Toshiba: You Can't Have Repair Manuals Because They're Copyrighted And You're Too Dumb To Fix A Computer

from the buy-elsewhere dept

Mon, Nov 12th 2012 9:28am — Mike Masnick

Many years ago, one of the absolute worst customer experiences I ever had concerned a Toshiba laptop that never worked properly -- which was followed by ridiculous and rude service. Eventually, using the famous Consumerist Executive Email Carpet Bomb process, I was able to get things sorted out (and, despite them asking me to sign an NDA, when I sent it back crossed out the exec called me and said it was fine and that I was allowed to talk about the situation). Since then, however, I've stayed away from Toshiba laptops entirely. But having had that experience, somehow it doesn't surprise me that, among the major laptop makers, Toshiba would be the one using copyright law to try to hide its service repair manuals (story found via Slashdot).

The situation involves an Australian site called Tim's Laptop Service Manuals, which provides exactly what it says it does. Well, until Toshiba's clueless lawyers got involved. Toshiba gave Tim a list of excuses for why he needed to take their service manuals down -- most of which made little sense. At the end of the list was basically "we hold the copyright and thus you need to take them down." Legally, they're probably right. But, this is just one of those cases where it's stupid to apply copyright law. It's not as though Toshiba needed copyright as the incentive to produce these manuals. No, the only reason to assert copyright here is to try to limit repairs to authorized dealers, which limits the usefulness of their products to the public. In a sane world, this would be a case of copyright misuse. But, when it comes to copyright, we don't live in a sane world.

The other excuses Toshiba gave are pretty silly and seem to revolve around the idea that ordinary Toshiba customers are complete morons who should never try to repair their own computer because it might blow up in their face or something. Tim's response is a good one, noting that none of the other major laptop makers seem to have this problem. So, either Toshiba makes crazy-dangerous laptops... or, they're just trying to protect dealer/repair shop revenue. It's likely the latter.

My place of employment puts a massive emphasis on health and safety in the workplace, a policy I am 100% in support of. Safety is an incredibly important issue, and I applaud Toshiba for taking it into consideration, but I think they are a little misguided. I have personally never been injured or visibly endangered by working on any kind of computer system, much less a consumer notebook computer. I have also never heard of anybody else being injured by working on one. While I do understand the drive behind any concern for safety, the reality is that there appears to be no risk to the well-being of myself or any of my readers by providing repair manuals free to download, and so I do not understand Toshiba’s cause for concern here.

It is worth noting that Dell, HP and Lenovo provide service manuals for all of their laptop computers for download, free of charge or registration or membership of any kind, on their various support websites, which would indicate that none of these companies share Toshiba’s concern in this regard. I would not seriously take this to mean that Toshiba laptops are inherently more dangerous to service than laptops of other brands, thus causing them to discourage unqualified persons from doing so, but drawing on my own knowledge and experience I cannot see what risk they are attempting to mitigate here.

In the end, it seems like this is the kind of thing some lawyer thought was a good idea... "because copyright." You get this with copyright maximalists sometimes, where they think that because a copyright exists, you must exclude people -- even if it makes little economic sense. While I'm already not interested in buying a Toshiba computer, it would seem that this little stunt should scare many others away from purchasing their laptops.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: australia, copyright, laptops, repair manual
Companies: toshiba

74 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Zakida Paul (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:29am

If copyright is their excuse for not providing a repair manual, what is their excuse for not providing start up disks?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lord Binky, 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:35am

But it was Copyright that made me do it! I couldn't say no...*sob*
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ima Fish (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:39am

A simple rule of thumb: Never fight over copyrights when you're not in the copyright business.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:47am

Re:
Becuase it's on a hidden logical drive in case of emergency*.

*NB: Emergency, in this case, is soemthing that only we at Toshiba know and you have to pay $1500 to find out.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Michael, 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:54am

Re:
At least grocery stores can still fight about it then.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That One Guy (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:55am

I dunno... considering one of their excuses is 'safety', and all those other companies provide repair manuals no problem, I'd probably lean towards assuming their products are so shoddy that they are indeed a danger for people to try and fix.

(I'm mostly joking here, but when a company goes out of it's way to hose their customers like this, they really don't deserve the benefit of the doubt)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zakida Paul (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:57am

Re: Re:
Yeah and the casual computer user has no idea how to access it or even create a restore disk. I am ok because I know what I'm doing but there are many people who don't. Plus, I shouldn't have to go to that bother.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Michael, 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:58am

Safety
"I cannot see what risk they are attempting to mitigate here"

Well...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Michael, 12 Nov 2012 @ 9:59am

Holy Cow!
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/british-man-impaled-by-laptop-42055

They ARE dangerous!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Vidiot (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:07am

Re: Holy Cow!
Only dangerous if you're USING it... not if you're REPAIRING it.

