T61 nVidia thinkpads being repaired N/C [until March 2011]

[miro_gt]

I'm having no problems with my 140m after 3.5 years working under 55% overclock (625/950 gpu/mem), netting ~2400 3DMark06 score while with the T7500 CPU - I got T9500 on it right now. It's a 14" standard screen T61 so its got 128MB video memory only, yet with the overclock scores higher than the default FX 570 with 128MB memory.

GPU revision A2
MB revision C0
laptop purchased in Q4/2007

my TPFanControl profile kicks the max speed at 65 deg C, so the GPU can not go over ~68 deg C temp at room temperature (gaming for 5 hours with 100% CPU load as well). At idle I'm at ~48 GPU and ~43 CPU at room temperature.

here's my thread with more info:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo- ... y-t61.html

[poshgeordie]

I'm no expert either, but have discussed this extensively with my The Board Room partner poshgeordie/Nick, who has described this on his own website in the UK: http://reflowrepairs.co.uk/news

Also have a look at this thread I started which explains the problems with the chips in some detail http://forum.thinkpads.com.....89409

[J888www]

To cut the long story short, I have same issues. Previously, I had GPU issues with a DELL XPS M1330 nVidia GeForce 8400M GS, seems better to opt for a laptop with Another Type Interface GPU, no matter how enticing the cost of purchase, just avoid if it has nVidia parts. No matter the warranty or the price, it is never the same after you realize that your pride and joy of a purchase turn out to have defective issues. Twice bitten, thrice shy.

[madflava54]

I have a 14inch t61p and I have mindfully monitored the temps of my laptop since discovering that the GPU can "explode." The laptop has worked wonderfully and I was wondering what you guys recommend I do? I got this laptop Feb. of 2008 so I think it has the faulty GPU.

[eecon]

I have a 14inch t61p and I have mindfully monitored the temps of my laptop since discovering that the GPU can "explode." The laptop has worked wonderfully and I was wondering what you guys recommend I do? I got this laptop Feb. of 2008 so I think it has the faulty GPU.

If it still has warranty remaining, then purchase an extension as far out as you can go if you want to keep it.

Otherwise, eBay it before everyone in the world learns of this issue.

[eskimochaos2]

My T61p purchased Jan 08 just did this 3 months out of warranty. Called support - box arrived on my doorstep next morning. They repaired it in 2 days and I have it back already.

Havent been able to test it out yet because I'm not home but I assume all is peachy.

They are providing this service for free up until 3/31/2011. You cannot be out of warranty for more than 6 months, however.


UPDATE: Just got home and got my T61p up and running. Not only did they replace the motherboard but they replaced the entire bottom cover and palm rest. Furthermore, re-assembly was flawless. I've received laptops back from service with binding keyboards due to the MB being installed improperly.

Needless to say I'm thrilled - especially considering I was OUT of warranty.

Lenovo - you've got a return customer.

[JE2Tom]

Hello,

New member here, looking for advice. I came across this forum searching for info on a recent problem I'm having.

Starting yesterday, my T61p is 'hanging' at boot at the first Thinkpad BIOS screen. This is always at a cold boot, when the machine is off an hour or more. I have to hold the power button down until it turns off, then try again. It has worked so far. I have two known good hard drives, I can swap them and this still occurs, so it's not a drive or boot partition issue.

Are there any signs or symptoms that this kind of failure is about to happen? If my window of opportunity is closing this month, I don't want to wait. Did your machines do anything like this before failing? I'd hate to miss out if I can get this repaired now, but I don't want to send it in unnecessarily.

It's a 6459CTO type, mfg date is 07/09. This is YY/MM, right? As in September 2007? I bought it in October 2008. NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M card, always running about 56°C temperature. 71°C after a few minutes of full screen Flash video. It is always in an Advanced Dock, where the fan operates continuously. I recently started using it to display online video on an external HDTV, so it's getting much more demand on the video components.

I love this thing and I want to get at least another year out of it. I'll replace it with another Thinkpad regardless, I'm hooked.

Sorry for the lengthy first post.

[RealBlackStuff]

If still under warranty, send it in NOW, and also extend your warranty to the max.
Its nVidia GPU is bound to 'fall over' sooner rather than later.

[JE2Tom]

If still under warranty, send it in NOW, and also extend your warranty to the max.
Its nVidia GPU is bound to 'fall over' sooner rather than later.

