TZ power prob due to hinge recall; free repair!

About a month ago, my TZ130 failed to power up. This morning I called Sony and they said it is due to the hinge recall and will be fixed for free! I'll confirm once this has happened.

In the meantime, though, I bought a Dell Mini 9 in the cheapest ($200) config I could (512 meg RAM, 5GB SSD, Ubuntu) and upgraded it to 2GB and installed a 64 GB RunCore ssd. I installed Ubuntu 8.04, and have been using it for my work machine the last couple of weeks. For OpenOffice, firefox the performance has been as good as my TZ, although the VMWare XP virtual machine is sluggish. The screen is nice but can't touch the Sony, although I run it through a Dell 24" monitor and it looks great.

My wife (who told me that Sony would fix the TZ for free) doesn't understand. Had I taken her advice, though, I would have missed the fun of building up the Mini 9.

-John
Sony TR1
Sony T340P
Sony TZ130N
Dell Mini 9

 

You posted 2 months ago that you had your tz130 hinge repaired . http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=330337

So your tz has died twice now due to the recall , once AFTER being repaired by sony ? Not good at all .

 

Yes, that's true. I will have mastered the art of folding the shipping boxes before this is all over.

 

How long have you had your TZ130 StaffyDaddy? My TZ130 has still been working just fine since I got it January 2008. I don't use it as much now that I built a desktop as my main computer.

 

I was looking at the receipt just yesterday before I called Sony. I bought it in September '07. I have had wonderful luck with my TR1 and T340P. When I have sent the TZ in, I fall back to the TR1, and it takes care of things quite well.

Perhaps I just fell on a bad part of the bell curve with the TZ. It started when I somehow cracked the lcd and had to send it back in (gulp, $700). My house is cluttered with obsolete electronics that still work, and I rarely, rarely break things. Still, the screen got cracked somehow, and I was the only suspect around.

I debated about sending it back for the hinge recall since I would have to migrate my data to the TR1, but there was a rumor that Sony would extend the warranty from the date of the hinge repair. When it stopped powering up a month later, I was pretty unhappy with Sony, and so bought the Dell Mini 9. Hopefully, this will be the end of my bad luck with the TZ.

I don't think that I would purchase another Sony subnotebook, not because of my TZ experiences, but because I think that netbooks will remain very cheap, very portable, and become more powerful.

-John

 

As a quick note, I received my TZ back from Sony 11 days after I sent it in. The papers make it look as though they replaced the motherboard (PWB MBX-16). No charge!

Now I wonder why this was a freebie? It seems that either the hinge repair recall caused the problem or that sending it back for the hinge repair did indeed reset the warranty period. When I called support they said it would be repaired for free as soon I as I confirmed that I had sent it in for the hinge recall, so the first reason is probably correct.

May that be the end of the bad luck with this system.

-John

 

what is ur vaio tz temp?is it very hot at the bottom?......can u use it on ur lap?...when the first time u sent ur vaio, still got warranty?...