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T41p turns on but no beep, no displays, cpu fan speeds up and down.... ideas?

T40/T41/T42/T43 Series
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solidpro
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T41p turns on but no beep, no displays, cpu fan speeds up and down.... ideas?

#1 Post by solidpro » Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:09 am

Hi

I've got a T41p and when you turn it on, it seems to be powering on for 2 seconds and then it just shuts down again.

I've removed the following and it makes no difference:
Battery, touchpad, TFT, wifi, BT, memory, cmos battery, optical drives, speakers, tried a different CPU heatsink and fan. Even tried hitting the power button and unplugging the keyboard to see if it continues to boot..... no change. Any ideas what it might be?

It will then not power on again until you disconnect the main power and plug back in.

Looks like i'm stuck with searching out a new motherboard but that doesn't look easy...

Thanks
Last edited by solidpro on Sat Aug 27, 2022 7:15 am, edited 2 times in total.
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solidpro
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Re: T41p turns on for 2 seconds then turns off.... ideas?

#2 Post by solidpro » Sat Aug 27, 2022 7:13 am

I tried a bunch of other AC adaptors and no change.
I tried switching around different memory no change.
I switched in a different Mobile M CPU (much slower at 1Ghz) and it stays powered on.
Switched back to the original 1.6Ghz CPU and it now powers on but then does nothing. The CPU fan speeds up and slows down repeatedly. It doesn't complain about having no RAM installed (would expect a 1-3-3-1 or something like that from the speaker if both RAM slots are empty.

I've ordered a tested working 1.6Ghz CPU from ebay incase it's simply the CPU is semi-working.

I did also try pushing down on the ATI chip and the Southbridge chip when powering up, which made no difference...
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solidpro
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Re: T41p turns on for 2 seconds then turns off.... ideas?

#3 Post by solidpro » Sat Aug 27, 2022 7:14 am

So just to clarify the machine now powers up, stays on, turns off and on, upon command using the power button but never displays anything on the internal or external monitor, never beeps and the CPU fan spins up and down (but never stops)...
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Re: T41p turns on but no beep, no displays, cpu fan speeds up and down.... ideas?

#4 Post by kfzhu1229 » Sat Aug 27, 2022 12:49 pm

So now the laptop powers on and stays on but nothing on screen, and responsive to short press of power buttons?
Is the power LED on when you do so?
That seems to lead you to quite the dead end.
But I do think that if the power LED never comes on throughout all this then you might be dealing something very sinister as a shorted dead southbridge chip or something (especially if the southbridge chip gets mad hot), which cannot be repaired by "reflowing"... That happened to one of my boards and it has to be binned for that reason.
Maybe also take note of whether the hard drive and optical drive would spin when it turns on, and also whether the USB ports would have power. That gives you a good idea whether 5V on the motherboard is working.
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Re: T41p turns on but no beep, no displays, cpu fan speeds up and down.... ideas?

#5 Post by WEissbr0t » Wed Aug 31, 2022 7:43 am

I had quite the Same issue with my T43 - I reseated the Memory-Modules and disconnected the CMOS-Battery over night. After putting in all together the machine showed signs of life

solidpro
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Re: T41p turns on but no beep, no displays, cpu fan speeds up and down.... ideas?

#6 Post by solidpro » Thu Sep 01, 2022 1:30 pm

So now the laptop powers on and stays on but nothing on screen, and responsive to short press of power buttons?
Is the power LED on when you do so?
That seems to lead you to quite the dead end.
But I do think that if the power LED never comes on throughout all this then you might be dealing something very sinister as a shorted dead southbridge chip or something (especially if the southbridge chip gets mad hot), which cannot be repaired by "reflowing"... That happened to one of my boards and it has to be binned for that reason.
Maybe also take note of whether the hard drive and optical drive would spin when it turns on, and also whether the USB ports would have power. That gives you a good idea whether 5V on the motherboard is working.
It basically went from going on for 1 second and then powering off and refusing to power back on to (when reseating the CPU) powering on but then not doing anything....

I'm just waiting for a replacement CPU in the post (probably tomorrow) when I'll be able to see just if it's a dud CPU. At that point I'll check the voltage on the USB and listen for the HDD.... If it's not beeping for RAM it's something pretty substantial. The Southbridge does not get hot.
http://Ret.Rocks - Rare Used & Restored Vintage Computing for Sale!
Wanted: 220, 315D, 320, 350x, 355x, 500, 510, 530CS, 730TE, 750P, 755CD, Any 8xx Series, A20p, A21p, A22p, A31p, T40p
Currently For Sale (Restored): 560Z, 380Z, T20, T21, T22, R61, R51

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