WARNING: Warranty invalid after memory upgrade

Just heard this from the Acer service centre. I the machine is opened to install extra memory then this WILL invalidate the warranty. It doesn't matter whether it is done at home or by the store. This is despite the fact that on Acer's OWN website they state that the machine has a free DIMM slot and that the memory can be upgraded to 1.5GB!!!

http://www.acer.co.uk/public/page9.do?s ... 2576484246

System memory

Single channel with onboard SDRAM and one soDIMM slot

DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM memory interface design

Onboard SDRAM: 512 MB

soDIMM slot: Supports 512 MB/1 GB soDIMMs for total system memory of up to 1.5 GB

(from thier website)

This seems to be to be totally incomprensible. However I have been unable to get through to anyone at Acer to find out whether this is a company wide policy and if so how they can justify this.

I am absolutely furious as they are wanting around 300 euros to repair the machine (which has absolutely nothing to do with the memory upgrade) which is of course the cost of a new Aspire One (not that I will be buying one). I am still hoping that Acer can resolve this. Otherwise I will get the machine back and try Macles' BIOS trick to see if that works. Failing this I have just bought a 300 euro brick.

 

i thought this is well-know?
anyway,
1. 1G, or even 512MB RAM, is more than enough for windows XP.
2. I don't see any seals on the machine, so you can always put original RAM back and I don't see how Acer know you have opened it yourself.

 

This is nothing new. The memory upgrade on these is not typical and should not be attempted by someone who does not know what they are doing. Its easy to damage the mainboard when doing the upgrade so I can totally understand, you should have put it back to OEM specs before sending it in.

 

Sorry, But I DO know what I am doing! I have worked in the electronics industry as a senior product developer in Euroe and SE Asia for around 30 years and there is absolutely no way that I damaged the motherboard or anyother compoment. Please be aware that Acer (YES!!) advertise the fact in their specs that the Aspire One has a free memory slot and can be upgraded to 1.5MB. Their specs quote:

System memory

Single channel with onboard SDRAM and one soDIMM slot

DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM memory interface design

Onboard SDRAM: 512 MB

soDIMM slot: Supports 512 MB/1 GB soDIMMs for total system memory of up to 1.5 GB

(verbatim from the specs on their website).

To my mind this implies at least that the memory is upgradeable!! There is absolutely nothing in the terms of their warranty that suggests that a memory upgrade would invalidate this. I will fight them if necessary on this.

 

It says it supports them, my Honda Civic Si supports a k20a engine from Japan but installing it voids my warranty. I am in IT, I was not implying that you do not know what you are doing rather I was looking at it from Acer's point of view. Dell voids the warranty if you install RAM into the slot under the keyboard on some units too, it is not brand specific. They did not make it user upgradeable.

 

I have read through the warrant several times. Nowhere does it state that upgrading the memory will automatically invalidate the warranty!

Why advertise the fact that the memory is upgradeable when you will automatically be penalised if you do this!!!

My gripe with Acer is that they took one look at this and decided that because it had extra RAM in it that they could avoid their warranty obligations even though the problem had absolutely nothing to do with the RAM installation. Also, their warranty does NOT exclude this (and it doesn't matter whether you didi it at home or had the store do it. Memory upgrades are not sanctioned. Period.

I could of course have made life a lot simpler for myself by taking the DRAM out before sending it in for repair. Naively I thought it better to take it in in the state before it died. TOo take out the memory might have risked dislodging some of the ribbon cables and without a system that would POST it would have been difficult to check that it was OK.

Anyway, I am hoping to get my ONE back and to try and fix it myself (following the advice of Macles).

 

This concerned me enough to call Acer support in the U.S. and inquire as to the specifics of the RAM/Hard Drive upgrade issue. The rep was very nice and told me her Supervisor indicated that RAM/Hard Drive upgrades would NOT invalidate the warranty. However, she did indicate that the original RAM stick and HD would have to be re-installed before sending the unit for service. Up to you how to interpret her comments, but I asked to have the conversation documented in my registration account just in case I needed support in the future. This has put me more at ease with the warranty. Hope it helps.

 

Thanks a lot for this information. My guess is that Acer are making this up as they go along. Probably they didn't even expect that there would be many users wanting to upgrade their memory (why else leave out a back opening?). Their warranty seems to be generic: ie the same as for all their laptops and therefore they don't have an exclusion on such upgrades. I am chasing it up this end and am trying to get some form of official repsonse.

It still mystifies me as to why they would advertise the possibility of upgrading and then want to exclude this from the warranty.

 

They sent me a replacement keyboard to install myself but another poster was denied the same service so who knows. If this think lasts me a year it will be worth it, honestly if I broke it I would buy another to replace it just because it has become a practical machine for me to use and is now my primary computer. :lol:

 

Acer's policy seems very arbitrary, to say the least. I will see if they can do anything. After having a couple of weeks to play withthe One before it broke I sure as anything need a Netbook. However I am not sure that I wiould rush out to buy another Aspire One. There seems to be some real hardware issues.

I will probably now wait untul one of the Japanese manufacurers (or possibly Del) has something available.

