T42 Video Failure

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jparr · #1 Post by **jparr** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 6:20 pm

I have a 2378FVU that starting today, will crash if picked up or moved around on a desk. The machine will continue to operate, but the video will become blurry, almost like a CRT driven at too high of a refresh rate. IBM tech support had me connect an external monitor, and confirmed that the video corruption was also on the external monitor. I guess this means the motherboard is shot. So much for IBM hardware being extremely rugged. My last Dell lasted three and a half years, with only a cable going bad. Oh well.

The tech told me that since I am outside the US, I will need to wait until Monday morning to speak to someone in the International Warranty dept.

Fun fun fun.

scillyisles · #2 Post by **scillyisles** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 6:38 pm

Yes same thing happened to my T41P - exactly the same symptoms you describe.
The cause ATI Firegl chip has gone - IBM had to replace system board and system is now fine.

jparr · #3 Post by **jparr** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 11:33 pm

scillyisles wrote:Yes same thing happened to my T41P - exactly the same symptoms you describe.
The cause ATI Firegl chip has gone - IBM had to replace system board and system is now fine.

Really? Any idea what the cause was?

#4 Post by **aamsel** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 11:49 pm

Sounds like a "cold" solder joint.

Andrew
Austin, TX

jparr · #5 Post by **jparr** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 11:52 pm

aamsel wrote:Sounds like a "cold" solder joint.

Yeah, thats what I am thinking. Just wondered if its a fault, or if I was somehow too hard on the laptop.

#6 Post by **aamsel** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 12:25 am

No telling.
If you didn't overly abuse it, sounds like it just "went south" on you.
Bad chip, or a bad solder joint, bad capacitor, who knows?
Just get it fixed, and move on!

Andrew
Austin, TX

jparr wrote:
aamsel wrote:Sounds like a "cold" solder joint.
Yeah, thats what I am thinking. Just wondered if its a fault, or if I was somehow too hard on the laptop.

jparr · #7 Post by **jparr** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:25 am

I spoke to IBM about this failure, and the local reps who they put me in touch with tell me that I will have to bring the laptop to them. Once they identify the problem, they will order the part. If I pay them $100 they will "rush" the part, to get it here within a week. The fun continues.....

JHEM · #8 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:43 am

jparr wrote:I spoke to IBM about this failure, and the local reps who they put me in touch with tell me that I will have to bring the laptop to them.

If you share your location with us in your Profile we might be able to offer more helpful information.

jparr wrote:Once they identify the problem, they will order the part. If I pay them $100 they will "rush" the part, to get it here within a week. The fun continues.....

That's ridiculous! What warranty do you have on your system? Depot? On-site?

Regards,

James

jparr · #9 Post by **jparr** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:52 am

I am located in the Bahamas. We are about 100 miles off the coast of Florida, and I reguraly overnight packages with FedEx here, so the one week "rush" is crazy.

IBM US tells me the warranty is onsite, and the pre-sales person at IBM I spoke to before purchasing told me the warranty is International.

JHEM · #10 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:51 am

Hop a Chalk's flight to Miami, call IBM from your hotel and tell them the problem and where you are. Someone will be out the next morning with a new motherboard for you and install it!

Seems ridiculous, I know, but it's the only way to get away from the island mentality!

In any event, if you have the international on-site warranty you shouldn't have to TAKE the unit anywhere nor should you have to pay extra for expedited service. I'd call IBM again and put a bee in their ear!

Did you contact IBM in Nassau? http://www.ibm.com/planetwide/bs/

Regards,

James

#11 Post by **aamsel** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 12:01 pm

That is preposterous...call back, and if you are told that again, ask to speak to the highest-ranking supervisor in the call center.

Andrew
Austin, TX

jparr wrote:...If I pay them $100 they will "rush" the part, to get it here within a week...

MobileGuru · #12 Post by **MobileGuru** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 12:09 pm

aamsel wrote:That is preposterous...call back, and if you are told that again, ask to speak to the highest-ranking supervisor in the call center.

