[GTALUG] Repair & Replace

Wed Sep 13 17:39:27 EDT 2023

It's a Lenovo Legion T5-26AMRS, about a year and a half old; the CPU is 
an AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (8 cores) running around 3GHz, with 32GB of RAM.  
The graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 with 12GB onboard RAM.  
I bought a three-year warranty when I got it, so it's still eligible for 
repair.  Ignoring the CPU Fan Failure message so far hasn't caused any 
hiccups, which makes me distrust the message.  The fact that the CMOS 
started acting up exactly when the fans failed make me suspect an 
electrical problem on the motherboard.

I run Arch Linux; I wiped Windows off the machine as soon as I got it.  
Apart from the hardware troubles it runs well.  I run similar Arch 
setups on my other computers, too.  If I didn't have to look at a GUI 
ever I would be happy.

I run X because, well, I always have.  I'd be happy to switch to 
something else if someone gave me a reason to.  For nvidia I run the 
open-source drivers.  I am not a gamer (despite the setup); I work with 
highly complex and large graphics files, mostly high-resolution of 
medieval manuscripts, and so I don't need high framerates etc.

There seems to be a CLI tool called something like fwupdate that works 
at least on some ThinkPads.  It might work on the Legion tower, too, but 
then again it might not.  I bought this machine hoping for a 
long-lasting workhorse and it has given me far more trouble than my 
off-the-shelf computers where I matched the components by myself.  Such 
is life.

For repair/replacement, I need someone who can give me an official 
invoice, because I hope to be able to get the cost reimbursed, and the 
University of Toronto is, understandably, rather persnickety about the 
sorts of receipts it gets.

This being a "research tool" I *could* just throw it away and get a new 
one.  I think that's what lots of academics would do.  That offends me: 
the components are mostly good, and recycle/reuse is friendlier to the 
planet.  But having had it once not-really-fixed by Lenovo, at some 
effort, I don't know that I want to go down that road again rather than 
cutting out (what might be) the problem at its roots...

On 9/13/23 15:46, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> | From: Peter King via talk<talk at gtalug.org>
>
> | I have a Lenovo Legion T5 desktop (tower configuration) with Ryzen 9 cpu,
>
> Which processor?  That gives me an idea of its age.
>
> Which model of T5?  Lenovo type or model number or whatever they call it
> is fairly precise.
>
> | which has given me all sorts of trouble over the past year and a half; it's
> | already been sent back to Lenovo once after the power supply / motherboard
> | went completely dead, and in the months since it intermittently locks up when
> | I fire up X.
>
> Is it still under warranty?
>
> Is this a model that officially supports Linux?  Nevermind, I was thinking
> ThinkCentre.  I don't imagine Lenovo supports Linux on Legion.
>
> Lenovo usually makes available a "Hardware Maintenance Manual" that
> explains a lot of things.
>
> But then if you are reading Reddit, you are probably a few steps ahead.
>
> |  Well, just a few days ago with no warning it froze at boot with
> | the message 000135 that *all* of its internal fans had failed (!); a reboot
> | got that down to only the CPU fan failed; when I told it to ignore that the
> | computer finally booted up and runs sort of okay.
>
> If the CPU cooler fails, I imagine that the CPU will shut down.  I don't
> think modern desktop processors can run without a fan.
>
> |  By "sort of" I mean that
> | the CMOS memory seems wonky: it won't keep track of the date or time.
>
> That might be a matter of replacing the CMOS battery (normally a coin
> cell).  But they usually last longer than a warranty.
>
> |  Plus it
> | still sometimes locks up when I start X.
>
> Are you still using X?  What distro are you using?
>
> Perhaps you have an NVidia GPU and are running the proprietary driver.
> I'm the unhappy state of using X on my desktop for that reason.
>
> |  Google -- mostly Reddit -- tells me
> | that the fan problem is probably a BIOS/motherboard issue, apparently common
> | in this model after about a year.  Some people claim a BIOS update fixes it,
> | most people say it doesn't,
>
> My superstition is to update firmware.
>
> | and BIOS update for Lenovo products under Linux
> | are a pain.
>
> I don't know about Legion.  You probably have a Windows license.  Did you
> wipe it to install Linux?  (I always make my systems dual-boot.)
>
> It is often easier to get hardware support if you can run Windows for the
> duration of the support call.
>
> | I could send it back to Lenovo.  Again.
>
> That's what I would do if it is still under warranty.
>
> |  But I am inclined to just replace the
> | motherboard instead, to swap out the proprietary Lenovo 3716 MB for something
> | else.  According to Reddit again, the Gigabyte B550M is pretty much a drop-in
> | replacement, though you need to add a CPU fan.  I don't know how to verify
> | that it will work, though.
>
> I'm pretty sure that it is simpler to buy a complete new box, with a
> warranty.
>
> Skilled human time is fairly expensive (yours or a technician's).
>
> There are a lot of ways that this could go wrong.  For example: a
> proprietary Lenovo power supply might not power a different board.  A new
> power supply might not fit in the case.  Those are true of Lenovos that I
> have (I don't have Legions).
>
> | But more importantly: I am way too busy right now to do the replacement
> | myself.  So, does anyone have any recommendations for good reliable computer
> | repair work, someone or some company I can just take this to and tell them to
> | do it?  I am located in the Junction.  I used to use A2Z Computers, which was
> | great, but that business didn't make it through the pandemic.  I suppose I
> | could take it to Canada Computers or someplace like that, but I though their
> | work was only just adequate and priced high at that.
> |
> | Any common wisdom about who might be good for this job? Thanks!
>
> Random people on the list might be.
>
> People with store-fronts should be too expensive but they might not be.
>
> ---
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-- 
Peter King			 	peter.king at utoronto.ca
Department of Philosophy
170 St. George Street #521
The University of Toronto		   (416)-946-3170 ofc
Toronto, ON  M5R 2M8
        CANADA

http://individual.utoronto.ca/pking/

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