Thinkpads Forum

Hello All,

I wanted to get your thoughts on what I should do with a x250 that I received in the mail this afternoon. I purchased the unit from a person on ebay on Sunday.

I am not sure if I need to list the specs on the machine but here are my observations:

1. I just read what Lenovo did when they brought back the right & left click buttons for the trackpoint (in the x50 series), that the hinge is now in the back instead of the front. I can confirm it and it's a little strange. I can live with this.

2. Here is the main issue that is making me think just to return this machine. It does not sit flat/even on a flat surface. The right bottom corner does not make contact with the surface it's on. I can press on that top right corner and I can make the machine wobble back and forth.

I believe most/all of my machines don't have this issue nor have I encountered this in the 24 years (more or less) that I have been using ThinkPad models.

Is this a defect of this particular model (I have not searched for this issue on the net yet) or something else?

The machine has a general warranty until 2018 and a warranty for the battery until 6/2016.

Let me know what you think I should do.

Thank you for your time,
John

Check for any panel gaps or bulges where any parts might not have been seated properly. My guess is that the bottom cover could be off. If you don't find anything out of place, then I would absolutely return the unit. Makes little sense to pay for a defective machine when you expected it to work 100%.

It shouldn't be wobbly, my X1C3 took awhile to get used to with the new hinges...
It does feel a bit strange.

Anywho my netherthal solution is to 'lightly' bend the frame to where it is straight.
But this worked on a random junker T500 I was fixing up.

Perhaps it was like that at the factory and the seller/techs never touched it.
However if it was used or refurbished and nothing was said about it's condition in particular (scratches, shine, dings are typical, bent frame is not), I would return it or file a dispute.
I had a bad experience with a 'manufacturer refurbish' HP 8470w that was just a poorly listed used unit without a working 3rd party AC adapter.

Have you checked that it's not just a missing rubber grip in the bottom corner?

If it's not that then I would use the Lenovo warranty to get them to fix it. If you'd be happy with the machine after that fix then I wouldn't return to the eBay seller.

Hi Folks,

Thank you for getting back to me on this.

So...

brchan
I checked the seal around the machine where the bottom panel meets the machine and I see no gaps.

Saucey
I agree with you the machine should not be wobbly.
I could not do your "netherthal solution" since with my luck something would go wrong/be messed up.

rjwilmsi
Checking the rubber foot/feet was the first thing that I did and it was there.


So let's talk about the machine being refurbished. Now, on the bottom of the machine (kind of in the middle) there is a silver ticker (square-ish) with it saying "MTM" with the machine type and "S/N" serial number. There is a bar code under each number. Next to the S/N number there is a QR code, when I used my tablet to read it, it said "www.support.lenovo.com". When I clicked on it, it brought me to the support page for Lenovo.

Now, I have purchased two machines (in 2015) from the Lenovo Outlet and they were refurbished. On the bottom of both machines there is a sticker labeled "Refurbished Product". with a sticker (different then on the x250) with the MTM and S/N sticker below the other one. On the t440p (refurb from Lenovo Outlet) besides the two stickers, when you remove the battery, the original MTM and S/N sticker is there but it has a long and thin sticker covering up the numbers.

So I am not sure if the machine went to Lenovo support or not. It might have because of that sticker that I referred to in my post here.

Anyway, the seller sent an email saying that he posted positive feedback and asked if I was happy. I am going to tell him the issue and think about over the weekend what to do.

Thanks for your feedback folks,
John