Screws Falling Out of a T61

[Poximex]

Hey Everybody,

I acquired my T61 back in June of 2007 within a couple weeks of the product line being announced. So far I have not had any major problems, besides some stupid issues with Windows Vista; it really is a great machine.

Yesterday when I was using the machine in a lounge chair, I saw that I had a small screw in my lap. I flipped the computer so I could see the back, and noticed that I in fact had four empty screw holes. The screw looked very similar to the other screws in the machine, but I didn't have a screw driver so I couldn't find the exact hole it went in.

If if wasn't for that screw, I never would have noticed that I was missing screws. Has anyone here looked at the bottom of their T61? Are you missing screws too? The four screws I am missing (bear with me as I try to describe them - perspective from looking at the back) are

• The top left screw
• What I assume is the Hard drive cover screw on the left side, not the fat one
• Two screws in the center that have a picture like a teardrop and a keyboard (below serial number and windows key)

Thanks guys! I love the forum. I was planning on calling thinkpad help later this afternoon, but wanted to see if the community had any advice.

EDIT: I previously searched the Lenovo help site for any articles on this, but turned up nothing. If you do find a help article, that would be great and I would certainly appreciate a link.

[andyP]

Hi poximex, welcome to the forum,

the two holes with teardrops are not screw holes, they are to allow fluids to drain away should the keyboard get a "spillage" of some sort.

Not knowing if you are refering to left or right as you look at the bottom or top of your T61; I wanted to provide a link to the Hardware Maintainance Manual site, but unfortunately Lenovo seem to be working on their site again. (There's a link in the FAQs).

One screw hole that somtimes causes concern is for the optical drive. It's not there, but in the box, should you wish to secure the drive. (on the right - rear - underside, as when you are using your TP)

[SSK]

Ok!

I think you only loosed 1 screw...the 2 teardrop holes must be open for the keyboard dranage system...Thats normal and here hasn´t to be a screw! 2 screws left =)
One screw is there to fix the ultrabay drive...but it´s not there out of the factory, only an option when you don´t change the drives!

Ok the last one, i think it´s from the hdd cover...please post pics...but i assume it´s one screw really missing...

[SSK]

btw: hehe man, you were much faster in typing =)

[Poximex]

A picture of the side (67kb).

Thanks for your help guys. Good call on the drainage holes... that explains the drop of water icon (and upon closer investigation, the lack of screw threading).

On the linked picture, I circled both of the remaining screw holes. The top one is definitely for the optical drive and way too big of a hole for the screw that came out. So I guess the end result is that one screw is gone, and that is the one on the HDD cover (the lower circle).

I tried to see if I could put the screw back in. Much to my surprise, I can push it back into the hole... no screwing necessary. The screw itself appears to have no damage and the threading is definitely there. As soon as I flipped the computer back over, it just fell out again. I double checked, just in case, and no other holes are missing screws. It's extremely unlikely that the screw came from somewhere else... I'm not really a tinkerer and I found the screw in my lap (anything else should have fallen off when I moved to my chair).

Pending other advice from you knowledgeable folks, I'm tempted to just say that it doesn't really matter if the screw is there since there is another one. It just concerns me that, randomly, after 6 months of desk, lap, and table use that NOW the screw would fall out.

Thanks again everyone.

[andyP]

The screw you are missing is for the palm rest, (M2 x 14mm). I would suggest replacing it. The screw for the hdd cover is the screw below the missing one in your picture.
What are the dimensions of the screw you found? Almost all on the underside should be M2.
The Lenovo site seems to back up again, should you need it you can get the HMM here