Legal eagles - refurb laptop and the SoGA

FoxEye · 14 Sep 2010 at 15:37

bledd. said:
I'd just buy a new hard drive, clean out the dust and reapply some thermal paste

I've not really worked on laptops before, only desktop PCs. They're a bit more fiddly to disassemble. If it comes to it, I could try. Just don't want to break anything

semi-pro waster · 14 Sep 2010 at 15:57

FoxEye said:
I've not really worked on laptops before, only desktop PCs. They're a bit more fiddly to disassemble. If it comes to it, I could try. Just don't want to break anything

It's pretty easy to do, as you say a bit more fiddly but provided you've got a suitably small screwdriver and a bit of patience then it's not really an issue, SATA hard drives make it even easier than it used to be.

However I'd definitely recommend pursuing the company for a repair/replacement first of course.

arknor · 14 Sep 2010 at 16:27

on laptops the hardrive are usually easily accesable from the bottom via a hatch as is the memory on most.
reseating any cpu heatsink might be a pain though

FoxEye · 14 Sep 2010 at 16:32

Oh yes, the hard drive is no problem at all

In fact the machine (a Toshiba laptop) has two installed; the second seems entirely unused (no raid, either).

I booted a Linux live-cd but was unable to complete a badblocks sweep of the 2nd hdd due to the overheating issue. Given that I running Linux from a text-mode console, the amount of strain on the machine should have been minimal, but still it overheated.

I don't want to disassemble the machine before pursuing a repair/replacement from the retailer, for obvious reasons.

Colbaker · 14 Sep 2010 at 16:49

You might find the HDD is still in warranty as some have 3 years manufacturers, Easy to find out on the HDD's manufacturers site, Also overheating could be caused by dust in the fan which would obviously not be due to the seller, There used to be a big problem with laptop's where people would use them in bed and keep them on their bed covers which causes overheating and dust to build up.

I think you would be better off just checking the HDD's warranty and making sure the fan is clean and spinning, Also only use the laptop on a table or flat surface.

FoxEye · 14 Sep 2010 at 17:16

Think I'm getting somewhere here. Their cust serv department has now agreed to collect and test free-of-charge, and fix any overheated issues free-of-charge. Then if there is any hardware that needs replacing they say they will contact and discuss price...

I think we'll accept this after taking lots of photos of the machine and getting them signed/dated at the post office or something. Proof that we didn't damage it by dropping it or water or anything like that.

Then if it comes back with a cracked screen and "it looks like you dropped it" we will have evidence to counter.

bobbydigital · 14 Sep 2010 at 17:27

FoxEye said:
I've not really worked on laptops before, only desktop PCs. They're a bit more fiddly to disassemble. If it comes to it, I could try. Just don't want to break anything

You've probably already checked but some laptops you can access the cpu/gpu heatsinks via the one removable back panel of the laptop. Would save you a great deal of fuss and isn't a big job.

Again good luck with whatever route you take. I however feel SoGA might not do anything regarding the overheating issue, as it's a refurbished machine, you've owned it over a year and could be put down as user error.

Edit:

Saw your post above and well I think you should just say you only want the overheating sorted and you will sort the rest yourself to save you any hassle, seems the fair thing to do.