T61: Sudden Death!

[ArtShapiro]

A few minutes ago, I was merrily typing away on the T61 (6460-7EU) and without warning everything went black - no lights, totally dead. Nary a peep.

I disconnected from the AC, took out the battery, held the power button down for 20 seconds or so. Reassembled, and the same - not even the AC light before the futile attempt of powering up.

Any wild suggestions before I try dealing with Lenovo? (The machine has a few more months of warranty.)

Will they claim that the machine was clearly fished out of a lake where it had sat for ten years?

I haven't yet looked at Lenovo.com - is it obvious how to put in for a warranty claim?

We are not happy - this on top of the four spurious Paypal payments, all British, that appeared in my account this morning.

Art (down to this T20 and my T23)

[Brad]

Art,

Sorry to hear of the untimely demise of your T61.

You can call 800-426-7378 24 x 7.

You can also create an online service request here. If you have not already created a user ID here simply click on register. Usually you will receive a call back within an hour or two.

Hopefully you will be back to your T61 by weeks end. The warranty is one of the best if not thee best in the business. To me if it costs more because of the warranty I am happy to pay. If you have you tried dealing with any other vendor you will see what I mean.

Brad

[ArtShapiro]

Art,
You can call 800-426-7378 24 x 7.

Well, I did so. Other than the guy who wanted to talk to me about gaming for 20 minutes (I'm a real gamer; one of these days I'll unwrap my box of Leisure Suit Larry 5) it went quite smoothly, and a box is on the way.

He asserted that there's no need to pull the disk or the memory; it supposedly is to be specifically listed on the shipment papers.

As long as they don't say it was user damage (I'm fairly cynical about big companies) it looks like things are set.

Art

[RealBlackStuff]

Make sure you mark explicitly on the packing slip what parts are included (RAM, how many sticks and what size, HARD DISK, what size, CD/DVD, what type, AC ADAPTER may be the culprit also, BATTERY #-cell)
Take some photos, to be sure.
Try and copy your personal HD content off it, before/if you send it in!

[ajkula66]

Do yourself a favour and remove the hard and media drives, along with the battery...

[ArtShapiro]

Do yourself a favour and remove the hard and media drives, along with the battery...

Care to elaborate upon the suggestion?

Art

[rkawakami]

I think what George is saying is that you should not take any chances of items going "missing" once you ship off the system to who-knows-where. The usual recommendation when submitting a system to depot service is covered in FAQ #5:

5) Does EasyServ need my HDD to fix my ThinkPad?

Never send anything to EasyServ that isn't part of the problem. Period.

If the system still is acting dead with your hard drive, optical drive and battery removed, then those pieces are not part of the problem and for your own benefit, should be kept at home. Also, if you haven't already checked your AC adapter (on another system or with a multimeter), then I'd do that before boxing up the system.

[bhtooefr]

And if you need a multimeter, you can usually get one for $3 or so at Harbor Freight. Cheap enough to buy a few and keep them around so you've always got a multimeter handy.

[ArtShapiro]

Thanks, guys. I have multimeters galore - everything from bench lab units to cheap analog guys. But having multiple adaptors was the easiest check, although clearly irrelevant in that the battery was 100% charged at the time the T61 failed instantly.

Wonder if this is going to turn out to be a fuse that decided to blow for no particular reason. Guess they'll just replace the MB and not even look.

If they claim it was my fault, for some reason, it would put me in a tough spot. Obviously their cost for an MB would exceed the cost of a used T61. And I have to confess detesting the wide-screen T61; it was a real mistake not to purchase an SXGA+ machine.

Art

[bhtooefr]

There's a reason that on every new laptop I buy, I check the box for accidental damage protection.

Both because I actually am likely to accidentally damage the thing, and because that removes the water damage excuse for places like Solectron.

(My X61t actually has on-site service, but it had an accidental damage claim that resulted in it having to go in, and almost all plastics on the machine replaced, along with the hinge.)

[ArtShapiro]

There's a reason that on every new laptop I buy, I check the box for accidental damage protection.

I hear ya'!

