Dead T41

[mrufino1]

Hi, My first post here, I'm glad I found this forum. I have a t41 that I bought on ebay 2 months ago, and it has been great, until today. It is now dead, as in it won't turn on, no power, plugged in or on battery. I noticed that the clock was continually wrong the past 2 days when I start it up or wake it form hibernate- is it possible the CMOS battery is dead and that is preventing something? It worked fine last night, I shut it down, went to bed, and now nothing. I notice there is now a deep scratch/ small dent on the left palmrest that I had not noticed, and it is possible one of my kids scratched it, but they both say no, so I am not accusing! However, I am mystified by this. Any ideas? It is running xp pro and ubuntu 7.10, and runs both fantastically, when it turns on...

[zdriver]

I would be suspicious of the timing of the scratch. Sounds like it took a hit or a fall. Might be time to run an internal investigation...

Other than that, you can try reseating everything, ram, harddrive, wifi card, optical drive, and see if it powers up. If that fails, remove all the above items and see if there is a power on response.

[mrufino1]

Thanks, I can't even begin to think when this took a hit or a fall. I use it to record music on live gigs, and the other night I had my bag (with laptop in it) and a light underneath where I left it burned a hole in my bag, but the laptop functioned fine and did not appear to be affected (the hole didn't go all the way through the bag- I caught it in time). It also worked fine for 2 days after that incident and was on a lot- it was working well yesterday and I shut it off right before going to bed. It was sitting on my kitchen table, unplugged, and no one touched it during the night at all. Is it possible the motherboard is bad? Come to think of it, I did notice it was running a little slow yesterday and as I said, the clock was losing time, but I was downloading a large file via bittorent and I figured maybe that was the cause, now maybe I am thinking it was a sign something was going wrong?

[Brad]

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to say that if it has power and it doesn't turn on then you are looking at the motherboard.

Brad

[SMA]

ThinkPad's do run slower when running on battery.
Is it possible that you have been running the machine on battery for the last 2 days, without noticing it?
If so, then it might be that the battery is now completely drained.
Was the AC adapter also located in that bag when the accident with the light took place?
Take a look on the AC adapter.

[Kyocera]

Take a look on the AC adapter.

Also possible the AC adapter got damaged from some bad power in the club. I used to check all the power outlets we'd be using at clubs because they are notorious for having poor wiring.

[mrufino1]

The AC adapter is making a whining noise when I plug it in- I don't recall that ever happening, so maybe it is bad? I order a new one from ebay just now, so I'll see how that goes. If the AC adapter was bad, is it possible that it messed up the battery while charging it and rendered the battery useless too? Battery was on its way out anyway (about 1 hour on a full charge), so that wouldn't be a huge loss, I just hope the laptop is OK. I had it on a lot the past few days, so maybe I burned out the AC adapter?

[mrufino1]

I called lenovo today and the guy couldn't tell me too much without charging me, but he said something about a power reset. I cannot find any direct info on this, but have seen references to it. Can someone spell it out for me? Thanks!

[zdriver]

He is referring to unplugging the ac adapter and battery, pushing the power button about 15 times, holding it down for 30 seconds, then replacing your battery and ac adapter and give it a try.
This supposedly drains any residual charge from the components.

[mrufino1]

Thanks. That didn't help, so one of two things is going on I guess:
My ac adapter is bad (as I said, it is making a whining noise, sounds like water leaking out of a balloon), and the battery is bad (was headed that way anyway) so even with a reset there is nothing to power it (plugged in, there is not a light registering that any power is reaching the laptop), or something went bad inside the computer. I am hoping it is the former and have ordered a new AC adapter from ebay, if it is the latter then it sounds like it is beyond reasonable repair. Can anyone send positive energy that the adapter will solve it?! Just kidding, thanks for the help so far. What could go wrong on the motherboard that would make it this non-functional?

[BobA]

I think you're coming to the right conclusions. If there isn't anything when you plug it in and try to power it up, BOTH battery and AC are bad (either one would've given you something) .. OR .. motherboard is bad. If you get a guaranteed good AC or battery with juice, either should give you power and verify that it is or isn't the motherboard.

From what you said happened, it's hard to imagine that the battery was completely drained overnight (they always have a little power in them - enough to at least try to start the system). Also hard to imagine that the battery just stopped - but easy to imagine that the AC adapter just stopped. Unfortunately, my guess is motherboard .. sorry.

Try wiggling the AC plug into the motherboard (you probably thought of that, didn't you).

Good luck.

[mrufino1]

Well, new AC adapter came today, doesn't whine or hiss, but the laptop still doesn't start or power on, so I guess it is a paperweight. Any ideas as to where to get it repaired? I found a guy on ebay who says he can fix these, but I don't know. I guess there is nothing to lose except postage, it's already dead.

[pianowizard]

so I guess it is a paperweight.

Many people buy parts machines. Try selling it on Craigslist for $100 -- I think you'll find a buyer. I just sold a Thinkpad 240 (much older than your T41) with major issues for $40 on Craigslist.

[BobA]

Before going out to eBay, I would suggest you investigate fixes or motherboard swaps here on the forum. This community is pretty good about stuff like that.

I would check with user jamiphar (on this forum) about the possibility of repairing it. He's done work for me and others on the forum and has developed a really good reputation for quality, responsible work.

I do sell some T41s if you decide to go that route. We could just swap your drive out. Unfortunately, I don't think I'd be interested in the system as is.

You should get more than $100 for it though. What screen is it - XGA or SXGA? I've seen systems like yours go for close to $200 .. depending on what's inside (memory, wifi, hdisk, etc).

[Robbyrobot]

Hi, My first post here, I'm glad I found this forum. I have a t41 that I bought on ebay 2 months ago, and it has been great, until today. It is now dead, as in it won't turn on, no power, plugged in or on battery.

How I wish you were in Europe and could send me this machine to play with... it sounds salvageable, but without actually looking at it, it's impossible to tell what's wrong. Is there really nobody in your neighborhood who plays with such machines as a hobby and would take a look at this?

I've had so many Thinkpads that were "defective" and came back to life after being treated in amazingly simple ways... got one on my desk now, a T21 that had no backlight. Not the fault of the display, and I thought the mainboard was defective. This week I cleaned out the area around the display plug on the mainboard with isopropanol and a toothbrush - and now it's in great shape again. Sometimes things can be so simple.