I bought a two-year warranty but that's long expired. It's now a 3.5 year old laptop. I looked online to purchase an extension to the warranty from Lenovo, but I get a message stating "There are currently no Service Offerings for this system."

Looks like I am out of luck, unless this thing just dies in the next week or so.

Further complicating things, I now live in the UK. I'm an American and I bought it when I still lived there in the US. I don't know how shipping costs are covered in that situation.

I got a massive amount of use out of this thing over the last few years, so it's not so bad. I wouldn't be particularly impressed by a laptop lasting only 3.5 years, I expect better from a Thinkpad. Still working, though. I will just hope for the best, and maybe buy a longer warranty on the next one. Thanks for the advice.

[eecon]

I bought a two-year warranty but that's long expired. It's now a 3.5 year old laptop. I looked online to purchase an extension to the warranty from Lenovo, but I get a message stating "There are currently no Service Offerings for this system."

Looks like I am out of luck, unless this thing just dies in the next week or so.

Further complicating things, I now live in the UK. I'm an American and I bought it when I still lived there in the US. I don't know how shipping costs are covered in that situation.

I got a massive amount of use out of this thing over the last few years, so it's not so bad. I wouldn't be particularly impressed by a laptop lasting only 3.5 years, I expect better from a Thinkpad. Still working, though. I will just hope for the best, and maybe buy a longer warranty on the next one. Thanks for the advice.

Your machine is definately a Sept 2007 unit, so I presume you bought it used or reconditioned .... correct?

Either way you are pretty much SOL even unless it fails before March 31st per all the good info you will find at this link below that includes scenarios of folks who bought them in the US and now living abroad .... it get's messy in those kind of situations with shipping and customs costs (although the UK was not so bad ..... see Vipul's post 226 on page 63 of the link below who was in exactly your situation ...... it is only costing him $240 total shipping to have it returned to the county of purchase here in the US from the UK):

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-pri ... 139#M56044

Moral of the story is don't buy Lenovo in North America if you plan to then move to another county overseas before the warranty expires. Wait to buy it in the new country to which you have moved. This warranty policy discourages free trade, but hey .... who is the worst country when it comes to not adhering to free trade policies? That's right .... you guessed it ..... and that company that IBM sold the ThinkPad business to is headquartered in that very country.

[JE2Tom]

Your machine is definitely a Sept 2007 unit, so I presume you bought it used or reconditioned .... correct?

Purchased brand new direct from Lenovo. I never focused on the manufacture date, but now I see it sat around for over a year before being shipped to me. Odd.

.... it get's messy in those kind of situations with shipping and customs costs (although the UK was not so bad ..... it is only costing him $240 total shipping to have it returned to the county of purchase here in the US from the UK)

Ahhh! Poor guy. $240 repair on an older device and I'm buying a new one instead. I'm in the lovely tax haven of Jersey, so we are UK tax and VAT exempt. I think that by filling out the customs form just right you can bypass VAT when shipping used devices from the UK for repair.

I remain hopeful that this won't happen to me. I get stuck at the boot screen, but I get no beeps, and the temps are always normal. Fingers crossed and I'll order the next one from this side of the pond.

Thanks to all for a great forum and lots of good advice. I'm off to the Linux sub-forums...

[rssb]

Is this version affected ( A1 ), it was built in Apr 08. But I believe the motherboard was changed once in 2010 for no video. So not sure if still this also has problems. My warranty expires next month, so wondering if I should get it done now.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G84M [Quadro NVS 140M] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T61
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at d6000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable)
Memory at d4000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)
I/O ports at 2000
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [128] Power Budgeting <?>
Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=024 <?>
Kernel driver in use: nvidia

[eecon]

Purchased brand new direct from Lenovo. I never focused on the manufacture date, but now I see it sat around for over a year before being shipped to me. Odd.

That's another reason to always order a custom configured unit ..... you know it will be fresh

[eecon]

Is this version affected ( A1 ), it was built in Apr 08. But I believe the motherboard was changed once in 2010 for no video. So not sure if still this also has problems. My warranty expires next month, so wondering if I should get it done now.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G84M [Quadro NVS 140M] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T61
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at d6000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable)
Memory at d4000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)
I/O ports at 2000
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [128] Power Budgeting <?>
Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=024 <?>
Kernel driver in use: nvidia

Any T61 or T61p using Nvidia graphics with a bottom label date code of 08/08, 08/09, 08/10, 08/11, 08/12, 09/01, 09/02 and possibly 09/03 (Aug 08 thru end of production around Feb or March 2009 was build with the "fix". The transition from the vulnerable units to the "fixed" units happened during July 2008 (08/07) so conceivably 50% of the July 2008 units could have had the "fix" incorporated from the factory but there is no way to tell as I do not believe they changed the motherboard version ..... only the soldering material inside the Nvidia chip and I do not know if Nvidia changed part or version numbers on that "fixed" chip. That means some A1 chips may possibly be the "fixed" ones and some not. Most all A2 versions, however appear to be of the "fixed" flavor.

