Lifebook N 6410 Design Fault

I own this model and was fairly happy with it up until I caused major damage to the motherboard. How did I do that? clutz you say?

Well, I was busy with something and happened to press the eject button on one of the PCMCIA slots accidently. Out popped the dust covers, which are made of flimsy plastic material in the shape of the slot. They have cross patterns in the center and empty space in between. Nevermind - push them back in.

Except I must have got them mixed up, because I ended up putting the top one in the bottom and vice versa. They looked the same at the time. It turns out that one is L shaped at the back, and the other is straight. The straight one wrongly went in the top and got caught on something. I could not get it out again, so I took it to the service center. Oh - you'll have to replace the motherboard because of that they say! and its not covered by your warranty because you caused the damage yourself.

I would just like to empahasize that I did not use any force - and the offending bit was still stuck in the slot when I took it to the center. My guess is that the hollow in the plastic allowed the part to slide over an obstruction - much like the teeth in a piggy bank. A solid device would probably have been stopped by it. Hence I believe the chief cause of the problem to be the design of the dust covers.

I haven't broken a toy so easily since I was in kindergarten. I was quoted over $1000 to fix it. And hey - I only bought it (with full warranty) six weeks ago.

 

Moterboards are quite expensive, however, I see no reason why they should have to change it, if the notebook still works. I think there just messing around with you. They degisn notebooks so that they can be built cheaply and with the most efficiency, so some parts are bound to be problematic. See if you can try and tak the filter out, by bending it (if thats possible) and pry it above whats caught on it.

 

you shouldn't have to replace your motherboard unless the motherboard itself is actually damaged. there should be a way to remove the blank cards maybe by removing some panels at the back of the computer or maybe by removing the keyboard?

i would talk to Ivan at portableone even though they are not longer a Fujitsu reseller he can point you in the direction of a could service shop,

trust me.

www.portableone.com contact info section

a good service center should be able to solve the problem without replacing the motherboard, unless it has actually been damaged, and I don't really see how this is your fault if the blank cards aren't labeled etc. etc.

*****ing is your friend in this case.

sounds like you put the express card dustcover in the pcmia slot, and the other way around. but honestly I don't see how you could put one in the other without some sort of thing catching, when it catches on its way out.

good luck.

 

PortableOne doesn't service Fujitsu any more, so if you contact anyone, I'd say contact T3. They have some sort of relationship with P1, and I used them myself - ironically, also for mobo replacement. In my case though, it was no one's fault but mine since I spilled coffee all over my baby... Um yeah but the mobo replacement cost $550 not $1000, which is actually $5 less than if you had it done by Fujitsu directly, so like others said, that repair shop is just messing with you. Seems like all they need to do is yank out the card, since nothing is broken. Let us know how it goes.

Malia

 

yeah I have had T3 work on my N6210 as well, after talking with Ivan at portableone since I got my computer from them when they were still selling Fujitsu.