one more pulsing T23

[acz]

Well, I now have a T23 (2647-HNU out of warranty) with the pulsing fan. It used to work just perfectly.

But now the fan comes on intermittently right after the power button is pushed, and nothing else happens after that.
Emboldened by all the good advice here, I took the T23 apart (what an adventure).
There was a loose "standoff" pictured here:
http://s180.photobucket.com/albums/x24/acz_photo/T23/
but I might have knocked it out when I was taking the machine apart.
Anyway, all the inductors seem to be OK.
I took the motherboard to a local laptop repair shop and had the expert there solder the standoff back in place. He said that he looked over the board with a magnifiying glass and could not find any other problems.
So then I put it all back together, and I am pleased to report that everything went back together pretty smoothly, I did not have any extra parts or screws.

However, the symptom remains.

I tried the gentle calisthenics to flex the boad that were recommended in another thread here, but there is no improvement.

So, I am asking what is the best way forward now?
The local outfit that does IBM warranty repairs said they don't do component-level work, and the cost of parts and labor to replace the motherboard would be more than buying a more modern laptop. That sounds right.

Should I buy a motherboard here and do the install myself? Should I trade the machine and some cash for a working T23? The 48GB hard drive was working fine when the machine stopped working.
I am sure that others have weighed the pros and cons of fixing the old versus starting anew.

Any strategic advice would be welcome. I am located in Sacramento.
Thank you!

[rkawakami]

My HNU is at home at the moment. It's the system I normally use every day but I brought a 7NU to work today.

The assertion that it is not cost effective to do any component level diagnosis is right. It might take an hour to find a broken connection (if it is even visible) and probably less time to electrically probe the system (only if your repair shop has access to schematics or has done extensive troubleshooting on the T23). All of that time would be chargable as labor costs and would effectively run as much as a motherboard you could find yourself on eBay. That would be my best suggestion as to how to proceed if you want to keep the system.

Indeed, I also have a system (maybe two) with the same broken standoff.

[phool@round]

On two of my recent systems (both 9MU's) with pulsing fan the voltage regulating coils (inductors) looked like they where still connected but in fact where not on one side. I resoldered (as I do anyways) and both booted normally. To say I'm stuborn is an understatement. I've never had that issue for any other reason, not that something else doesn't cause it but I'm very suspect.

Even though the tech looked at them through a magnifying glass I wonder if they tried to *LIFT* them. I've done so many times where it looks good until I lift and then it's rather easy to spot the issue. Only one of the two coils needs to have one side disconnected to have the pulsing fan.

A system board is cost prohibitive.

Wish I lived closer, I'd take a look at no cost.

[acz]

Thanks for your thoughts. I will put this on the back burner for now, since I must attend to other matters. However, I think I will loop back around, take out the motherboard again and look at those inductors. What do I have to lose?
In the meantime, I may just keep an eye open via Craigslist and here on this board for for a used T23, or else a T41p (like the one I am typing on) or a T42 as a replacement for that busted T23.
Thank you.