Hi all,
I'm just about to RMA my dock. The top and bottom halves are starting to separate and the hinge is getting looser and looser.
I've already emailed tech support and they have suggested user error - IE I'm forcing the tablet into the dock too hard! I will assure them that this is NOT the case!
I'll see what the tech guys say when I RMA it but I have to admit i'm more than a little disappointed.
Has anyone else on here noticed anything similar?
i have not seen this on mine, BUT i can see how this would happen. it honestly does not seem to have anything to do with pushing it in to hard. but more so with pushing it in when it is not aligned corretly.
it will slowely pull the hinged area apart over time, me and my mother both have the prime and dock. and she is not heavy handed at all but hers started to do the same thing yours is doing. after having her show me how she instered it into the dock. i noticed that she was not looking at the angle of the hinged area and just pushing softly until she would find the right angle for it to slide in. and as she was pushing softly the hinged area would move and seperate from just wiggling the prime till it fit in.
not saying that you doing this, but that seemed to be the cause of her dock starting to do what yours is doing. so i had to show her a better way of visually aligning the prime and dock so it would just slide in.
thats my OP anyway. hope that it gets fixed bruh
I have notice that mine pops apart if I pick it up by the front right corner. I do not mean that I am grabbing the very edge of the corner, I am merely picking it up as I would a netbook or other similar device. When I do this the dock pops apart at the USB port and along the back behind the hinge. You can tell the dock bends when it happens. It seems to be that the dock can not hold up to the weight of the tablet. I have only had this happen twice as I now make sure to pick it up with both hands. There is no damage since it just pops back together but one has to wonder how they can charge $150 for something that is so cheaply made. I will not be sending it back but I am still a little disappointed. Functionality is still great and I am still happy with the product, just wish I didn't have to be careful of how I pick it up.
While it probably could have been assembled better, I can only imagine RMA is going to consider this Customer Induced Damage and want to charge you more than the dock is worth by the time all is said and done. Good luck though.
Yatyas said:
I have notice that mine pops apart if I pick it up by the front right corner. I do not mean that I am grabbing the very edge of the corner, I am merely picking it up as I would a netbook or other similar device. When I do this the dock pops apart at the USB port and along the back behind the hinge. You can tell the dock bends when it happens. It seems to be that the dock can not hold up to the weight of the tablet. I have only had this happen twice as I now make sure to pick it up with both hands. There is no damage since it just pops back together but one has to wonder how they can charge $150 for something that is so cheaply made. I will not be sending it back but I am still a little disappointed. Functionality is still great and I am still happy with the product, just wish I didn't have to be careful of how I pick it up.
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Click to collapse
I suspect that this is the case - the tablet and dock have always been correctly aligned and no excessive force has been applied to the dock mechanism.
I've cancelled the RMA as ASUS wont tell me what the charges might be for sending the dock in. however its being UPS'd from the UK to Czech Republic so i cant imagine it would be cheap.
I've put up with all the issues so far, but this is the last straw for me. Tablet is great but build quality sucks big time. No more ASUS products for me
Related
Hi guys, i've noticed recently when connecting the dock that the two slots on the bottom of the twblet are becoming slightly chipped/scratched. Does this happen to anyone else? Its only a mijor thing but its slightly annoying.
Mine's not chipping/scratching, yet. But, then again, if you saw how carefully I dock/undock, you would understand why. Looking forward to my first scratch/chip, so I can relax a bit and stop being so careful...
One of my slots has a slight nick on it from the dock. But you really have to go looking for it to see it. I would suggest just being careful how well you line up the keyboard and the tablet when you connect them in order to minimize any scratches that would annoy you. There are alignment arrows on the center of the dock and the bottom of the tablet.
well after dropping my first one from about a height of 4 feet (in the neoprene sleeve in the accessory section) and watching with horror as it bounced on an edge...and luckily was able to return it due to other issues....looked with less fear...
then my wife accidently dropped the new tablet..again in said neoprene sleeve...and although dinged on the edge..not nearly as bad as the first.
