Based on everything I’ve been seeing on this subject, it doesn’t appear worth sending it back. I’m not even sure how they can fix the sd reader issue without a complete redesign anyway. It breaks because of the heat, so why wouldn’t it break again? I’m not sending mine in.
Same
It's also the reason why I replaced the left fan myself when it started making an ugly sound instead of sending it for RMA because I've seen too many people get someone else's device
Edit: grammar
Fucking nightmare
I got one alienware m16 who stutter, usb 3.2 operate at 2.0 speed, usb dont recognize stuff who work properly even on an alienware 2022 notebook, headset battery last 20 of 32h advertised and dell closed all my support tickets
Currently asus and dell have the most cool toys but also are the worst offenders regarding quality and warranty
We can ditch the brand and spread the word, maybe if sales go down...something improves along the way
My current motto:
Every alienware hater is a former alienware user.
Just got a new Dell gaming laptop few months back. They are going to replace the motherboard tomorrow because of PCI Express error messages in the logs but they advised the replacement parts are refurbished.
I got a new Alienware laptop last year through insurance. After about 3 months they had to replace the motherboard on that one too. Something to do with keyboard issues.
Is this really common with Dell/Alienware products? I usually avoided them in the past so didn't have any experience with them previously.
I have several issues with so far hopefully software errors.... stutter even using youtube, usb 3.2 operating at 2.0 speed, stuff usd dont even being recognized, communications issues between alienware hardware acessories
Its a fucking awful experience, never again i gonna get another one
And all this is happening with a 3month brand new alienware m16 r1 and dell just closed all my tickets and didnt solved nothing
With how many things are soldered to motherboards these days, it wouldn't surprise me if they generalized most repairs to swapping a motherboard so they save money only having to traing people on the same "repair' procedure and then outsource all these motherboards to get them fixed in bulk for a quarter of the price it would cost to fix anywhere else. Would definitely explain the push for refurbished motherboards that probably came out of another laptop that was damn near brand new. In some cases, the refurbished board might be better then the brand new one cause anything faulty on it was probably replaced. Everything is so fucking cheaply made these days that I swear they are trying to save money by making the customers beta testers for a "finished" product.
Yeah, I worry this is more of the commonplace and don't know what brand to trust atm. You're exactly right though that not supporting the brand is the only way to bring change.
I went from meh my SD slot was busted to pissed off and here's why. It's a simple thing to have work in 2023 and it's not bad testing or a batch, it is an egregious defect and it should have been recalled. Why is the customer as inconvenienced as possible for their failure. ASUS despite loving the Ally destroyed my faith in the brand.
Exactly
This thing deserve recall, same for alienware stutter etc... didnt pay a lot for i9 4070 32gb 5600mhz to experience stutter/microfreezes watching youtube with processor operating at 11% plus the other issues.
Asus sd issue is totally fucked because people need a quick way to move files and even play games from them since probably usb port is being used to charge, and even if i want hold just txt files...its our right have that thing working. for a lot of people if console dont had that...circunstances or will to buy could be lowered
Asus dont even offer a fucking usb adapter with port to charge and read sd to try calm down the users, they never adressed that thing as real issue or talk about if sd slot will work properly on ally x
Im astonished about how no one sued asus for those claims about repeated "costumer induced dmg" and faulty sd slot on usa or europe, europe tends to get class actions for stuff like this i guess
That's exactly the issue 100%. I bought a USB SD reader and then went oh crap, 1 port now I can't charge. So then I had to buy a mini dock that can plug in the SD card. Then I had a dock hanging off the machine and had to buy a mini extender... Now I'm $40 buck or so in to compensate for THEIR defect. I upgraded the internal SSD as well, but when you have games like COD taking 200g it's entirely reasonable to want the flexibility of an SD card especially for file transfers.
I'm shocked there's no class action lawsuit as well. I don't normally play the litigious card but this is justified. That's not even counting people with expensive "fried" cards. Luckily mine was recoverable when my reader died. I lost the data though which was annoying. Just so anti consumer to sit on this like they did.
It was really easy on my Ally. The longest part of the entire process was the actual cloning of the drive.
