T43 Thinkpad completely frozen when in use

[thinktwice]

Hi,

I have a T43 Thinkpad (Type 2668-45G) and it sometimes completely freeze when in use.

I mean it does not react to any action on the keyboard, the touchpad, the trackpoint, or pressure on the power button, even long pressure. When unplugin or replugin the AC adapter, the laptop keeps frozen.

In such situation, I am forced to remove the battery when the laptop is in use, so that I can shut it down and start it again.

This problem occured when I was checking an external drive with an expresscard eSata adapter. It was observed several times with miscellaneous external hard drives connected.
However, with some external drives I encountered no problem.

Every time the issue occured, the laptop was connected to the grid and also had battery inside.

I assume the laptop could be frozen by static electricity or by some voltage issue.
Any idea ?

[ajkula66]

Try the following:

a) Run the machine without the battery inserted. Any changes?

b) Boot a "live" Linux CD and see if the freezing occurs there.

If the answer to both of this ends up being "yes, the freezing still happens" the SouthBridge chip is on its way out.

[Vonfeffer]

Hello there, I'm experiencing the same problem with a t43... It works fine when it's connected to the power supply without the battery, but whenever I insert the battery the T43 works for a few seconds then locks up, the system stops working all toghether. It doesn't even turn off when holding down the power button. The only workarround is to pull the power cable and remove the battery...

Help!!!

[ajkula66]

Hello there, I'm experiencing the same problem with a t43... It works fine when it's connected to the power supply without the battery, but whenever I insert the battery the T43 works for a few seconds then locks up, the system stops working all toghether.

Help!!!

Have you tried another battery?

[Vonfeffer]

Will do, tks for now!

[thinktwice]

I experienced the problem with several Thinkpad T43, indifferently 14 and 15 inches.

Like Vonfeffer, I have to remove the power supply, as well as the battery.

I assume that the problem comes from the Intel chip located below the touchpad, as both the touchpad and the bottom side of the laptop are hot near this location.
(It could come from bald soldering and reballing of the chip would be necessary.)

This may be wrong, but I had the feeling that the problem occurs most often after a long time of unactivity on the keyboard or touchpad ; typically when I'm performing data recovery tasks that last several hours.

On some computer, I observed that pressing the palmrest close to the right border of the touchpad, below the space and AltGr keys can temporarily unfreeze the computer.
But this does not work with any laptop.

[ajkula66]

I assume that the problem comes from the Intel chip located below the touchpad, as both the touchpad and the bottom side of the laptop are hot near this location.
(It could come from bald soldering and reballing of the chip would be necessary.)

Unfortunately, I believe that you've come up with correct diagnosis. SouthBridge going south, that is.

Furthermore, a chip can only be re-balled if the epoxy holding it down is in the form of coloured dots - the revision with clear epoxy makes the chip almost impossible to remove without damaging it in the process.

Good luck.

[Bibin]

I too have experienced this problem, and never found a solution.

[banhammer420k]

My T42 freezes and I have to remove both the AC and battery to solve it, but it seems it only happens if I leave the computer unused for about 5-10 minutes.

If I am doing anything at all, even just playing music, that seems enough to keep it alive, so I keep it doing something and close it up if it's not in use and it's been fine.

I was worried because I had it all set up to bring my T42 with me to DJ the other night and it kept freezing before I left, but as long as I kept it closed or doing something (not idling) it was just fine and didn't give me any trouble the whole night.

[ajkula66]

My T42 freezes and I have to remove both the AC and battery to solve it, but it seems it only happens if I leave the computer unused for about 5-10 minutes.

Try another battery.

Try pressing on the touchpad when the machine freezes. If the freezing goes away, the SouthBridge chip is starting to fail.

Look for any signs of unusual behaviour when it comes to USB ports, keyboards, LAN.

Good luck.