Thinkpads Forum

This morning one of my T61P Thinkpads seems to have died last night.

On boot only few lights on (and off again), hear short spin of HDD, no screen, no POST, no beeps. With 1 bank of RAM same.. without RAM i got 1-3-3-1 error and also black screen.

Its a 6457 5KG from 08/09.. so have the nVidia chip if i´m right.

Anything i can still try?

If i can be sure my mobo is dead i just write the machine off.. and start search for replacement. Does a T400/T500 use same RAM, battery and drives? Would a newer type work when i push my current HDD in?

Thanks in advance

Yours has indeed a 256MB nVIDIA Quadro FX 570M chip.
It also sports a 'safe' date (08/09 = 2008/September), which must have gone haywire.
They may have used a refurbished GPU when building that mobo.

Things to try: remove charger, battery, HD and CD, then hold down the Power button for about 20 seconds.
(No need to go through that rigmarole of holding it down 10 times etc...)
Put only the charger back in and try to boot.
If successful, switch off, add battery and try to boot.
Repeat with CD and HD.

Tried your tip but only thing that happen is a flash of the ´1´ and ´A´ light and a lit ´Z´ light. Screen keeps black and no beeps.

So this will confirm this T61P is officially dead..

What happens if you try RAM from another T60/T61, one piece at a time and try it in each slot?
Remove the (round yellow) CMOS battery for a few minutes?
Make sure to switch off power before swapping RAM!!!!

Just 1 RAM in upper slot : error beeps 1-3-3-1
Just 1 RAM in lower slot : Nothing

Guess the RAM is ok?

Will disconnect cmos battery and come back to you.

After having the cmos battery disconnected for 10 minutes it gives beeps (1 long, 2 short) and dont boot.

MTyn wrote:After having the cmos battery disconnected for 10 minutes it gives beeps (1 long, 2 short) and dont boot.

The motherboard is toast. Probably GPU.

Replace the motherboard with an Intel-GPU one (preferably Penryn-CPU capable FRU 42W7875).
You can keep everything else.

On my T410s it has an Nvidia Optimus setting in the bios. You can change from auto to discrete only and integrated only graphics. I don't know if that could cure your sick and dead T61s but figured if you are going to trash it you may want to check in your bios under display tab to see if this feature exists on the T61s.

Hans Gruber wrote:On my T410s it has an Nvidia Optimus setting in the bios. You can change from auto to discrete only and integrated only graphics. I don't know if that could cure your sick and dead T61s but figured if you are going to trash it you may want to check in your bios under display tab to see if this feature exists on the T61s.

Nope. These machines were nVidia-only.

If the rest of the system is in good shape, I'd agree with the recommendation of swapping the board with an Intel one. If not...part it out and call it a day.

Good luck.

The rest of the T61p is in good condition.. fast wireless N card, full of ram and have the WUXGA display.

Where do i find a good mobo? If its not too expensive i give the T61p a rebirth. The ones from eBay i dont really trust..

I would suggest getting a T61 off ebay for parts and transfer over your screen and wireless card, memory & hard drive maybe even keyboard to the T61.

MTyn wrote:Where do i find a good mobo?

Contact forum member TuuS for a mobo, or put a WTB in the Marketforum.

@ Hans : Just pull a T6* from eBay i think its too much risk..

RealBlackstuff : Send him a message

... did a local search and found a shop here that sells IBM/Lenovo system boards with warranty. Price around US$25. Think its worth a try for that price!

For T60 i can choose :

FRU 42T0165
FRU 42T0157
FRU 42T0167

Which one will be best option for my T61P 6457 5KG ??

MTyn wrote:@ Hans : Just pull a T6* from eBay i think its too much risk..

