Thinkpads Forum

Hi everyone!

I am having problems starting my 3,5 years old ThinkPad. Previously everything worked fine, except overheating issues, which were kinda solved by using TP fan control. Emergency shutdown was a normal behavior for my laptop. There was no problem to start work all over again after it cooled down. However, one day, after a simple web-browsing my ThinkPad started to work really slow and then shutted down.

Unfortunately, it did not turned back on as always, instead a black screen, solid power lid and spinning CPU fan is all I get. Also, HDD give some signs of being alive, as it spins too.

I have already tried to unplug AC adapter, remove battery and connect to power source again; a trick with power button pushing to make a static discharge. Nothing of it helped.

I have a few thoughts on this: Bad power supply (laptop was using AC adapter as only power source for a while, after battery live came to an end), full and sudden discharge of CMOS battery, issues related to laptop LCD and finally - dead motherboard or CPU (built in motherboard). Still have to give it a try with external monitor and other AC adapter.

However, is it possible in this situation, that AC adapter just does not have enough energy in its tank to startup a laptop?

Any other suggestions, thoughts? Thanks in advance!

When I encountered similar problems it was usually after an emergency shutdown by the BIOS (if I didn't have all the right drivers, such as if I ran FreeDOS); the solution always was disconnecting the CMOS battery so as to clear the CMOS and related things.
(This is a major disassembly project, though.)

Did you ever get this fixed? I just got one that is having the same issue. I turn it on. Light stays lit. I hear the HDD. Nothing at all on screen. The fan revs up and down slightly but constantly. I tried hooking it up to a monitor with no luck either.

Hi there. Its been long time since I last posted but I have a similar problem with 2 of mine. I see that there has been no resolution on this thread, but based on some research online in some other sites, if you have an AMD processor, its overheating tendencies loosens its solder on the board and that re-soldering is the order of the day. But I have not made the attempt yet for fear of board damage as a consequence. I do not know what sort of soldering gun to buy as what I currently have makes a mess.

Leave the resoldering/reballing to the professionals if you want the repair to last.
The proper tool for repairing them is a BGA rework station, which is usually priced at the 5-digit range in our local currency (PH pesos).

I know it has been a while since anything new was posted on this thread, but I thought i'd share what worked for me anyway. When I bought mine on ebay a couple of weeks ago, the same thing happened to me when I first powered it on. For me, just re-seating the RAM solved the problem. I found that if it's not seated just right, the screen won't turn on. Anyways, hope that can help someone.