Page 1 of 1

Thinkpad 770Z: dead PCMCIA and battery slots

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:18 pm
by nex86
I have an old Thinkpad 770Z which worked fine for the past few years, but recently I noticed that none of my PCMCIA cards (neither network+wifi) are working,
I tried it on Windows 98 (with all drivers installed) and Windows XP but they didn't work on both.
When I put the card in, nothing happens, no plugin sounds, nothing,
but when I pull the card out, the cursor hangs for a second. That's it, nothing else.
I swear I could her a beep when pulling the card out sometimes, but I could be wrong.

Same with the battery, when I put it in the battery slot, it shows the charge status on the display, but that's it, it does not charge or decharge and the laptop shuts off when I unplug the AC adapter.
BUT when I put the battery in the ultrabay slot where the DVD drive usually is, it works. It charges and decharges as it should.

I'm guessing there is a dead fuse or something? because I do not know if the 770Z has two batterie controllers for each slots.

If someone does know something what it could be, please let me know, I hope I still get this fixed cuz this was my first laptop and I still love it :D

Re: Thinkpad 770Z: dead PCMCIA and battery slots

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 7:35 am
by ilakast
Hold down F1 on power-on to get into BIOS and run the diagnostics test for the PCMCIA

Re: Thinkpad 770Z: dead PCMCIA and battery slots

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 7:38 pm
by pkiff
Welcome to the Forum!

I always had a soft spot for the 770Z.
nex86 wrote:Same with the battery, when I put it in the battery slot, it shows the charge status on the display, but that's it, it does not charge or decharge and the laptop shuts off when I unplug the AC adapter. BUT when I put the battery in the ultrabay slot where the DVD drive usually is, it works. It charges and decharges as it should.
Not sure of how these are wired, but this might be caused simply by dirty/dusty/rusty contacts in the main battery compartment, but not in the ultrabay battery connection. You might try just cleaning the contacts with swabs and tiny bit of rubbing alcohol.

Phil.