T40 Screen Freezing Problem!

[a2mann]

Hey everyone, just started having some problems with my laptop and started looking for some place to get help - thats how I stumbled upon this fine site!

Now that I finally got my account working, I can go ahead and bug you with all my stupid questions now!

I have a T40 Laptop which has started acting funny over the last few weeks. Out of nowhere, the display just started freezing. Its like looking at a screen captured image or something! This occurs anywhere from a few seconds (during or just past the BIOS screen) after turning "on" to a few minutes of running windows. At first, I believed this was a display driver problem. However, I soon realized that it freezes randomly regardless of what I am running on the PC - even in the BIOS screen! Its also not related to the battery - I tried running the laptop plugged into the wall without any batteries at all.

Basically, the display freezes (backlight is still on) but the CPU fan still seems to be spinning. However, the PC doesn't respond to any keyboard input or mouse movements etc. Only holding down the power button results in the computer shutting down. Other than that, nothing works!

I have not installed any BIOS upgrades or anything like that and it worked fine for about 6 months before this problem just popped up.

I have read about the memory problems and have tried running the laptop with different memory chips. Still the same!

I have upgraded the ATI display driver as suggested elsewhere, again, without luck.

It seems that the battery has also stopped charging from around the same time...not sure if the two are related problems, or just a coincidence?

Someone told me it could be a power chip on the motherboard...not sure what that is or how to test it?

Has anyone else had this same problem? Were you able to figure out the cause?

If it makes a difference, I should also mention that I take good care of my laptop and do not use it more than a few hours a day and shut it down everytime I am away from it.

Thanks for your help

[christopher_wolf]

Welcome to the Thinkpad Forums

Hmm, just an educated guess here, but that sounds almost like a system board problem. If you have PC-Doctor, try running some tests with that.

[a2mann]

Hi there! thanks for the suggestion. Just tried running some tests with PC doctor 2.0. Everything I checked turned out to be OK so I don't know how or what else to check? Is there any specific test I should be running?

I am running the diagnostic utility available on IBMs website, btw.

Thanks

[christopher_wolf]

Does any of this happen when you move your system or under any other physical conditions?

[GomJabbar]

I think it's possible that it's a hard drive problem. Take a look in Start > Contol Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer for any clues. IDE ATA/ATAPI or SMART errors could be indicative of hard drive problems. If you have access to a USB floppy drive, you can download and make a bootable floppy for testing the hard drive.

Hitachi Drive Fitness Test
Fujitsu Diagnostic Tool

[Albatros]

Hi,

I was having very similar problems, please check my post here at
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=24097

I've sent the machine for repair to IBM and they are waiting for a replacement motherboard to change it.


As suggested if you can eliminate the HDD and memory possibilities, by changing the memory module and HDD; than I would say that it is faulty motherboard.

Regards

[a2mann]

Ok, an update on the situation:

I removed the keyboard, took out the original memory module from under the keyboard, pressed down on all the connectors I could see and now the laptop stays on for 30-60 mins! Something funny is going on...I can't quite figure out what it could be, though? I don't think its the mobo coz everything checks out fine in the diagnostics...

Thanks for your suggestions...I will keep playing with it and see if I can figure it out!