X31 spontaneously rebooting

[jeffbl]

I had a T42p that developed the graphics chip BGA issue. I also had a T42 that went the same disastrous path. Now my beloved X31 is spontaneously rebooting, especially when moved. It seems that the X31 has basically the same issue? I try to keep my laptops in good shape, but apparently I just have bad luck or am harder on them than I thought. Is there any kind of shim/post-it-note stacking that can mitigate the problem on my X31, or should I just ditch it? I'm looking at the X200 as a replacement, but is there anything about it that would make it less susceptible to this issue? Any recommendations for other Thinkpads (or - gasp - other manufacturers) that would be more robust?

thanks,
-jeff

[pellicle]

Hi

I had a similar problem with my last x31. I've kept it to see if there is something shorting inside, as I've read something about the USB port causing this issue. I have not as yet found the time to explore.

If you're 'game' you might try to disassemble it (following the hardware manual) and have a careful look at the ports.

I'll post here when I've had time to examine my first one. I bought another one from thinkpadworld and got 3 year warranty on it. I'm still using that one now

[denisky]

When I went to second-hand laptop store, I saw X31 randomly rebooting couple times after Windows BSOD. The technician didn't know what caused it. Maybe there was a conflict with the OS?

[jeffbl]

I would try and reinstall the OS, except that on occasion, it freezes before the BIOS even kicks in, so I'm pretty sure it is a hardware issue. I got the four beeps a few times a while back, and thought that one of the memory slots was bad, so removed the memory from that slot. But it is still freezing and rebooting now.

Oh - and I think I did try booting Ubuntu (I'm running Vista normally) off CD, and it still froze when I moved it around - it is definitely sensitive to motion. If I'm very careful to leave it in the exact same place, it can go for a while, but if I pick it up, it will usually freeze instantly.

I'll probably try and take it apart this weekend and look at the ports - thanks for the suggestion.