I can'tbelieve my luck a T30 for $225.00

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Davemci · #1 Post by **Davemci** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:34 pm

I just got a T30 off eBay for $225. It is a 2366-JBU which is a 2.4GHZ with 60Gig Hard drive, WIFI and SXGA display. The seller said IBM wouldn't honor his warranty because of spill damage. The deal also included a working 390 Thinkpad. The T30 had 2 good batteries and a port replicator. When I received the t30 it would power up but no display and no beep codes. Just the sound of the Fan. IBM said it needed a new motherboard, DVD-CDRW drive and Wifi Combo card. I disassembled it and cleaned it all up. I noticed the motherboard was not the original. According to the specs is should have had a security chip and been a 91P7212 motherboard. There was a sticker on the motherboard that said "used". Anyway, I was looking for a motherboard and didn't see any reasonably priced ones. I decided to put the T30 back together since i was afraid it was going to be a while before I found a motherboard. After reassembling it I turned it on and it booted right up but the hard drive had an error. I had the t30 recovery disks and was able to restore the T30 to its original condition. The DVD and WIFI work great and the SXGA is so much better then XGA on my other T30. I should get enough for my old T30 to make this one almost a freebee. Very pleased.

danage · #2 Post by **danage** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:38 pm

what is probably the case is that the ram slots are defective. i've seen this behavior a plenty. it might fail sooner or later.

#3 Post by **ryengineer** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:40 pm

Wow, congrats, seeing a machine work just out of the blue is like a dream coming true, atleast for me.

#4 Post by **Kyocera** » Tue May 08, 2007 2:41 pm

Right Place Right Time. Good deal. T30 is a good machine, been there had that.

Davemci · #5 Post by **Davemci** » Wed May 09, 2007 9:52 am

You're right Danage. The t30 only came with 1 256Meg Ram. If I plug it in the front slot I get the beep codes in the rear slot it either works or I get nothing. So, it looks like the motherboard is bad. At least I'll be able to use it until I can score a new motherboard.

danage · #6 Post by **danage** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:07 am

you can fix the mainboard without disassembly if you find someone who can do a really really delicate smd solder job on those RAM banks. :)

#7 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:20 am

And with the latest BIOS update you can put a 1GB memory stick in the working slot. No need to swap mobo (yet).

Davemci · #8 Post by **Davemci** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:52 am

I was able to get the front Dimm socket working by inserting a stick from a wooden q-tip in front of the Dimm. does anyone know exactly what the problem with the socket is? I can do smt repair but I suspect it's an issue with the socket itself. Under extreme magnification the surface mount solder connection looks fine.

Davemci · #9 Post by **Davemci** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:54 am

Thanks, I didn't know that. I just flashed the t30 to 2.10 and the embedded controller to 1.07.

RealBlackStuff wrote:And with the latest BIOS update you can put a 1GB memory stick in the working slot. No need to swap mobo (yet).

danage · #10 Post by **danage** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:46 pm

Davemci wrote:I can do smt repair but I suspect it's an issue with the socket itself. Under extreme magnification the surface mount solder connection looks fine.

Yep, it does. But believe me, it's the problem. :)

I can'tbelieve my luck a T30 for $225.00

I can'tbelieve my luck a T30 for $225.00

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