My Experience with On-Site support fixing my T42

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Skywing · #1 Post by **Skywing** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:45 am

Well, sunday night the video system of my T42 completely died. Mostly due to an error on my part (something was set wrong in the BIOS by default which i was completely unaware of). Anyways, since i have 3 year on site support i called em up for a guy to come to fix it. I got a call on monday from Sal from IBM to confirm what he needed and to make the appointment. He showed up at about 10:30 tuesday morning with replacement system board and LCD (should it be the LCD by some chance). He had the system completely apart in under 10 minutes. Got the new board in and had it back together just as quickly as he had it apart. Sure enough everything has been working fine since. He was out in under 45 minutes and everything is just as it was when i first got it. He REALLY knew what he doing and was professional in ever possible way. I have never recieved that kind of responsive support from any company ive ever done business with. I always was an IBM supporter, but now that have a customer for life.

#2 Post by **K. Eng** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:59 am

Pretty impressive service.

I am curious though, how did a BIOS setting cause your video processor to fail?

Skywing · #3 Post by **Skywing** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:02 am

K. Eng wrote:Pretty impressive service.

I am curious though, how did a BIOS setting cause your video processor to fail?

from what he told me in the Display menu, by default its set to PCI instead of AGP and the first display set to Analog VGA instead of Thinkpad LCD. By having it set to PCI instead of AGP the video processing is done by the CPU and system memory, so i guess all the added stress on the system finally did it in. What pisses me off is that im the type of person that always goes into things and messes with settings. Ive just never done it with my thinkpad cuz it was always something that just worked.

Leon · #4 Post by **Leon** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:04 am

IMHO, I think your repair guy was wrong about the reason for the failure...

#5 Post by **K. Eng** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:09 am

I'm confused now. Even if setting the video mode to PCI causes the CPU to do all the computations, everything but heavy 3D work probably won't even cause the CPU to get warm. Standard 2D stuff doesn't require much processing power anymore.

The repair guy's explaination makes no sense to me for another reason - the first thing I did when I got my ThinkPad was stress test it. I ran 3DMark2001SE. If the CPU was handling graphics, there is no way I would have gotten in the 3800-4000 range.

admsteiner · #6 Post by **admsteiner** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:24 am

Very good to hear.

I also have a three year on site warranty and will be having my LCD replaced (due to some splotches) sometime around memorial weekend (not doing it before that because of finals).

I too will post my review once it is done.
--Adam

Skywing · #7 Post by **Skywing** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:49 am

K. Eng wrote:I'm confused now. Even if setting the video mode to PCI causes the CPU to do all the computations, everything but heavy 3D work probably won't even cause the CPU to get warm. Standard 2D stuff doesn't require much processing power anymore.

The repair guy's explaination makes no sense to me for another reason - the first thing I did when I got my ThinkPad was stress test it. I ran 3DMark2001SE. If the CPU was handling graphics, there is no way I would have gotten in the 3800-4000 range.

to be honest, i was kinda confused about that as well. but seeing that the first thing he checked when he saw the problem i was having was the display settings and knew that that had something to do with it. I still dont think it makes much sense, but hey, im sure hes worked on these things long enough to know what works and doesnt

Skywing · #8 Post by **Skywing** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:50 am

admsteiner wrote:Very good to hear.

I also have a three year on site warranty and will be having my LCD replaced (due to some splotches) sometime around memorial weekend (not doing it before that because of finals).

I too will post my review once it is done.
--Adam

youre in NYC too eh? wonder if theyll send the same guy

rssb · #9 Post by **rssb** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:00 am

As far as setting it to the PCI in bios, that is a default setting. it is just an order which video card should be picked. Mine is always set to PCI so that i can pick up from the dock, I highly doubt if that would have led to the video card failure.

May be what the on site guy did was go by the book, and gave some reasoning to the best of his ability to satisfy you.

typically the person sent for online support may not be a direct ibm person, they have different companies, which service on site support for major vendors ( ibm, dell, hp etc.. )

so for a onsite call they go by the hours put in, so the minimal time spent may be to replace everything. If the guy just tries to fix something, and in case if it doesnot work out or the customer calls back after couple of hours, then the cost would be much more than simply replacing in the first place and then testing the defective parts at thier test facility ( to be used or refursbhised etc.. ) which would not have the same rates as on site service.

NaT · #10 Post by **NaT** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:13 pm

rssb wrote:As far as setting it to the PCI in bios, that is a default setting. it is just an order which video card should be picked. Mine is always set to PCI so that i can pick up from the dock, I highly doubt if that would have led to the video card failure..

I'll second you on that. The primary video graphic card setting is just to set which one will be your primary and the first one it will try to use. There is no effect on CPU while the system is running.

I think the reason he did check BIOS setting was a general routine by the book for fixing problem on LCD screen. If there is no picture on screen, the few first steps should be BIOS setting, right?

I was with IBM myself and knew a lot of support guys. There were very well trained for each specific model each guy responsible for. I (now become the customer side) have never experienced on-site depot myself and thanks for sharing your experience. I might need that in my new TP.

NaT

UCI2CI · #11 Post by **UCI2CI** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 6:56 pm

consider yourself one of the lucky ones. i was very disappointed with IBM's on-site service down in los angeles. first experiece: LCD needed to be replace. gy shows up, replaces the LCD. then the system wont turn on. puts back the old LCD, still does not turn on. turns out, the new LCD he had for replacement was an XGA model and it supposedly burned my motherboard. total time: 2 hours and system unusable. 2 weeks later, he returns and replaces the motherboard but forgets to update the machine serial number and model number in the BIOS. no biggy, but sometimes annoying.
Second service call: LCD goes bad again. guy shows up (different guy), replaces the LCD. tooks him 2 hours cus he couldn't get the case back on straight. even after he left, there were gaps between case seems (i.e plam rest piece and LCD bezel). i had to reopen the thinkpad and reseat the palm rest and LCD

about two months later, i get a call from IBM talking about owing them 200 hundred dollars because one of the service guys stayed past his regular hours!!!! they wanted me to pay for his incompetence.

pludodog · #12 Post by **pludodog** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:41 pm

Anyone have any idea what exactly this problem was?

The video system on my t41p also just died, and I definitely changed that option in the bios this weekend, trying to fix my wireless...

andyli · #13 Post by **andyli** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:48 pm

I also have a three year on site warranty and will be having my LCD replaced (due to some splotches) sometime around memorial weekend (not doing it before that because of finals).

I think I have some "splotches" on my screen too. Not very noticable -- only where there is a bright window in the location (like white). Almost like a fingerprint, but I can't wipe it off.

I don't have on-site service, and if I send it back, I'm afraid I'll get a LCD that's even worse or they won't see the problem. How do you explain this to IBM tech so that they will take my unit back?

(It isn't that noticable, unless it keeps getting darker. It is about 1 inch, semi-circular).

#14 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:24 am

don't overlook the fact, guys, that onsite warranty is one of the best deals ibm has..
$120~ for three years is money well spent..
for more than merely the convienence of having someone show up to deal with a problem..
if i were not soo impoverished AND if i kept my personal thinkpad for more than 6 months or so i would ALWAYS take on site warranty..

and the main thing here is the ibm service guy showed up, did the job and was gone.. fast..

what i wonder is where is Skywing located..?

My Experience with On-Site support fixing my T42

My Experience with On-Site support fixing my T42

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