Lenovo Thinkpad T400 takes too long to start

[abasilis]

Hi guys, I need your help to fix this computer.

I have experience as a technician, but I'm stuck trying to fix this laptop.

When I turn on the laptop, it does not matter if it's on battery only or plugged it (with or without battery), it only turns the Bluetooth, the one that looks like a z, and the battery (green because it's charged) lights on. A blank screen last for about 10 to 15 minutes, and then the Thinkpad logo appears and everything goes as normal.

I've done:
-Updated the BIOS
-Removed battery and press the On button for 30 seconds.
-I did the procedure described in the link below and still nothing
http://jackngblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/ ... en-on.html

I even disable the Intel AMT in the BIOS thinking that it could be the issue, but still nothing. I've googled the tittle I wrote and a lot of things appears, but not exactly this issue, the one that was near was the third one I tried. I searched here and I did not find anything like it yet.

Please help,

Thank you very much for any guide.

[BillMorrow]

welcome to the forum..

is there any ANY activity at all while the T400 is in its long winded boot up..?
like maybe hard drive activity..?

[abasilis]

No activity at all, it just hang there and nothing, until the Thinkpad logo appears after 10 mins.

I found it in another post
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-a ... d-p/186042

And also tried this:
"You might try fiddling with the BIOS setting for the security (TPM) chip:
F1 at boot to get to BIOS setup, then Security, then Security Chip.
I have mine set to "Disabled" but have seen other reports that setting it to "Enabled" can cure bootup delays."

And this one worked in page 2
"I resolved this issue, by disabling Intel AMT and setting the security chip, TPM, as active in the BIOS"

But it was like that at the beginning, I think it was solved by disabling the and enabling the Security chip. Now I have the Intel (R) AMT disable and the Security chip enable.

Thanks for worrying about my issue.

Finally it was solved! Yay!!

[sktn77a]

So, it takes 10-15 min to even boot into the BIOS? Sounds like a hardware problem.

[Temetka]

Hardware problem of some sort is the first thing I thought of as well.

[Widows Son]

FWIW, do you have anything plugged into the device; like a USB hard drive; my X200 can be finicky about that, or is there a second OS; could the machine having a boot conflict?

[abasilis]

No, I have nothing plugged into my laptop (the problem was before or during the POST, no after POST), usually when that happens, it happens after POST and the computer looks for the OS in an external device. That's why I always set the boot order to go straight to the hard drive to avoid issues like that.

Regards,

[Temetka]

Ok,

Time to get medieval. I am assuming there is an I/O issue with a device attached to the motherboard. Now if I were working on this unit I would also pull the LCD so just follow me here.

First get a copy of the HMM for your machine and open it on another computer, or print out the pages relevent to what I am about to go over. We are going to field strip your machine.

Remove the following modules:

1. Both RAM sticks
2. Keyboard
3. Wifi / BT
4. fingerprint reader if you have one
5. Optical drive
6. HDD
7. PCMCIA/Express card reader
8. SD Reader

The idea here is to get your machine down to what it needs to do a bare metal boot. I have done this with quite a few machines and managed to find the faulty module.

To boot you need the following:

1. VGA output
2. 1 stick of RAM (test the same stick twice, once per slot. repeat for the 2nd stick)
3. Keyboard

Basically once it boots once in the proper fashion (i.e., a few seconds), slowly add 1 module back in at a time until you find the one that is causing the problem. While you are at it, it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and remove the HSF and apply a fresh coat of Arctic Silver 5 and blow out the fan and cooling system.

I know it's kind of drastic, but it's either this or throw the machine through a window because 10+ minutes just to get to the BIOS is *NOT* acceptable.

[abasilis]

Thanks for your help, but to do the things you mentioned, I need to confirm a few things.

I believe that HMM means Hardware Manufacturer Manual, it won't be a problem.

So far, I've tested the laptop with another Ram module, and it was doing the same.

I know that you want to look for the source of the problem, and I need to get some time to do all of that. About "Removing the HSF and apply a fresh coat of Arctic Silver 5 and blow out the fan and cooling system." won't be a problem also.

Thanks!!