Problems With T43 After Cleanup - Please Help!

[KuniD]

Let me start with a bit of info on the laptop, its a T43 (1.6Ghz, 512Mb, 40Gb, DVDRW) model 187117J. I bought it in May (05) while I was visiting a friend in Tokyo. Its been working fine ever since I first booted it up, if anything it has surpassed all my expectations!

Unfortunately on Friday a friend of mine had an accident which involved a large glass of "something alcoholic", being spilled over my the top cover of my closed T43. (She tripped or something to that affect while in my room, grr). Some of the liquid went through the back gap onto the keyboard, by which time I had tilted the notebook (so the end with the DVD drive is up in the air, NIC, modem, fan pointing down), to quickly remove anything that may have got inside. (I remember reading something about a drip tray on the T series?)

Now when this all happened the laptop lid was shut & it was in sleep mode. The mains lead wasn't plugged in. I removed the battery and began to strip the T43 apart component by component, checking for any residue/corrosion. I stripped it bare down to the motherboard and found some in the upper left corner of the motherboard, near where the AC adapter comes/the LCD connector plugs into the mobo down to near the modem/audio ports - just in that corner by the looks of it, there was some on the underside of the mobo in the same area.

I used de-ionised water, a can of compressed air & some PCB cleaner to remove any residue I could find, although I think there's some under the LCD connector pins on the mobo, although I couldn't get rid of it (maybe its something else.) I let it dry, then began to re-assemble it (cleaning dust or any other stuff I could find).

Now at first we tried to boot it with just the battery plugged in, no mains, hard drive or DVD in ultrabay. The lights blink on then switch straight off. Next we plugged in the mains power and it booted. We took this opportunity to plug in the DVDRW & HDD and boot into windows, everything seemed to work fine, we began to back up over the network straight away.

Now here's the problem I'm still experiencing; with the mains plugged in, it works fine. You can even remove the mains lead once its booted, and it'll work of the battery - hell you can even close the lid and put it into sleep, and it'll still come back without the mains. But if you shutdown, it will not boot from cold with just the battery

Anybody have any idea's what it might be?

After reading some of the other threads on here, I get the impression that spillage damage = void warranty with IBM, but do you think its worth me trying to get it repaired under warranty, as I've cleaned out the majority of any residue that might have been left (well hopefully I got it all!)

If all else fails I'll have to use my home contents insurance, although that is a last resort for me, so any help or advice anyone can give would be much appreciated!

PS - standard international warranty is 1 yr right?

[brainpicker]

Could the battery have been damaged by the spill? Have you tried a different battery? I ask because I know startup puts the most stress on a battery. So, maybe it can run on battery once booted using a/c, but that's why it can't boot on battery (the battery can't supply enough peak power)?

As for the warranty have you tried pluging in your details here http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... estyle=ibm to get the info you need instead of guessing?

If all else fails and you think you've done the best cleanup you cound I'd take the chance on sending it in for repair. Besides, you either HAVE coverage on it or you DON'T, so why not find out now?

Good Luck,
Yak

[KuniD]

Could the battery have been damaged by the spill? Have you tried a different battery? I ask because I know startup puts the most stress on a battery. So, maybe it can run on battery once booted using a/c, but that's why it can't boot on battery (the battery can't supply enough peak power)?

Possible; I thought the battery was a sealed unit though? Unfortunately I don't have a spare battery to hand, but I'm trying the gauge reset function under the Thinkpad's power management (drain and fully recharge.)

As for the warranty have you tried pluging in your details here http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... estyle=ibm to get the info you need instead of guessing?

If all else fails and you think you've done the best cleanup you cound I'd take the chance on sending it in for repair. Besides, you either HAVE coverage on it or you DON'T, so why not find out now?

Good Luck,
Yak

Yep noticed that page earlier on today, it says mine has a 1yr warranty and is eligible for the international warranty system, although strangely I encountered another page with a "standard list of warranty info", and it states that the T43 1871 has a 3yr warranty.

Think I'll give the UK warranty line a call tomorrow; if they say anything about spillage once they've got it, I'll just act dumb and say "why is it working at all then", or something to that effect, and try to wing it (heh doubtful that'll work)

If anyone has any stories of their experiences with IBM/Lenovo and spillages on their Thinkpad's, I'd really like to hear them.

[GomJabbar]

Now when this all happened the laptop lid was shut & it was in sleep mode. The mains lead wasn't plugged in. I removed the battery and began to strip the T43 apart component by component, checking for any residue/corrosion.

This isn't much help, but realize that even though the laptop is in Standby, there is still power going to some components on the motherboard - otherwise how could the laptop come out of standby? The RAM has to be powered in Standby, and certain events have to be intercepted; pressing the Fn key, opening the lid, receipt of a Magic Packet, and I even think it may be possible for a USB event to be intercepted. In fact, you can have a scheduled task bring the computer out of Standby.

It could be the battery if the battery got wet, but really I think your system board was damaged. Just make sure the system board it thoroughly cleaned, as some foreign material across a couple of exposed contacts or metal traces could still be giving you trouble.

[Kyocera]

You might want to put a meter across the terminals on your battery, the HMM has the voltage and ohms readings for your model. I don't know about the newer batteries but the older ones had a thermal fuse inside for safety, the battery may have shorted out.