Moral? the harder you try to keep something pristine..the more likely it will get blemished faster :S
Having something like the dock feature..you are fundamentally going to get scuffs...it's the way it works when you introduce metal on metal.
worse case is when you take out the dock...and the gel's are available...put one on after undocking..that's what i plan on doing..as this thing is a slick bugger.
I got myself a prime last week, promptly ordered a keyboard because nobody had one in stock and I didn't feel like paying a $70 dollar premium on amazon to get it in the future anyway, and received the dock yesterday.
Electrically, the dock seems fine - all of the keys work, it charged normally, it's discharging normally, etc. - but it appears to have a physical deformity at the front of the unit. I took a picture of the unit to demonstrate... unfortunately, as some of you are no doubt aware, taking close-focus pictures of smallish things with an android camera is a little tough. Still, see attached image for the illustration. Note the gap between the rubber stopper and the fact that you can see the palm rest surface despite looking at the tray head on.
The question is, of course, "is this normal?" Does anyone else have a warped dock? It seems like the trackpad buttons don't quite click as easily as I think they should, but I don't have anything to compare it to. None of the local Best Buy stores have a dock on display, either.
[edit]I started this thread in the wrong forum and moved it here, then forgot to attach the file. Here's a link to an imgur-hosted copy:
http://i.imgur.com/Bn0la.jpg
nurrwick said:
I got myself a prime last week, promptly ordered a keyboard because nobody had one in stock and I didn't feel like paying a $70 dollar premium on amazon to get it in the future anyway, and received the dock yesterday.
Electrically, the dock seems fine - all of the keys work, it charged normally, it's discharging normally, etc. - but it appears to have a physical deformity at the front of the unit. I took a picture of the unit to demonstrate... unfortunately, as some of you are no doubt aware, taking close-focus pictures of smallish things with an android camera is a little tough. Still, see attached image for the illustration. Note the gap between the rubber stopper and the fact that you can see the palm rest surface despite looking at the tray head on.
The question is, of course, "is this normal?" Does anyone else have a warped dock? It seems like the trackpad buttons don't quite click as easily as I think they should, but I don't have anything to compare it to. None of the local Best Buy stores have a dock on display, either.
[edit]I started this thread in the wrong forum and moved it here, then forgot to attach the file. Here's a link to an imgur-hosted copy:
http://i.imgur.com/Bn0la.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When mine is closed, the lid touches the rubber bumper on the keyboard which is what I would expect. Yours doesn't seem to close properly.
Thanks - that's what I suspected. It contacts the two rubber pads on the sides, so this poor thing is the victim of a god-knows-what. The box was completely undamaged so I guess someone sat on it at the factory.
Obviously anyone else that wants to weigh in is welcome to do so - on this topic, anyway, I don't recommend actually weighing in on the keyboard dock because I guess it will bend.
Yep, looks bent, as if it was laying on a soft rocking chair, couch or something undocked and someone sat on it. You could take your knee to the back of it with a hand on each side and try to bend it back You may end up with a creased unit afterward though... I'd send it back as a return and try to find one somewhere else.
My keyboard dock also came with a slight bend to it (from a UK Grey BC0KAS batch). I didn't notice it at first, but when I put the keyboard on a flat surface when closed, it wobbled. Towards the back the centre of the metal was coming into contact with the table, so the rubber feet were slightly raised.
I was able to gently apply pressure, using a soft cloth, to the metal around this area and correct this so it's not really noticeable now.
Also, when the tablet is docked, and closed, there is a slightly larger gap on the right side between the screen and keyboard than the left. It makes contact with all 3 rubber pads, but it's definitely there.
I'm still contemplating returning the whole lot to Comet, as I have 3 stuck pixels, and have been experiencing poor WiFi and some crashes.
Quality control definitely could have been better here.
SO! I went to another Best Buy that actually had docks in stock, did an exchange, and the second dock is bent as well. That said, the buttons on the trackpad actually click easily on this unit, so I think I'm going to keep it especially given how difficult it is to find anything with a TF-201 in its model number in stock.
