Busted T42?

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james2008 · #1 Post by **james2008** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:35 am

I banged the side of my computer against a wall yesterday. Some screws are missing from the bottom left corner, and the bottom cover flexes a bit. I think the mobo may have bent from the impact?

When I turned the computer on, the image was all garbled. Lines running across the screen; areas where only gray static was displayed. By pressing on the plastic below the keyboard (to the sides of the touchpad), I could change the way the image looked. For a split second, I was even able to make it look perfect. The hard drive would only read intermittently. By holding the computer at an angle, though, I was able to back up my files.

I tried to take the computer apart, but wasn't able to figure it out. I lost track of which screws go where. When I screwed it back together, it seemed to be in even worse shape. The image is even more out of whack, and the OS is very unstable.

Does this thing sound beyond repair? It sounds like a GPU issue, maybe? It's a 2379-DWU.

#2 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:54 am

I agree it sounds like a GPU issue.

james2008 · #3 Post by **james2008** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:59 am

Does that mean that the motherboard would need to be replaced?

Edit: I see it looks like it would need replacement or repair, and there's a company on eBay that does flat rate $50 repairs on T42 ATI GPU problems.

How can I confirm that's what the problem is?

#4 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:07 am

Remove the keyboard but keep the cable connected. Apply pressure directly to the GPU. If the screen changes when you do that, it's the GPU.

james2008 · #5 Post by **james2008** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:14 am

I'm afraid I don't know how to remove the keyboard. The manuals linked from here don't seem to be available right now:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ind=172475

Anywhere else I might find instructions? I tried doing it without instructions yesterday and made things worse.

#6 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:28 am

That link is working for me ...
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 192_01.pdf

james2008 · #7 Post by **james2008** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:37 am

That's odd. I've been getting a file not found error in IE and Firefox since yesterday on all of the PDFs on that site.

poshgeordie · #8 Post by **poshgeordie** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 1:53 pm

Sorry to hear of your problem James and hope you can sort it out.

The number and different screw lengths are a nightmare on the T4x's, so I did a set of diagrams which should help.

james2008 · #9 Post by **james2008** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 2:07 pm

That is an incredible set of diagrams. If I get some time to take another shot at fixing my PC, those will be very helpful. Thanks for creating and sharing it.

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