A31 Freezing Problems?

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Yamagushi · #1 Post by **Yamagushi** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:00 pm

Well a couple weeks ago my old thinkpad died and I had to find the money for a new laptop. I found an A31 with 768mbs ram for 400$ used. Thought it was a nice find until I noticed it would freeze randomly. At first I just figured it was a software problem, formatted the partition started fresh. However its still doing it. Looked it up and i found a couple messages claiming its a common problem with A31s but ive so far found no fix. Can anyone help?

More Info on the Freezing:
Happens completely randomly. Generally 3-4 times daily.
Freezes entirely, Image stays on screen only locked up, If idle it wont come back.
Usually It freezes, I Hold Power for 5 secs to shut it down and it restarts fine.
Sometimes after freezing and restarting the boot screen says incorrect time/date and makes me set it. In which case it usually also is accompanied by a very long startup.
Quite rarely I get a blue screen.

Ive run Memtest it passed 3 times failed none before i stopped it.

ajkula66 · #2 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:28 pm

Welcome to the forum!

Since the machine is asking you for date/time occasionally, you might be lucky and fix this with a CMOS (BIOS) battery replacement...although I personally doubt it.

Two things:

Try booting a "live" Linux CD and see how machine behaves.

Try removing the mini PCI card if there's no difference between MS and Linux, and see if this affects the issue.

Good luck and let us know.

Yamagushi · #3 Post by **Yamagushi** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:43 pm

The Battery is garbage. However ive tried running it without the battery via being plugged in and it still froze.

As for the windows/linux thing is this to check if the HDD is ok because i have another HDD with another Windows XP installed and it froze with that as well. =\

And What mini PCI card?

ajkula66 · #4 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:48 pm

I've been referring to the backup battery, not the main one.

If you don't have a mini PCI card (many A3x machines have 2 CDC cards), try removing these and see what happens.

What is the full 7-character code of your machine?

Yamagushi · #5 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:45 am

2654-HU6 is the model.
As for the CDC i have no idea what that is... =\
And i did replace the small watch battery inside.

ajkula66 · #6 Post by **ajkula66** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:01 am

Product: ThinkPad A31 2654-HU6 [change]
Operating system: All [change]

Original description: Based on 2654-C5U: P4-M 1.6GHz, 256MB RAM, 30GB 4200rpm HDD, 15 SXGA+(1400x1050) TFT LCD, 32MB ATI Radeon 7500, CDRW/DVD, IBM 802.11b wireless(MPCI), Modem(MPCI), 10/100 Ethernet(CDC), TV out, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro

So, your machine does have a mini PCI card, and it's under the other cover on the bottom (one covers RAM, the other one covers the cards, small one being CDC aka "daughter card" and the big one being mini-PCI).

Good luck...I'd like to see that laptop saved, since it's likely an IPS-equipped machine....

Yamagushi · #7 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:44 pm

Whats an IPS-Equipted machine?

#8 Post by **ryengineer** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:29 pm

Run PC-Doctor's Diagnostic tests on your thinkpad, I suspect it's a hardware issue.

IPS = In-Plane Switching is a type of screen, see what happens to the non IPS screen on the left when moved to an angle:

IPS Vs. TN.

Yamagushi · #9 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:18 pm

Oh i didn't even notice that my old thinkpad didn't have IPS and i noticed that all the time but i checked after looking at that picture and it doesnt do that anymore so Indeed I do have IPS.

Yamagushi · #10 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:35 pm

Can someone point me to a download for PC-Doctor?
BTW I removed the mini-pci and the CDC, so far no freezing but it is random so this hasn't really been an accurate test time yet.

goofyGAguy · #11 Post by **goofyGAguy** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:20 pm

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-41920

ajkula66 · #12 Post by **ajkula66** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:21 pm

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-56222

goofyGAguy · #13 Post by **goofyGAguy** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:22 pm

Yamagushi · #14 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:45 pm

Ive never made a bootable cd before. Do i just burn the iso or do i need a special program to write boot sectors and such?

#15 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:00 pm

http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm

Yamagushi · #16 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:01 pm

I know how to burn an iso.... Im asking do u burn it normal or is there a special way to write a bootdisk so it knows its a boot disk...

#17 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:05 pm

No, just burn the image.