It'd be interesting to see how many docks have warping or if it's supposed to be there. I guess it could be Asus' way of giving us space to fit our fingers in to open the unit...
Turns out mine was slightly bent too. I never would have noticed had it not been for this thread... Lol, anyway...mine was bent slightly in the middle. The middle rubber stopper didn't touch when cosed. It is really, really easy to bend this though...i just put pressure in the middle from behind and pushed slightly and the gap has disappeared.
I don't have the dock yet but this will be on my new dock QC checklist when I do get one. I'm not planning on getting one for a while so hopefully stuff like this will be ironed out by Asus and stocking levels are better. I'm thinking August (my birthday).
Hi all,
Today I suddenly noticed a click sound when putting my keyboard on the side and I found out that the case on the side of the hinge would come apart with little force.
It is easily replicated when you push the hinge push the hinge to the bottom and while holding the back case.
The problem is shown on the video below,
http://youtu.be/XS9zTEvvbzk
now, is it normal ? it seems like there are no screws holding that part together so it seems like it is bound to happen!
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For the Fix
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Just curious, how long have you had the dock? And how often do you connect and disconnect the prime from the dock?
My guess (and it's just a guess) is that the chassis on the edge uses snaps to keep the plate seams together. If this is true then it could be that something caused the snaps to break.
From what you're showing in the video, it definitely does not seem normal to me. I'm really hesitant to reproduce the issue with my own dock, so hopefully someone else in the forums whose had experience opening up the keyboard will provide some insight. In the meantime, if I were you, I would avoid any actions that would forcefully pry apart the chassis edge like that; it could aggravate the problem.
like i said, I barely need to use any force at all, just a a very small push.
I also figure out that the position of the hinge makes a difference as well.
If the hinge is in the "closed" position (imagine tablet docked with screen closed), it will not snap open.
it's when the hinge is opened up, the problem appears.
oO_SwooP_Oo said:
My guess (and it's just a guess) is that the chassis on the edge uses snaps to keep the plate seams together. If this is true then it could be that something caused the snaps to break.
From what you're showing in the video, it definitely does not seem normal to me. I'm really hesitant to reproduce the issue with my own dock, so hopefully someone else in the forums whose had experience opening up the keyboard will provide some insight. In the meantime, if I were you, I would avoid any actions that would forcefully pry apart the chassis edge like that; it could aggravate the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone ?
just a yes or no so I can try to return it !
babadudu said:
Anyone ?
just a yes or no so I can try to return it !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two weeks ago I started having this same problem. The slightest pressure pops it right back together. I don't know that I'll bother to return it. I would assume there is a good chance they all do, and that it may have something to do with the way we insert it and remove it from the dock.
I just noticed this problem the other day. It does it about half way when opening or closing. Kinda like the pins of the hinge push it open just a little.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
looks like it's not just me then, i am baffled that they didn't design screws to keep it together......
I have the same issues. The dock is generally just not well made. the back panel is too flexible, it pops open at the edges, and Ive noticed the hinges have gotten looser, and have a dead spot now, where the tablet can flap back and forth, similar to most laptops.
Same problem here. Just went to the shop on saturday and they sent it to Asus. Don't know yet, what happens.
Bought the prime about 10 weeks ago, so they don't want to exchange it without sending in here in Germany. I just wish there'd be ASUS-stores like Apple stores, where this would have been handled more easily...
As someone who has taken their dock apart to see what makes it tick i know there are several hidden screws inside the dock part of the keyboard (under a black sticker, hard to see or find if your not looking) that help hold the hinge together. i found my screen protector was adding pressure on the dock and removed some of the material so everything fit better tho after doing what i did i dont really recommend it to others.
I too am rather unimpressed with the construction of the dock however im not going to worry too much about it, if it gets too flimsy for my liking ill just take it apart again and tighten things up again.
I had this once but i just pressed it toghether slightly and it never happened again.
Pileot could you make a small video or take pictures of the screws you did tighten to make it better?
This just happened to me last night and I'm very deeply saddened.
