Thinkpads Forum

Hey TPadders, finally my mobo arrived but something is wrong. It does not make any bleeping noises , screen is blank, power light on, charger light on and battery light orange ( req.new one) ., tried to connect to external monitor and its still blank.
My old mobos fru:42w7866 , new one: 42w1487.
Cpu T8300.
Manual stated it fits, so i lego it back all wires are connected to right places.
Did few tests:
1: removed all dimms - typical bleep noises
2: pushed power button 10times and hold 30s power button but nothing.
3: disconnected lcd and plugged with external and nothing.
My power supply socket on mobo is faulty need to wobble a bit but this was never an issue on older mobo.
Conclusion ...something is wrong but what and where and how to test it ?

Update: reconnected all connections and fired it up. Power on and straight off then started again but nothing , this same problem.
If i leave it running once in a while fan kicks in

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Have you tried removing the CMOS battery & leave it out for a few hours. It's an old trick that used to work on some of the older TP's. Where did you get the board from a legit supplier or eBay? Also have you made sure the CPU etc are all firmly in place? Did it come with CPU or you put your own in?

I got it without cmos battery, cpu ect ect ...its plain mobo but i will try to play with cmos battery.


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The board is likely a dud, or the CPU is not seated correctly.

I don't see too many other options.

Thanks for it , i will try to reseat cpu .


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EvoT61 wrote:Hey TPadders, finally my mobo arrived but something is wrong. It does not make any bleeping noises , screen is blank, power light on, charger light on and battery light orange ( req.new one) ., tried to connect to external monitor and its still blank.
My old mobos fru:42w7866 , new one: 42w1487.
Cpu T8300.

Recently had more or less the same happening with two replacement boards, but solved it like this:

Make sure your shiny new motherboard has the latest BIOS updated to recognize also Penryn CPUs like your T8300, it probably hasn't that yet. Try booting up using an older Merom CPU, e.g. a T7100, T7300, or T7500, etc., if you still have one around. If that works, check the BIOS and update to a more recent version, preferably the very nice and highly recommendable Mod-BIOS by Middleton.
Hope this helps.

No i dont have older cpu , but i do have midleton bios in my cd but i don think it would load info from cd well ill try it now


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No does not work, not even fn keys


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EvoT61 wrote:No does not work, not even fn keys

No wonder, you need to have that machine to boot up, and any Merom CPU is the only option. They should be had for cheap on eBay for easily under 10₤, and every respectable Thinkpad T61 modder should always have one around: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksi ... +T7300+CPU.

EvoT61 wrote:Sent using Tapatalk Pro

Did you know that you could easily turn off this?

Will it boot up without cpu ? Or it needs to b some sort of recognisable cpu?
I know i can but im showing people what program i use u know...promoting/advertising this app


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EvoT61 wrote:Will it boot up without cpu ? Or it needs to b some sort of recognisable cpu?

Of course it requires a working CPU to be able to boot up at all!

According to http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 19#p591419, mainboard FRU "42W1487 doesn't do Penryn".
So you'd definitely need a Merom CPU first to apply the Middleton BIOS anyway.

EvoT61 wrote:I know i can but im showing people what program i use u know...promoting/advertising this app

Problem is, million others seem to share that stance, and therefore it is widely considered a nuisance of epic proportions. Thanks.

Rumbero, thanks for this , really helpful , and yet again i did not payed good attention to manual
Ps understood about signature


T61 14.1 , 120GB HDD , T8300 , 4Gb Ram.

The new board should boot with a thermal warning - if it's a Merom one - and then shut down...so I don't think that's the problem here.

ajkula66 wrote:The new board should boot with a thermal warning - if it's a Merom one - and then shut down...so I don't think that's the problem here.

With a recent official BIOS (not Middleton's master work) this would supposedly happen. But as recent experience taught me, if the BIOS is too ancient to recognize a more recent CPU, it won't even get that far.

This very week, i just had a very similar issue with two refurbished 42W7872 mainboards which were gracing two broken T61 (8895-A26), and which were originally equipped with a T7100 Merom CPU. As we all know, the FRU 42W7872 is the holy grail for Frankenpads with Penryn CPU's, but when mated with a T9300, that mainboard simply refused to boot. Powering it on, only the status LED's flashed once each and the fan started to spin for a second, but then nothing more. No screen output at all. Nothing.

Swapping that CPU with an older Merom T7300 made it instantly boot up, though. When entering the BIOS, it showed some ancient version i don't properly remember anymore (2.19 comes to mind?). Updating that BIOS to Middleton's 2.29 finally enabled it to work as expected. You can't imagine my relief when it finally did.

rumbero wrote:... As we all know, the FRU 42W7872 is the holy grail for Frankenpads with Penryn CPU's...

The graphics on 42W7872 are 'only' Intel, what about 42W7873/44C3924 with NVS140M (holier), or 42W7874/44C3926 with FX570M (holiest)?
(provided they have the newest generation GPU from 08/08 or better).

