T43p "hangs" at start-up and shut-down (help please)

[Alejandro Audisio]

So... my T43p is driving me crazy with an error I cannot systematically replicate and that will occur randomly – it first started about 4 weeks ago. I’m running a T43p with Windows XP Professional and the following hardware profile:

ThinkPad T43p 2669-Q1U: PM 780 (2.26GHz), 2GB RAM, 100GB 7200rpm HD, 15inch 1600x1200 LCD, 128MB ATI FireGL V3200, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11bg wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, etc.

The Error most commonly occurs (about 90% of all occurrences) when I boot up the system… the machine will go through the normal boot process and when it gets to the blue screen with the logon & password page (to begin click User Name, etc). Here it will either turn the mouse pointer automatically to the hand/finger mode and keep it there no matter where I move the mouse on the screen… but it will refuse to allow me to select anything (i.e. it doesn’t let me select a User Name and I cant input my password as almost all the keyboard does not react, only Caps Lock will work). The other version of the hang will be that it will give me a normal mouse pointer, but after I select the user profile and input my password and press enter or click the continue button, it will just idle there and not go onto the next step when it tells me its loading my user profile & preferences… i.e. it never gets to the desktop page. It will just stay there and not move on….

In both versions of the above described “hang”, the hard drive light will blink occasionally and I can hear it working… and its not a complete freeze/hang as I can still move around the mouse pointer and toggle the Caps Lock and NumLk… also, the mouse pointer will move around the screen but when I go over a button it will not show me the “hand/finger” icon so I’m not able to advance or move forward from this screen once it has decided to “hang”.

The second most common version will happen after I finish a work session and want to turn off the machine. I will select the turn-off sequence and the desktop will close as usual, only that after it moves off to the final blue screen where the legend reads “Windows is Shutting Down” it never gets past that…. Again, it’s a similar freeze to the other version because the mouse pointer still moves and the Caps Lock and NumLk keys will still react as usual… but the system never closes down.

In all cases, the only “solution” I have is to do a kind of hard-reset by pressing the power button (and keeping it pressed down) for 3-4 seconds until the machine shuts down. After this, I wait for 1 minute or so and then turn it back on again. When I do this, most of the time the machine will boot up again normally… I’ve never gotten a blue systems screen or a message that the machine failed to boot up… most of the time the system will just “forget” it just hung. In less than 10-15% of cases will the error repeat itself…. I think one time I had to hard-reset and restart 3 times until it rebooted back to normal.

I’ve checked the Event Viewer logs and nothing of significance is recorded there… maybe I’m not reading this right but some techie friends I’ve asked say that its possible that this error occurs before Windows is able to write something to the logs…. Ive also run Chkdsk and it seems to have found nothing important but since it rebooted itself after running the complete test and I was not able to read the results report I cannot tell if it found some bad sectors on not... is there a chance this is Hard Disk related...??

Any leads, tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers from Buenos Aires,
Alejandro

[Harryc]

You may have (2) problems. Try an external USB keyboard to see if it helps with the start-up problem. If it does, your Thinkpad keyboard may be bad.

[Alejandro Audisio]

Thanks for the lead. You mention 2 (two) problems... the keyboard is one I see above, which one would be the other...?

I have a USB keyboard at home and will try it out this evening.... I just hope Im able to make the system hang so I can test it... however, just so I understand where you are coming from... why do you think it may be the keyboard, as I can observe the following behaviour from my machine:

a) when it "hangs", I do not have a complete keyboard failure as various things still work like:
- Caps Lock toggles on and off as usual
- NumLk function toggles on and off as usual
- various Fn+ second key features still work as the keyboard light
- display brightness controls using Fn + Home and end keys function normally

b) also, when the sistem boot up normally, Ive never had any keyboard lack of response issues

Finally... do you suggest I plug in the USB Keyboard after it hangs or do you suggest using the machine exclusively with an external USB keyboard attatched and see if it fails..??

Thanks for your patience with this....

Cheers,
Alejandro

[Harryc]

You're over analyzing the situation., The keyboard suggestion was just somthing to try. I'd try it full time for a bit until it fails...or not . .

[Mike Blake]

Is this the same machine that had the wireless mouse problems in another topic you had?

[billp117]

I would suggest a few long shots:

Restore Windows XP to about five weeks earlier.

Do you have the latest BIOS? One of the updates refers to weird keyboard stuff.

Is your hard drive corrupted? Can you do a Windows XP repair? Have your tested the HD?
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 70578.html

Remove any external parts like a mouse, external hard drive, etc.

It will not take much effort to try these suggestions...let us know how it works out.

[Alejandro Audisio]

Is this the same machine that had the wireless mouse problems in another topic you had?

Hi Mike... yes, it is.

[Alejandro Audisio]

Hi Bill.... I know I dont have the latest BIOS. Ive checked the hard drive but only with the windows Chkdsk... the person I bought the machine from has suggested I do a Hard Disk check with a specific Hitachi software, I hope to get around to that sometime this weekend. I dont have external drives... only external thing I use normally is the bluetooth mouse which Ive now "retired" until I can fix this mess.

Ive never updated BIOS before... can someone point me to a site where I can read a step by step update procedure thats kind of Dummy Proof..???

Thanks very much,
Alejandro

I would suggest a few long shots:

Restore Windows XP to about five weeks earlier.

Do you have the latest BIOS? One of the updates refers to weird keyboard stuff.

Is your hard drive corrupted? Can you do a Windows XP repair? Have your tested the HD?
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 70578.html

Remove any external parts like a mouse, external hard drive, etc.

It will not take much effort to try these suggestions...let us know how it works out.

[Alejandro Audisio]

Ive been using a USB keyboard and the error persists.....

Any further ideas...??

Thanks !!!

[ajkula66]

Physically remove the keyboard (but keep it connected) and turn the machine on with the USB keyboard plugged in.

Once you're at the IBM splash screen, disconnect the laptop keyboard.

Let is know what happens.

[Alejandro Audisio]

Update: Ive updated the BIOS to the latest version and the machine has not frozen since.... I will keep my fingers crossed this stays this way.

Else, I will have to try to see if I can do the keyboard removal test.... I will take a guess (long shot), but is the above test an attempt to see if I have some sort of motherboard issue...??

[ajkula66]

Yes.

Freezing on boot when it comes to T43/p units usually equals a loose SouthBridge chip.

Of course, a number of other factors (bad keyboard, hard drive, battery...) could give similar symptoms.

Good luck.

[Alejandro Audisio]

Well... Ive tested the hard drive and found no errors... I guess I have some sort of motherboard and keyboard issue.... needless to say, Im hugely dissapointed....