A21 Turns on then off inmediatly

[dvdmcwilliams]

Hey guys, i've bought recently a thinkpad A21, the matter with it is, i plug the charger and when i turn it on "in matter of seconds" turns on the leds, the hdd spins then it turn off, i've tried as i read in the forum, removing the hdd, the dvd drive, battery etc, the only time when it stays on without any problem is when i remove the ram (2 modules, 128mb & 256 mb), then i get the following beeps: 3-3-1 (not 1-3-3-1 as i've seen on the forum), i've checked the board if everything was in order, the processor got new thermal paste, etc, i wonder what should be happening whit this, thats i why i ask here to get any clue about, thanks in advance for any reply given
Btw i left it pluged in all the night, the battery has not charged, and the amber led (battery one) keeps flashing.

[RealBlackStuff]

T21 in title
A21 in post
Which one is it?

If the battery light remains flashing, it means the battery is dead.

[dvdmcwilliams]

Sorry, my mistake about the title, i've removed the battery, but wont even turn on.

[RealBlackStuff]

Disconnect both charger and battery, keep battery out from now on.
Remove all RAM.
Press and hold down the Power button for 20 seconds (to reset the laptop).
Connect only charger.
Put only 128MB in one slot, then try to boot.
If no luck remove charger, put 128MB in other slot, connect charger and try again.
If no luck remove charger, remove 128MB, put only 256MB in one slot, connect charger and try again.
If no luck remove charger, put 256MB in other slot, connect charger and try again.
If still no luck, check if someone else has a similar machine to try your RAM in.
Or try their RAM in yours.
Most likely however the motherboard is dead, don't forget it's almost 18 years old...

[theterminator93]

If all else fails, something to keep in mind is many of the 20 series (A2x, T2x, X2x and TransNote) have a fairly well known motherboard design flaw around the implementation of the power circuit. There isn't a fix that I know of, aside from a known working motherboard. Some have suggested the source problem as the ADP3410, ADP3421, and/or MAX1632 voltage regulation ICs, but I've seen plenty of instances where replacement did nothing, and a few where replacement fixed the issue...

[dvdmcwilliams]

Could it be a cmos battery the problem? or doesnt matter if its connected?

Edit: i've tried what you said, i've removed the ram, then i used just one, after press the power button for more than 20 seconds, it turned on, but blank screen, no sound, no beeps, etc. i've connected a monitor but it get no signal.

[kfzhu1229]

If all else fails, something to keep in mind is many of the 20 series (A2x, T2x, X2x and TransNote) have a fairly well known motherboard design flaw around the implementation of the power circuit.

Does the T30 and A31 series have the same problem? All the A31p motherboards I have touched have more or less of this issue, ranging from sometimes requiring to attempt powering on twice to complete death and does not charge the battery properly. That said, I haven't noticed this issue on my T22, T23 and A30/p motherboards.

[theterminator93]

That I can't say, as I don't own either model I haven't done nearly as much research about this issue on them. But I can't say it's not possible. I'd say it's more likely on the A30 than the T30 because the T30 uses the Pentium 4, whereas all the 20 series and the A30 used one of the Pentium III flavors - meaning they're more likely to be similar in architecture overall than the T30.

This issue intermittently affects one of the A22ms and my TransNote (which is essentially a reworked X20 motherboard)...

[kfzhu1229]

That I can't say, as I don't own either model I haven't done nearly as much research about this issue on them. But I can't say it's not possible. I'd say it's more likely on the A30 than the T30 because the T30 uses the Pentium 4, whereas all the 20 series and the A30 used one of the Pentium III flavors - meaning they're more likely to be similar in architecture overall than the T30.

This issue intermittently affects one of the A22ms and my TransNote (which is essentially a reworked X20 motherboard)...

I am almost completely sure that Tualatin Pentium III CPU laptops are mostly unaffected, because their TDPs are a LOT lower than both Coppermine and Northwood, and the P4-M has a lower TDP than Coppermine PIII. This means that the power delivery circuits get stressed a lot less.
I own a T23 and A30p, both work very reliably, even after some pretty moderate use as a music player on my A30p (that is, with the GPU protected from overheating).
While, my Pentium 4 A31p currently is affected by the RAM slot problem as well as that issue with power-on fails intermittently (sometimes turns on with no motors spinning).

[ajkula66]

Does the T30 and A31 series have the same problem?

No.

The problem described in the OP is one of the variations of BOD (Blink Of Death) which has been known to affect *all* A2x systems along with T20/21/22 but not T23 or any of the later models.