T43 errors aplenty (all done)

[mr.motoring]

Hello all,

I get some great knowledge out of this forum, but for these problems, I'm stumped. I will post some strange errors for your curiosty (and possibly to help me diagnose) that have manifested themselves on several T43s.

The first will load Windows and as it finishes loading the drivers and services, the hard drive stops, signals it wants to go to sleep, and the laptop shuts down. So I figure Windows could use a reinstall. Just to check, I remove the hard drive and boot a Linux CD, and everytime it gets to this statement: ACPI Bios found, activating modules: ac battery button fan processor thermal sensor, other cool gadgets, IBM exclusivities, etc.), it does the same thing and the T calls it a night.

Next up is a Thinkpad I think had ... old-age problems, or just possibly a faulty IDE (or should I say SATA) controller. Upon startup, and just to piss me off by doing it randomly, I get a 0200: Failure fixed disk error 7. Sometimes it will boot and run Windows with no problem. Then again, it seems to occur less after the first cold boot. This happens even without the HD inserted. This one also has an annoying Computrace screen when you just want to enter the BIOS and tinker. Did some googling and never knew some of these laptops came with this stuff. I'd like to know how to turn it off for good.

And finally, a T43 that boots to the splash screen, all the time, and there it sits, by itself if left alone and even if I try to provoke it by prodding with a keystroke. Let's enter the BIOS, F1 punch, no dice. F12 to load Linux or anything? Nope. About the only things it registers from the keyboard is turning on the Thinklight and the screen brightness and of course the power button. I thought it may be a loose keyboard connection, so I firmly palmed that area and tried F1 or F12 and then I could get the entering the BIOS or Boot list message to display (PROGRESS!) but it again sat there and wouldn't move. I have not a clue for this one. It doesn't seem to be the--GPU in dire need of a lead weight on top--common ATI problem.

I have dissected all 3 of them and do not see any noticeable problems, like corrosion, exploded or melted chips, or coffee spills (man I wish I did see coffee spills!).

[mr.motoring]

I fixed the third laptop!

Some credit is due to a thread I read on here where someone encountered a freezing problem on a T23. Flexing the board unfroze the laptop and the problem was traced to a loose crystal chip.

Well, I noticed the same thing when I pushed down on the bottom right corner of the board. I now knew the problem was on the bottom right quadrant. Flexing that corner up produced better, more stable results. Now I knew the problem was on the bottom right and top side. When I test booted into Windows, an error balloon popped up saying one of the USB devices was drawing too much current. I figured this was related to the current problem. Bingo! My freezing RTC problem and USB malfunction had to be coming from the Southbridge chip. Maybe the chip came loose like ATI's... so I reflowed it... and reassembled... and hit the power button... keyboard responds!!! and it boots all the way to Windows with no errors!!!

Thanks to this forum, a T43 lives again. Time to diagnose the others...

[ajkula66]

The second one with 0200 error will need a new planar, I'm sorry to say.

[mr.motoring]

You're probably right about that one...

But another T43 has been fixed (first one above)! And again it was because of a loose southbridge chip.

[sktn77a]

Interesting......... RoHS, we love you!

(NOT!)

[mr.motoring]

Interesting......... RoHS, we love you!

(NOT!)

No kidding.

Well, I fixed the last laptop, which had (you guessed it) a loose Southbridge. Fixed disk failure is now gone for good.

Now all three will undergo long-term testing (by loaning them to my sisters). I gotta say though, I wouldn't expect the Southbridge to get hot enough like the GPU for it to become loose. Especially since these are Intel units, and Intel GPU's have not been known to fail like their ATI counterparts. Then again, RoHS stepped onto the scene right around this time...