Fixed my laptop..avoided a $375 rip off by Toshiba..here's the story

[Larry Bratton]

About 6 weeks ago, I am working away on my laptop. For some unknown reason, the computer locks up. I could not exit normally, so I had to shut down manually. When I re-booted, I get a screen that calls for a bios password. I do not have, nor have I ever had a bios password. Well, I tried everything I could find on the internet about how to bypass this thing. I worked and worked and finally decided I would call Toshiba and see what I could learn. Well, I explain the situation and the "tech", (who is in Indonesia) tells me he has a solution. He says the bios password thing is an issue with this particular Toshiba machine and they will fix it for "free". Hooray! So, he makes the necessary arrangements and they ship me a prepaid box to send it to their repair depot in Louisville, Ky. OK, a few days later the box arrives, I pack it up and ship it off to them. They have this internet site you can go to and check the status. After a few days I check and it says for me to call and warns me some repairs not be covered! Hummmm..well here it comes I think. So I call up and the woman on the phone informs me it is going to be $175 to fix it. Well, I say let me think about it and I'll let them know. So after mulling this over, I think well I really need that machine and think of all the stuff that's on it that I am going to lose. So, I call them up the next day to pay my $175, only to be told a mistake was made in the quote and it would be $375!!!! What??? Her story is that "when the techs opened the case, they see evidence of "spillage". No such thing, as it had nothing spilled in it, but no repairs are covered. So I go off on the messenger and tell her to ship the machine back to me.

A few days later, it arrives back here. In the meantime, I have done some more research on a fix for it. I find a YouTube video that describes the exact problem and walks through the steps to fix it. It involved opening the case, removing the memory and locating a tiny little jumper that is hidden under some plastic tape. Take a paper clip (high tech device) and put it on the jumper and a ground, count to 20 and put it back together. Today I tried it, figuring I had nothing to lose. I was totally delighted when the computer booted up with the bios screen. Went in, changed the time and date, saved it and Windows started right up.
Now you see why I am getting the feeling that Toshiba tried to rip me off. That is probably the same thing they would have done. Is no one to be trusted anymore????

[Jim Koepke]

Now you see why I am getting the feeling that Toshiba tried to rip me off. That is probably the same thing they would have done. Is no one to be trusted anymore????

Is there some reason to believe the Toshiba techs are aware of this fix?

It wouldn't surprise me to learn they were shooting in the dark.

jtk

[Larry Bratton]

Is there some reason to believe the Toshiba techs are aware of this fix?

It wouldn't surprise me to learn they were shooting in the dark.

jtk

Well I felt like I had been dooped into sending the machine in for a so called "free" repair and got the old bait and switch con pulled (or attempted) on me. I wonder how many machines they actually fix for free? I'm glad they paid the shipping both ways though.

[Bryan Slimp]

I would send a note to Toshiba. My guess is that their repairs are done at a third party vendor. The vendor may have been the one trying to rip you off. It happens a lot in the cell phone warranty world. They crack the case and say there is evidence of water damage and they won't honor the warranty.

[David Weaver]

Computers are a buy and junk when they break thing these days.

My wife bought a dell laptop about 6 or 7 years ago, it lasted one year and one month before the backlamp burnt out - or actually, the power supply or some little PCB controlled thing that is right below the screen crapped out.

We called dell, and they said "send it in, and we'll fix it for $500" since it's out of warranty (by one month).

We took it across the street to circuit city (which still existed at that time), and they offered to fix it for $350.

And then we took it back to my in-laws house over the holiday after letting the thing sit idle for a while, and a relative took it apart in 15 minutes, identified the problem immediately with a multimeter, and we found the part (which was about as easy to change as it is to connect cords) for $35 on ebay.

It took less than 15 minutes to put it back together.

So $35 for a part, and half an hour of time, and they're going for $500 right off the bat at dell CS without getting any diagnostics.

The spill thing has been used by cell companies and computer companies for years to deny warranty service on items that have never gotten anything other than use on a humid summer day.

[Larry Bratton]

Yeah, I am aware of the cell phone ruse. I believe the manufacturers are in on that too. You can take a cell phone in a damp bathroom and that little strip thing will change color. They open it up and say...."see there..it's been WET!" no freebie for you. Thank goodness for the internet and people that expose these rip offs.

