dickytim: So did the OP open the laptop up? I have only ever had good experiences dealing with Acer on warranty issues and resolution.
If they believe something the user did caused the fault then they are will within their rights to refuse warranty, and PB Tech would be silly to honour the warranty only to have it refused to them by Acer.
Thats what I am a bit confused about too. Who actually opened it up, as I would have thought that acer would be pretty good about seals. If acer serviced it, I would expect they would have replaced the seal with a new one. I can't really see the lodgic of the cusomter opening it up, as it is a new computer still under warranty, so why would they even try to attempt to fix it themselves by opening it up, when it is covered for free under the warranty.