I think I killed my T30

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jamnkats · #1 Post by **jamnkats** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:28 pm

My T30 has had a problem with the fan - giving a Fan Error when starting up. I replaced the fan (I have a parts T30 with a bad mobo) and while the T30 sometimes didn't want to start up I no longer got the fan error. I got arctic silver and placed some and installed NHC to monitor temperature. I really babied the temp and anytime the temp hit 80c (during AVG virus checks) I'd bring the temp down by either shutting down any graphic-intensive program or pausing the virus check. I also never shutdown the T30 but did reboot daily. If I ever shut it down it would take several tries for it to power up and I could not connect the AC.

I setup my son's Toshiba so that I could use it as a backup, loaded all my passwords and data into an external drive password program, loaded Foxmarks and backedup the harddrive on the T30 frequently.

Today the T30 hung up so I powered it down and tried to start it up. It would get the spash screen but I couldn't bring up the F12 boot device menu and sometimes it would hang after I chose the F1 CMOS menu. So I let it cool down and tried again. I tried a completely different T30 harddive and it wouldn't boot off the harddrive. I finally got it to boot off the CD by setting up CMOS for full diagnostic menu and loaded an XP install boot. I exited from the XP install and got the go ahead to start windows and I was able to get Windows running and even installed NET 2.0 from my external drive before the T30 hung again - screen completely frozen. So I powered down again and now I don't even get the splash screen. I think that after letting it cool down though, I will.

I don't have any way to create a bootable CD so I don't think I can run PC Doctor. Does anyone have any idea how to run it and/or what might be wrong with my T30? I haven't babied it but it definitely has given excellent service - from the beaches on the Pacific Coast to the Caribbean to the Midwest (we live in an RV).

I've been mulling the idea of a T60 over in my mind anyway but really didn't want to give up the amazing workhorse that the T30 has been. I can't really use it for my kids though, because they need a machine that can handle graphics (even for their reading software) and the T30 overheats really easily.

Any idea what is wrong (my guess is CPU or mobo?) and whether it is worth to try and fix (considering it seems to run hot)?

#2 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:42 pm

80*C is WAY to hot for a P4-M 1.6GHz. Get a new fan or reseat the one you have. It is not cooling properly.

jamnkats · #3 Post by **jamnkats** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:45 pm

It normally ran in the low 50's Harry - just when the virus check ran would it pop up into the 70's and when it hit 80 I'd pause the virus check.

#4 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:49 pm

Still too hot. When you are loading an OS like XP, it runs the CPU just as hard as a virus checker. A T30 with a 1.6 should never get hotter than 60*C or so under load. Unless it is 35*C in your room that is ...
I had a T30 with a 1.8 P4M in it and it never got hotter than 55*C or so, no matter what I did.

jamnkats · #5 Post by **jamnkats** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:56 pm

Yikes. So you think I fried the CPU?

sjthinkpader · #6 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:29 pm

Try a different stick of RAM.

My A31 with a 2.5Ghz P4 ran virus check and cloned a disk yesterday. It ran above 60 deg C for a few hours and refused to boot after the job was finished.

Thinking that the 2.5Ghz CPU was toast, I was prepared to put in a 2.2Ghz CPU. Took it apart, cleaned out the fan and reapplied thermal grease on the 2.5Ghz CPU. Now it is running again.

Make sure the power manager is set to "adaptive" instead of "maximum" in the CPU setting.

jamnkats · #7 Post by **jamnkats** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:09 pm

I tried a new stick of RAM and got it to load Windows but it then hung again - no response from anything. I have a parts T30 and I think I'll try to swap the CPUs and see if that does anything.

I assume you're talking about NHC with the "adaptive" setting? If so, I think it was always set to that, but NHC never even got the chance to load before the T30 hung last time. It has sat all night not even plugged in, so I'll see if I can figure out if the CPU can be pulled and how and try that.

jamnkats · #8 Post by **jamnkats** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:12 pm

I swapped the CPU (Pentium 4 1.6) from the bad mobo T30 to the sick T30 (Pentium 4 1.9 I think) and the sick T30 started (eventually) to boot but stopped at 144mb ram (I have it set to diagnostic mode in the BIOS and it counts up all 1024mb RAM).

I am pretty confident of both fans as I tried both of them in the T30 with the bad mobo and they spin up each and every time I power the machine up. On the sick T30 I cannot connect the AC and must power up over and over and over and finally the planets will allign and the fan will spin up and the computer will boot. Except now the fan won't spin up and it won't boot.

The T30 with the bad mobo does not POST or beep or anything, but the fan definitely spins up.

I was told years ago that the mobo was bad so I kept the T30 for parts.

So now is it looking like the second T30 has a bad mobo?

(Is mobo slang that is correct for motherboard?)

sjthinkpader · #9 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 4:25 pm

The valuable part of the T30 is actually the LCD. You can find a MB pretty easily.

jamnkats · #10 Post by **jamnkats** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:21 pm

This motherboard doesn't look anything like mine (CPU different and in different spot) but would it work in my casing?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0274613413

Or would I need to buy the exact FRU that I have in my T30 now?

Admin edit: Corrected/shortened URL to prevent horizontal scrolling

sjthinkpader · #11 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:11 am

That looks to be a R50e MB mislabeled. No it won't work.

Check your PM.

jamnkats · #12 Post by **jamnkats** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:13 pm

thanks so much and thanks for your PM. Luckily, the motherboard is in Alberta and my neighbor is flying in from Alberta on Friday. Seems like it was meant to be.

I just hope this does it - for at least ONE of the T30's...

jamnkats · #13 Post by **jamnkats** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:49 pm

I got the motherboard, sent it to a neighbor in Canada, he brought it down (I was in Merida for a week so it sat here waiting for me to return) and I just replaced the motherboard on my T30 and it is working, and COOL! I have about 1000 screws to put back in and as it turns out the motherboard came with a fan and that fan is a beauty but BENT so I'm running my original ("failing") fan without any trouble.

I can't believe I replaced the motherboard! Now i'm off to find another motherboard (oh, and this one has TWO WORKING memory slots!) so I can fix the other T30. and I'll no longer have a parts T30! I had no idea it could be so easy. (course it probably took me a good hour)

sjthinkpader · #14 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:44 pm

Good for you. Yes, it is a bunch of gratification when that IBM splash screen comes up.

I think I killed my T30

I think I killed my T30

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