T43p Sound disappeared

[Think43p]

This afternoon out of the blue the sound on my T43p just disappeared. I reinstalled the drivers but no use.

I only hear the beep when i disconnect the power supply. Other than that I cannot hear sounds from either the in built speakers or using headphones.

Rebooted twice but nothing. No sound during shut down or startup.

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks, I really need the sound urgently.

Thanks

[ajkula66]

Try downloading a "live" Linux CD and booting from it. If you choose Mint (www.linuxmint.com) the sound should be right there.

If not, the sound card on the board is gone, and you'll need a PCMCIA sound card.

If you do get the sound in Mint, you may want to save all the important files and re-install XP from scratch.

Good luck.

[Think43p]

Thanks George,

Funny thing happened. Last night I scheduled a Checkdsk and this morning after it ran, whoa, the sound's back again.

Don't know if it was the chkdsk that got it back or simply cooling off the HDD since of late I have been noticing the HDD temp 10 deg higher than usual.

Will post more info if I get some conclusive evidence if it happens again.

Best regards

[poshgeordie]

We see this on t43's when the Southbridge chip needs resoldering (sorry!).

If / when the sound goes off try pressing down on the palmrest to one side of the trackpad to see if the sound reappears, in which case it'll be the SB, which is at the front of the motherboard under the wireless card which is just under the trackpad.

Also get a mini jack and plug it in and out of the green headphone socket on the LHS a few times - sometimes dirt can get into the contacts and open circuit them and this will stop sound from the internal speakers.

If your temperature is rising that much you may also want to remove the keyboard and palmrest and remove the fan assembly and clean the dirt out. Also renew the heatsink compound on the CPU with a very thin layer of new stuff (don't just put the fan back on again without renewing the heatsink compound).

[Think43p]

Would you know if Thinkpad T43/p have known issues with random freezing (not shutting down) related to the GPU or southbridge?

Mine froze 4 times today.

Added: Freezes almost always when I start playing video files

[Harryc]

GPU and Southbridge problems do happen on T43/P's, but it's not as common as on T40s, T41s, and T42s.

[poshgeordie]

Yes the T43 series suffers from freezing, quite often because it cannot access the Hard Drive - another component controlled by the SB.

I'd suggest removing the palm rest and wireless card, and when it freezes to press on top of the SB chip (the big square one at the front centre of the motherboard under the wifi card) and see if it "unfreezes".

Unfortunately we're seeing this more and more on this model, and does tie in with you losing audio as well.

There are companies around in US who can reflow (resolder) the chip - do a search for some names.

[Think43p]

I might be travelling to the UK/Europe in July and August. Maybe I can contact you directly there.

Can you send me a Pm with the details regarding costs.

Thanks

[poshgeordie]

Hi and apologes for the delay in replying to your post and PM.

Yes we will be able to help you and carriage isn't too bad from Belgium / Europe.

I'll reply properly when I'm in work.

Kind regards

Nick