Thinkpads Forum

Hi there.
I hate doing this, being my first post and asking for advise already, sorry well here goes.

Bit of a long story this. My dad got given a IBM 600X which wouldn't work, I did some investigations and found that the main memory (<1mb) was fault, as far as I can tell thses are integrated into the system board and can't be replaced.

Ok so everything else on it works, so I though ok all I need to do is buy another 600x with a dead screen and swap it over, sounds like a plan!

Anyway after a few months searching on ebay, I finally find a notebook with dead screen (they said it was inverter or bulb problem) but everything else worked and it was cheap.

So I bought that, got it home, swapped the screens over, but still the screen is blank, double checked connectioons, but nothing, it works via the vdeio out though.

Just for testing I put the screen from the ebay one, onto my dads and it fired up no problem (so not a bulb or inverter problem then!).

So I'm thinking, is this a system board issue, it would seem the LCD isn't getting power.

So I guess you guys will confirm my worst fears in that its a dead system board? (another one!).

Or have I missed something completely obvious?

Your help is much appricated.

Lee

Based on the information you are providing and the steps you take yes it seems that the issue is the motherboard.

another test would be connecting both laptops to an external monitor.

And if both 600X systems output video via the external video port, then I would try swapping the Sub Card between the two systems to see if the problem might be with that board. The Sub Card is what one of the cables from the LCD panel connects to, along with the keyboard ribbon cable and speaker connector.

rkawakami wrote:And if both 600X systems output video via the external video port, then I would try swapping the Sub Card between the two systems to see if the problem might be with that board. The Sub Card is what one of the cables from the LCD panel connects to, along with the keyboard ribbon cable and speaker connector.

hey there, thanks for replying to this so quickly.

Hum, now there is a thought, it doesn't mention that in the repair manual
Just connected both machines up to a monitor and both give video out on the external monitor.
Ok, I'll have a look at swapping the sub cards next week.

How about the little switch that cuts the LCD backlight when you close the lid? Could it be jammed?

Yeah! Check the little switch it maybe dirty. Clean it with a cotton swab and some windex after that blow it with canned air.


Good luck!

That switch is mounted on the Sub Card; that's one of the reasons why I suggested it. A switch that is broken such that it is always "closed" will exhibit the problem described (dead screen, no backlight).

cmarti wrote:Clean it with a cotton swab and some windex after that blow it with canned air.

I don't think that Windex is the best thing to use. A contact cleaner spray which is safe for plastics could possibly be used, assuming that you can get the liquid inside the switch to clean the contacts. If you take a look at my site on the Sub Card:

http://www.rkawakami.net/ibm_600x/sub_card/

you can see that there may be one point of access for the spray. That is at the point where the switch lever enters the body of the switch. There could also be some contamination on the bottom side of the Sub Card on the switch's legs which is causing a short, although that is probably a small chance. Most likely the switch itself is broken (i.e. the spring inside) and the lever is stuck in the down position.

rkawakami wrote:

cmarti wrote:Clean it with a cotton swab and some windex after that blow it with canned air.

I don't think that Windex is the best thing to use. A contact cleaner spray which is safe for plastics could possibly be used, assuming that you can get the liquid inside the switch to clean the contacts. If you take a look at my site on the Sub Card:

http://www.rkawakami.net/ibm_600x/sub_card/

you can see that there may be one point of access for the spray. That is at the point where the switch lever enters the body of the switch. There could also be some contamination on the bottom side of the Sub Card on the switch's legs which is causing a short, although that is probably a small chance. Most likely the switch itself is broken (i.e. the spring inside) and the lever is stuck in the down position.

Correction,

I always use things that i have on hand and what i did mean in the post is to moisten the tip of the cotton swab with windex. My 600x suferred from at some point and that correct it. I wasn't meaning to spray the switch with it.

cmarti wrote:I always use things that i have on hand and what i did mean in the post is to moisten the tip of the cotton swab with windex.

Okay, sorry I misunderstood your post. Actually, in that case, what will work better than Windex is plain isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol on a foam swab. If a foam swab is not available, then cotton will work, just be careful to remove all of the loose strands of cotton that are left behind on the sharp pins of the components.

now there is a good idea, I never thought to check the switch, now that's what I call thinking 'outside the box' ! great thanks, I'll check that.

Wot can I say, you guys totally rock, I would buy you all a drink if we where not so far away !
When I took the ebay unit apart I took a better look at the switch and noticed there was no arm on it, so it was broken, switched the boards over and the screen fires up, Yes

Now I have errors 163 and 173 which appear to be minor things, date time and config lost (according to the manual.

What can I say, so grateful for all your help.

Time to install a hard drive, cd drive and do some testing, hoping I find nothing else wrong with it.

BTW how much could I expect to get for a working 600x LCD, cpu & heat sink, cd drive, etc (but broken system board, sub cards) got spares here now!

leona wrote:Wot can I say, you guys totally rock, I would buy you all a drink if we where not so far away !
When I took the ebay unit apart I took a better look at the switch and noticed there was no arm on it, so it was broken, switched the boards over and the screen fires up, Yes

Now I have errors 163 and 173 which appear to be minor things, date time and config lost (according to the manual.

What can I say, so grateful for all your help.

Time to install a hard drive, cd drive and do some testing, hoping I find nothing else wrong with it.

BTW how much could I expect to get for a working 600x LCD, cpu & heat sink, cd drive, etc (but broken system board, sub cards) got spares here now!

Suggestion, Get a new CMOS battery just in case it cost only around $3.00USD on ebay. I am glad for you

leona wrote:Wot can I say, you guys totally rock, I would buy you all a drink if we where not so far away !

If I'm ever in the UK I'll take you up on the offer of the drink!

leona wrote:When I took the ebay unit apart I took a better look at the switch and noticed there was no arm on it, so it was broken, switched the boards over and the screen fires up, Yes

If you check my third post in this thread you will find a link to my site where I found a replacement switch for the Sub Card. Assuming you can get the same or similar switch for a few Pounds (Euros?), you can easily fix the board.

leona wrote:BTW how much could I expect to get for a working 600x LCD, cpu & heat sink, cd drive, etc (but broken system board, sub cards) got spares here now!

My suggestion would be to hang onto them. Assuming you can fix/replace the Sub Card, the only thing wrong with the laptop is that the motherboard has faulty memory. There is an edit you can perform in the BIOS which will disable the built-in memory. The thread which describes this is here:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=8720

If you don't think you can fix the Sub Card yourself, then they can be obtained off of eBay for a fairly reasonable price (usually around $10 to $15 US). It sounds like if you disable the motherboard memory and install a working Sub Card, then you will have a second 600X to play around with.

Hey, rkawakami what a cool idea, if I knew I could disable on on board memory I could have saved myself a lot of effort!

But ya I could build a second machine, I think the sub card is dead, it seems different to the one in the other notebook, some protective tape missing and the broken switch. but like you say they are cheap enough on ebay.

I seem to have another problem though, I've inserted a 20gb IBM hard drive from one of my older notebooks (so I know it works), but I can't get the notebook to see it, can't see a hard drive setup / config screen in the bios. Any idea what I need to do to get my hard drive to work?

thanks.

leona wrote:I seem to have another problem though, I've inserted a 20gb IBM hard drive from one of my older notebooks (so I know it works), but I can't get the notebook to see it, can't see a hard drive setup / config screen in the bios. Any idea what I need to do to get my hard drive to work?

Can you start another thread for this? This is to keep the subject on topic....

ya sure, sorry.