Thinkpad R40 goes to a black screen at start up

[edejr]

Hello,
I have a Thinkpad R40 2681 CTO running on Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2. That appears to stop responding (hang) with an empty, black screen immediately after the power-on self (POST) is complete and before the Windows XP logo typically appears on the screen.

I upgraded the harddrive to 250GB and the memory to 1GB in Jan of this year. Everything was fine until 2 months ago after installing so some upgrades from Microsoft I started getting "the blue screen of death" with error messages: 0x00000024, 0x0000007E and 0x0000008E. I ran PC Doctor, chkdsk, chkdsk /r and chkdsk /p and updated BIOS. I also tried the following: rebooted in safe mode, last known good config, system restore (which didn't respond to my new hd) and each time it took longer for my laptop to start and once it did it would hang during a scan or back up of the system. I was able to boot from the windows XP CD (3x) and tried to repair it that way no luck! I have tried removing all power, hd and memory, pressed power button 10x's and waited 30 sec reconnected/installed everything to no avail. Now it has stopped responding at all, can anyone provide any solution(s) as I am now totally stumped and at wits end!

v/r

edejr

[jronald]

Reaford, Geez Im from Laurinburg!

OK
Go to uBuntu and down load the latest desktop CD-Rom and burn it. Pop he hard drive out and load the CD in the drive and power the system back up. It should only find the CD, but just in case repeatedly hit the F12 button until you can load the uBuntu from the CD, if it loads the problem is with the Hard Drive. Let us know what happens and we can point you in the right direction.

Ron

[edejr]

Hello Ron,

Thanks in advance for the help. I tried the fix but unfortunately it didn't work. I just want to add that I have tried to boot from 3 different HDD a 250GB, 60GB and the origional 20GB. Up untill a few days ago I could do so from all three which leads me to believe that it's not a HDD issue. However I am open to any and all suggestions.

Yes I'm down in Raeford, moved here about a year ago.


Eddie

[ajkula66]

Download PC-Doctor for DOS, burn a CD, boot from it and run diagnostics on every component of the machine.

[edejr]

Hello and thanks for the tip however I tried to boot from the PC Dr download like you said but no luck. I have also tried hooking it up to my desktop monitor and still no dice. So is this a board level failure beyond (my) repair or am I missing something?

At this point my laptop will not boot to any CD. Prior to the last failure I was able to set the BIOS to boot from CD. The power/battery lights, fan and the hdd come on at start up. Also the cdd spins for 5-10 sec before it stops but the is no windows splash screen...no music no nothing! Any else I can try before taking it to a shop (last resort)?

[ajkula66]

Remove the hard drive entirely.

Turn the machine on. Are you able to enter the BIOS now?

[edejr]

With or w/out a bootable cd?

[RealBlackStuff]

W/o CD.
The machine should just boot, press F1 and go into BIOS.
Once there, press the Off button and report.

[edejr]

Okay I tried this fix and it's still not responding. I can hear the fan and my battery light is blinking(?), however this time the cdd did not spin on the power up.

[edejr]

Hello all well I finally got my laptop through the POST and the windows splash screen appeared (after 1 1/2 wks). I was able to press F1 and get to the IBM BIOS Setup Utility screen.

On a whim I removed only 1 of the existing memory modules, the battery and the hdd. I now have something other than a blank screen!

Okay so now what? Should I now reinstall the hhd and try to boot w/out the RAM and battery. If it boots and I can log on should I just backup my files and reinstall windows xp pro? I am finally getting somewhere and I don't want to screw this up.

[ajkula66]

Try putting back one component at the time, and watch what happens...

[edejr]

George
I was able to reinstall the hdd w/out any issues. However reinstalling the memory module took me back to my origional state so I removed it. I found out that they both work but not together, I'm not sure why. Removing/reseating the memory and swapping places has the same end result with them in at the same time.
I can only upgrade my R40 to 1GB, so with only 1 module installed I'm back to 512MB

I ran some tests and virus scans in safe mode and I am now running windows xp cd (repair) following these instructions http://support.microsoft.com/KB/314503 .

It says I should reinstall the latest updates from microsoft once this is completed. I guess I should do the same with IBM/Lenevo. Would it be wise to use the Product Recovery program to restore my pre-installed software and if so were can I find it?

Although I am not out of the woods yet,I would just like to say Thank You to everyone who has offered advice/tips in this matter. Your help has been greatly appreciated!

[ajkula66]

Your R40 can be upgraded to 2GB, regardless of what you read online. I've had more than 1GB in a number of R40 units.

You most likely have a defective RAM stick. Buy a 1GB PC2100/2700 stick, throw it in along with your existing 512MB and call it a day.

PM me if you need a set of R40 recovery disks.

Good luck.

[jronald]

I had a A31p that would only run on 2 sticks of 512mb. I threw close to 20 different sticks at that machine, it would ONLY run those 2 sticks. So...It only has 1 gig of memory in it. No harder than I push it, a gig is fine. I would probably stick with name brand memory, there are several out there but Micron and Crucial rarely have issues. Go faster than what is required, like PC3200 instead of 2700 or 2100.

All of the above is opinion mind you, but in general, the proof is in the pudding.
Ron

[ajkula66]

jronald wrote:

I had a A31p that would only run on 2 sticks of 512mb. I threw close to 20 different sticks at that machine, it would ONLY run those 2 sticks.

Now that's a sick puppy if I've ever heard of one...