Well, it came down to pure econimics. Keep working to try and figure out why or have someone else repair it. Not that I'm doughting another techs abilities because I'm not, it's more of "How much is this going to cost me"?
Toshiba (out of warranty);
"Nonrefundable Diagnostic" Fee $119.00 and $30.00 shipping/Handling fee.
"Minor Repair" $229.00 This includes replacing the touchpad, keyboard, CD/DVD, or Memory (Ram)
"Major Repair" $354.00 This includes repair or replacement of the LCD or Motherboard.
for me the total would be $503.00 Plus tax if they charge it.
Local Tech Support;
Diagnostic fee of $89.00
$354.00 for a Logic Board (motherboard) With issues like this were they are really hard to figure out, "normally" a business won't want to waste a techs time to "figure out" whats really wrong they will just replace the part,it's faster and cheaper in the long run for them and the customer.
Plus tax (9%)
Total $487.30 (ish)
So in the end I guess it was kinda a no brainer after almost 5 weeks of screwing around with this and adding up the costs and when I hit the battery soldered down issue it became clear that I was not going to fix this myself.
Online;
I looked at a lot of ads and web pages, made a lot of calls, asked a lot of anoing questions that sales staff could not answer because they don't know the products they sell or just don't care.
Finally I ran into a lady who cared about and knew her products, turns out she was a sales manager. She actuall got up out of her chair and went and checked a box for me.
I was able to purchase the excact same board I had! (HannStar J MV-4) All because someone cared enough to check for me she made a sale.
Compuvest Corp (
http://www.compuvest.com/)
Paid $150.52 including Shipping/Handling comes with a 180 day warranty.
The best price I found was eBay $115.00 plus $20 for S&H or $135.00.
All in All and interesting experience that I'd rather not repeat, but I did learn a few things through it.
Thanks for your suggestions and support
jonathan.