RealBlackstuff : Send him a message

How handy are you with the tools? You sound pretty skilled with repairing laptops considering you are looking at replacing your motherboard. My T61 suggestion really comes from the advice I received here to avoid the Nvidia GPU's on the T61p. If you get a new motherboard and it works, great. If you get a T61 as a backup, you would have a laptop to use should your T61p repair fail. Best case scenario, you could have two Working T61 series laptops working.

If you see a screen shots of a T61 (EBAY) that is boot to the bios screen. Odds are you simply would need to add a HDD and OS and perhaps a battery, HDD caddy and maybe a power supply.

Calculated risks are often times worth the reward.

Im not afraid of screwdrivers and other tools. Did no replacement of a system board before but its getting more and more a challenge to fix it.

MTyn wrote:Im not afraid of screwdrivers and other tools. Did no replacement of a system board before but its getting more and more a challenge to fix it.

Which is why I figure a T61 for around 55 euros would be a risk worth taking and getting a replacement board for your T61p.

I wouldn't step down to a T60, they only support max. 3GB RAM.

I would even go as far as recommending a T400 or T410 upgrade instead of falling back to a T60. The T60 doesn't support SATA II.

I am typing on a T61, I got this one for a little under $60. I added a 120GB SSD, upgraded the ram from 2GB to 4GB of ram and put on 64 bit version of Windows 7. These are sturdy little machines.

RealBlackstuff : Good to know that!
Does a T400/T410 board work with the 15.4 widescreen? Thought these T4** were all with the smaller 14" screen.

MTyn wrote:RealBlackstuff : Good to know that!
Does a T400/T410 board work with the 15.4 widescreen? Thought these T4** were all with the smaller 14" screen.

George would know, add T500 for a 15.4" screen. I didn't realize your T61 was a 15.4" screen.

No.
Only 15.4" Widescreen T60 and T61 mobos will fit in there, nothing else.

My mistake, I misread your response. I thought you were asking if you could swap your T61 1920x1080 screen to a T500 series or a T510 series.

MTyn wrote: Does a T400/T410 board work with the 15.4 widescreen? Thought these T4** were all with the smaller 14" screen.

Nope.

You need a board from a T61 15.4" system. Nothing else fits.

T60 15.4" planar can fit with some mods, but I wouldn't go that route.

Hans Gruber wrote:I didn't realize your T61 was a 15.4" screen.

Before spouting more nonsense, please check what info OP has given.
By just checking his MTM 6457 5KG (published already on July 21 at 2:54am), you would have known we are talking about a 15.4" T61/p machine.
Besides that, any forum member that is worth his/her salt always checks MTMs and asks for them, if missing.

MTyn wrote:
If i can be sure my mobo is dead i just write the machine off.. and start search for replacement. Does a T400/T500 use same RAM, battery and drives? Would a newer type work when i push my current HDD in?

Thanks in advance

What version of windows? Windows xp is terrible at surviving a motherboard swap. 10% chance of successful boot. 8 is very good at it. 7 isnt bad.

TimeTomorrow wrote: What version of windows? Windows xp is terrible at surviving a motherboard swap. 10% chance of successful boot. 8 is very good at it. 7 isnt bad.

Wait what?

What kind of empirical ThinkPad-related data are you basing these statements on?

ajkula66 wrote:

TimeTomorrow wrote: What version of windows? Windows xp is terrible at surviving a motherboard swap. 10% chance of successful boot. 8 is very good at it. 7 isnt bad.

Wait what?

What kind of empirical ThinkPad-related data are you basing these statements on?

It is based on the fact that windows OEM keys are locked to the motherboard. And that newer versions of windows is better at handling hardwarechanges.

I've found Windows' ability to boot up on different hardware to be completely unpredictable. Windows XP and 7 seem to either do equally well, or equally badly. At any rate, replacing an nVidia T61 planar with an Intel one won't cause Windows to bluescreen on startup. Probably all you'll have to do is swap the graphics driver.

Can someone tell me more about the supposedly "safe" nVidia chips on 2008-era planars? What exactly did they change to prevent failure?