Another T23 wont boot thread.

Message

johnson · #1 Post by **johnson** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:24 pm

cliffs: When I turn the computer on, all I hear is the fan going up and down with nothing showing on the screen. What are some other things I can check? I dont want to put out too much money for a board because a T4x series is not much more.

Up until a few weeks ago my T23 never had any problems in the 2 years ive had it. One day it locked up twice, the next day a few more times, and eventually +10 times. There was no error at all. Sometimes it would lock up before/during the Windows boot screen. I think a day after that it rebooted by itself and gave me a fan error and I did a search and found that this was a common problem. I took out the fan and was planning to replace it but today I put everything back together (with new thermal paste) and it got to the desktop with no problems but it locked up a minute later while I was loading a DVD. Now it wont boot up at all. When I took out both memory sticks, the laptop wouldnt boot up. I put it back in and all I hear is the fan.

Kaervak · #2 Post by **Kaervak** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:52 pm

It's the inductors. They're on the underside of the motherboard underneath the PCMCIA slots. Two little black squares with two solder points on them. They've come loose, happens somewhat often from what I've read on this board. Happened with my T23, took about 40 minutes to repair including tear down/rebuild. This is pretty much "the" thread about it/what they look like/where they are ectera: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=27245

If you have anymore questions, ask away.

johnson · #3 Post by **johnson** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:13 pm

I will tear apart the laptop again later today. If it is the inductors, should that have caused all the times it locked up after startup?

Kaervak · #4 Post by **Kaervak** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:18 pm

I'm pretty sure they were causing the lockups. As I understand it, the inductors are part of the voltage regulation circuitry. If they're loose and momentarily disconnect, the voltage drops and the system locks up. If I'm wrong, someone correct me.

#5 Post by **rkawakami** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:09 pm

Generally the problems I've seen relating to those devices is that the system will not even power up. But I suppose that if it's mostly connected, then it may work long enough and then lock or power off.

johnson · #6 Post by **johnson** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:46 pm

I took everything apart and sure enough one of the solder points on the inductors broke when i moved them around. Hope everything goes back to normal when i fix it.

Website · #7 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:01 pm

Ah, another possible success of the tricky inductor connections...

And yes, the one that I had initially that had this problem, started with the freezing problem, which I thought was the ram...

johnson · #8 Post by **johnson** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:06 am

Does it matter which way the inductor goes back? I thought I remembered the chip went back the opposite way of this picture.

Pic 2

#9 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:58 am

Inductor is non-polarized. Which is to say, it doesn't matter which way it goes back in as long as the leads are firmly connected.

johnson · #10 Post by **johnson** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:29 pm

It works!

The first time I soldered and put everything back together I still had the same problem. Took everything back apart and found that the connections werent good at all and the inductor fell off again. Took everything apart and back together and it booted up with no problems except for the time and date error (from removing the cmos battery). So far so good.

If it wasnt for this problem I wouldve never figured out how to take the T23 apart. Now I can disassemble and reassemble in 10-15 minutes and know where all the screws go.

Thank you everyone. Since this is such a common problem, why isnt there a sticky thread?

Website · #11 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:59 pm

There was, but it was pulled due to some discussion.

Maybe I will sticky this one....or back up and re-sticky my original thread...

Glad to hear that it worked on your system...congrats!! I still haven't gotten around to actually resoldering mine...

Another T23 wont boot thread.

Another T23 wont boot thread.

Who is online