I take the tablet out of the dock about once every two days, Max. I've had the dock for 12 days now. C1OKA to start the S/N. Amethyst. Bought it from Amazon 3/2.
No screen protector, no added weight. I noticed it happened when I grabbed the dock with the tablet open by the Asus sticker on the keyboard, with my hands on both side of the touchpad.
Entire backend popped open, both hinges, and alongside the bacl under the tablet slide.
Im going to see if Amazon will take it back and exchange otherwise Asus will get my backend fixed.
Any ideas to those of you who have opened it that will keep it in place? i don't want to put tape on it. But i understand the weight of the tablet in the dock fully extended changes the center of gravity putting more pressure on the bottom of the dock and if it only has tabs that is the reason it is popping open.
No breaks cracks scratches damage of any kind.
I too have a clicking dock.
Got the same problem with mine. It's only a month old and it seems to be the way I hold it whilst docked. I tend to hold it one handed by the black sticker whilst opening it with my left hand. Gonna send it to asus for a repair as it seems the catch as snapped. ANOTHER desgin floor.
Is there not a screw underneath the rubber ?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
My docking station was also having this issue. THere's screws under the rubber feet of the dock. I had to tighten both screws near the hinge down and that resolved the hinge splitting. Who knows if it'll happen again, but it's a pretty simple fix.
Hi,
No issues with the dock whatsoever, however I did notice that at a 45degree angle the prime just closes by itself. Not sure if it was like that from the beginning but it seems like opening and closing does loosen the hinges hold a bit.
Anyone experienced this?
Hinge FIX
I meant to write this a few weeks ago.
So I have a C3 keyboard....My C1 from Amazon worked great for 13 days...then it "popped" at the hinge and i was like...oh ****...
In the pictures you can see where it pops and the hinge came apart.
What I found was the little old chinese lady who put these together on that specific day must have had a serious case of Arthritis....when i examined underneath the rubber feet, both screws on both sides were completely unscrewed. I got the right sized 6 star driver, popped the hinge back together (especially underneath the hinge-release area in the middle of the keyboard), and screwed them in but didn't overtighten. I checked to make sure the dock wouldn't pop out again by placing tablet in and holding it on both sides of the trackpad and it didn't pop open. Voila! Put a dollup of rubber cement on pads, stuck them back on, and let it dry. Happy again! I hope this works for you guys.
edit: screws are Phillips head, not 6 star. opened rest of dock with 6 star (not necessary for this fix); sorry for confusion. PS super glue works well too if no rubber cement
Your images are dead.
And they're back.
Perfect, thank's a lot. I had the same problem, and your solution worked 100% for me as well.
Hi all,
First off, can I thank all the contributors to this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1530660
I realise I could post this in the thread above but I think it deserves a new thread.
After reading 25 pages of the above thread I thought I should closely inspect my screen for any sign of damage caused by the dock. A lot of the cracks look like they are caused by the dock and mine is only really used in the dock (about 95% of the time used in dock). Inspecting it I have found a micro crack in the tablet screen. It is covered by the dock and even with the dock removed it is very hard to see unless the light catches the crack right and the tablet it at the correct angle. I would have missed this had I not seen the thread above. The first I would have known about it would have been when it inevitably cracks properly. Like this one http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jIpaym8J4kk/T5wAQhFMV2I/AAAAAAAAX4U/AlpDo7CTrQg/s1600/cfp7.jpg (thanks tomanytoys for posting the picture of this one)
Others have claimed that their screens had spontaneously cracked without being dropped or impacted when left in a cold car overnight or after closing and opening the dock/tablet. This is obviously the cause in many case's
A little background on my tablet.
I have owned my tablet since 14/01/2012, pre-ordered from curries website so got it on the first day of release in the UK. I love it.
I (carefully) open and close it regularly, using the dock to protect the screen while its not in use (even if its just for a couple of minutes to make a brew). The tablet has never left my house and I use it docked 95% of the time. It has never been dropped and I have not added rubber tabs to the dock to prevent the screen cracking as some people have.
Here are the pictures of the micro crack.
