T40: Unexpected Laptop Hangs, No Video Output

[Zero]

Two months ago I bought a refurbished IBM T40 (model 2373) laptop on eBay. I tested it with various stability tests for CPU, Video System, memory, battery life, etc for about a week, everything was working so I was happy. After a while, though, I started to notice the problem eith fan noises especially on the medium RPM, so I bought a new one (long assembly) and replaced it. I also installed Omega Drivers for my Radeon 7500, changed some values in BIOS, did tuning, etc. But, after a while I started experiencing a following problem: the laptop hangs... or at least it stops showing the picture and reacting to the keyboard input (including hibernation, excluding power off/brightness buttons). Strangely enough, sometimes this is triggered by me moving laptop physically (just a bit, no shaking, throwing, etc ) and sometimes it hangs all by itself.

After I turn it off and power off the fan starts working on high speed and continuously, if there is something in CD/DVD drive, then DVD starts rotating, but nothing else happens, boot process stalls on this stage, no picture shown on LCD (and/or external monitor, of connected). But, if I let the laptop to stay untouched for 5-10 minutes, it usually powers on and works... and dies again in a meantime. Sometimes the hang is preceded by the random distortions of the image on the screen, like those one can see on TV during the thunderstorm.

When trying to localize the problem I tried powering off internal wireless card, removing DVD, disabling USB and PCIMCIA, heating the CPU and GPU (with stability tests) and I found out, that most likely this is caused by GPU being overheated, because if I run just a CPU burn-in test, it gets hot, then very hot (up to 58 Celsius by TFanControl), fan is working... but nothing bad happens. But if I run GPU burn test (I used Video Card Stability Test) it usually dies in less then 5 minutes (this happens in a GPU temperature interval from 42 C to 52 C (this is the record )). It is also sensitive to "movement-caused hangs" in this temperature interval. If the GPU temperature is less then 41-42 C, I can move it and be sure that nothing bad happens (tried many times).

I tried deinstalling drivers, downclocking, booting into Ubuntu Linux, resetting BIOS settings to default... the problem persists, it hangs, so it looks like not something softeare-related. Why is that if I am not doing overclocking and the videocard is just a standard Radeon 7500? Why is it powering off during the laptop's physical movement? What could be the cause of the problem and how could it be solved? Please, advise.

[simms]

I reverted back to IBM drivers on my R7500 after the Omega ones were causing a number of problems.

[Zero]

I tried reverting drivers... but this didn't help.

[dpb]

If your "tuning" included updating recent ThinkVantage drivers, utils and stuff, try rolling back to your original set. I had to do that because the new set wouldn't turn on my T-42's IBM 802.11g "radio." Everything else about the modem was fine, it just refused to "turn on radio." I fixed it with a roll-back. When I find time, I may selectively update drivers and utils, but I'm not in hurry.

[draco2527]

Why is it powering off during the laptop's physical movement? What could be the cause of the problem and how could it be solved? Please, advise.

Add to the other problems with corrupt vide and hangs PLUS you statement here and IMO it is not software related either!

Do a search and you will find a lot of symptoms similar or identical to yours. This is a common problem on the T4X line (I had it happen to me) it tends to get worse as time passes. Mine got to the point were it would not even boot. This is due to flexing on the motherboard from picking up the laptop from one side only. This issue has been addressed (no proof yet) with the addition of a "roll cage" on the T60 line. It reduces stress on the mobo....thus eliminating / minimizing (again...jury still out on this one) mobo damage.

Check your warranty status and go from there.........

[draco2527]

Why is it powering off during the laptop's physical movement? What could be the cause of the problem and how could it be solved? Please, advise.

Add to the other problems with corrupt vide and hangs PLUS you statement here and IMO it is not software related either!

Do a search and you will find a lot of symptoms similar or identical to yours. This is a common problem on the T4X line (I had it happen to me) it tends to get worse as time passes. Mine got to the point were it would not even boot. This is due to flexing on the motherboard from picking up the laptop from one side only. This issue has been addressed (no proof yet) with the addition of a "roll cage" on the T60 line. It reduces stress on the mobo....thus eliminating / minimizing (again...jury still out on this one) mobo damage.

Check your warranty status and go from there.........

EDIT: Sorry about the double post!!
EDIT2:Here is one....

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=23413

There are a lot more like it!

[zzyss]

Yes, mine started doing the same thing for no apparent reason, and so I've sent it back to have the motherboard replaced. Luckily mine is still under warranty.

[matamoros]

This is due to flexing on the motherboard from picking up the laptop from one side only.

Dude! You just (probably) solved the mystery of why my motherboard went bad. Thanks!

-m

[Zero]

First, thanks for the replies!

from picking up the laptop from one side only. This issue has been addressed (no proof yet) with the addition of a "roll cage" on the T60 line. It reduces stress on the mobo....thus eliminating / minimizing (again...jury still out on this one) mobo damage.

So it seems like after it will be fixed the best solution would be to avoid handling it with just one hand, isn't it? In the link you provided (second one) the final post was from the guy who considered this problem to arise due to the bad cooling system, not "flexing". And, indeed, as I wrote before, I know I could cause the laptop to be dead by heating th GPU over 42 C. If its temperature is lower then this -- then my T40 behaves like a working machine, no poweroffs, no distortion, nothing. But as soon as the temperature reach this "magical" level, it starts failing.

Another suggestion in that thread was that this problem could be caused by POWERPLAY feature, but I tried booting Ubuntu Linux and the same problem occured there... the booting process wasn't ever complete, it powers on in the middle. Coul it be disabled from the BIOS? Will it influence the OS settings?