Andrew
Austin, TX

It is a warranty issue thing .. the onsite coverage refers to the country of origin, not always anywhere you are in the world. I mean if I bought a machine with onsite coverage in China, I wouldn't expect to get onsite service in the Yukon .. Unfortunately the service options in the Caribbean and somewhat limited sometimes, and the parts do take a bit longer to arrive than say in the USA.

jparr · #13 Post by **jparr** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 12:20 pm

JHEM wrote:Hop a Chalk's flight to Miami, call IBM from your hotel and tell them the problem and where you are. Someone will be out the next morning with a new motherboard for you and install it!

Yeah, thats an option, and I have done that will Dell's in the past. Part of the reason I bought the Thinkpad was so that I wouldn't have to go through that.

And while I do fly Chalks quite often, perhaps you should be informed that their landing gear collapsed while climbing up the ramp to the airport in Nassau

Seems ridiculous, I know, but it's the only way to get away from the island mentality!

In any event, if you have the international on-site warranty you shouldn't have to TAKE the unit anywhere nor should you have to pay extra for expedited service. I'd call IBM again and put a bee in their ear!

Did you contact IBM in Nassau? http://www.ibm.com/planetwide/bs/s

I have spoken to IBM Bahamas, and they told me they do not perform warranty service, and referred me to this IBM reseller.

JHEM · #14 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 1:32 pm

jparr wrote:And while I do fly Chalks quite often, perhaps you should be informed that their landing gear collapsed while climbing up the ramp to the airport in Nassau

Well, that's better than the time I saw them try to taxi up the ramp on Cat Cay without dropping the gear first!

Regards,

James

JHEM · #15 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 1:36 pm

MobileGuru wrote:It is a warranty issue thing .. the onsite coverage refers to the country of origin, not always anywhere you are in the world.

Robert is correct, as usual, but I have known IBM to be accomodating to US visitors who have their Thinkpads develop problems.

Might be worth a call to the 800 number, worst they would do is say no. But, in any event, you shouldn't have to pay anyone for expedited service!

Regards,

James

jparr · #16 Post by **jparr** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 3:06 pm

So tomorrow at 9am I get to go to the IBM rep, and if there happens to be a technician handy, they will look at the laptop, and confirm that it needs a new motherboard. If no one is available, the laptop will need to be left there for the day. Once it is confirmed that a new motherboard is needed, I can either pay $100 to get it repaired within a week, or wait an indefinite amount of time for the part to arrive.

jparr · #17 Post by **jparr** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:17 pm

Local IBM office took a look at the laptop today, and agrees the motherboard is bad. They will order one, and expect it to arrive in about two weeks. I neglected to pay the extra $100 to "rush" it here within one week.

JHEM · #18 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:15 pm

jparr wrote:Local IBM office took a look at the laptop today, and agrees the motherboard is bad. They will order one, and expect it to arrive in about two weeks. I neglected to pay the extra $100 to "rush" it here within one week.

I can only offer you my sympathy in this matter, tell you how sorry we all are that you have to go through this exercise and wish there were something that we could do to help.

Then I realize that I'm sitting here with a foot of snow on the ground and you're probably sitting on a beach with your toes in the water!

I feel MUCH better!

Regards,

James

jparr · #19 Post by **jparr** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:22 pm

JHEM wrote: I can only offer you my sympathy in this matter, tell you how sorry we all are that you have to go through this exercise and wish there were something that we could do to help.

I'm not [censored], just telling it how it is. Not everyone has a rosy experience with IBM.

Then I realize that I'm sitting here with a foot of snow on the ground and you're probably sitting on a beach with your toes in the water!

Actually, its cold tonight, think its going to drop below 75F. And tomorrow I need to spend the day traveling by boat to do some work on an island.
*sigh*

#20 Post by **jdhurst** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:38 pm

jparr wrote: Actually, its cold tonight, think its going to drop below 75F. And tomorrow I need to spend the day traveling by boat to do some work on an island.
*sigh*

I have snow pile three feet deep on my front lawn (more in places) from multiple times with the snowblower clearing out the most recent storm. I should come where you are.

