I am including a 1997 string of comments frustrated fujitsu laptop owners
posted in case it helps. Move ahead 7 years and many of their problems are
unresolved. I own a P-2040 and a P-1110 and have had some problems which I
could resolve.
Fujitsu now has 2 levels of service escalation, so the less serious problems
are handled quicker with telecom center help and the harder issues are moved
to the technical staff.
HERES THE BOTTOM LINE: Do Not install Norton Systemworks on a P1110 or
P1120. OK? Older versions of NSW crash the startup while more recent
versions just disable the touchscreen and sound manager. Also, ONLY
REINSTALL WINDOWS as a final resort. There are many solutions that are
easier. Also, if you do have to install windows on the P1110, it can only be
done with A) a specific PCMIA CDROM that isn't sold anymore or B) take the
Hard disk out of the P1110 and install it in a P2040 OR install it on a
regular PC desktop (with a special cable you can buy on ebay) BUT you will
have to write down all 43 files of the ATI screen video driver and rename
and place them in System32 folder. Where can you get them? on the fujitsu
support site. This will take hours and possibly days to arrange all the
supporting hardware, so just avoid it if you can. If you dont install the
ATI files by hand (the autoinstaller wont work on non-P1110 machines) then
it will also crash in the startup, right at the end (when the video drivers
are installed - last)
Fujitsu can be criticized for havng horrible customer service and none of
that has changed since these attached comments were written almost a decade
ago! However, the computer itself has been fantastic for my purposes -
lightweight travel computer. The touchscreen is unreal convenience and it is
light @ 2.2lbs and the battery is like 10 years ahead of it time (4-8 hours
for the big one on the P1110, 2-6 hours for the same battery on the P2040
with internal CDROM). For nearly no money, fujitsu could put up a
knowledgebase website so customers could exchange help to one another, but
they dont care.
The following comment is meant for fujitsu executives if you read about your
oiwn product: A turned-off customer wont come back and the fujitsu product
is meant for niche users. They are expensive and poorly serviced. Youve lost
thousands of sales due to the above and below problems. Still the sales of
fujitsu film and cameras carries the company, I doubt the laptop division
has made money cause you cant sell a commodity at a higher price with
horrible service for very long. I love the 2 laptops I have, but I wont buy
another one for many of these concerns. There are others options.
Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535 T.All 13 messages in
topic - view as tree
tsiglifis Nov 24 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops, milw.forsale.computers,
misc.comp.forsale, misc.computer.forsale, misc.computers.forsale,
misc.computers.forsale.pc-clone
From: "tsiglifis" <tsigli...@MCI2000.com> - Find messages by
this author
Date: 1997/11/24
Subject: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535 T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535 T.
Why? You would ask me.
The answer is their support.
Back in May 1997 I made the mistake of buying the Fujitsu 535T Laptop
via
mail order. Unfortunately no information was provided about the media
its
software came on. As it happens the specific computer came with the
option
of automatically installing either Windows 3.1 or Windows 95(OSR2) at
the
first session. The way they did this is through "images" of the
installation
disks in the computer. The process was quite fast and easy. But you
had to
copy the original installation disks for the operating system, the
drivers
and the Utilities diskettes using the Image program, 32 HD floppies in
all.
There was no Operating system CD or at least a Repair CD.
The Floppies were created and I was quite happy with my purchase until
problems started due to a few crashes while connected to a clients
network.
Since my knowledge about computers is amateurish at best, I had no
intention
to play with the registry or the system files to identify the problem.
Usually the easiest way is to start with a clean installation of the
operating system (Windows95 OSR2) and proceed from there.
Unfortunately some of the diskettes had developed bad sectors and that
was
no longer possible.
I called Fujitsu Support and ask them to send me the CD version of the
software. I also offered to send them the diskettes created by their
imaging
software and the WIN95 license. Their answer was that the COULD NOT do
that
and the gave me the following two options:
1. Buy the Windows 95 software from a store. Not practical since the
stores
do not sell the Win95 OSR2 version, which is supposed to be, sold by
Microsoft only direct to the OEM manufacturers.
2. Send my computer to them for "Reimaging", which will cost me
$250.00,
plus postal expenses.
As you can understand I am outraged since this is a service that other
Laptop owners receive from their manufacturers for free with their
computers
and wit no hassles.
Stay away from them
Regards,
Vassilios Tsiglifis
@...@assets.wharton.upenn.edu Nov 24 1997, 3:00 am show options
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From: @assets.wharton.upenn.edu () - Find messages by this
author
Date: 1997/11/24
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
On Mon, 24 Nov 1997 17:13:30 GMT; tsiglifis (tsigli...@MCI2000.com)
wrote:
:
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535 T.
