Sending a Thinkpad for Service - Remove the RAM I installed?

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erik-the-red · #1 Post by **erik-the-red** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:44 pm

I may have to send my ThinkPad R61 for service soon. My attempt to restore to original factory settings via the Restore & Recovery partition failed because the partition was corrupt. I received a R&R bootable disc, but it hangs up at the "ThinkVantage Technologies" boot-up screen. I think my only option left is to send it.

If I do send it for service, should I remove the RAM I've installed in my ThinkPad?

#2 Post by **gator** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:52 pm

Yes, you should ...

goofyGAguy · #3 Post by **goofyGAguy** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:56 pm

Definitely, you don't want to have them " forget " to re-install it.

#4 Post by **JaneL** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:10 pm

Item #5 in the FAQ.

Kaervak · #5 Post by **Kaervak** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:31 am

When I sent my Dell laptop in for service, everything that I could easily remove, I did. No HDD, optical, RAM, wireless, or battery was sent in. If they need a specific part, they have it.

erik-the-red · #6 Post by **erik-the-red** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:02 am

Alright, thanks!

pianowizard · #7 Post by **pianowizard** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:21 am

Definitely remove them. I can't find the thread now but a forum member caught an on-site technician stealing a RAM stick from his Thinkpad. If an on-site technician has the guts to do this, the risk at the depot would be even higher. As others said, you should also remove the hard drive, battery and optical drive.

erik-the-red · #8 Post by **erik-the-red** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:56 pm

The FAQ says to never send anything in that isn't part of the problem.

What if I'm not sure whether my HDD and my optical drive are defective? Should I still detach them?

Just to clarify, my problem is reinstalling Windows XP SP2.

I haven't been able to install any OS, even Linux, via CD. They have all booted but then hung up during the "loading" stage. Could this be a sign that my optical drive has problems?

ajkula66 · #9 Post by **ajkula66** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:12 pm

I'd leave the optical drive in, just in case, and would definitely leave the HDD in.

SaberX · #10 Post by **SaberX** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:42 pm

I would leave the ram installed also.
I had the same problemon a desktop system befor.I could never get XP installed on the system.It keep getting 10 to 15 min's into the install and just lock up.
I tryed new hard drive,new dvd-rw,video card,I never thought it was the ram because it would boot to the BIOS and show the full ram fine.
But once i tryed new ram everything was fine then.

Website · #11 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:07 pm

Whatever you leave installed, be sure to mark them if possible or write down the serial numbers on a sheet of paper for you to keep for reference.

Regardless which route you go, I would definately indicate in the paperwork that you are including parts x,y & z, and list their serial numbers in the paperwork, too.

#12 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:10 am

And if you really want to CYA, then take pictures of everything as well. This includes the exterior of the system in case it happens to receive bumps and dings along the way.

From the description of your problem, it could be the optical drive, the install CD, memory or hard drive. Prior to sending the laptop back for service, you can try downloading a copy of PC Doctor for DOS for your system:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-67910

It requires four diskettes and obviously, a diskette drive to boot from. I would have thought that there would be a CDROM version but I can't find one right now. In any event, PC Doctor will have tests for those three pieces of hardware and if you use the install CD for the CDROM/DVD test, it will verify that the data can be read from the disk correctly.

#13 Post by **JaneL** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:29 am

rkawakami wrote:And if you really want to CYA, then take pictures of everything as well.

If there's not a camera handy, I used to Xerox anything with a serial number on it before I sent it out.

Sending a Thinkpad for Service - Remove the RAM I installed?

Sending a Thinkpad for Service - Remove the RAM I installed?

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