The next picture is the tablet and dock. The tablet is not fully docked so you can still see the marks (but not the crack) and there position relative to the dock .
The next picture shows the tablet and dock again, this time the tablet is fully docked. Notice the marks are now completely covered by the dock. The small marks you can still see are dust and are in the previous picture as well.
The next picture is taken with a digital microscope (not the greatest resolution) from above the crack. Most of the marks you see to the right of the scratch are grease, You can see from the direction of the streaks how I remove the tablet from the dock (left thumb on the release catch, lifted away with my right hand), however the 2 small marks below the grease, on the corner of the glass are 2 more cracks starting. These 2 marks are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
Next picture, again taken with the microscope was taken from a near horizontal plane. Its shows the other 2 marks well and shows that the main crack does not go all the way through the glass.
My microscope also does video but I am having problems uploading or converting the weird file format it's outputting but in the video I have made, I move a light source around the crack and it shows up, almost 3d in appearance. I will try to do the video again in another format later.
Everyone that owns a dock should check their touchscreen for these micro cracks. They are very hard to see and much easier to miss, I know exactly where it is but finding it and pointing it out to another person is difficult every time I have done it.
Looking at pictures of other spontaneous cracks they can be on the left side like mine or on the right, near the right dock latch. Most cracks seem to be on the left like it mine. Maybe this is because most people are right handed.
My GPS dongle arrived just after I noticed the crack. The dongle doesn’t fit (or not without forcing it on) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1622447
If I had not noticed the crack and I had decided to force the dongle onto the tablet I am sure it would have cracked the touchscreen immediately so be warned.
I have emailed Asus about the problem but I have not received a response but it is the weekend.
It is my intention to only send this back to Asus for repair when I have an independent engineers report about what has caused the crack so there is no argument from Asus about consumer induced damage. Mine could go all the way at any minute or while sending it to Asus for repair/inspection. I have other tablets so I can afford to be without it for a bit, back to Tegra 2 for now.
I will update as soon as I here from Asus about this issue
Anyone with a crack in the same place is welcome to beat Asus over the head with my pictures.
To my mind this is conclusive proof that the design of the dock/hinge is faulty because all the pressure of opening them is placed on a small area of glass. I am not a expert in glass or mechanical engineering but this seems obvious even to a layman what has caused this and other cracks.
Wow...now that definitely was caused by the dock, no doubt. I actually undocked mine to check for cracks after reading this. I am still amazed and grateful that my screen did not crack after dropping the Prime on concrete while docked...twice. I thought a cracked screen was a sure bet after dropping it, especially after reading all of these posts of screens cracking on their own. If you watch a tear down of the Prime you will see how flexible the glass is. I saw a picture of a plastic pry tool prying the bottom middle of the screen up at least an inch, while the left and right edges of the screen were still snapped into the rear panel of the unit. I really think it might be defective glass, and not the dock. I've had my Prime 2 weeks less than you, and it's docked only 50% of the time, so it's constantly being docked and removed. All that docking/undocking and the 2 drops never gave me a crack. All the more reason to get a SquareTrade policy.
I agree with you about the insurance for accidental damage but its not really the responsibility of an insurance company to pay for fault caused by bad design.
On the subject of insurance, while I was reading the thread that brought the problem to my attention I was thinking "got to some gadget insurance on this" I did a quick search and you can get insurance cover for as little as £40 per year so it would be silly not to get insurance after spending £500 on the Tablet.
I will get some when this is sorted.
Please don't make duplicate threads...
As you said yourself, you should have posted in the other thread.
Thread closed.
I have noticed for a while now, the metal between the charging port and the screen on my prime occasionally bends in slightly for reasons unknown (perhaps a port connection with the dock? The way I hold the tracker itself? I dunno). I have thought nothing of it, and usually just push my thumb there to bend it back to its original location upon noticing it. This was undesirable, but acceptable up until a couple of weeks ago when I realized that the repeated stress on that little strip of metal finally took its toll, and it appeared to be snapped in the center. Again, I pushed it back to the original orientation, but the damage is now done. This makes me unhappy and must be a design flaw. I take the prime almost everywhere I go and use the heck out of it, but I absolutely baby this device. There's no reason why this should have happened.
