Motherboard probelms

[isuk]

Hi, I recently sent my Acer travelmate 800 off for repair as the LAN had stopped working (amongst several other things including keyboard, mouse buttons, battery life, and screen colour being washed out - I could go on...). Its only 18 months old and in every other way a superb piece of kit fo rmobile profesisonals, except for its durability. However, the quote I have received back is for £525 plus labour plus VAT for a replacing the motherboard.

The same probelm happened eight months ago when the computer was in warranty and they didnt replace the motherboard but got everythign workign again by replacing other things (not surprisingly at that price). They are now saying that there has been a circuitry problme wiht the LAN which requires a full MB replacement. Am I being taken to the cleaners here?

In all honesty, I can live without a sharp screen and i can buy a cheaper battery elsewhere, but I do need the LAN as my wireless just isnt suitable for transferring big files across our office network. I am not a trained techie, more of an amateur, but could I replace the motherboard myself without damaging the rest of the stuff, since its not now in warranty, or are laptops like this one really rocket science?

The main thing I'm asking is, any advice on where to buy a cheaper motherboard (and preferably have it installed by a profesisoanl) that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg, plus how do I find out what type of MB I want? I have the part no: MB.T2506.002 but I suspect this is only refering to Acer's parts. All advice very welcome!

Thanks, ISUK

 

[muckshifter]

No, you are not being taken to the 'cleaners' but you do need to know what you're doing if you wish to "do-it-yourself", isn't 'labour' expansive these days ... You can buy a new Travelmate 3200 from Comet/Curries, or such, for £500 inc.

Did you search the forum? you'll find Acer problems abound here.

Oh, welcome to the forum.

 

[ChristopherP]

I was gonna say - is it not cheaper to buy one new?

Ours is an Acer, Turion 64, 512Mb, DVD-RW, 60Gb and that was £500 inc VAT!

 

[crazylegs]

Go buy your self a new laptop, cheaper for you in the long run and less hassle...


I certainly wouldn't pay that sort of money for a repair, when new ones are available for a tad more...

Christ for that sort of money it would be an insurance write-off as it would cost just too much to repair than replace with new...

 

[Ian]

If you want a cheap and dirty way of doing it, get a PCIMCI LAN card, or even a USB LAN device. That way you can bypass the onboard LAN for a few quid

 

[Anon_F]

on the cheap

I got given a Toshiba P2 233, with two HDD & a decent battery, after the previous owner had got fed up with it crashing all the time, Spent a weekend getting it working (replaced bad ram chip) and searched in micromart for a cheap modem & software.

I now have a laptop internet ready all for under £30. Works well with 98se, gets used to test software & used for exam work also use it a lot with MS-DOS based software.

 

[isuk]

Thanks guys, especially for the LAN suggestion which I will take up (prob write this one off from the business and assign it to the kids for homework). I got this laptop for £500 off retail price (£1400) buying it online anyway, so will do the same for my next version. I think I just have to accept that, with our level of work and travel, i will probbaly be looking at renewing my kit every couple of years now. As you say, it's so cheap anyway its hardly something to have sleepless nights about. I'm quite interested in the new dual processor technology ACER have brought out in the travelmates - anyone got experience of it yet?

Cheers, ISUK

 

[Me__2001]

i'd search the forum for acer, its definately worth reading