Will a RAM/HDD upgrade void my warranty?

[therobbstory]

Here's my situation..

I recently purchased an x200 (7454-2HU) from a friend who bought it off eBay and decided he didn't need it. The unit was still wrapped in original packaging, and still under warranty until 2011. After booting the computer and going through the initial XP setup, I noticed the screen would blank for roughly half a second every few minutes. Updated all the display and track pad drivers, same problem. Booted to an Ubuntu live .iso, same problem.

I called tech support, and they sent a guy out a few days later with a new mainboard. Didn't solve my problem. He called his Lenovo tech support guy, and the first thing he asked was "what model ram is in it?" There are two 2gb DIMM's in my machine, for a total of 4gb. The phone tech said quite frankly, "No. That unit only shipped with 2gb." He then advised my tech to run full diagnostics and call back.

I ran PC Doctor, everything passed, and then I left the house for a few hours. When I came home, my new x200 was completely dead. No power, no charge indicator, nothing. I checked the PSU with a multimeter, and it seems to be working fine.

Called tech support again. This time the guy tells me "We're going to send someone out with a new main board." :facepalm: After a mild argument with the phone support guy, he said he'd send a box out to me so I can mail it in for repair.

Now, my question is this: Are they going to void my warranty once they see 4gb of aftermarket memory and a 7200rpm HDD? I paid cash for this and I really don't want to be stuck with a $900 paperweight, so if necessary I will replace the HDD and RAM with whatever Lenovo shipped it with before I mail it back to them.

Thoughts?

[therobbstory]

I should also note that I repartitioned the 160gb to include a 60gb Linux partition. Will Lenovo have issue with that?

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Both the memory and hard drive are CRU (Customer Replaceable Unit) items, and as such, can be swapped out by the user without any violation of the warranty. This, of course, is assuming that they cannot prove that the problem lies with the components you have replaced. At least that's my understanding; having never had to deal with factory warranty issues, I'm only going by what I've read here. And yes, you would probably be on better grounds if you revert the system back to the factory configuration if possible.

I would also NOT send back anything which you believe (or have tested) to be not the cause of the problem. Also, inventory the system's components and include a copy of that with the system if you do choose to send it in.

Was there any particular reason why you declined the second offer of a tech to come out with another motherboard? Frankly, if that coverage is provided by the warranty, I'd rather have the chance to look over the shoulder of the repair tech (probably making him/her a little extra nervous ), than to send off my system in the mail and risking (additional) damage.

[therobbstory]

Thanks for the advice!

I sat beside the first tech as he replaced the mainboard. The bad mainboard diagnosis was made by an operator in a call center after he told me to 'shake the computer around and see if that replicates the problem.' Not a very thorough analysis, in my opinion. Since the problem remained after a new mainboard was installed, I simply feel more comfortable sending the computer to a Lenovo repair center where perhaps a more knowledgeable tech can actually work on it, rather than just replace the part he was sent to replace and then leaving.

The tech dispatched to my house had over 30 years of hardware repair experience, but while on the phone with his tech guy, he didn't know where to look in XP to find out which display driver was currently being used. He wasn't an actual Lenovo tech (does such a thing exist?) but a contractor PC repair guy.

Does anyone know the actual part numbers for the RAM Lenovo ships with the x200? All I can see is that it originally came with two 1gb DIMMs, but not an actual manufacturer..

[rkawakami]

Well, with you saying that the system progressed from a display issue to a now-dead system, I'd suspect the motherboard to be the current problem. LOL about the "shake it" diagnosis, but I've actually used that on a couple of T23 systems. The on-site service is farmed out as far as I know so you won't get an actual Lenovo or IBM employee. As far as the part numbers go, there's several sources for approved (by Lenovo) memory modules so it all depends on when the system was built and what they had in stock at the time. Approved modules will have a sticker on them with an FRU code.

[therobbstory]

Well I don't think the 7200rpm HDD will be an issue. It has an FRU code and a Lenovo, as well as Hitachi part numbers.

The RAM, however, is made by Micron. No FRU number, but a Google search reveals countless retailers selling this exact RAM as '100% Guaranteed' to work in the x200.

So I think I'm just going to drop it off in the supplied shipping box as is and hope for the best. Thanks for your help!

[aau007]

Lenovo support failed to execise the basic procedure of tech support. They should have asked you to remove all non Lenovo parts from the computer before doing any diagnostics.