I can still charge my prime with no issues. I usually keep my prime either in a cheap faux leather case, or in the case and connected to the dock. I've had my prime since May, and have been completely satisfied with this one exception.
Has anyone else had this same problem? We're you able to have Asus fix the issue, or replace the backing, etc? Is this the beginning of the end for my prime? Like I wrote, I am not having any related issues from this at this time. I do not wish to mail it in, but don't want this to get any worse and have problems with my screen because of the lack of any kind of rear support in that little location. Any shared experiences would be appreciated.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda app-developers app
Same problem here, all the color has gone and has a wavy shape to it. Not snapped yet though.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda app-developers app
Likewise, mine has been like this for a while. Can't fathom what might be the reason as the regular charging cord wouldn't cause damage like this.
The dock on the other hand, is a very likely culprit.
Scribbled with the Note II
1. Docking has bent the aluminium frame above the tablet's port
Looks awful. Hopefully the circuit board's connection doesn't crack. It's only a matter of time I guess.
I noticed mine was bent a few weeks ago when I tried to charge it. I pushed it back with a small screwdriver and it looks OK. Now I am constantly looking at it Anyway, I don't hav the dock so this is not related to it (but the dock may cause it too). I put the little shipping thingy on for protection but it doesn't stay in very well. BTW- Had my Prime since Dec 27 of last year so it's taken almost a year for mine to bend. A friend has a TF700 ans his bent as well. Design flaw indeed.
Bent on mine as well.
Sent from my SPH-L710
Mine was bent upon first removal from the box. I never sent it back because they were very hard get last January. Since then I sent it in for RMA repair for the rear camera issue and Asus replaced the entire unit so problem solved!
same here. Started bending out about 6 months after purchase, then after a few more months of me pushing it back in it finally stapped in the middle. I tried to push it back in but it wouldn't go all the way back in so, and it killed me to do this because i absolutely baby my prime, i had to break the two pieces that were now hannging out becuase they were sharp as heck. I don't ever use my dock so that didn't have anything to do with it and it stays in a very sturdy case so this is obviously a deign flaw. I considered sending it back to get fixed, but after all the negative reviews i've been reading from dissatisfied rma customers i am just settling for telling everyone of my friends who ask me that I will never buy another asus product again and if they're smart they'll do the same. Not only did ASUS put out a flawed device, they refuse to fix anyones problems. I don't care about the wifi or gps problems, some devices will always be better in that respect, but when it comes to hardware defects, such as this problem with the casing breaking off, and about 8 months after i bought the prime the small thin plastic piece that separates the two rows of pins in the prime charging port snapped in half and fell out, so now when i plug it into charge i have to be incredibly careful to not bend the pins inside the prime, and forget about me using my $150 keboard dock that completely stopped working after about 10 months. The quality of these products is just unacceptable and matched only by the insulting refusal by ASUS to do anything to assist us who, like myself, invested $650 for their crap products. whew, okay i'm done.
ASUS must realize it's a design problem. My kids broke my charge port, so I sent it in for repair. I was told they would send me an estimate on the repair cost (since it was customer damage). After not hearing from them for a couple weeks, I called up wanting to know what the hell was going on, and found out that they repaired it free of charge and was sending it back. Nice!
-Tracy
mine did the same about a week ago. I plan on taking some sandpaper and gently sanding down the sharp edges.
This isn't really a big deal for me, I am just slightly worried for the glass, but looking inside reassures me it will be fine with the metal plate behind it.
I actually like that my charger goes in a little easier now, although I'll probably have to shell out 30 bucks to buy a replacement soon, the plastic broke off it a while ago.
I'm not even mad, have squaretrade warranty for another year or so - just waiting for an 'accident' to happen, hopefully around the time a new transformer comes. Not interested in infinity after hearing prime can get better FPS and battery life. Hopefully a tablet with a 1280x800 display and next gen hardware will be on the way soon.