: Why? You would ask me.
: The answer is their support.
: Back in May 1997 I made the mistake of buying the Fujitsu 535T
Laptop via
: mail order. Unfortunately no information was provided about the
media its
: software came on. As it happens the specific computer came with the
option
: of automatically installing either Windows 3.1 or Windows 95(OSR2)
at the
: first session. The way they did this is through "images" of the
installation
: disks in the computer. The process was quite fast and easy. But you
had to
: copy the original installation disks for the operating system, the
drivers
: and the Utilities diskettes using the Image program, 32 HD floppies
in all.
: There was no Operating system CD or at least a Repair CD.
: The Floppies were created and I was quite happy with my purchase
until
: problems started due to a few crashes while connected to a clients
network.
: Since my knowledge about computers is amateurish at best, I had no
intention
: to play with the registry or the system files to identify the
problem.
: Usually the easiest way is to start with a clean installation of the
: operating system (Windows95 OSR2) and proceed from there.
: Unfortunately some of the diskettes had developed bad sectors and
that was
: no longer possible.
: I called Fujitsu Support and ask them to send me the CD version of
the
: software. I also offered to send them the diskettes created by their
imaging
: software and the WIN95 license. Their answer was that the COULD NOT
do that
: and the gave me the following two options:
: 1. Buy the Windows 95 software from a store. Not practical since the
stores
: do not sell the Win95 OSR2 version, which is supposed to be, sold by
: Microsoft only direct to the OEM manufacturers.
: 2. Send my computer to them for "Reimaging", which will cost me
$250.00,
: plus postal expenses.
: As you can understand I am outraged since this is a service that
other
: Laptop owners receive from their manufacturers for free with their
computers
: and wit no hassles.
: Stay away from them
: Regards,
: Vassilios Tsiglifis
That's not good. Although retail Win95 has only 90 days support, you
might try calling Microsoft and explain your OEM dilemma. They
probably
won't help at all, but just start covering your bases one by one.
Win95 is highly vulnerable in installations, as you have found out.
One thing I did when fixing someone's installation was to learn and
love
a utility called ERU, from Microsoft, which makes about one floppy
Emergency Recovery Disk. As far as I can recall, this has saved many
installations for me which became corrupted when trying to install
plug
and pray software or hardware. Don't need the CD-ROM now at all.
Do not use under any circumstances the CFGBACK program, this is
defective
and may result in quite bad results. Maybe Microsoft has fixed it by
now
but when I last looked, there was a warning out on this slop.
It's perhaps possible to reinstall Win95. It may be best to just pay
any
real tech or consultant to reinstall OSR2. They can also show you
were to
obtain the extra OSR2 files as needed. Their cost should be about
what the
price of OSR2 would be, if it were available retail.
Thanks for the warning about Fujitsu. I gather you tried talking to a
supervisor? I know, it feels like Alice in Wonderland out here.
Oh, about floppies, if the data is critical, there is a difference
between
generic floppies, and let's say, floppies from Sony. The bad sectors
comes from lower manufacturing specifications, that is, less magnetism
retention capability. Sony, for example, has higher specs and thus
you
have more of a chance that data will be where it's supposed to be when
you
really need that backup.
There are floppy disk recovery utilities that can sometimes bring
floppies back to life, if there is still some life left. You might
want
to try one of these. I use an old, but solid form of Norton's floppy
disk
utilities which have saved me on occasion with bad floppies. You're
not
storing the floppies near a monitor, a motorized device, etc.?
--
To get back to me, put "sundor96" before the @ sign, thanks.
M&M Computers Nov 25 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops, milw.forsale.computers,
misc.comp.forsale, misc.computer.forsale, misc.computers.forsale,
misc.computers.forsale.pc-clone
From: m...@nospam.ptdprolog.net (M&M Computers) - Find messages
by this author
Date: 1997/11/25
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
Call Microsoft, they will replace your floppies without charge. They
may offer to send a CD instead. I've dealt with Microsoft on numerous
occassions.They are not the money hungry company most people think
they are. Their number one priority is to please their customers,
afterall, a happy customer will always come back and repurchase.
If you can't find their number, email me, I got it somewhere.
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
"tsiglifis" <tsigli...@MCI2000.com> wrote:
Chester Wong Nov 25 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: c...@columbia.edu (Chester Wong) - Find messages by this
author
Date: 1997/11/25
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
Or you can go with a real OS like WinNT.... Oh, but wait....some
laptops
don't support it...oh well, I'm here with my IBM TP560 w/72MB RAM
lovin'
it.