[Chuck Wintle]

About 6 weeks ago, I am working away on my laptop. For some unknown reason, the computer locks up. I could not exit normally, so I had to shut down manually. When I re-booted, I get a screen that calls for a bios password. I do not have, nor have I ever had a bios password. Well, I tried everything I could find on the internet about how to bypass this thing. I worked and worked and finally decided I would call Toshiba and see what I could learn. Well, I explain the situation and the "tech", (who is in Indonesia) tells me he has a solution. He says the bios password thing is an issue with this particular Toshiba machine and they will fix it for "free". Hooray! So, he makes the necessary arrangements and they ship me a prepaid box to send it to their repair depot in Louisville, Ky. OK, a few days later the box arrives, I pack it up and ship it off to them. They have this internet site you can go to and check the status. After a few days I check and it says for me to call and warns me some repairs not be covered! Hummmm..well here it comes I think. So I call up and the woman on the phone informs me it is going to be $175 to fix it. Well, I say let me think about it and I'll let them know. So after mulling this over, I think well I really need that machine and think of all the stuff that's on it that I am going to lose. So, I call them up the next day to pay my $175, only to be told a mistake was made in the quote and it would be $375!!!! What??? Her story is that "when the techs opened the case, they see evidence of "spillage". No such thing, as it had nothing spilled in it, but no repairs are covered. So I go off on the messenger and tell her to ship the machine back to me.

A few days later, it arrives back here. In the meantime, I have done some more research on a fix for it. I find a YouTube video that describes the exact problem and walks through the steps to fix it. It involved opening the case, removing the memory and locating a tiny little jumper that is hidden under some plastic tape. Take a paper clip (high tech device) and put it on the jumper and a ground, count to 20 and put it back together. Today I tried it, figuring I had nothing to lose. I was totally delighted when the computer booted up with the bios screen. Went in, changed the time and date, saved it and Windows started right up.
Now you see why I am getting the feeling that Toshiba tried to rip me off. That is probably the same thing they would have done. Is no one to be trusted anymore????

I have had my fill of Toshiba and their so called "warranty" that basically says we cover nothing at all. My son's toshiba had the plastic crack around the display and no way was it covered and the laptop was only 3 onths old at that point. Avoid Toshiba.

[Chuck Wintle]

Computers are a buy and junk when they break thing these days.

My wife bought a dell laptop about 6 or 7 years ago, it lasted one year and one month before the backlamp burnt out - or actually, the power supply or some little PCB controlled thing that is right below the screen crapped out.

We called dell, and they said "send it in, and we'll fix it for $500" since it's out of warranty (by one month).

We took it across the street to circuit city (which still existed at that time), and they offered to fix it for $350.

And then we took it back to my in-laws house over the holiday after letting the thing sit idle for a while, and a relative took it apart in 15 minutes, identified the problem immediately with a multimeter, and we found the part (which was about as easy to change as it is to connect cords) for $35 on ebay.

It took less than 15 minutes to put it back together.

So $35 for a part, and half an hour of time, and they're going for $500 right off the bat at dell CS without getting any diagnostics.

The spill thing has been used by cell companies and computer companies for years to deny warranty service on items that have never gotten anything other than use on a humid summer day.
and how many thousands of consumers are ripped off without knowing it? I hate to think of the money they make with bogus repair estimates.

[Matt Meiser]

Yeah, I am aware of the cell phone ruse. I believe the manufacturers are in on that too. You can take a cell phone in a damp bathroom and that little strip thing will change color. They open it up and say...."see there..it's been WET!" no freebie for you. Thank goodness for the internet and people that expose these rip offs.

Even that doesn't always work. There are 1000's of Google hits about charging port problems on the Sprint EVO 4G. I still had to pay the "Protection" co-pay when mine went bad. They said I abused it. Apparently its not designed to be recharged? Amazingly it didn't show that it had gotten wet despite a humid summer. Though I did discover while reading that since this phone overheats, many have figured out that the overheating phone softens the glue on the water indicator sticker to the point you can slide it right off when hot. Stick it to some wax paper, store it in a cool dry spot, then if the phone acts up you just put it back on. I'm sure they are working on a better sticker.