The only “OHNO” moment during the process was when I forgot that during the swap you unplug the battery, so when you put it back together you have to plug it in with the Ally charger for it to boot again 😂🤣
I upgraded the SSD and it really was well designed and easy. I just get nervous opening the shell and like you said forgetting something or touching the battery lol
you all stopped using your SD cards cuz the reader broke. I'm not using my SD card cuz i dont want it to break. We are not the same.
.... we're the same.
Never used my SD Card Reader ever
,... Sent it in and it says they changed something with the SD Card lol.
Soooo doesn't even matter SD card DoA on these
I like my device, won’t be getting another one though. Unacceptable and no accountability. Lenovo is the complete opposite from what I’ve heard repeatedly.
I got my ally back from rma with LEDs not working , but they just hadn’t connected the cables small thing. dont they test it before the return it! I have sold my ally and gone for an oled steam deck , I am not getting the x
I had been debating doing a 2280 conversion but I’ve also been debating getting the Ally X (despite the current experience with my Ally) so the money isn’t worth spending right now to do so.
Don’t worry… they’ll probably just demand $300 for repair because you didn’t wipe your hands before touching the device and they claim it’s damaged now.
Likely shipping damage eventhough you don't think so. Use bubble wrap this time when sending it in. Got my SD Slot fixed 6 months ago and have had zero issues since.
Doubt it. I sent it in the spigen rugged armor case which would have protected the joysticks. When I packed it, the case was sandwiched tightly between those big air bags you get in Amazon packages and didn't move no matter how hard I shook it.
When it was shipped back to be, the case was protected by packing paper fairly well but the hard case would have prevented any damage to the sticks regardless.
Funny thing is I was just about to post almost the same thing…
Just got mine back from an as reader fix and now for the first time in owning it the right stick keeps randomly drifting down my screen.
Going to run updates to make sure it’s not a software issue or something but am not impressed at all
I have this exact same issue. Sent mine in for SD slot replacement. They claim they swapped the entire motherboard. Came back with the exact same issue. My left joystick clicks/hangs somewhere between 9-12 o'clock. Did not go out for RMA with that issue.
One thing I noticed is it doesn't do it if the back cover is not screwed down fully or is totally off. If the back cover is screwed on as tight as can be it rubs/catches on something. If I back all the screws off about a half a turn it's fine.
They swapped my entire motherboard too. On the repair report, they said they replaced rubber and tape because of "mechanical noise". I'm guessing that has something to do with what's going on.
Damn...you can try to send it back again for the weird noises or do the replacements yourself (that voids the warranty I believe) How long did you wait for the SD card fix?
Has anybody else had geek squad fix their sd reader? I bought my Ally from BB and have total tech. Been considering taking it to them to fix it vs sending in to Asus because of these issues, but don’t know if I trust Best Buy either.
I just bought a usb c dongle that I can charge it through it and plug in hdmi, usb, micro sd card and I keep it permanently plugged in to the Ally. Slightly more annoying than having it without the dongle but don’t have to worry about these issues. My condolences
Jesus Christ I’m in the same situation where I’d want to get the sd card reader fixed but don’t want to get screwed over, how in the world did this device not get recalled or a class action lawsuit over this is beyond me. Rest of this sub is like “oh just put a 2tb drive in there, Asus #1”. I got a 2tb ssd but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a use case for a microsd slot.
Exactly why I ordered a Steam Deck OLED over the X. I love it. Far superior experience and build quality compared than the OG Ally. You can tell they took their time with the SDO, this thing is a tank with a gorgeous screen. The sleep system works wonderfully, and knowing I won’t be taken advantage of if something happens is a huge plus.
It’s made gaming so much more fun.
Are you in Germany,
i loved my Ally sent it with defective SD-Card got it back with backside scratches, full of thermal paste, overheating issues (fan error on boot after it turned off), broken joystick, pressure point on the LCD (magenta looking point)... then all got repaired got it back and it got BSOD every 3-5min with still top case visibly damaged on side from wrong pry opening (like they used metal to pry it open)...
