MSI 1039 back lid CRACKED - warranty? Please help

I purchased an MSI-1039 from leadcomp.com in June of '06, and it's been great, except in the last 2 months the back lid developed cracks above both hinges and is getting worse each day.

I called and hassled leadcomp, but even with my 1 year parts warranty and lifetime labor warranty they say they can do nothing and that it is MSI's responsibility to replace/repair the problem.

I'm pissed. Here are pictures: http://pictures.chadjohnson.ath.cx/msi/. I'm a college student, and I spent $1515, and no more than 6 months later the thing crapping out on me.

I've put silicon gel over the crack, but as you can see the lid is separating, and it's pretty bad when the lid is closed.

From your experience, is MSI good about warrantying things like this, or am I going to have to continually harrass them or even put up a hate web site to get this fixed? Or should leadcomp be responsible (I spoke with the general manager and they simply refused...)?

 

I've heard good things about their RMA Dept. I had contacted their tech support twice and they were helpful

 

Okay, sounds good. I will continue waiting for their response and hope for the best.

Anybody else had any negative experiences with MSI?



BTW, I've babied the laptop, and I think the lid was put on too tightly.

 

Your reseller is incorrect, it is their responsibility to arrange an rma through msi for you. This is how all barebone notebooks are warrantied, it is not MSI that is causing the issue but your reseller.

If they will not help you with this issue contact us and we may be able to arrange the rma for you.................

 

Noclue4uhere: that sounds awesome. I will definitely do that if necessary.

Last night I decided to open the lid up very carefully to see if something was loose. I found that a part of the LCD metal mount was completely severed from the hinge, causing the thing to crack like it did.

The hinge was also VERY tight, so I loosened that with a metric wrench. It's still cracked. I've glued a piece of sheet metal onto the lid for now, but because of the tightness I still think they should replace the lid.

 

Until you get an answer i would not tamper or try any repairs temporary or permanent. This may prevent the warranty from being honored, let us know what happens or if you need any help.

 

Hey I finally was able to get in touch with MSI, and they gave me an RMA. I was not very nice when I left a message (I feel bad now...) but they're working with me to fix the computer. I actually opened the lid last night to see if I could loosen the hinges (like a stupid idiot), and I could not get it back together. I call them back and they said to just send it in and they'd assess the situation and let me know how much it will cost if anything.

Thanks for you all's help!

 

EXACT same problem, my picture even looks the same as yours (for the msi-1039). I sent it back for my left hinge, they replaced it but about 2 months later now the right hinge is starting to have issues. I even bought a full protective laptop case just because of the last incident.

Hopefully this will be completely resolved soon....

 

Hi again! Thought I'd let you all know what happened.

I sent the laptop into MSI and it was returned within 2 weeks. They called and said they were going to charge $130 for a new lid, but fortunately someone at home answered the phone instead and explained all the trouble I had had and how it would not have happened had the lid not have been of such poor design.

With that I did not hear back from them about any bill, and I received the laptop back - completely fixed and with a new lid - within a week after that call.

I leave the computer at home now and don't take it to work anymore - I haven't really closed the lid since

The lid still sucks, but other than that the computer is great. For helping me but being semi-unreasonable, I'd rate MSI at 3-1/2 stars.

 

They are replacing mine again for free. But I've also figured out truely why this keeps happening. The hinge screw on the inside (i've opened it and took a look) is far too tight, i had to use a wrench to turn it across the hinge joint. I'm going to write a note to them to tell them not to screw it in so tightly, thus possibly solving the repeated crack problem.

In any case, I think MSI wanted to make the hinge stiffer so that over time it would not flop around, but i think they've overkilled it.

 

I had the same problem for a 1034 after only 3 months. They would not fix without a reseller RMA and were very uncooperative. They would not sell me the lid itself. Once I got a reseller RMA, They charged me $30 to replace the lid and it took about 2 weeks.

 

Hey, Chad.
I'm glad I ran into this thread. I had a problem with my MSI 660 (which has a similar case to yours) and the retailer who sold it to me tried to get me to pay for the repairs. I finally convinced them to take it to their lab to check.
I'm waiting to hear back from them, and I have a strong suspicion they will try to charge me for the repair fo a design/manufacturing flaw.

It never occured to me to run a google search on this phenomenon, but I'm glad I did. Obviously this is a relatively common problem (at least not unheard of). It'll help back up my case.

 

LOL, im in the same place as you people, my MSI 1039 crack and I been trying to put it back together and it is not going so well. My warranty is over and I been trying to find parts for it to replace the LCD surround. So all I have to do is call them up and they could send me a replacement, for a cost of course?

My original post of this problem with pics:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=159536

 

Wow, I thought I was the only one that this happened to. I bought my MS-1039 back in July '06 and the right hand side hinge busted out on me, with the left hand side hinge having a crack along the back of it. This all happened ironically 2 days after the 1yr. warranty I had on it expired. Has anyone been able to order just the plastic frame for replacement from MSI? It's pretty much a no-brainer to replace.