T40 freezes randomly...HELP!

[wunderer]

Hello Forum,

hope to find some help here. I own a T40 (237312G) for over three years now and really like it, BUT: it freezes randomly, sometimes in idle mode with no touching, movement, programs running (apart from screensaver) or whatever, sometimes right during work. Freezing means: screen still displays the last picture but nothing will move or work anymore (only a hard restart). It happens completely independently from what I am doing on the laptop, sometimes a couple of times per day, sometimes once a week or even less frequently.
Now I try to write my thesis - and these freezes suck!
I wiped everything from the HD, reinstalled Windows (XP, SP2) - no change. Had it sent in during warranty time, they replaced the Mainboard two times - no change.
Took out the aditional ram - no change.
Memtest ran for 8 hours - no errors.
PC-Doctor showed - guess what - no errors.
The only software that I constantly used over the years is Norton Internet Security, but I remember a freeze in the later phase of Windows setup.
Somewhere I read a long fan might solve the problem...plausible?

It really is kind of frustrating, would appreciate any comment or help on this issue.

A: it is not under warranty any more.

Greetings

wunderer

[cmarti]

From what you describe i am sure your T40 has a flacky motherboard, it will need to be replaced.

[wunderer]

...but it has been replaced two times, and the error partly occured pretty soon after it came back with a new MoBo...

[cmarti]

...but it has been replaced two times, and the error partly occured pretty soon after it came back with a new MoBo...

Some people have suffered the same luck, is it still under warranty?

[wunderer]

no, warranty is gone. I waited quite long to get it repaired anyway. After a while my CD-ROM combo drive would not read any DVDs any more and I got a little [censored] and so got it replaced. It came back with a new MOBO without functioning USBs, so I sent it back again. Same freezing errors, so I thought it might be the Software, which I did not replace as I didn't really use it often. Then I went abroad, came back and try to write A LOT now, so freezing in the middle of a calculation or a thought or whatever has become unbearable now...
I already wrote IBM, as they never managed to repair the first instance of freezes. Waiting for the reply but I am not to very optimistic...
Still I would find it quite akward, that the exactly the same weird freezing pattern should occur after they changed the MB. So maybe anyone has a clue.
I read one instance of a similar problem. The guy replaced the FAN and the T40 never froze again. Plausible?

Thanks for the answers!

wunderer

[fatbhoy]

I discovered this thread yesterday and it shocked me.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=33952

Take a bit of time to read it.

I'm thinking of getting rid of my T43p on account of this.