Thinkpads Forum

Just had my dear advanced dock 2503 ( m4 - 77146) die on me. The dock is faily important to me as I use it to run ) an external gfx on my T61.

I am abroad, and I suspect that the dock has been taken appart in customs.
I was setting up my work enviroment today for the first time abroad.
Nothing was connected to the dock appart from external lcd, keyboard and audioout (no gfx, no laptop)
As I plug in the dock cord, I hear a relatively loud "THUD" and a wierd smell (sligthly different from the smell of electric fire that I am "used" to:))
The power button on the dock still works when a laptop is inserted, but it delivers no power to laptop, USB or ultrabay.
Anyone got schematics? Any ideas? I am not an expert no electrical repairs, but I learn fast and while I am not very good at soldering, I can get help from a friend that is.
I have taken the dock appart a few times (once to disable the PCI expansion fan and once the previous time I took it abroad as it also then appeared to have been taken appart in customs...)

Should I bite the bullet and look for a new dock or is there any chance of replacing a fuse or the PSU within reasonable time/cost?
Ps. there might be a problem with the ground here as I get electric shock from the water !! but then again, the dock was doing fine in the same socket for 6 months the last time I was here...

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Those customs guys have no business taking it apart as you claim, and I sincerely doubt they really did that...
Unless of course your mug is a lookalike for some most-wanted...

Hehe, I know that "in theory" customs should not take my stuff apaprt, but as I am in Israel, I suspect that different "rules" might apply
Last time, when I had to take it appart to get it to work after my flight to get here, the problem turned out to be a mechanic problem similar to one I ran into the first time I re-assembled it appart myself.

Is the mains voltage the same between Israel and Denmark? The power supply should be auto-switching, but what-if...
Are you using a different/bad travel adapter from last time?
Perhaps you could try and contact forum-member dr_st who is also in Israel?
I doubt very much if there are any schematics available, Lenovo is extremely skimpy with those.

The voltage shouldn't be the problem as I've had all my gear working both here and there throughout the years and I usually a travel adaptor isn't even needed.
Any Ideas what to look for if I open it up or what kind og component would make the "popping sound"?
Cap? Fuse?
Anyways, seems like I might just have to considder getting a new one..

Btw, Thanks alot for always answering my posts when I am in distress Realblack

Ok, so I oppened up the dock, but nothing looks to be blown.
Yesterday, another electric device blew and I am starting to think that the problem could be lack of proper grounding (the neighbor has been rebuilding and digging and I started getting electric shock from the waterpipes - I know, old houses..)

If the problem was missing ground, does that give any indication of what could have blown?
I am really anxious to attempt a repair as I really need the extra GPU that I had installed in the expansion slot for work.
In a few months when I get back to DK, I will probably buy a W530 which will be incompatible with the old dock, so buying a replacement dock for those months seems like a no go..