T40p - Random lock-ups

[trilogy]

Hey all.

I wish i could provide more detail about whats going wrong, but i can't.

At random times, my tpad will just freeze. Cursor stops moving completely. Happens when i leave it on and idle, it also happens sometimes while im working.

I havent found any kind of synchronicity to the lockups, i'm always running different apps.

I've done a factory restore from the bios, and it still happens.

I would say the lockups happen 1-2 times every 2-3 days.

If anyone's had anything like this, please help me out.

Thanks!

[Conmee]

I never had this problem with my T40p, and I'd leave it on quite a bit in the Dock II. My T21, however, exhibited the same problem you are describing. Sometimes it wouldn't even turn on, or it would die as soon as the Windows boot screen came up. Evidently there was a problem with a power converter or daughter board, not sure. But I'd read a number of complaints and that IBM was replacing motherboards on the T2x series for those folks who had problems. Maybe you have a similar problem.

Are you seeing any errors in the event logs in WinXP? Check the Application and System events (righ-click My Computer, select Manage, expand the Event Viewer section and look in the log files. That might give you some clue as well. If you're locking up while plugged in, I'd take the battery out and run for awhile without the battery installed. If you don't lock up anymore, it could be your battery going bad and locking up the system during charging.

Also, if you have Norton System Works, run a surface scan of your hard drive (or run the WinXP error-checking utility for HDDs--choose fix errors automatically and scan for bad sectors). Finally, run the PC Doctor application and in particular, run the memory tests a few times. I've always used IBM Memory parts (the chips themselves are generally Micron or Samsung), since I've had problems in my ThinkPads with Kingston. Some people swear by Crucial, but I stick with the higher priced IBM, just for peace of mind. But they do mark up the hell out of their memory. Anyhow, if you're using some off-brand of memory or two different sized SODIMM from different manufacturers, that might also cause inexplicable lockups over time. If none of this helps, I'd send it in and have the motherboard replaced.

Daniel.

[sktn77a]

Has it done this since new or is this a recent happening? Usually a software issue but if you reloaded everything from the hidden partition, this shouldn't happen. When you reloaded the software, what non-ibm software did you install? Also, did you customize any settings?

[mdarnton]

If a factory restore hasn't helped it, it seems like the problem is almost certainly in hardware.

I had a Compaq that did this. I sent it back and they "fixed" it twice (!!!), by doing nothing, I think, except restoring the operating system and wiping all my files, which I told them upfront I'd already done several times. They also tried to blame my mouse (Compaq brand), memory I hadn't installed--everything but the computer. I lived with it for a while, and then the lock-ups became inevitable, moving closer and closer to startup, untill finally when I turned the computer on it would go about five seconds before just turning itself off. At that point it was pretty hard to blame me and my software, and Compaq replaced the motherboard, which solved the problem. I'd be aggressive on this one, because it's something they'll probably not be able to see or replicate themselves, and will assume it's your fault, unless you force them to see it otherwise. That's my experience, at any rate--we can hope that IBM is more on the ball than Compaq.

[trilogy]

Its plugged into the ac, the battery is never in.

I have only installed a few applications, but i doubt its that, that would casue a BSOD.

I checked the logs, theres nothing out of the ordinary there.

It doesnt turn off, it just locks and sits there and i have to power it off.

PC-Doctor finds nothing either

[mattfromomaha]

Had a ThinkCentre desktop doing the same thing a few months ago. IBM replaced the system board and that didn't fix it. I had them send a replacement processor and RAM, and swapped out both of them. That fixed it.