t61 problems. Help!

recently my lenovo t61 laptop has given me problems. the screen would get messed up and then the blue screen of death came out.

now when i start my computer, everything works, but nothing comes out on the screen. i see the backlight coming on, but nothing else. i also hear it start up and hear the windows sound.

is there anyway to fix this?

 

Maybe its one of the famous 140m graphics chips failures. Google for information.

 

i am out of warranty. what can i do at this point?
is my laptop useless now?

 

Try to see if you can hook it up to an external monitor and let us know if a picture comes up. This can help rule out the GPU.

 

i already hooked it up to the external monitor.
i am pretty sure that my gpu is dead.

i see that the 140m dying is pretty common...
i ran out of warranty.

is there anything i can do?

 

You are in a tough position, no doubt about it. You have a few options but none are great unfortunately...

1.) Call up Lenovo and explain the issue about the GPU dying and this being a common problem with the G8x series Nvidia GPUs. Not sure if this will get you anywhere, but it is worth a shot. Many other vendors are handling this issue but Lenovo has not. With more people's GPUs dying maybe this will bring pressure on Lenovo to eventually do something for it's loyal customers?

2.) You can sell what is left of the machine for parts

3.) You can try to buy a motherboard on places like ebay, but I believe the cost of a new motherboard will not be worth it. Better to go for a new machine. You can try and see if you can get lucky and get one for cheap, but to tell you the truth, the same problem will happen again eventually as this is a problem with probably all G8x chips.

 

or extend the warranty of your laptop and then get it repaired.

 

It's funny how all these G84 cores failing at the same estimated times (2.5 years) is so simultaneous, obviously this sudden cluster of failures at the same relative time, isn't "slightly" higher that nvidia claimed.

 

most of the manufacturers such as Dell and HP have released bios update that ramps up the fan speed, assuming they are doing this to preven them failing within the liability period....

nvidia is like a Politicians whom want to cover their extra maritial affair with their secretary or some golf star's unfaithful encounters with different ladies, after they been caught by the media and public.......

 

You can extend the warranty after the original warranty and after the machine has problems?

 

Firesnake,
I have heard implications on this board that you can if the machine is still in warranty. Although mine is still in warranty, I have heard that lenovo pushes to renew it IF it's still in warranty. Perhaps we can get that clarified here.
Renee

 

that is correct, it is slightly more expensive, but it can be done, it is called Post Sale service agreement, which is a fancy name for post warranty warranty. You can call up Lenovo and inquire about that.

Or ask Mark_Lenovo, Erik or JaneL about it, and see whether they can give you more information, as i have never tried to do it over in Australia (probably don't want to do it, considering how bad the current Depot repair is).

 

isn't it better to just buy a new laptop than to get a replacement motherboard?

also, is there a good place to salvage my parts?

 

i just contacted lenovo that they said the maximum cost of repairing the laptop is $575.

i also asked them if there was some sort of recall on this unit because the problem is common, and they said "no."

i would rather buy a new laptop than to repair it...

 

just ask about the extended warranty option, and get the warranty extended, i mean it shouldn't cost more than 250 USD, and once you get it fixed, just sell the laptop.

 

^ I second the above advice. Sell it, because the Nvidia GPU defect cannot be fixed permanently. Eventually it'll bite you again, so just get rid of it.

 

Although selling a unit that you know has a time-bomb defect is not the 100% correct and appropriate solution either.
(Not that I have a better idea....)

 

Thanks Renee and Lead_Org. Didn't know that.

 

well... one could argue that using any mobile phone is actually causing death and destruction in Congo......... but that is not stopping people using it (i think i am properly one of the worst, since i have 7 mobiles in operation)....

As long as the seller fix the problem and sell it in working condition, then he should be okay, or he could just junk his laptop in a bin to earn more brownie points toward his karma.... when i sold my Thinkpads i actually took a big hit in terms of resale price, also all of the laptop have nearly 2 years warranty remaining.

 

OP, some credit card companies offer some type of protection for certain products that fail within a year of the expiration of the manufacturer's warranty. Other users have sent theirs in for some type of monetary refund from the CC company. I think you just have to document your config and the known problems. Check into this; there are a few threads that have more detailed info.

Also, for the record, Lenovo does offer warranty extension after original warranty expiration (~$250 for 2 years), but it does NOT go into effect until 30 days after it is purchased. Obviously this is to prevent purchase of extended warranty immediately at the time of the failure.

As far as passing off "ticking time bomb" laptops, I agree that it's not the nicest to do. Sell it on ebay, and some poor ignorant soul buys a laptop that the seller knew was defective, and it fails prematurely. Having the credit card company pay you for a defective laptop is another way to pass the buck to someone who shouldn't have to pay for it. Junk it yourself, and you're out the cash. It's really sad that there is no way to make Lenovo, the one responsible for the failure, help you recover your loss.

The best option, economically speaking, is to have your CC company help pay for it, if they offer this feature and you qualify.

 

well Mark_Lenovo and Erik all said that you can purchase warranty on post warranty machines.

Also, Lenovo official website list that you can get warranty for post warranty machine:

http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/accessories/services/thinkplus.html