Is there a way to check if x40 is refurbished?

[tommassit]

I put an earlier post about the high-pitched whine I'm getting from my new x40's 40g hard drive on my 2371KJU.

I talked to a Hitachi tech rep, and he told me the model number for the hdd I have, DK13FA-40B, is at least 5 years old, and it shouldn't be on a brand-new machine, and they don't even have a history on their databases about that drive anymore. He suspects it's actually a refurbished x40. He said that the whining sound indicates that the hard drive is about to fail.

Is there a way to check whether a laptop is refurbished? I talked to IBM, and they said they can't tell from the serial number, that it could have refurbished parts, and the seller, in this case a university computer store, is responsible.

[DavidNZ]

5 years old? I didn't think they had 1.8" drives 5 years ago!

When I purchased my X40 over a year ago it had the exact same HDD. That drive was replaced a few months ago. The new HDD is the same.

And, it's listed as a system service part:
http://www.lenovo.com/think/support/sit ... MIGR-59170

[tommassit]

Hm, then I don't know what to think. Was that Hitachi rep completely wrong? He seemed very sure of himself.

IBM had no problem putting in a replacement order for another hard drive. Why did you replace yours after less than a year?

Thanks.

[DavidNZ]

I started to hear what one forum member here described as *possibly* the very early signs of failure (there's a thread on it here in the X forum back in late August or so). IBM Australia sent a new one and I of course sent the old one back.

[Adam]

I put an earlier post about the high-pitched whine I'm getting from my new x40's 40g hard drive on my 2371KJU.

I talked to a Hitachi tech rep, and he told me the model number for the hdd I have, DK13FA-40B, is at least 5 years old, and it shouldn't be on a brand-new machine, and they don't even have a history on their databases about that drive anymore. He suspects it's actually a refurbished x40. He said that the whining sound indicates that the hard drive is about to fail.

I did a quick search on the hitachi site for you. The model numbers/codes are pretty confusing, but it appears the DK13FA-40 is a Travelstar C4K40-40 which is model: HTC424040F9AT00. I found this by searching "DK12FA" on the main Hitachi page. Check out the front page of this manual for the C4K40-40: http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib. ... 0fa_e7.pdf

The C4K40-40 is still listed on their site as a new model under the Travelstar model. Check it out here: http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/e ... 3aac4f0a0/

Anyway, these numbers are pretty confusing... but if I can find the info in a few minutes of searching, it's sad that someone who works as a tech rep for Hitachi doesn't know the right info about their own drives. And its even more sad that he thinks they had 40gig 1.8" drives 5 years ago.

By the way, you can also find your drive on the Hitachi site if you have a serial number. It's under the Warranty section. It will tell you how long, if any, you have left of your warranty. You should check that out too.

Hope this helps.

[tommassit]

Hey, thanks for all this info. Yes, it does look like that Hitachi rep was steering me the wrong way.

I'll wait until I receive the replacement drive from IBM. Hopefully that will solve that annoying noise.

By the way, the university computer store told me I could upgrade to another hdd, a 60 gig made by Toshiba, for $265. Apparently this is the same type that's used in iPods.

[bhtooefr]

The university computer store is wrong.

That 60GB Toshiba uses a totally different connector.