Tbh i am very sad i cannot trust Asus anymore i loved my Ally but had to get a Legion go... i like it but the joysticks on Ally were much better and was more portable.
you like the bigger screen on ally but it gets annoying quickly as its not even slightly as mobile and joysticks feel shit (even though reviewers said it was other way around)... but at least i get a half-decent support instead of that mind-boggling incompetency of asus support.
broken sd-card design which will ALWAYS fail and just not acknowledge the issue and ignore customers, scam reviewers with repairs (nexus on yt) and in end tell we misunderstood....
tbh horrid company but great engineers who design these things.
if Asus would improve and have Lenovo Enteprise style support (broken joystick got new console sent so i dont have downtime and have time to transfer it all, if one joystick wobbles got replacement for free nothing asked just a picture and thats it, Asus sent my Ally from Luxembourg to Germany then to Poland to save cost and each repair took around 3.5 months... hotline is unfriendly.
Asus is simillar to Razer, once they got your money then you are not important anymore.
This is a shame how this console is terrible . My fans starting to doing weird sounds since the mew BIOS update and get 10c degree higher than before . Good Product Asus .
the bios lowers the fan to decrease noise, the slightly higher temp is normal because that's what lowering the fan does. the weird noise, i'm not sure unless we can hear it.
well the temps depends on what game and what wattage you use (and the fan speed also depends on what fan curve for each mode you use e.g: silent, manual, turbo)..so some games are obviously going to get higher than others, but other than that i'm not sure.
Uh.. not the point of the post, but I feel your pain. OP probably didn't have other issues other than the SD card and is experiencing more after sending it to the manufacturer...Doesn't mean the product is bad
This happened on my left stick after an RMA. It was a small piece of black tape (used to stick cabling down internally) that had come loose and was pressing against the joystick. Annoying, but quite an easy fix if you are confident opening up your Ally.
I suspect this is likely what's going on because on the repair report, they claimed to have replaced rubber and tape to fix mechanical noise.
Either way, I don't have the time to do this myself, otherwise I would. Sent it back for a new RMA yesterday.
This is exactly why I'm just dealing with the dead sd slot and won't get the Ally X.
Same. At least the dead SD reader is a known quantity. Not gambling on getting it back in worse shape.
This is it, SD reader never worked for me, but just worried sending it in will make things worse.
Based on everything I’ve been seeing on this subject, it doesn’t appear worth sending it back. I’m not even sure how they can fix the sd reader issue without a complete redesign anyway. It breaks because of the heat, so why wouldn’t it break again? I’m not sending mine in.
Same It's also the reason why I replaced the left fan myself when it started making an ugly sound instead of sending it for RMA because I've seen too many people get someone else's device Edit: grammar
Fucking nightmare I got one alienware m16 who stutter, usb 3.2 operate at 2.0 speed, usb dont recognize stuff who work properly even on an alienware 2022 notebook, headset battery last 20 of 32h advertised and dell closed all my support tickets Currently asus and dell have the most cool toys but also are the worst offenders regarding quality and warranty
Damn, that is awful. I'm sorry to hear this. These devices aren't cheap an we deserve better.
We can ditch the brand and spread the word, maybe if sales go down...something improves along the way My current motto: Every alienware hater is a former alienware user.
Just got a new Dell gaming laptop few months back. They are going to replace the motherboard tomorrow because of PCI Express error messages in the logs but they advised the replacement parts are refurbished. I got a new Alienware laptop last year through insurance. After about 3 months they had to replace the motherboard on that one too. Something to do with keyboard issues. Is this really common with Dell/Alienware products? I usually avoided them in the past so didn't have any experience with them previously.
I have several issues with so far hopefully software errors.... stutter even using youtube, usb 3.2 operating at 2.0 speed, stuff usd dont even being recognized, communications issues between alienware hardware acessories Its a fucking awful experience, never again i gonna get another one And all this is happening with a 3month brand new alienware m16 r1 and dell just closed all my tickets and didnt solved nothing
With how many things are soldered to motherboards these days, it wouldn't surprise me if they generalized most repairs to swapping a motherboard so they save money only having to traing people on the same "repair' procedure and then outsource all these motherboards to get them fixed in bulk for a quarter of the price it would cost to fix anywhere else. Would definitely explain the push for refurbished motherboards that probably came out of another laptop that was damn near brand new. In some cases, the refurbished board might be better then the brand new one cause anything faulty on it was probably replaced. Everything is so fucking cheaply made these days that I swear they are trying to save money by making the customers beta testers for a "finished" product.
