Thinkpads Forum

I was using my laptop in bed last night, just getting nostalgic & browsing pictures from college I found stashed on my HDD. That's it, just looking at pictures. Suddenly, the screen froze. I powered it off & rebooted, or tried to. I get NOTHING. The power/battery lights come on, the "circled Z" light lights up & I hear the DVD drive test itself. The Num/Caps lock lights blink. Nothing appears on the screen. The screen does not turn on at all, and it does not appear to get to the BIOS checks, either. I know it isn't really booted because pushing the power button turns it right off. When it was working, I always had to hold the power button for like 6 seconds to force it off.

A coupe of weeks ago I had the mobo out to replace the magnesium frame, and upgrade to an Intel WiFi 5300ABGN card. The CPU got upgraded a long time ago (see sig for stuff I have done with it). I would think that if I had caused ESD damage the thing would have been immediately dead. I know that I greased the heat sink properly because TPFanControl reported good temps.

So, does anyone have any tips? I have tried pulling the battery/PSU, running PSU only, removing the DVD drive, etc. My next step is to pull the BIOS backup battery & really reset it. I also tried the "remove the battery & power and press the power button a few times & hold it 10 seconds" trick to no avail. I also don't get any beeps.

Thanks! I am going to be REALLY disappointed if this thing is bricked. I spent a lot of $ on it recently! I cannot decide if I will buy a new laptop (probably not another Thinkpad, the "good" ones are all 17" beasts...too big!), or if I will try to swap in a T61p mobo. I will forever miss the IPS display if I get a new laptop!

Just pulled the BIOS battery for a minute...nothing.

I pulled RAM modules one at a time...nothing.

I also pulled the HDD, DVD drive, WiFi card (WAN & modem were already removed)...nothing.

So, this is definitely CPU/mobo related....no boot when all peripherals are removed. Is there any I can narrow it down to the CPU or mobo/BIOS?

Sorry to hear about your troubles...

If the machine doesn't beep with no RAM inserted, you can likely kiss that board goodbye...

Personally, I'd just throw in a replacement board and call it a day. T61/p planars with nVidia cards are time bombs IMHO. Throwing in one with Intel graphics may not be a bad move, though, though you'd lose horsepower in the graphics area...

Good luck.

ajkula66 wrote:Sorry to hear about your troubles...

If the machine doesn't beep with no RAM inserted, you can likely kiss that board goodbye...

Personally, I'd just throw in a replacement board and call it a day. T61/p planars with nVidia cards are time bombs IMHO. Throwing in one with Intel graphics may not be a bad move, though, though you'd lose horsepower in the graphics area...

Good luck.

Hmmm...so swapping in a T61 board is not a reliable solution in the long-term? Dedicated graphics are a minimum requirement as I do a fair bit of CAD work. Does anyone have an idea of why the mobo would just die randomly? I would hope that this has nothing to do with the modded BIOS I was running for the wifi card. I would be hesitant to replace the mobo if I didn't know why it died for frar of it bricking again.

So, how much could I sell the laptop for with all the upgrades & a pooped mobo? The screen is less than a year old (replaced it under warranty).

One other question...

How can I make sure that the problem is the mobo/BIOS flash/whatever and not the CPU. When the CPU poops out, do these things usually still boot & give a CPU error? Thanks guys! If it is indeed the mobo, I suppose I could try to find another Rev3 mobo on eBay...they seem to go for $250-300US.

I have been browsing new laptops, and honestly, it looks like I will need to spend a minimum of $2000 if I REALLY want to upgrade from this. The graphics offerings in anything but the high-end laptops are just not fast enough (compared to my V5200) to warrant spending money on. If I got a new one, I would want a noticeable difference! The T61p I have at work is barely faster than mt T60p lol...and actually slower due to the crapware my employer forces us to run (bitlocker...gaaagggggg)!

Try your previous CPU if you still have it.
No beeps means something is dead, but not necessarily the mobo!