Plus, there's a black-box warning on page 3 of the repair manual that warns about injuries and denies culpability. (At least I'm GUESSING there is.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:07am

had laptops from Toshiba and other manufacturers. would not buy another Toshiba under any circumstances. the one-time experience of trying to use the utter crap they produce was enough. this type of ridiculous, arse-up reaction disinterests me from Toshiba products even more
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:08am

Maybe they fell for an internet hoax.

I remember a few years ago at a gaming forum some people started a hoax to fool a 13 member into thinking that another member died when their computer got a virus that caused the computer to explode.

Maybe Toshiba heard that rumor and their legal department decided to protect themselves from that fictional situation.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:09am

Correction, that should say '13 year old member'.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
G Thompson (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:15am

To make matters even weirder, under Australian Consumer laws (for Aussies anyway) stating that only an Authorised repairer can repair your product is actually an offence and liable to land the company with huge statutory fines - this law came about due to car manufacturers being complete morons about there warranties and only allowing 'authorised repairers' to service the vehicles.. A Big no no now!

As for the service manuals, there are multiple places to now get them, and I myself have a few of the Toshiba ones from PDF files.. Might upload them all over the place now just for the lols
[ link to this | view in thread ]
c3l3st0 (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:17am

excuse me!? service manuals are under copyright protection! please help me leaving this planet!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:24am

Re:
Maybe they skimped on the safeguards for the batteries, and now they're worried that they might have to issue a recall like they did in 2006[1].
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Michael, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:25am

Re:
"and I myself have a few of the Toshiba ones from PDF files"

You manual pirate! You are stealing something. I'm not sure what, but I'm sure it is putting money into the hands of organized crime and hurting children.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mason Wheeler, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:26am

Actual danger
There is one point of actual danger to be aware of: a fully-charged laptop battery contains about as much energy as a hand grenade, and people who are not aware of this have died from trying to open up laptop batteries before.

The rest of the system is probably pretty safe, though.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:37am

Re: Re: Re:
because of copyright!
We can't give you a disc, you might share it!
And if we are saving cents by not providing them that is good business practice.
Plus when the entire drive fails we can charge you magnitudes more to get replacements.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:42am

I read some of the comments on the site where this happened, the responses were scary.

- People are to stupid!
- Repair technicians have to sign NDA's and can't let these out there.
- It could lead to the collapse of the repair market, if just anyone could fix stuff.
- The files your offering could be edited to make them dangerous!
- They are available on the Toshiba site, you just have to click 14 different things in the perfect order and then you can get them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:43am

Re: Actual danger
Obligatory...
https://xkcd.com/651/
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zakida Paul (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:46am

Re:
Some people should be taken out to the woodshed and shot.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
roebling, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:47am

what goes around, comes around
Real reason Toshiba guards tech manuals? They don't want anyone selling them to the Russians!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
roebling, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:47am

what goes around, comes around
Real reason Toshiba guards tech manuals? They don't want anyone selling them to the Russians!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That One Guy (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:54am

Re: Actual danger
Excuse what could be a stupid question, but would not the best way to handle that problem be to print, on both sides of the battery, a huge freakin' warning not to attempt to open it?

As well, with a manual you could have an entire page devoted to nothing but a warning not to fiddle with the battery, leading to twice as much darwin award prevention.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Reality Check, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:55am

Statistics
87% of all PC repair related deaths are caused by Toshiba Computers.
Of those, 98% are suicides.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:56am

Re:
Maybe you could re-state that phrase... there are some agents here who'd like to speak with you...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Violated (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 11:06am

Acer
I have seen Acer do this as well. Service manuals are vital when you need to do a repair or upgrade and before I even buy a new laptop I like to find out the service manual so I can truly understand the laptop.

Acer though like to be very active in taking any distributed service manuals off-line only leaving the user guides alone.

I certainly agree that laptop disassembly is a process not for everyone when some people can cause more damage and even fail to understand how to reassemble the parts. For me though I have a history of assembling computers and their step by step guides are easy for follow.