This guy was actually purchased (lightly) used, and thus I got whatever warranty (3 year standard) happened to be associated with the machine. I had first tried to purchase it from Lenovo, but they canceled the order without notice and nobody could make things right after scads of calls. (I believe it was because the name of my city is misspelled in their data base, and no human would/could correct it, and thus the credit card failed to verify due to the non-match on all data fields.) I'm not the only victim of Lenovo "sales", of course, but it sure was frustrating.

Art - hoping there's a box on my doorstep when I get home from the salt mine

[agarza]

Bummer man.

I've never had a Thinkpad fail on me (knock on wood), my T61 warranty expires this year and it's my first 'Lenovo' Thinkpad so I expect it to be as reliable as my trusty IBM machines on the past. A bummer too you didn't get a SXGA+ machine, much more nicer and pocket-size considered the 'sweet spot' on Thinkpads form factor.

[RealBlackStuff]

@agarza:
Make sure to renew your insurance WELL BEFORE it's expiry date!

[guxbo]

1.remove the battery and ac power cord
2.wait 15mins or more
3.put back the ac power cord
4.if no response,repeat 1.2,then install battery only,try power on.

might be a over-current protection,hope it helps.

Anyway, 3 years warranty is a must for current laptop.don't trust too much on brand,they all come from same production line.

[ArtShapiro]

1.remove the battery and ac power cord...

Thanks - I did all that stuff...the T61 is pushing up the daisies.

I'll give an update if anyone cares.

EZ Serv dispatched a box from Kentucky at 2 AM Tuesday morning. It was apparently on my doorstep before 10 AM here in California, and was waiting for me when I got home from the salt mine at 4:40. I had it on its way to Staples (UPS depot) by 5. They got it in Memphis at 4:20 AM Wednesday. Repairs started by 8:30.

And at 9 AM Wednesday it was marked as "waiting for parts", and that is still the current status Friday morning.

Obviously I'd love to know "what parts", not that it affects anything. But it's hard not to be curious about such a total failure.

At least there is no indication that they're going to blame me.

Hey, a question: my warranty runs out in August. I've never extended a warranty before, but obviously am thrilled I have the warranty right now. The Lenovo site is very mum about the cost of extensions. Any words of wisdom out there for me? Much as I dislike the 15" widescreen, and dread the thought of carrying it and my heavy suitcase on an airplane / subway / trolley / walk trip later this year, it is likely to be my principal laptop for a while so I may as well do what I can to maximize bang-for-the-buck.

Art

[guxbo]

call them for 10%discount,if you extend to 3years(2more years actually).

for 15'4, I say it's better in some case like self-defense,bullet proof- coverage.it's easy to hold it as a weapon.

[ArtShapiro]

call them for 10%discount,if you extend to 3years

It probably makes a BIG difference that it is already a three-year warranty; that's what expires in August. Can that be extended further at a cost that doesn't exceed the value of the machine?

Art

[ArtShapiro]

Well, my cynical suspicions have come to pass.

Lenovo is claiming that there is water damage on the bottom of the planar, and they want $750 to replace the system board as a non-warranty repair.

This probably exceeds the value of the unit - maybe not given the fact that it's a 15" WSXGA+ machine - but I'm not happy.

Any thoughts or advice out there?

Art

[sktn77a]

Did you ask them how it got water damaged on the bottom of the motherboard? That's a new one! Pity that you bought it used as you can't claim with any certainty that it has never been spilled on (whereas if you owned it from new you can always say that you aren't a liar and it has never been spilled on).

[ArtShapiro]

I could have misunderstood the rep or mentally jumbled his words.

Anyway, I joined the Lenovo forums to post the same enquiry, and it was suggested that I request a digital photo of the alleged damage and post it for folks to scrutinize.

So I've done so, and they were very pleasant about it, promising me photos tomorrow (Friday) or by Monday at the latest. That seems fair.

Just thinking as I type, at the risk of boring everyone to tears: It probably won't be cost-effective to purchase the repair from Lenovo. When I look on eBay for T61 boards, there appear to be several different sequentially-numbered models. I haven't yet whipped open the HMM, but I wonder if anyone has some immediate insight as to the difference among those various models. I'm a 6460-7EU, A 15" UXSGA+ model with Bluetooth and fingerprint reader, but no integrated camera. And I'm not immediately conversant with the difference between a T61 and a T61p with respect to the board.

