t42p started up in my bag

[sinc]

Something strange and worrysome happened to me today. I'm quite sure I shut down my t42p (2373 HTU) when I left work. I put it in my bag, and 2 1/2 hour later, when I go to get it out of my bag I find it RUNNING. Hot as hell. 1st question: Can I run some program to see if any damage has been done (it does seem fine; I'm writing on it)? 2nd question: how did this happen? It is set to standby when I close the lid, so how can it be running closed? Another ther bizarre thing: in 'power options properties' I have it set, when running on batteries, to standby after 5 min. Again, why would it be running on batteries in my bag for 2 1/2 hours, draining the battery almost completely, when it is set to standby after 5 min? By the way, I've tried it- when I close the lid it does standby, and I'm pretty sure that when I leave it running on batteries for 5 min it does standby.
3rd question- anything I can do to prevent this from happening?

A bit of background- this happened to me once (although at the time I just closed the lid to standby when leaving work). But that was a year ago or more, and since then I've reinstalled xp and rebuilt the system, because there were lots of issues. The copy of xp I use now is not an image of my old system, it's an entirely fresh install from another source.

Thanks.

[Harryc]

Check the lid close switch for proper operation. It's a bad idea in general to transport a machine while in standby.

[jdhurst]

In addition to what HarryC said, have you added something like a wireless mouse? I suspended and transported my T41 for years with no issues at all. I was surprised, then, on suspending my T61 and half an hour later find it running. Culprit? My new VX Nano cordless mouse turns on the computer. So long as I turn off the mouse *before* suspending the computer, I am fine.
... JDH

[sjthinkpader]

Check the lid close switch for proper operation. It's a bad idea in general to transport a machine while in standby.

I do that twice everyday until the reed switch design on the T6x. Now I have to make sure it does enter standby before putting it in the bag.

[sinc]

I don't transport it in standby, and as I said, I'm pretty sure I turned it off. I used to transport it in standby.

I don't think my mouse turned it on but I'll look into that. It's a bluetooth mouse, and bluetooth was on, but I'm pretty sure the mouse was off. There's a switch on the bottom. Even so, why wouldn't it at least go into standby, because a) the lid is closed and b) it was running on batteries, not being used, for more than 5 min.

Thanks

[rkawakami]

1st question: Can I run some program to see if any damage has been done... <snip>

Best thing I can suggest is run all of the tests under the Systemboard and CPU/Coprocessor sections of PC Doctor for DOS.

2nd question: how did this happen?

As Harryc said, it could be a defective/out-of-position lid switch. Also check your BIOS settings to see if there's anything strange in your Config/Power settings (like "resume on time").

3rd question- anything I can do to prevent this from happening?

Use hibernation . That will require pressing the power button to awaken the system or receiving a "magic packet" if Wake On LAN is enabled.

Even so, why wouldn't it at least go into standby, because a) the lid is closed and b) it was running on batteries, not being used, for more than 5 min.

I've seen Windows "forget" the Power Management settings. Even though the dropdown box says "5 minutes", it may not use it. Change the time to something else, then back to 5 minutes, then click "Apply".

[sinc]

I don't think I've been clear. I don't use standby and didn't today, as far as I know. I really think the system started spontaneously. I do realize that this seems impossible. I've just been talking about standby because that's the second weird thing that happened: It shouldn't have stayed running anyway, because I have it set to standby.
Has anyone heard of a t4x that starts on it's own? Could the start button be faulty, or get squeezed by the lid?

Thanks

[Mike Blake]

Sinc,

Hmm, you do have closing the lid set to place the system in Standy, you said. I wondering if this might have happened: the lid was shut before Windows was totally, completely shut down, and the trigger to send it into Standby interrupted that, and placed it into Standby. Then perhaps one of the other things mentioned here, like the wireless mouse, or some weird BIOS thing woke it up from that. Or perhaps the Standby command never took effect but did keep it from shutting down.

But I admit I'm totally making guesses. It just reminded me of something I had happen earlier this week. For the first time I got impatient after telling Windows to shutdown, and I didn't wait for the screen to turn off, but closed it while on it was still in progress. Later I heard the fan spin up, and when I opened the lid it had frozen during shutdown. In my case, though, I have the lid set to "Do nothing."

