New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

8790 not half as bad as the Repair Co.

post #1 of 27
1/10/06 at 2:07pm
Thread Starter 
Hi.

I havn't posted here in a very long time because my Sager 8790 has, until recently worked exceptionally well.

About 3 months ago, I noticed the screen was flickering. It would basically change brightness levels ranging from Ultra high to very dim. (Imagine an old black and white movie on a crappy projector.)

When I ordered my laptop, I bought the additional 3 year warranty. When my Laptop started flickering, oddly enough about 4 months after my 1 year warranty, I called the extended warranty co. And they called the repair co. (notice, the warranty co. is NOT the rapair co.)

In only 1 day I recieved my box and packaging instructions. I sent it far.. far.. away... to Illinoise.

I was given a website that I could follow the progress of my laptop repair. I was suprised when in less than a day it was fixed and sent back out.

About a week later I got my laptop back. Happy as a clam, I turned it on...


"No Hard drive detected or no Operating system installed."

It was a long night with Tech support. The BIOS didn't even see my hard drive. But when I opened the back, there is was. Better stilll, the screen now flickered worse than ever. After the Tech support guy didn't help, I removed the hard drive and installed the drive from an external USB microdrive I built out of a laptop HD. My Laptop detected that right away.

Hoping against hope that it was just a bad connection, I tried reseating my laptop HD back into place and guess what I found...

The hard drive had been installed upside down, and the IDE wire was only plugged in to half the pins.

This was the expert repairs that I sent my laptop to? Now that the hard drive was put back properly, it booted up right away, only the flickering was still an issue.

So what did I have to do? Send it to Micromedics Again!!

2 days later, a box arrived with packaging materials, and off it went for round 2.

A week later, I get the box back. Open it up and as the OS is booting up to my windows wallpaper, I start hearing an odd crackling sound comming from the lower right speaker. In the time it took me to open Windows Media player to test the speakers, and audible crackle and the smell of smoke was what I was greeted with. The Laptop was silent.

I called micromedics to explain what had just happened and was told that since I sent it in for a screen problem and this is a speaker problem, I would have to call my warranty co. and have them issue a new repair request. I tried to explain that: No-No-No, this incident happened less than 10 minutes after the UPS guy had dropped my newly repaired laptop, but I had to call the warranty co anyway.

So I did. And so I waited... and waited... after Christmas, I started wondering where my box was. I called my warranty co. A gentlemen looked up my info, took down my story again, and said I had to call micromedics with a particular code number. I had never done this before, but said, ok.. I did.

Micromedics tells me that they never got any information about another repair call for me, and they would send a box out to me. I implored the gentlemen on the line with me that this is now the third time I have been given shoddy reapair work and that for the love of God please!!!! Please!!! fix it right! He says, he'll put in a special note that this is the third trip back. (I started wondering, what If I had done that thr first time, would it have been fixed faster?)

The next day I got my box, and now a seasoned pro, packaged my laptop for round 3.

Befrore I called UPS for the pickup, I nelt down at the dining room table over my package, and prayed to Holy God that he would send this box to someone at Micromedics who knows just what the heck needs to be done. Someone who rather than trying to make a quota and push broken laptops off his desk, would see... hear... and know how this laptop can be fixed.

A few days ago, my laptop came back to me. This time, they didn't solder new parts to an already broken motherboard. They replaced the whole thing. Pretty much what should have been done at the get-go. I had to redo the OS, but it is finally working again. I'm slowly putting all my programs back on and am confident that my ordeal is over. For Now.

This is just a word of warning to anyone interested in dropping nearly 3K on a comptuer. BUY A WARRANTY. Even if the warranty co. sucks. Eventually you'll get what's comming to you.

Oh, and pray to God.

thanks
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 27
1/10/06 at 2:54pm
Which warranty did you have, btw? Phillips, Warrantech or someone else?

What a nightmare. I can only sit in amazement when I see people with situations like this.

You seem so calm... I'm about ready to fly out of my skin right now in regards to my situation
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 27
1/10/06 at 3:09pm
Thread Starter 
It's Warrantech.

But Warrantech employs a company called micromedics to actually fix the machine.

About my demeanor...

I've been so pre-occupied with 2 deadlines on 2 animation projects due at nearly the same time, that I would go home.. look at the newly returned laptop... list the problems... make the call... and send it back.

Maybe it's for the best that my work schedule nearly killed me the last 2 months. Otherwise I might be fired up about it.

It's best to be as patient as possible. Especially with situations that are beyond your control.

