Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

701c Woes - RAM, CMOS Battery, Freezes...

Older ThinkPads from the 300, 500, 600, 700 Series, iSeries, Transnote etc.
Post Reply
Message
Author
solidpro
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 659
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:46 am
Location: Milton Keynes, GB

701c Woes - RAM, CMOS Battery, Freezes...

#1 Post by solidpro » Wed Dec 29, 2021 12:37 pm

Hi

I love the design of these machines but god help you once you turn one on. I've probably worked through 3-5 of these machines now and each one has a succession of foybles and issues which I can only imagine get worse with time.

The one I am working on today appears to have a RAM issue:

Image

Does anyone know if this means one of the RAM chips has gone bad? If so, which one? If I do the RAM test in the hardware tool, the screen goes fuzzy and blank and the machine locks up:

Image

I have removed the old battery, which was showing signs of parasitic corrosion, but I think I caught it largely in time. I have a CR2032 wired in, tested at 3v and it *does* keep the time but it keeps giving me 161 and 163 CMOS battery errors.... any ideas why?

If I sit it in the configuration screen for a few minutes, it will freeze up, but if I just boot into dos, it's fine.....

Finally, the test tool does come up with a mainboard issue as shown here:

Image

Any ideas!?

Thanks!
http://Ret.Rocks - Rare Used & Restored Vintage Computing for Sale!
Wanted: 220, 315D, 320, 350x, 355x, 500, 510, 530CS, 730TE, 750P, 755CD, Any 8xx Series, A20p, A21p, A22p, A31p, T40p
Currently For Sale (Restored): 560Z, 380Z, T20, T21, T22, R61, R51

hwattys
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 420
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 9:14 am
Location: Central Indiana
Contact:

Re: 701c Woes - RAM, CMOS Battery, Freezes...

#2 Post by hwattys » Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:33 am

The images are not there. Yes the memory error on the 701s is very common now and it just comes from motherboard age and loss of function. It's an issue with the soldered on RAM. The laptop may or may not boot or POST with that error. You can also put in an external memory chip and if it is just right, the amount of memory total will still read correctly.

RealBlackStuff
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 23812
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: 701c Woes - RAM, CMOS Battery, Freezes...

#3 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:55 am

FYI: those images are stored on https://proactionnetworks.com/
I get these errors when I try to look at them with my browser (Waterfox):
Your connection is not secure

The owner of proactionnetworks.com has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Waterfox has not connected to this website.

proactionnetworks.com uses an invalid security certificate.

The certificate is only valid for the following names:
*.secure-secure.co.uk, secure-secure.co.uk

Error code: SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad Legacy Hardware”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Enig and 53 guests