Thinkpads Forum

I have recently acquired a Thinkpad 600 Type 2645, and I love it, however no sound is produced by the speakers or the headphone port.

It came with 98SE and I reinstalled it with NT4. All drivers and SP6, no sound in either. No post beeps, no function key beeps, nothing.

Also it might help noting that the mute function key appears to do nothing, no onscreen display or anything. The backspace and the Fn key do however work.

It could also be assumed I am using the stock bios. It has a dead battery and no floppy drive so I have no way to update it.

Am working on getting the 55Gb Torrent for IBM PCBBS backup so if there is a driver missing I will have it.

Any help appreciated

Hmm... nobody seems to have any opinions on this, huh?

Lack of sound can be due to a number of issues. I'd say the first thing to do is boot the system and press a bunch of random keys while it's displaying the IBM splash screen. After about 8-10 keypresses, you should get a beep each time you hit a key. Be sure to enter the Fn+PgUp combination a few times (volume up). If that doesn't result in sound, then it's time to take the system apart. The speakers are connected to the motherboard via a tiny plug and ribbon cable. Check the connections. Replace the cable if it looks like it's torn/broken. If you have a multimeter you can test the speakers by using the ohmmeter mode (set to lowest range) and putting the test leads across the speaker terminals. Resistance should be around 10 ohms or so and you should hear a soft "pop" or "click" from the speaker. If it reads infinity, then the speaker coil is broken and thus no sound from that speaker. If the speakers test okay and the cabling/connectors look good, then it's possible that a broken headphone jack is the problem. There's not much you can do about that as the jack is soldered to the motherboard and they are difficult to remove. If there's a defective sound controller on the motherboard, you're faced with the same cure (replace the board).

In case you have a hardware issue and can fix it, the drivers for the 600 system can be found here at thinkpads.com: http://thinkpads.com/support/Thinkpad-D ... m/600.html

The Hardware Maintenance Manual is here: http://thinkpads.com/support/hmm/hmm_pdf/09n1033.pdf

I have pressed keys to no avail.

The speaker cable to the speakers is good and all 4 leads are good. The left speaker produces 7.2 ohms of resistance, and the other 7.9.

Is there a way to test the soundcard/headphone port, and if the headphone port is broken, would it cause the internal speakers not to work?

I noticed a cable that goes from the secondary board to the main board, it ends near the soundcard. Is this a modem cable or possibly an audio cable?
It seems an odd place for it to be a modem cable, but since the secondary card provides audio to the speakers, it would seem audio is more likely use.

The only way I know of testing the headphone jack is to plug in a known working unit and listen for sounds. Should be a standard 3.5mm stereo plug I think.

If the jack is broken it can cut off the speakers from working. In essence there's a "switch" in the jack that when no plug is inserted, the output of the audio system is routed to the speakers. When a plug is inserted, that opens the switch and the speakers are disconnected. That part of the jack could be broken. If I remember right, the 600 audio jack is mostly encased in a plastic shell so you may not be able to see anything. However, even with a broken switch inside the jack, usually you can still get sound from a headset.

Not sure about that "extra" cable but I might be for the microphone. It been so time since I opened up a 600-series system. If you can post a link to a photo it might help.

Welp, I don't get any sound out of the headphone port, but I can follow up on the cable.

I took some pictures.
https://i.imgur.com/I6V1C77.jpg
The cable itself

https://i.imgur.com/NJNIz6t.jpg
(empty) Plug on the secondary board, far right

https://i.imgur.com/XiTSXDv.jpg
Other socket near headphone ports

https://i.imgur.com/nmimUDh.jpg
The cable installed (very hard to see)

I apologize for anything too blurry, I will attempt to buy a new camera when I am done with school.

It's 99% not an issue with a cable, but an internal component on the system board that the audio signal path goes through. So you'll have to route out the capacitors, amplifiers or other components the audio goes through them to see what's failed, or replace the system board.
I had a similar problem with a 300PL which had a failed front panel audio.

I put it all back together tonight and now it won't power on.

The hard drive light just flashes every time I push the power button.

Took it all apart, nothing out of place. Assuming it's the latest edition to my doorstop collection now?

aPanzerIV wrote:I put it all back together tonight and now it won't power on.

The hard drive light just flashes every time I push the power button.

Took it all apart, nothing out of place. Assuming it's the latest edition to my doorstop collection now?

For a very basic test, do you have any other thinkpad AC adapters to test with it?
If the HDD light flashes very briefly, that means the system isn't getting enough power, or it's being prematurely cut off for some reason (i.e. diode). You'd have to take a fine look at the power plug, its corresponding wires and the power board to make sure everything is OK. Then take a look at the power button and make sure the keyboard connector that controls the power button is signalling okay.

I regained my patience today and stripped the whole thing down again.

Took out every screw and cleaned every piece with a Q-tip before re-assembling it. It now boots up again. I noted a few things:

-It has been taken apart before. Screws were missing and I have replaced them.

-The headphone port isn't 3.5mm. I've been plugging my speakers into the microphone port all this time -__-

-The condition regarding the headphone port appears to be common, IBM even made the cover transparent so you can see the switches. The circuit in mine appears to be open (no headphone attached mode).

I know I've got a few adapters to use my speakers with it, I'll dig around for em and get back with you on that.

EDIT: I have also been trying to get linux on there and have found some issues with the bios being out of date. Since I do not have a floppy drive this could be problematic. I'll have to see how far this gets pushed out.

I noted something interesting last night when I updated the bios.

If I press a whole bunch of keys inside the bios update software it starts beeping through the speakers for every keystroke.

This does not happen outside of the software and there is still no sound in windows.

Might this have to do with the mute button issue in the first post?

The mute will also mute out the bios beeps. The issue seems driver related.

Yeah 98SE would be a lot more awesome on the laptop I think.

There's a little note about the crystal audio on it:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/CS4624

I have reinstalled Windows ME as it is the only other copy of windows I have with a key(not actually legal either).

Same issue as in the first post. On Screen display comes up but no beeps or sounds.

I also pulled my adapters out and noted that the headphone port is in fact 3.5mm, but the whole speaker jack will not fit, and no noise comes out of the speakers in this "half hooked up" configuration.

It may be possible something is lodged in the port?

If something is lodged in there holding the switch open, it could explain why there is no sound.

If a 3.5mm plug does not go all the way into the jack (the base of the plug should be flush with the jack), then I'd say, yes, there's either something inside the jack OR there's been some damage to the internal mechanism which prevents the full insertion of the plug.