RealBlackStuff wrote:The graphics on 42W7872 are 'only' Intel, what about 42W7873/44C3924 with NVS140M (holier), or 42W7874/44C3926 with FX570M (holiest)?
(provided they have the newest generation GPU from 08/08 or better).

All sacred considerations put aside, i guess it simply boils down to personal preference. From my very own limited perspective, i'd always favor cool running Intel graphics over more power hungry graphics capabilities i wouldn't ever have any use for anyway. But that's just me.

why 42w7872 is holier the 42w7866 ?

Mainly the issue is that the nVidia graphics on the T61 (both 140M and FX570m) have been known to die. This isn't only on ThinkPads but other laptops were affected around this time as well. 2007 to 2009?
Its a risk I took, my 140M GPU model worked fine for half a year until I improperly handled it...

But Intel/integrated graphics models are the 'safe' ones if you are buying a T/R61, they won't suffer from those problems.

but 7866 is intel as well ... its not nvidia
by the way, a bit of topic in here ... t61p with 128/256mb nvidia was affected as well ? or only t61 140m/nvidia ?

ALL T61/R61 with every nVidia GPU version have/had the same problems.

As to your new mobo problem:
your old mobo was native Penryn (T8300) capable, your new mobo is not!
You'll need a common T7300/T7500/T7700 CPU in it to apply the Middleton BIOS.
Only after that can you put in the T8300.
I seriously recommend that you start READING other forum posts, and use the SEARCH function at the top of each page!

RBS, i know that ... im not talking about this one ,i have t7500 for it .
Im curious about holier mobos ... i just wanted to know why because you and rumbero started to talk about mobos holiness and which one is holiest.

That was just a side-remark as a follow-up to rumbero's post.
Sorry for getting off-topic in your thread.
Nothing to do with your mobo, period.

EvoT61 wrote:RBS, i know that ... im not talking about this one ,i have t7500 for it .

Oh cool! Did you already try booting your new mobo with that one instead of the T8300? And does it boot with it?
Have you then been able to update that BIOS and then tried booting that Penryn CPU again?
We all just love to hear success stories, you know?

EvoT61 wrote:Im curious about holier mobos ... i just wanted to know why because you and rumbero started to talk about mobos holiness and which one is holiest.

Well, long story: So there is the one and only pope RBS and that exceptional cardinal ajkula66, who during all those years on the forum taught silly pagans like that rumbero guy and lots of others more the virtues of true Frankenpadding. And sometimes these people tend to joke around a bit about matters shared and learned during that evangelization process. Please forgive us for highjacking this thread with such silly musings. It is fun, though.

The only reason the 42w7872 is so rare compared to your 42w7866 is that they were rarely used, performance wise they are the same but they are very different boards designed for very different models.

Assuming that your 41w1487 is a working board and was installed properly it could possibly be just the cpu mismatch so you're probably on the right track swapping for a Merom cpu, which if anyone needs one for testing I have a box full and could send one for the cost of postage. Also a word of caution here... it's a very bad idea to flash the bios in a newly assembled computer, you need to make sure it's stable and the cooling system is functioning properly before you attempt this or you could destroy the board.

btw, I assume you've locked the cpu in place with the cam screw and used a good quality thermal paste?

rumbero wrote: Oh cool! Did you already try booting your new mobo with that one instead of the T8300? And does it boot with it?
Have you then been able to update that BIOS and then tried booting that Penryn CPU again?
We all just love to hear success stories, you know?

No, i have not .... i was bussy doing other bits but today i will, but need to put all pieces back including monitor and then put t7500 in it ... if this does not work, i have another t7100 and anothr mobo ... which just arrived 1min ago

rumbero wrote: Well, long story: So there is the one and only pope RBS and that exceptional cardinal ajkula66, who during all those years on the forum taught silly pagans like that rumbero guy and lots of others more the virtues of true Frankenpadding. And sometimes these people tend to joke around a bit about matters shared and learned during that evangelization process. Please forgive us for highjacking this thread with such silly musings. It is fun, though.

It is fun and its educational, thats why im not bothered about tread highjacking

TuuS, no i have not installed any cpu`s yet and im not going to flash bios stright away, my first work will b to ensure everythinig is ok ... temps cool, fan is fine ect ect ...and then i will flash it

All works perfectly !

im running on T7500 , 4GB ram and Lubuntu Live on SanDisk 8GB usb. Motherboard is fine just needs cooling check and audio test.

Thanks a lot

By the way T7500 SLA44 if it makes any difference , T300 SLAMD fired up and T7100 SLA4A worked and Lubuntu took 13 x5 and 3 light changes durring loading up to Lubuntu Live trough 8GB SanDisk usb.

And cooling system from T61 with nVidia .

Great to know it was just the processor.