Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

A31p motherboard problems

R30/R40, A30/A31, G40/G50 and Z60/Z61 Series. NOT for AMD-Ryzen.
Message
Author
kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

A31p motherboard problems

#1 Post by kfzhu1229 » Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:45 pm

wujstefan wrote:Hello,

I've got an old A31p that's going to kiss a trash bin soon, so maybe someone's interested in it.
Ripped of RAM, HDD, battery and PSU (available at request, I've still got them); pretty nice visual condition; german - layout keyboard, redddish UXGA. MOBO had some freezing issue as far as I remember.

I think it's lacking CD/DVD drive.

Asking for 0$ + shipping for the bare unit. I think it's a fair price :)
I have just examined the unit. It is not JUST freezing issue... IT IS THE POWER SECTION OF THE BOARD IS FAILING!! Due to that I have to try multiple times to get the machine to turn on (Or else the backlight comes on immediately but stays right there without any signs of life). When powered on, it sometimes thinks that the power supply is disconnected but in fact it is the motherboard that failed to supply enough power and I have to keep my battery on there to be safe. As for charging, this machine is unreliable so I use my A30 to charge up the battery for use in this machine. (I think this is a common issue for Pentium 4 Ms? I remembered diagnosing a T30 which does not turn on and turned out you have to press and hold the power button hard for it to turn on) At least this machine does not have the other common issue where secondary RAM slot fails
As for the physical condition, my A30's physical condition is better even though the physical condition for your A31p is not bad either.
The German keyboard you had on it has several unresponsive keys but a brand new trackpoint which I appreciate
When I opened up the machine (because I thought the machine is 100% dead before I am able to get it to turn on) I found that all screws, including the screws that holds the heatsink in place, are loose so I have to replace the thermal compound by some time
As for the redish display, it is not THAT pink/red but horribly yellowed
And yes it IS stripped of RAM HDD UltraBay Batt but I got all of them (2x256mb RAM, 2x1GB coming soon, 4200rpm Toshiba 60gb HDD, UltraBay HDD+DVD, original battery from my A30 and aftermarket battery I bought 1/2 years ago swapping back and forth)
Overall, it is not that bad machine for the price and for me to get something to pair up with my A30, but its condition make you do not want to stick to it as daily driver
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

MikalE
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1451
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 9:51 pm
Location: Marissa, Illinois

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#2 Post by MikalE » Tue Nov 08, 2016 8:10 am

Check for a cold connection on the power jack.
A31p P-IV 2Ghz, 2MB, 2653-R6U
T500 T9600 2055-BE9
T510 i5 4384-DV7
T510 i7 4349-A64
T520 i7QM 4242-4UU Highly Modified
T16 i7 1260P 21BV000SUS

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#3 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Nov 08, 2016 9:20 am

Nope not that problem. I have a stock battery from my A30 and aftermarket battery (lasts solid 2.5-3 hours on my A30) and with both of them the problem is still there if not worse. My original ThinkPad Dock does the same thing with this computer as well. It seems like the CPU does not get enough voltage therefore undervolting and when the hard drive crunches I can see the backlight becoming a bit inconsistent. It doesn't help either that I have to try several times to get enough voltage to turn on the screen or else it freezes right before post as well
What's worse now is with the Windows 7 I cloned from my A30 it takes three tries to get to start up successfully.
It's all Pentium 4's fault. I almost wanted to tuck my Tualatin 1.2ghz PIII in at times
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

wujstefan
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1343
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 8:38 am
Location: Tarnow, Poland

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#4 Post by wujstefan » Tue Nov 08, 2016 4:25 pm

Well it was lying down for quite some timre really :) I can't remind turning it on after 2014.
Too many thinkpads not enough time!
(stable under reduction)

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#5 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Nov 08, 2016 5:05 pm

wujstefan wrote:Well it was lying down for quite some timre really :) I can't remind turning it on after 2014.
At least we have a CPU inside. Pentium 4 1.8 which Windows 7 think it is 5.7ghz for some reason...
The left speaker is also a bit bust but I will take a look at that in a short while..
I'm proud that A31 does NOT have the RAM slot problem popular with P4 models (My school have a retired Dell Latitude sitting in the Robotics room which had the same problem) or else it is basically A30p that has double the vram and SSE2.
This thing draws more voltage than A30: it draws 10.99V while the battery is rated 10.80V which toasts my battery into 60C. (One of the first things I did is replacing the CMOS battery and plug in my main battery pack)
Update: now W7 thinks it is 5.9ghz lol
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#6 Post by kfzhu1229 » Wed Nov 09, 2016 12:48 pm

