Dead X32

[saturnrings]

For some reason on the begining of my trip overseas, my X32 (Type 2672-M3G) has failed. At first it would start up with no problems, but eventually I'd get a blue screen of death after a few minutes of operation. Now, the laptop will turn on, but will sometimes make a four beep chine when I attempt to start it. Otherwise it powers on with nothing happening, and it doesn't seem to be charging. Is this potentially an easy problem to fix or is this going to be a dead unit best for parting out?

[rkawakami]

Could be either. The best way to determine how bad the problem is would be to remove all peripherals (memory; hard drive; MiniPCI card, if you have installed one; modem; PCMCIA card) and then try to power up the system. If the motherboard issues the missing memory beep code (1 short, pause, 3 short, pause, 3 short, pause, 1 short) then there's a chance that the problem is due to one or more of the things you just removed from the laptop. If you get a different beep code, then you can look up the definition in the Hardware Maintenance Manual:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-44018

(The four beeps you described getting is related to the security chip on the system board. I'm not sure if that particular chip is mounted to a socket in the X32. If it is, you may have to remove the motherboard to gain access to it.)

If you don't get any beep code, then most likely the motherboard is shot. Assuming that you do get the 1-3-3-1 code, then install one of the memory modules and try booting again. If the system boots, turn it off, move the memory module to the other slot and boot again. If it works there, you've determined that that particular module and both memory slots are working. If you had a second memory module installed, then remove the first, put the second one in and see if that one allows the system to boot. If at any time you get the 1-3-3-1 beep code with a module installed, then that module is defective or the slot is bad. That's one common reason why you would be getting blue screens.

If the system boots with the original memory installed, I'd run a diagnostic check on it for at least two hours. You can download a copy of the memtest86+ program for writing to a floppy or a CD from here:

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Again, assuming that the memory checks out, start installing one piece of hardware at a time, boot the system and if it generates an error, then the last piece you installed is defective.

A second source of blue screens is from a bad disk drive. You can download a copy of PC Doctor for DOS from here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-56222 (.ISO image for creating a bootable CD)
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-44202 (three files for creating boot floppies)

This program has a Fixed Disk diagnostic section that can tell you if there's a problem with the disk drive. It checks the interface and can perform several different types of read-only scans of the disk.

[saturnrings]

I'll attempt to give more details.

When it starts up, I'll get one of the three following situations from most often to least often...

1) It turns on, nothing on the screen, no access to BIOS or diagnostics, and no beeping.

2) It turns on, nothing on the screen, no access to BIOS or diagnostics, but it beeps with four short beeps occuring four times.

3) And once in a while, it boots up, loads up XP, but then fails within five minutes of operation with a BSOD. This is what the BSOD reads...

Driver_IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
netbt.sys - Address A9C1D0000
DateStamp 48025d1b

I'm on vacation with it, so there seems to be very little in terms of what I can do with it, but admittedly it's annoying to lug around a dead laptop on vacation.

[ajkula66]

I've owned a X32 which ended up failing in the exact same manner.

Try swapping the RAM when you get a chance.

If that doesn't help you're looking at a new motherboard.

Good luck.

[saturnrings]

I've owned a X32 which ended up failing in the exact same manner.

Try swapping the RAM when you get a chance.

If that doesn't help you're looking at a new motherboard.

Good luck.

I've tried swapping the RAM around, and I'm still getting the weird combination where I boot to Windows but fail within a few minutes of operation, the beeps, or nothing at all. Running the diagnostic lead to this test result:

186-199-000-20100726-43-Digital security chip failed (failed with result 6 during read PubEk)

So I suspect that at this point, I have a trashed machine that's probably going to see more use being sold here than sitting as a brick underneath a desk...