Lenovo Repair, should I go ahead and accept the charge?

Hi guys, I have a few questions regarding the laptop x220. I have purchased it for almost 4 months, and have recently sent it in for a repair on some problems such as
- laptop whenever awakes from sleep, would have a sign on the right of the screen that looks like a house with a "1" in it, and many things such as wireless adapter, camera, and Fn button function. Laptop has to be restarted every time such case happens.
- VGA port screw became detached when only screwed onto the VGA cable with moderate tightness
- various shutdowns would stuck at the logging out/shutting down screen, and after 15 mins of wait time, I would have to manually shut it down by pressing the button

these are a gist of the bigger problems, however, the day before I was going to send the laptop in, I accidentally spilled water over my laptop. Initially nothing appear to be wrong, but later that day I realized I had problems with the track point, its keys, and there seem to be some keyboard issues as when I pressed Alt and hold on to it, the thinkpad toolbox opens up.

I sent the laptop back stating the issue, and they claimed that since I am not covered in accidental protection, I need to pay $900 to bring it back to warranty status for repair.

Perhaps it was stupid to let them know I spilled water on it? What should I do? I got the laptop from the lenovo outlet for $859 before tax and now need to pay $900 for repair..? Do I have any alternatives? ANY input is appreciated, thank you!

 

Well i would consider just getting a new one and then salvage any parts like the hdd and ram and sell those. Perhaps there are other parts like the casing, display etc that might get you some cash. Try looking over at forum.thinkpads.com • lots of people selling parts there.

Good luck!

 

The warranty is now void but from what you describe all that's probably necessary to fix the water damage is a new keyboard off ebay for $30. Take the keyboard off a let the laptop dry too in case some went farther. Most of your other problems sound Windows related and could likely be fixed by reinstalling Windows off the recovery partition or discs.

Get another keyboard, reinstall windows, and go from there.

 

You spilled water on your Thinkpad keyboard? Don't our laptops have drain holes so things like this don't happen?

 

If it turns out to be the keyboard playing up you could just get a replacement, have a search on eBay to see if they have any in stock for your model. It shoudn't be too difficult changing it if you follow the Hardware Maintenance Manual. If it works fine after that then you can consider letting Lenovo sorting out the rest of the issues that you had before.

 

But would Lenovo really charge $900 for a new keyboard and software problems? I agree though trying a new keyboard with a fresh install is definitely worth a shot.

 

My question too, I would try the key board but I wonder if there's something more to it? There are drainholes and my water did drain out, but perhaps its due to I didn't immediately Shut it down?

 

So I just called in again to ask what is the charge for, basically they are going reparir some plastic casing issues with the base cover and palmrest, system board and keyboard, reimage the hard drive for issues to bring it back to warranty status. I'm not sure what would require the system board replacement? And what does reimage mean? Do all these mean its not merely a problem of the keyboard and software?

 

If the motherboard got water damaged, then yes it would need to be replaced. Reimage is when you copy the contents of a hdd into another hdd.

 

at this point i would just get a new laptop..... 900 dollars should get you a similar spec machine at this point of time.

Then sell the laptop for parts.

If it is just the keyboard playing up then you may get away with just replacing the keyboard.

You should have come to the forum a little earlier and could have walked through some simple diagnosis.

 

What kind of diagnosis? Can I still do them?

 

first type of diagnosis would be to check whether there is any short circuits or water residue mark on the keyboard.

second is to get a working keyboard and test the machine, to see whether it is the keyboard that is causing the issue.

 

Can I still perform those diagosis? so far the problems arising after the spill were the trackpoint malfunction and Alt key linking to the ThinkVantage, and something wrong with the bluetooth and wireless adapter. Tbh these seem like fairly small problems that would present some inconvenience, but do not make the laptop completely unusable. (the wireless adapter appears as a different name when used the Fn function, but still works. not sure what's wrong there)

What I think I'd do is get it back without the repair, do some of the diagnosis and see what's fixable, and just use it til maybe after Ivybridge comes out and whatever other laptops I can get with $954. Feasible?

 

It's called integrity, which seems to be in short supply these days. Another option for you if feel comfortable with it would be to buy a X220 motherboard and just swap it yourself. It's not that difficult and will cost far less than a repair or a new machine.

You might make more parting it out too as opposed to selling it as damaged. X220 parts are harder to find right now being it's so new. Good luck and sorry to hear about the mishap.

 

pretty much exactly the reason why I did not try to lie.

Zaz, I agree with you and would like to try to repair the machine, since I have done quite a bit of research and even if I sell off the parts of this one I might still end up wanting a X220. Two questions tho, where would I gain access of information on diagnosis to determine the exact problems ? And where are some resources for parts like the motherboard? Any general direction will do, I will just do more research in that direction. I did a quick search on google and didn't really see a ready source for x220 motherboard :S Thanks a lot again, from introducing this fine machinery to the support now.

Everyone's inputs as far are very much appreciated, I love this laptop and everything it does, and would like to keep that experience as long as possible.

 

Perhaps it's just the keyboard? If that doesn't fix it, my guess would be the liquid shorted something on the motherboard. I don't know about how to fix it. erik would be the one to know. Perhaps he'll be along. You might want to post this over on ThinkPads.com. They tend to be more techy over there with a much deeper well of information and know how.

 

the i7 CPU model of X220 motherboard are not very easy to find and costs quite a lot as a new part from IBM parts.

 

Lear_Org: is that Lenovo Global Brand Ambassador a real title?

 

i think a i5 motherboard would be sufficient for my use, but what can I salvage from my i7 motherboard?

 

I would replace the keyboard and see if that is all it was before you worry about anything else. It's cheap and fast.


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Yeap... according to the Social Media Managers.

 

back in the day when i had the R51, the laptop would shut down by itself, i mistakenly took it into a lenovo authorized repair centre and spoke about my issues. After weeks of waiting, they mentioned that they notice spill stains and that the IBM warranty wouldnt cover it and asked if i wanted to pay for the motherboard replacement, i said no and they wanted $100 for their time and was holding my laptop hostage.

Autorized repair centres are also privately owned, so they are out to make a buck imo. I would get a second opinion elsewhere.

That's why i call it in through IBM and ask for a box instead of walking into a repair centre.

 

Not all countries have the ability to ship to IBM, nor does everyone get the same experience. Here in America, we still directly ship Think branded products directly to IBM somewhere in Carolina's.

 

Heck, I still use the ESC+ from IBM when I want to have a laptop serviced for my company. Typically I never speak to an employee, a box just shows up the next day and I send it direct to IBM.

https://www-930.ibm.com/support/esc/signin.jsp