Also I wonder if A31/p/T30 can work with Pentium III-M processors or not in order to put less stress onto the motherboard
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

axur-delmeria
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 3810
Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Metro Manila, Philippines

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#7 Post by axur-delmeria » Wed Nov 09, 2016 1:15 pm

kfzhu1229 wrote:Also I wonder if A31/p/T30 can work with Pentium III-M processors or not in order to put less stress onto the motherboard
That's Impossible I'm afrraid.

The Pentium III-M and Pentium 4-M have different sockets, and their signal buses are also different (133MHz AGTL vs 100MHz QDR).
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#8 Post by kfzhu1229 » Wed Nov 09, 2016 7:51 pm

That was also what I was thinking but.... I mean the A31p's advantages are the better GPU and SSE2 support and 2GB RAM while A30 produces much less heat, longer battery life, Error 1802 and 1803 proof (I am currently using non-OEM Intel 2200BG and T41p BT card on my A30)...
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

axur-delmeria
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 3810
Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Metro Manila, Philippines

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#9 Post by axur-delmeria » Thu Nov 10, 2016 12:43 am

^
There is no way to fuse the two to get the "best of both worlds"

- SSE2 support is inside the Pentium 4
- 2GB RAM support is a function of the A31's chipset
- wifi whitelist is inside the BIOS
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#10 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 1:06 am

kfzhu1229 wrote: It seems like the CPU does not get enough voltage therefore undervolting and when the hard drive crunches I can see the backlight becoming a bit inconsistent.
That may very well be an inverter that is on its way out. I'd also replace the power jack, just in case.
What's worse now is with the Windows 7 I cloned from my A30 it takes three tries to get to start up successfully.
I'm amazed that it boots at all. A clone from P3M to P4M is a major hardware move. I'd install W2K or XP, fresh, and see how the machine behaves there.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#11 Post by kfzhu1229 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 8:11 am

Well I don't know. Do you really think I should try my inverter from my A30 on that machine? It takes some work because the screw that holds the inverter in place in my A30 is stuck. :( And I had XP on that hard drive originally OEM for my dead T41p found in a computer store for $10 and it was just as horrible on A31p. Windows 2000 will throw a bluescreen, sometimes so does XP but never for Windows 7.
Power jack seems not to be the problem since it behaves the very same when on battery power or on dock
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#12 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 8:30 am

I'd spend $10 or so on an inverter if it were me, just to make sure that it's not the culprit.

A drive from a T41p hardly equals a fresh install...when I said "fresh" I meant "from scratch", on a blank drive.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#13 Post by kfzhu1229 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 9:06 am

Yes I know but the machine would freeze after two minutes or so therefore impossible.. I would give it a shot but idk if that fixes everything as I already bought another mb on eBay
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#14 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 9:51 am

It just hit me: you ARE running on the 72W adapter. correct?
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#15 Post by kfzhu1229 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 10:08 am

I tried the adapter from my T43, the battery that worked find in my A30 and a ThinkPad Dock I
All of which work fine in my A30
Idk if A31 requires a better adapter or something.
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#16 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 10:11 am

kfzhu1229 wrote:I tried the adapter from my T43, the battery that worked find in my A30 and a ThinkPad Dock I
All of which work fine in my A30
Idk if A31 requires a better adapter or something.
You still haven't answered the question: is the adapter that you're using a 72W unit?
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#17 Post by kfzhu1229 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 10:27 am

Well idk for my T43 adapter, I'll check when I get home. Idk how to check for my dock since it accepts AC directly instead of DC. And the battery is standard 10.8V but it seems to draw 10.99V at maximum
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#18 Post by kfzhu1229 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 3:28 pm

Okay I checked the machine. Even after disconnecting the inverter and removing RAM the machine beeps halfway thru and stops beeping (error code is beeped half way)
It is like the machine now can freeze within 2 seconds of power on to a few hours or it just does not start up at all (sometimes you just see a black blank with backlight and fan hdd etc not spinning or you hear the fan going but hard drive does not spin)
As for the adapter it is nowhere said the wattage but 2 out of my 3 adapters say FRU PN 92P1017 (IBM PN 92P1016) while the other one say FRU PN 08K8209 (IBM PN 08K8208)
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#19 Post by kfzhu1229 » Sun Nov 13, 2016 12:35 am

