Thinkpads Forum

Why so many people are afraid of sending S/N of ThinkPads?
AFAIK only Dell has a practice of sticking the warranty to a PERSON, not to the HARDWARE.

Trying to buy a good used ThinkPad and it's a real headache to get the exact hdw list from an average user...

The perceived dangers of giving out the serial number is that somebody could use that information to either identify the legal owner (think: tracing stolen equipment) or to falsely register that S/N as their own.

If you are looking for the general configuration of the system, then you can use the TYPE number at this site:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... eLenovo.do

Plug in the TYPE number into the product number field and it will give you something like this:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ry=2647HNU

Thanks, Ray, you're right, but if the beast is xxxx-CTO - this link can't help

register that S/N as their own

could you provide a link to IBM/Lenovo to see what this feature means?

True .

Sorry for being ignorant in IBM/Lenovo laptop features
http://www.pc.ibm.com/cgi-bin/iReg.cgi
BUT -
1) how to re-register if my new-old TP is already registered by the 1st owner
2) how to prevent re-registration if a S/N is exposed (I've seen lot of pics of new boxed TPs w/SN clearly visible on the label)

And I must apologize for being ignorant about registration issues as I've never owned a Thinkpad under warranty . My understanding is that the warranty is tied to the S/N. Whoever can claim current ownership (system in hand, proof of sale, etc.) will be able to use the warranty service. What gets stickier (in my knowledge) is what happens if somebody falsely claims that "their" system was stolen; by reporting the serial number to the factory. If you then have the need to send in the system for service, would the repair depot then identify it as "stolen" and not return it to you? I don't know....

For some of the systems that I have purchased off of eBay, and we're talking about 5 to 6 year old Thinkpads, I have called in to the factory to check if the system was reported stolen or to have them registered in my name. I have received varying responses to those inquiries; ranging from "I don't know how to do that." to "We can't specifically identify you as the owner unless the system is covered by a warranty.".

rkawakami wrote:What gets stickier (in my knowledge) is what happens if somebody falsely claims that "their" system was stolen; by reporting the serial number to the factory. If you then have the need to send in the system for service, would the repair depot then identify it as "stolen" and not return it to you?

I believe this is the issue.

There's a little more to it...

One could also order CRU replacement parts (hard drive, media drive, keyboard), never send the supposedly defective ones back to depot, and have the machine blacklisted ad infinituum...