RealBlackStuff wrote:Try your previous CPU if you still have it.
No beeps means something is dead, but not necessarily the mobo!

Yup, still have it. I will dig it out & see if it helps. If it IS the CPU...well, that's what I get for buying an eBay T7600 BGA that was converted to PGA!

OK...

Thank you for the suggestion to swap in the CD T2600. That totally slipped my mind while I was fretting over this. I swapped it in & it will boot. I guess the eBay re-pinned T7600 was a time-bomb! At least I got a solid 6 months out of it...

So, maybe I will just have to live with the T2600. I am running Win7-x86 still, so I suppose I don't NEED the C2D. Still, it was noticeably faster. Oh well, at least I have a laptop again! Thanks for the suggestions!

Out of curiosity, does nayone know why a CPU would just die at random while doing something seemingly benign like looking at pictures?

Not certain at all, but when re-pinning something one must be completely sure not to create any kind of undesired capacitance between the joints and pins or create any stray capacitance between the pins. At the frequencies the processor operates at, it's really crucial.
What material are the pins made from? Unless it's gold or nickel plated, it will detoriate severely over time and the capacitance would shoot through the roof.

Since you used the laptop in bed, did the CPU run hotter than it used to? This may also affect capacitances (derformations of metals). I think the CPU core still works fine to be honest.

So... the warranty period on the modified T7600 is up, or?

Or maybe this had something to do with the undervolting afterall?

bmwman91 wrote: Out of curiosity, does nayone know why a CPU would just die at random while doing something seemingly benign like looking at pictures?

It was most likely something wrong to do with the BGA/PGA conversion, at least that would be my guess. If that CPU is toast, I'd consider trying to get another CPU. A think a T7400 would be considerably cheaper and more common, meaning you could find a true PGA processor much easier.

I guess the eBay re-pinned T7600 was a time-bomb!

I've seen these around and was wondering about the long term reliability of them. This may be a warning sign, so others with the eBay re-pinned T7600's might want to take notice.
Good call RBS...'You da man'

LegendaryKA8 wrote:It was most likely something wrong to do with the BGA/PGA conversion, at least that would be my guess. If that CPU is toast, I'd consider trying to get another CPU. A think a T7400 would be considerably cheaper and more common, meaning you could find a true PGA processor much easier.

I just ordered another SL9SD T7600 on eBay. This one is coming from a vendor in the US (supposedly, anyway) with a very high rating, and it has a photo showing it labeled as an SL9SD. So, hopefully I got the real deal this time!

bmwman91 wrote:I guess the eBay re-pinned T7600 was a time-bomb!

That is exactly the warning message I've repeated many times here to those who attempt to grab a converted (BGA->PGA) C2D on ebay to upgrade the CD processor in T60/p.

Yeah, i am not sure what the pins were made from. They didn't look corroded/oxidized.

Actually, I stopped undervolting the CPU a couple of months ago. NHC was getting annoying in the background & kept messing up the screen brightness when I went on/off the battery. My sig needs an update.

As far as using it in bed, it was not overheating. I am really paranoid about that (worked as a thermal engineer with consumer electronics at my first job). Nothing goes near the corner with the air vents!

And yes, the warranty expired a while back. That's why I have been hacking up this perfectly good laptop!

Troels wrote:Not certain at all, but when re-pinning something one must be completely sure not to create any kind of undesired capacitance between the joints and pins or create any stray capacitance between the pins. At the frequencies the processor operates at, it's really crucial.
What material are the pins made from? Unless it's gold or nickel plated, it will detoriate severely over time and the capacitance would shoot through the roof.

Since you used the laptop in bed, did the CPU run hotter than it used to? This may also affect capacitances (derformations of metals). I think the CPU core still works fine to be honest.

So... the warranty period on the modified T7600 is up, or?

Or maybe this had something to do with the undervolting afterall?