Your Apr 08 (08/04) machine, if never serviced in 2010, could still be vulnerable to the defective Nvidia chip. However, since you had the video problems resolved in 2010, I would venture to say you have a "fixed" graphics chip ...... Lenovo knew about the issue a far back as late 2008 so I'm confident they were using "fixed" batches of Nvidia chips (either A1 or A2) thoughout 2010.

Although my Aug 2008 unit has the A2 version graphics, that does not mean that all the A1 versions were "un-fixed." You can double-check your current graphics version using the reliable and accurate free utility CPU-Z v1.57 and report back if you wish.

[rumbero]

Any T61 or T61p using Nvidia graphics with a bottom label date code of 08/08, 08/09, 08/10, 08/11, 08/12, 09/01, 09/02 and possibly 09/03 (Aug 08 thru end of production around Feb or March 2009 was build with the "fix".

@eecon: Do you possibly have some official information source to back up this statement?

I have heard similar claims about such a supposed "fix", but never found any adequate official information source.

[eecon]

@eecon: Do you possibly have some official information source to back up this statement?

I have heard similar claims about such a supposed "fix", but never found any adequate official information source.

@rumbero: PM set to you.

[rssb]

Thank you eecon, when I check it using CPU-Z in windows it says G86M Rev A2, but in linux it says what I posted earlier. So if i go by CPU-z then I should be ok.

[eecon]

Thank you eecon, when I check it using CPU-Z in windows it says G86M Rev A2, but in linux it says what I posted earlier. So if i go by CPU-z then I should be ok.

CPU-Z is considered very reliable and would use that info over a linux utility in this particular case.

[Param]

Hi,

My thinkpad T61 build date is 08/04, it has nVidia Quadro NVS 140M (Revision A2 as per GPU-z), Mine is running fine, i get grabbled display only when i try to play Age of Empires game

Mine is out of warranty (expired Apr 09). I think my GPU may fail down the line..but not sure..and have recently upgraded my OS to Windows 7 .Am i eligible for repair? Can i contact Lenovo CS as per details provided in this thread.



Thanks
Param

[Paul88]

Hi Param, my machine is a little newer than you, built in 08/07. I contacted lenovo yesterday but no luck. They refused to replace the nVidia card and kept saying " Your machine is out of warranty, sorry" then the rep just hung up!! Good luck. Paul.

[eecon]

Hi Param, my machine is a little newer than you, built in 08/07. I contacted lenovo yesterday but no luck. They refused to replace the nVidia card and kept saying " Your machine is out of warranty, sorry" then the rep just hung up!! Good luck. Paul.

When did your warrranty expire?

They started fixing machines who's warranty expired 6 months ago or less (but now are making some exception to that here near the end of the special repair program). It usually takes 3 or 4 nagging calls to get a CS rep to send you a shipping box for repair .... see links below.

It's a darn shame your machine is a July 2008 built unit .... the same month of the transition to the "fixed" Nvidia chips (Aug 2008 machines and newer are okay but the July 2008 machines came as a mix of "fixed" and "defective" Nvidia ..... maybe 50/50.

A darn shame for sure ..... hope you bought a 3 year warranty .... if so you may be eligible for the free fix through the end of March (one week away) when Lenovo's post-warranty repair program ends.

Eligiblity requires that:

1. The unit's build date on the bottom label must be July 2008 or earlier (printed as 08/07, 08/06, 08/04 .... etc);

2. Warranty expiration has not been more than 6 months (however they are making expections to this so don't give up ..... see the link below);

3. The unit exhibits the symptons of a long beep followed by two short beeps followed by a blank screen upon a cold power-up or a continouously garbled screen.

