[Baritone47]

Two weeks after completing my order, I received my "refurbished" Thinkpad T61 with all the bells and whistles. Lenovo advertises that their refurbished products are thoroughly gone through and are in "as-new" condition. Seemed like a great deal, never ever having had a problem with any Dell or Sony refurb before.


Just out of the box, I plugged it in, and the screen had ugly horizontal lines moving up and down. Restarted it a couple of times, same problem.


Called Lenovo, got to India. After much ado, and several transfers, here are my options:


1) Return it to Tech support and they will fix whatever is wrong and return it to me.


2) Get an authorization to return the laptop, get my money refunded, and at the same time order another laptop. Wait two more weeks at least, and hope this one is better than the last.


Has anyone had a similar problem with Lenovo products???


Am I nuts for being uncomfortable receiving back a laptop that was faulty before it was delivered, and should I be comfortable with a company that "goes through" every product and yet manages to ship out a faulty laptop?

[smax013]

Baritone47 said:

Two weeks after completing my order, I received my "refurbished" Thinkpad T61 with all the bells and whistles. Lenovo advertises that their refurbished products are thoroughly gone through and are in "as-new" condition. Seemed like a great deal, never ever having had a problem with any Dell or Sony refurb before.

Just out of the box, I plugged it in, and the screen had ugly horizontal lines moving up and down. Restarted it a couple of times, same problem.


Called Lenovo, got to India. After much ado, and several transfers, here are my options:


1) Return it to Tech support and they will fix whatever is wrong and return it to me.


2) Get an authorization to return the laptop, get my money refunded, and at the same time order another laptop. Wait two more weeks at least, and hope this one is better than the last.


Has anyone had a similar problem with Lenovo products???


Am I nuts for being uncomfortable receiving back a laptop that was faulty before it was delivered, and should I be comfortable with a company that "goes through" every product and yet manages to ship out a faulty laptop?

If you are uncomfortable with the notion that a company might ship a product to you that has problems, then your only real option is never to buy anything again. ;) Like it or not, products have problems. Let me put it another way. If this were a completely brand new computer and had a problem would you be asking the same questions?



I am not saying you are wrong to be disappointed. Anyone should be disappointed if something get has a problem. But, the point is that even brand new computers can be lemons, shipped with something disconnected, somehow "damaged" during shipping that causes some problem, etc. The fact that it just happens to be a refurbished computer does not change that. One would like to believe that a refurbish computer has been fully repaired and been through some "checking" process that assures that it has been fully repaired/fixed...but then one would assume that a NEW computer would be properly manufactured and shipped such that it would arrive fully functional and working correctly. The reality is that sometimes stuff (that is the PG version) happens.



Now, is it possible that they did not really check it prior to make sure that it was properly repaired and functioning as it is supposed to. Yes. But, I am not sure if you will ever really know that.



It seems that they are giving you very reasonable options...either return it to get fixed or return for a refund. These would be that EXACT same options you would have if you had bought it new (other than maybe being able to return for a new one of the same time...if bought from a retail store rather than direct...that would NOT be a definite option if bought direct from most computer manufacturers as it is usually their choice to either repair or replace).



Thus, you have to decide if this has shaken your trust of Lenovo. If so, then return it for a refund and buy a laptop from elsewhere. If not, then return it for repair.



Basically, my point is that you should be no more or less "comfortable" that if the same thing happened with a new computer rather than a refurbished computer. Is it crazy to be bothered by getting a defective computer (whether new or refurbished)? Yes and no. It is not crazy to be bothered by it and upset by it. But, the reality is that is happens...and it happens with ANY computer company. Thus, feel free to be upset, but realize that unless you can get some company to REPEATEDLY send you defective stuff (and maybe add that they are not to friendly in dealing with the problems), it is likely just a bad luck thing and move on. Unless there is serial evidence of them sending defective stuff, then it would be a little nuts to dump them as an option. But, then it is everyone's right to be "nuts" and choose who the wish to and not to buy things from for whatever reasons they want (for the most part). Personally, unless I had some prior bad experiences with Lenovo or they were a little unfriendly or even downright hostile in fixing this problem, I would likely still consider them for future computer purchases.

