[Help] X31 won't boot up. Black screen. Fan is still running

[smokefly]

My X31 stopped working yesterday. After I push the power button, the screen stays black. I can feel the fan is still pushing air out. Only one light is on. That is the one on the right side. I took a picture with my cellphone. It's not very clear. I'll update with a better picture tonight when I get back home.
img]http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/6319/img0044ac4.th.jpg[/img]

First I thought it would be the display problem with either the video card or the LCD backlight. But if that is the case, the hard drive light should come on and I should hear the Windows booting music. If it is the hard drive which fails, it should say something on the screen. I am afraid it is the motherboard but I am not sure.

I tried to unplug the power adapter and take out the battery. I waited for a while and put everything back. It helped several times but not any more. I also took out the hard drive and put in an external enclosure. It worked as an external hard drive and I was able to backup some stuff.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[charles.atcher]

Hate to tell you this, but most likely that is a system board failure.
Favorite failure of the X31. I also was plagued with that.

[smokefly]

That's what I found after some searching on internet. I guess I have to move on. Thanks.

Hate to tell you this, but most likely that is a system board failure.
Favorite failure of the X31. I also was plagued with that.

[smokefly]

An update. I came back home and the laptop still couldn't boot. I took the hard drive out and put in another hard drive (I had another hd all set up in this laptop before). It booted up without any problem. I swapped the hd. Now it has the most recent hd in it and boots up normally. Probably the mainboard is dying but not totally dead. Could there be any other possibilities?

[leesiulung]

I was about to ask the exact same question to you. It looks like my old X31 have the exact same symptoms yours do. What does that light mean? Did you find anything new out about this?

[hvanl]

Same problem here.
1 Changed the board (bought on ebay), and still the same problem
2 Bought a new bios battery and then I got only four beeps (should be security chip)
3 Changed the security chip with the one from ebay and I'm back to the first problem (no screen, fan is running)

Any ideas????

[lostdude]

i have the same problem and i've given up trying to fix it , if i buy another board it might not work like the guys post above mine, i think i'm going to splash out on a x300
so sad. i loved my x31

[hvanl]

I solved my problem
1 I removed harddisk and memory
2 Got 1 and 3 short beeps
3 Placed 1 Dimm and I got on screen message date time and security chip
4 Changed the security chip again and the machine was working again
5 placed second Dimm, back to my old problem.
6 After testing all dimms, it seems that I can only use one dimm-slot, all the sodimms are working but only one dimm/slot is working

[ragefury32]

Hm. Replace the bottom case - it might be that one of the grounding points on the chassis is no longer seating properly.

*sigh* - I love my X31 - but averages about one major rebuild a year. Looks like I'll be paying for EZServ for quite a while.

[charles.atcher]

Well, my replacement mobo, that replaced my previous mobo, that replaced the original mobo, is acting up. Seems I just have rotten luck with these. Shame, because I like the form factor and weight.

Started with a few random crashes, then went to a case where it would crash with the battery installed. Few minutes later it started to crash with no battery. Then it went into having to push the power button several times before it would POST.

Now it's a crap shoot if it boots at all. Certainly not an OS issue, as I've used XP, Ubuntu, Xubutu, and Mint.

[nicknane]

this problem is very common in many x31, including mine(2672CBJ):

1. at first the x31 won't boot happened occasionally after chrismas. when i power on the x31, all the indicator light blinked quickly, then only "z" light still on with the fan running. but wait some time and try again will occasionally successful;
2. about 2 months later on early feb this year, x31 completely dead with the same symptom no matter how many times i retried.


according to my google digging, there are two probable causes:
1. memory slot desolding
2. because x31 fan control definition is relatively higher than other thinkpad notebook, the electronic components is suffering higher temperature environment and result in electronic aging failure.

in general, C683, Q45&Q46(FDS6986S), U48(Power IC，MAX1845) and MOS-FET(FDS6986S Dual) is the most likely failure components, which is clearly labeled in x31 circuit diagram(click green button on the left to download)

last week, i brought my x31 to the repair company(not Blue Express) and replaced MAX1845 and another component with label "NET gJ8". problem solved. for pictures, please refer to
http://blog.163.com/bugoo_cat/blog/stat ... 133855472/

Here i present one proven solution to the "black screen" problem. so before u change the entire motherboard, maybe u can try it. im not professional in electronic, but just hope to provide u a clue to solve the problem.

[charles.atcher]

Thanks for the hints. I'll look further into this. Be very nice to have a repair option for these common failures. I have 3 or 4 of these motherboards that have died, or are on the way out.