The best part of Acer laptops is that they are designed to be easily assembled and upgraded when other manufacturers can make that impossible. It is just a shame their LCD bezels, or the area around them, tend to be weak as shit when they lack suitable reenforcement to handle daily opening and closing.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DCX2, 12 Nov 2012 @ 11:08am

Just fixed a Dell...
Just swapped out the backlight on a Dell laptop the other day. The service manuals being easily available are one of the biggest reasons I prefer Dell products.

Sure, they don't tell you how to disassemble an LCD to get at the backlight, but it got me most of the way there. And I've had to swap out the power connector and a fan on the same laptop before.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 11:12am

Toshibas have a tendency to overheat it seems
I've known five people over the last ten years with Toshiba laptops. All of them told me that they had regular overheating issues with Toshiba laptops. I'm talking about stock, off the shelf laptops with no user modifications. And those five people had everything from the cheapest laptop model available to a high-powered laptop that could handle current games fairly well.

I had classes with two of them. They'd bring their laptops (two different models--at least one was a Toshiba Satellite I remember) and a cooling pad with them to class, and even then, at least once every 2 or 3 weeks the one or both of the Toshiba laptops would overheat during the class period to the point of automatically shutting itself off.

I can't ever recommend anyone to buy Toshiba laptops after what I've seen from Toshiba owners. (All five of those people replaced their laptops with a different model within a year) Stick with Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus, etc. Just anything but Toshiba.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lord Binky, 12 Nov 2012 @ 11:21am

Re: Re: Holy Cow!
It's not the computer or even the repair-manual if it's on paper that is dangerous.

It is the Tormenter of Threads, the Harpoon of Hand-tools, the Twister of Torx, the infamous .... Simple Screwdriver.

That and you would be amazed how often people complain that there should have been a warning not to stick the tiny screws up their nose or to not swallow them. *sigh*
[ link to this | view in thread ]
skinny poppy (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 11:49am

Toshiba still makes laptops?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sean T Henry (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 11:52am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
That is the point where you buy a cheap yet better HD and load a linux distro then call it a day... or a computer.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 12:14pm

Why stop with service manuals? Why not bills of material, manufacturing data packages at every level of the supply chain, all test procedures, etc.? Sounds like sour grapes from one who should have known better than to distribute such materials without an OK from the manufacturer.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Violated (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 12:30pm

Re: Toshibas have a tendency to overheat it seems
Such people need to look under undervolting their laptop CPU.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PRMan, 12 Nov 2012 @ 12:34pm

Injuries
"I have personally never been injured or visibly endangered by working on any kind of computer system"

He clearly never worked on those cases with razor sharp edges. I used to have a bloody, bandaged hand every time I built a computer in those days.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 12:34pm

Re: Toshibas have a tendency to overheat it seems
See, I'm going to have to say that I've had nothing but the best experience with Toshiba laptops. Along with all the friends I have who switched to Toshiba from all the other manufacturers. Not a single problem whatsoever, and no overheating ever experienced. And I'm saying that from my own ownership and the experiences my friends have had, all of us buying Toshiba exclusively for over 5 years now.

And, due to the fact that I'm the IT person for my company, I've switched us from buying HP and Dell laptops to ONLY Toshiba laptops due to their reliability in my experience.

In point of fact, I've NEVER had a problem with a Toshiba laptop but have had nothing but problems with HP, Compaq, Dell, etc laptops since I first started buying laptops and working on them in general.

As for manuals and customer experience, Toshiba has gone above and beyond for me personally. Of course, YMMV (your mileage may vary).

But seriously, experiences differ. You and your friends have had overheating issues, at work I've had to recommend cooling pads for all the laptops made by every other vendor except Toshiba and ASUS. To each their own I say.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hephaestus (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 12:37pm

@Mike Masnick - I still have a Toshiba laptop, it has been it continuous use for almost ten years, I have never had a problem with it. It holds the door to my shop open.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 12:54pm

Re:
Most of the majors stopped providing install discs about 3-4 years ago. Instead they put on that program to burn your own discs which no one ever does despite the constant pop-up warnings telling them to and the fact that it's about a 3 click process.

So their drive fails or they get viruses and then it's the repair techs fault they never bothered to burn the god damn discs.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
qyiet (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 12:58pm

Re: Injuries
I got my share of cuts from sharp computer cases, but I can't say it was even close to every time.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 1:04pm

Re: Actual danger
Well, that seems like a perfect reason to make the manual which presumably warns against that available.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ldne, 12 Nov 2012 @ 1:31pm

Re: Re:
Ubuntu Live CD.
Corporate Stupidity Problem Solved.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ophelia Millais (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 1:40pm

Re: Re: Toshibas have a tendency to overheat it seems
Yeah, my Toshiba laptop didn't have an overheating problem...because it came with a firmware problem that caused the CPU to be "stuck" at its slowest setting! I wonder how many never realized their laptop was running slow. Affected models include M200, M15-S405, M35-S359, Qosmio F10 & F10, Tecra M1, SPM-30, probably more.