I asked Warrantech to send it elsewhere, and they said they can't.

I wrote a note stating that it was the second time that I had to send it in, and please make sure it works. They didnt'.

Like I said, it was the prayer over the laptop box.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 27
1/10/06 at 5:18pm
Fried...

Quote:
Originally Posted by cartoonmakerguy
It's best to be as patient as possible. Especially with situations that are beyond your control.
Sorry to hear about your 8790.... I think mine's the last of the dying breed.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 27
1/10/06 at 5:21pm

Great post Cartoonmakerguy

I called Warrentech last fall when my computer started to artifact badly. I was told to send my computer off to Ill. also, in their supplied box. Having read the warrenity card that was sent with my computer, I noticed that it states on the back of the booklet...Q. How do I obtain Service?..Answer,..Service is just a quick toll-free call away. Our experenced representatives will notify you of the nearest service center. You'll have access to more than 12,000 factory authorized service centers nationwide. Its that easy!.....I pointed this out to the Rep and he agreed that I could find a local repair shop to fix my computer..but the repair bill would have to be approved my them before the repair would be paid for. I am assuming that I would have to pay the repair shop myself and submit the bill to warrentech for reimbursment. Well , I did not do anything, but under clocked my machine and crossed my fingers. Luke from PC torque was an ass when I mentionened the 12000 repair shops and sager should replace these toasters. I guess I am lucky that I have 18 months left on Warrenty, if I need a repair in future... say a prayer for me. So if anyone calls warrentech, you can try to get them to pay for a repair by a closer more competent shop. on second thought..other repair shops would probably have a hard time finding parts from sager, They are not for sale on the open market. Micromedics might be are only source.. Thanks for letting me vent..I am not as cool under the colar as you are
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 27
1/10/06 at 5:48pm
Thread Starter 
The hardships and runarounds were rough. But it's been a few days now and my Sager seems to be back to its old frisky self again. I need to install a game to push it, all I've done so far is install the basics and burn a dvd.

With luck, I'll realize that my laptop is as fresh as the day I got it.

I noticed on another post that the price to replace the motherboard is 500 bucks. So if you payed for a warranty, and if memory serves, it was about 300 bucks, then Warrantech is doing a typical corporate move and trying to fix it the cheapest way possible. Then only after it's obvious that this just won't fly, they have to suck it up and put in the new motherboard.

Oh, and I never mentioned this, but my 60 Gig hard drive died about 4 months before this all started, and I swapped it out for a Seagate 80 Gig. Then called Toshiba and got an RMA. I turned the replaced HD into an external USB2 micro drive. It rocks.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 27
1/10/06 at 7:21pm
I bought a extra 2.5 harddrive and an enclousure. I have made a bootable clone and keep it updated so if my harddrive fails or I have to go thru what you went thru with your repair , I will be up and running in minutes. I am a pro now in swapping out the harddrive. Hope I never need it. starting out with a new drive and going thru the agony of installing things back to the way you had it, can take days. it can also take days off your life...unless your calm like you.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 27
1/11/06 at 2:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cartoonmakerguy
The hardships and runarounds were rough. But it's been a few days now and my Sager seems to be back to its old frisky self again. I need to install a game to push it, all I've done so far is install the basics and burn a dvd.

With luck, I'll realize that my laptop is as fresh as the day I got it.
Hopefully fresher then the day I got mine My poor baby started artificing within a week of receiving it.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 27
1/11/06 at 12:32pm
Thread Starter 

Update

Well,

I've loaded more programs in. And no screen flickering, my speakers still work, etc.

I think my Laptop is truely good to go.

I've gone through several catastophies with comptuers frying. And only the first one was what taught me to back everything important onto disks. So I'm a seasoned vet when it comes to rebuilds, upgrades, etc. I gave my laptop a new name, because its' not the computer it once was. I dubbed him Philip Fry. Because with all his good intensions, he eventually had to skrew up.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 27
1/12/06 at 3:01pm

8790 service troubles.

I have also had problems with Warrantech and their eastern repair shop. My problem was of course artifacting. After the terrible service from Warrantech I got my box and sent in the 8790. Over a month after I sent in the computer I got it back with the artifacting stopped, and a different bios, and different RAID drivers, and the screws holding the hard drives we missing, and the fire wire does not work and the DVD/cd burner only works part of the time. I installed new screws that hold the hard drives, and I am now scared to send it back to have the fire wire port repaired and fix the DVD. As I have said in other posts I will make the best of it for another six months and buy a Dell. I have had dell laptops before and they have stood behind them and their service has been good for me. I really hoped that the Sager would have been a good computer and they stood behind them, but after the artifacting issue that clearly should have been recalled, I do not trust them.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 27
1/12/06 at 7:24pm
I wonder if Warrantech employs baboons in their PC-repair facility. Hopefully Sager and the resellers are reading this article and taking notes.

