I have a TOSHIBA laptop, only about 4 months old so its covered under warranty, but dont want to send it back if I can fix it myself as my supplier takes AGES on turnaround. The screen has a white line which has appeared down the middle and which will not go away, vertical straight line, about 3 mm wide. Fully virus scanned the unit and no viruses found, what could cause this vertical white line to suddenly appear.....surely not screen failure after so little use? It appears on boot up even before windows XP loads.

Sounds like a screen failure, if it's top to bottom may be one of the coneections has gone, is there a green line next to it? might be very faint.

Yes very faint green line next to white one, all the way from top to bottom.....is this something I can tackle without wrecking the screen completely or should it just go back to the dealer?

send it back...................(added as send it back is too short).

OH GOD.....its not from my usual supplier NOVATECH but another one, who take about 3 months to even acknowledge you have sent anything back. Oh well.........have to break out the mergency 1999 model.....a real museum showpeice that is so old it does not have basic USB or firewire ports.....bluetooth?
No chance........back to the DARK AGES of Windows 95 again....


in fact it wont be any good as I need WAN so it can stay in the cupboard and age disgracefully.....

Sorry for delay. If it has that faint green line, I'm sorry to tell you its bad news mate.............Back to the shop for repair. This usually doesn't happen to laptop screens but when it does its usually cause for a new screen. Happens more regulary to Plasmas and TFT's

I'm sure the advice you've received about the need to replace the screen is correct which doesnt sound healthy to me.

If possible see if your supplier will do an in-house check before sending it to the manufacturer, see what that produces and get them to confirm it to you in writing. If not I suppose it'll have to go back to the manufacturer. Either way I'd expect confirmation of the defect(s) and after the supplier or manufacturer confirms their advice write to say it's not fit for purpose and you expect them to replace the entire system because it is unreasonable to expect the screen, ie a crucial part of the system, to pack up when it is only 4 months old. They may not be too happy but I'd be inclined to stand my ground because it's so new and must have cost a fair bit.

If you bought it on your credit card you also have legal recourse to the credit card company under ss56/75 Consumer Credit Act 74 which gives connected lender liability and so the credit card is also responsible. The credit card company may try to fob you off with it being over 3 months old and they arent responsible for it any more. That's not true because the credit agreement runs until the contract expires ie 6 years minus 1 day from date of purchase

You should be able to get more information on dealing with such situations from Trading Standards assuming you get through on their phone which would be a laudable achievement. I'd suggest email requesting advice/information leaflets on buying IT systems on credit. Send a hard copy of the email by fax so they cant say they didnt receive it or was incomplete; the COuncil's email policy effectively denies responsibility for email advice because it may be an incomplete transmission.

I'd conclude by reminding Trading Standards of the Council's policy to reply to all emails within 3 working days and when you can expect to receive a fully informed reply if the reply they send is not complete.

Have you registered your warranty with Toshiba? If so you can take it to any Toshiba repair shop. There's one called CBC near the Showroom cinema.

Is it a Tecra M2 ??? It's a design fault. the Microphone cable needs re-routing and the screen needs replacing. Nothing much else you can do.
I have the mod and can email it to you if you want but it may well have already damaged the screen. Also you would need to be carful not to damage the screw covers if you try and do it yourself.
Give me the serial number and i can tell you what warranty it has, it may actually be on site but you might not know if you bought it from a crap reseller.

We are a register Toshiba reapir centre where I work and although we only deal with the ones we have sold, this is a very uncommon fault with Toshiba's.

I would suggest that rather than fix your laptop, If you contact Toshiba warranty line (08702 202202) they should offer you some repair centres locally, they will check your laptop out under the warranty rather than pay for another engineer to confirm you have a screen fault, then they will decide on the best action there after.

Just in case they do choose to repair it though, be warned that Toshiba parts can take an age to get hold of (sorry to be the bearer of bad news)

Cheers for all your help...its gone back to TOSHIBA as far as I know.....the supplier tech support guy took one look at the screen and error messages and pronounced it ******, a very technical term of course. They switched it on and it committed microchip suicide and said it had no hardware installed.....what???? It proceded to boot Windows XP about half way and then announced there was no keyboard and no pointing device and turned itself off......WIERD

A nw one should be forthcoming in a week or so.....not sure what model it was....