Toshiba never acknowledged the problem nor offered a fix for it publicly. Their low-level repair techs didn't know about it, and the phone support people just read from a script that, naturally, never acknowledged that Toshiba was shipping computers with crippled CPUs. But their upper-level repair techs knew about it and could use special software to change the settings to allow the CPU speed to change. Eventually this software made it into public notebook forums, where it was aggressively taken down by Toshiba, citing copyright and the other ridiculous excuses outlined by That Anonymous Coward, above.

After using the Toshiba CPU utility to get my system to dynamically adjust the CPU speed, guess what happened... overheating!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 1:41pm

Re: Re: Actual danger
I just looked at my laptop battery as well as my smartphone battery, and lo and behold: there's that exact warning! Along with the other important advice not to burn them.

I would venture to say that no manual is going to be of any use to the kind of person who ignores those warnings anyway.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ophelia Millais (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 1:41pm

Re: Injuries
You'd think they could make it with rounded corners and the like ... oh wait.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 1:41pm

Re:
I don't think they ever did. They make expensive doorstops.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 2:04pm

Re:
The instruction manual that came with my computer states that "recovery discs are not available". Funny, I had my local computer repair shop order me a set of recovery discs.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ross, 12 Nov 2012 @ 2:15pm

Re: Re:
Found it and didn't have to pay.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Richard Hack (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 2:17pm

Their real reason
is indeed revenue.

Back in the mid-80's, I was employed by an IBM Series 1 VAR (Value-Added Reseller). They were planning to become an IBM PC VAR, so they sent me to IBM PC Repair school (a week-long course on basic PC repair.) There I was told that PC repair was a profit center for any VAR.

So clearly Toshiba is greedier than those companies who release their manuals as they don't want independent PC techs and repair shops fixing their computers when their authorized dealers and the main company itself can profit from repair revenue.

I've noticed that Toshiba machines tend to be more expensive than others and with less support for some time. I'd never recommend a Toshiba laptop to a client. Go for Acer or Asus or Lenovo or Dell.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 3:42pm

Re: Re:
Or, you know, they get a computer without a burner. Odd, I know, but my brand new Toshiba has a DVD drive without CD writing capability. How am I supposed to burn those copies, again?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
btrussell (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 3:44pm

Re: Actual danger
"...a fully-charged laptop battery contains about as much energy as a hand grenade, and people who are not aware of this have died from trying to open up laptop batteries before."

I tried fixing my battery once. After tearing it apart and putting it back together again, several times, turned out it just needed to be charged.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 11:04pm

Re:
OMG :( I've been throwing them away for years now when I could have started a side business of selling door stoppers.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2012 @ 11:41pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
If it's Windows... the Factory's version of Windows won't be able to activate unless SLIC chips of corresponding vendor is detected. So in theory, feel free to circulate it.

(Much like the reason that Sun always offer free solaris verion of SunOS on their website. At that time they only charge for x86 version.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rekrul, 13 Nov 2012 @ 1:36am

Re: Acer
I was going to post about Acer! I found an Acer tower system in the trash, that looks brand new. The only thing wrong with it is that someone removed the hard drive before throwing it out. In the process they also removed the HD cage and left it loose inside the case. For the life of me, I can't figure out how it's supposed to attach to the chassis. I looked for a service manual, then contacted Acer. Not only was I told that service manuals were only available to Acer techs, they couldn't/wouldn't tell me how to re-attach the cage. Instead they suggested that I take it to a local computer shop and have them figure it out.

I then told them that I would never spend a single penny on anything produced by Acer.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2012 @ 2:00am

Re:
in australian law you have to be 'authorised' before you are allowed to fix anything that connects to the power or the phone line.

companies usually charge a fee for their service manuals because it cost them money to provide them.

trying to repair your own equipment without being qualified also voids any warantee.

also as anyone who has worked in the computer repair business, if you need a manual to fix a laptop, the problem is too severe and a replacement is probably necessary..

what components do you think you would be able to fix with or without a manual on a laptop ???

and if you need a manual to fix a laptop anyway, you do not have the skills to fix it, with or without the manual..

again, mike, another non-story..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2012 @ 2:04am

Re: Re: Actual danger
let me guess, you're not going to be in need of a service manual for awile !!!! LOL
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Paul Keating, 13 Nov 2012 @ 3:36am

dangerous laptops
" I have also never heard of anybody else being injured by working on one."