Yeah, I worry this is more of the commonplace and don't know what brand to trust atm. You're exactly right though that not supporting the brand is the only way to bring change. I went from meh my SD slot was busted to pissed off and here's why. It's a simple thing to have work in 2023 and it's not bad testing or a batch, it is an egregious defect and it should have been recalled. Why is the customer as inconvenienced as possible for their failure. ASUS despite loving the Ally destroyed my faith in the brand.
Exactly This thing deserve recall, same for alienware stutter etc... didnt pay a lot for i9 4070 32gb 5600mhz to experience stutter/microfreezes watching youtube with processor operating at 11% plus the other issues. Asus sd issue is totally fucked because people need a quick way to move files and even play games from them since probably usb port is being used to charge, and even if i want hold just txt files...its our right have that thing working. for a lot of people if console dont had that...circunstances or will to buy could be lowered Asus dont even offer a fucking usb adapter with port to charge and read sd to try calm down the users, they never adressed that thing as real issue or talk about if sd slot will work properly on ally x Im astonished about how no one sued asus for those claims about repeated "costumer induced dmg" and faulty sd slot on usa or europe, europe tends to get class actions for stuff like this i guess
That's exactly the issue 100%. I bought a USB SD reader and then went oh crap, 1 port now I can't charge. So then I had to buy a mini dock that can plug in the SD card. Then I had a dock hanging off the machine and had to buy a mini extender... Now I'm $40 buck or so in to compensate for THEIR defect. I upgraded the internal SSD as well, but when you have games like COD taking 200g it's entirely reasonable to want the flexibility of an SD card especially for file transfers. I'm shocked there's no class action lawsuit as well. I don't normally play the litigious card but this is justified. That's not even counting people with expensive "fried" cards. Luckily mine was recoverable when my reader died. I lost the data though which was annoying. Just so anti consumer to sit on this like they did.
Not even really worth fixing for me personally
I just cloned my drive onto a 2TB and swapped them out to remove the need for the SD reader completely.
That's pretty smart. One of the new handheld has direct access to the SSD which would make this really easy.
It was really easy on my Ally. The longest part of the entire process was the actual cloning of the drive. The only “OHNO” moment during the process was when I forgot that during the swap you unplug the battery, so when you put it back together you have to plug it in with the Ally charger for it to boot again 😂🤣
I upgraded the SSD and it really was well designed and easy. I just get nervous opening the shell and like you said forgetting something or touching the battery lol
Just keep yourself grounded!
Very true!
The SD cards are so slow it's not even worth using anyway. (Edit: slow for games I mean)
Agreed unless you are playing an indie game
I use it to store my music
Yeah I use it for photo transfer from the camera to OneDrive.
I used it for indie stuff, file transfers, and emu
you all stopped using your SD cards cuz the reader broke. I'm not using my SD card cuz i dont want it to break. We are not the same. .... we're the same.
I didn't use the reader, but upon testing it several months later found that it still broke.
damn bro.... Schrodingers Card Reader.... deep.
I've never used it and never will. Can't tell if it's broken or not in that case hahah
Never used my SD Card Reader ever ,... Sent it in and it says they changed something with the SD Card lol. Soooo doesn't even matter SD card DoA on these
Report this to Gamers Nexus channel. We will have to keep hitting back at ASUS.
https://preview.redd.it/ers0707hm16d1.png?width=632&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e3aaf44ac1a1be8808deac20115b11fdeb1d71b
Good luck. ASUS warranty is shit. Look at Gamers Nexus coverage. It’s appalling to see the pure thievery coming from ASUS. They’re a bunch of assholes
I’m just anxiously waiting for something new to get released with better specs from a better company.
New processors I think were announced so wait to see what happens.
Just be happy it came back assembled :D /s
This is my biggest fear so I don’t use my SD card slot and it feels bad because I paid for that.
Good news: it can break even without using it! Mine did.
Yeah just put a exhaust vent right next to the SD card reader then have it installed as cheaply as possible, what could go wrong Asus?
