R50e motherboard replacement

[wlad]

Hi,

the motherboard of my R50e seems to have had it, and I'm wondering about the hassle of replacing it. I've done some minor thinkering with the innards previously, eg change the keyboard or touchpad, but never a Thinkpad motherboard replacement (desktop motherboards yes though) so I'd like to ask for your experiences on how hard is it? Are special tools required at some stage (beyond the usual electronics screwdriver + handling toolset)? Any guide, do's and don't's, etc?

Thanks,
Wlad.

[wlad]

BTW Forgot to mention that I suspect the motherboard to have failed because the thing just went dead on me when plugging in an ethernet RJ45 cable. Now, when powering on, the LED's blink, HD +fan whizzes, but LCD stays off, and no beeps are to be heard. Odd thing is that when I disconnect the AC adapater, the battery LED stays on and the battery seems to continue being sucked dry (overnight at least).
Thus the motherboard or the CPU are my prime suspects, but if someone has a better diagnosis you're welcome to pass it along

Thanks,
Wlad.

[Terrahawk]

As far as I am aware, no extra special tools are required. I have disassembled my R40 and X20 with just the normal small screwdrivers. If you download the appropriate Hardware Maintenance Manual from Lenovo's web site, it will show you step by step instructions on how to remove the motherboard. Replacing it (and putting the machine back together) is simply reversing all the steps.