a31p turns on and does nothing else

[EvilH]

I have an a31p someone recycled. it turns on and the little z symbol lights but it does nothing else. No post beeps, no video nothing. thought it was a cpu problem so i took it apart and replaced that but still nothing. Is the board toast?

[rkawakami]

Could be a lot of things. I have an A31p which shows different symptoms than yours (mine automatically shuts off after about 10 seconds). Documented in this thread:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=43916

You may want to check that same area next time you have it opened. Otherwise, try removing all easily removable parts (MiniPCI, ethernet, hard drive, memory, Ultrabay, etc.) and see if you get a "bad/missing memory" beep sequence at power on. If you do, plug in one module and repeat power up. If it boots, continue to re-install one piece of gear until it doesn't boot. If it doesn't work with the first module, try another (ideally a known good unit from some other system).

[EvilH]

I read that post earlier this week when I first went after what the cause of this may be. There appears to be no physical damage anywhere (though I do not have that nifty microscope ) The machine is currently stripped to nothing but mainboard, processor and heatsink/fan and a stick of known good memory I pulled from my T40. Still the same. Turns on, fan spins, no post only light is the power light. Tried memory in both slots and same thing. Going to get another processor to try in it and if that doesn't fix it then I am assuming the board is toast and will start looking.

[RWDPLZ]

Try hooking it up to an external monitor? The screens are REALLY dark when the backlight goes out.