T40p not dead but in big trouble

[bentlerf]

My T40p suddenly threw up vertical black and white bars on the screen and then went gray and froze (no mouse pointer visible, or response to keystrokes). I finally held down the power button and it powered down after several seconds.

When I attempted to power up, the battery and power indicators came on, and the cpu fan ran full speed, but there were no other signs of booting up either on screen, or sounds from the disk. The power button shut it down instantly from this state, with no delay. This was repeated several times.

After allowing it to rest overnight, I attempted to boot up, and it came up without a problem after I selected "normal" startup in response to the ususal message about abnormal shut down. It booted up and ran for 2-3 minutes, and then froze again. As before, it would not reboot again until I allowed it to "cool" for 30 minutes or so.

I suspect that it I attempt to run any diagnostics during the 2-3 minute up-time, everything will look fine until it freezes, and I will not be able to get any useful diagnostic info. Even if I run something that writes a log, I suspect everything will be fine until the freeze.

It sounds to me like a motherboard problem. Something on the MB may be overheating? Any other ideas? Any hints on how to find a motherboard for it? It is a 2373-G3U, which I think takes a 93P3304 board.

[RealBlackStuff]

Yours is a dying GPU and possibly also a Southbridge on the verge...
You'll need to replace the mobo, unless you find someone to reball the chips for you.

The Board Room does not have your (T40p) mobo, but has several ATI-7500 32MB boards available, that will all work in your machine.
Check the link in my signature.

[bentlerf]

Thank you, RBS. I had come across your site just now while browsing other posts, and I have already sent you a PM. Thanks for the quick diagnosis of the problem and I will pursue your recommendation.