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Thread ID: 53447	2005-01-18 01:19:00	My broken laptop screen, should replacement cost & should it be under warranty	Chilling_Silence (9)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
315247	2005-01-18 01:19:00	Greetings, I came home from work one day last week to find my laptop screen broken :-( Three quarters of it was white as anything and down the bottom right it looked like a rock had been thrown at a window and cracked it.. and the cracked area was black as anything. This is all on the LCD part of it. I tried taking a few photo's with my digicam but none of them turned out :-/ Basically I sent it back but they reakon it was forceful damage that did it. Thing is it was in my room which is part of a sleepout. Its under lock and key and nobody had been in there (I had a webcam setup as surveilance....) It was sitting with the Lid closed for approx 8 hours during the day time. The room wasnt hot or anything like that, I accidentally left my fan going during that day. It was still sitting on the PC Case I use as a sorta bench for iit (Its a big old case) and so it hadnt fallen off. Now, Im no dummy, I know that LCD screens are sensitive etc so I wouldnt go touching it... Question is, what would do that? I have a 1yr warranty due to expire later on in April, but Im still paying the bloody thing off (HP with credit Capable) and they're trying to say its gonna cost me another $600 to fix! There is a slight crack on the back-right of the laptop hinge where the Lid lifts, and this has occured due to me opening and closing it, however when I contacted the supplier they said that it was nothing to worry about and to just carry on with normal use (this was in late October). Basically Im asking if there's any way that the LCD screen could be damaged while the lid is closed. Admittedly I probably dont have a leg to stand on as its my word against theirs that I didnt punch the bloody thing. Many thanks Chill.	Chilling_Silence (9)
315248	2005-01-18 01:35:00	Disputes Tribunal will be very helpful... I would argue black and blue and also point out that the crack in the hinge was notified very early on but you were advised to continue using it. Make sure you send everything via letter, to make sure you have a paper trail you can use in the Disputes Tribunal if things start to get ugly. Alternatively, the laptop will probably be covered by your parents' house and contents insurance. A claim would probably cost $250 for the excess. Lo.	Lohsing (219)
315249	2005-01-18 01:40:00	Hi Chill, Don't know if this will help or not, but I had a similar problem with my Acer Travelmate 250. I use it for work and when opening the lid one morning I heard (and felt) a crack, and something give. It was the LCD screen, to my amazement it was broken from the middle down to the bottom left corner. I immediately got in touch with Acer NZ and the guy I was talking to led me to believe it was my fault, which it wasn't, all I did was open the damn thing. He also asked if I had left a pen inside the lid and shut it (not likely). Anyway after much discussion I was told that it was under warranty and they would fix it for nothing. But only after a much heated debate. I hope you can get yours fixed in the same way. Regards Fred :badpc:	intel hunter (6666)
315250	2005-01-18 01:43:00	Would that work, as I was advised by their Tech over the telephone back in October to carry on using it, which could possibly be denied seeing as its not on paper :-( Fred: I hope the same thing :(	Chilling_Silence (9)
315251	2005-01-18 01:46:00	I have a suspicion that you would have extreme difficulty (even "arguing black and blue") to get anyone to think that it happened spontaneously. If it looks as if a rock had hit it, most people will think that somethingmight have hit it. Glass does break. It takes quite a concentrated force to break it ... glass is strong. The sort of fracture you can get by putting a bending force on it (as might come from malfunctioning hinges) looks quite different from one caused by a "point" impact. Insurance might be your best hope. I don't think a warranty claim will go very far. You know you didn't do it. I suspect that someone had an accident. Your security might not be as secure as you think.	Graham L (2)
315252	2005-01-18 01:51:00	The door was locked and nobody else has a key, there is no spare (Stupid not having a spare I know). I just dont know....	Chilling_Silence (9)
315253	2005-01-18 02:02:00	The laptop wasn't left on at all per chance with the lid closed and the crack was caused by a heat buildup?	EX-WESTY (221)
315254	2005-01-18 02:05:00	Yeah it was left on, its always left on.... 24/7..... there were some issues earlier on last year around July with it overheating and almost burned out the CPU. This was fixed by them replacing the CPU and heatsink because they hadnt installed it correctly.	Chilling_Silence (9)
315255	2005-01-18 02:14:00	I would guess that that is the cause of the problem, My laptop had a failure caused by it not shutting down but locking up, I thought it had shut down or was doing so, and closed the case, result was next time i went to use it the keyboard matrix has been cooked, the spacebar, CTRL, FCN, M, Tab, Arrow keys etc no longer work. $150+ to replace the membrane so i have resorted to using a plugin keyboard. You may find something in the manual about not shutting the lid and leaving it on, even desktops have heat problems from not enough airflow, running a laptop with it charging etc and the lid closed will generate no end of heat inside. Infact several persons have been reported to have suffered serious burns to the groin area just from using a laptop on their lap from the heat generated by the harddrive, CPU, and battery etc	EX-WESTY (221)
315256	2005-01-18 02:17:00	Chill An "impact" break will show splintering at the point of impact with possible starring, whereas a stress fracture will show as a fairly clean break (or multiple cracks) with no clear impact evidence. The broken hinge could quite easily have stressed the screen and if a crack started behind the bezel it might have spread after you last closed the lid. As already advised, document everything to the supplier and don't give up. If you are quite certain that you have not provoked the failure in any way (beyond continuing to use the computer with a cracked hinge on their advice), then persist. Move up the management chain until you get to a real decision maker! In the absence of any hard evidence proving neglect on your part they have to accept the warranty claim or call you a liar. If all else fails, the Disputes Tribunal is then your best bet. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
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