Thinkpads Forum

I had been using this computer daily without any problems. It was on battery power yesterday when the battery went below 7% battery power, and the computer automatically put itself to sleep.

I stuck the thinkpad into my laptop bag and did not think of it again until today when I plugged it in a fired it up again, expecting it to start up fine under AC power.

Instead, the computer simply boots to the "Lenovo" screen and then goes dark again, and instead of starting up the operating system it stays dark for maybe 20 seconds then goes back to the "Lenovo" screena again,.. over and over again.

I checked the device boot order and removed everything except the HDD and Optiarc DVD from the boot list, and still the same endless boot cycle that goes back to the Lenovo BIOS screen.

Has anyone else ever encountered this and if so any advice on what is causing this?

Removed the battery?

yes, I removed the battery and tried the power button trick of hitting it ten times and then holding the power button for 30 seconds.
it did not work for whatever my problem is. It still refuses to show the 'starting windows' screen after the 'Lenovo' splash screen, and goes black only to recycle endlessly back to the Lenovo splash screen.

Remove the HD and try to boot from a Life Linux CD.
If that works, you may have either a bad HD or a bad OS on that HD.

problem appears resolved.

I put the HD from the TP into a USB enclosure and it worked fine, and all files were accessible.

I then put the original Win7 install disc into the DVD drive and it booted into the install disc without any problem, indicating that some corruption of the HD boot sector must have taken place. I went into the repair feature of the OS install disc and ran a memory diagnostic before trying to 'restore' anything.

After the memory diagnostic concluded, the computer automatically rebooted and launched into the dual boot screen for win7/win8 as is normal. I have now rebooted the laptop dozens of times into both OS's and the problem has not returned.

I have no idea why running the memory diagnostic from the install disc 'fixed' the problem (i did not remove, re-position or re-seat the physical memory sticks) or why this occurred after the computer put itself to sleep due to low battery power, but I will make sure not to let it run that low again.

Thanks to RBS, you have offered me help and advice a bunch of times on various issues and I really appreciate people like you and Dr_St taking the time to respond to reuests for info or help.

The other theory to consider is that the laptop actually hibernated (rather than sleep/standby) when the battery level went below 7%. If automatic hibernation occurs at 7%, then you must allow the battery to charge to a level above 7% before attempting to turn it back on. If you simply put it in a bag after the battery level dropped to 7%, then you would have had to connect it to AC power for 15-30 minutes before attempting to turn it back on again.

I have worked on more than a couple laptops that have come to me with no battery power and won't complete boot-up. I do something else for awhile so that the battery gets charged up somewhat, and when they are then turned-on, they always come up fine while saying "resuming from hibernation".