idea. This is not my actual pictures but some I snipped off the net to show the problem area. I have it in tight and taped down good but the corner on mine at the top is cracked and I dont think all the ribbon is touching the socket. Therefore I have no HD showing in the bios. Can these little sockets actually be bought? I do have an electrical supply store down the street from my work and I mean this place has so many odd items I thought I would drive over in an hour on my lunch break to see what they have. I do know alot about soldering. I guess the main concern I have is removing the entire MB to get to the bottom. Can all this be avoided by sending to ASUS? I wonder if they can or would replace just that or say I need another MB. This Laptop is not very old. But long story short it was a replacement and my warranty is expired. Do you know Clinton Tung at ASUS out of California? He is my connection their and I am waiting for his reply now. But meanwhile I want to stop stressing and know there is a fix. How much do you think another MB would cost? Just a rough guess needed. Thank you for your reply.

[cl-scott]

Dave Simons wrote:
I have tried taping it in place and even tried another unused ribbon cable I have. No good. I realize that soldering another is my best option next to replacing the MB. I myself once had to fix a ribbon cable socket on a Kenwood Car stereo and I was able to do it. It was actually a bit more soldering if not about the same as i am looking at here, very similar. Do you think if I send it into ASUS they can fix it? My wife last night was driving me nuts with her super glue ideas. No I will stay away from that idea. This is not my actual pictures but some I snipped off the net to show the problem area. I have it in tight and taped down good but the corner on mine at the top is cracked and I dont think all the ribbon is touching the socket. Therefore I have no HD showing in the bios. Can these little sockets actually be bought? I do have an electrical supply store down the street from my work and I mean this place has so many odd items I thought I would drive over in an hour on my lunch break to see what they have. I do know alot about soldering. I guess the main concern I have is removing the entire MB to get to the bottom. Can all this be avoided by sending to ASUS? I wonder if they can or would replace just that or say I need another MB. This Laptop is not very old. But long story short it was a replacement and my warranty is expired. Do you know Clinton Tung at ASUS out of California? He is my connection their and I am waiting for his reply now. But meanwhile I want to stop stressing and know there is a fix. How much do you think another MB would cost? Just a rough guess needed. Thank you for your reply.

While I understand the reasons for it, I'm still not a big fan of it. That being that electronics today really aren't designed to be repaired, just replaced. So if you sent it in to us, someone would just replace the motherboard entirely. Then maybe later someone would look at it and see if it could be fixed by hand, and if so, it'd join the RMA stock.

I honestly can't even really speculate with any reasonable degree of authority on the rest. Obviously SATA ports can be bought, otherwise how do motherboard makers get them. Whether or not you can find someone willing to sell you only one or two I have not the foggiest. Then assuming you can get your hands on only one or two, each one of the little metal plates in the SATA port has to be soldered individually at the bottom end. So from a logistical perspective, this could quickly become a nightmare.

I also don't even have something I could use to base an estimate off of for if you sent your system in. I have a spreadsheet that deals with non-G series laptops, but obviously a G series is going to be more. I don't even know how much those parts run internally so I would have at least a floor, saying "It will be a minimum of X." Sorry.

[Dave_Simmons]

cl-scott wrote:
While I understand the reasons for it, I'm still not a big fan of it. That being that electronics today really aren't designed to be repaired, just replaced. So if you sent it in to us, someone would just replace the motherboard entirely. Then maybe later someone would look at it and see if it could be fixed by hand, and if so, it'd join the RMA stock.

I honestly can't even really speculate with any reasonable degree of authority on the rest. Obviously SATA ports can be bought, otherwise how do motherboard makers get them. Whether or not you can find someone willing to sell you only one or two I have not the foggiest. Then assuming you can get your hands on only one or two, each one of the little metal plates in the SATA port has to be soldered individually at the bottom end. So from a logistical perspective, this could quickly become a nightmare.

I also don't even have something I could use to base an estimate off of for if you sent your system in. I have a spreadsheet that deals with non-G series laptops, but obviously a G series is going to be more. I don't even know how much those parts run internally so I would have at least a floor, saying "It will be a minimum of X." Sorry.

Great I see your work for ASUS. Well do you advice I just get an RMA and send it in for repair? If so Ill go that route.

[Dave_Simmons]

Scott,

Well I do need another DVD burner so my question is are all laptop/notebook dvd drives universal and will fit my G74SX or do I
need to buy a specific type? At least I have my OS and 1 HD that works fine but I do need to reformat back to my original ASUS OS with my backup discs so I need and must have a DVD burner/reader. BR is not that important. I just want to make an online purchase now. Please advice and thank you again. I guess I will contact ASUS
and arrange to send my notebook in for repair. I want to do that after I get another DVD drive first and really try hard to maybe fix the problem socket first. It happened late last night and I was in no way prepared for
this. So never buying a drive for a laptop/notebook what are the rules? Universal or specific to my model?

Dave

[cl-scott]

Dave Simons wrote:
Scott,

Well I do need another DVD burner so my question is are all laptop/notebook dvd drives universal and will fit my G74SX or do I
need to buy a specific type? At least I have my OS and 1 HD that works fine but I do need to reformat back to my original ASUS OS with my backup discs so I need and must have a DVD burner/reader. BR is not that important. I just want to make an online purchase now. Please advice and thank you again. I guess I will contact ASUS
and arrange to send my notebook in for repair. I want to do that after I get another DVD drive first and really try hard to maybe fix the problem socket first. It happened late last night and I was in no way prepared for
this. So never buying a drive for a laptop/notebook what are the rules? Universal or specific to my model?

Dave

Generally speaking, as long as the connection method is the same (IDE v SATA) and the drive is the right physical size, it SHOULD work. It's not a guarantee, but your odds are very good.

[dstrakele]

Sorry to hear of your SATA port accident. http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?12506-slimtype-bd-e-ds4e1s-WILL-NOT-READ-ANY-MEDIA discusses several resolutions to your ODD drive disk read problem. Also one that ISN'T in there is the ODD can be disabled in Power4Gear.

Pressing F9 at the ASUS splash screen will perform an ASUS Factory Restore if you still have the hidden ASUS Recovery partition on your HDD. You can choose to restore Windows to just the 1st partition.

A $15 USB drive enclosure will allow you to access your backup on the 2nd HDD.

[Boosted_R]

Whats the price of getting a G74sx motherboard replaced ? For those passed warranty cl-scott ?