X1C: Loose trackpad service call

Dear All: I called in a service request for fixing my X1C's loose trackpad. i have what many have witnessed: that the front edge (entire front edge) of the trackpad is loose, and can maybe be pressed down 2-3 mm roughly with minimal pressure, while the rear of the trackpad is properly secured.

a part was shipped to me (unknown to me till it arrived) which is a thin keyboard with everything BUT the keypad, so it looks like a wafer thin keyboard with all the keys minus the entire area where the trackpad would have fit.

my understanding (just a guess but an educated guess as i've been following these fora often) is that some part on the trackpad had been bent incorrectly, hence the lack of a proper grip or leaf spring type of pressure was improperly applied in the front portion of my trackpad, hence the looseness.

my concerns:

the guy who called to offer to come for at-home service call was very nice on the phone, but, when i asked if he has ever worked on this issue (loose trackpad on the X1C), he wouldn't answer. when i asked if he's worked on an X1C, he also wouldn't give me a straight answer. all he said was that he has been doing this for 12 years.

granted, he does sound nice on the phone, i.e. a gentle person as opposed to someone yelling gruffly, the fact that he's never opened an X1C gives me concern. this can't be a good thing that he's learning on my X1C!!

furthermore, i'm doubtful that the part they sent is the part needed to fix this situation.

even more disconcerting: this guy can break other parts making the machine worse than before!

as the trackpad is functional currently, i'm at a loss to know what to do? sending this entire unit back to Lenovo's "service center" would mean that the "depot service" would have ALL the parts right there, there would be proper workbenches, so one would hope, and the guys there would ONLY be working on Lenovos, leading to a far greater probability that the guy working on MY machine would have worked on X1C many times before, leading to a higher likelihood of less can go wrong.

on the other hand, my data is out of my hands once it leaves here.

may i ask what the good folks here think might be the best solution?

thanks in advance.

btw, i have pictures of the part that was sent to me but i don't know how to post a picture here.

 

As a rule of thumb, nobody ever touches a machine of mine if there is personal data on it. That goes for onsite or depot service.

 

Dell sent a tech to my home once for an alienware m11x hinge repair and after she left I found she had hidden an extra screw that she forgot to install.

So I took it back apart to install the screw, but my point is for me I would rather them send me the part and the sop and repair it myself.

If you are not very technical and you need to ship the system back, then I would do a complete backup with like acronis and then factory restore before I sent it back.

 

I just received mine and i have the exact same problem, what happened with yours?

 

Hi Martin,

sorry to hear that we have the identical issue with our X1C's.

what did you mean by "what happened with mine"? do you mean to ask how i tried to resolve it?

to illustrate the issue, this youtube video by someone shows the exact same problem as mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfN752lZ8rY

i have not yet asked the on site service call guy to come to fix it. this is due entirely to the fact that he couldn't tell me whether or not he has fixed ANY X1C's, ever. He was evasive about answering that question, so it's not entire clear whether or not he has fixed one.

so to ask him about the trackpad issue is even more confounding to him! all he would say to me is that he's been "doing this for 12 years".

well, that's great to know, but my fear is that by him opening up my X1C for the first time, i.e. my X1C is the first X1C that he's EVER worked on, he may create more problems for me than he solves. at the very least, i don't want him to use my X1C as a "learning tool" or as a guinea pig, right?

what are your options? thoughts please?

thx in advance.

 

After looking at some posts on other threads on this forum, i decided to open up the computer myself, removed the 7 screws from the back lifted the keyboard made sure all 4 screws under trackpad were tight, removed the metal bar at the front of the trackpad, bended it a bit, put it back in place and it solved my problem.

 

may i ask, respectfully, wouldn't opening up the laptop yourself void the warranty?

that would be a bummer!

 

How would they know, there is no seal or what not to see that's it's been opened. If you break something inside that's another story but it's really simple and trust me i had never opened a computer before.

 

It does not void the warranty. A service tech over the phone actually instructed me to open the laptop to verify that my laptop did actually come without a wireless card. And like he said, there is no way for them to know. Take out a couple screws and pop that sucker off, couldn't be easier.