T20 Startup

[T20rus]

T20 does not start. When the button is pushed the HDD light blinks once, it sounds like the fan starts, then nothing.

Found a post that said to remove the battery and the power source, press the start button 17 times, attach the power source and press start, when it boots to windows, shutdown, plug in battery and restart. This procedure works every time but it is a real pain in the neck.

What causes this hang up, and what does this procedure fix? Do I need a new CMOS battery, new main battery or something else?

Thanks

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

What you are describing has been nicknamed "the blink of death" for the T2x systems that have this problem. Pressing the power button only causes the hard drive LED to flash once and no other outward signs of life is detected. Removing the power sources, usually for a couple of days in my experience, sometimes helps to get the system going again. But eventually, the problem returns.

The cause has been described as "overcharged capacitors" but I'm not one that subscribes to that explanation. The advice of pressing the power button many times in a row and then holding it down for several seconds (all with the power removed), is thought to somehow discharge those capacitors. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Same with my advice of simply leaving it alone for a couple of days; that "solution" doesn't always work either.

My assumption as to the cause of the problem is that something on the motherboard has worked itself loose. There's a fairly common problem with some of the surface mounted components becoming detached with time, temperature, chassis flex or all of the above. Just last night I repaired a T23 in which a part simply was pulled from the motherboard by tugging on it. Contamination/oxidation on the contacts, along with the lead-free solder being used at that time and the heat that the component is exposed to or generates, seems to cause the problem.

Don't believe that a change of CMOS or main batteries will have any effect on the situation. The only known "cure" at the moment is a complete motherboard replacement.

[Robbyrobot]

Contamination/oxidation on the contacts, along with the lead-free solder being used at that time and the heat that the component is exposed to or generates, seems to cause the problem.

The problems with lead-free solder are not imagined. I recently read a good article on the subject in Chemical and Engineering News (the ACS news magazine) and you can view it at:

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/85/8529sci1.html