|
So a few years ago I was in the market for a new laptop, and heeded the goon hivemind advice and got a ThinkPad with a nice long service warranty. When I first got it all kinds of things were strange things were going on. Windows update kept failing and other strange issues. I called Lenovo and they immediately, without trying to diagnose anything over the phone, sent out a tech to replace the system board. That didn't fix the problem and the tech just kind of shrugged and left. After several weeks of tinkering, I figured out that the SSD cache drive wasn't configured properly and fixed it myself and things were working fairly well for a while. Then I started getting bluescreens pretty often and the battery died and wouldn't take a charge. I called again and they diagnosed a faulty battery over the phone and sent out a new one immediately. I replaced the battery and it's been working just fine since then (~100 cycles) but the bluescreens haven't gone away. They're mostly memory related but all the memory tests I've run come back clean. I finally got fed up and called Lenovo again to see if they could help diagnose the bluescreens and they again immediately said it's a faulty system board and I'm supposed to get a call from a tech today to schedule a time for them to come replace it. Does that sound reasonable to anyone? It seems to me like the phone support doesn't want to spend any time or effort actually diagnosing the issue and pushes it all off on the on-site techs. Sorry not to use the standard form, I'm not really looking for you guys to try to help me fix the issue, I just wanted to reality-check what's going on here. Is this the usual SOP for Lenovo on-site service plans? Is there really any chance my system board is faulty? I'd really rather not waste the techs time if the issue isn't going to be resolved.
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2014 19:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 23:18 |
|
|
There are essentially two possible sources of memory errors: Failed memory chips and a bad motherboard (aka the logic board or system board in a laptop). Since the memory is passing diagnostics that points to the system board, so replacing it is the correct next step.
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2014 20:11
|
|
|
Huh. Alright, I guess I'll trust what they're doing then. Thanks! 
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2014 20:35
|
|
|
Another factor is that nearly all of the other components in a computer that could potentially cause system problems are integrated into the system board on a laptop, so it's almost a one-stop shop for many classes of problems.
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2014 21:35
|
|
|
I'm just surprised they didn't even want to look at any of the dumps to rule out some kind of software issue.
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2014 21:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 23:18 |
|
|
The only way to rule out a software issue would be to try a fresh load of Windows, as memory issues can easily be the cause of most software misbehavior you see. It likely isn't worth it to go to extensive troubleshooting over the phone when you have a service contract, especially since that would frustrate most customers.
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2014 21:46
|
|