IBM Maintenance is going down hill. I am used to specialists showing up to fix an AS400 and getting parts by taxi within a hour or so. We could get similar service on PC's because we had tha AS400. Later (some years) and PC only, it went to four hours, then same day, now it is next day or longer. So far it is still workable (the service) but I am watching carefully.
... JD Hurst

JHEM · #21 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 11:18 pm

jparr wrote:Actually, its cold tonight, think its going to drop below 75F. And tomorrow I need to spend the day traveling by boat to do some work on an island. *sigh*

[censored] that's tough work!

Well, someone's got to do it.

Need a driver? I've got a US unlimited ocean license and my UK extra master ticket.

Pretty sure Bill's got his 100 ton ticket.

James

Leon · #22 Post by **Leon** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 11:54 pm

Please put your location and other pertinent information in your profile so those of us who are suffering in the snow (I am in Boston) can continue to be reminded and have no sympathy for you on a regular basis (it is also helpful for other reasons)

.

In any event, let us know how this finally plays out. Welcome to our Forum!

rhema83 · #23 Post by **rhema83** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 12:00 am

75 degrees F and you are complaining about "cold"? Jeez. I count myself lucky if the midday temperature hits 40F. (I'm in upstate NY.)

Anyway, it's sad to hear the story about IBM service in your area. I hope the warranty service in larger cities (like Hong Kong or Singapore) will be better.

jparr · #24 Post by **jparr** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 12:03 am

I called the IBM dealer today since it has been two weeks since they supposedly ordered the part. They tell me the part is not here, and that I should check back in a week.

Unbelievable.

jparr · #25 Post by **jparr** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:17 pm

....and the beat goes on. I called the dealer again today, to check on the status of my replacement otherboard. They tell me the part isn't here, and they have no way of knowing where it is, or when it will get here. I was asked to call back next week monday and check in with them. This is hardly what I consider great support. Glad I found a Dell Inspiron sitting around the office to keep me productive.

jparr · #26 Post by **jparr** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:47 pm

If anyone is still paying attention to this thread, I could sure use some help. Still no word back from IBM on why I am still waiting on the part for my T42. Meanwhile my T42 has been collecting dust since Feb 25. Sure does make me question why I spent the couple hundred dollar premium on the Thinkpad rather than the Dell.

So if anybody from IBM is reading this, please shoot me an email or a PM, this is getting ridiculous now.

KillaByte · #27 Post by **KillaByte** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:51 am

Just drop Sam a line telling him what's going on and how disappointed you are. This will usually speed things up a lot (it did for me).

jparr · #28 Post by **jparr** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:17 am

KillaByte wrote:Just drop Sam a line telling him what's going on and how disappointed you are. This will usually speed things up a lot (it did for me).

Haha, I hardly think there is a need for an email to IBMs CEO. Of course at this point, every day when I call they give me the runaround. It is amazing that this company is still able to represent IBM. I guess if you sling enough boxes and your bottom line looks good, IBM corporate could care less about the quality if your warranty support.

jparr · #29 Post by **jparr** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:52 am

One week from now will mark the TWO MONTH mark in this exercise is warranty futility. Who at IBM can I contact to file a complaint? At no point was I given a ship date, a tracking number, an indication of where the item shipped from, etc. Save for a single phone call from the service rep, I have had to call them once a week to check on the status (futile as it may be). They have made no attempt to keep me up to date, or return my phone calls.

Regretting my choice of IBM every day now.

JHEM · #30 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:22 am

As you were told a while ago, send an email to the CEO: https://www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/email-sjp.pl and you WILL hear back from someone.

The representative who will contact you has the ability to not only speed things up, but they could even replace your present unit with a new one!

Regards,

James

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