T61p & the Nvidia Problem...​...

Question

So I've been wanting a thinkpad for awhile now..... I finally purchased one on ebay yesterday; a  t61p... But, RIGHT after I paid for it, I started finding stuff out about the Nvidia failure problems.... and of course the one I got has a NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (& I thought I was getting one with a nicer gpu than the others I was considering in the same price range)........ This is such a disappointment. I was so excited about finally getting a thinkpad.. Do you think I should just resell it right away, and get one with a intel GPU instead??   I know that if I keep the one with the nvidia gpu, it will fail sooner or later, and I don't have the money to buy another one......  This one that I got, isn't under warranty as far as I know.. And Lenovo still isn't replacing them without warranties, right? ...I've heard of a few cases of them replacing some that weren't under warranty any longer, but that is rare from what I understand........Which isn't fair.. if one person gets a replacement, everyone should. 

Answer 1

To the Lenovo community:
I have a T61 with the nVidia quadro 140M graphics card.  Yesterday, I was surfing the internet when the screen suddenly froze and there was a tint of yellow.  I was not using the laptop's LCD display; I was using an external monitor.  Thinking that the laptop had froze, I powered the computer off and turned it back on.  
I noticed the splash screen was garbled and fuzzy.  After watching Vista load (the green bar that scrolls from left to right), there was no further image.  I powered off my laptop.  Thinking the VGA-out port was broken, I disconnected my laptop from my external monitor to see it that was the case.  However, when I turned my laptop back on, I could not even see the Thinkpad splash screen.  All I saw was a three inch bar of blue on the far left, a three inch bar of red in the middle, and lots of vertical lines flickering.  I suspected the graphics card was broken.
I called the Lenovo support center in Atlanta where the customer rep told me it was not the graphics card but instead that the LCD cable and display on the laptop was broken and needed to be repaired.  Since I was out of warranty, it would cost $750.  I told him that with that kind of money I could buy a new laptop...
I had a feeling that it was the graphics card and not the LCD cable and display.  I continued turning it on and off to see what would happen.  The native LCD display could not display anything, but via the VGA-out to my external monitor, I could see things.  The "best" result I could get was to get into the ThinkVantage Rescue and Discovery program (via the blue button during startup).  But even in this state the whole screen was riddled with blue patches.  Additionally, during startup, after the Thinkpad splash screen I would see the whole screen covered with strange symbols.  For instance, smiley faces, the male sign (circle and arrow), and "wv" all over the screen.
I now suspected the nVidia quadro 140M, with the overheating issue, was at fault.  Furthermore, I had read online (using another computer), board messages on this website about similar problems.
I turned the computer off and let it cool down overnight.  Sure enough, this morning, when I powered it back on, the display was normal.  This meant that it was not the LCD cable/display at fault. The native LCD display was normal, and the display on the external monitor was normal.  However, after 15 minutes, the screen freezes, the colors change, and then the display goes black and the computer restarts.
I called the Lenovo support center where the rep who took my call agreed that it was a graphics card problem.  However to fix it would be $570... I asked him if there was any other recourse because the graphics card did not break because of overuse, but failed from being poorly manufactured by nVidia. This is a problem that the company publicly acknowledged. I was informed that there was no other method to remedy the situation.
I am severely disappointed in the recent turn of events.  Aside from the graphics card, the T61 I own is perfectly fine and I do not want to abandon it.  Furthermore, I was disappointed that I was first told that it was a LCD cable/display problem when it clearly was not.  Have other members with this problem found a satisfying solution from Lenovo?  Is there anything else I can do to fix this issue?
Fortunately, my data is still fine, but I had chosen a Thinkpad for my most recent laptop because I had read that it was superior to other laptop brands (and thus, I did not elect to renew my warranty).  While in hindsight I would most certainly have extended my warranty, this recent experience has soured the reputation of Lenovo in my eyes.