Delighted to hear such great news. Bet your ecstatic. Reassuring to know there are reputable IT suppliers around.

Glad things are moving. I would imagine you will be getting the same one back though with a new set of guts!

Hadnt thought of that. Have you got it in writing what they're doing. Perhaps you should insist on your right to an immediate replacement now because it is quite clearly not fit for purpose.

Originally posted by wendygs
Hadnt thought of that. Have you got it in writing what they're doing. Perhaps you should insist on your right to an immediate replacement now because it is quite clearly not fit for purpose.

isn't the exact bit of law that you're refering too that it should be fit for purpose when it is sold?

A hardware failure several months down the line is simply a warranty issue and they can repair or replace it as they see fit.

As I understand the facts, GF advised the supplier of technical problems immediately and gave the supplier every opportunity to repair it. The supplier examined it and agreed it was a write off. If it is irreparable the supplier must replace or refund the faulty goods. So why muck about or make GF wait a week for a replacement? Whats GF supposed to do in the meantime? The darn thing is just 4 months old and should be easy enough to get an immediate replacement; if it were 12 months old it may be more difficult to argue fthat.

These are the correct steps to take for faulty/defective goods under Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) think either ss12 or 14 applies, cant remember offhand which is the relevant section. The contract applies until the Limitation Act deadline, ie 6 years minus 1 day from the contract execution date, ie the invoice date. If GF used a credit card, the Consumer Credit Act ss56/75 also applies and GF could require the credit card to replace it up to and including the contract expiry date. However it could be harder to secure such rights against the credit card company unless the supplier went bust or did a bunk.

From what GF posted it seems the supplier may be reasonable so I think it's worth pushing them to provide a complete replacement now rather than wait for a laptop which may only have had parts replaced.

This is my opinion. However I beleive the law is in the process of being revised to bring up to date with current legal developments and other concerns. In reality only our most learned Judiciary decide; a reasonable supplier woulodnt want the hassle over something they've admitted, always assuming they confirmed it in writing to GF.

After a month it goes back for repair, take it or leave it basically! I think adopting wendygs's attitiude would probably delay the repair some what!! It is not the shops fault the thing has gone wrong. I am sure an on site warranty would have been available as an optional extra.
It should not take longer than a couple of weeks as long as the shop get of their asses and get the thing sent back. The only way a laptop that modern would possibly be a write off is if it was dropped from a great high, run over by a car or submerged in water!
:)

Originally posted by goldenfleece
the supplier tech support guy took one look at the screen and error messages and pronounced it ******, a very technical term of course.

What does "******" mean?

All GF has to do is go back to the supplier and being very polite explain some friends are concerned the replacement might turn out to be the same one with some parts replaced. GF could ask the supplier to clarify the model which Toshiba intend to provide as a replacement which would resolve the whole issue.

by the way neee.....k I was simply explaining my understanding of the correct legal position to Cyclone's queries; I didnt recommend GF should take an aggressive stance which is unlikely to help get the resolution sought after.

Originally posted by wendygs
What does "******" mean?

All GF has to do is go back to the supplier and being very polite explain some friends are concerned the replacement might turn out to be the same one with some parts replaced. GF could ask the supplier to clarify the model which Toshiba intend to provide as a replacement which would resolve the whole issue.

by the way neee.....k I was simply explaining my understanding of the correct legal position to Cyclone's queries; I didnt recommend GF should take an aggressive stance which is unlikely to help get the resolution sought after.

You still cannot take somthing back after three months of problem free use and demand cash back / replacement. Once you have gone past the 14 day period you refered to earlier you have accepted the manufacturers t&c's, it's not only consumers that need protection its manufacturers aswell fromthis type of buyer attitude.

The customer isn't always right, they are usually just loud, ill educated and dangerously full of very innacurate information.

doesnt sound like goldenfleece falls in to RazorSharp's category of the customer not being right. They spent a fair chunk of money on that laptop and the supplier accepts that there is a serious problem.

a serious problem that will be solved by replacing the appropriate parts. If it's a known issue and the solution is to change the screen, then why should they provide a new unit?

I can't imagine that they will and taking them to court would probably result in loosing as a repair is not unreasonable.