When I first noticed what I now know is wear, I too thought it was grease, and wondered whether my fingers were that greasy. I tried wiping the touchpad gently with a damp tissue, but immediately noticed that it was not grease at all, but the texture wearing away. Once I looked more closely, you can...

I have recently replaced my trusty workhorse T30 with a new W520. I bought the W520 two and a half months ago, but didn't use it until a month later when I found time to set up all my software and master Windows 7's 'XP mode'. I am self employed, and the W520 is my main PC. It's on all day, and I pr...

I have bought another faulty T30 on eBay, which apparently just needs a new backlight. I wouldn't be too surprused if there is more wrong with it than that, as I only paid £39, but you never know. First I'll see if I can make one good one from the two, by swapping the screens or replacing the backli...

Hello Nick, Thanks for your continued suggestions. I've just got back on to messing with it after having visitors. I've just tried all your suggestions. One thing I'd forgotten about removing was the WiFi card, and I'd not previously tried disconnecting the screen as I was unusre whether this could ...

Thanks for your replies. I've got back to fiddling with my broken T30 today. The plan was to format an old drive and reinstall the operating system and IBM drivers, to rule out anything software related. However, the problem has got much worse today. It's symptoms are now near identical to the T20 '...

Thanks for the tips. I have ruled out the ram by tring an old 256 MB module which the machine had in it when I bought it. I don't have time this week to continue investigating the problem (and have transferred all files to my desktop so I can continue working). I have tried removing all unnecessary ...

Funnily enough, the thermal pads were from Maplin. I'll call in again when I'm passing to get some proper thermal paste, although from the results of my testing (below), the thermal pad seems to be doing an OK job. I installed MobileMeter. When keeping the CPU busy, the fan speed increases noticeabl...

Thanks. it looks like the thermal pad was a bad choice then. I'll get some good paste instead. I removed the keyboard, and its connector was firmly attached, as was the one for the trackpad. I've not managed to check the temperature yet, but have sussed out why it would only reatart after 15 minutes...

Thanks for all the replies! I fitter a thermal transfer pad (ShinEtsu PCS-TC-11, www.asaka.com.tw) after cleaning the fan and CPU with alcohol when I replaced the fan, which seems to have been OK for the year or so since fitting. Does anyone know whether these termal transfer pads are any good? The ...

Hi, My T30 (Type 2366 - 876) started playing up yesterday. Initial symptoms were the cursor / keyboard locking up, with no other symptoms. This has seemed to get more frequent, any the only response I can get is to hold the off button down until it powers off. After much reading on here I have found...

My backlight tube arrived from laptopsockets today. It was very well packaged, and I now have my screen working again for £22, so not too bad. The new silicone insulators from laptopsockets didn't fit very well (I guess they are a generic design). I had to snip a bit of the plastic housing away to m...

I finally took the laptop to pieces today. It is a Samsung screen, (FRU 11P8294), so I'm lucky that they are apparently easier to repair. Getting at the CCFL tube to replace it was more involved than I imagined, which is no problem to me, but I don't think it's a job which I'd recommend to anyone wh...

Thanks for your replies again. I'll take it to pieces to get the FRU numbers to make sure I buy the right bits, and have a look at what kind of a job replacing just the CCFL looks like. I'm OK with a soldering iron! Moniserv sound like they know their stuff - I'll ahve a look at their site and see i...

Thanks for the replies. I have never seen just the CCFL tubes for sale in the UK, and I think they may be a bit fragile to risk importing from abroad(?). Used spare parts are readily available on eBay, and are not expensive. From my symptoms, do you think I should buy the CCFL tube of the inverter f...

Hi, I'm new on here. I've had a good look around for the info I need, and the forum looks excellent. I don't know how I've not found this site before really, as I've done a few repairs to my T30 now (fan swap and resoldered the ram sockets, both successfully)now, all DIY with info off the internet. ...