Art

[RealBlackStuff]

Do an original-parts-look-up: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... yle=lenovo
you enter your type 6460 and your Serial No. from the bottom of the laptop.
You'll get a list of which parts were in it when new. (IBM calls the motherboard a planar).

[richk]

I see water damage on the bottom a lot. It can get in thru the fan vents or set down in a puddle.

[ArtShapiro]

At the risk of interminably extending a thread, could I ask for some advice?

(I have yet to receive the digital pix, but assume I'm going to lose this battle with Lenovo...thus the question.)

I've never been a fan of the widescreen guy in question, and think I'd be happiest with an SXGA+ model. Maybe down the line I'll find a reasonably-priced motherboard for the "water-damaged" machine, and get it working, but that's clearly not going to happen for a while.

On eBay, I see a 2007-94U T60p (item #150347545254) at what seems to be a very good buy-it-now price ($550) from what appears to be an actual merchant. It's a 15" SXGA+ model with some nice features like the 7200RPM disk (better than my 5400), and Bluetooth.

The only minor downside is a cracked palmest - easily replaced.

I don't know anything about T60 machines, having jumped from T42 to T61.

Could anyone share some thoughts as to whether this is as nice a machine and reasonable a deal as I suspect? Would I be losing anything significant coming "down" from a T61?

Art

[Troels]

Was the T42 you had before a 14.1" or 15" ? If 15" you will know exactly what size the T60p is. For the price an excellent deal IMO.
BUT, the 2007-92U, 2007-93U and the 2007-94U (etc.) originally came with an UXGA LCD. You might want to ask the seller of if this this was a mistake in the listing... also ask about the condition of the LCD in general. The v5200 will smoke the x3100 Intel in performance, BUT, it will get hotter and consume more battery life.

Other than that the RAM speed is slower, but the FSB is the same. The processor does not have 64 instruction set, and will be slightly slower - but in the end hard to notice. You'd also lose some disk space, if your current drive is 160 GB.
A week ago, for some reason, my T60p did not go into standby when i closed the lid. I didn't notice, and stuffed it in my neoprene sleeve and in my bag. When i got home, i left the bag near the door for a couple of hours, until i wanted to use the laptop. I was cuite shocked when i noticed it was still running, but it was nearly too hot to touch on the bottom cover, and the lcd lid was also very hot. I put it in my dock, and shut it off that way, let it rest for 30 minutes, and powered it up. No harm was done, luckily - works just as fine as ever. All in all i think it is an extremely sturdy laptop and wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm very sorry to hear about the damage... sounds like one of the tricks companies repairing cell phones would do in order to make people pay. $750 is outrageous. Have you checked ebay for motherboards with the same part number?

[ArtShapiro]

Hmmm...the seller rapidly responded to email, and asserts that it is, in fact, 1400x1050. I wonder if it could simply be misconfigured in Windows. A lookup on Lenovo confirms that it is supposed to be 1600x1200.

Why is life so complicated?!

EDIT: oh, why not? I just purchased it.

Art

[ajkula66]

Congratulations!

I'd be pretty willing to bet that your T61p will be posted for sale once repaired, after you've spent some time with this thing of beauty...

[hausman]

the 2007-92U, 2007-93U and the 2007-94U (etc.) originally came with an UXGA LCD.

I can confirm that since I have one

You'd also lose some disk space, if your current drive is 160 GB.

If that's a problem you can buy a Hitachi 7K320 (320GB) 7,200 rpm drive for $50 to $75.

FWIW I love my T60p and won't be replacing it any time soon.

[richk]

For a second, I thought I had a new motherboard with the same graphics chip for your T61 that I had gotten for a customer who disappeared. Mine only fits the 14.1 wide ones, not the 15.4 like yours. Since Lenovo now designs the motherboards instead of IBM, they make 3 times as many boards: one for the traditional 4X3 machines, one for 14.1 wide and a third for the 15.4" wide. (why design 1 when you can design 3) IBM used one board in all sized machines. My board can go back into the "spare parts" box.

[smidgley]

I was thinking that I had a board for the 15.4 T61 also (and I do, a 42w7651) but it has the Intel GM965 graphics.

[richk]

I have one of those also