Laptop Computer

Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007 at 22:50
ThreadID: 48311 Views:2316 Replies:6 FollowUps:1
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We retired about 2 years ago and bought a Samsung laptop to take away on our travels. No problems until about 2 months ago when it packed it in completely (out of warranty of course). According to various experts the video card was corrupted and this necessitated the replacement of the motherboard at around $800 - not worth doing. In the course of our enquiries we found that there is only one firm in Perth who do "a very small amount of warranty work " for Samsung and do not undertake any service work. Needless to say we bought a new laptop (not Samsung). Concerned at the lack of service facilities I wrote a snail mail to Samsung enquiring if they considered this situation to be to their satisfaction. Eventually after a number of follow ups we received a reply that in our opinion said -"tough! We don't care at all about after sales service". Unfortunately altogether too typical of some major organisations.

There ! now that's off my chest, are there any computer buffs out there who can tell me if the old computer would work okay if we attached an external video card player via the USB port? Any help or comment would be appreciated.
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Reply By: Aussie Al - Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007 at 23:00

Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007 at 23:00
Hi!

Not too sure, but if you're in Perth I can take a look at it for you and see what could be done - I'm in Victoria Park until Monday then off to Singapore (for work unfortunately) for 4 weeks...

Regards

Aussie Al!
AnswerID: 255419

Follow Up By: westskip - Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007 at 23:13

Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007 at 23:13
Thanks Al

I can get to Vic Park after lunch tomorrow (thursday) without any problem. Can you ring me on my mobile tomorrow with address etc 0400 248 187.

Thanks again

Westskip
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FollowupID: 516563

Reply By: Aussie Al - Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007 at 23:20

Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007 at 23:20
No problem, I am free all day tomorrow, I will give you a call mid-morning.

Best regards

Alan (Aussie Al!)
AnswerID: 255421

Reply By: George - Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 at 00:12

Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 at 00:12
Sorry, there is no way to output video through the USB port. Don't waste your time.
Cheers
AnswerID: 255423

Reply By: Member - Sam (NSW) - Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 at 07:31

Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 at 07:31
i am guessing you have tried connecting an external monitor? as it may have been the LCD only the packed it in.

You could also try starting it up and connecting to it over a network using Remote Desktop (providing of course this was enabled).

Have you also tried reseating the video card? Often there is a panel underneath that you can take off and pry the video card out and then reseat it. A mate of mine had the video card on his laptop go, but he was able to get a reasonably cheap replacement.

AnswerID: 255426

Reply By: jeffwa - Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 at 20:00

Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 at 20:00
I don't know which brand of laptop you purchased, but if you are expecting any better service from them I'm sorry to say that I doubt you'll get it.

I worked in the compuer industry for over 10 years, and although I use laptops everyday, I have pretty much completely switch over to them for everything, when you need warranty work expect to wait and expect to get screwed around. They are all bloody usless IMHO.
AnswerID: 255532

Reply By: Outa Bounds - Sunday, Aug 05, 2007 at 20:38

Sunday, Aug 05, 2007 at 20:38
Yeah we're flexirenting a laptop at the moment, it's a Toshiba Sattelite and about 2yrs old now. Gee I'm really glad we have the 3yr warranty associated with the Flexirent because it's already been sent away maybe a handful of times.
I must say Toshiba does offer great warranty service, absolutely no complaints there at all, it was a pleasure to deal with them last time.
Whilst in Townsville we had a tech come over & fix it a couple of times (something went wrong with the display so he replaced the motherboard & then something else later on which fixed it). And besides that I've had to send it away (no tech in Cobar NSW) a few times because the fan underneath just tends to suck up dust out of thin air and eventually clogs up, starts overheating as a result and shutting down due to this out of the blue. I think it's a known problem for this model as I found instructions on the web how to fix it (basically pull everything apart - everything to get to the fan!).

Even if you have warranty I still hate when computers break down all the time. I'm definitely not buying a HP (prior desktop experience) and most likely not a Toshiba (unless they changed their cooling fan location).

I think when the flexirent runs out I'll get myself an Apple because Vista doesn't sound inviting either.
AnswerID: 255974

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