T60 ubuntu 7.10 jerky cursor, slowdown, ipw3945 Microcode SW

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John H · #1 Post by **John H** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:32 am

My trusty Thinkpad T60 (ubuntu 7.10 and XP dualboot) suddenly has jumpy/jerky cursor syndrome and has slowed down to a crawl. And I've restarted it many times. But now the T60 is unusable.

Anyone else have this problem?

When I move the stick the cursor moves an inch and pauses for a couple seconds before it'll move again.

The computer has slowed down to a crawl.

Oh yeah, the wireless stopped working, too.

When I try to use the HDD dual-boot to get to "ubuntu (recovery mode)" from the bootlist I get endless repetition of these error msgs:

nnn.nnnnnn ipw3945:Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
nnn.nnnnnn ipw3945:Error reply type 0x0000005 cmd ADD_STA (0x1 seq 0x0407 ser 0x004A0000
nnn.nnnnnn ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.

the 'nnn.nnnnn' is a bunch of increasing numbers.

Also,I can't boot from a CD

MOD EDIT: Moved from X6x series to T6x forum.

#2 Post by **ryengineer** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:10 pm

I think the HDD is malfunctioning or the wireless driver (ipw3945) in linux has become unstable.

Save your data and run fitness test on your drive.

Hint: Remove all the HDD passwords from it in the BIOS, put it in an external enclosure, connect it to another PC and copy your important data. Also think about formatting your drive.

John H · #3 Post by **John H** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:33 pm

Thanks I'll try that.

I may also have a failed 3945, and if so I need a special miniPCI "express" 3945, which is pretty cheap and easy to install.

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Lenovo-Intel-39 ... dZViewItem

John H · #4 Post by **John H** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:12 pm

I ordered up one of those 3945 miniPCI Express cards for the T60 and will install it as soon as it arrives.

I think that this card may be responsible for the slow CPU, jerky cursor, and wireless failure.

I think I was lucky to find the problem because my XP partition made no complaint about anything, but it was unwilling to even try connecting wireless, and I couldn't even create a connection. The XP just didn't do it but didn't say why. The only way I got the 3945 reference was with the ubuntu recovery mode.

John H · #5 Post by **John H** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:32 pm

I put the new 3945 in but have the same result. I'm going to try the Lenova drivers.

John H · #6 Post by **John H** » Sat May 10, 2008 10:52 pm

The T60 started working again. that's what I'm using right now. Seems to work on cool nights.

I have no idea about how to solve this permanently.

John H · #7 Post by **John H** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:44 pm

Now the T60 is acting up again.

I'm convinced it has nothing to do with OS System software: theXP, ubuntu 7.10 and even the ubuntu 8.04 systems act the same.

Could it be the motherboard?

Anyone seen this before?

alepine · #8 Post by **alepine** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:57 am

Take out the keyboard. Use canned air on the vents for the CPU heatsink. I have found that air from the outside of the vents works the best. My T60 started turning off and running slower until I cleaned out the dust bunnies.

John H · #9 Post by **John H** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:49 pm

I'll try that. I think it has something to do with temperature and environment.

T60 ubuntu 7.10 jerky cursor, slowdown, ipw3945 Microcode SW

T60 ubuntu 7.10 jerky cursor, slowdown, ipw3945 Microcode SW

try cleaning your laptop

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