Yamagushi · #18 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:46 am

K with MiniPCI removed. CMC still in. It froze again overnight. This time however when I restarted I got a new error. It only said it for a sec or two but from what i saw it said "CMOS Checksum Bad. Reverting to default". Still havent tryed PC-Doctor but I will today. Figured this error might shed some light though.

ajkula66 · #19 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:08 am

You seem to have a motherboard problem. Do a search here on the forum for "CMOS checksum bad" for possible cures and antidotes...

Good luck.

Yamagushi · #20 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:29 am

Does this mean my computer will eventually die?! Or is it just gonna continue to freeze randomly, cause if its gonna die, I just bought this and ill do everything I can to try to force them to take it back though I doubt it will happen.... I hate small computer buisenesses... this is the second used thinkpad ive bought that had issues.... But I wont buy any other laptop. I love the little red dot mouse. I wont be caught dead using that dumb touchpad mouse most laptops have...

ajkula66 · #21 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:41 am

If you paid by credit card, you can always file for a chargeback...and that's exactly what I would do.

Your A31 is one seriously sick puppy IMHO, and although I'm not going to say that there's no cure, it's debatable whether it's worth the time, effort and aggravation.

You should try to return the unit for full refund or at least exchange, and use the method stated above to get your money if everything else fails.

Just my $0.02...

Good luck.

Yamagushi · #22 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:20 am

Unfortunatelly I paid with cash =| and it said its only a 7-day non cash refund. Its well after 7 days however there warranty claims theyll fix anything wrong with it within 90 days, so ill probably pop by there and tell em either give me a cash refund or they can have fun replacing the entire motherboard.

AlexDBall · #23 Post by **AlexDBall** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:38 pm

Hello guys,

I have the same problem with my A31 (see sig), tried removing all hardware and testing it by re-installing them one-by-one but nothing. PC-Doctor passes all tests, and no overheating issues are present.

Just about an hour ago while i was working on it, it froze and after powering it down and re-powering it i could hear a "buzzing" noize under the keyboard.

I took it apart again, and now i have only the motherboard with nothing on it (cpu/ram/mini-PCI etc..).

When i connect the ac adapter (checked 2 adapters) i still get the buzzing noise (not loud but in a quiet enviroment you can hear it if you close up) right between the UB2000 bays..

With the battery there's no buzzing noise until i power it up and it manages to freeze before the battery runs out. (about 30Mins)
The the buzzing noise starts again...

Maybe a transistor or something?

I cleaned it and sprayed it with some contact cleaner but it still buzzes.

Check it out and i hope i "helped"

Anyway, as it seems my A31 is going for parts:P

Yamagushi · #24 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:25 am

Ok, So i brought the computer back and they exchanged it for another Thinkpad. I figured alright problem solved. However now this one seems to be freezing the same way. Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? Is there the slightest chance I got 2 computers in a row showing the same symptoms??? The only common thing is both computers are using my wireless internet. However I had a thinkpad before these 2 computers and It never froze. We also have 3 other PCs running at my house and none of them freeze. I am sooo fustrated right now, can someone please help!?

#25 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:25 am

It is defective. Return it.

djpharoah · #26 Post by **djpharoah** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:59 am

Man this seems to be plaguing even my dads A31. It wont even boot up now into either windows 2000 or xp. Says some file is missing from the hive or something and then BSODs. It took soo long to install 2k and xp failing so many times.

Yamagushi · #27 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:32 pm

Harryc wrote:It is defective. Return it.

This isnt the same laptop, Is it possible i got 2 different thinkpads displaying the same issues?

#28 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:59 pm

Sure. Let's say the dealer used two sticks of the same defective or incompatible RAM, or (2) others of any part you can think of. Then there's just plain coincidence. This is a common problem on the A31's, so it isn't too far fetched. Just to say you've eliminated it, disable wireless. Does it still freeze?

Yamagushi · #29 Post by **Yamagushi** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:28 pm

Harryc wrote:Sure. Let's say the dealer used two sticks of the same defective or incompatible RAM, or (2) others of any part you can think of. Then there's just plain coincidence. This is a common problem on the A31's, so it isn't too far fetched. Just to say you've eliminated it, disable wireless. Does it still freeze?

This ones not an a31 its an r40. =\ Also both me and the people there tested the hell out of the a31, nothing came up bad.

I will deffinatelly test if it still freezes without wireless, ill leave it on overnight and see what happens, its usually frozen when i return.

ajkula66 · #30 Post by **ajkula66** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:30 pm

R40 is known for the very same issue previously discussed on A31, BTW...

A31 Freezing Problems?

A31 Freezing Problems?

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