ThinkPad T30 Power Up issue

[ssflyer]

My son's school just had several IBM T30's donated to them, but several refused to power up. I looked them over and noticed that if I quickly tap the power button, they will usually start and work flawlessly. I removed the keyboard on one, and the power button looked fine. I verified this by powering them up with the "quick tap," and they always recognized the power button for a power down. I can push hard and wiggle the power button, buy they won't power up - the only thing that works is that quick tap! This is not an obvious way to start a laptop!

Any ideas?

Thanks and best regards,
Ron

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the Forum.
That may be a sign of "overloaded" capacitors that need to be discharged.
Remove AC and main battery.
Hold down the power button for 3 seconds, then let go. Repeat 9 more times.
Repeat once more, but hold the power button down for 20-30 seconds, then let go.
Reconnect AC/battery and try a 'normal' pressing on the power button.

[ssflyer]

Thanks for the quick reply! However, I tried that on 2 of the computers that display this symptom, and no change. Weird problem - a quick jab works, but nothing else...

[Majestic]

It's a long shot, but try removing all the cards, memory and drives to see if it makes a difference in the boot. If it does, replace the items one at a time till the problem returns.

[a7ecorsair]

My son's school just had several IBM T30's donated to them, but several refused to power up. I looked them over and noticed that if I quickly tap the power button, they will usually start and work flawlessly. I removed the keyboard on one, and the power button looked fine. I verified this by powering them up with the "quick tap," and they always recognized the power button for a power down. I can push hard and wiggle the power button, buy they won't power up - the only thing that works is that quick tap! This is not an obvious way to start a laptop!

The "power button" is only a signal to the motherboard to power up. It is not a current carrying switch. Your comment about these laptops always recognizing the power switch for a power down doesn't add up. Why are you powering down with the power button? When you do a shut down in Windows the laptop should power off. Are you sure they aren't configured to hibernate when the power switch is pressed? Do each of these laptops have a good battery? Will they stay on for 30 minutes without AC?

[ssflyer]

Thanks for the reply. I realize that the power button is simply a switch closure for a digital signal. I do not power them down with the power button as a habit - just to test the function. I have the power button configured to shutdown windows. It does a proper shutdown, and powers the machine off, every time - it is just starting it that presents a problem. Also, there are several of these with the same symptoms. I have tried the static discharge, and removed the peripherals, and still have the same result.

[RealBlackStuff]

If that's the only problem, count your blessings, and enjoy those T30s.
Just give people the proper instruction on how to start them.

[rkawakami]

My initial guess would be that each system which requires the quick tap on the power button has a dirty power switch. You could verify this in a couple of ways:

- mount the T30s on a docking station or port replicator and use the power button on that hardware instead of the laptop
- swap out the keyboards with one known to work "normally" (does not require the tap)

If both of these tests results in getting each one of the problematic T30 systems to power on normally, then it's an easy fix (get new keyboards). Conversely, if these tests also require that you quickly press the power button, then the diagnosis could be that something on the motherboards is causing the problem. In that case, I would say that you try removing all hardware (HD; memory; Ultrabay device; MiniPCI; modem; battery or AC adapter) and see if that helps, but it appears you have already tried this. Have you tried booting with ONLY the AC adapter and ONLY the battery? You might also try removing the CMOS (backup) battery and see if it reads 3V, however I would first make sure that no BIOS password has been set otherwise you'll end up with a bricked system. If you can access the BIOS by pressing the F1 key at boot without getting a padlock icon prompt, then you're okay. Seeing how these were donated systems, there's always a chance that the previous owner has protected the systems this way but may have forgotten to remove it.

[a7ecorsair]

Since the power switch is only a signal to the logic, the switch has no idea of why it is being pressed and therefore, since it does work consistently for some functions, it couldn't be a switch problem. From your original description, some of these T30s work without this power up issue and others display it consistently. Having been a top gun troubleshooter for a major computer corporation before retiring, I always got suspicious when multiple machines displayed the same problem. Have you verified that all the laptops are at the same BIOS level? Take one of the laptops that has the problem and reset the BIOS to default and then set the configuration so nothing will happen when it is on AC - no suspend or hibernation.
How is it that you have these laptops set up so the power button initiates a Windows Shutdown? I'm not familiar with this setting. I've always used the Windows shutdown from the Start button.

[RealBlackStuff]

IBM's Power Management under Windows lets you choose the power button (and other) functions.

[madrigal]

Hi, guys!
I think rkawakami is right - you should try to power up the laptop via docking station or to pull out the keyboard from laptop without that problem and give a try with it. I have exact the same problem with 2 IBM T30 keyboards and I think that the problem is in the T30's keyboard design - instead of using a "layered" structure which exists in almost all relatively new keyboards, the T30 keyboard keys are based on PCB contact areas and a graphite circle which makes a contact between them. If you remove a keyboard cap and hinges underneath you will see a transparent rubber cap with a graphite circle in it (well, on the power button rubber is gray and not transparent). Today I tried to repair the power button on the one of my T30's defective keyboards but without success - I managed to remove the gray cap from the power button (be warned - the cap is firmly glued to the base and you should be very careful when removing it), the graphite circle and the contact areas were cleaned with isoprophyl alcohol but without success. On the other hand, if I remove the cap and short the contact areas with a screwdriver laptop powers up every time. I wonder why IBM T30 keyboards have this design when the older T20-T22 keyboards have a "layered" structure?
P.S. May be not all T30 keyboards share this design - I remember I had a T30 keyboard with different hinges and rubber caps similar with these on T2x and T4x.
Please excuse me for my poor English but I'm not a native English speaker - may be someone will guess what I mean and will explain better than me.