t60p memory upgrade horror

So...I just received my fully loaded T60p (2623DDU - no longer on the Lenovo site) after having ordered it on 1/31. Beautiful, if a bit heavy. First thing I did was to install the 1 GB memory upgrade. This is the 4th IBM, er Lenovo, I've owned. And probably my 10th Laptop. Consider myself pretty savvy with a screwdriver and definitely quite anal about my equipment.

24 hours later, 5 of them spent trying to get the &$*#&$# "palm rest" reattached to the computer, and one sleepless night later, I have a "palm rest" that a machine that does not quite look right. There appears to be a bubble around the "Ctrl" key just above the fingerprint reader. And after having tried to remove/install the "palm rest" 10+ times, the bubble will not go down. I just end up getting more "metal shavings" in my machine from the screws.

I called the bozos at technical support. They read me instructions straight out of my manual. I asked if anyone at tech support had experience with memory replacement and the agent noted: "they don't let us look at those machines". Amusing. Not.

So I find myself at a breaking point. I spent well north of $3k on this machine. More importantly, I waited a heck of a long time for it. And I spent a 24 hour period tyring to make things work with the machine, to no avail. Since its the weekend, I can't even bring it to an "authorized service agent" to have some more bozos look at the machine, and perhaps comment: "wow, that's what they look like". To top it off, for the life of me I can NOT understand why the bozos at Lenovo decided to switch the location of the memory module on these machines. Was having to remove ONE screw on the bottom of the machine to difficult? Not to be racist, since I'm Asian, but some brilliant Chinese engineer probably thought having a removable "palm rest" was a cool thing.

Oh, and if you do get one of these machines (and I think the Z series also has the memory module under the "palm rest"), don't look at the internals. You'll understand how Lenovo is paying for its acquisition - one cheaper plastic component and one fewer "common-sense" engineer at a time.

My apologies for the rant, but I expected better from an IBM, er Lenovo.

I must also ask if anyone has experienced an issue reinstalling the "palm rest" on one of the newer Lenovo machines???

Please help a "VERY unsatisfied perhaps soon-to-be x-LeNoVo" customer and soon to be Sony SZ-160 or Dell D810 customer.

 

I thought it was odd when I heard they moved where the memory location was. Luckily you still have that 30 day return period. I have not gone above 600MB used so I'm not considering an upgrade yet so I can't really help you.

I'm not trying to defend Lenovo's customer support but have you ever dealt with Sony or Dell's support. Not the greatest. Plus I don't think you will get as nice of screen as you get with the T60p. Isn't the SZ series a 13" screen? That's a big difference. I have a D610 and if the D810 is anything like it you do not want it. That is a huge downgrade in screen quality. I'll try to capture the difference on camera. Wait at least until the D820 comes out this week and see if they improved the screen.

I will test out Lenovo's support team tomorrow because of the awful screeching noise coming from the AC adapter. Hopefully they'll just send me a new one no questions asked.

 

as promised

don't settle for less...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1313695#post1313695

 

yikes - i agree, that's why i've used ibm's exclusively for as long as I can remember now. Just soooo frustrating. And now, since I NEVER even got to use the machine, I'm not sure whether i can call it a NEW machine or not

So aside from getting another brand name, what might you propose that I do? I've thought of 3 options and wrote an email to customer service as such:

1. Send me a new replacement machine
2. Send me a new "palm rest" (this piece only)
3. Have an "authorized service agent" see if they can fix my existing machine

I would just take option one by returning the machine and ordering a new one, but with the current wait times, I'm guessing it will be fall before I see the machine.

Thanks.

 

Oh - and kudos on your machine!

 

Obviously you already looked at this yourself multiple times. Do you have a trusted friend who can do the same? Sometimes a second pair of eyes can help. Lenovo will probably want one of their service agents to look at it.

Does that mean five people?