Okay this should be a great buy for you if you are in the US:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252004157023?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT
Unfortunately I am in Canada so I paid CAD $60 for this thing
Don't let the title trick you: it is NOT A30, it's actually A30p!! If you examine the pictures carefully you can see the TV out port which is not present in A30 machines and the part number 93P3527 and 26P8286 which on HMM also states that it is A30p
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

micrex22
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 442
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:22 am
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#20 Post by micrex22 » Mon Nov 14, 2016 9:19 am

kfzhu1229 wrote:At least we have a CPU inside. Pentium 4 1.8 which Windows 7 think it is 5.7ghz for some reason...
Update: now W7 thinks it is 5.9ghz lol
This is due to the incredible NetBurst(TM) technology, it incrementally self-overclocks itself for more peformance. After all, the more NETBURST Gigahertz you have the better the performance.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#21 Post by kfzhu1229 » Mon Nov 14, 2016 3:16 pm

micrex22 wrote:
kfzhu1229 wrote:At least we have a CPU inside. Pentium 4 1.8 which Windows 7 think it is 5.7ghz for some reason...
Update: now W7 thinks it is 5.9ghz lol
This is due to the incredible NetBurst(TM) technology, it incrementally self-overclocks itself for more peformance. After all, the more NETBURST Gigahertz you have the better the performance.
Then why don't I get the same thing on Pentium 4 HT Prescott 650 in Windows 10? Instead it's speed is 2.7-3.4ghz and performs slower than Pentium M 780 (I know this is because of efficiency problems)
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

micrex22
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 442
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:22 am
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Re: A31p stuff for shipping cost only

#22 Post by micrex22 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 9:42 am

kfzhu1229 wrote:Then why don't I get the same thing on Pentium 4 HT Prescott 650 in Windows 10? Instead it's speed is 2.7-3.4ghz and performs slower than Pentium M 780 (I know this is because of efficiency problems)
You'd need liquid nitrogen to cool a standard Pentium 4 overclocked to 5.7 Ghz. One that operates at 3.8 Ghz (Extreme Edition! Ohhhh Ahhhh) natively may be a bit more malleable. Also anything beyond 4.2 Ghz may require mobo rework.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#23 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:12 am

Do you mean that A31p overclocks by itself or it was just a motherboard error??
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#24 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:59 am

kfzhu1229 wrote:Do you mean that A31p overclocks by itself or it was just a motherboard error??
It's an error. No motherboard that I'm aware of overclocks "by itself".

Have you tried a different CPU in there? Yours may be wacky and causing all sorts of issues...not highly likely, but possible.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

micrex22
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 442
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:22 am
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#25 Post by micrex22 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 6:27 pm

kfzhu1229 wrote:Do you mean that A31p overclocks by itself or it was just a motherboard error??
I was just making a joke about the self-overclocking :0)
(NetBurst was a very inefficient architecture)

One unique thing about Pentium 4s though... is that they're highly tolerant to high temperatures.

Did you try checking what the BIOS reports the CPU clock to be?

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#26 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:38 pm

micrex22 wrote:
kfzhu1229 wrote:Do you mean that A31p overclocks by itself or it was just a motherboard error??
I was just making a joke about the self-overclocking :0)
(NetBurst was a very inefficient architecture)

One unique thing about Pentium 4s though... is that they're highly tolerant to high temperatures.

