Thinkpads Forum

Hi, does anyone know if it is possible to turn on the motherboard without a keyboard?
I am building an all-in-one pc with x60 motherboard and a bigger screen from another broken laptop. An elegant on/off button would be nice on a side.

Are you able to solder?
It looks like there is a test point that connects to the power switch pin in the keyboard connector (as well as the dock and LCD connector, for some reason), however since there are many many test points on the motherboard, I have not yet been able to find the right one. I'll do some poking around, but it looks like all you need to do is pull it low.
I'll let you know if I find it...

R

I think the cleanest solution would be to identify which pin(s) on the docking port are related to the dock's power switch. That section of the motherboard should be easier to hack than the keyboard connector as I believe that the docking port uses through-hole pins, while the keyboard connector is surface mounted (i.e, better chance to solder a wire onto a pin rather than a trace/pad on the board). I'll be looking at one of my X60 systems tonight and see if I can identify which pins you need to work with, if flyingfishfinger doesn't beat me to it.

rkawakami might be the better person to figure out the actual pin / test point. I just realized that you asked for an X60, I have an X61 motherboard sitting in front of me. While the theory should be just about the same, the actual location of the pins or test point may be different.
My opinion is still that soldering to a test point may be easier, since the pins on the dock are pretty tightly spaced (even if through-hole). Good luck! Let me know your result, it'll come in handy for me as well (but on the X61).

R

If you hack the dock interface, it won't matter that you are looking at an X60 or X61. You are right about looking around for test point(s). They will probably be different between the two motherboards.

Thanks for the hints,
please keep posting your discoveries.

Tried probing the docking port pins last night on the X6 Ultrabase but came up empty. I would have thought that the power switch on the Ultrabase switched (grounded) one of the pins but I didn't find that. Might have to tear one of my bases apart to see how that switch is wired.

Since this same question on how to power up a T400 and T20 without a keyboard has recently come up, it looks like you can do the same thing on an X60. Pin 19 on the motherboard's keyboard connector is the power switch signal. If you momentarily ground that pin it should turn on the laptop.