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Dead T20

T20-T23 Series and T30. NOT for T25-Retro.
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Author
iganas
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:31 pm
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Dead T20

#1 Post by iganas » Fri Apr 21, 2017 4:45 am

This might have been touched upon in other topics, but I couldn't find it through search. Feel free to move it to a relevant thread, if that already exists.

My T20 doesn't power up at all, just flashes HDD LED at the same time as I press power, but doesn't even try to boot up.
It all started up as random lockups and shutdowns while in windows 98 setup. After somehow managing to complete the setup, it used to hang on installing one specific driver, I think it was either the Hotkey or Audio driver. Then sometimes it would just stay in black screen, with system running in the background and all LEDs staying on. I remember it didn't even react to forced shut down, so I had to remove the battery and power cord to shut it down.
I replaced the CMOS - the same. Replaced the RAM - the same. Sometimes after multiple attempts it would just stop reacting to power button at all with no other indications. I replaced the CPU into a 900mhz - still the same. Now it's in a state as described above - a flashing HDD LED at the same time the power button is pressed. If I let it sit unpluged for a few hours, I can turn it on for say 10 minutes, then it shuts down again with the same HDD LED indication.
Removing the combo card has no effect.

Anyone familiar with this behavior? Is that the so called Blink of Death? Clearly it's a motherboard issue, but not sure which area. If anyone had experience of finding the misbehaving component on the motherboard, or even have a schematics file for it, that would be crazy benefitial.
Would really hate to sell this dinosaur in it's dead state
In use:
T450s: max spec
Occassional use:
T60: 15" 4:3 IPS, T7600G 2.66GHz, x1400, T61 fan, 120GB SSD, 3GB RAM, 4965AGN
Museum:
T20 @900mhz. X31 @1.4Ghz. T60 14"
Retired:
A20. T61p. T500. X220. T420. T420s. T430s

RealBlackStuff
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Posts: 23809
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: Dead T20

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:17 am

Sounds indeed like the BOD.
Use this particular Google search: https://www.google.com/advanced_search? ... as_qdr=all
and fill in: BOD to see a lot of answers.
Check this particular one: viewtopic.php?t=59577
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

iganas
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:31 pm
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: Dead T20

#3 Post by iganas » Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:23 pm

That is exactly the right info to fix it, thanks! I think it should be as a pinned thread, since this BOD issue seems to be quite prevalent
In use:
T450s: max spec
Occassional use:
T60: 15" 4:3 IPS, T7600G 2.66GHz, x1400, T61 fan, 120GB SSD, 3GB RAM, 4965AGN
Museum:
T20 @900mhz. X31 @1.4Ghz. T60 14"
Retired:
A20. T61p. T500. X220. T420. T420s. T430s

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