T43 Motherboard

[Mark W]

I hope that someone can give me some advice, I have a T43 or had a T43! someone knocked some drink over on a table, in the rush to get the computer out of the way it dropped onto the floor only about a 1 foot fall, The computer will not start the light is on but it wont start even on battery or mains power supply.
I have been told that it is a broken motherboard, I was just wondering if it could be something other than that. such as a blown fuse, is there anyway too confirm if it is the motherboard or anything else I can look at before getting a replacement motherboard.
Many thanks for any advise.

[Harryc]

Did any of the drink get into the Thinkpad? Can you hear the fan run when powered on? If you hold a flashlight up to the LCD do you see a faint image? If you plug in an external LCD/monitor do you see an image on it?

[Mark W]

Many thanks for the reply,the computer got slightly wet on the bottom, nothing went into the keyboard.when you push the on button nothing happens it does not start, the fan is not running
if you plug the computer into the power supply the charging light blink a few times and then stays on like it is charging the battery.

Many thanks

[Harryc]

I'd assume that some liquid seeped into the laptop and shorted out a major component on the systemboard. Try this, remove the RAM and power up. If the laptop does not beep then the systemboard is likely toast.

[Mark W]

Harry,
Many thanks for the reply . I have just tried that and it looks like it could be toast, is there anywhere on this forum where I can find information on changing the motherboard, or is it a major task. I will also need to find a replacement board for it, I think the board is a 39T5636
I will have a look on the web to see if I can pick one up
Many thanks

[Harryc]

I don't recall seeing a Howto specifically on systemboard replacement. Your best bet is just to follow the steps in the T43 Maintenance manual...link below.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 39298.html

[Mark W]

Thanks Harry
It made good night time reading, will have a look around to try to pick up a board, if putting in a new board would it be worth upgrading it.

Many thanks

[RealBlackStuff]

T43 and its twin R52 mobos come in several flavors:
1) Intel integrated graphics (T43/R52)
2) ATI X300/M22 32, 32MB discrete graphics (R52 only)
3) ATI X300/M22 64, 64MB discrete graphics (T43/R52)
4) ATI X600/M24 GL-128, 128MB discrete graphics (T43p only)

1) runs coolest, 4) runs hottest.

T43/R52 boards are fully interchangeable, except some R52 mobos have a Firewire port, an opening for which is missing in the T43 case.

Mobos from T40/T41/T42/R50/R51 will physically fit, but use different CPU and RAM.