A new replacement for my ailing T42 from Lenovo (LONG)

[ehsu]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share my experience dealing with Lenovo support regarding my T42 2378 FVU fan and overheating issue. I bought the laptop in US and brought it over to Canada in early 2005 when IBM still owned their PC division. Some e-mail exchanges with Lenovo support log shown below:

Below is a brief description of my ThinkPad problem and service history.

Since January 2006, my CPU fan has died three times.
The first time it died in January 2006, it was after a system shutdown. The fan never came back up after trying to power on the system.

Second time it died in April. While I was running some simulations, the machine went down. I guess it was due to the malfunction of the fan that caused system to shutdown to prevent CPU overheat.

Third time it died on May 12th. At first, I noticed the CPU only locked at 600MHz and is considerably slow even with power plugged in while browsing.
I moved my fingers near the air vent and didn't feel any air came out. I had a feeling the fan probably died again. So I shutdown the machine and it never came back up.

I called EZserv to report the problem, and each time they sent a technician (first two times was Xue (sp?) and last time was Joe) to replace the fan for me. However, I am concerned by simply replacing the defective CPU fans would really solve the root to this chronic problem which may happen again and interrupt my work in the near future.

I no longer have the record of the reference number for the first service in January 2006. However, I managed to dig up some information for the second and third service.

**Omitted the reference history**

I apologize for the delay in getting back to your regarding your inquiry to have the unit replaced. I have taken the repair issues for your IBM ThinkPad 2378-FVU forward to the IBM Channels with the request to have the unit replaced. I regret to inform you that at this time, the replacement request has been denied.

Please note that the repair history of the unit was reviewed and has been flagged within our systems. I have been advised that on the last service call the Onsite Technician did engage the IBM Remote Country Support Team regarding the issues (this is the highest level of Support within Canada) and was advised to upgrade and did replace the Fan in your unit with a higher grade Fan, which should resolve any further Fan related issues with the unit.

I hope that your unit has been working well since this recent repair.
Please do not hesitate to contact me directly in the event that the unit should continues to pose further hardware related issues for you.

I purchased the 3 year onsite support when I bought the T42, they sent technician to my place and replace the fan 3 times. And then the fourth time they came, they brought a new motherboard and an upgraded fan to replace the combo that I had in my sytem.

Even that, I was still having overheating issues and random reboot. So I reply with a long explanation.

After speaking with a Lenovo EasyServ support, Ammit(sp?), around June 5th, the technician took care of my previous defective fan issues was sent on June 9th to replace:

1) the system board and

2) the fan, FRU: 13R2657, (which came with my T42 from factory when I purchased my T42) with another fan, FRU: 91P9252, which could be the higher grade fan that you mentioned in your last reply.

The tech did a good job on the hardware operation. However, there were two odd pieces that seem out of place for a higher grade fan.

1) the metal round piece on the right edge of the GPU heatsink for the screw that secures the keyboard was not properly matched with the screw hole on the system board. He had to use some force to bend that metal round piece into the right orientation in order for the keyboard screw to be secured properly. It indicated that the fan might not originally be designed for my ThinkPad model, 2378-FVU.

2) the GPU heatsink on FRU: 91P9252 for the ATI GPU was much narrower and smaller in its surface area compare to the ATI GPU itself. It resulted in heat generated from the GPU would not be dissipated efficiently and quickly enough to keep the system not overheating and maintaining in a stable state under load.

After I talked to the tech after the replacement of the fan and system board, he made a call and had a conversation with IBM internal technical support. After the phone call, he told me that my current fan (FRU: 13R2567) is not the correct fan; instead, the fan with FRU: 91P9252 is the correct fan for my ThinkPad. This is very mind-boggling to me. My model 2378-FVU is a very popular express model which a lot of people also own. Knowing the fan was not the right unit coming fresh from the factory seemed hard to believe based on the excellent reputation of IBM/Lenovo quality assurance and manufacturing control.

I was not convinced that FRU: 91P9252 is the correct fan for my ThinkPad based on the above observations. Therefore, I did some further investigations of my own:

1) I downloaded the latest version of T42 Hardware Maintenance Manual (http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... MIGR-46464)
and looked up the fan replacement unit for T42 2378-FVU (my model), it says fan with FRU: 13R2657 is the correct unit for my CPU and GPU.

2) I made several phone calls to the IBM support to inquire about the compatibility of fan with FRU: 91P9252 with my ThinkPad. The tech supports did not have an answer to my inquiry; however, they informed me that the fan with FRU: 91P9252 has been replaced with a FRU: 13M5442.

On June 12, the tech made a follow-up call to me and asked if everything is alright. I said everything was fine up so far.

However, after a few more days of usage and running some applications that would load the CPU and GPU, my system became extremely unstable and overheating to a point that the system would do a safety shutdown due to the CPU overheat protection. I started to check the CPU temperature after the fan/system board replacement constantly. At room temperature of 25C, it already idles at 76C with max fan speed at 4300RPM. It reaches as high as 95C under load.

After many hours of investigations and frustration, my ThinkPad is not performing well and still having overheating issues. This has become a chronic problem and started to cause inconvenience of interruption with my work.

If there is anything that needs to be clarified, please let me know and I will do my best to provide any information you need. I appreciate your support and thank you for reading through this lengthy reply. I look forward to hear from you.

Just a follow up to the voice message that I have left for you earlier today. I have taken the issues surrounding your unit forward once again to IBM for further assessment and it is being reviewed. Can you please forward( fax or email) to me a copy of the purchase invoice receipt for the IBM TP 2378FVU. Also, can you please call me as soon as you can to discuss. Thanks.

There is some complication in my case because 2378 FVU model is not available in Canada. I had to obtain the purchase invoice by fax from IBM US and fax it to Lenovo Canada.

The approvals for the replacement have been granted by IBM. The order has been submitted for the replacement unit. Stock is being held to allocate to your order but the process is a little longer only because IBM has to purchase the unit from Lenovo and then once it is received, it will be shipped to you. I am confident that you will have the replacement unit well before you schedule trip in 3 weeks. I will keep in constant contact with the order placer(s) involved for an updated status of the order.

Also, I will need to make arrangements for the return of the defective unit- as IBM has requested it for further testing. The courier will be dispatched with a preprinted waybill. You will just need to have the unit boxed up and ready for the pick up date that you and I will decide on.

I didn't include all the e-mail logs.

The whole process to replace the unit took exactly 1 and 1/2 month to complete. The whole process for them to completely resolve my overheating and random rebooting issue took them 1/2 year.

During the waiting time, my faith in IBM/Lenovo was a bit shaken because of this overheating issue and the time it takes to process.

At the end, it was worth the wait. Because the 2378 FVU model isn't available in Canada, they offered me a T43 2686 DGU instead.
It is an excellent upgrade from what I had: 1.86Ghz vs 1.7GZ; 533MHz vs 400Mhz, DDR2 533Mhz 512MB vs DDR 333MHz 256MB, DVDRW vs Combo, Fingerprint reader vs none, X300 vs 9600.

I tried to bargain and see if they could upgrade to a T60 model with some cash compensation from me. But the Customer Relation Rep didn't want to complicate things and politely declined my request.

Overall, the lady I was dealing with was very professional and pleasant.

I will continue to purchase and recommend IBM/Lenovo. =)

[daeojkim]

I am sorry to hear the ordeal that you went through.
I own a FVU and it has been flawless the past two years. But there are always some cases where reliability fail and cause problems.

On the other hand, you are getting a great upgrade and you deserve it. Hope that you enjoy your new machine...

And yeah it would have been nice if you could have gotten a T60... yay...