Greetings friends and fellow enthusiasts!
This is Mikhailov from Team Retrogue, where we like retro games and the devices that bring them to us.
We’ve all heard the tales. A random part of the ROG Ally breaks just past the return policy. What does one do? Wait! It’s still in the warranty period. Time to contact ASUS customer service. Everything will be ok. Right?
No. Everything is not ok. Not since a complete video and article investigation series by Gamers Nexus, has a YouTuber and Reviewer in the scene had to deal directly with ASUS over a broken ROG Ally…until now, because it happened to me.
The Issue
Yesterday morning, I was enjoying a friendly game called Final Fantasy XIV. No big deal. I finished, packed up the ROG Ally X in its case, and started work. I finished teaching the first chapter of “Of Mice and Men” to my sleepy Juniors and decided to enjoy a quick game during my lunch break.
Then it hit….the LT button stopped working. No response. Dead. Done. Sadness.
I had a feeling an RMA was looming, and I would be without my precious ROG Ally X for a while. I had some time before my next class, so I thought I would try calling them to get that process started.
Software Troubleshooting
The idea of sending my ROG Ally X for repair was one that gave me pause after watching Gamers Nexus’s videos. I did replace the hard drive, so there is some small signs of me opening the unit up. Therefore, definite concern existed over ASUS flagging small imperfections as damage.
I had already done the following basic troubleshooting steps:
- A complete reinstall of Armoury Crate
- A complete reinstall of drivers
- Ran Windows Update
- Ran Updates through My ASUS, which included some additional drivers and a BIOS update
- Rebooted the computer (yes they asked me if I turned it off and turned it back on again)
Yes: because I’m a boss. I did all of this during my lunch break and prep period.
Navigating Customer Service
These steps convinced me utterly that it was a physical issue with the trigger itself. Keep in mind, I’m a tinkerer. I have knowledge of basic troubleshooting simply due to what I’ve learned as a reviewer in this space.
Thankfully, I did not have to wait long to talk to a human, but that is where my compliments on ASUS’s customer service end.
The representative asked me what I had done already to troubleshoot. I listed off all the steps that I mentioned above and waited for the rep to figure out what was next.
A typical customer would not have gone through these troubleshooting steps and probably would have to do some basic software troubleshooting. While I went through a bit of frustration dealing with this process, I maintained my patience and composure with the representative.
However, it did not seem like the representative on the other line knew what she was talking about. She kept putting me on hold to do “research” and kept giving me things to “try” ultimately deciding to reset the console. I didn’t want to do this because I knew it would mean redownloading all of my programs.
I did it anyway, sitting on hold again while the reset process began. However, the bell rang. The next class was about to start.
I politely informed the rep that I could no longer stay on the phone, was given a case number, and was instructed to call back if resetting the computer did not work.
Online “Chat”
Once the reset was completed, I tested the trigger again. Nothing. “Why don’t I try online chat?” I asked myself while my students vigorously consumed the introduction to George and Lennie’s tragic adventures in the Salinas Valley.
I went through two different routes: the MyASUS app on the ROG Ally X itself, and direct through ASUS’s website. Both options eventually brought me to the screen you see below:
I thought maybe I needed to click “close the window” to get the actual chat waiting room to show. Nope. That closed me out of the entire program. I went back in. That screen stayed persistent for well over 90 minutes with no indication that any progress was being made in the queue.
While waiting, I studied the image and found it interesting that ASUS utilizes Best Buy’s Geek Squad for the RMA process. I attempted the Geek Squad online chat. I got someone instantly who calmly informed me that I needed to go through ASUS’s RMA process before they would look at it.
Dead end. I went home expecting to make another phone call.
Fine! I’ll Do It Myself!
Now that I was home where my iFixit kit resides, I opened up the unit and removed the left trigger. Something was definitely amiss. There was dried glue hanging from the button. At this point, I should have taken pictures for this article, but my fear and frustration were already going full speed. Internet research brought me to this Reddit post where I learned how hall sensing triggers work.
MAGNETS!
The “lightbulb” comment is below:
I don’t know why this comment only has one upvote.
I took out the Right Trigger for comparison. Sure enough, where all that loose, dried glue resided was a missing magnet. Thankfully, it had attached itself to the fan assembly and I was able to safely retrieve it with a small pair of tweezers. A quick dab of hot glue from my low-temp gun and we were back in business!
That was scary…
Conclusion
I would have documented the entire RMA process like Gamers Nexus did had I gotten that far. Sadly I don’t know if ASUS would have started that procedure or not because I became so frustrated that I just took care of it myself. I plan on ordering a replacement left trigger just in case my fix was temporary, but for now, I found it easier to just fix the Ally X myself than troubleshoot with them. If that is not an option for you, your best bet is to call them and go through the hoops. Their online chat seems to be broken at the moment.
You can check out our review of a working ROG Ally X here.
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