[smax013]

BTW, have you only tried using the laptop in one location? Have you only tried it when it was plugged in?



I ask because what describe can sometimes be cause by interference problems with electrical lines, I believe. If so, then it might not be the laptop at all OR it could just be that something in that laptop is rather sensative to interference. You might also see if you can check the refresh rate (should be something like 60 MHz if you can do anything with it at all). While refresh rate is much less of an issue with LCD's, it can still kind of screw with them I believe.

[Baritone47]

Thanks for your reply.

I agree that stuff happens, even from the best companies. I guess I have been spoiled. I have always - without exception - bought refurbished laptops - my PII 750mh Dell C500 is still running strong after 9 years of daily hard use, 2 C840s of similar vintage, even my Sony Vaio - and never has a unit arrived with issues.

The T61 video issues appear when plugged in, when the screen goes to full brightness. On the battery, the screen looks fine. So its definitely not a setting issue.

You're right of course that I shouldn't judge the company from one laptop. I think that in the excitement of purchasing my first IBM product, having considered IBM and going with Dell and Sony instead, I was hoping that I would be "wowed" and never consider another brand.

I will send it back for service and keep it once its been fixed.

I also wanted to see in this posting, if anyone else had similar experiences with Lenovo, or was this just an unlucky rare incident.

[smax013]

Baritone47 said:

The T61 video issues appear when plugged in, when the screen goes to full brightness. On the battery, the screen looks fine. So its definitely not a setting issue.

Does it happen only when plugged in at your location? Have you tried using it plugged in elsewhere (i.e. someone else's house or work or whatever)?



Do you plug it straight into the wall? Or do you use a surge protector? Have you tried a different surge protector and/or different wall plug? Or even try plugging into a higher end UPS (uninterruptible power supply) unit? UPS units tend to have more sophisticated circuitry than standard surge protectors and can potentially filter more "stuff" from the power line (i.e. variations in the voltage), I believe.



The fact that you get it when you plug it in but NOT when running off batteries suggests that there is some variation/noise/interference in your electrical line that might be causing the problem. This could mean that it is not a problem with the laptop at all...or not a problem per se (in otherwords, the laptop might be "fine", but its design somehow makes it more sensative to such noise/interference).

[Baritone47]

Friends,

To add insult to injury, the T61 arrived today after being repaired, including a replacement of the LCD screen, LCD cables, the broadband card, and a few other goodies.

I plugged it in - same exact problem as I had before sending it back.

So, if anyone out there has had similar problems with Lenovo, please send me a reply. Its hard to believe its just a fluke.

[smax013]

[quote name='smax013']
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Baritone47 said:

> The T61 video issues appear when plugged in, when the screen goes to full brightness. On the battery, the screen looks fine. So its definitely not a setting issue. Does it happen only when plugged in at your location? Have you tried using it plugged in elsewhere (i.e. someone else's house or work or whatever)?





Do you plug it straight into the wall? Or do you use a surge protector? Have you tried a different surge protector and/or different wall plug? Or even try plugging into a higher end UPS (uninterruptible power supply) unit? UPS units tend to have more sophisticated circuitry than standard surge protectors and can potentially filter more "stuff" from the power line (i.e. variations in the voltage), I believe.







The fact that you get it when you plug it in but NOT when running off batteries suggests that there is some variation/noise/interference in your electrical line that might be causing the problem. This could mean that it is not a problem with the laptop at all...or not a problem per se (in otherwords, the laptop might be "fine", but its design somehow makes it more sensative to such noise/interference).

I will point you back to a post before, which you never addressed the questions included. The point was that I was not sure there was ever really a problem with the computer, per se. The fact that the problem did NOT occur (per what you had said) when on battery alone strongly suggests that there is something going on with the power adapter and/or power coming into the computer by way of the power adapter. Thus, there was either nothing to fix or maybe they focused on the screen when that was NOT the issue.