Major HALP!

[slumpnc]

T43 [2679 UN4]...bought 4-5 years ago at school. Just upgraded the memory from 1 to 2 gigs from Crucial and now it won't boot at all, have to shake to even get into the BIOS. Can't boot Linux CD, assume the MB is fried. Of course I didn't renew the warranty in July . Sooo, how hard is it to replace this and do I risk losing the machine by doing it myself. I think the HD is intact and certainly don't want to lose any data on it. I'm a semi-noob. XP SP 2 is loaded.

So my questions are:
How hard is this / is it a bad idea to order one and install myself?
Do any parts (CPU, etc.) need to be replaced?
Is there a written or downloadable guide/diagram that would helpful?

I'm a poor (on a budget) and have been really happy with the machine overall. It's been through a lot of travel and had some serious game and Quickbook/biz use. Lenovo recently replaced the power socket on the back right before the warranty expired. Any help or suggestions appreciated. Thx!

[killer]

slumpnc,

Welcome to the forums. When I saw the topic (Major HALP) I wondered if he was an army officer.

Anyway ...

Has the problem only happened since the new RAM was fitted?
Have you tried removing the RAM modules one at a time?
My T43 (1871) has a RAM module beneath the keyboard. I don't know about 2769 models but it may be that you need to check this out.
RealBlackStuff recently reported having problems with his T43 which he seems to have worked out is caused by the southbridge chip. See topic here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=79901

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the forum.

When you open the RAM slot on the bottom and take the RAM out, you will find the mobo part number.
Look for a replacement on eBay. Prices usually range between $99 and $300.
You can do the replacement yourself if you can hold a Phillips #0 screw driver, just download the Hardware Maintenance Manual and follow that.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-58791
You won't need any other parts, as you can reuse everything else.
You may also have a loose GPU, which can be repaired for a lot less. You'd still need to take it apart though.
See also these threads:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=65505
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77322
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=79901

PS: and when you post, please always give the full 7-char. TYPE-Model, such as TYPE 2679-AF2

There is no 2769, must be a typo...

[slumpnc]

Many :cheers y'all. It's a 2679...UN4 I believe. I'll try the other avenues b/f replacing the MB. As long as it's not the mega-super-end of the world I'll be OK. I'll tweak the memory first then order a new MB if need be. So any compatible one off of Ebay is acceptable/trustworthy? Thx again.

Welcome to the forum.

When you open the RAM slot on the bottom and take the RAM out, you will find the mobo part number.
Look for a replacement on eBay. Prices usually range between $99 and $300.
You can do the replacement yourself if you can hold a Phillips #0 screw driver, just download the Hardware Maintenance Manual and follow that.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-58791
You won't need any other parts, as you can reuse everything else.
You may also have a loose GPU, which can be repaired for a lot less. You'd still need to take it apart though.
See also these threads:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=65505
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77322
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=79901

PS: and when you post, please always give the full 7-char. TYPE-Model, such as TYPE 2679-AF2

There is no 2769, must be a typo...

[RealBlackStuff]

I see yours has an ATI X300 GPU. It's normally the ATI 7500 that gives problems.
In your case you could well also have a loose Southbridge, as referred to above.
You need to take the front part of the keyboard bezel off. The Southbridge (big black Intel square) can be found under the wifi-card. Put pressure on, then try to boot. Try different corners on the SB, maybe you are lucky to get it going again.
If so, wait till I get my mobo back, to see if that works again.

[slumpnc]

I see yours has an ATI X300 GPU. It's normally the ATI 7500 that gives problems.
In your case you could well also have a loose Southbridge, as referred to above.
You need to take the front part of the keyboard bezel off. The Southbridge (big black Intel square) can be found under the wifi-card. Put pressure on, then try to boot. Try different corners on the SB, maybe you are lucky to get it going again.
If so, wait till I get my mobo back, to see if that works again.

I'll check it out when I get home from work today. If the Southbridge is loose, is there an adhesive or something that I can re-attach it with? Also, if it is loose then why does the 2 gig memory test come in OK at boot? Wouldn't it indicate an error then? Thx

[sjthinkpader]

Memory goes thru the high speed bus on the Northbridge. Southbridge handles slower speed functions such as IDE, USB etc.

[RealBlackStuff]

Read the posts I referred you to!

[ajkula66]

Pull all the RAM out of the machine and turn it on. Does it beep?

[slumpnc]

Took her apart, pushed on the Southbridge and nothing changed. I made a Slax bootable flash drive and it loaded halfway before saying 'catastrophic error...this should not ever happen' and failing to load. I think I'm looking at hard drive failure as well, but I can't be for sure. As far as I can tell it's the mobo, I still had to shake it to get into the BIOS a couple of times.

Edit: and yes there were multiple beeps after I tried booting w/ no RAM.

[ajkula66]

Well, then the board is not completely shot, which is a good thing. If it beeps, there's still life in it...however, intermittent booting is a very bad thing...

My suggestion would be that your best bet would be to have the board replaced...

Good luck.

[GACrabill]

T43 [2679 UN4]...Just upgraded the memory from 1 to 2 gigs from Crucial and now it won't boot at all, have to shake to even get into the BIOS.

As suggested earlier (but I didn't see a specific response), what happens when you attempt to boot with only one memory stick ?
What happens if you repeat with the other memory stick ?
Have you tested one memory stick at a time using the bootable Memtest86+ product ?

A bad memory stick (or two incompatible sticks) can cause failures at any time during the boot process.

[slumpnc]

Yeah I've tried every conceivable memory combination and nothing has worked reliably. Windows nor Linux will boot under any circumstance. From what I've read here and other threads I can only assume it's the mobo. Is Newegg the best place to look? There's one on ebay for $20 but I'm skeptical of that one. Thx!

[ajkula66]

Your best bet is to post a WTB ad in the forum's Marketplace, and I'm sure that someone will come to your rescue.

Good luck.

[GACrabill]

Yeah I've tried every conceivable memory combination and nothing has worked reliably. Windows nor Linux will boot under any circumstance.

But it doesn't matter that Windows or Linux will not boot reliably.

This must be done to prove that it is not just a simple memory problem :
- Have you tested one memory stick at a time using the bootable Memtest86+ product ?

- Go to http://www.memtest.org/
- download the .iso
- burn it to a cd
- boot it and let it fully test each memory stick

If each memory stick fails when tested individually with Memtest86+, then retry each stick in the other memory slot. If that fails, then retry with a good memory stick.

If Memtest86+ always fails every memory stick in either memory slot, then and only then will you know for sure that the solution is an expensive one.

Your original problem description ("Just upgraded the memory from 1 to 2 gigs from Crucial and now it won't boot at all") is the important detail to focus on. Either the sticks aren't fully pushed into the slots at 45 degree angles before locking down, -or-, one or both of the sticks won't work in your laptop.