T41 warranty repair: got wrong motherboard?

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matthijs · #1 Post by **matthijs** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:35 pm

My (now dead) T41, 2373-3KG, was repaired under warranty a year or so ago. In the process of investigating what was wrong with the dead mainboard, I noticed that it only had 32MB of video RAM.

However, when I bought it, the board in it had 64MB of VRAM (or at least, that is what the invoice claims, and it is supported by me being able to play Civilization IV before, but not after, the repair).

I'm wondering, is there some way I could get IBM/Lenovo to (a) admit that they put in the inferior motherboard that's currently in my T41 under warranty repair? And then (b) convince them that it originally had a 64MB VRAM board? (Such that they will them give me stuff in compensation...?)

Any ideas or similar experiences out there?

Thanks!

- Matt

SHoTTa35 · #2 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:42 pm

well you had the Radeon 9000 before and they have now stuck you with the Radeon 7500 32MB. Definitely i would have asked to have it changed to what it should have been.

#3 Post by **jdhurst** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:48 pm

Yes, you can expect and legally, properly demand the correct replacement board. I have T41 that needed a motherboard (warranty repair). My vendor is excellent and the repair person is outstanding. Nonetheless IBM shipped the wrong board in the correct carton. It was replaced with the correct board without question. (I just spoke to the repair person and his manager the other day. They are both still there and that is very comfortable for me and for my clients) ... JDH

Paul Unger · #4 Post by **Paul Unger** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 5:27 pm

I had a motherboard swapped out under warranty on one of my T42s, but it came back with a different wireless card (2100 b instead of 2200 b/g). One call to 'service' was all it took to get sorted out: they sent me a 2200 and I returned the 2100. All shipping was paid for by them.

All of that to say: CHECK YOUR SYSTEM when you get it back from warranty service and MAKE SURE you have the same components as you did when you sent it in! Mistakes can--and do--happen, but I've found the warranty people to be very helpful in sorting them out. Having said that, "a year later" is quite a while, but if you've got the paperwork to support your case it should be a no brainer. May the force be with you.

matthijs · #5 Post by **matthijs** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:38 pm

Thanks for the replies... I guess I should have checked more thoroughly, it just didn't occur to me that anything could have been changed -- the repair was because of a dead LCD, not anything to do with the mainboard!

Anyway, even though I have an invoice (from a reseller) that says I had a Radeon 9000 board with 64MB VRAM, IBM/Lenovo claim that my model (2373-3KG) only came with 32MB, which is what I have now. I don't remember with sufficient accuracy which way it was... let alone have proof.

Next time I return anything for warranty, I'm taking pictures of a system information screen as well as the actual hardware!

#6 Post by **richk** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 8:54 pm

It is not clear you got screwed. If someone changed non-user-replacible parts, they might not have honored your warranty.

FTC · #7 Post by **FTC** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:47 am

Hi,

Well, in Lenovo's web site and manuals it really does state that the 2373-3KG comes with a 32MB Radeon 9000... so I think it is going to be very difficult to really prove yours was special somehow.

There could still have been a mistake though, if you confirm you now have a radeon 7500 instead of a 9000, then you ought to go for replacement since this is an inferior chip.

If however you do have a 9000, then the Civilization IV thing must ve driver related or other.. but most probably not hardware.

T41 warranty repair: got wrong motherboard?

T41 warranty repair: got wrong motherboard?

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