Thinkpads Forum

Can anyone help?

As briefly as possible: I sprayed cleaner on my screen last night, apparently too much because it got down into the screen somehow. So I sprayed alcohol in it, to try to dry whatever fluids might have been caught in there. Left a fan on it, came back this morning, still had a stain on it.

So I removed the bezel and removed the LCD to have a look, reconnected everything, put it all back together again and started it up. It started, but at a very low resolution, so checked all the connections again, and now --

It won't start at all. If the AC is in, the AC light comes on, but when I push power, it tries to start for about 3 seconds, and then quits on me, and the AC light goes out. If I unplug the AC and plug it back in, the light comes on again, but again, no startup. Same with the battery. The only time this doesn't happen is if I remove all the RAM: then the lights stay lit, but of course it still won't start.

Anyone have any ideas what might have happened here? I'm wondering if the LCD ribbon came off the mainboard, but I can;t figure out how to get it to check. Anyway, if it did, would that stop the machine from starting up?

Any other ideas, or am I sunk?

Thanks.

Puppet wrote:...I'm wondering if the LCD ribbon came off the mainboard...Anyway, if it did, would that stop the machine from starting up

That alone would not prevent the motherboard from trying to boot. The motherboard, if healthy, will try to boot, without shutting off, even if nothing other than power and memory is connected to it. Good luck!

What do you have for warranty?

I think it's still under warranty, but I bought it used off ebay so I don;t know. Anyway, doesn't the fact that I took it apartmyself pretty void any warranty I might have had?

Puppet wrote:I think it's still under warranty, but I bought it used off ebay so I don;t know. Anyway, doesn't the fact that I took it apartmyself pretty void any warranty I might have had?

You can check your warranty status on the Lenovo support website-just enter your serial number in the space provided under the warranty status link.

You taking apart the machine doesn't affect the warranty-however, if they see ANY trace or evidence of a liquid residue inside when they inspect it, kiss what warranty you may have goodbye. Personally, I would make sure there is absolutely no evidence of liquid damage or residue anywhere before you send it in. Lenovo has become very, very observant on anything resembling liquid damage these days....

OK, I checked on the site, and it's under a three year on site repair warranty. I couldn't tell if that included accident protection or not.

So I called them, and explained that the LCD had stopped working, and then it wouldn't power up. The rep (who was very nice) didn't ask if I'd spilled anything, or opened it, or anything, so I assume they don't care. He just said they'd send a repairman out with a new LCD, cable, inverter, and mainboard.

So now my question is, does this mean on site repair automatically implies accident coverage. -- Because if not, I find it odd that they didn't ask, -- and what, after all, are they going to do? Ship the parts up here, send a repairman out, and then, if he finds liquid damage, have him go home again and send the parts back? Seems like an expensive way to do business to me...

Or does this, as I say, imply that they don't care and I'm OK?

you have 3 yr onsite warranty which includes accidental [censored]. I think they all cover that. Eitherway, you don't have to tell the dude anything, sure it might be a lil dishonest if you don't have accidental coverage (rare) but he's out there to replace parts (they don't ship him anything, wherever he's coming from has them all in stock as Lenovo sends all it's service places parts of-course) so just let him do his job and you have a working laptop again.

"Integrity is what you do when no one is watching."

- Rush Limbaugh, around the time he was sending his illegal immigrant maid out on the street to buy mass quantities of Vicodin for him.

Is not telling them the same as lying, though?

Love the thread title, though...

Onsite repair does NOT imply accidental damage insurance.

Not telling the truth is the same as lying.

The machine is probably not totalled, but Lenovo will charge you more to fix it than most repair shops would. If Lenovo says they won't cover the damage, take it to a local repair shop, or buy dinner for a tech friend and buy the parts. Anyone who can use a very tiny screwdriver can handle laptop repair if they have parts.

Use the HMM to disassemble the machine and diagnose which things need replacing.

Best of luck

Um, guys? I didn't ask for moral instruction, or metaphysical hair-splitting, nor did I imply that I was going to lie to anyone. I asked what the rather vaguely described warranty listed on the IBM website entails, and what I can expect when the repairman comes. So far, I have two contradictory answers, one saying that I probably do have accident protection, and another saying I may not. In any case, the repairman should be here in a day or two, so I guess I'll know soon enough.

Thanks anyway.

SHoTTa35 wrote:you have 3 yr onsite warranty which includes accidental [censored].

