ThinkPad T40...broken. Fixable?

Message

celerystalksme · #1 Post by **celerystalksme** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:29 pm

Hello!

I have never owned IBM laptops. But I just acquired two ThinkPads for free from two different people! Yay! The bad part is that they both seem to be suffering from the same problem!!!! The first one is a T40. It won't turn on! Sometimes, when I hit the power button, it does NOTHING. Makes no noise, no lights turn on, nothing. Other times, some of the little lights will come to life, the fan will turn on, it'll start to make other noises...but it soon turns off before it's able to display anything on the screen.

What's going on? Any advice? Is this thing toast and unsalvagable?

Thanks!!!!!!

phool@round · #2 Post by **phool@round** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:12 pm

......think toast.......

........and head cheese.

Sounds like a Mac Ad Campaign......... I visualize posters of crack addicts.

What two systems do you have? Show some love, get familiar with em.....

celerystalksme · #3 Post by **celerystalksme** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:37 pm

phool@round wrote: What two systems do you have? Show some love, get familiar with em.....

i have a ThinkPad T40 and a ThinkPad R31. I have no idea what's inside either one...I just got them. One from the pastor at my church...he thought it was paperweight so his son bought him a new laptop. The other I got from a friend...who also thought her ThinkPad was a goner and got a new laptop.

They're both exhibiting similar, almost identical, power problems...

phool@round · #4 Post by **phool@round** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:30 pm

Here's a take apart guide for the T40; Here.

Follow the same advice I gave you on the R31 ancilliary equipment removal. Then report what happens.

Your bound to get more than me posting so be prepared for a busy inbox....... lots of good help to be had from this forum. We'll make you an addict no matter what, where's my syringe......? Oh, there it is next to the picture of my future S30.......

Thomcat · #5 Post by **Thomcat** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:37 pm

Approach the repair like any other computer. Disassemble it and find out what is missing. Replace what is missing, cross your fingers and hope it boots.

Get the Hardware Maintenance Manual for it here:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 192_01.pdf

If it still doesn't work after replacing all the missing parts, then you need to swap out parts and put it in a working system to find out what parts you have are working versus parts that are broken and need to be replaced.

The tough part is having a separate working system to test with (and potentially ruin also).

That's part of the 'fun', hehe. I'm in the middle of the same project. I have an incomplete T41 that I am in the process of making whole. Luckily I got a hold of a friend's T40 to test with (roughly same type of computer) and the parts I have are all working.

If you don't have access to another unit, you may want to think about parting out everything and selling the pieces and buy a working Thinkpad with the money.

Oh yeah, sorry for the rambling...I am looking for T4x parts, so if you want to sell some, let me know.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=53490

Also, if you want to ship it to me and pay for shipping back (around $15 I think), I can play around with it and try to figure out what is salvageable or not. Feel free to donate some parts for my efforts if you like. I'm maintaining a few Thinkpads for family members and can always use more Thinkpad T2x or T4x parts.

Thomcat · #6 Post by **Thomcat** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:45 pm

ah, just read your second post. Too bad the T40 and R31 are different generation machines and thus you cannot switch parts between the two.

Thomcat · #7 Post by **Thomcat** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:50 pm

sorry for the multiple replies...just thinking this through...do either of them have batteries? When you plug power into them, do the battery recharge light on them light?

If it happens that all parts are present and accounted for (and if they were previously working before and had not been opened up, then they are most likely complete) and the batteries charge light doesn't show up while plugged in, then they could be suffering from a bad AC jack. The replacement part is pretty cheap. Check eBay. You can then unsolder the old part and resolder the replacement one. I don't know how to solder, but I've seen it done and it doesn't look that difficult.

Edit: it looks like T4x power jacks don't even need to be soldered:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=53996

celerystalksme · #8 Post by **celerystalksme** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:08 am

Thomcat wrote:sorry for the multiple replies...just thinking this through...do either of them have batteries? When you plug power into them, do the battery recharge light on them light?

If it happens that all parts are present and accounted for (and if they were previously working before and had not been opened up, then they are most likely complete) and the batteries charge light doesn't show up while plugged in, then they could be suffering from a bad AC jack. The replacement part is pretty cheap. Check eBay. You can then unsolder the old part and resolder the replacement one. I don't know how to solder, but I've seen it done and it doesn't look that difficult.

Edit: it looks like T4x power jacks don't even need to be soldered:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=53996

both of the thinkpads have all parts accounted for, including battery. when i plug either of them in, they both do the exact same thing. the charge light blinks on for one millisecond and then it blinks off.

so is it the ac jack on the laptop or the ac plug? i guess i'll try replacing the ac jacks first?

frankiepankie · #9 Post by **frankiepankie** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:16 am

Motherboard can be fried, or the power supply. Did you tried exchanging the power supply's between the two ThinkPads?

phool@round · #10 Post by **phool@round** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:48 pm

Both Thinkpads are exhibiting the same symptoms, swapping the power supplies will not change the results. Either both motherboards are fried or both power supplies are. What's the chance that could happen when these laptops where given to celerystalksme by two different people? I'm buying a lottery ticket......

frankiepankie · #11 Post by **frankiepankie** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:41 pm

You could go and look up on the IBM site if one of the two ThinkPads has warranty left.

If you are lucky, the answer is yes and you can call IBM to pick your laptop up and let them fix it.

ThinkPad T40...broken. Fixable?

ThinkPad T40...broken. Fixable?

Who is online