A31p Weird Boot Problem

[banyanleaf]

My A31p has been working fine and today I wanted to install a new OS. Started the machine, pressed F12, and the machine was stuck on the “Preparing Boot Device” screen. Having waited for too long, I powered it off, then restarted, then it gave four cycles of four short beeps and then a blank screen. According to the hardware maintenance manual, it means “System Board (IBM security chip)”. What does this mean? I have no password set in this machine.
Since then I can’t boot the machine. It powers on, the fan turns, blank screen (no backlight), hard drive light turns on for a while then it turns off. Sounds like the DVD drive was trying to read (I can hear the rotation of the disk) but I don’t see the Ultrabay read light on. The machine can still charge battery. I tried to remove everything and the system can give correct beep errors when RAMs are not installed. Everything seems fine except that it is not booting correctly. I have tried the 10 short power button and long power without battery method but no luck.
Anybody had similar experience? Help please!

[ajkula66]

If you have a type I board (model number ending in Hxx or Nxx) try re-seating the security chip to see whether that would help.

With the type II board...you may want to start shopping around for a new one.

If you manage to get into BIOS
disable the security chip and keep your fingers crossed.

Good luck.

[banyanleaf]

Well, after letting it sit on the port duplicator for half an hour, it boots again with no problem. I got in the BIOS and checked, the security chip is disabled.

BTW, what is the difference between Type I and Type II boards?

[banyanleaf]

Problem repeated. It hung when installing OS a few times. Let it sit for half an hour, boot again fine. Finally ran a thorough test and the culprit is one RAM stick. Will report after switching the bad RAM out.

[Neil]

Whoa! Déjà vu! Not too long ago I was having a very similar experience, caused by a stick of bad RAM. Got rid of that and never had another problem since.

[ajkula66]

Not to be pessimistic, but I've never seen a bad stick of RAM throw a 4x4 beep code. I most certainly have seen it freeze the machine, or prevent it from booting altogether.

Type I boards have a removable (but not transferable) security chip and use different BIOS from type II. The former are also more tolerant of "foreign" wireless cards than the latter.

Type II boards mostly fail due to a loose GPU. Type I boards are known for going to sleep and never waking up.

Good luck.

[banyanleaf]

Mystery to me, too. Maybe the system was interrupted when it was checking the security setting? It never happened again after I removed the bad chip. BTW, what I was doing was to try the new Linux distros.

In case you want to know. I have tried Ubuntu 11.04, Linux Mint 11, and OpenSUSE 11.4 and the first two failed to boot correctly. I also tried OpenSUSE 11.3 Gnome but it didn't work. OpenSUSE KDE works but no success with the wireless card. It works with a Cisco PC card (Atheros 5001x chipset) out of box. Guess I am stuck with OpenSUSE KDE for now.