T42 is dead

[andykrej]

My dearly beloved T42 won't switch on. I switched it off yesterday evening, left it with battery (60% charged) and charger connected and today it is completely dead. No lights, and neither battery nor a/c adapter can be used to switch it on.

I have checked all fuses on the famous fuse map (except f13, which I can't find), and they're OK.

Is there somewhere on the board, I can check if power is really going into the system?

My next step would be to try with a different CPU. What do you suggest?

[sktn77a]

You're probably wasting your time swapping out the CPU as they are the most robust component in the entire system. Sounds like a motherboard issue other than a fuze.

[andykrej]

Well, I did swap it before reading your post. Didn't work.

My battery puts out 12 V (more than the normal 10.8 ) on the terminals. Could that fry the mainboard?

[Harryc]

Check the output of the AC adapter at it's center pin with a multimeter. It should read 16vDC.

[andykrej]

It's 16,6 V.

I have another adapter somewhere. I'll check later to see if it's better.

[Harryc]

Remove the battery, remove the RAM. remove all drives and cards/cables. Press the power button down repeatedly for 10 reps, then hold it down for 30 seconds. Plug in the AC adapter. Power on, do you get any system beeps? If not, the system board is most likely bad.

[andykrej]

Thanks for posting. Already tried that one. Didn't work.

I guess the main board is toast...

I was hoping somebody could point out some components to check. I'm sure it's something easy to fix when you know it.

[lifrancis]

If the unit was working before you turned it off, then may be the problem is the switch itself. Try to get another T4X keyboard and see if that will work.

[andykrej]

Have thought the same already, and tried it with a different keyboard. No success

I'll try it with a different power supply and post the results.

[ajkula66]

Remove all the RAM and power the unit. Does it beep?

[Binh]

andykrej
Try to do the followings (it work's on my "dead" T41):
- Attach the battery
- Connect the external power supply (i.e. AC adaptor). You may see the light indicating that the battery is being charged.
- Disconnect the external power supply, and, within 1-2 seconds, turn on the computer.

[kankan]

Hi there,

I had a similar problem. the ac adapter lead had broken from various people tinking it was a skipping rope. it finally died with a short. I got a new lead on ebay and when pluged it in the t41was completely dead. i tried the remove all drives and memory and battery and hey presto it worked. saved again by thinkpad .com. thankyou