Stress spot problem on an X31

[ragefury32]

My X31 (2672-C2U) seemed to have developed a rather nasty little stress spot directly under the memory bay/CPU area, where direct or indirect pressure in that area will either cause it to lock up or reboot. I came up with a temporary fix of placing a magazine between the bottom of the machine and the laptop sleeve, but since this machine is meant to be a "roadie" this is hardly reassuring.

So, without running down the list of FRUs on the recently updated HMM, which component should I fault first? The Memory? The memory bay door? The chassis bottom? Or should I just play it safe and replace the motherboard?

Anyone know of a vendor who would charge a reasonable amount for a replacement motherboard, either comparable or better? I have seen quotes run anywhere from $600 (borderline insane) to $1600 (la-la land), and the funny thing is that most 3rd party vendors seem to charge the same irregardless of whichever FRU it happens to be.

Needless to say, my warranty expired already, so that's a major no-help.

[ragefury32]

Um. Never mind. Called IBM for the warranty status...turns out I am still covered for 3 more days! Paid $215 for a warranty extension pronto, technician was sent, they replaced the motherboard. I <3 EZServ.

Just a friendly bit of advice. DO NOT HOLD THE X31 ON ONE HAND WITH THE FINGERS RESTING ON THE MEMORY BAY. BAD BAD IDEA. BAD. VERY BAD. And one more thing...when the tech swaps out the motherboard, make sure he or she swaps out the TCPA chip (located on the same daughterboard as the firewire PHY/IRDA). Failure to do so will bring you 1902 Hardware tampering errors!

When on the road, I put 2 magazines between the X31 and the soft-case (designed for the Powerbook G4/12) to give it a bit more rigidity.

[kadf88]

hmmm..
i've never had this problem..

[ragefury32]

Just be sure to take good care of your baby. With these ultraportables, when they fail, they tend to fail spectacularly. And make sure the warranty is in order for the duration of your ownership.