 

- extra slot supports 512MB/1G doesn't necessarily mean it's "END-USER upgradeable"
- different countries have different laws regarding warranty. In North America, manufacturers generally cannot void the warranty simply because you have the upgrade/repair done yourself or by 3rd party

 

Acer supposedly has a worldwide guarantee. The conditions should be the same everywhere (although local sales of goods laws can vary). Effectively advertising that the machine is upgradeable on their own website (also from the sites of countries where apparently the upgrade isn't permitted under warranty) seems to me to be absurd.

 

I will have to investigate this further, as I was informed on Friday by a member of PC World (UK Retailer) Staff that if they did the upgrade the Warranty would not be effected. I asked the direct question and I was informed that as they where Acer accredited/trained professionals it was OK. I also asked if this was the case if the unit was purchased from another retailer and then brought to them for upgrade. The answer was that it would be OK. They did however say that your average computer shop would not have the required qualifications to be able to do the RAM install and keep your warranty intact.
From what I have seen, you wouldn't want any old Tom, Dick or Harry stripping down your unit to install more RAM.

I will try to get confirmation in Writing or Email from DSG (PC World/Dixons Online/Currys Digital) to confirm their verbal warranty claims.

 

I finally got my ONE back from repair. As I had originally posted they refused to accept the Warranty because of a memory upgrade and wanted to charge roughly the cost of a new AA1 to fix it! I appealed this on the grounds:

a) that Acer advertise the fact that there is a spare slot and the memory is upgradeable to 1.5GB (when I told the support guy on the phone this he simply said that there was a communication problem within Acer and the marketing guys needed to get their act together!!).

b) there was nothing in the warranty forbidding an upgrade and it is common practice for users to be able to upgrade memory in laptops. That they made it difficult shouldn't be grounds for invalidating the warranty. The support guy said that I had removed a sticker during disassembly which would have warned that I would invalidate the warranty. This was a blatant lie as there was absolutely no sticker and I have never heard any mention of a sticker being present on this forum.

c) the UK support line not only said that the memory was upgradeable but that it wouldn't invalidate the warranty. He even gave me some instructions about how I should go about it! (This is also a bit weird as I certainly wouldn't have wanted to attempt this on the basis of a few instructions over the phone).

Anyway they reluctantly agreed to repair the machine under warranty and I got it back this morning.

They had apparently put a new motherboard in with BIOS version v3301 (the newest). They had also reformatted the SSD and reinstalled Linpus which I was not really happy about as it now means I have to reinstall Win/XP and all my applications all over again. Also, they took out the 1GB memory card which was sent back in a separate bag. First thing I did was to open the machine up and put back the memory card. Guess what? With the card in the machine would POST, boot or do anything! I took the card back to the shop where I had bought it (it had a 10 year warranty) and got a new card and the machine read that first time. So I figure that somehow Acer had killed the memory. Having watched typical service engineers before (sometimes they would come out on-site to do repairs) I have to say this doesn't really surprise me as these lads are often straight out of school and have had a minimum of training. Often they have no knowledge of e.g. ESD protection which in my opinion is essential if you are going to work on servicing microelectronics.

So, Acer will after all repair the ONE if it has had a memory upgrade but at least here in Holland only with the greatest reluctance.

 

Your average computer tech doesn't service microelectronics. They service blackbox modules and cards. And you are 99.99% safe if you ground yourself on the chassis, handle cards by the edges, don't run around on thick carpet in socks, and don't live in a very dry climate (moisture in the air reduces static build up). I have tried deliberately killing components with static, it is harder then the paranoid make it out to be.

 

I was thinking back about 7 years to an incident where I had problems with my work computer (not from Acer). We had a service agreement with the company to fix things on site. The lad that came out proceeded to the motherboard and everything else out of the laptiop, laying the bits down as he went along. No ESD protection and done on my desk. I went off to lunch and found a note to say that he had fixed it. 30 mins later the laptop died again. He came back the following day and did a further "fix". This time the computer lasted 2 or 3 hours but when it failed it took the hard drive with it (it was busy with some write operation when it cut out). At that point I told our IT manager I was going to have a new laptop from the other company that supplied us. I simply could not be without my PC for several days and did not want some spotty faced kid doing the service on it. It is the responsibility of these companies to ensure that service personnel are adequately trained and I'm afraid this often isn't the case. Acer aren't the only culprits by any means: most hardware manufacturers cut corners, which I guess isn't totally surprising since profit margins are very tight.

 

That is a good description of a computer that has been damaged by static charges. Quite often they do not break things right away but instead a static charge will weaken circuits cause failures or intermittent failures later.

 

And? ESD protection doesn't matter unless you have a massive ES build-up. All the ES wrist wraps and mats etc do is make sure you are grounded constantly, if you ground yourself to the computer case and handle boards properly you shouldn't have any problem. It was more likely your problem had to do with bad capacitors or a faulty power supply. Most PC components can deal with a +-10% voltage irregularities from the PSU, so most static discharges aren't even noticed.

 

ah, this is great news -- I've been wanting to try upgrading the memory but was never sure if it would void the warranty cause, as many people here have said, nothing in the warranty terms (or anywhere on their website) really mentions anything that would pertain to this. Too bad doing the internal bluetooth mod would surely void it, haha

 

That is a dangerous statement. ESD can and is subject to so many variables like weather, environment and body chemistry. There is also the consideration of where you may discharge the ESD within the circuit and what path is available for the discharge. Then there is the concern as to how often a circuit has been weakened by ESD as each subsequent discharge weakens it more until it finally fails.