2002 sony laptop dead - do i have a leg to stand on??

[Jut]

Hi guys
well this sucks big time
In may 2002 i spent £2000 on a viao grx316mp which was bought from PC world.not a problem untill the beginning of june 2003 where the bulb for the backlight packed up AND a ram stick died. i didnt think much of the ram it was the screen i was concerned about. well i was able to use the TV out to hook it up to my TV and use it as a secondary laptop for DVD's, music and the such with the intention of getting it repaired when i had the cash (but didnt because i refuse to pay sonys stupid price to tell me what i already know).
Well today the TV out died and i lost my display. even the flashing of the backlight for a few min has stopped totally AND a fan is sounding like its dead too

sooo basically 16 months after forking out £2000 i have a dead sony laptop. sure i have my new one to play on but thats beyond the point.

My question is do i have a leg to stand on with regards to getting this repaired or replaced by either sony or pc world? when refering to the trading standards website it says that the seller is responsible for the product for up to 6 years and must be sutible and durable for the purpose sold.
£2000 for a laptop too start dying after a year and totally pack up is well
comments? advice? opinions?

[Buzioid]

Wow, I haven't seen a laptop go dead so fast.
Did you take good care of it and keep it in good condition?
All of the laptops I have fixed/reconditioned have been very dirty.
You might be able to find a new light or invertor, it sounds like it might be the invertor because it was flashing. I don't know if you can replace the video out though, might need a new motherboard!

[A.K.Arkane]

I have a Sony viao GR370[bought for $1900 with warrenty]. have not had many problems with it. got a 3yr all parts/ labor warrety. have had it for about 14months. and I've gave it a good work out in that tme. mostly the video card. I've played SOF2, CS, NWN, and nore on it. so it might have been posable that you got a bad Viao form the start.

[Jut]

heyas,
Yea i took good care of it. it was mainly a desktop replacement and only left my desk a couple of times.
the only thing i can think of is that it over heated. the bottom used to heat up something chronic leading to it never becomming a "laptop". i thought that normal considering it was running on a P4 and i had heard other people comment on hot laptops. I was using it quite reguarly (thank god i backed up) but it was sold as a desktop replacement and not a 2 hours max use a day top.

[Beemer]

What kind of warrantee did you receive with it?

[Jut]

standard one year warrentee on top of the basic legal rights

[lushjack]

I feel your pain, dude.

Bought a Vaio PCG-GRV670 in April... two weeks ago the fan started running louder... but still running..., a week later my ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 64mb was fried. My receipt & warranty paperwork is buried in storage... i'm been eying the calendar alot the last couple days...



kind of a weird deal, windows is only recognizing it as having 32mb on the card... any serious game will cause rainbow inch-wide columns on the screen and a complete lockup... been wanting to open it up. anyone got any advice on that...?

[mytfastss]

Sounds like the Video card GPU is fried. Even on Desktops, The Video Cards GPU gets pretty hot (50-60C*) when playing graphic Intensive games. So Im thinking, Pushing a Laptops Video Card GPU to the Limit could kill it really fast. I have a Viao GRZ-610 and Used to play Unreal-Halflife- on it's ATi radeon 7500, but now I know better. Graphic Intensive games sould be left to the Desktop Units for this very reason (heat)...!!!

I would try checking the Power supply, and Memory for Issues.

Sorry about your Laptop, Hope you can get it fixed....

[muno]

The consumer protection agency would have a word or two to say about that in finland. It would never be left as the customers problem that an item should die within two years, as it's life expectancy is far longer - at least when the price is £2000 (whopping €2800).

[kieran]

legal minimum guarantee is two years in germany if i am correct.
sincer they introduced this in 2002, it may be eu-law which would mean you have the same rights in england.
The guarantee which the producer of the good gives, does not matter in that respect, they cant make it any shorter than those 24months.