A31p + R50e acquisition - not powering

[notuagain]

Hey there,

First post on these helpful forums.

I recently acquired an A31p and R50e in reasonable cosmetic condition, both have trackbuttons missing.
The guy who sold them said both were working before he obtained them, but he had been trying with a generic 19v power supply. I tried both with IBM 16v-4.5A-72watt psu and on pressing power button:

1. A31p is activating all laptop power lights and charging battery, but immediate shutdown with no screen activity.
2. R50e is momentarily lighting battery light, but no others. Also charging battery. An audible click can be heard from the power jack area when power button pressed.

Both have been stripped, remounted CPU and attempted booting with bare motherboard. No joy.

I'm only looking to get the A31p functioning, due to it's 3 spindle design and great screen.
Am I looking at a replacement motherboard or are there other avenues of possible diagnosis I haven't yet discovered?

Thanks,
David.

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the Forum.
From your description, the seller has most likely ruined both laptops by hooking them up to a 19V power supply.
Both machines require only 16V from AC-adapters, such as you described.
Take all the batteries (main only), wifi-cards, modems, drives and RAM out.
Then connect the keyboard and hook them up to the 16V adapter.
Both should beep 1 short, pause, 3 short, pause, 3 short, pause, 1 short (1-3-3-1 it's called), for having no RAM.
If not, those mobos are toast

[notuagain]

Thanks for reply and advice, I've already stripped and tried booting with all items removed and got the same power on result.

Would a problematic keyboard prevent power up, as both machines' keyboards are not 100%?

All is not lost as there are plenty of working items; drives, memory, screens, cards etc.

What I am ultimately looking for is a laptop with two builtin hard drives, robust design, bright screen display. Power is not a big issue as the system is only for media playback. Any recommendations?

Also, which other thinkpads can the A31p screen be simply installed in? A T40 or T60 perhaps?

Thanks,
David.

[ajkula66]

You are likely looking at two machines with dead boards...

With RAM removed, does any of them beep when powered on?

As for A31p LCD, it can be used in T42p, T43p and R50p. However, none of these machines feature the three-spindle design that you were originally after, not to mention that you don't know the condition of the screen to begin with.

Good luck.

[notuagain]

Hi. No board beeps with RAM removed (also no response with everything else removed).
Dead boards sound likely with their history.

You're correct about screen, but I will take a chance and initially look for a replacement motherboard and then if all is well an Ultrabay hard drive caddy.

[RealBlackStuff]

Another test: buy/beg/steal/borrow another CPU (for the A31p: e.g. 1.6GHz, Intel SL5YU or SL6CG or 1.8GHz, Intel SL6CJ or SL6FH or 2.0GHz, Intel SL6FK).
Maybe only the CPU is shot.
CPUs are relatively cheap, and you may need one for the A31p.
I wouldn't wast too much time (or money) on the R50e, as this is the lowest-end of that range.
Sell the parts separately.

[notuagain]

That's something I never thought of, the CPU being shot on its own.
I'll dig up one of the P4s you recommended and post the results.
Really admire the design of the A31p inside and out.

Edit: Will I get system error beeps if the processor isn't present and the motherboard is working?

[ajkula66]

No you won't.

[A31]

Do you have any other Thinkpads other than the A31p and the R50e?? If so, keep them as "spares". I have an A31 standard (which I upgraded) and an R40. The R40 is unlikely to start again (I posted a topic about this seeing if anyone could help me on that!!), I just use the R40 as spares for the A31.

[notuagain]

Hi.
Yeah you're right, if I can't economically get the R50e running then it will be used as a donor.
The A31p I would really like to get into action though, it fits too many of my requirements for a system to overlook and there is something quite timeless about the design too.

Anyways I've got hold of a board with a 2Gz processor on it for the A31p at a decent price, so if she's running with that installed I'll post here

Otherwise I'll be splitting them both.
Thanks.