[Larry Bratton]

Well, I was advised to update the bios after this fiasco, so I go to Toshiba's website. To Toshiba's credit, while I am looking around I find a technical bulletin relative to this issue. It so states that if you have already had this occur then your basically dead in the water. No fix for it except to send it in. (I reckon they want to keep the jumper fix a secret). Anyhow, I went on and found the latest bios, downloaded and it installed it without issue. This is my 3rd Toshiba laptop, the other two are out of commission. One has a broken screen (wife dropped it and broke it) and the other one has the AC power connection non functional. Looking around on YouTube, I find out how to fix both of these issues. Going to try it as soon as I get time and try and keep my money in MY pocket instead of a "technician's"

[Don Alexander]

they aren't interested in "fixing" your computer at a reasonable cost , they ARE interested in selling you a new computer and if you just insist on fixing the old one they are going to make a killing doing it.

that is not speculation, that is a matter of fact (at least for DELL and i would not be at all surprise for the others as well)

[glenn bradley]

I would send a note to Toshiba. My guess is that their repairs are done at a third party vendor. The vendor may have been the one trying to rip you off. It happens a lot in the cell phone warranty world. They crack the case and say there is evidence of water damage and they won't honor the warranty.

I'm sorry to say this was my first suspicion as well. Glad you found a fix and I would let Toshiba know.

[Myk Rian]

Is no one to be trusted anymore????
Nope. It's the corporate greed thing, again.

[Curt Harms]

I ran into the "it's been spilled on" thing with a Thinkpad extended warranty provider. I think the warranty provider was Mack camera in N.J. I left the notebook there, got a call 3 weeks later and was told there was evidence of liquid spillage and no warranty coverage for you. The notebook had never had any liquid spilled on it. I told 'em to put it back together, went and picked it up and sold it for parts. That's the first and last time I've purchased an extended warranty. An "all hazards" warranty - more like insurance - might be worthwhile, I dunno.

[Phil Thien]

I ran into the "it's been spilled on" thing with a Thinkpad extended warranty provider. I think the warranty provider was Mack camera in N.J. I left the notebook there, got a call 3 weeks later and was told there was evidence of liquid spillage and no warranty coverage for you. The notebook had never had any liquid spilled on it. I told 'em to put it back together, went and picked it up and sold it for parts. That's the first and last time I've purchased an extended warranty. An "all hazards" warranty - more like insurance - might be worthwhile, I dunno.

I wouldn't buy a third-party warranty on ANYTHING. If one insists on doing this, they may as well send me the $150 to $300. When a problem occurs, I will save them the three weeks of shipping/waiting and I will simply tell they it isn't covered due to spillage.

In this case, I believe the warranty was from Toshiba, I remember reading that they had identified the bug and did offer a free repair. I'm surprised they gave so much grief.

I suppose they will all try this, to a degree. Even AppleCare won't cover accidental damage, and I've had notebooks come in for repair that Apple said they wouldn't repair due to spillage. Never found any signs of spillage on them. You can't get a blender warranty from Apple. And I've heard many stories that indicate Apple stores sometimes help w/ accidental damage, and sometimes don't. I think a lot has to do with the employee to whom you speak, and how attractive you are.

Lenovo's Accidental Damage warranty has been outstanding. I've sent them some machines that weren't fit for repair, and have been stunned to get them back with nearly every major component replaced, even cosmetic ones. Costly, but some of their machines are still expensive enough to warrant it.

[Mike Circo]

This is exactly why I buy desktop (tower) PC's. I can repair just about everything myself.

The bios jumper block on my mother board is not only accessable, but labeled. I've had the fan on the video card go out, causing it to overheat and shutdown the computer. $20 fan and 10 minutes to fix. Not possible on a laptop. I had my hard drive die, again a cheap quick replacement. My son had a DVD drive go out on his, also quick to replace. The same is true with nearly all repairs on this box.

Laptops are handy to lug around but you pay for that convience with expensive or difficult repairs. Like everything, there is always a tradeoff.

Just my thoughts.

[Matt Meiser]

While I can't argue with anything you said, other than that laptop drives are no more difficult or expensive to replace than PC laptops (could be argued easier since some release with just 1-2 screws from outside.) But when we went from our home PC being a desktop to a laptop, it eliminated the need for part of a room being dedicated to the computer to part of the end table being shared with the computer. And that computer now lives in the living room instead of being in another room.