T21 freezes when starting

[pudu1951]

Dear experts

From time to time, my T21 (W2k, PIII/1000 + T22-fan, latest BIOS, 512 MB) has a certain problem, especially, when it has been used for several hours and at the same time had to charge the battery: it freezes when started the next time.

<http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/12b4-1f-jpg.html>

After a waiting period (sometimes 5 days, sometimes 14 days) it's willing to work again, but this behaviour seems not acceptable to me ... If I try to soon, the starting process may go beyond the status shown in the picture, but will - say - freeze before the log-in window appears.

Has anyone of you experts an idea? Every hint will be appreciated!

Best regards

pudu1951

[nikki605]

Looks like your T21 is configured much like mine except I have WinXP Pro loaded.

Have you tried to load diagnostics to see if it will boot? If it were me, I would try to load diagnostics to determine if the problem was hardware or a problem with W2k, although I am thinking it may be hardware since you say it will boot if you wait long enough.

If you don't have the T2x PC Doctor diagnostics, here are 2 places to get them:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4YZM3F (three diskettes)

Or, rkawakami, one of the moderators here on the forum hosts PC Doctor in an ISO image:

http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/ibm_t22_pcdiag.iso (.ISO image of those three diskettes burnable onto a CD)

Try booting the diagnostics and if successfull, run the tests and report back with the results.

[RealBlackStuff]

Check all the inductors, they may be loose and need to be resoldered.
The ones under the CPU fan have to do with the charging circuit.

[pudu1951]

[quote="RealBlackStuff"]Check all the inductors, they may be loose and need to be resoldered.
The ones under the CPU fan have to do with the charging circuit.[/quote]

Thank you very much for your advice. Unfortunately re-soldering didn't help. The starting process stops at that well-known point

Sighing

pudu1951

[RealBlackStuff]

Have you cleaned the fan lately? It might be full of dust.

[pudu1951]

[quote="RealBlackStuff"]Have you cleaned the fan lately? It might be full of dust.[/quote]

Hi

It's just a few weeks ago that I upgraded my T21 with a 1 GHz CPU and a T22 fan. It should be still like new ...

Many thanks for your help!

[pudu1951]

[quote="nikki605"]Looks like your T21 is configured much like mine except I have WinXP Pro loaded.

Have you tried to load diagnostics to see if it will boot? ... [/quote]

I let PC Doctor make a full test - no problems found. The T21 booted from floppy like a charm. So, should I be delighted or disappointed?

Anyway, since then it works most of the time. I use it without the battery, just with the power supply. Of course, this isn't a full satisfactory status.

Nearly resigning

pudu1951

[nikki605]

Did you have the battery in when you ran the diagnostics? If not, you should probably run it set up the same way it was in your opening post so you don't have too many variables at one time.

You said, "when it has been used for several hours and at the same time had to charge the battery: it freezes when started the next time." So I would test it the same way it failed for you to begin with. Try to simulate the same conditions except now boot the diagnostics. If it continues to work like that, then try to boot W2K again.

[alex001]

I have a T21 with a T22 motherboard and original 800mz chip. It's been about two years since the rebuild, and now it is doing that "freezing at a well known point" thing, that point being after the Windows moving bar moves about 6 times during boot. It then sits there permanently. Pressing and holding power button shuts it off.

I have gotten around this by cooling the laptop. It seems to be getting pretty hot underneath, and this problem *did* start in the summer when ambient temps are 10 to 20 degrees above normal. I've started running mobile meter after finding out about it here, but it hasn't frozen since.

I stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes to chill the hell out of it, pulling it out pretty early in case any condensation might form. This was after the last time it froze up, and it's been ok.

I suspect...definitely heat. Try running a fan pointed at the fan exhaust port. This keeps my temps below 50 degrees. I believe the max operating temperature for these chips is 70 degrees, but that is based on a regular (not speedstep or mobile) pentium III stat I found on the web.
On this page, it shows ranges of 60 degrees! to 85 degrees, so please post any shutdown temps you are getting...
http://www.heatsink-guide.com/content.p ... temp.shtml
Or if anyone knows for sure the operating range of an 800 or 900mz chip, please post.

I ordered a 900mz CPU, at which point I plan to clean the fan and apply new thermal shmooey. I guess that is what makes it do this after a few years in operation -- dirty fan and aging thermal conductant.

Also, I found out my issue may also be static electricity building up on the motherboard or chips. Power becomes dodgy during peak summer times, so brownouts and other weird things contribute to electrical failure. I read this solution for a different laptop, and this + the cooling is making it liveable...
Remove power cord and battery. Press down the power button for one full minute to discharge. Plug in ONLY the power cord, leaving out battery. Boot the PC. Add battery after boot, or after shut down.

[RealBlackStuff]

To both of you, if you haven't got one yet, try and put on the T22 cooler, it sits directly on top of the CPU with only thermal paste.
The T20/T21 coolers use a thermal pad, which dries out eventually and looses contact between CPU and cooler, thus causing very fast overheating.

[bretski]

To both of you, if you haven't got one yet, try and put on the T22 cooler, it sits directly on top of the CPU with only thermal paste.
The T20/T21 coolers use a thermal pad, which dries out eventually and looses contact between CPU and cooler, thus causing very fast overheating.

^

Solid advice. I'm now running a T22 heatsink/fan on my T20, and it seems to have really helped my situation. I picked up a brand new one on "youknowwhere" for less than $9 shipped.

[nikki605]

Absolutely agree! I installed the T22 heatsink/fan assembly at the same time I upgraded to the 1GHz CPU, with some Artic Silver in between and I've never had an overheating problem.