In a previous post I complained about my latest laptop "Number 5". Number 5 came into existence because "Number 4" had become unreliable. At this point I'm not sure Number 5 is an improvement. The complaints continue.

/RANT *CONTINUE

I spent a considerable amount of time updating this thing. 5 Hours actually between downloading 500MB of updates and applying them! In the list were everything I could think of: hard disk, DVD, USB, Bluetooth, Wireless, Ethernet, video, power management, bios updates, Trackpoint, keyboard, you name it, it was in there. Then there were the requisite XP updates, Firefox updates, and others as well.

At the end of that I detected that exactly ONE thing had been fixed: When you open the lid after a Suspend the display no longer comes up and goes immediately back to black, it actually stays up. hoorah.

But some things got worse, notably the docking station. In the dock now there is no display except the BIOS during boot up. After that nothing external or internal and Fn-F7 does the same nothing. Doesn't matter if you boot up cold, come in from Suspend or come in from Hibernate, Nuthin, Nuthin, Nuthin.

So I call tech support back and after a while got them to understand the issue. It was suggested that they could send me a new docking station. They did that. It made exactly *zero difference. So apparently it's not the dock, it's the planar board in the laptop.

So do you think I can get that fixed? SURE! Send it in. A few days later we'll work on it. Then we'll send it back. You have nothing for 'about a week but no promises'. They will send you a replacement dock but not a replacement laptop. Sorry. How about for a fee? Nope. How about charging the replacement unit to my card until you get it back? Nope. You can overnight it to us and save a day or two of shipping. (Great thanks) But you can contact the local service guys…..

So I contact the local service guys CPR. YES we can fix it!! But NO you cannot tell us what's wrong, we must diagnose it. We'll do that in March because we're really backed up. I asked if I can bring it to them in March then? Sure! Then we'll probably look at it in April. If it's not there you're not in queue. Hmm. And they used to be good there. Are thinkpads that bad now that they are backed up for three weeks? "No we're busy fixing Toshiba machines but there is only one queue." Hmmm. I wonder if IBM cares? HA! They sold these things to some company in China so they don't give a whit I'm sure.

So I call IBM back. Is there any way to upgrade the warranty? Nope. Turns out that you cannot upgrade your warranty until your warranty expires. The rule then is to NEVER extend the warranty because you have no options. Great deal eh? So I'm about to hang up on them because they can't help me when the lady says: "Well if you're willing to pay we can send a technician to you."

Silence. Finally: "What? You can send a guy TO ME? Why didn't you mention this before?" She responds: "Because it's not covered by your warranty!" ZOIKS! After all my requests for faster service, attempts to upgrade the warranty (like that's gonna be free?) asking for any way to get it fixed faster SHE decides that she doesn't even want to OFFER the service of sending a technician to me??

Well it's not free of course but darn reasonable as the parts are covered by the warranty it's only a one time charge for the guy to come out with the parts and replace them on the spot! So I am waiting for said technician to call…..

/RANT *PAUSE (it ain't fixed yet….)

- DrF