In article <FcWdnXcaSelv0-PfRVn-pg@comcast.com>, TideMan says...
> ...
> Web research (too late now) has found that there are a lot of problems with 
> the M35X system board. I had thought that Toshiba would really stand behind 
> this, but, sadly, they haven't. I'm very disappointed in what they've 
> (not)done so far.
> Is Toshiba repair support really this bad?

I'm using the same model, also acquired in Dec '04. Haven't had the 
problems you quoted, but that doesn't say a lot, does it? FYI, the fan 
won't run constantly (one of the things you quoted). It's that way on a 
whole lot of laptops, Toshiba or no. It comes on when it's needed then 
goes off again, by design. Saves battery power and noise; noise is a 
problem in meeting rooms with clients.

As to Toshiba's support, well, I learned my lesson a long, long time ago. 
Right after they got into the laptop game (seems to me it was the early to 
mid nineties). I had a key stick whenever I pressed it once. Let's just 
say it was the H key because I don't recall exactly. Touch it once, and it 
stayed pressed, filling the screen with H'es HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I called their support, explained the problem, and the first thing the rep 
said to me was something like, "Hmmm. It's doesn't do that on mine." It 
got worse after that, with them telling me I had to tap a key then release 
it, was I sure it was a Toshiba, did I really need to use that key, etc.

I've used Dell. It's much better quality. At a much higher price for the 
same features. What I discovered about 5 years ago was that Best Buy would 
give me a swap-out policy for an extra $150 or so over the base Toshiba 
price. Walk in, leave it with them for one week, and if it's still not 
fixed they give you another computer. I had to use it on the last 2 
Toshiba's I bought, but even with the added service contract it was still 
cheaper than Dell. I have the same coverage on my current M35X, but so 
far, it's not given me any problems (and I use it a lot, perhaps 6 hours a 
day).

I ran into this very problem with a laptop owned by the non-profit corp I 
volunteer for as Treasurer. It refused to boot (this was about a year ago) 
and I discovered there was a 3-6 month wait period for parts. All our 
financial data was churned and maintained on that laptop! I talked the 
board into selling the old one for $100, and buying a new one, this time 
with 3rd-party support plans. We've only needed to use the plan once, and 
that was a failing battery; we swapped it immediately at BestBuy for 
another and walked out the door with a working laptop. The battery was 
retailed at something like $85, which paid for almost have the support 
plan cost.

Some people have great things to say about Toshiba's support. I generally 
find they own a mainstream, high-selling, current model (not always true, 
but usually). Older models or lower-selling ones seem to be the stepchild 
of Toshiba's support. 

Separate contracts for support are my recommendation. At least 2 years, 
but probably no more than 3 (technology advances after 3 years doesn't 
warrant a large contract price for that length of time).

But then we have to ask, how does Toshiba stack up against other 
companies? Pretty good, actually. The whole industry is rather lacking in 
support for things like motherboards and external components. Try to get a 
new case for any laptop (like, maybe you dropped a brick on it and it 
cracked, but the compture still works). Or speaker screens. Or perhaps 
even a keyboard. They simply don't stock these things, and have to wait 
for new ones to be ordered and manufactured. Those already ordered or 
scheduled for manufacture are reserved to meet contractual delivery 
requirements to the retailers. So, in the long run, it depends upon what 
broke. CD Drive not working? No problem; a week later you should have one. 
New case? Forget it; live with a broken case (duct tape makes a wonderful 
badge of honor and makes clients rather sympathetic for you).

Frisco