X61 was not starting at all(!) - 10s power reset solved it

[henrikb]

Just wanna share the following:

Yesterday my Thinkpad X61 (7675CTO; Intel Core Due T8300 2.4GHz, 3GB RAM; 150GB HDD, 32-bit Windows 8 Pro) shut itself down (while not watching) and few minutes later it wouldn't start again. It was completely dead - no LEDs, no sounds - there was nothing indicating it was turned on. Unplugged and took out the battery and back again, tried different AC power, but nothing worked. Burned fuses etc. came to mind - it was that dead.

Then I found the Lenovo forum thread 'X61 Tablet is suddenly dead' [1] with a link to a Youtube video [2] suggesting to:

1. Remove power cord and take out battery.
2. Press-release power button 10 times during 10 seconds.
3. Press and hold power button for 30 seconds.
4. Put battery back and plugin power cord.
5. Start computer.

It seems to work for several people and did so indeed for me as well (in Step 3 I only held it for 10 seconds). This probably works because, as user 'alex1906' in [1] says, "Sometimes when a computer has one of the problems listed above, the computer has power stored in its body. The power reset releases any excess power trapped in the laptop.". Same user proposed to try the "the power reset for a computer" [1]:

1. Remove power cord and take out battery.
2. Press and hold power button and count slowly to 10.
3. Put battery back and plugin power cord.
4. Start computer.

So, it may be that "press and hold power button for 10 seconds or more" was the solution.

/Henrik

REFERENCES:
[1] 'X61 Tablet is suddenly dead', Lenovo forum, 2012-08-20 [http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-Ta ... d-p/836941]
[2] 'Fix your dead Ibm LENOVO thinkpad!!!', Youtube, 2010-07-07 [http://youtu.be/fMiO-RsNUUk]