BIOS Setting Changes Spontaneously!

[BakedandPacked]

A few days ago I posted about a refurbished T23 that I
purchased. I also mentioned that the BIOS and Embedded
Controller were flashed with the latest updates.

BIOS_v1.20
Embedded Controller_v1.06a

Electronics was my hobby when I was kid. Until I became
a partner in a small business, I worked for a large company
as an electrical engineer. If you don't know, your BIOS chip
is an EEPROM or "Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only
Memory." An electrical charge "burns" the code onto the chip
one byte at a time. An update erases the entire chip, before
it is rewritten.

Something that seems almost impossible is happening to the
BIOS on my T23. The "display" setting is changing, with no
intervention from me!

Entering the BIOS setup, you go to Config > Display. The
"default primary video device" can be set for a docked PCI
card used with an external monitor, or AGP, which is the
internal video controller. I selected AGP. The "boot display
device" gives you three choices - LCD, CRT, and Both. I
selected LCD.

Here's the problem. The monitor is shutting down. The first
time it happened I immediately thought a major hardware
failure had occured. "Power Options" were set to shutdown
the monitor after 15 minutes. Each time the monitor suddenly
shutdown I rebooted. The monitor worked ok for awhile, until
it happened again.

Finally, I checked the Display BIOS setting. It was changed
to CRT, not LCD. I've selected LCD several times, only to
have it change back to CRT over and over. I tried the "Both"
setting. Again, it reset itself to CRT. (Yes, I am pressing
the F10 key and saving the settings each time.)

This is firmware, not software. A simple registry tweak or
software patch is not going to fix the BIOS.

I have to ask the obvious question. Is the BIOS chip and/or
the mobo itself defective? In my previous post I used the
word "excellent" to describe the condition of this T23. I
wasn't exaggerating. The display didn't have a single noticable
scratch. The whole darn ThinkPad looked and performed great!

Is there a fix, short of returning this ThinkPad for repair or
replacement?

[RealBlackStuff]

I have about 15 of these T23s, I think I also have all of them set to "PCI" and "Both".
AFAIK those are the default values if you press F9, and save with F10.
They all work perfectly that way.
I don't think the T23 gives a hoot about what you set in those fields, it always works. YMMV.

[BakedandPacked]

If you own more than a dozen T23s, then I would say your
"knowledge base" about this laptop is significant, to say the
least!

If you're correct, and it doesn't matter what you select for the
display settings, then what the heck is going on with my T23?

I haven't done a lengthy search about BIOS settings changing
by themselves, so I don't know if this problem is common or
very unusual.

The first time this problem occured I had just flashed the BIOS.
I immediately entered the BIOS setup and hit the F9 key to
load the default settings. Shortly after that, the monitor shutdown.
It didn't occur to me to check the BIOS setup until this strange
problem reoccured several more times.

I was very surprised to see the default settings for the display.
They should have been LCD and AGP. Instead, they were CRT
and PCI. After changing the settings to LCD and AGP I thought
the problem would go away. It didn't.

If it really doesn't matter what display settings you select, than
the integrated video controller on the mobo must be failing. If
it's not hardware related, maybe the Power Options applet within
98SE is shutting the monitor down randomly. I changed "turn
off monitor" to "never," but the monitor keeps shutting down
anyway.

I'll try the default settings again, even though the problem started
with the default settings.

[RealBlackStuff]

9 out of 10 says this is a W98 problem.
All my T23s run either W2K/SP4 or XP/SP3.
Don't think I even have a W98 or W98SE disk anymore... That's SOOOOO yesterday!

[rkawakami]

I too have had a lot of experience with T23 systems and I don't ever recall having any issues with the display blanking out due to a non-requested switch over to the external VGA (CRT) port. And like RBS, I have never used W98 on the T23. Not knowing exactly how the BIOS (EEPROM) chip is configured to select the video options, it seems very unlikely to me that only those bits involved with LCD vs. VGA would spontaneously flip and not other bits which would be just as evident.

I do not run my T23 systems all that much connected to an external monitor but I seem to recall that in some cases, if the external monitor is connected and powered up prior to turning on the T23, the laptop will enable the external monitor, in favor of the LCD. Have you tried using the Fn+F7 key combination to see if you can re-activate the LCD after it blanks out?

If you own more than a dozen T23s, then I would say your "knowledge base" about this laptop is significant, to say the least!

See .sig .

[BakedandPacked]

Hey guys.

Sometimes I write a paragraph, when a short sentence
would have more impact. This problem is complicated, so
it's difficult to type brief posts!

What's happening with this mobo has nothing to do with the
operating system. In a sense, almost all electronic appliances
have something like a computer BIOS. PROM chips with their
firmware control all important functions. Whether it's a cell
phone or a commercial airliner, these integrated circuits are
in charge. A good example would be all living things on planet
earth, including us humans. We need air to breath, food to eat,
etc. The involuntary part of our brains that control these functions
are the equivalent of a computer BIOS.

I'm sorry RealBlackStuff, this statement simply is not true:

"I don't think the T23 gives a hoot about what you set in those
fields, it always works."

I don't know what is going on with your T23s, but the operating
systems on your T23s are following the BIOS settings. I know
at least a dozen IT professionals. If I told them my system is
not following the settings in the computer BIOS, they would laugh
in my face. I burned thousands of PROMs when I was employed
as an electrical engineer. Unless the code that burned the PROM
was screwed up, these chips controlled the critical functions of
all the devices we designed.

I downloaded a copy of "IBM Mobile Systems - ThinkPad Computer
Hardware Maintenance Manual." I apologize for not bookmarking
the site I downloaded this manual from. It was one of those sites
that collects old instruction and maintenance manuals.

There are only two things that can cause the CMOS settings in
the BIOS to change spontaneously. The CMOS backup battery
is failing, or the mobo is defective. Sadly, page 37 of this manual
agrees with me.

Here is what it says:

1. If the voltage is correct, replace the system board.
2. If the voltage is not correct, replace the backup battery.
3. It the battery discharges quickly after replacement, replace
the system board.

Nominal voltage for a lithium cell is 3.0vdc.
A factory fresh cell would probably show 3.2vdc when checked
with a good quality DVM (Digital Volt Meter).

The manual says 2.5 - to - 3.2 volts is ok.

My CMOS battery reads 3.027vdc. I was almost praying that it
would be at or below 2.5vdc. There is almost no load on this
battery, so checking the voltage with the computer powered
up would not make any difference.

The facts are clear. Each time the display setting changes
from LCD to CRT the monitor shuts down. The BIOS backup
battery is not the cause. The mobo must be defective, as the
manual states.

[RealBlackStuff]

Between Ray and myself, we own over 30 T23 machines. I have sold at least another 20 or more.
None of them ever showed manifestations like you describe.
Maybe you live near a power line, or have a Gremlin in your house?
Sorry I can't be of any more help.
Perhaps swap the mobo and see if that improves things.
If you need components, I can send you a non-booting T23 mobo for shipping cost.