Thinkpads Forum

I bought the T60p when I was a student in America. My T60p’s machine type is 2613 T7200 fire v5250.

A few days ago, I found that the screen flicker within first half an hour of startup, after about 4 to 5 times of continuously flickering it would continue to work fine. The problem always happens after I turn on the computer. I searched google and found this screen flicker is not the same as people mentioned before at the forum. The flicker seems like the power control chip in my computer switches the power supply between battery and AC adapter. *If* I unplug the battery and startup the computer only use the AC adapter, T60 will random shutdown without any prompt. It just likes someone move the AC adapter away from my computer suddenly. And this problem happens also within first half an hour of startup.

[what I have done]
I have updated all drivers of my T60, included BIOS. I also restore the windowsXP system to the initial status. Moreover, I tried to install windowsXP from an installation CD. However, all the efforts make no sense to this problem. At last, I use a Linux liveCD to startup my computer. Unfortunately, I get the same result. Anyone experience the same problem with me?

Any help on this really annoying probelm will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

Did you try to wiggle your power connector at your TP by using the battery, to see from where the problem is. Maybe it is "only" a connection problem...It could be the mainboard, also the power connector...


Try this out and tell us what´s happened!

Good luck!

Selim

Thanks for your enlightenment.
This is the first method I had to deal with this problem. I have double checked the power connector. I don't think it's the reason for my problem because flicker or shutdown will only happen within first 30 minutes then it works fine without any problem until I turn off the computer.

How old ist your system?

This seems to be a service problem for Lenovo...

I bought it at December 2006 with windows xp home edition on it. Then I bought a set of windows xp pro recovery CDs from ebay. Now, I'm using windowsXP pro system.
What 'a service problem' means? Is it a hardware issue or just something wrong with softwares?

I suppose this is a hardware issue....maybe you can try a bios downgrade....but it seems to be a problem with the mainboard...

I would agree. If it came into my store, I'd replace the motherboard first (probably after testing the AC adapter).

What a pity of me...
I took test just now. If I press F1 at the beginning of startup to enter into BIOS and stay in there, the computer will not be shuted down. So I suppose it's not the problem of the AC adapter.

You might try booting up from a PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD and see what it reports.

GomJabbar wrote:You might try booting up from a PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD and see what it reports.

Thank you GomJabbar!
I tried to use this bootable disk and ran all the test in it. All the tests were successfully passed, including the 'AC adapter test','mainboard test' and power related tests. After these tests, I turned up the computer with my Linux liveCD. To my surprise, it ran without shutdown. But when I started up computer to the windowXP, the screen was still flickering at fist half an hour. I'm comfused and I will double check it. Maybe I should install Vista to probe this issue.

After having updated the BIOS to the latest one, this issue has not existed under Linux system. However, windowsXP, even the Vista still have this annoying problem. I think the reason why this issue doesn't exist under Linux system is this Power related device can not be recognised by Linux.

After innumerable times of attempts, I have resolved this hard ware issue which is actually caused by my flawed AC adapter.

[ How to reproduction ]
This problem can be reproducted when the AC adapter was working under high workload. For example, when I run the 3DMark2006 for more than 20 minutes or just watch a download HDTV movie for a long time, screen will flicker and the LED of AC power will flicker continuous. It seems like the AC adapter cannot afford this high power consumption. So I borrowed a AC adapter form my friend, then all the problems have been gone.