Thinkpads Forum

I have just bought, very cheaply on eBay, a 15" XVGA T60. It was advertised as in good physical condition but not booting. Initial impressions confirmed that: the power lights would come on but then no activity.

Well on the third or fourth time of powering up I just left it -- and after several minutes it sprang into life. It gave me the BIOS splash screen and then reported a CMOS error. I had to set the time and date; it then booted normally.

It is now working very well apart from some oddities at start up. If I leave it switched off for a long time, e.g. over night, it is very slow to get to the BIOS splash -- between 30 and 60 seconds -- but then boots normally. If I re-boot the time to BIOS splash is normal.

So calling all the experts out there: does anyone know what is going on?

A second problem is that I have a non-whitelist wireless card for it but I can't remove the 1802 error. I have updated the BIOS and applied the patch but no luck. Any thoughts on that?

(Finally, and just for interest, this is the third 'non-functioning' T60 I have bought which actually works ok. One just had a bad battery: take it out and no problems. The other one does boot but never shows the BIOS splash so the previous owner thought it was dead.)

icebag wrote:... non-whitelist wireless card for it but I can't remove the 1802 error. I have updated the BIOS and applied the patch but no luck. Any thoughts on that? ...

The "patch" will not work on a T60. You need a modified BIOS.

Wireless problem now sorted.

Big thanks to EOMtp

You need to replace the CMOS battery.
For BIOS, see this: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=100684

RealBlackStuff wrote:You need to replace the CMOS battery.

I thought that might be it too, but I have fitted a new one and it has made no difference.

Press F1 at boot to go into BIOS, then press F9 to load default values, then press F10 to save and reboot.
Any improvement?
Is your BIOS version up-to-date?

I have tried three different CMOS batteries, the BIOS is up to date, I have reset the BIOS to its defaults -- and the problem is getting worse!

It will restart from within the OS, but it won't re-start after shutting down and switching off unless I disconnect and then reconnect the battery and the mains adapter. Even then it is haphazard. I'm puzzled.

Try a reset: remove battery and AC adapter.
Press and hold down the power button for 2 seconds and release it.
Repeat 10 more times, but at the last one, hold the button down for 30 seconds.
Reconnect only AC adapter and try to start.

Thanks. I tried it but it has made no difference.

It's very possible you may need a system board. You're welcome to have a look at one I posted in the marketplace for sale today. It's a T60p board so it would be a nice upgrade, but one of our T60 gurus would have to confirm if it would be a direct swap in your unit.

Good Luck

Another possibility, of course, is to leave it switched on! I do have a T60 that is left on 24/7. I might just swap them over.

"If you can't fix a bug, call it a feature."

If you swap from an Intel GPU T60 to any ATI GPU T60 motherboard, you also need an ATI capable fan.
Otherwise it's a direct swap (assuming both models are Standard 4:3 or both are Widescreen).

RealBlackStuff wrote:If you swap from an Intel GPU T60 to any ATI GPU T60 motherboard, you also need an ATI capable fan.
Otherwise it's a direct swap (assuming both models are Standard 4:3 or both are Widescreen).

Thank you, I was thinking that might be the case.

I probably should offer the heatsink/fan assembly with my board then.

Update: the T60 won't boot now whatever I do.