Sick T400

[brucehe]

Hello all,

I am trying to get my daughter's T400 2767 ATI graphics T9400 going again. I have pretty much assumed at this point it is a bad system board but wanted to get any other ideas before I replaced it.

The machine turns on and I get a power light on the display, fan goes on, off and then on. Machine does not seem to access hard drive although HD is running. There is no display. Battery does seem to charge. Here is what I have done to date....

Plugged into docking station and no video to external LCD

I pulled RAM and do get beep code telling me no RAM is present.

Put in a new RAM card, no change

Removed all devices, wireless card, modem, WAN, hard drive, no change

Cleaned all external connectors with compressed air as this was in a very dirty environment (farm), no change

Removed fan, cleaned and reapplied thermal grease, no change

Not sure what else to do except replace board.

Any input appreciated.

Bruce

[ajkula66]

The old trick:

Remove the battery, hard and media drives, unplug the AC adapter.

Press the "power" button 10 times in a row holding it down for 10 seconds each time and 30 seconds the last time around.

Plug the AC adapter - but nothing else - back in and try to power on.

Good luck.

[brucehe]

George,

I do remember reading about this trick, unfortunately did not work on this one...

guess it is a new systems board.

Thanks,

Bruce

[rkawakami]

Is this a situation where a broken (shorted) USB port can cause this kind of non-power-up? I seem to recall something like this on a recent thread. Since I'm now a current owner of a more "modern" Thinkpad (T410), this is going to be relevant for me too.

[RealBlackStuff]

Check the speed of the RAM module(s).
T400 prefers PC3-8500 but will also work with some (but not all) PC3-10600.
Swapping positions may also help, as does cleaning the contacts with an eraser.

[brucehe]

I did see the thread regarding shorted USB and other connectors so I cleaned them and plugged USB male connectors to verify they were not broken, no change.

I also disconnected the LCD, no change.

I happened to have a PC3-8500 1GB stick from George from my last project working on the T410 (it did not like the faster RAM with 64bit W7) so installed that by itself in the bottom slot, no change. You probably all know but it seems like that is the priority location for RAM as it gives you a beep code if you install RAM only in the top slot.

I also put the T400 hardrive into my X61 and it booted W7 that was on the drive, installing all the drivers along the way.

It is interesting that the fan spins up, then shuts down, then as it sits it seems the processor heats up and the fan comes on, eventually speeding up. That's all it does.

Bruce

[ajkula66]

It is interesting that the fan spins up, then shuts down, then as it sits it seems the processor heats up and the fan comes on, eventually speeding up. That's all it does.

At this point, I'd venture a guess that the board is toast.

[brucehe]

I know this is a long shot, but could it be a processor issue? The fan runs so I am guessing it did not fry.

I see someone on the forum has a P9500 for sale. It says on the Lenovo T400 spec sheet the machine can come with a P9500 but not sure it works with this specific board. The machine currently has a T9400.

Bruce

[brucehe]

OK, I read the latest thread on fixing a T400 that would not boot and in addition to removing the battery and doing the 10 button pushes I also removed the back up battery and did the 10 button pushes. Believe it or not it came to life. Yeah!!!

Thank You Thinkpad Forum... donation will be coming...

Bruce