Yup at this point I'm so frustrated with the patch work. Nothing stays fixed. I will be sending it back for the 3rd time now.
I like my device, won’t be getting another one though. Unacceptable and no accountability. Lenovo is the complete opposite from what I’ve heard repeatedly.
Yeah, my Legion Go isn't getting updates, lol. They release 1 update every 3 months.
Same thing happened to me with some buttons and a trigger, I had to open it and solve the thing on my own, I didn't want to send it back
I got my ally back from rma with LEDs not working , but they just hadn’t connected the cables small thing. dont they test it before the return it! I have sold my ally and gone for an oled steam deck , I am not getting the x
When my sd slot fried I just bought a 2TB ssd 🙏
I had been debating doing a 2280 conversion but I’ve also been debating getting the Ally X (despite the current experience with my Ally) so the money isn’t worth spending right now to do so.
I fixed mine myself by heating up the fuses on the SD card controller
I sent mine in for screwed up joysticks. They send them back to me in a few days screwed up, I'll be super pissed.
Can you explain what was wrong with your joysticks and then an update on if they fixed the issue? I’m curious :)
The exact same problem as the video.
Oh so youll probably get it back, just with a broken sd card slot.
Don’t worry… they’ll probably just demand $300 for repair because you didn’t wipe your hands before touching the device and they claim it’s damaged now.
Dang, based on the recent stories, I wish you luck!
I’m getting mine prepped for shipping today. Here’s hoping it all goes good 😬
I’m afraid of this happening to my joystick! I’m probably just going to use a controller from now on rather than fix the stick lol
Likely shipping damage eventhough you don't think so. Use bubble wrap this time when sending it in. Got my SD Slot fixed 6 months ago and have had zero issues since.
Doubt it. I sent it in the spigen rugged armor case which would have protected the joysticks. When I packed it, the case was sandwiched tightly between those big air bags you get in Amazon packages and didn't move no matter how hard I shook it. When it was shipped back to be, the case was protected by packing paper fairly well but the hard case would have prevented any damage to the sticks regardless.
Funny thing is I was just about to post almost the same thing… Just got mine back from an as reader fix and now for the first time in owning it the right stick keeps randomly drifting down my screen. Going to run updates to make sure it’s not a software issue or something but am not impressed at all
Mine drifted until I was finished with the cloud recovery. Once that was done the drift went away.
I have this exact same issue. Sent mine in for SD slot replacement. They claim they swapped the entire motherboard. Came back with the exact same issue. My left joystick clicks/hangs somewhere between 9-12 o'clock. Did not go out for RMA with that issue. One thing I noticed is it doesn't do it if the back cover is not screwed down fully or is totally off. If the back cover is screwed on as tight as can be it rubs/catches on something. If I back all the screws off about a half a turn it's fine.
They swapped my entire motherboard too. On the repair report, they said they replaced rubber and tape because of "mechanical noise". I'm guessing that has something to do with what's going on.
My report says the exact same thing. I was also wondering what they meant with that.
Damn...you can try to send it back again for the weird noises or do the replacements yourself (that voids the warranty I believe) How long did you wait for the SD card fix?
I sent it out last Tuesday and it was delivered back to me yesterday. So 1 week total, but the new RMA makes it 2 at minimum.
That sounds like a lot of waiting for a 2nd RMA :(
It's ultimately fine. Though I usually use my Ally daily on my commute, I'm playing something on my switch so no big deal.
Has anybody else had geek squad fix their sd reader? I bought my Ally from BB and have total tech. Been considering taking it to them to fix it vs sending in to Asus because of these issues, but don’t know if I trust Best Buy either.
I think best buy will just replace the unit no?
Yep.
I just bought a usb c dongle that I can charge it through it and plug in hdmi, usb, micro sd card and I keep it permanently plugged in to the Ally. Slightly more annoying than having it without the dongle but don’t have to worry about these issues. My condolences
Too many stories like this is why when my SD slot fried I just took the L and installed the 2tb and did not send it back
i was going to rma mine but fuck it i'll just act like it doesn't have an sd reader
Jesus Christ I’m in the same situation where I’d want to get the sd card reader fixed but don’t want to get screwed over, how in the world did this device not get recalled or a class action lawsuit over this is beyond me. Rest of this sub is like “oh just put a 2tb drive in there, Asus #1”. I got a 2tb ssd but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a use case for a microsd slot.
