Thinkpads Forum

Does anyone know what would cause dead pixels? I recieved a 600x today from the post office and the box was damaged. Now there are hundreds of dead pixels on the screen that the seller insists were not there before. The package was insured, but would the damage incurred during shipping cause this? The seller has also offered a refund so I am not sure which route to go.

Is there a pattern to the dead pixels? By that I mean are there dead column(s) or row(s) or are they simply random pixels scattered across the screen? Most of the row/column failures are due to physical impact along the edges of the LCD.

There is a pattern in that there are none from about 3/4 of the way down on. But from that poitn up, they are basicly everywhere.

tonepaq wrote:Does anyone know what would cause dead pixels? I recieved a 600x today from the post office and the box was damaged.

Do you see any damage to the exterior of the lappy?

Not exactly to the lappy. Considering it is 6 years old there is a certain amoint of wear to be expected. No cracks or anything obvious. But the box it came in was in bad shape

Since 600Xs can go for a high price (even dead ones), I'd see if it's possible to keep the laptop, file an insurance claim and use that insurance money to but a new screen on ebay.

AlphaKilo470 wrote:keep the laptop, file an insurance claim and use that insurance money to but a new screen on ebay.

you think you get to keep the damaged item plus collect insurance money??

My suggestion, file the claim get paid and look for another.

Maybe a speedstep enabled model.

You'll have to send it back anyway, may as well do that and accept the refund. Only the sender can apply for the insurance money, not the receiver, and he'll need the computer for inspection. Makes sense -- sender paid for insurance.

Some times they do indeed allow you to keep damaged merchandise if it's unrepairable or impractical to repair. Otherwise the insurer would just have to dispose of it. But if they feel they can recover a portion of the insurance funds, they'll keep it! In this case it could go either way, the thing is a bit old, but may have some recoverable value (over the cost of handling to get that value!) as a parts machine.

dsigma6 wrote:

AlphaKilo470 wrote:keep the laptop, file an insurance claim and use that insurance money to but a new screen on ebay.

you think you get to keep the damaged item plus collect insurance money??

No. They want to keep the lappy and give me $100. I thought about doing it and stripping it down before I hand it over. Take the cd drive, ram, cpu, keyboard, hard drive, and maybe even the motherboard. But I have decided it is a pretty nice machine, I'll just get a new used LCD for it. I think the seller might even throw in a buck or 2 to help buy it.

I'd say open it up and check the connectors not loose...

Unless the seller is going to refund ALL your shipping costs, I would just keep the 600 and look for a cheap PARTS machine or LCD. I recently bought a "tested" battery for a 600 for $3.00 ($20.00 shipping). Full refund if DOA. It arrived DOA and wouldn't take a charge. The seller said ship it back and he'd refund the full $3.00.

Davemci wrote:I recently bought a "tested" battery for a 600 for $3.00 ($20.00 shipping). Full refund if DOA. It arrived DOA and wouldn't take a charge. The seller said ship it back and he'd refund the full $3.00.

Far too much of that goes on at eBay! Unless you know the seller is a good eBayer, never buy parts or PC from a seller who puts the price under "shipping". If you file a complaint, it will go nowhere. The response will be something like 'it is customary to refund price but never shipping.'

Truth? eBay doesn't want to do anything about excessive postage but it loses fees from transactions where shipping is much higher than sale price. Half.com, a site eBay owns, handles payments and shipping fees. They have set shipping charges and they send forward a seller's payment to him. There are other sites that do this sell.com, ubuy.com, etc. These sites also do not have a complex fee system either.

It is possible to save a lot of money shopping online but to do so, buyers must always engage their wits, even when dealing with the online branches of major chain stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. Like other online stores, most major chains shift a lot from themselves onto the buyer.

For instance, if you immediately return a defective PC system to a local Store, it is possible to get a full refund or no-cost-to-you exchange. I did it several times over the years.

Take the same problem to the online version of the SAME store chain and you most likely will face additional shipping & a restocking fee. Some even make you call on your own dime to get a return number (to reduce buyer fraud & employee theft of mail returns.) Although nearly all the major chains will allow buyers to exchange or return to any store, their online stores will not allow a store exchange or refund. Circuit City is an exception. I ordered an 'online only' external HDD that was radically price reduced & free budget shipped. It arrived DOA. I took it to my local Circuit City, which exchanged it for another unit, no additional cost to me. Why not? They simply returned it with other returns when the sales rep made his rounds, which is exactly what the online store's warehouse does.

Best Buy is more typical. They sell items on eBay. they do post in fine print that all sales are final. Problems must be taken up with the manufacturer. At least Best Buy does foreware buyers. Most do not.

My favorite is the DVD movie seller who puts $9.99 shipping on his boxed set auction. Then, he includes several pages of terms and BD at the end of the auction page. In it, there is a shipping policy box that says nothing about box sets but states clearly that S\H for each DVD is 9.99 but buyers can ask for a break (5.95 a DVD) for additional DVDs. In his feedback, are buyers angry that the Lost Season II boxed set They thought was significantly cheaper than elsewhere cost them $5.95 S/H for each of the 6 DVDs. Seller responds, "You should learn to read auctions, not just bid. I clearly state $9.99 S\H for each DVD" He knows few people even scan Feedback comments.