Did you try checking what the BIOS reports the CPU clock to be?
Yes the BIOS always says it is 1.8Ghz while in Windows 7 the number can be very inconstant. The replacement motherboard for A31p is expected to arrive before this Friday. I will see what happens when I move the parts into the new motherboard. Btw ThinkWiki says that A31p motherboards are immune to the GPU desoldering problem. Is that true? If not, what are some of the ways you usually use aside from setting the Fan into fan7 which I already do to my A30 to prevent the problem taking place?
As for mobile Intel processors, all mobile Pentium IIIs (Not sure about the MMC-2 ones) can withstand to the same 100 degrees Celsius.
Pentium 4 processors are indeed inefficient and AMD people make fun of it by saying that it can fry eggs or it can burn down your house. But as of the mobile P4 1.8ghz in this A31p comparing to my 900mhz PIII coppermine in T22, the TDP is actually lower by 0.7W, at least that is what Ark told me and I can definitely tell how my T22 struggles to keep the temperature down under Windows 7 as any task in that OS can throw the processor to 100%. The Northwood A31/T30 P4-M processors could gain more popularity if there is no Pentium III - M introduced as that Tualatin processor is so efficient that in Windows 7 it literally runs at twice the speed for my 1.2Ghz CPU in my A30 and 1.13Ghz CPU in my T23 comparing to 900Mhz processor in T22 which widens and defines the gap of usability in Windows 7 (Tualatin PIIIs are definitely workable in Windows 7 while for Coppermine PIIIs even I would not recommend upgrading into Windows 7 and also the Windows 7 startup time is 1 minute in my T23/A30 and 2 minutes for my T22). As for that Pentium 4, I will play around with it after I get the machine working but from what I noticed before the thing become 100% unusable was that it could NOT play the 720p videos that work on my A30 with Pentium III - M 1.2Ghz.
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#27 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 9:21 pm

kfzhu1229 wrote: Btw ThinkWiki says that A31p motherboards are immune to the GPU desoldering problem. Is that true? If not, what are some of the ways you usually use aside from setting the Fan into fan7 which I already do to my A30 to prevent the problem taking place?
I have to re-visit that page and amend it if what you're stating holds true...these machines are extremely prone to all kinds of GPU-related failures.

No need to have the fan on 7, but do not put the machine to sleep, ever. Just turn the screen off when not in use and leave it running 24/7/365. "Smart Mode 1" setting is fine for most occasions.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#28 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:44 pm

ajkula66 wrote:
kfzhu1229 wrote: Btw ThinkWiki says that A31p motherboards are immune to the GPU desoldering problem. Is that true? If not, what are some of the ways you usually use aside from setting the Fan into fan7 which I already do to my A30 to prevent the problem taking place?
I have to re-visit that page and amend it if what you're stating holds true...these machines are extremely prone to all kinds of GPU-related failures.

No need to have the fan on 7, but do not put the machine to sleep, ever. Just turn the screen off when not in use and leave it running 24/7/365. "Smart Mode 1" setting is fine for most occasions.
Why can't I put it into sleep? I know the fact that you should NEVER use that machine to run DOS as the GPU goes kinda haywire about controls thus heating up the GPU more. I often shut it down or else it will end up like that A31p I got and a 770ED I have used up - power board failure.
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#29 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 11:03 pm

kfzhu1229 wrote: Why can't I put it into sleep?
Thermal cycling. You can but you shouldn't.
I often shut it down or else it will end up like that A31p I got and a 770ED I have used up - power board failure.
No need to shut it down. Ever.

I've never had an A31p fail due to being constantly on, and I've likely seen more of them than the rest of this forum put together.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

kfzhu1229
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2484
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: A31p motherboard problems

#30 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 11:09 pm

VESA Driver
February 2007

After 4,5 years using my Thinkpad almost on a daily basis I experience(d) the same problem with the garbled screen (A30p, 2653-66U). However there are two software things which fix the effect: 1) use a framebuffer device for the text console under Linux (appendline: vga=0x<hexnumber>) b) for Xorg: Choose the VESA instead of the Radeon driver (cp -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.garbled; sed 's/radeon/vesa/g' < /etc/X11/xorg.conf.garbled >/etc/X11/xorg.conf; /etc/init.d/xdm restart). Note that "fbdev" shows the same problem as "radeon".

Problem: You will loose 3D acceleration. Moreover I discovered that Xorg 7.2pre (the one used in OpenSUSE 10.2) scrolls the contents of all windows way slower than their predecessor using the vesa driver and it seems to use the CPU for copying of screen regions rather then the Radeon chip. Until this is fixed you might be happier w/ distributions which use Xorg 7.1 and below. To unset the option AIGLX in xorg.conf helps a little bit, too.

It should be possible to have the Mobo replaced by a A31p with a FireGL card which is not prone to this problem. However you have to swap the CPU and memory, too then.

Addendum: The external VGA output died a couple of months before. Not sure whether there's a correlation. -- Dirk Wetter
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Prob ... led_screen
This is the thing I was talking about. I have no idea if that is true or not though
http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebook ... gic-board/
My cousin has a lenovo crap whose AMD GPU also got desoldered like what typically happens to A3x and T4x other than T43. I have no idea if I should give it a shot with the heat gun
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad R, A, G and Z Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 34 guests