Thinkpads Forum

Wondering if this is normal for a Thinkpad?

Basically, all the back / side ports (USB, serial, etc) are corroded. You know, that slightly pitted, dull looking, sometimes green-ish hue. There is not one millimeter of shiny metal visible on any of the ports.

Now this Thinkpad has been all over the world with me, from Burning Man to Cambodia. But never left outside, the conditions are not generally excessively humid, no salt air exposure. Just ... normal use, though definitely outside of the standard cubicle farming environment.

It hasn't affected performance, and I'd like to hang on to it till the industry has flushed out a solid hardware design for Windows 8 (and maybe some good refub x1 Carbon Touch on Lenovo's site, eh?).

Wonder if you guys have seen this, and have any opinions. Is there a quality problem with these things? Mine is ok now, though after purchase had some notable teething problems. Broken plastic, the screen broke while sitting on the desk, the battery life has been worthless since day one. The subsequent years though, it's been a good laptop.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

The only widespread issue I know of with the T400s is the palmrest cracking, which IIRC was fixed for good when Lenovo issued an updated FRU.

I've never heard of nor seen corrosion on the ports! The only cause I can think of is environmental factors... I've had a ton of ThinkPads and I've never had any corrode, but most of them spend the majority of their lives in nice, mostly-climate-controlled environments...

I bought a T400 highnit from a guy in Miami. On dissassembly to swap the CPU, the interior was found to be contaminated with very fine silica dust, actually wind-blown sand. With this, and the proximity to ocean salt, one would expect to find corrosion, but there was none. Ordinary salt air doesn't produce overt, visible damage.

It takes something special to attack the metal, namely, alkalai dust. The Burning Man locale is a known hazard for this. From
http://www.burningman.com/preparation/e ... NErD3ebgew

" If you drove your car to the playa, wash it as soon as you can after returning home, because the alkaline dust can corrode your electronics, and do damage to your upholstery, plastics, etc. Before you do anything, get an air compressor (or go to the air station at your local gas station) to blow all the dust off your engine. (Unless you really know what you're doing, don't spray water on your engine, as it can damage your sensitive electrical components.) Then, put on a pair of goggles, open all the windows, and turn your AC fan on high. Then switch your temperature control from cold to hot on ALL your different vent options, including both recirculating the air and not. This will start to get all the dust out of your vents.

Then wash your car with a splash of white vinegar in the soapy water. Vaccuum the hell out of it with the strongest vaccuum you can find, and then use Armor All on your plastic and leather parts, as it cuts the alkaline playa dust really well.

So you can do all this, or (be lazy like me and) take it to a professional car wash place. In San Francisco, they recognize playafied cars, and take extra steps -- and charge you for them -- to wash your car thoroughly, usually running it through the machine twice, and applying extra elbow grease to your playafied bits. It's worth the money."

My one-year old T520 is showing the same evidence of corrosion. I live directly across the street from the Caribbean Sea and people here battle rust everywhere, from automobiles to kitchen appliances. One of the costs of living in Paradise. The annoying thing is that if you submit the machine for service, as what happened with my old A31p, Lenovo will tell you the machine has been wet and will charge for service saying the warranty has been voided.

I'm thinking about moving to the beach ... guess better stop eyeing the X1, then!