IBM Support... A month long process
There comes a point in our lives where our computer breaks. It's sad, but true. Well, my ThinkPad T60p has been broken for awhile. It had a video card problem where if an application puts strain on the GPU (Like a Video Game), the screen will start to flicker and eventually cause the computer to just power off.
I sent in my computer to IBM EasyServ Repair Center in December to fix this problem, but they sent me back my computer a week later saying "We could not reproduce the problem." This was unacceptable to me at the time, but spring semester was about to start and I needed to have my computer for school.
So finally summer comes, and I decided to send in my computer again. It is June 23rd when I sent in my computer for the first time. I got my computer back on June 27th from IBM EasyServ, and I took a look at the Repair Action Report to find they replaced my Planar Card. The GPU is embedded onto the Planar Card, so I thought they had actually fixed my problem this time!
But I was wrong, so very wrong. I powered on my computer and a message came up saying "New Hardware Found." At first I thought this was just Windows Vista reinstalling the drivers. But, my heart sank when I saw what drivers it had installed. It had just installed the drivers for an "ATI Mobility Radeon X1300" - which was the wrong Graphics Card. I had an "ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250." The X1300 graphics card was on the cheaper model ThinkPad, the T60 which is a $750 cheaper laptop.
I removed the keyboard to look to see what IBM EasyServ had done to my baby, to find a screw rattling around in the case and my WWAN card was not plugged in to anything. This was because the T60 did not support a WWAN adapter.
I was outraged at this. What kind of people do they hire at IBM EasyServ?
I called up IBM Support instantly to get this corrected. The lady on the phone was one of the rudest IBM Support people I have ever gotten. She told me I had to file a "Missing Parts Request" and that it was going to be 2 days before anyone would even review my request.
Missing parts? What part was missing? They installed the wrong part in my system! And so I waited my 2 days, hearing nothing from IBM. I finally called them up after my 2 days were up and again I was helped by a rude person saying that I had to wait another day before anyone could help me.
So I finally get a call from the head-IBM-EasyServ support person saying that filing the Missing Parts Request was a mistake, and they should have just sent me another box to send my laptop back to the EasyServ depot.
So, she set me up with a new box to send my laptop in, as well as making sure the depot would have my Planar Card in stock when my laptop got there.
It is now July 2nd I am finally sending in my computer to be fixed, again. I get my computer back on June 6th and all is well with the world. Well, for awhile at least.
I start to have problems with my computer again, I get a generic Blue Screen of Death any time my computer is using a lot of RAM.
The message I get is:
***Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vender for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
*** The system has halted ***
So, I decide to investigate the problem more. I have 2-1gig sticks of RAM in my computer, so I decided to only plug one in. My computer works fine if I just have 1 stick of RAM in at a time. But, when they are both in, I get the blue screen of death. So I tried a stick of RAM in the upper slot. Bam, within an hour of using my computer I get the same blue screen of death.
But, by now it is time to go to MEMCON, which I need my computer for so I cannot send it back in until I get back.
When I got back from MEMCON I called up IBM Support. The guy was one of the nicest IBM Support people I have ever talked to. He said there could be about 4 things that are related to that error message, and that IBM Tech Support gets a lot of calls related to that error message on the T60's. He also said that I'm the second person he had heard of that got the wrong Planar Card installed in their ThinkPad T60p.
This really makes me wonder the "quality control" that IBM ThinkPads have nowadays. I guess Lenovo really screwed up the ThinkPad brand.
Anyways, it's July 26th when I send in my computer and I get it back July 31st.
My computer works great now, I don't have any problems with it.
After sending in my computer 4 times, 3 of which were within the same month, my computer finally works.
So, next time you send in your computer to IBM EasyServ, make sure they put in the right part.
If you do have a problem with IBM EasyServ installing the wrong part, call up IBM at 1-800-952-1141 Extension 1, because these are the people that handle EasyServ problems.