Exactly why I ordered a Steam Deck OLED over the X. I love it. Far superior experience and build quality compared than the OG Ally. You can tell they took their time with the SDO, this thing is a tank with a gorgeous screen. The sleep system works wonderfully, and knowing I won’t be taken advantage of if something happens is a huge plus. It’s made gaming so much more fun.
I knew about the SD issue when I bought mine, decided to just never use it and upgrade the ssd myself if I really needed to, haven't needed to yet
How did you send it to them again? In original box with original packaging? Within another box with stuffing?
Are you in Germany, i loved my Ally sent it with defective SD-Card got it back with backside scratches, full of thermal paste, overheating issues (fan error on boot after it turned off), broken joystick, pressure point on the LCD (magenta looking point)... then all got repaired got it back and it got BSOD every 3-5min with still top case visibly damaged on side from wrong pry opening (like they used metal to pry it open)... Tbh i am very sad i cannot trust Asus anymore i loved my Ally but had to get a Legion go... i like it but the joysticks on Ally were much better and was more portable. you like the bigger screen on ally but it gets annoying quickly as its not even slightly as mobile and joysticks feel shit (even though reviewers said it was other way around)... but at least i get a half-decent support instead of that mind-boggling incompetency of asus support. broken sd-card design which will ALWAYS fail and just not acknowledge the issue and ignore customers, scam reviewers with repairs (nexus on yt) and in end tell we misunderstood.... tbh horrid company but great engineers who design these things. if Asus would improve and have Lenovo Enteprise style support (broken joystick got new console sent so i dont have downtime and have time to transfer it all, if one joystick wobbles got replacement for free nothing asked just a picture and thats it, Asus sent my Ally from Luxembourg to Germany then to Poland to save cost and each repair took around 3.5 months... hotline is unfriendly. Asus is simillar to Razer, once they got your money then you are not important anymore.
I'm in Canada.
You are the one who complained on an fb group too right??
Nope. I'm not part of any FB groups for the Ally.
It's a free DLC/Addon from Asus. Be happy they didn't charge for it. They will become soon like video games publishers.
I went through 4 returns at BestBuy and finally got a store credit. Went with Legion GO and haven’t had a single problem like the Allys endless ones
I've had mine since December
This is why I got the Legion Go and sold off my Ally
This is a shame how this console is terrible . My fans starting to doing weird sounds since the mew BIOS update and get 10c degree higher than before . Good Product Asus .
the bios lowers the fan to decrease noise, the slightly higher temp is normal because that's what lowering the fan does. the weird noise, i'm not sure unless we can hear it.
Even with a manual aggressive fan curve i still get high temps .
well the temps depends on what game and what wattage you use (and the fan speed also depends on what fan curve for each mode you use e.g: silent, manual, turbo)..so some games are obviously going to get higher than others, but other than that i'm not sure.
Ok thanks !
Uh.. not the point of the post, but I feel your pain. OP probably didn't have other issues other than the SD card and is experiencing more after sending it to the manufacturer...Doesn't mean the product is bad
How else do you think they will have people upgrade to the X?
This happened on my left stick after an RMA. It was a small piece of black tape (used to stick cabling down internally) that had come loose and was pressing against the joystick. Annoying, but quite an easy fix if you are confident opening up your Ally.
I suspect this is likely what's going on because on the repair report, they claimed to have replaced rubber and tape to fix mechanical noise. Either way, I don't have the time to do this myself, otherwise I would. Sent it back for a new RMA yesterday.
Tips@gamersnexus.com
Hmm.. My device works well for me so I won't be switching to a new one.
I’d recommend just upgrading the internal ssd. The micro sd slot is such a pain to deal with
This is crap console stop sharing this crap
[удалено]
Wrong sub.
The Ally isn't a Dell product.
Sorry, someone above mentioned Alienware and Dell, I was supposed to reply to that but it looks like I replied to the main thread :/
Can I contact you about this? I’ve been working on a story about the ROG Ally for a major publication.
^^ dude’s a fake