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T61p in need of parts
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:23 pm
by rodwilsonsr
Well, I got a real kick in the pants today...
I just bought a T61p just before Christmas. Unexpectedly, I splashed some coffee on the right speaker grill, not alot but I guess enough. Well...a couple days later the machine will not power on anymore.
I bought this with the express mail in warranty. The depot people called me and told me the USB ports on that side of the machine and the motherboard need to be replaced at the cost of 950.00 dollars. I paid like 1100 for this thing
I am so frigin sick over this.
I am an IT guy, so I know how to swap out the parts on laptops and all that. I told the depot not to fix it and send it back to me.
Can anyone provide any direction on what to do from here? Any good places for motherboards or other inexpensive fixes?
Thanks
Rod
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 4:13 pm
by asianboyztn
if your laptop will not power on at all, that's mean your systemboard is dead, so there are no way around it, you need to replace the systemboard, look around online you may find the systemboard for your laptop.
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:04 pm
by whizkid
If you are very lucky, dried goopy coffee is shorting something benign. Get your hardware maintenance manual, strip down the machine and clean off all the goop. Let it dry THOROUGHLY and put it together.
While it's drying, you can try to find a motherboard on eBay, but I suspect you won't find many as most T60's are still under warranty.
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:57 pm
by Proteus
Open the system, rinse all affected components with DISTILLED water. Allow to dry thoroughly..at least 48 hours.
Put it together, and power on. Hopefully that should do the trick. If not, if you've cleaned up all evidence of a spill, easyserv it again.
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:27 pm
by rodwilsonsr
thanks for the responses guys...I am awaiting the machine to come back now...I am going to dissassemble and check it out myself...I will post back.
Thanks again
Rod
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:34 pm
by anz2007
One option to remember is if you purchased the system with a credit card, you may be covered by a "Purchase Protection" policy. The amex version is described
here and Visa/MC have similar.
Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:51 am
by erik
rod, check with your homeowner's insurance to see if your thinkpad is covered under an umbrella policy. if not then talk to your agent about getting a 'personal articles floater' which can be added to your homeowner's policy to cover electronics, jewelry, etc. state farm insurance offers such a policy and may be able to sell a PAF to you separately even if you don't already have other insurance through them. while all of this won't cover your current issue, it will cover you in the future in the event of damage, theft, or loss.
Proteus wrote:If not, if you've cleaned up all evidence of a spill, easyserv it again.
depending on what rod told ezserv the first time around (or if ezserv disassembled far enough to see the root cause first-hand), the event may have already been recorded in rod's file. if it was recorded then getting it fixed under warranty after a second trip may be difficult if not impossible. in any event, it's worth a shot.
Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:19 pm
by rodwilsonsr
Hey guys,
I got the laptop back today and took it apart...
It looks like right under the right speaker grill is where the coffee got through.
When I talked to IBM, they told me that the USB ports and the motherboard needed to be replaced.
I took pictures of the damage, it looks like the coffee just got on the USB board. This board is plugged into the motherboard via a small cable.
Could spillage on the ports shorted out the MB via the wire?
Here are the pics.
http://radcompu.ipower.com//P1040076.JPG
http://radcompu.ipower.com//P1040074.JPG
Thanks
Rod
