Thinkpads Forum

Hey, I am repairing a laptop for some one who left it out in his car, it was hot out, he tried to turn it on that night and woulden't turn on. I am replaceing the motherboard "fried" I assume, but why not hear some opinions around here.
thanks guys

Shouldn't have affected the laptop, but elevated heat could have easily put an already less than perfect HD or CMOS battery over the edge.

Regards,

James

You're Cooked !!!


(sorry, couldn't resist)

There's a message with a link showing pictures af a TP that accidently got cooked in an oven at over 300°F.

It still ran although the plastic was melted in a few places.

I'm wondering how the LCD survived.

Chas.

Thanks Guys. the laptop was in a black case, I doubt it was the hardrive,
Do you guys think it's going too turn on with the new motherboard?

Laptop_wizard wrote:Thanks Guys. the laptop was in a black case, I doubt it was the hardrive,
Do you guys think it's going too turn on with the new motherboard?

Why are you replacing the motherboard? Do you know for sure that it's defective? Have you tried it with the AC adapter? Battery? You could have a bad battery that was damaged by the heat?

It sounds like "the car wont start, I'm going to replace the motor"!

Do you know what you are doing?

Yes, if your main battery is bad, your laptop won't boot-up. It happened to me. Try booting up with the AC adapter only - without the main battery in the laptop. And like JHEM wrote, it could be your CMOS battery causing the problem as well. Heat is battery's enemy. I really am not sure if the hard drive would likely fail under these circumstances or not.

It sounds like the OP is bound and determined to do brain surgery on the laptop.

I've frequently left at least 5 different laptops in cars over the past 10 years - 4 Thinkpads and a Sony. Many times this occurred during the summer in CA, NV, NM and AZ where there temperatures in the car often exceeded 120°F. I've tried to keep them out of direct sunlight but it wasn't always possible.

My biggest concern was damage to the LCD screens (also during cold weather).

Consider this, during fabrication, the components on all of the printed circuit boards are briefly subjected to the 350°F to 600°F heat of molten tin/lead solder. Same thing happens during resoldering with a hot air gun.

CPUs are the biggest source of heat in a PC and are also the most sensitive to overheating because they run near their maximum heat tolerance all of the time.

Unless the laptop was running while in the heat I don't see how the mainboard could be damaged by the several hundred degrees that it might have been exposed to.

Most silicon semiconductors are good up to at least 250°F of continuous heat. Beyond that, gallium arsenide, sapphire and diamond substrates are used in high temperature military and space applications.

Laptops are generally engineered to take a lot more abuse than the warrantees would lead you to beleive.

Yes, i tried all that stuff, "takeing out the battery ect" but i diden't however think about the CMOS battery, I think i would just get an error code, I aM pretty sure it baked the motherboard, but the LCD and keyboard should be ok Right
thanks guy's keep the opinions comeing.

the cmos battery on some thinkpads is what the power button uses to get the initial start going(split second connection).... after that it turns over to the main battery or ac

Wizard, why not next time tell what all you tried, like running without the battery in place, when you ask for opinions? That let's everyone know you've went through a trouble shooting process and they won't repeat what you already know -- you'll get new ideas or critique of your trouble shooting that might be helpful. I'm on a couple automitive boards and what trouble shooting steps have already been taken is the first thing asked when someon wants to know how to fix something. Keeps us from reinventing the wheel and guessing. Without that info everyting is just speculation.

LCDs are more susceptible to heat damage than motherboards. Even if the computer shuts down due to heat it will usually start back up once it cools down. One thing I have seen is chips and connectors that work out of their sockets when subjected to lots of heat/cool cycles. That's something to look at before you replace the mobo.

I'd unplug everything, remove the memory chips, and even remove the HD and CD, and try booting with a known good floppy drive. If that doesn't work pull the case top and check all connectors, unplug/plug and clean even if they look good, then try booting again. Check power supply volatages next. If good replace the processor module, even if with a slower one for testing. Only when all that fails should you suspect the mobo. If it works, start putting things back in one at a time and rebooting after every item is reinserted until it won't boot again. It's better to start with nothing in than to pull things one at a time. Connectors probably needed cleaning anyway.

Yes good point about telling everybody on what I tried already
thanks
Hmmmm I have never herd of that,
"changeing the cmos battery" the battery is labeled
"rechargable" so it should still work right
thanks guys

The CMOS battery is not rechargeable.

Replace it.

Regards,

James

That may be what's wrong with the 600E I just bought off e-bay. I reported to the seller that it wouldn't boot (086 error, which seems to be track-point/keyboard, but some have reported a bad CMOS will give it). All he had to say was it did before he shipped, but if it was a CMOS batery he had some extras and would send one. I just tried it with the battery as soon as it came out of the box, main battery didn't last but about 10 minutes. Will boot again with the battery charged or on AC power, and if that fails with a mouse plugged in. If that also fails I'll get another CMOS battery before looking for a keyboard.

Check the screws that hold the keyboard in place. I have a TP that someone assembled with keyboard screws that were too long. They were loose so I tightened them and they apparently shorted out the keyboard; I got that error message when I rebooted. I removed the long screws and the system boots normally again.

I'm replacing the keyboard just to be on the safe side.

for what its worth I have a old compaq that lives in the back of my truck , in a black bag

I use it for programing telecom equipment

Im in sw fl and it do get hot.

never had a problem with it.

Do this,

replace the CMOS, plug in the AC, remove the main battery (the big one) and try booting it.

So far nothing you've done has shown any real problems with the laptop.

Hey Bud lets be nice

Laptop_wizard wrote:Hey Bud lets be nice

Let's look at what you've done, you haven't proved damage and yet you're hell bent on replacing things.

Try letting the computer sit for a few minutes without the CMOS, extra RAM, hard drive and any other add-ons (including cd drive or floppy drive) installed. After letting the computer sit as a bare shell for a few minutes, try putting everything back in and starting it. It also couldn't hurt to try pushing down the system reset switch while fiddling with the power switch a few times.

Ok buddy. this post is for the sol-purpose of exspanding everybody elses
exsprience. I know EXACKLY what's wrong, the CMOS capaciter is burnt out. I do not know where to locate the chip, or where to buy a replacement, don't go out of your way to make enemy's in this forum,
or usally people won't help you, I would really like to bite your head off,
but I'm a nice CONTROLLED guy.
Thankyou for your post.

Laptop_wizard wrote:Ok buddy

Back it down a notch, please.