Laptop Suddenly Stops Working (No Signs Of Life) While in Repair Shop

Claire1297

Last year I purchased a refurbished gaming laptop from Laptopsdirect.ie for both leisure and college work. The laptop was fantastic and I have had zero issues with it since purchase. I treated the thing like a baby, rarely bringing it anyway unless absolutly necessary and has not had so much as a light bang since purchase.
I decided last week to bring it in to a repair shop for dust removal as with these types of laptops dust can build up very quickly inside of them which could cause over heating and noisy fans.
The repair man siad that it was no problem and he would have it ready for me the following evening. He also siad he would replace the thermal paste on the CPU.
I recieved a call from him the following morning to tell me that the laptop was not turning on and none of the lights were turning on either while charging ( no signs of life). I was completely floored. He told me he would invistagate and would contact me after lunch.
When he did get back to me he siad he could see no signs of damage and that the system board may be faulty and there was nothing he could do. I'm still in shock over the whole thing.
My brother told me I should put my foot down and tell him I gave him a working laptop and I want a working laptop back. He siad he was far too quick too come to that conclusion that it was a faulty system board and suspects he damaged the motherboard while cleaning it.
I do not want to start making accusations with no evidence. What should I do? Do I have any rights here or am I covered in anyway?. I can not afford to replace this laptop right now and I need it for college next year. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
*Note:If this is the incorrect forum I apologise. I made this account specifically for this and will remove if not correct.

Darc19

A Lenovo by any chance?

Claire1297

Darc19 wrote: »

A Lenovo by any chance?

Its a Medion Erazer X6603.

GinSoaked

A mate owns a computer shop and this sort of scenario is the sort of thing they dread, sh!t like this does happen and its often no ones fault however I know my mate in similar situations gone to great lengths to repair or make good. Sometimes the user has to wait while a replacement motherboard is sourced but the customer always gets a working laptop back if it came in working.

Claire1297

GinSoaked wrote: »

A mate owns a computer shop and this sort of scenario is the sort of thing they dread, sh!t like this does happen and its often no ones fault however I know my mate in similar situations gone to great lengths to repair or make good. Sometimes the user has to wait while a replacement motherboard is sourced but the customer always gets a working laptop back if it came in working.

Thank you for that insight This is why I didnt want to jump to conclusions My brother was just stressed on my behalf as he knew how long I spent saving for it and didn't want me getting f'd over I've decided for now the best move is to take his word for it and contact laptopsdirect that the item is faulty Its out of warranty but after some research I've found if a item is faulty and doesnt last a reasonable length of time(usually dictated by the cost) under the Sales of Goods Act I am entitled to a form of redress (Gone full Karen mode with this haha) If they take it back for repair and find it is damaged I'll go from there I've checked the cost of the motherboard on Medion and if I had to pay replace it myself it would not be worth it

colm_mcm

Novice question: why would he proactively replace thermal paste unless there was an overheating issue?

GinSoaked

colm_mcm wrote: »

Novice question: why would he proactively replace thermal paste unless there was an overheating issue?

Probably a bit of bullsh!t so it sounded like he was doing something.

A gentle blow out with an air gun or canned air is probably all it needed. I say gentle because its easy to spin any fan up to very high speeds if you just fire air at and I've never thought that did the fan any good.

Tow

GinSoaked wrote: »

Probably a bit of bullsh!t so it sounded like he was doing something.

A gentle blow out with an air gun or canned air is probably all it needed. I say gentle because its easy to spin any fan up to very high speeds if you just fire air at and I've never thought that did the fan any good.

The fan should not be allowed to spin (fast) when blown with air. The fan its self will probably be OK, but it generates voltage which in turn can damage the computer.

GinSoaked

Tow wrote: »

The fan should not be allowed to spin (fast) when blown with air. The fan its self will probably be OK, but it generates voltage which in turn can damage the computer.

Never actually thought of that but I have seen some fans spun up so fast with compressed air that they never worked properly afterwards.

Darc19

A quick Google search will show that plenty of people have similar issues with that laptop.

I'd be contacting the place you bought it from for a repair

Claire1297

colm_mcm wrote: »

Novice question: why would he proactively replace thermal paste unless there was an overheating issue?

I'm wondering that myself It was ignorance on my own part to not question why he would do that I never told him there was an overheating issue Its only after speaking to other people that I realise now how unnecessary and risky it was He is claiming though all this occured before he even began work on the laptop though

Claire1297

Darc19 wrote: »

A quick Google search will show that plenty of people have similar issues with that laptop.

I'd be contacting the place you bought it from for a repair

Thats what I've decided to do I've sent them an email about the issue and I'm waiting for their response

Claire1297

GinSoaked wrote: »

Probably a bit of bullsh!t so it sounded like he was doing something.

A gentle blow out with an air gun or canned air is probably all it needed. I say gentle because its easy to spin any fan up to very high speeds if you just fire air at and I've never thought that did the fan any good.

I'd say you may be right about that or just an excuse to charge me more Only realising now it was completely unnecessary I still have a lot to learn clearly

colm_mcm

Claire1297 wrote: »

I'm wondering that myself It was ignorance on my own part to not question why he would do that I never told him there was an overheating issue Its only after speaking to other people that I realise now how unnecessary and risky it was He is claiming though all this occured before he even began work on the laptop though

Go in there, get him to open laptop, if no dust inside, he’s already been in there.

You’d have to assume if he found the laptop wasn’t working that he wouldn’t commence any work.

OP If at all possible go into shop with somebody else
friend / sibling / classmate.

Know from experience this is easier said than done.