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600E black LCD, inability to boot
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 8:24 am
by HotBacon
Thinkpad 600E (Type - 2645-4YU), running Win 98SE.
Everything has been running fine and dandy until Monday morning. I booted as usual, and after about 5 minutes the LCD went black. I thought it went into hibernate (even though I have hibernate disabled and no screen saver) so I moved the mouse, no response. I hit ctrl-alt-del, no response. I tried to turn the power off w/ the power switch, no response. So I pulled the plug and attempted to reboot. The number in the top left corner appeared (13048 KB OK or something to that affect), the Thinkpad logo appeared and instead of the usual beep, I got a series of rapid clicks. It hung at this point for several minutes. I turned the power off and tried again, same thing.
I have since figured out that if I let the notebook cool for ~30 minutes, it will boot up fine. Once booted it will stay up and running for anywhere from a minute or so to 30 minutes, then the black screen and inability to reboot.
I have run scandisk, Norton Systemworks OBC, Norton WinDoctor, and part of a Norton Antivirus scan (it won't stay up and running long enough to finish). No windows problems have been found, so I'm leaning towards a hardware problem.
If anyone has any ideas on where to start looking I'd really appreciate it!!
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 9:40 am
by sktn77a
Well, it sounds like a heat problem. Being an older computer it's innards may be full of dust, preventing cooling. In any event, opening it up, cleaning it out and disconnecting/reconnecting cables, etc may do the trick. Try running the Driver Fitness Test also, although this is a long shot and based on the clicks you report.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 10:13 am
by HotBacon
Thanks for the reply. I'll give that a try, although when I did open it up once this week and everything looked ok. I didn't pull everything out and dis-connect/re-connect all cables though.
I was thinking the cpu fan may not be operating to its full ability, although I do feel some warm air leaking out of the vent. Does the black screen and inability to reboot sound familiar to an overheat?
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 10:15 am
by HotBacon
forgot...what's the driver fitness test?
I habitually check for updates on most drivers. Windows updates are up to date. Norton antivirus definitions are up to date. And the BIOS is up to date.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 10:58 am
by sickofit
Could also be a bad stick of RAM....try removing one at a time and booting....
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 1:04 pm
by HotBacon
sickofit - I believe you may have solved the problem. I attempted to boot up...got the usual (as of late) series of clicks and hang. I flipped her over and pulled out the first stick of RAM and restarted. She booted up, and a Norton antivirus scan has been running for an hour or so now...that's the longest its been up and running all week.
I would have never guessed the symptoms I had would point to bad RAM. Now for a newbie question - How do I go about replacing the bad stick (ie - do I have to replace it w/ another 32MB stick or can I upgrade to 64MB? Can ebay be trusted?)
thanks for all the help! Let's hope the problem is truly solved.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 2:12 pm
by Bob Collins
The RAM must be of the proper speed for your system, which I think is 100Mhz. Check that out for sure. Yes you can put in a 64 MB chip. I think you can even go to a 128, which would be great, although I think Win98 does not see more than 512MB ram. Someone correct me on that if I am wrong, please.
Ebay can be trusted, but make sure of the seller;-). Most here on the list would recommend, I think, true IBM RAM. Whatever you do, make sure you can return the RAM if it does not work for you!!!
Finally, check here on the lists is someone has some RAM for sale.
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 2:41 pm
by sickofit
Glad to hear its working now..!!!!
Actually a 256Mb PC100 stick for a thinkpad 390X will work no problem.....usually about 50-70 bucks on ebay....pc100 128MB chips can usually be grabbed for anywhere from 10-30 bucks....32-64Mb chips can be had for under 10 bucks....try differentways to find it (spelling)...laptop memory...pc100...pc 100....144 pin....390x....notebook memory...etc...
I'll take a quick peek,and if I see anything,i'll post a link....
Later....
Greg St.L
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 2:57 pm
by sickofit
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 3:08 pm
by Guest
Thanks a million for the help guys!
I start the day w/ a non-working laptop, and end the day w/ not only a working laptop but a cheap upgrade as well!!
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 3:11 pm
by sickofit
Some 256's....Have to make sure it has 8 small chips per side compared to 4 bigger ones....or won't work.,.,.
Item #'s...put in ebay search....
6703119892
2x128Mb-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 96141&rd=1
Ouch-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 96451&rd=1
NICE ONE.!!!-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 18518&rd=1
NICE ONE..!!!-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 38228&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 48520&rd=1
You could also try cleaning the gold contacts on the memory(pencil eraser),and blow in the slot good,and try it again.....has worked for me before...same symptoms....
Later...
Greg St.L
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 3:18 pm
by monty cantsin
HotBacon wrote:forgot...what's the driver fitness test?
Small typo. "sktn77a" meant the
Drive Fitness Test, a utility that checks Hitachi and IBM hard drives for defects:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 4:41 pm
by sickofit
Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:48 pm
by hausman
sickofit wrote:pc100 128MB chips can usually be grabbed for anywhere from 10-30 bucks.
I have 2 x 128MB (IBM FRU 20L0265) from my A21p after I upgraded to 2 x 256MB. One is "IBM" (Infineon) and the other is "IBM approved" (Micron.)
I'll sell them for $20 each or $35 for the pair, shipping in NA included, payment by PayPal. PM me if interested.