Thinkpads Forum

I dug out an old 570 that has been sitting for a while and decided to fix it up. It would make a nice light weight summer surfer (and less chance of damaging my T42).

First, The LCD hinges are wobbly but not really loose. They feel tight when you open or close the display but once it is open you can move the top of the display back and forth about an inch. Is this common?

Second, When I put some ram in the memory slot the computer won't boot and gives strange error messages and sometimes corrupts data on the hard drive. I remember swapping the memory around between the three 570's I used to own and all the memory worked fine in two of the 570's but none of the memory would work in this 570. Do the memory slots fail in the 570? 64 meg ain't cuttin' it.

These two things are why it got abandoned on a shelf long ago.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

The screws that hold the hinges to the LCD panel and/or the screws holding the hinges to the base of the computer are probably loose. At first this is nothing more than annoyance but if you let it go too long this can cause serious problems in the future but since everything is still in one piece now, the hinge is an easy fix that invovles taking apart the computer and finding the loose screws. The hardware maintenance manual should help you along with that.

If you are sure the RAM is good, make sure the slots are clean and the chips are getting good contact with the pins in the slot. With no power going through the computer and battery removed and AC adaptor unplugged, try using some alcohol and a toothbrush to thoroughly clean the slots.

the 570 i just picked up has the loose hinges- quite annoying, especially when my girlfriend jumps on the bed

i looked at the manual and it appears to me that you have to completely dismantle the thing to get at the hinges- im not messing with the lcd!

why wouldnt the memory slots fail? i mean, theyre all susceptible to these things. with 64 though, i would probably part it out and sell someone like dsigma6 the 0 dead pixel screen for $8.99. hey just an idea lol.

i added 256 to mine, and outside of the loose hinges, the white spots, dead pixels, warped keyboard and loose power plug connector, im totally happy...

dsigma6 wrote: why wouldnt the memory slots fail? i mean, theyre all susceptible to these things. with 64 though, i would probably part it out and sell someone like dsigma6 the 0 dead pixel screen for $8.99. hey just an idea lol.

Of course any part can fail. Thats the way electronice are. What I mean is the T30 has a known problem with failing memory slots, I just wondered if this is a known problem with the 570.

BTW, My 570 LCD has no white spots, dead or stuck pixels and it is bright. The power connector isn't loose either although I am missing the HD cover.

yea it didnt seem like you could actually be asking is something could be faulty...i just had to treat it like that- sometimes people ask questions that make you ask yourself "are they serious?"...

but of course we're always here to help!

i contacted the ebay seller about the condition of this screen. i could hardly understand the guy, but i understood that he didnt want to get into fixing this thing that cost around $100. he did however offer me free shipping on my next purchase. i can deal with the screen for now, will probably turn into my test machine when things start failing. ive seen a couple 570 parts machines with good lcds going for less than $30...poor sellers!

Yeah, this one was built out of parts from ebay too. I was hoping someone would say "Oh yeah! I remember how to fix that ram slot, just do this......................"
Oh well, It's nice to have a dream.

Have you tried cleaning the RAM slot like I suggested? It's very common, especially for computers that have sat without use for awhile, for the components to get too dirty for use.

AlphaKilo470 wrote:Have you tried cleaning the RAM slot like I suggested? It's very common, especially for computers that have sat without use for awhile, for the components to get too dirty for use.

Not yet, but I will when I get time. Thanks AlphaKilo470.

If cleaning doesn't work, then it could also be loose pins. I remember the computer I had before the 600E I'm using now (which was also a 600E) had a RAM slot that didn't work until I shoved a piece of cardboard under the RAM chip.

I remember trying a piece of cardboard between the ram and the cover but it did not work. Do you mean between the ram and the mobo? Thick or thin cardboard?

Also don't forget to clean the contacts on the module(s) itself. Over time they have a tendancy to oxidize or get dirty. I have been using a standard rubber pencil (not pen) eraser and lightly scrubbing across both sides of the memory module for years without any problems. Just be sure to wipe away all of the eraser "crumbs" before reinstalling. If you are really anal about getting them clean, a cotton tip swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol works well.