Thinkpads Forum

The problem is as follows:

1. Power connected - battery & plug lights come on
2. Press power button - usual lights flash and hard disk spins - no display reaction
3. All lights go out - hard disk clicks loudly (presumbly due to cut off of power)
4. Power button will not operate until power and battery removed/reconnected

I have tried stripping down to see if any particular component is to blame.

Have remove screen, HDD, DVD, memory and uSB connectors seperately and together.

When I remove the memory I get a 1-3-3-1 POST beep

All components are working on a friends T400.

Any ideas?

When you say you tested the pieces on a T400, I assume you mean the hard drive. The T400 memory is DDR3 vs. DDR2 (won't fit) The T400 DVD drive is SATA vs. IDE, and the T400 screen connector is longer.

It really sounds like your motherboard is shot.

You could also try removing the mPCI-e WiFi card and the Bluetooth card to see it either is shorting something out. Also, what happens if you try to power up with no battery installed?

Harryc wrote:You could also try removing the mPCI-e WiFi card and the Bluetooth card to see it either is shorting something out. Also, what happens if you try to power up with no battery installed?

err .. got me on the detail

I swapped the LCD to the T400 not the whole assembly and I just didn't bother with the DVD just let it out !

I've also removed the WWAN and WLAN cards. I haven't removed the b'tooth as it is in the screen housing and the same problem exists without the screen housing.

I agree it sounds like my m'board is screwed, just wanted to see if there was anything obvious. I've fixed previous probs related to fuses but this seems worse as it will POST (cf. beeps with RAM omitted) but not drive the video/boot OS.

Try with an external monitor.
T61 with nVidia are notorious for the GPU conking out.
If still under warranty, send it in to get the mobo replaced.

Probably the most common symptom of GPU failure (at least the one I have seen the most) is a black LCD and some sort of damaged picture on an external monitor.

I hooked up to an external monitor an it booted but now cuts out before the logon screen. It seems the problem is related to either the laptop connector cable or the GPU.

Either way I guess I'll post it on ebay for spares/repair.

Thanks for the pointers.

Check with user poshgeordie who may be able to save your T61.
www.reflowrepairs.co.uk