T400 motherboard/cpu issue and replacement motherboard quest

[WhiteDawn]

Hello,
I've been having an issue with my laptop. It hard locks every 10 minutes or so requiring a reboot. During the reboot the laptop doesn't make it to post and gets locked in a reboot cycle. I need to unplug the batery and cmos battery to get it past post. Temperatures are normal, and I've already tried replacing the ram to no avail. During one hardlock I made it to a BSOD complaining about memory management or something similar. Because of these symptoms I feel the cpu or motherboard has died on me. Any ideas on how to narrow it down to one or the other? Or any other fixes to try?

Also as a side question, I have the motherboard with just Intel onboard graphics, the boards on ebay with switchable graphic cards are cheaper. If I get the proper heatsink, will it fit in my laptop fine?

Thanks for the help!

[Brad]

Welcome to the forum!

The telephone modem is built into the motherboard you now have. If you use the switchable board and still need the telephone modem you will have to aquire the telephone modem that will work with this switchable GPU motherboard. This telephone modem is probably not too hard to find or too expensive.

Brad

[ScottyBoy]

Has anything been recently updated on your ThinkPad (i.e. BIOS, device drivers, etc)?

Have you tried powering on the TP with the core components removed (i.e. WiFi Card, Optical Drive, etc) but also have you checked the SMART stats for your HDD as well?

[WhiteDawn]

Thanks for the heads up on the modem, I will keep that in mind. Nothing has changed from before the crashes, it occurred the first time while I was watching a video. The harddrive works fine in my desktop and SMART reads fine. I should also add I get the same lockup on a linux live CD. I will try without wifi and cd when I get back home thanks.

[emtee3511]

What is the model and type of your T400?

[WhiteDawn]

My computer is Type 7417-CTO and it is a Lenovo T400.

I removed all accessories from it and plugged it in and tried to boot it, but the computer didn't even make it to POST. The fan spins up and the lights come on for a second or two, then it just shuts off. This is worse than before as I used to be able to at least make it to windows, now the computer wont even make it to POST.

[emtee3511]

I wanted to look up your machine to see if the T400s I have would be of help to you, but I don't think I can find your Type CTO on Lenovo's website. I purchased this T400s with cracked screen: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=104619

The screen is way to expensive to replace -- the backlit lcd for the T400s runs around $300 on the internet -- except I did find a company from China selling a 'compatible' screen for $150, but I don't trust I would get the screen as described and don't want the headache of trying to return junk to China.

The machine didn't come with a hard drive, and I have pulled the ram/wireless/operating system coa/DVD-RW/power cord to use with the T400 in my signature -- that would leave all the insides (to include the mother board) available for you to use 'IF' the T400s motherboard will fit in your T400. I think the T400/T400s cases are a fraction of an inch different in size, but I've read the screen size is the same for both machines, so maybe the motherboards would be same size also. I don't have a clue about which boards fit which machines, but hopefully an experienced forum member will share some insights on the T400/T400s. If my motherboard will work for you, you can have it for shipping.

[WhiteDawn]

Looking at this picture here http://www.notebookreview.com/shared/pi ... sp?f=44525 the motherboard and "rollcage" look like they have a very different layout than the t400. The t400 uses a different style of flex cable for the touchpad too. Sadly I don't think the swap will be possible, just from the picture I can tell they are very different. If someone has some information that completely contradicts me though, I'm all ears as this would be a sweet deal and thanks so much for offering it to me. A shame I can't use it, hopefully you'll be able to find someone who needs those parts. The screens are ridiculously expensive, especially the WXGA+.

[emtee3511]

I could have guessed that -- but with no experience, I'd have only been guessing -- that's too bad -- sure wish it would have worked

EDIT: The good news is I found a forum member who can use this machine -- best of luck finding your motherboard.

[WhiteDawn]

Thanks for the input everyone! I ordered in a new heatsink, cpu and motherboard for my laptop. The installation wasn't too difficult and went smoothly. Laptop posts perfectly now and I couldn't be happier.

Not only is my laptop working now, but the spare parts were a bit of an upgrade. I went from a p8400 to t9400 and added discreet graphics. Through my testing I found that the processor was fine, it was only the motherboard that was broken. So if anyone has similar symptoms, try to replace the motherboard first.