Poor service= lost business.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 27
1/13/06 at 1:34am
Just to add to the misery-fest. i Had to send in my 5670 to Micromedics. Yup you guessed it not fixed. Called up Phillips and they said I had to send it back to Micromedics. I said nope I want a refund of the warranty. They said I had to go through PCTorque. I did and Phillips/PCT worked on it. After about 6 months of not hearing anything I Emailed PCT and the person that was working on the refund didn't work there anymore. Started over. Finally after almost a year (9-10 months) I finally got my warranty. Oh yeah I ended up paying for an upgrade out of pocket. Never again.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 27
2/2/06 at 5:26pm
I'm afraid I'm in a very similar boat. I sent in my laptop about 7 weeks ago and it is still at micromedics. There seems to be a ridiculously inefficient relationship between warrantech and micromedics. I'll be talking to the micromedics people and have them telling me that warrantech hasn't OK'd the repairs. I've had warrantech tell me that micromedics hasn't given them a quote. I've had warrantech tell me that micromedics gave them a quote but it was unclear what exactly had to be taken care of. I really am never going to buy a sager again simply because of the trouble I've had with the extended warranty people. I had a problem with my computer within the first 6 months and after sending it in to pctorque, they took complete care of me. I can't say enough about them. Unfortunately, the moment my warranty with them expired, I knew something bad was coming. So like I said, 7 weeks and nothing much, except that I have to pay 1500 dollar for the non-covered repairs or they won't repair anything (covered or not). They were so nice in letting me know that if I didn't want the repairs, they'd send the unit back to be for only 95 dollars! What a deal. I paid someone to hold onto my computer for 2 months.

I'm going to post separately about this, but does anyone know where I can get a replacement motherboard for the 8790? I'm just going to buy it and do the work myself. Once I get my computer back, I'm never sending it anywhere again.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 27
2/2/06 at 5:39pm
burn your house down and collect the insurance.....no really, i have stressed plenty over computers, vehicles, cancer and foot stink. we pay for insurance for a reason, not to make people rich.

the sqeaky wheel gets the grease.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 27
2/7/06 at 3:51am
I've had dealings with micromedics too. A while ago my 8790 just up and stopped working, in what I assumed was a power surge. Not panicing, since I had insurance that covered accidental damage, theft and the like, I called up Sareware (the company) and told them what had happened. They had their repair company (micromedics) send out the box, and I shipped them off my system. So, after about 2-3 weeks of unhelpful phone calls, they end up telling me that it was a system defect in the motherboard, and since it wasn't accidental damage, they couldn't do anything about it, and they actually answered "Basicly" to my question "So I'm just left with a two thousand dollar brick?"

So, after another 2 weeks, I got the system back, aparently they told UPS to NOT deliver the package, and have it only available for pickup at the UPS facility, and wanting a second opinion I RMA'd it with Sager. After 2 weeks of emails and not getting a single reply, I got an email simply saying, in horrible grammar. "One memory stick bad, when take out, computer work fine, want us replace broken stick?" This, after Micromedics ASSURED me that they took my system apart piece by piece four times.

I have the system back now, and it works just fine when the one bad stick is taken out, and I'm in the process of trying to get some memory that works, I've already tried two different sets and they haven't been compatible. Now I'm considering suing the insurance company for the cost of having Sager look at the system, all in all about $120 bucks. Another thing that seemed fishy is that they refused to send me the "Signed afidavit" stating what was wrong with the system.

Just my fifty-three cents,

-Vicviper
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 27
2/28/06 at 5:24pm
Add me to the list, I sent mine in to micro medics after bitching about the fact that I have onsite repair as an upgrade, to which the people at warrantech said "that is for desktops only" - Obviously they had no problem selling me the service when they took my money for it via PC Torque, but that's besides the point.

I had several annoying issues, my keyboard simply stopped working, my dvd combo drive was deteriorating (first it stopped burning dvdr's, then it stopped reading dvd's) I had a loose headphone jack, and of course our common problem, terrible artifacting. Even after severely underclocking the card and effectively reducing the performance and frame rate in game noticeably, it still artifacts after ten minutes of starting a 3d based game.