[rkawakami]

Ah, sorry to mis-read that into your post. As far as I know, the only way to have a system start up with the lid closed and to have been fully shutdown beforehand would be:

- pressing the power button on the keyboard
- pressing the power button on a docking station
- defect in the hardware triggered a power up

Since the laptop was not docked I can only assume that your power button is flaky I just tried pressing on the closed lid of one of my T41 systems and could not get the power button underneath to activate. Your system would have to had a significant impact to turn on like that. I'd say that it's possible, but also highly unlikely, that something shorted out the contacts on the docking port connector on the bottom of the laptop, simulating an external power button. That leaves the hardware issue. Anything from a temporary short to a piece of metal rolling around inside the laptop. Granted, it would have to be a really odd occurrence for that to happen.

When you discovered the laptop exactly what was showing on the screen? The Windows sign on screen? The desktop? Were any programs (out of the ordinary) running?

BTW, the BIOS "resume on time" feature works only when the system has been placed into standby. I just tried it for the first time on one of my T41s. It did not wake from a full power down and I'm assuming that it won't wake from hibernation as well.

[Nick Y]

... of a t4x that starts on it's own? ....

I use SyncBack (the free version) set to perform backups at 6am. I have noticed a few times, not being up by 6 and so listening to the news, that the T43 starts firing up; the LEDs come on and the fan starts, but then after a few seconds it stops again. This is after having powered down the night before. I haven't investigated this further yet, but I assume it could power up fully.

BTW I would always check that the laptop has powered down fully, whether to sleep, hibernate or full shut down before moving it. The T41 lost a hard drive by being moved before it had completed shutting down; the disc head must have been jarred just at the wrong moment, i.e. when the shock protection had shut down, but the drive was still spinning.

[sinc]

Now we're getting somewhere. First to be more complete: 1) I do use a docking station at work. 2) I do use syncback, but it's not set to back up at the time it did.

It sounds like the reasonable possibilities are: 1) it was completely shut down when I undocked, but I hit the start button while undocking (it's right beside the undocking button) or 2) it wasn't actually completely shut down when I undocked. 3) when undocking, something shorted in the contacts underneath and made it start up again.

What surprises me is that the lid closed contact doesn't seem to indicate a state (lid is in closed position) but an action (lid was just closed). I'll check this in a minute by trying to start it up with the lid closed on the dock.

By the way , windows was fully on when I took it out of the bag- normal desktop was loaded.

Thanks again

[dr_st]

What surprises me is that the lid closed contact doesn't seem to indicate a state (lid is in closed position) but an action (lid was just closed).

That's always been this way.

I always have my laptops set to "do nothing" when closing the lid. If I want to put it in standby (which I rarely do), If just hit Fn+F4. When I want to turn it off for prolonged periods of time, I hibernate it (Fn+F12).

A couple of times it happened to me that I hit the hibernation process, and due to some weird power state on a PCMCIA/USB device, the hibernation was stopped midway and the computer remained on, which I only noticed a few hours later, after taking it out of my bag. Computer was very hot, of course, but no permanent damage, I just let it cool a bit before using it again.

[marcus8218]

Something strange and worrysome happened to me today. I'm quite sure I shut down my t42p (2373 HTU) when I left work. I put it in my bag, and 2 1/2 hour later, when I go to get it out of my bag I find it RUNNING. Hot as hell. 1st question: Can I run some program to see if any damage has been done (it does seem fine; I'm writing on it)? 2nd question: how did this happen? It is set to standby when I close the lid, so how can it be running closed? Another ther bizarre thing: in 'power options properties' I have it set, when running on batteries, to standby after 5 min. Again, why would it be running on batteries in my bag for 2 1/2 hours, draining the battery almost completely, when it is set to standby after 5 min? By the way, I've tried it- when I close the lid it does standby, and I'm pretty sure that when I leave it running on batteries for 5 min it does standby.
3rd question- anything I can do to prevent this from happening?

A bit of background- this happened to me once (although at the time I just closed the lid to standby when leaving work). But that was a year ago or more, and since then I've reinstalled xp and rebuilt the system, because there were lots of issues. The copy of xp I use now is not an image of my old system, it's an entirely fresh install from another source.

Thanks.

Sometimes the cause could be the Active Protection System. When you're machine is in movement, this may cause the hard drive to stop, due to the fact it is thinking there is shock involved and may/may not damage the hard drive and any other parts. To prevent this happening, you could uninstall the program, or change the sensitivity to Low. This usually occurs when you put you're laptop to standby and it may freeze due to the gravity sensor built-in on the T4X Series detecting shock. Once it is freezed, the only other way to get it unfrozen is to hold the Power button until the machine fully shuts down, and restart again.

Hope this helped