Snap, Crackle, Pop, T21 reboot...

[-nick]

Hi folks,
Lately my trusty T21 has developed the habit of rebooting (or sometimes freezing) when I pick it up! I've swapped out hard drives with no change.

I'm guessing this simply is due to my cracked bezel making the mobo flex? Mine has a crack in the top corner between the pcmcia and hard drive slots, and has a matching crack on the opposite side next to the right arrow key.

Will replacing the bezel fix the trouble? Anybody else encounter this?

Cheers!
nick

[dsigma6]

Well...on the T23, this can be caused by loose inductors on the motherboard. I imagine it's a possibility on the T21, or some other harline fracture.

I'd open it up and take a closer look.

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Most likely a new bezel will not help the situation. More likely, there is a loose part and/or broken trace on the motherboard which is the cause or your problem. The two spots you have indicated that are cracked are in common locations. They may also be accompanied by a broken Ultrabay guide rail tab inside the system. This tab is secured to the back right corner (near the Ultrabay release lever) of the laptop.

Your problem could also be memory related. Make sure your module(s) is/are firmly mounted in the sockets.

[-nick]

hmm... this isn't the happy news I was looking for!

I pulled the board out and nothing looks obviously bad. When everything is up and running, I can wriggle the screen which makes the hard drive write and makes the infrared light flash a couple times.

I did just have a 256mb stick go dead (I only get a series of beebs when it's plugged in). The good 256 stick works in both slots, so it must just be a bad stick - although the timing is suspect.

I did find the broken ultrabay tab, grr... That explains why the bezel cracked so easily.

I'll replace the ultrabay and bezel and see if it at least help before I dive in to replace the mobo. I really do like this little machine!

Thanks for the tips!

[dsigma6]

T20-22 motherboards are nice and cheap, so you're in luck if you can't get it working.

[-nick]

Thanks to "clickpoint" for the replacement motherboard. This cleared up all the running issues. Seems like this machine is even running a bit quicker too?