T42 System Board Problem (was WTB in Marketplace)

[Trixie]

Well, it looks like the system board in my T42 had just died. It's the Mobility 9600 version. I had just bought a new LCD panel for it, too. If anyone has one to sell, or can give me some advice, let me know. Thanks.

Update: OK, this is weird. What happened was, I connected a USB drive, the computer immediately shut off. I tried to power it back on, nothing. I assumed it was fried, so I posted this from the desktop. As I'm typing I hear a beep in the other room, the ThinkPad re-powered itself. Can one of the moderators please move this to the appropriate forum? I think I'm going to need some advice on what might have happened and what I should do. Thanks again.

Admin note: Moved thread from Marketplace per user request

[jamiphar]

How much time passed before it powered itself back on? I wondered if you tripped a thermal fuse, which would reset once it had a chance to cool off.

[Trixie]

It was around 20 minutes before the TP powered up again. It's been running without any apparent problem so far. The USB mouse is working, and I was able to connect my camera. I'm assuming the USB hard-drive enclosure was fried; I'm not going to take a chance and connect it again. There was another post on the forum where someone had a similar issue.

[jamiphar]

Huh, how about that. Good idea to leave the drive disconnected, you can probably get a new case for a few bucks online.

[Trixie]

My fear is attaching a USB device that requires more power than either the mouse or camera. I'm going to wait until I get everything backed up, just in case.

[rkawakami]

Most, but not all, external USB hard drives will draw more than the 500mA or so that is rated for each USB port. In those cases, the external drive housing will have a jack for a power supply or in some cases you could use a Y-cable (or connector or adapter) which lets you insert a second USB plug in order to get more power.