Basically, what they're saying is... just don't mention it was water-damage. As far as Lenovo goes (and I totally doubt that the repair guy who comes to your house is going to care), it was damaged, and it will be fixed--why else would they send a repair person WITH the parts? I would rest assured... I think the situation has been dealt with, so just get ready to answer the door (and of course, make sure he's completely reassembled your laptop)!

Puppet wrote:So I called them, and explained that the LCD had stopped working, and then it wouldn't power up. The rep (who was very nice) didn't ask if I'd spilled anything, or opened it, or anything, so I assume they don't care. He just said they'd send a repairman out with a new LCD, cable, inverter, and mainboard.

Well, no tech support is going to ask you how this happened, they are going to believe whatever you tell them.

ryengineer wrote:

Puppet wrote:So I called them, and explained that the LCD had stopped working, and then it wouldn't power up. The rep (who was very nice) didn't ask if I'd spilled anything, or opened it, or anything, so I assume they don't care. He just said they'd send a repairman out with a new LCD, cable, inverter, and mainboard.

Well, no tech support is going to ask you how this happened, they are going to believe whatever you tell them.

I believe that tech support would at least ask if he wetted his computer and say that those problems were not covered under warranty, can you imagine how many times a technician would be dispatched to a machine damaged by liquid if the tech supp person would not ask in advance the type of problem?

Dying to know what happens.

On a side note, why do they advertise a water channeled keyboard if accidental spills aren't covered? But on spraying an LCD with liquid...sorta always felt a little like Russian roulette to me, the inverter is usually just below the lower bezel. If a drip doesn't fry just the light tube it will surely short the inverter and possibly take the power circuit during the surge it causes.

Something similar happened to my sister's T21 and I was the lucky repairman (privileges of an IT sibling). A soda spill I think...anyway I'm guessing the inverter had a shorted out part of the wire-tape causing a strange overload to the motherboard's power supply. I remember the thing hissing at me, before a replacement popped too. I ended up gambling on an entire LCD panel complete with trimmings (used) instead of messing with trial and error and lucked out. It is still alive and well today.

Hey, but good luck with your machine. If anything the laptop is designed to save your hard drive so your data will live on.

stephanpark wrote:On a side note, why do they advertise a water channeled keyboard if accidental spills aren't covered?

Same reason car manufacturers put airbags in their vehicles, but don't pay your medical bills if you're injured in an accident.

jns2001 wrote:I believe that tech support would at least ask if he wetted his computer and say that those problems were not covered under warranty, can you imagine how many times a technician would be dispatched to a machine damaged by liquid if the tech supp person would not ask in advance the type of problem?

Well the techs might but won't go out of their way asking if you "wetted" your notebook when you're going to tell them "the LCD had stopped working, and then it wouldn't power up". They will just think of lcd/motherboard issues.

SeanM wrote:Same reason car manufacturers put airbags in their vehicles, but don't pay your medical bills if you're injured in an accident.

So the insurance industry makes Lenovo put water channels in the keyboard? Yeah, I guess that could be so...if they outsource their warranty overhead to another company, then that company would start negotiating to make the Laptops "safer" for its bottom line.

Since I don't believe in altruism in so far as corporations are concerned, I'd say that there isn't as much a force making laptops "safer" than the market itself. The analogy being the skull=harddrive makes more sense since your data is really what is important in the end not the laptop itself. But I still would like to know, does the warranty cover accidental water damager or not?

Puppet, heres crossing my fingers.

I am glad your machine is booting. I wonder if you saw his LCD screen swap error (was it?) before he left what would he (she?) have done about it?

How could they make such an error?

Did they appear to know what they were doing? How long did he take to make the repair?

If you pay extra for a service like this is it worth it?

Brad

water channeled keyboard : to protect the data in your hard drive.

Brad:

He just put in the LCD that IBM sent him: the mistake came from Atlanta. When I pointed it out to him, he told me I had to call Atlanta about it -- brusquely, but not exactly rudely. Atlanta admitted the error, and 24 hours later the guy was back with the new screen.

Is the service worth it? It certainly has been to me. Like any form of insurance, it's a godsend if you need it, and a waste of money if you don't. From the horror stories I've heard about Depot Service, though, onsite seems much better. At least you can watch them and see if they screw anything up.

That makes sense that Atlanta sent the incorrect part.

I am glad everything is working for you.

Do the service people mind being watched?

Brad

I know that as a service tech I don't mind so much if you watch but if you insist on talking to me while I am working I can't fully concentrate on what I am doing and I will probably make a mistake. That means I have to spend more time on it and these jobs pay a flat rate, not hourly.

Condensed version: I don't care if you watch but you will get a quicker and better job if you don't.