Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I purchased a T60 8743CTO roughly 2 months ago. After the first 2 weeks, I got a blue screen that said NMI: Parity check/Memory parity error. I called IBM support and was told that I needed to update my BIOS. So I did and my T60 worked fine until early last week. I got the same error message and was told that it was actually a memory or motherboard problem. The person I spoke to said that they could a)send me replacement memory and I could watch a video online that showed me how to replace it myself or b)fix it at their EasyServ center. I asked if I sent my computer in, would someone run a diagnostic or something to check what the problem was. I was told yes so I sent my computer in to their EasyServ center and received it back last Friday the 10th. The repair report did not mention anything about replacing the memory. Instead, it said the motherboard had been replaced and Bios updated. On Monday night (the 13th), I got the same error message. This time, I called IBM support and asked if I could receive a replacement laptop. The first person I spoke to was really nice about it and said that since the problem had first occurred within the first 30 days, a replacement would not be a problem. He told me to call sales.

I wrote the phone number down incorrectly and ended up calling hardware support again for the correct number. This time, I was told that I could not get a replacement because I couldn't say for certain if the problem had first manifested within the first 21 days, not 30 as I'd been previously told. Instead, I was told it was a wireless card problem and that "9/10 cases of memory parity error, it's a software problem...it's a Windows issue, not an IBM one". I requested to speak to a supervisor and was transferred. This supervisor told me that I was not eligible for a replacement, that my only option was to troubleshoot with them on the phone and send my current T60 in for repairs. He insisted that it was a wireless card issue and told me to disable my wireless card indefinitely to see if the blue screen would return. I replied that I would be going off to college this week and relied on my wireless every day. He responded that I should just turn it off today to see if the blue screen returned. I asked what good would that do since I would need my wireless the day after that. He said he could not help me unless I disabled my wireless and it was disqualified as the source of the error. He also contradicted what I had been told earlier about their EasyServ centers. He said they did not diagnose any problems, only replaced what they were told to. At this point, both of us started losing our patience. I adamantly insisted on getting a replacement and he was equally adamant that I could not b/c of IBM's 21 day rule. Finally I told him I would disable my wireless card and call back the next day.

After calling, I started looking through my records and realized that while the error hadn't occurred within the first 21 days of purchase, it had occurred within the first 21 days of my usage. Also, looking at other forums, some people suggested it was a problem with the ATI X1400 graphics card.

My questions are,
1) Does IBM only replace computers if they malfunction within the first 21 days? At what point does the 21 days start?
2) Has anybody else had this problem with their T60? Does anybody know what is causing this problem?
3) Is this typical of IBM customer support? To constantly change stories as to why there's an error and refuse replacement?

I'm so sorry if this post is overly long. It's just that this has been going on for the past two months now and I'm starting to get really frustrated.

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

I'm not sure about the whole 21/30 days thing as the rules are different in EMEA. However, I know people are keen to get replacement systems but its normally not the best course of action. The chance of something going wrong with a new system is the same as it going wrong with your first system; but if you get the first system repaired properly, then another fault is much less likely (statistically speaking).

The problem is that they seem to be guessing which parts and haven't done much problem determination. There is a known memory issue on T60 systems with 1GB dimms but you'd have to open the system (easy to do) to check the serial number to see if you are affected.

Other than that i'd advise running an advanced pc doctor test by pressing the blue button on startup (if the error doesn't occur every time) and then choosing diagnostics. This should find any other faults with the system and identify if there is a hardware fault.

That error could be caused by any number of things but is most likely to be the memory.

Thanks for your reply. I have run the PC doctor test both before and after I sent the T60 to IBM fore repair and each time, every test passes.

If I cannot get a refund, I guess they'll have to keep guessing.

haosquared wrote:Snipped overly-long quote.

Man, I know how it feels. I had the same bad experience with the Depot, i.e. their EasyServ center, when I tried to ask them to fix the GPU overheating problem. The guys from Depot told me "do not run any 3D applications and your machine will work just fine". I can't believe it when he told me that, but the truth is: the guys in their Depot can't solve any problems like this but they won't admit that, and they are often very rude under situations like this.

I recommend to you file a complaint on http://bbb.org so that Lenovo will send someone to directly handle this issue. I solved my problem that way.