Thinkpads Forum

So, I've got a T500 that sat closed, up against a wall on the bottom so the front was facing down, off for 3 weeks. That's the position my friend told me it was in. He said it was running w/o any problems before the 3 week break, then when they came back to use it, they have the current issue (I have the laptop now to fix). So, I can start the computer (z light comes on) but it restarts after about 2-3 seconds and then the z-light comes back on, I hear the HDD moving again etc. The issue I have through all of this, is the lcd is black the whole time, and plugging it in to an external monitor via vga, I get nothing.

I've reseated the RAM, replaced the RAM, pulled the batter and pushed the power button (then plugged the power in and pushed power) and nothing is working. I don't get any BIOS beeps. After the computer restarts on it's own (2-3 seconds after I push the power) I feel hot air coming out the air vents, I can feel the HDD spinning, and I can open/close the dvd drive. I've held a flashlight up to the lcd and I don't see anything so it's not the backlight, I just get absolutely no video AND I get the weird auto restarting. Any ideas?

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you have done much of the required troubleshooting already.

My thought is that the motherboard has failed.

Brad

as seems to be the case with most laptops today, try pulling the cmos/bios battery and leaving it for a while then put everything back together. If this doesn't work then you have a failed motherboard.

What I don't get is the computer seems to have started up (minus display issues & whatever that restart thing is), so when saying the mobo is bad (which I was really hoping it wasn't), it's probably just the graphics processor right?

Side note, could it possibly the display switch (or whatever it is) that lets the laptop know it's open or closed? I read there are button/switches but I have no idea where it is on this lenovo. I've never worked on a thinkpad before. Also, is it common that lights at the bottom of the lcd stay on even when it is closed? With the battery removed, I flip it upside down and still see the power and z light on, while it's also on the backside too. Normal or not normal?

UPDATE: It's fixed! Thanks to the above post. It was the CMOS/BIOS battery. I unplugged it, pushed the power button a few time w/o the battery, plugged it in started it a few times w/o the cmos/bios batter restarted few times and brought up bios settings were messed. Unplugged, put back the cmos/bios battery, plugged in the power and battery, set time and date and WALA! Thanks so much guys!