My machine was gone for about a week, and I just received it last night.

I power it on, and the fans come on, the lights and led's light up, but nothing.

After yelling several expletitives, I calmed down enough to think, at first I thought that the screen was damaged in transit, since the box did not say anything about the contents inside being fragile (it said fragile everywhere on the box I shipped it to them in) I then quickly figured out that wasn't the case when I hit numlock and no lights came on.

I pulled a keyboard out and plugged it in, still nothing.

I checked the switch on the display where the lid closes next to the power button, it wasn't stuck.

I pulled the battery, and tried the 10 second power cycle, I tried my back up battery, nothing, nothing, nothing.

My first thought was, "did they even turn the fing thing on after they allegedly replaced all of this stuff?"

My sheet says they "fixed/or replaced" the logic board, and the fan assembly.

It doesn't specify which of the two actually happened.

I do know the fans aren't new, so i'm assuming they were fixed.

So I grab the screwdriver, pull the keyboard out, unscrew the panel underneath it, and I find the display cord, is creased, twice before it connects. Now i'm knowledgeable about computers, but i'm far from an expert, will creases on the cables kill the connection?

Yet - That still does not explain why I'm not getting lights for caps lock and numlock on my machine, if so.

So I called micromedics this morning, and the tech was really nice, but I still question whether or not they have a QA department that checks our machines, since it's quite obvious that nobody bothered to power on my machine before sending it back to me surprise.. they're sending a box out.

I'm a gamer so I do use my 8790 for games, and when I bought it, I was travelling often. But I also use it for my work, and because it does not work right now, I am forced to use an inferior machine that was in storage at my office, which is just adding to my already high stress levels.

I have concluded that I will never again purchase a "high performance custom laptop" because these things are quite apparently prototypes that were sold as retail ready completed designs. And the jokes on me, because I spent $3,700 after everything was said and done for a poorly conceived machine with inadequate heatsinks and temporary solutions that allowed them to overclock the card far beyond it's capabilities and set it as the BIOS default.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 27
2/28/06 at 6:25pm
I'm with you. I have now spent 35 dollars to have my computer returned to me after ZERO repairs done. I now have a $3,500 dollar doorstop. I just purchased the Acer Travelmate 8204 for $2,500 and can't wait. It will absolutely smoke the 8790. I also bought a 179 dollar 3 year warranty...which by the way includes accidental damage.
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 27
3/6/06 at 3:07pm
Thread Starter 

Just a little Update:

Hey everyone... my tormented brothers and sister.

Thanks for joining in my frustration. I've had my laptop back and it's working steady...

except...

The speakers only work for the first sound it makes. Then the crackling starts. They even crackle when I set the sound to mute.

My headphone jack still works, so I'm not going to send it in until somthing worse happens. Or when it's nearing the last year of warranty.

In any case, I'm not going to buy another Sager. I'm looking into a tablet PC instead. Something lighter and more mobile.

http://shop.5click.com/evstore/product.cfm?productID=88

Anyone know anything about this one?
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 27
3/7/06 at 4:14pm

Update

They received my machine and the micro medics site says they have "completed diagnostics" the person I talked to stated that the problem was the logic board.. :

Now mind you, I have been assured verbally that when I sent it in the first time they REPLACED the logic board, so she's telling me that a NEW logic board failed.

First off, as we all know, it can't be a new logic board, so what they might have done is sent it out to Sager to refurbish it, but - I doubt it.

So what the hell did they do? It's not like you can just run down to your local Fry's for this one.

I try and have patience with situations like this, but it's quite apparent that they either did some sort of patch job, or god forbid nothing at all, and just sent it back.

I don't honestly think they did nothing at all however, because the one thing that I can see for sure that was fixed when I had it, was the headphone jack, testing any of the other things they fixed would have required my machine to boot..

Warrantech and micro medics are both starting to really piss me off, when I first called in for a repair the "tech" at Warrantech (what the hell do they need techs for if they don't even fix our laptops themselves) tried to shaft me on the Warranty because I get this.. told him I flashed the BIOS for the fan fix.. what a
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 27
3/20/06 at 8:42pm
Ok, so under the warranty contract they can take our motherboards and send them to Sager in exchange for a refurbished one from Sager.

That is what they did.

I just received my machine back again today, and guess what.

Same problem. Logic board is dead.

Unbelievable, this will be the 3rd time I've sent in this thing.

At least my laptop worked before I started sending it in for "repairs"
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home