Get more info at the official Lenovo forum ASAP from these two links:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-pri ... 257#M56171

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-pri ... 701#M55676

[eecon]

Hi,

My thinkpad T61 build date is 08/04, it has nVidia Quadro NVS 140M (Revision A2 as per GPU-z), Mine is running fine, i get grabbled display only when i try to play Age of Empires game

Mine is out of warranty (expired Apr 09). I think my GPU may fail down the line..but not sure..and have recently upgraded my OS to Windows 7 .Am i eligible for repair? Can i contact Lenovo CS as per details provided in this thread.



Thanks
Param

Your symptons for only one game are not indicative of the defective Nvidia graphics chip issue as discussed in my previous post ..... when it goes garbled, it tends to be garbled on everything. Keep your fan and heat sinks free of dust build-up (remove the keypad and give them a good shot from a can of compressed air). I also have an A2 rev chip on my August 2008 build unit so it's possible your motherboard has already been "fixed" or you got lucky back in April 2008 (not all Nivida chips back then were defective). If you don't want to lift up the keyboard (use a search engine for the simple instructions), at least blow the compressed air into the fan inlets and outlet while the unit is running once in a while. See link below:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-pri ... 701#M55676

[Paul88]

Hi eecon, thank you very much for the info. I certainly appreciate it. It's my bad typo, actually my unit was built in 07/08 (Aug 2007) and the warranty expired Aug of last year. So I think that's why they denied to fix/replace the nVidia card for me. Thanks again. Paul.

[eecon]

Hi eecon, thank you very much for the info. I certainly appreciate it. It's my bad typo, actually my unit was built in 07/08 (Aug 2007) and the warranty expired Aug of last year. So I think that's why they denied to fix/replace the nVidia card for me. Thanks again. Paul.

Paul .... I can understand Lenovo's position regarding the unit being out of warranty for over 18 months ... tough break for you, and I'm sorry I could not have been of any further help.

I'm just thankfull that my T61p was one of the first factory built "fixed" units (Aug 2008 ... purchased used and virtually in new condition around Jan 2009 for less than 1/2 it's new price from a pawn shop after verifying that is was not stolen with Lenovo and my local sheriff's office). I later extended it's original 1 year warranty out to Aug 2012 just to be safe. I'm also thankfull that I originally ordered my T61 new (July 2007) with a 4 year factory warranty to Aug 2011 ..... I recently tried to extend that T61's original 4 year warranty out another year to Aug 2012, but Lenovo recently dropped that option, so it's time to get it up on eBay while it still has a few months of warranty left. The T61 was only used for one year on my docking station with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse until I purchased the T61p, and since then the T61 has esstentially been in storage (w/o the battery).

[eecon]

Get them fixed now while you can .... the program expires in one week on March 31, 2011:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-pri ... 391#M56193

[SaabScott]

I'm going to throw this out there for comment / confirmation.

My T61p has a manufacture date of 02/08.
However, about 9 months after I purchased it, I had a coffee spill and the MB was replaced.

I'm assuming, given all that I have read about the dates, the replacement MB would have been one of the newer ones and I shouldn't expect to see the issues with a pre-August version.
Is there a way to check the MB revision to verify this?

[eecon]

I'm going to throw this out there for comment / confirmation.

My T61p has a manufacture date of 02/08.
However, about 9 months after I purchased it, I had a coffee spill and the MB was replaced.

I'm assuming, given all that I have read about the dates, the replacement MB would have been one of the newer ones and I shouldn't expect to see the issues with a pre-August version.
Is there a way to check the MB revision to verify this?

Turn your laptop over and verify that the date code just to the right of the s/n reads 08/02 which would be Feb 2008.

Then download the free utility CPU-Z v1.57 (google or Bing it) ..... If it reports under the Graphics tab that the Nvidia chip is version A2 then you are most likely in good shape.

I find it higly unlikely that after July 2008 Lenovo repair depots would not have used the new "fixed" motherboard/Nvidia combo ..... All new factory built units after July 2008 had the "fixed" combo.

If your's was repaired around Oct or Nov 2008, I'd say your okay.

BTW, what were the symptoms after the spill but before you had it repaired?

[SaabScott]

BTW, what were the symptoms after the spill but before you had it repaired?

It didn't work .... at all.

[SaabScott]

Then download the free utility CPU-Z v1.57 (google or Bing it) ..... If it reports under the Graphics tab that the Nvidia chip is version A2 then you are most likely in good shape.

I have v1.56 and it reads it as A2.

Thanks for the tip.

[eecon]

It didn't work .... at all.

Not even any beeps when pressing the power button?