T30 Starting to cause me grief !

[stclarke]

Hi,

I have looked through many postings, but don't seem to see anything about the issue I am having.... basically, my formerly trusty T30 is just stopping or freezing at various points of time, and it's getting worse..

I have taken out the battery, including the little yellow one, RAM, HDD etc and gone back into Bios Settings - this worked for about 5 minutes. Once, it stayed up and running long enough for PC Doctor to report I had no problems, then just stopped.

Sometimes it boots right to windows, works fine for a while, then stops. Sometimes it won't boot at all, sometimes I get into BIOS and it stops. Doing a repair install of windows XP Pro I got to command prompt - it just stopped

Occasionally, I will get the blue screen of death - but the dumps (when I can get that far) don't tell me anything

As for the lights on the panel, sometimes when it will not boot at all, the Z light is lit - nothing else. Sometimes the HDD light flashes, then stops. When I see the Z light, I can hear the fan, and the CD drive does start up - just the machine won't boot.

I have disabled the main screen and hooked up an external monitor - same behavior

So, I'm at a loss.

I know I'm in need of a new machine, but would like to get this one up and running long enough to use PCMover or something

Any and all thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated !

Thanks

Stephen

[jronald]

Just for the sake of argument try these 3 things
#1 Remove the MiniPCI cards and see if that helps
#2 Remove the front stick of memory, or if you have only 1 stick move it closest to the MiniPCI cards (back slot)
#3 Down load and boot from a Linux Distr, T30 tends to run fine on Debian

Any major changes will point you in a direction for a fix

Ron

[rkawakami]

I second the suggestion to (re)move the memory but will add that it's probably easier to then run a dedicated memory diagnostic like memtest86+:

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

so that you can trust in the performance of the memory system before adding another/different software layer to the equation.

[tomh009]

Another suggestion: install TPFanControl (google will find it for you quickly). Keep an eye on the temperatures as you use the system, and see whether they are shooting up before the system freezes. If they are, it's likely heat-related, and an application of Arctic Silver may well help the situation.

[stclarke]

Just for the sake of argument try these 3 things
#1 Remove the MiniPCI cards and see i that helps
#2 Remove the front stick of memory, or if you have only 1 stick move it closest to the MiniPCI cards (back slot)
#3 Down load and boot from a Linux Distr, T30 tends to run fine on Debian

Any major changes will point you in a direction for a fix

Ron

Thanks Ron, I did 1 & 2 - no use... re assembled everything and it booted up to windows - I'll see if and or how long that lasts - perhaps something was loose ?

Didn't try 3 as I have no knowledge of Linux.

[RealBlackStuff]

FYI: TPFancontrol is aTP-forum developed program, and even has it's very own forum: ThinkPad Utility Work Area
One of the stickies has a link to the current version.

[dr.strangelove]

Didn't try 3 as I have no knowledge of Linux.

A "live" linux distribution runs directly from the CD/DVD drive and requires no knowledge of linux to use. It would be very helpful to try a live linux CD in your situation, because it can definitively rule out both Windows issues as well as your hard drive as potential problems since it doesn't use either. You simply put the disc in and boot from the CD/DVD drive. If it boots up okay and runs okay under the live CD, your problem is either with Windows or your HD. Run an HD diagnostics CD to rule out the HD. If the HD passes diagnostics, it's Windows related. Knoppix is a popular and easy to use live linux distribution. You can download it from http://www.knoppix.com

[stclarke]

So, thanks all for the suggestions ( I will keep the Linux detail handy should I need it again)

After playing around a bit more, running memtest etc, I have surmised that I had a defective DIMM, AND the the front DIMM socket was also defective...so, now I am running on 1 DIMM in the back slot. So far so good, albeit a bit slow...

As long as it stays up and running, I can move everything to the new laptop

Thanks for all the suggestions !

-Stephen

[RealBlackStuff]

You can fix that front slot by resoldering the pins on the board, using a fine-tipped soldering iron and some flux.
Quite often it is sufficient to do only the 10 outer pins in each side, but it's better to do all off them.
Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.

If you are interested, I will be selling this pristine T30 shortly (with both RAM slots working):
Product: ThinkPad T30 2366-97U [change]
Original description: P4-M 2.0GHz (512KB), 256MB RAM, 60.0GB HDD, 14.1 SXGA+(1400x1050) TFT LCD, 16x10x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD-ROM, 802.11b Wireless/Modem(MPCI), Ethernet(LOM), Bluetooth(CDC), Secure Chip(TCPA), UltraNav, Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro

Barebones initially, but RAM, HD, Optical drive, battery, AC adapter to be discussed.
Currently has UK-English keyboard, but can swap for US-English.
Flawless LCD. Looks better than 9 out of 10, with 10=best.