Thinkpads Forum

Completely disassembled an IBM Thinkpad T61p for a replacement motherboard (44C3931). Was vert careful w/ pictures and associated parts. However just as the "old" m/b was removed from the base frame (casting) a part fell out. The part is black, molded, 1 3/8 in long, contains several protruding rectangular tabs molded into a curved rail. It looks like a support piece. Where does this part go on the motherboard and integral to the base frame???

Right now the motherboard is in the frame, spkr wires connected, CPU stiffner is attached, (2) blk wires are inside there troughs, am ready to secure m/b to the base frame.

thx...great Forum. Appreciate any help so I can recover another T61p.

When you look at the bottom of the mobo, there's a small PCB going from the mobo-top-left to some USB-ports nearby.
That PCB fits in that plastic piece.

If that's not it, take a picture, store that on e.g. imgur and post the link to it here.
It would also be greatly appreciated if you can keep the pixel dimensions to something around 800x600.

... "in principle" everything ought to be shown in the ThinkPad T61 and T61p (15.4-inch widescreen) Hardware Maintenance Manual (the "HMM") but I'm not sure I can identify the part you refer to? Anyway, the HMM is nice to have!

Johan

wish i could follow your description. I am inclined to leave it out and continue w/ my reassembly. Is this part absolutely needed?

Interesting that several videos show this part "falling out" from the frame when m/b is removed. It gets collected and video ends w/ m/b out of the frame and piece nearby. No explanation as to its purpose or location.

thx for your help

abro89

I suggest that you follow RealBlackStuff's advice: take a few pictures, post it on imgur or any decent photo-sharing site, then put a link here. It would be very, very helpful since we can actually see the part in question instead of relying on textual descriptions.

ok....will do. Alternative is to disassemble another T61p that I received for junk. Thx for your reply.

Great FORUM. Knowledgeable people. FORUM as helped me understand the beauty and elegance of IBM/LENOVO Thinkpad laptops.

I know exactly what part you are talking about, black plastic, kinda funny looking... it fits into the frame near where the battery connector is on the motherboard. It's only purpose is to fill the space and the laptop will work fine without it, but you can figure out where it sits easy enough and put it in place just before you lay the board onto the frame.

If I was able I'd dig out a frame and the piece and make you a photo, but at the moment I'm not, however it's pretty easy to figure out.