Not true. Thank God they have removed those cup holders. I was once seriously burned by a a laptop when I inadvertently clicked the clicker thing - the cup holder closed spilling my hot cup of McDonald's coffee.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2012 @ 3:40am

Re: Re:
You need to be a licensed sparky to do any power or phone cabling, yes, but since when do you need a license to actually build or fix a computer?

The availability of service manuals comes into it when you keep a laptop past its warranty date - and it's not a matter of needing it or not, unless you're some kind of superhuman repairer the proper manual will always make it easier and faster.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2012 @ 3:44am

Re: Re: Toshibas have a tendency to overheat it seems
With such a small sample size (everyone's going on the two or three laptops they've ever owned, and how long they lasted for them), experiences will vary wildly. Actual hardware failures aside, it comes down to end user support.

You say you've had excellent support from Toshiba - am I right in assuming this is for your business? I've seen companies bend over backwards to help a business customer while blithely ignoring the little guys, because who pays more money, right?

There are way more variables to the overall qualify of a laptop than "it's a Toshiba" or "it's an ASUS".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2012 @ 3:49am

Re:
Out of curiousity, can you reference the actual law that says that?

I don't think Toshiba actually say you're only allowed to get work done at an authorised repairer, only that only authorised repairers can have access to their manuals. In other industries, that might amount to the same thing, but geeks are resourceful and stuff and will try anything undocumented once.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2012 @ 4:10am

Re: Re: Re: Toshibas have a tendency to overheat it seems
"You say you've had excellent support from Toshiba - am I right in assuming this is for your business? I've seen companies bend over backwards to help a business customer while blithely ignoring the little guys, because who pays more money, right?"

No, it has nothing to do with my business. All the Toshibas I bought up until literally this past January were for personal use by myself, family and friends. Only this past January did I start buying for the company I work for, and I register them as personal laptops. Same as I always have.

But like I said, never had a bad experience with a Toshiba laptop. And I'm not basing that on the 2-3 I've personally owned but the 20+ or so my family/friends have owned (combined).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rick Hernandez, 13 Nov 2012 @ 8:40am

Toshiba Laptops
That's why I recommend Dell to my friends and family. Eventually they will ask me to repair it and I like that fact that I can get all the manuals and support for just about nothing. Parts are very easy to come by as well.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2012 @ 3:19pm

Re: Re:
I successfully burned those discs via the 3 click process, per instruction, only to find that they were corrupt when I took my computer to the repair tech. Which was just as well, because the tech said they probably had a ton of bloatware on them courtesy of the manufacturer and he was able to do a nice, clean install with his own discs.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Patrick Lynch, 19 Nov 2012 @ 8:53am

A much bigger problem in Medical Device Industry
As a biomedical engineer, I have been repairing medical equipment for 37 years. In the past 20 years, companies have decided that they can only make their enormous profits if they withhold service literature and password protect medical devices. We, in hospitals can repair these items for about $60.00 per hour (salary and overhead), but the manufacturers can charge as much as $800.00 per hour to do the same job. The only way they can thwart us is by not training us and not providing passwords or service manuals. It's a huge cost to healthcare, when we should be reducing costs. If service literature were not copyrighted, we could save healthcare at least $600,000,000 per year.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Toptone, 27 Nov 2012 @ 5:53pm

Toshiba is always the same stingy company it has always be.

In 1998 I found in a trashcan a cute 20yo portable cassette-recorder which looked like a gem. Problem is, it was faulty with burnt PCB tracks and dead caps.

I asked the UK subsidiary for a service manual (at Toshiba Italia they were and still are as nasty as they can be), just to get a stern denial: "confidential material reserved to the Service Centres". For a 1970 cassette recorder? Huge loss of profit, indeed...

So it's the same old story, covered with pathetic twaddle about 'copyright' and other prattle about 'safety'.

The truth is that they DON'T want their older products to be easily fixed, but rather chucked in the bin to sell you a new one.

In fact, in no way the famous Service Centres will repair your old gear at a decent price. Certainly not with Toshiba's outrageous spare part price lists.

Hence, do retaliate and don't buy Toshiba.

