[Help]X201S smoked, and ibm telling me that its my fault

[gimlet]

I have just purchased x201s on April. After about a month, it suddenly smoked from exhaust fan area. I called support and explained what happened, then they instructed me to place x201s to the box they're going to send to be repaired.

So i did.

After a week or so, ibm support called me saying that it is my fault what happend, and therefore i have to pay $900+ to be repaired.
Now, only thing i did was to upgrade OS from Win7 home premium to ultimate.
Both I and ibm support confirms that there are no physical damage done.
I have not opened up this laptop for not even once, and it is under the warranty as it has been used for only about a month.

If anyone knows or familiar with thinkpad or ibm support, enlighten me that what may have caused this and how i should approach this matter.

My guess was battery pack/adapter defect, bad batch of condenser, or overheating of Corei7, poor PCB printing.

Any help or suggestion is much appreciated, and thank you for reading my post.

[GrandMasterKhan]

There has to be more to it than what you are telling us. They would not say its your fault without citing a reason. We are on your side, the consumer, but what did they say? Can't really move forward without that information.

BTW HDD, RAM, OS replacement are all OK and do not void the warranty. Did you spill water or liquids on the machine? Why would it smoke? Your homes power outlets are OK? Basically, tell us what they said. This thread cant progress without adequate disclosure.

[gimlet]

If they have, it would not confuse me as much as i am.

They told me that keyboard and other parts needs to be replaced, and this is caused by customer, so i must pay for.
I asked to speak with reparing engineer, who determined that this has been done by me, but they told me that they cannot do that.
So i asked for detailed report of how or which parts smoke or fire has started and they said they have no idea, the only status they could tell was that there is no spilling/no physical damage, on exterior of laptop.

For the power outlet, i have been using the same outlet, even now with the laptop im writing with for more than 3month, so i highly doubt that that is the cause.

How can this not be covered by warranty? Can i burn the PC from inside without opening it after a month of usage?
And this is why i need help with people familiar with ibm support. More i ask them a question, they toss me back and forth between customer care dept. and billing dept.

[EOMtp]

gimlet: Read the Private Message (PM) that I sent you.

[marlinspike]

From the sounds of a post by a Lenovo rep in another forum, Lenovo is now taking care of this

[GrandMasterKhan]

Braddah, the word is you got things resolved. Out of curiosity, what was the cause of the fire or smoke?

[gimlet]

>the word is you got things resolved
Yes, as you suggested me, he helped me out.
I have not heard anything from lenovo or ibm support officially yet, and my status says it fixed, but no further info regarding the whole issue.
When i actually and finally receive the product back, i will report on how and what may have caused all this (mechanical and support wise) for the future reference of others.
Thank you for your advise and support GrandMastaKhan.

[gimlet]

Current status:
OS 06/04/2010 11:34:00 P Machine being repaired
HF 06/03/2010 01:00:00 P Hold for customer information
HF 06/01/2010 15:16:00 P Hold for customer information
OS 06/01/2010 09:18:00 P Machine being repaired
HF 05/28/2010 20:11:00 P Hold for customer information
OS 05/28/2010 11:10:00 P Machine being repaired
AK 05/18/2010 20:10:00 P Carrier processing request to ship container
AK 05/18/2010 19:41:00 P Carrier processing request to ship container

It's been a while since i saw my machine last time.

[GrandMasterKhan]

I'm thinking you may not ever know what happened Braddah unless the techie relays the info to you. Just curious that is all. Hope you get it back soon fixed to orginal state.

[gimlet]

So finally it is back, and working.
It came back with some stain on Top surface, but besides that it seem all fixed.
Repair summary says :
MB overheating
Speaker Kit overheating
Mini PCI card overheating
Keyboard overheating

So pre much whatever i guess, i didnt know keyboard can overheat.
It took nearly a whole month, and costed me 3-4 hrs of my life time, and $650.00 for the PC to be used while gone, and phone calls from cell.
I just hope this nightmare never happens again, and that for everyone.

Anyways, Thank you very much for the helpful advise and support.

[gimlet]

I am not sure if this defect is caused by hardware or software, but there are a couple problem i see since it is back.

1. PC speaker is extremely low that i'm not sure if the sound is coming out, and this is only when i attempt to play music/video off browser, such as youtube. System sound and Media player (winamp/WMP) works just fine. If i hook up to stereo system, it plays just fine off browser.

2. My BT mouse i bought with this X201s disconnect itself out of blue. This happens without any particular action, and I must turn BT wireless OFF then ON to get the mouse moving again by Fn+F5.

It could be both caused by driver or something, but i updated all i can with Think Vantage Tool, and Win Update.

If anyone got any idea, i would appreciate the insight.

[GrandMasterKhan]

1) Doesn't UTube have its own sound button?
2) Not sure about the B-tooth. Check Sound Panel in Windows to make sure you see it as playing and accepting sound.
3) Is it a hardware problem? Don't know. Would say if they gave you a new motherboard maybe reinstalling the drivers/associated software to those programs if any might help.