Do you have anything else to use in the mean time? Depending how much damage there may be especially to the screws and palm rest I would probably just return and re-order.

 

Thanks so far I'm very happy. Unless something disastrous happens in the next 30 days this is a keeper.

 

I have a z60t and had a similar problem with the palm rest. I requested a new keyboard because the one that came with the computer was bad and had to replace it myself. It's difficult to snap the palm rest back on the computer - you have to make sure that all the hinges have snapped back in place. I had a weird bump in the front of the computer and was getting worried about it and realized that I just had to push that area from the top to make sure it was in place.

Unfortunately, in the process of replacing the keyboard, my fingerprint scanner and the touchpad stopped working... I called the tech support and they were really helpful (it depends on who you get but for the most part they are really friendly) and sent me a new palm rest, which I received the next day. And now everything is working well and best of all, I don't have the stupid windows and pentium sticker that they place on the palm rest because the new one didn't have any stickers on it!

Good luck with your computer!

 

Yeah but the T60 has the Centrino Duo sticker on it. Ya gotta have that one!

 

Don't rub it in about the core-duo... I just got my z60t and am mad that the z61t is coming out in May...

 

That's what buying PCs is all about. You literally need to buy every 6-12 months to keep pace. I thought about buying a Z60m in December but with all the talk of Core-Duo coming out I just waited. Now the Merom talk is heating up but I don't expect a full featured release until this time next year.

 

Dude, I had the same problem - and finally solved it!!
The stupid bump happens b/c the palm rest has to sit properly fit into the keyboard - on the right side on the palm rest there's a grove near the top (screen facing side) that has to fit the keyboard platter raised edge - I couldn't get it to fit properly and got it screwed on, used it with the bump for a few days and today got annoyed as hell and did it over.
After messing with it for a couple of hours, (8 total including the first time) I realized its b/c some IDIOT in the user manual tells you to remove the screw in the middle of the bottom of the machine (the one with 2 icons, keyboard and chip, not three like the other 4) which is ACTUALLY the KEYBOARD screw. And does not need to be removed to remove the palm rest or put in the sodimm.
Anyway, long story, but I'm a bit ticked, so you'll have to excuse me.

The SOLUTION is to remove the keyboard all together, put it back, making sure its in snuggly against the top (near the screen) and THEN put in the palm rest - you'll find that my adjusting how the keyboard sits, the palmrest sits perfectly!

Yeay! It looks like new now - except a few scratches from all the messing around!

Hope that works for you.
-peace
Chad

 

t60pdesignsucks... are you aware that even though Lenovo bought the IBM PC business, the CEO and all of the ThinkPad decision-makers are still Americans?

yes, your comments show the ignorance behind stereotyping... it wasn't a stupid engineer- it was a stupid Chinese engineer, of course... well actually it was an American in North Carolina... though you might be right he/she might possibly been of Chinese descent...

and yes- even if you are asian, you can stereotype yourself... in fact, that's usually one of the keys to really perpetuating a stereotype...

 

Yikes, I have probably had the palmrest on and off about 40 times now for various things, and it takes like at most 5-10 seconds to seat it right.

It really looks like you tried to rush through with it with only skimming lightly at the manual, with no prior experience with any laptop tinkering. Maybe take it as a warning to be a bit more careful next time.

That palmrest is probably one of the easier things to remove, and unless you jammed it on top of the keyboard edge, there is nothing on the bottom of the palmrest that could make it sit up that far. I am almost wondering if a screw was left loose, and you forced the palmrest down on top of it. I JUST took off the palmrest, and playing with the keyboard loose, I cant get it to bend upwards like that.

 

Here is a little shot of the bottom of the palmrest. Circled is the spot held up in the OP's pictures, notice that nothing is even there to catch on anything. Its a blank hollow spot under that area. I am thinking some object was left in there and the lid was forced down on something like a screw. The lip of the keyboard edge isn't even high enough to force the palmrest up like that.