Chester
On 24 Nov 1997 19:17:48 GMT, @assets.wharton.upenn.edu () wrote:
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Walter A. Nov 25 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops, milw.forsale.computers,
misc.comp.forsale
From: wal...@NOSPAM.netrox.net (Walter A.) - Find messages by
this author
Date: 1997/11/25
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
I learned this long ago. The Japanese can make a quality product, but
they
suck at service. Try getting someone on the line to answer a question
about
your Walkman! In corporate Japan, the mindset is that once a product
is sold,
the user's on his own. Kind of goes along with their general lack of
concern
for the individual's needs and wants.
If it weren't for this, Japanese branded computers would probably be a
whole
lo more successful here in the States.
In article <$Aie.3478$os1.131...@news.int*ernetMCI.com>, "
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
tsiglifis"
<tsigli...@MCI2000.com> wrote:
Walter A. Nov 25 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops, milw.forsale.computers,
misc.comp.forsale
From: wal...@NOSPAM.netrox.net (Walter A.) - Find messages by
this author
Date: 1997/11/25
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
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original | Report Abuse
I have had such bad experiences with the reliability of floppy disks,
that I
avoid using them at all. I've had them go bad even after carefully
storing
them in special plastic cases well away from magnetic fields.
This comment about varying reliability among generic brands makes
sense. I've
never had an OEM floppy disk go bad. I'm sticking to top brand disks
from now
on.
In article <65cjss$h5...@netnews.upenn.ed*u>, @
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
assets.wharton.upenn.edu ()
wrote:
Walter Jowers Nov 25 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops, milw.forsale.computers,
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misc.computers.forsale.pc-clone
From: "Walter Jowers" <walter_jow...@msn.com> - Find messages by
this author
Date: 1997/11/25
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
It could be a whole other problem. When I made the restore disks for
my TI
TravelMate 5100, the disk copy failed. Later, I got a 5300, same thing
happened.
I went out and bought Win95 on disks. When I've had to use them,
neither TI
laptop would finish the load. As the drives heat up, loads fail. I
found I
could make it work only by putting an ice pack under the floppy drive.
Honest!
Summary: Could be your floppy drive doesn't work so swell.
Timo T Metsala Nov 25 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: Timo T Metsala <mets...@cc.helsinki.fi> - Find messages by
this author
Date: 1997/11/25
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
tsiglifis (tsigli...@MCI2000.com) wrote:
: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535 T.
: Why? You would
ask me.
: The answer is their support.
: Back in May 1997 I made the mistake of buying the Fujitsu 535T
Laptop via
: mail order. Unfortunately no information was provided about the
media its
: software came on. As it happens the specific computer came with the
option
: of automatically installing either Windows 3.1 or Windows 95(OSR2)
at the
: first session. The way they did this is through "images" of the
installation
..
: There was no Operating system CD or at least a Repair CD.
I bought Fujitsu Lifebook 735Dx a couple of days ago.
It had Win95, MS Works and some other stuff preinstalled
and two CDs were included: Win95 and MS Works. The "Other
Stuff" is propably only in hard disk. CD-ROM drive
is optional for this model - actually I don't have it
but I still got the disks. The machine is now running Linux
cause I don't care a much about win-software so I propably
wouldn't had problems even without those CDs.
Perhaps Fujitsu has changed their politics about software
media.
--
/* T.T. Metsala - student of comp sci at university of Helsinki,
Finland */
WWW URL: http://www.helsinki.fi/~metsal*a/
Todd Swierk Nov 25 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops, milw.forsale.computers,
misc.comp.forsale, misc.computer.forsale, misc.computers.forsale,
misc.computers.forsale.pc-clone
From: "Todd Swierk" <swi...@concentric.net> - Find messages by
this author
Date: 1997/11/25
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
I ordered my Fujitsu 535T last July ('97) via mailorder, and yes, on
the
first boot
up you get to choose which operating system you'd like to use (Win3.1
or
Win95
OSR2).
That's where our stories differ -- my system came with an "Emergency
recovery
CD" (Fujitsu part no. FPC46-0042-01) and the Win95 OSR2 CD-ROM (among
other software). This all included the appropriate documents and
Microsoft
certificates for Win95 + Microsoft Works. This is the way that all of
the
Fujitsu
laptops that I priced before buying my 535t were packaged (I looked
into
this
starting around April, took my time before buying). I've had no
problems
with
my version of Win95, I've even reformatted my drive to use FAT32 and
survived
the Internet Explorer 4.0 upgrade (including the active desktop).