Full-stop.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
JC, 3 Mar 2013 @ 8:15pm

Re: Just fixed a Dell...
Fool.... you have the manual but all of the hardware breaks down. I would never buy a laptop that required three different repairs!! haha, "I always buy dell because it's easy to fix when it breaks down ALL the time!" Dell is Disposable Pc. Waste of money. You proved it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
belgam21, 9 May 2013 @ 9:36am

Asus manuals
Asus also regards their service manuals as intellectual property. It's super annoying cuz i have to use one that kinda resembles the right one.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jesus, 3 Nov 2013 @ 4:00am

Hi, I need the service manual of Toshiba-RT-8539, if someone has it, I would be grateful. thanks
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jeyaram Srinivasan, 13 Apr 2014 @ 7:56pm

Same here
I too have been facing severe problem with Toshiba laptop Model No : PT331G-01U00Y. I did a lot of research for longer battery service, light weight and maximum ram space. I also wonder, at times, whether buying a Norton internet security was a foolish idea. Toshiba and Norton have made my life miserable. I hate every minute I spend on my laptop. It kills my creativity and drains my positive energy.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2014 @ 5:10pm

hi it is so hard to repair then that it took me a week to figure out how to up grade them and replace the mother board.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Glenn Martin, 2 Aug 2014 @ 1:34am

Toshiba junk
I made the mistake of buying this Satellite junk. By the time I had it 2 weeks I contacted the USA site and told them that the hinge adjustments were too tight and it was twisting the case so much it was about to tear it apart and they replied there is no warrenty for abuse and if I wanted it repaired it would be $250 which is the minimum charge for repair and they do not sell parts. I waited about 2 more weeks and the case was cracking anf starting to break apart from being over stressed each time I raised the screen.I opened it up and found all the brass threaded nuts that were imbedded in the bottom of the case were ripped out of the case bottom. To make this shorter I lustened the hinge tention bolts to make it open easier and epoxyed it cack together. one year later the keyboard had 3 keys not working and I contacted them again and they said $250 for them to replace the keyboard and they do not sell parts. I had a keyboard replaced on an ASUS by a shop and it cost me $25 for parts and labor. This cannot be right as it takes about 30 seconds to remove the keyboard and anothe minute to install another one. So maybe someone here can tell me where to get a new Toshiba compatable keyboard?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
GetitFix, 28 Mar 2017 @ 11:23pm

Computer Repair
I'm going to have to say that I've had nothing but the best experience with Toshiba laptops. Along with all the friends I have who switched to Toshiba from all the other manufacturers.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Samrat Sen, 26 Jun 2017 @ 10:20pm

Praisal
The article title is quite true actually. <a href="http://supportnumbers.net/">supportnumbers</a> would be nice place to find alternate.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DJDarkGIft (profile), 7 Dec 2018 @ 9:28pm

Just When I Thought Apple Was Bad Enough
I've become more disgusted lately with all of these Fortune 500 companies that attempt to push their overly priced tech upon us, as they are trying to knock down the Right To Repair Movement and this evening just surpassed a new high, or more like low, trying to diagnose and repair my main Windows Laptop produced by you can only guess who, Toshiba. With a $16.00 keyboard found on Amazon, which in itself would be a 10 minute swap, something is keeping the unit from powering up and since Toshiba will not allow anyone to reprint or post their coveted "Copywritten" Service Docs online, found this article and just thought that I would put my three cents in the comments section.

Normally I wouldn't have purchased a Toshiba product, as they are mostly plastic garbage, like My Satellite C75D-A7114, but it was given to me as a gift from my father, so I enjoy using it when I can, or more like, was able to. I actually loaned it to my brother, as he's not tech savvy and didn't own his own computer, and managed to get some very sticky cola all over the keyboard, LOL. I did replace it once and it was working great till the OEM replacement I had started falling apart. I've since found a better designed replacement on Amazon and after putting it in, isn't powering up. Seeing I had to use 3M Double Sided tape affix the wrist rest back to the frame because all of the small cheap plastic connectors snapped when gingerly taking it apart, some of that aluminum or tin tape came up with the double sided stuff so I don't know if that might have had something to do with it. Go Figure Eh? Well, I guess I'll have to see what I can find online, although not too optimistic because Google loves to filter their results and give me tons of links with all of my search terms removed from the results.

What the hell is this world coming to? Between me giving up on Apple as a long time customer and some of the other crappy companies out there I need to find a better laptop manufacturer. Any Suggestions?

Hope you all are having a great evening/weekend and have a Happy & Safe Holiday Season.
[ link to this | view in thread ]