Thinkpads Forum

My 701c dates back to 1995. After many years that the error 161 & 163 was appearing in the screen (without any problem), I decided to replace the CMOS battery. When I reassembled it and restarted, there is no more the POST memory count (24mb). A long beep followed by three short beeps are heard (I think it has to do with the battery pack),the different codes appear in the lower right on the display, then halts a few seconds on code 52, then it goes on.The OS Windows (98) icon is in color but highly distorted. When Windows are loaded the display works ok ( all files, programs, photos etc).
When I press F1 to enter the easy setup screen there a terrible mess on the display. It appears each time in different colors (usually orange with gray or blue frame). The icons are hardly readable due to the strange colors.If I choose the configuration utility icon , sometimes there is a black or blue screen without text, sometimes the text appears but flashing. If you have the patience to select the different options it works. When I select the test icon, again colors are not right. Running the test on the display, there is the following result: DEV 050, ERR 41, FRU 0014( bottom system board?). Systemboard, memory,HDD, PCMCIA, infrared tests shows no errors. Also the same problems with the display appears when I choose MS-DOS function.
Is it a question of BIOS settings? How I can fix it?

it's very likely that you damaged the mainboard when you replaced the battery. Assuming you soldered it correctly etc.. and used the little metal tubular spacers that keep the system board and the mainboard seperate. There are some very tiny resistors next to the built-in memory on the mainboard that break away very easilly. This happened to me on two boards, causing all kinds of bios mayhem so eventually i bought a NEW one which was perfect. Just my 2 cents worth

I don't remember any visual damage on the boards. Also the test on the memory showed no errors.
Why the OS (Windows 98) works perfect? Is it possible that the initial bios settings were lost?

the bios really doesn't seem to have much bearing in the OS in my experience. My 701c would crash randomly, lose bios settings and sometimes have a funny display. when i inspected the board closely i saw the minute resistor was loose, the solder had worn. (changing bios batteries had no effect, obviously if the board was damaged) Also the littly metal cylindrical spacers are vital when reassembling the boards because it stops you 'squeezing' the 2 boards together causing unwanted damage if not careful

IMHO the board needs replacing with a new one, which can still be found here and on fleabay