What is a reasonable life span for a laptop?

vicks276

My OH's mum bought him a Fujitsu Siemens laptop from Comet just over 12 months ago. He was just using it when it switched itself off, and now it won't come back on. The lights on the bottom of the keyboard light up, and the screen comes on but it won't boot up. And surprise surprise, it's just out of warranty. Anyone have any ideas?

Vicks xx

BillScarab

Nope, do you get any error message at all on the screen?

At work the lifetime of a laptop is 3 years but then they do get heavily used.

phildamb

vicks276 wrote: »

My OH's mum bought him a Fujitsu Siemens laptop from Comet just over 12 months ago. He was just using it when it switched itself off, and now it won't come back on. The lights on the bottom of the keyboard light up, and the screen comes on but it won't boot up. And surprise surprise, it's just out of warranty. Anyone have any ideas?

Vicks xx

Do you get any display or beeping at all? When you say the screen comes on do you mean the back light or an actual graphics display? Has the laptop been dropped or does it have any markings to show any impacts or damage on it?

Also the life of a lapto varies significantly. some can last upto or over 5 years some may not last even 1 year of use. Work laptops are seperate from this as they are usually on lease so you wouldnt see their natural life span. I've had my Acer laptop for 6 1/2 years now with no problems.

vicks276

The backlight comes on but stays black if you know what I mean. No display at all, and no beeping. There seems to be a whirring noise, like it is trying to boot up, but nothing else. The laptop is pristine never been dropped, knocked or damaged in any way so i've no idea what it may be.

phildamb

vicks276 wrote: »

The backlight comes on but stays black if you know what I mean. No display at all, and no beeping. There seems to be a whirring noise, like it is trying to boot up, but nothing else. The laptop is pristine never been dropped, knocked or damaged in any way so i've no idea what it may be.

Ok so if you have no display at all that means that you cant really do much with it. Only tests you can do are involving the battery such as booting up without the battery in but connected to the AC adpator. But it sounds more likely that the motherboard has failed or some near component such as the ram. Comet are usually fairly good you may be able to at least get a repair done cheaply via them. I dont think the warranty will cover it even if it is only 13 months. A reasonable amount of time can be very debatable. Depending on usage 13 months may be reasonable in the eyes of the manufacturer. All you can do is make contact and see what you can get out of them.

LittleJo

Hi,
Having been along this track recently, this may be the way forward:
Start your conversation like this;
I depend for my Consumer rights, upon the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended, I am guided and advised by Trading standards. The case reference is nnnnnn.
They are so pleasant and reasonable then.
If you look carefully at warranty it states clearly that it is in addition to your consumer rights.
That provides up to 6 years warranty.
Trading standards are very helpful and knowledgeable.
Jo

BillTrac

If it is at all possible connect an external monitor to the monitor output. I had a Fujitsu do the same dark screen.At least you may be able to see any codes/error notifications. It could even be something as stupid as a re-install needed, depending on the display.

My problem turned out to be the small pcb which basically controls the lighting of the screen.

I could have got one off of ebay for about £40 but as the laptop was about 4 years old I decided that a replacement was easier. But for a 12 month old laptop I would do as Littlejo says and see if something can be done that way

ps. another tip I recall was getting a torch and shining it across the screen and see if anything is displayed.

good luck

Bill

vicks276

Thank you all for your advice. It seems that it might have been a hiccup, as it appears to be working now. I will keep my eye on it though.

Thanks again x

LittleJo

Hi,
Make a note of all that happened, always useful if the worse comes to the worst.
Jo