My T61p just died this morning

[zod]

I put my T61p to sleep last night, and when I tried to wake it this morning nothing happens. No beep codes, no splash screen, no boot. Status lights do come on, fan spins, but nothnig more than that. Then i realized that battery casing is melted near the connector. This, of course, was replacement battery, serving good for more than two years, so I never suspected it can cause any trouble. MB seems to be alive as it beeps 1-3-3-1 when I remove memory. Is there any info on fuses I should look for and their locations? No need to say I'm desperate because this is my workhorse laptop and I use it all the time, and it's safe nVidia 08/08 model, so I never had any trouble with it.

[RealBlackStuff]

Here's schematics for the T61: https://elektrotanya.com/ibm_thinkpad_t ... nload.html
Under the picture it says: This file is downloadable free of charge
Wait till that also says: Download, then click on it.

Most fuse locations are the same for all T61.
Check the big white and gold (10A) fuse F12 above the battery connector.

[zod]

Thank you very much!

[zod]

Still no luck Found board FRU, it's 44C3931. After hours spend looking with magnifying glass, here are the results:

Found and checked: F1, F2, F3,F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F11, F12, F14, F15, F17, all ok

Found on board mark but no fuse soldered: F13, F16 (both on the left side of display connector, F14 is in the middle) and F18 (forgot to write down location of the mark, I can't find it now)

I have also checked display, it's working fine. Machine production date is 08/06, maybe my nVidia finally died? I never saw graphics chip to go wrong while in sleep mode, though.

Any suggestions? Should I give up?

[RealBlackStuff]

Take out HD/SSD, battery, charger, wifi card, WWAN card. any USB thingie.
Press Power-button and hold it down for 20-30 seconds, this resets the laptop.
Plug in AC, try to boot.
If still no luck, also disconnect the yellow CMOS battery and repeat the above.

[zod]

Already did all of that until I take the whole machine apart to search for fuses. Nothing helped. I have only motherboard in front of me for last few hours, inspecting everything. Except "missing" fuses, everything seems to be all right.

[RealBlackStuff]

Tried another CPU?

[zod]

Yes, and I'm using it's T9300 in T601 now. T7300 is in now, from working machine. Also checked every single component near display and battery connector, no burn traces, everything like new.

[RealBlackStuff]

External monitor?
If that still works, your GPU might be half-dead.

[zod]

Tried that also, it seems to be totally dead. So my T61p now officially gone to heaven. My son will get this beautiful WUXGA display for his X3100 based T61, this board goes to trashcan. I will never, ever buy another TP based on nVidia graphics. It was really, and I mean really well maintained laptop, although it worked like a horse, almost 24/7 for the last 5 years. Graphics card temperature was always under 70 degrees, as I'm practicing fan cleaning and thermal paste refresh every 6 months, using Arctic Silver MX4. Thought it would never die on me.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Tell me about it. Has a beautiful maxed T430s. Was in the middle of a hackathon and Bam. It wouldn't start up again. Was a great machine. If it was still alive, it likely would have gotten a FHD or WQHD display.

[zod]

Well, T601 replaced it. It has T61p ssd, 8GB RAM and brand new 7260hwm, and my son will be very happy exchanging his crappy WXGA for WUXGA display. Not a total waste after all. But I'm still missing it, it was a great machine

[zod]

Today I remembered that my hackintosh setup will not work on any other board, so I took desperate measures: I took my dead mobo and bring it to my friend who is the owner of mobile phone service and asked him to use some flux and heat gun on nVidia chip for a few minutes. Got home, cleaned mobo with IPA, mounted processor, memory, cooler and hooked display. Voila! I got splash! It worked! Don't know for how long, tomorrow I will mount everything back to the casing and see what happens. Now it will have this poor WXGA display, but it's better than nothing.

[RealBlackStuff]

Hunt for the Sharp LQ154M1LW2A or LQ154M1LW02 WUXGA LCD, IMHO there are no better screens for a 15.4 model!
It was widely used in the Dell 800 series and many people on the Forum use it in their T61.

[zod]

Any mods required for that screen or I just have to hook up cable and inverter? There are lots of Dell machines available here, maybe it's worth a try...

Btw, just testing T41 board which had the same treatment as T61p, it used to work for 5 minutes max, now it works for last two hours and keeps going, so it seems one more board is saved from trash. I think ATI chipset was just partially desoldered due to flexing issue characteristic for T4x series.

[RealBlackStuff]

viewtopic.php?p=802431#p802431

[zod]

Thanks, RBS. Just reading about those panels but it seems that other forum members had some trouble pairing them with nVidia T61 boards. On the other hand, I've already found few D820 and D830 with WUXGA displays, they are dirt cheap here (25-35 USD for complete machine w/o hdd), but there is no way to find out what display type is inside before I open the casing. Would any D820 or D830 WUXGA do, having in mind that my board is FX570 based one?

[ajkula66]

Would any D820 or D830 WUXGA do, having in mind that my board is FX570 based one?

Most likely.

Do bear in mind that there's a physical mod involved in order to get the panel to fit in the ThinkPad lid. Never had it in a T61, but loved that screen in a (modded) T500.

[zod]

Yes, I know that I have to cut off the "ears" on top of the display, that's not the problem, I know how to do that and I have all the tools I need. I was just concerned with this nVidia specific issues some of the members were reporting.

[zod]

D820 display is on the way home...

[wujstefan]

I can report it works very fine in Z61m.

[ajkula66]

I can report it works very fine in Z61m.

Is that the Ti one that you got from me ?

[wujstefan]

Is that the Ti one that you got from me ?

Exactly George Told you it would live another glorious life

[ajkula66]

Is that the Ti one that you got from me ?

Exactly George Told you it would live another glorious life

I'm very happy to hear that. It's a stunning example of that platform and all it needed was a loving owner and a great LCD: Now it obviously has both...

My apologies to zod for derailing his thread...

[zod]

T61p assembled again, with WXGA display, seems to work just fine, will test it for next 24 hours. T41 passed the test, it's definitely good. Waiting for new display, will keep you informed.

[zod]

T61p failed again Well, I suppose that's it, don't want to bother anymore.

[Cigarguy]

Not surprising as the repair you mention is only a temporary repair. Back in the day, a few unscrupulous sellers would repair it in this method then sell it and let the buyer worry about it later.

It's a shame as I too would be interested to know if you could do a straight swap of a Dell 820/830 screen into a T61. I know of the minor tab modification but was wondering about cable and electrical connection. Hear lots and lots and lots of hearsay about people who knew people with a dog who had a red gold fish doing this.

[zod]

I will modify display anyway, it will just wait for next T61(p).

[Cigarguy]

Please post up with the results when you do.

[RealBlackStuff]

I have done about 10 of those, not a single problem.
I also got a box with 10 of those, 'modded' them and sent them on to a customer abroad.
No problems there either.