Thinkpads Forum

Hello everyone, I am new here and have a rather strange problem with my Ibm 390X. no matter what os I run on it, it will not completely shut down unless I unplug the power cord and eject the battery for a second.
Does anyone have any ideas about this? I have done all updates and done the bios update and still no luck.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Thanks.

Oh yeah the operating systems tried were in order XP, me, 98.

I have the same problem.

do you have any ideas?

Hello tony6264

Welcome to the forums!

I would really appreciate if you choose a better topic title, you have two Topics "ibm 390x" and "tp 390x" and both are not telling me the problem in short, an example for a good title is: "TP 390x: Shutdown Problems" and you could take your two topics as one.

For your problem: See here: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articl ... tdown.html

and here:
http://aumha.org/win4/kbshtdwn.php

I'm sure it's a driver problem

thanks for pointing out my error in listings...you are right it is confusing...but back to my problem....I tried the sites you listed and got some info but I have not had any luck so far...first of all I think I am describing it wrong, it is not shutdown problem it is powerdown problem.
the computer goes to shut down just like normal, screen comes on that says windows is shutting down and everything looks normal...screen goes blank..no harddrive activity...no led lit....like it should be. But if you go back later and turn on the computer the shutdown screen is still there only it is very grainy looking and some spots on the screen....if you shut it off and try later it does the same except maybe the screen now is just very course lines....it will keep doing this until you unplug the power cord and eject the battery....it doesnt matter what operating system is being used, I have tried windows 98, win ME , and now Windows XP. I believe it is something in the bios...I have upgraded to the newest one available from IBM. I even tried calling a friend who has 390E and we matched my bios power settings item to item....though I am mot sure that was right because I have the acpi and I think the 390E still has apm.....not sure on this.......also when it does the thing where it is not truly shutdown I can tell easily because the ultrabay light on the bottom stays lit up.

Please help!!!! I have no idea what is going on.

Does your 390X has ACPI or just APM, look this up in the Device Manager under System devices, if it's APM, try disabling APM under Control Panel and there Power Settings. (Do this under XP or 2000). If it's ACPI, try booting a Knoppix CD or similar and try a System halt and notice if it's the same, if you have, try a newer and an older.

I think it's a problem with the ACPI/APM Command.

I think you right about the problem but I dont know how to fix it....is the apm/acpi a hardware or bios problem? also I do not have knoppix or anything like that...if it helps I have booted with a win boot disk and get the same problem.
Thanks

If it is a ACPI/APM Problem, that is, that the communication between windows and the bios doesn't work, it's like windows says "turn off" let's say it's a code like "0000" and the bios understands it as "stand-by", that means, that windows OR the bios have different acpi/apm specification, unfortunately I cannot provide you with the informations you need to fix it, take it as it is, or try something, I think you have nothing to loose.

You may (if you're not afraid of reinstalling windows) exchange APM and ACPI.

I am not afraid of re installing windows again, but how do you exchange apm for acpi?
thanks

if you go to the Device Manager, expand Computers, Double click it and go to the second tab, at the bottom select the second button Update or similar.
Select the second radio button, click Next, Click on "Do not search" and click next, select ACPI-PC if it was Standard PC before or vice versa. Click next and then reboot, if you get a bluescreen, reinstall windows, theres no other way to fix that.

If you were unable to do this, Boot the Windows CD, If you are asked to press F6 to install additional SCSI-Controllers, Press F5, you can now select Standard PC or ACPI-PC from a list.

I'm sorry, that I cannot you provide with the correct Option texts, because I use a german Windows version.

Well the good news is that I did not get a blue screen and have to re install win xp....the bad news is that it did not solve the problem...any other ideas?

Are you able to make a movie of the behavior?

I dont know about making a movie ,maybe I could take some pictures of the different stages and give descriptions....would that help any?

Yes me.

Ok...I will take some pictures later today and try to post them here...or would it be better to just email them to you....if so leave me your email address...thanks

It's better to post them here, so that others can also help fix the problem.

jeeva wrote:It's better to post them here, so that others can also help fix the problem.

ITYM "It's better to post the links to them here, so that others can also help fix the problem." ;-)

Oh sorry, I forgot those of us, who have a 56K connection, i'm very sorry guys.

The 390X only supports APM and not ACPI.

Yes, the problem is annoying, but I've learned to deal with it. I only use the machine for testing out and formating HDs etc since the machine is so big and bulky compared to today's thinkpads.

Yes it may abit and bulky but, these are great computers....the Ibm's are very well put together and very solid, I can only imagine what the newer ones are like....but back to the problem...there is NO way to make it work properly?
Thanks for your input.

I only skimmed this topic, so it might already be posted, but what OS are you running?

currently running windows xp pro....but it does the same thing with win 98 and win me...thats why I am not sure wether any changes to os would make any difference....seems like something in bios or hardware...but what?

sorry I have not been able to get the pics up that were asked for, but here is a new twist...I found an old " TRUE" DOS boot disk today and ran it and it did the exact same thing....now I am really thinking it is not a driver and must be hardware or something....please any ideas?
thanks

Yes, it is a hardware issue - it does this for me on Windows XP and on any linux distribution.

I recalled reading awhile ago that a bio upgrade may correct the problem. After updating the machine with the latest bios, the problem still persisted.

i too have the same problem and tried everything but cannot fix. In the bios you can select the thinkpad on/off button to work in standby or switch off mode but this makes no difference.
Is this a bug in all 390x machines that shutoff will not work?
I was wondering if it might be the bios that i installed from the IBM website. Perhaps by installing an older bios this might fix the problem?
Does anyone know where i can get hold of the 390x older revision of the bios?
Thanks
Stat