Long story short:

Girlfriend's laptop was left on in a room that had smoke in it. Boots and runs fine for a few minutes, then shuts off. What do we do now to get it fixed?

Basically, she was using her laptop (Toshiba Satellite M45-S355) and a fire alarm went off in her dorm. She thought it was a drill, but it turned out to be an electrical fire (the one at ECU recently), and it filled her floor with smoke. When she was allowed back into the room, the computer was off, and everything had a dusty layer of soot on it.

ECU gave everyone a tiny amount of money to compensate, and offered to fix computers damaged by the smoke. My girl turned in the laptop, and they gave it back a few days later and said they fixed it. It did the same crap as before, turned off in 5 minutes or so after booting. Her dad complained to them, they basically told her to lie about the cause of the damage and send it off to Toshiba for repair. Assholes.

Now we're wondering where to take it. They bought it at Best Buy, but we're not sure how they'll approach servicing it (bad experiences with Best Buy in the past). ECU is out of the question because they don't know their asses from a hole in the ground (besides, after it's fixed, they're getting the bill goddamnit).

Any suggestions on what to do? I'm assuming it's a problem with the cooling systems in the laptop being clogged with soot, and the thing overheating and shutting down. Looking for the best plan for fixing it up, though.

I appreciate it, tech talk folks.

5/8/2006 4:56:21 PM

Ugh, soot's a bitch to clean out of something like a computer (espescially when it was from something like an electrical fire.) It's kind of sticky and tar-like so you can't just dust blast it out. The fans and heatsinks should probably just be replaced rather than cleaned (too many nooks to clean out to be worth it. Intrex might be able to do it (http://www.intrex.com) or just a local computer shop. It really depends on how easy it is to get to everything and how replaceable the fans and cooling is.

If she bought it at best buy she should try taking it there. I know you don't want to, but if it's under warranty that'll probably be cheapest. You shouldn't lie about what happened, but don't volunteer extra information nescessarily. Tell them what it does, and that you think it's not cooling properly. you'll probably have to call toshiba tech support first though and confirm this is actually indicitive of a cooling issue.

5/8/2006 5:06:48 PM

I'm not really seeing the problem here. If it's still under warranty, take it back to Best Buy and let them do their thing. Regardless of what you think of their ability to fix the computer, they are obligated to do so until it works properly again.

If it's not under warranty, take it to ECU and raise hell until they fix it/totally reimburse her for a new one. They've offered to fix it, let them.

I wouldn't bother trying to fix it yourself unless you are SURE you know what you're doing. All that will do is potentially void the warranty, and make matters worse than they already are.

5/8/2006 5:31:10 PM

Yeah, get warranty service when you can. Don't offer up extra info about WHY it might be having cooling problems, just that it is.

[Edited on May 8, 2006 at 5:47 PM. Reason : ]

5/8/2006 5:46:23 PM

I think there was some confusion as to whether the BB warranty will cover what happened, so we'll investigate that. Seems like the common sense answer, but I wasn't sure of BBs track record after the Geek Squad revamp.

BTW, ECU will be getting the bill at the end of all this. They tried raising hell with them, but ECU tried to get us to get our fraud on with Toshiba, and that's total bullshit.

Thanks for the words!

5/8/2006 5:51:16 PM

well I think if you read the agreement she signed with ECU housing, she'll probably see she agreed not to hold them liable for anything (even if it was their fault.) I know we basically waive all rights to hold university housing responsible for anything here at state. Them giving her any money may have been more than they were required to do. From reading the story, it seems that the money they were given wasn't meant to be compensation, but assistance for the inconvenience. It was done as a service, not compulsion.

Why are you going after ECU though and trying to make them pay for the repairs? It's a renter's responsibility to insure their belongings. It sounds like they were being rather nice even offering to fix the computers. That's way more than an appartment complex would do for you. Generally if you don't have renters' insurance, or renter's insurance isn't part of the lease, you're fucked.

[Edited on May 8, 2006 at 6:18 PM. Reason : ]

5/8/2006 6:04:21 PM

renter's insurance

5/8/2006 6:14:40 PM

as soon as i read Toshiba Satellite i knew you were screwed...

get anybody to fix it, authorized Toshiba place or something... and yea, bill ECU... if they don't pay up, sue in a civil court or something

5/8/2006 6:24:13 PM

Quote :

"and yea, bill ECU... if they don't pay up, sue in a civil court or something"

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-studentlife/campusliving/upload/0506contract.pdf

Quote :

" S. University Liability The University does not assume any obligation or liability for loss or damage to items of personal property that may occur in its buildings or on its grounds, prior to, during, or subsequent to the terms of this Contract. This includes, but is not limited to, damage, loss, fire, water damage, theft, and flooding. Students are urged to purchase renter’s insurance for protection against loss or property damage. No interruption of utility services, heating, or cooling shall be deemed as an eviction or disturbance of students’ use of the facilities or render the University liable for damages unless the university willfully refused to supply said services without cause or excuse. "

A lawsuit would be a waste of her time and money. If it's not obvious that the malfunction is a result of damage, best buy or toshiba will repair it. Don't pay a lawyer for something that no judge would even agree to hear, unless you have real evidence that the fire and damage was due to gross university (and not builder or student) neglegence.


[Edited on May 8, 2006 at 6:41 PM. Reason : ]

5/8/2006 6:34:23 PM

okie dokie.

5/8/2006 7:02:42 PM

Well damn Charybdisjim, looks like you've got it all squared away.

Thanks for the research, I owe you one.

5/8/2006 7:32:50 PM

The computer support that they offer for FREE at ECU for students does not include hardware repairs for any machines other than IBM's, Apples, and Dell (on occassions) and ONLY if they are under warranty. Simple things such as memory installations and hard drive swaps are no big deal but anything involving removing the case, internal parts, etc. would instantly void the warranty on all other laptops.

As far as charing ECU for the repair damage...good luck. If you don't have renters insurance and BB doesn't cover it then you aren't getting $$$ from anybody.

5/9/2006 9:01:54 AM