My experience with the Fujitsu tech support is that they are quick to
get a
hold
of (never waited more than 5 mins on 6 calls), responsive and helpful
with
my
questions, and called me back when they said they would with info that
required
more than front-line support could help with.
Perhaps you should be questioning your mail order company as to why
you
haven't received the CD-ROMs? Your unit wasn't a refurb, was it? By
the
way,
with the emergency recovery CD, you can do the "reimaging" of your
hard
drive
to the state it was when you bought it. Heck, you can even
selectively
restore
directories with the CD. Perhaps Fujitsu would be able to offer you
the
CD-ROM
for you machine if you requested it nicely.
So far I love my machine, the only complaint that I've had with it is
its
battery life.
I've installed lots of software and hardware (including several PCMCIA
devices
and parallel/serial port devices) with no problems at all. I couldn't
have
asked
for more for the price IMHO. The newest 535tx machines seem to be
following
the same trend (w/better battery life I hear, doh!, I should have
waited one
more
month). :^)
Todd Swierk
swi...@concentric.net
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
tsiglifis wrote in message
<$Aie.3478$os1.131...@news.int*ernetMCI.com>...
Dan Blumenfeld Nov 26 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: d...@coos.Dartmouth.EDU (Dan Blumenfeld) - Find messages
by this author
Date: 1997/11/26
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse
Chester Wong (c...@columbia.edu) wrote:
:
Or you can go with a real OS like WinNT.... Oh, but wait....some
laptops
: don't support it...oh well, I'm here with my IBM TP560 w/72MB RAM
lovin'
: it.
:
: Chester
It is interesting that you should mention that. Last summer, Fujitsu
listed
NT configurations on several of their spec sheets (at least on their
website).
Several months later, all references to NT on the on-line spec sheets
had
disappeared.
I sent email to Fujitsu customer support asking them about this, and
here's
the response that I received:
"The NT issue is still under consideration; we will make a formal
announcement when we have a definite answer."
Oh well...
As an aside, a friend of mine recently purchased a Fujitsu LifeBook
5xx
series, and there was no W95 CD-ROM enclosed in the box. However,
there
were CD-ROMs for AOL and CompuServe... I guess those were his
consolation
prizes.
- Dan
Daniel J. Blumenfeld MD | Dartmouth Medical School |
d...@dartmouth.edu
LoganNeves Nov 26 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: LoganNeves <loganne...@cyberdude.com> - Find messages by
this author
Date: 1997/11/26
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
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original | Report Abuse
I was at Com-Dex all last week and there were two Fujitsu Notebook in
the
Microsoft booth run Windows NT and all the Notebooks at the Fujitsu
booth now have
a Windows NT Logo sticker on the LCD frame.
As for the Windows 95 Question of the CD many computer manufacturers
are not
sending an actual Windows 95 CD, but are sending some sort of recovery
CD instead.
I own an older Monte Carlo notebook from Fujitsu and also came with
the create
system disk option. One of the system disk I created was bad so I
called their
technical support.
They asked which disk was bad and sent me a replacement disk via
Fed-Ex. You might
want to try that if you are still having a problem with a few of the
disks.
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Dan Blumenfeld wrote:
Jim Harvey Dec 1 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops, milw.forsale.computers,
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From: Jim Harvey <wb8...@ameritech.net> - Find messages by this
author
Date: 1997/12/01
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
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original | Report Abuse
@assets.wharton.upenn.edu wrote:
I know all the Fujitsu tech support people around here carry HP
Omnibooks.
--
Jim Harvey, Redford, Mich. Amiga person - Linux person - WB8NBS
This message came from Netscape running on a LINUX Laptop!
He who dies with the most software wins.
Mike Kent Dec 2 1997, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops, milw.forsale.computers,
misc.comp.forsale, misc.computer.forsale, misc.computers.forsale,
misc.computers.forsale.pc-clone
From: Mike Kent <m...@phoenix.net> - Find messages by this
author
Date: 1997/12/02
Subject: Re: Stay away from Fujitsu Laptops especially model 535
T.
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original | Report Abuse
M&M Computers wrote:
<snip>
I just bought a 535tx and really like it. Its solid and well designed.
Funny my 535 tx came with win 95 osr2 and a cd with and floppy to do
an emergancy
recovery. I also got win 95 on a cd.
My experience with support has been very good. They have a toll free
1-800
number.
How many companies still do that? The waits were short. The techs
were good.
I would say they are very good at tech support.
Sorry you had problems, but they seem very customer oriented.
--
- Mike "ekiM" Kent
Friendswood (Near Houston), TX
m...@phoenix.net
http://www.phoenix.net/~mkent
