warranty issue - any suggestions? Pic added

[zhixingzhao]

First of all I would say please forgive my bad English.

I got a T60 15 flexview on Ebay a few weeks ago. The nice thing is that the laptop still has 2 more year of warranty for on site service. Everything was fine at first or at least I did not notice anything. However, from last week I begin to hear the sound like some part inside is cracked or loosen almost every time I open and close the LCD lid. The sound is from the left side of the laptop. Since I have been messing up with the computers for a few years, I am not very afraid of investigating more. I downloaded the hardware maintenance manual and disassemble the laptop by following the instructions.

Question 1 - Does this affect the warranty in any way, assuming nothing wrong happened in the process?

So I took off the palm rest and keyboard and keyboard bezel one by one. After that I discovered what happened – The Structure frame was cracked at one place on the left edge. Every time the lid is opened or closed the cracked parts talk to each other and give the cracking sound. I then reassembled everything.

Question 2 - Will this be covered by the warranty? Will lenovo insist that there must be an accident to cause this?(':(')

The thing is that I don’t know why this happened. I know the normal warranty will not cover drop or spit or accident. I never drop this laptop and it is in great working order and the case looks fine. But I can not explain why the structure frame is cracked because it looks like a very stable structure. I am not positive that I will get any clue from the Eby seller because he said the laptop was in great condition and weeks have passed.

I also notice some thing strange to me. I took the part number on the structure frame which is “26R9396” However it is not listed in the hardware maintenance manual. I am even not sure if the part should be there. I can only say that the part is definitely designed for this model because it fits perfectly in any way - but why the part number does not match the ones listed in the manual??(':?')

Question 3 – The screen is pretty good. But at the lower right corner there is a little bit of light leakage, only noticeable in dark and show black color. Compared to my other flexview lcd, this one is brighter but the black is not as black as on the other one. So will this light leakage will be significant enough to be raised to Lenovo, but it will be difficult because in the day light it is really not much.

Thanks for reading this long post.. I have very little experience in dealing with warranty issues. Any suggestions will be very appreciated.(':)')

[Harryc]

26R9396 is not a valid part number. Can you post pics of the damaged area and of the surrounding areas? I'd say thiat if the damage could in a way possible be caused by dropping or slamming the laptop, then it would be likely that Lenovo would charge for the repair. If it's just a random crack...well a picture is worth a thousdnd words.

[GomJabbar]

I wouldn't go too much by part numbers. A number of legitimate part numbers cannot be located on IBM/Lenovo's site or in the Hardware Maintenance Manuals. The keyboard (08K4896) on my previous T42 was one such part.

Opening your ThinkPad does not void the warranty in itself. After all, there are consumer replaceable parts that require disassembling the ThinkPad to change (or add).

It seems that Lenovo generally views cracks as abuse and will not cover the repair under the standard warranty. If you have the Accident Protection Plan, then it should be covered. Still, it wouldn't hurt to contact Lenovo and see if this might be covered. Otherwise, you might be able to buy the part from them or from somewhere else and replace it yourself.

Not sure about the light leakage issue, but trying to get a warranty repair may be stretching it a bit.

[barrywohl]

I'd call EasyServ 1-800-426-IBM (correction 1-800-426-SERV)and tell them the story exactly like you did here and see what they say. You may have to send it to them before you can find out if they will fix it under warranty or charge you for the repair.

If you are within 45 days of buying on eBay, I'd open a dispute there and ask the seller to take the machine back for a full refund.

If you used PayPay to make the purchase, I'd open a dispute there also, asking the seller to give you a full refund.

Ebay and PayPal have worked for me getting refunds when I didn't think I would, but knew I deserved the refunds due to misrepresentation by the sellers.

[zhixingzhao]

Hi all, I appreciate your reply.

I called lenovo and told them the story and what I found. The guy seems nice and he suggested me to send the laptop to their site and they will check and repair them. I told him there is a crack but I don't believe it is from any kind of abuse. He didn't say the warranty will or will not cover it.

I have taken the photo for the crack and I forget to bring the cable connecting the camera to the computer. Stupid am I. I will post the photo in the evening when I got home.

I haven't talked to the eby seller who sold me the laptop, But if Lenono won't help I will have to. Then I hope things won't be too ugly.

[zhixingzhao]

http://www.chukonu.net/html/1.JPG

http://www.chukonu.net/html/2.JPG