warranty question - lcd screen died

[pete0r]

Hey all,

It's been a while since i posted last, but I was hoping to ask a few questions.

Today I went to turn on my t42 2373-3vu and it booted into windows for a moment, and then the screen just shut off. It also apeared as though windows had frozen. To troubleshoot, i figured I'd try turning the wireless card off and seeing what happened. I got into the bios, and the screen shut off and the computer froze again. I've also been having the famous usb 2.0 not working problem.. but meh.

I called IBM and they told me they were going to send me a box, and i'd ship to them. The guy on the phone was pretty nice, and told me to not send my hdd, or battery, or ac cord even though the instructions may say it.. so they wouldn't get lost, and so they wouldn't overwrite my copy of windows. I'm also planning on removing the additional RAM i put into the notebook.

I did a quick search on here and on IBM/lenovo's website and i was wondering what my options are. I read there are service depots? It sounded that I may have the option of finding one of these and dropping my laptop off myself.. hopefully having a faster turn around then the 5ish days they told me.

I'm aware my laptop goes to a repair depot now, but will driving it to one (if possible) be any faster? Is there even such a thing?


Thanks!!

Pete

[pete0r]

i found this site:

http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-44986

which allows one to search for businesses that support laptops.

i visited their website and it apears as though these are just companies that have gotten the right from IBM to do repair work, although i doubt they do it on units which are not their own customers..

any ideas?

[mdarnton]

My rather too-extensive experience (five times) is that the shipping option is *really* fast. I call one day, get the box the next, then the delivery guy stands there while I pack the box (DHL--he says he'd rather wait for me to box it up than come back later in the day after I call for a pickup, which is extra work for him), then they have it the next day, and it's back the following morning. You can hardly beat that. Of course my extra familiarity with the form they send with the box speeds things up quite a bit. :-)

As an added advantage, if you do this enough, the DHL guy will begin to recognize you when he sees you on the street (no small feat in downtown Chicago!)

[pete0r]

for something like a system board? hm.

the only problem is that i'm in a dorm, so everything has to go through the mail room here. i'm curious as to why i had to give him a landline number.. because my dorm room phone doesn't have a message machine and i'm hardly ever in the room.. he wouldn't take my cell phone number however

[Aristotle11]

Only use regular mail if you don't mind losing your laptop forever. Seriously! There are DHL pickup locations on most campuses, and you can schedule a pickup as well. They can come to you. But NEVER send anything of value via USPS.

[draco2527]

But NEVER send anything of value via USPS.

I have to disagree with this one! USPS has never lost, damaged or ...well; yes they have destroyed envelops!!(I have gotten the envelope, torn; inside a plastic bag, with a little sticker attached to it that said...OOPS, we FK'd up, but here is the envelope! :0 ) but for everything else they have been great. I have shipped laptops, laptop parts, you name it. FedEx, the same results; never had any issues.

UPS on the other hand has been nothing but a nightmare; they have lost things, delivered boxes that were almost shreds with NO CONTENTS inside. The service (from point A to B) is good, bad part is the stuff never makes it in the same shape that it left! Or never makes it at all.....

IMHO, UPS is the worst; hands down!

[pete0r]

well i never meant that i wasn't going to send it via DHL. I was just asking if there was somewhere locally I could take it.

I checked the tracking numbers that IBM has on their website for my boxes.. looks as though insted of my street address, they're sending it to willow 337, reading PA.. which is my bloody dorm room. No street address. I very much doubt it's going to make it here..

looks like i'll be calling them, although i don't have time to do so until after noon.

[pete0r]

Well, it got here somehow.

Question: is it better for me to send it back today, Friday, or wait for Monday to send it? The reason being that it still does work when attached to a docking station, but not by itself. I'd rather have the computer all weekend unless it would be quicker to send it there and have it back Early next week..

[Aristotle11]

USPS has lost about a dozen or so packages over the last 10 years that were sent to or from me. They lost a package of a friend of mine the other day; he lost his entire CD collection. I've never had them lose a priority package. They never lose letters, though. I feel confident when I send a letter, but not a package (especially larger ones). I agree that FexEx is good.