My Toshiba M35-S359 has decided to crap out. It started on Thursday morning if I recall correctly. That would have been the 20th. I just checked Toshiba's warranty entitlement system -- the warranty went out 12/19/2004. One month and one day past.
It's started blue-screening and freezing hard, and occasionally just rebooting. I don't even have to be doing anything for it to happen, just letting it sit there. No software changes, just started doing it one morning. Disabled running programs like antivirus, still does it. Does it whether on battery or AC power (can't be overheating since it happens even when SpeedStep has kicked it down to less than 600MHz). Swapped out the memory modules one at a time and in both slots, then put in a completely different brand new module. Swapped out the hard drive with the original which still had the drive image from a couple of months ago. Pulled out the wireless card and modem card.
I'm assuming it's the mainboard. I haven't called Toshiba support yet but I guess that'll just be to verify what part might be the issue and that I'm screwed as far as they're concerned.
My only hope is that I actually did buy a 2 year service plan from CompUSA when I got the system, not just one year, and that it will cover this sort of thing. I can only find one parts dealer so far that has a price listed for the mainboard, and it's 400 bucks if I send them my bad one. I can almost buy a new, faster laptop for that price.
I'll still be pissed though. I needed to get the LCD replaced anyway through the service plan (the ONLY reason I bothered with the plan). I sort of dropped a laser printer and shelf on the laptop, which thankfully was closed at the time. In my defense, the screws holding the shelf up were only a quarter inch long, unknown to me, so I couldn't have expected it to fall. It just left a bruised spot on the screen, but it's still been usable.
CompUSA says it's a 3 week turnaround time for repair! What's the point of them being an "authorized service center" if they can't even replace an LCD? I've already disassembled it myself to make sure it wasn't something just pressing on the back of the screen, and the whole thing only took like an hour to do. (Note: I am not a computer newb, and I am Dell certified and disassemble laptops on a regular basis for my job. Don't try this at home. It took me doing several machines before I figured out the right way to sort then 3 dozen screws in order not to put them back in wrong.)
It's started blue-screening and freezing hard, and occasionally just rebooting. I don't even have to be doing anything for it to happen, just letting it sit there. No software changes, just started doing it one morning. Disabled running programs like antivirus, still does it. Does it whether on battery or AC power (can't be overheating since it happens even when SpeedStep has kicked it down to less than 600MHz). Swapped out the memory modules one at a time and in both slots, then put in a completely different brand new module. Swapped out the hard drive with the original which still had the drive image from a couple of months ago. Pulled out the wireless card and modem card.
I'm assuming it's the mainboard. I haven't called Toshiba support yet but I guess that'll just be to verify what part might be the issue and that I'm screwed as far as they're concerned.
My only hope is that I actually did buy a 2 year service plan from CompUSA when I got the system, not just one year, and that it will cover this sort of thing. I can only find one parts dealer so far that has a price listed for the mainboard, and it's 400 bucks if I send them my bad one. I can almost buy a new, faster laptop for that price.
I'll still be pissed though. I needed to get the LCD replaced anyway through the service plan (the ONLY reason I bothered with the plan). I sort of dropped a laser printer and shelf on the laptop, which thankfully was closed at the time. In my defense, the screws holding the shelf up were only a quarter inch long, unknown to me, so I couldn't have expected it to fall. It just left a bruised spot on the screen, but it's still been usable.
CompUSA says it's a 3 week turnaround time for repair! What's the point of them being an "authorized service center" if they can't even replace an LCD? I've already disassembled it myself to make sure it wasn't something just pressing on the back of the screen, and the whole thing only took like an hour to do. (Note: I am not a computer newb, and I am Dell certified and disassemble laptops on a regular basis for my job. Don't try this at home. It took me doing several machines before I figured out the right way to sort then 3 dozen screws in order not to put them back in wrong.)
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