10 Nov 2018

Why is it so hard to find spare parts for Lenovo PCs

In late 2016, my old Dell PC decided to suddenly die on my in the middle of a project. I rushed out and totally unlike myself, I bought a cheap Lenovo PC. The Lenovo Ideacentre 300S 11ISH. It came with INTEL I5-6400 processor, 4GB DDR4 RAM which I upgraded to 8GB, 1TB SATA HDD (Not enough I know, but I have a huge backup storage), Intel HD GRAPHICS, Windows 10 HOME SL OS.



As compared to my old Dell PC, the PC had many disadvantages - only two RAM slot and so limited my ability to upgrade the memory and also only one monitor port. Of course, I could always buy new bigger RAM and use a VGA splitter cable but why should I have to go to all the trouble. On the bright side, the profile is quite small as compared to my old huge Dell PC.

To be fair, it was the best value for money based on the specs as compared to the Acer and HP PCs. It was not the fastest PC but it got my work done and was even able to run some of the memory heavy statistical software.

Middle of last year, the power button started to give me problems. In order to turn the pC, I would need to push the power button on the top right a couple of times before it would decide to start. After doing a bit of research on the net, I realised that this was a common issue with Lenovo PC. Maybe part of a planned planned obsolescence where their PCs start breaking down after a year or two. Eventually I ended breaking the button and I would need to use a pencil to press the tiny button inside. I realised that the external button was used to press the internal button but the contact had got worn out over time. I totally forgot that I had bought 1 year Lenovo On-site Warranty. Just realised it yesterday and that was money wasted.

Yesterday, my son took a screwdriver and pushed it inside the hole and broke the button. Now I cannot start the PC.

Did a search on the net and I could not find a replacement - not even on the Lenovo support site.

Today I went to the Digital Mall in Petaling Jaya, near my house to get a replacement cable. There are hundreds of shops selling all kind of electronic stuff and I thought I would be able to find the replacement cable. I thought wrong.

None of the shops could help me. A repair shop could not even find the cable online as well and they are professionals. I was even willing to get any compatible cable as I do not mind sticking it outside the PC case with superglue but No!

The Lenovo shop from where I had bought the PC was not helpful at all - though one guy did pull up my information in their database and gave me the name of the PC model.

One guy advised me to go to Imbi Plaza in KL.

Really frustrating - why is it so hard to buy a simple power button cable.

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