Thinkpads Forum

Hi, (First post)

I have read through this forum and found problems similar to mine, but not the same and no resolve.

My 600E was in non-use for almost a year. Upon trying to get it going after this storage in its padded case, I plugged in the AC adapter as I was planning on using it for several hours. I noticed that NO LEDs lite. (I was pretty sure that at least one lights with the AC plugged in).

When I pushed the power slider: All the LEDs lite for a second then go out with a click from the speakers. And that’s where I still stand with this unit.

I have tried with and without 2 batteries, 2 AC supplies, and with the DVD, HD, Memery, PCMCIA cards removed. I have tried pushing the power slider 15-30 times with no AC and the battery removed, then tried to start with either with just the battery or just AC, or both with no advance. (I got that hint from IBM support while the were trying to charge me).

When his supervisor called me back and asked if I was satisfied with my support, I told him that didn’t work. As he also telling me that to send it to them for repair (for $200-500), he said it was probably the system board.

Well, you now know what my question is: Is he probably right or does one of the other forum experts here have another idea.

Oh-ya – I changed the 2025 ‘back-up battery’ in the memory compartment.

I would appreciate any help.
Thanks --- JC

From what you describe, I think you have a dead CPU. They can be replaced if you are handy with a screwdriver, or you can just get a "bottom half" of a 600X on Ebay and perform an "upgrade".

Hope this helps.

....um..this might sound like a stupid question, but did you find and try the little reset button found next to the on/off switch...it takes a point, like that of a ball point pen to fit into the little hole to reset.

I think you have a dead CPU

One other thing I did get off of tech support was to 'reseat' the CPU. I haven't tried that yet, but now with your suggestion I will try that next. (I want to have plenty of free time before I do surgury on a laptop for the first time).

... or you can just get a "bottom half" of a 600X on Ebay and perform an "upgrade".

That was going to be one of my latter questions. ie Can this be done using my other 600E parts without any problems? (I've already been looking)

did you find and try the little reset button

Sorry for not including that in my initial troubleshooting description, but ya I've tried that in all kinds of combinations with the other attempts.

Thanks for your input
JC

JC,

Reseat all memory.

Reseat the CPU, get the HMM from here: http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... WIK-3SYPX2

If you replace the lower unit with a 600X, all of your accessories will still fit.

Regards,

James

Hey JHEM or others,

Will my add on memory (768mb ‘total’, if I remember right), from my 600E work with the PIII 650MHz(++) of the 600X that are speedstep enabled?

Thanks,

JC

JC wrote:Will my add on memory (768mb ‘total’, if I remember right),

No. IIRC, the 600E maxes out at 556MB (2x256MB sticks plus onboard memory).

JC wrote:from my 600E work with the PIII 650MHz(++) of the 600X that are speedstep enabled?

Both models need low-density sticks, the only difference is the bus speed (66Mhz with the 600E, 100Mhz with the 600X). Do you currently have two 256MB sticks in your 600E? Then you're lucky, because there never were PC66 SO-DIMMs of that size and internal organisation on the market, so you don't have to care about that. In this case it will be a straight swap.

I got to thinking about what I posted after I went to bed.
{Hmm, my 600E can't have that much memory, that's what I have in my son's PC, , , maybe it was 288MB}
So this morning after reading your post I opened the memory cover and actually looked at the memory, sure enough, 2x128's (+32 on board (??)=288).
Anyway,,, It was the bus speed I was wandering about, will they still work in a 600X?

Sorry for my goof......
JC

JC wrote:Anyway,,, It was the bus speed I was wandering about, will they still work in a 600X?

Not if they're PC66, but if they're PC100 they'll work just fine.

WRT the CMOS (RTC) battery, are you positive the one you installed is good? Leads correctly installed? Did you solder them on? If you left the soldering iron on the battery too long it might be dead!

Have you tried stripping everything out of the machine and booting into EZSetup?

Regards,

James

JHEM wrote:Not if they're PC66, but if they're PC100 they'll work just fine.

I couldn't find any info on the SDRAM's from the number on the sticker (14149B51682-0092). But I did find out that the chips (KM48S16030T-GL) are PC100.

JHEM wrote:...are you positive the one you installed is good? Leads correctly installed? Did you solder them on? If you left the soldering iron on the battery too long it might be dead!

The battery I removed read 3.0V (probably still pretty good) the one I replaced it with is 3.2V (testing it with razor tip leads on the metal that is exposed on the plug, after carefully bending the strips I removed from the 'old' battery, then bending them to a bow, and tightly strapping them down with electric tape.) If RED = +, then all is correct to the plug.

JHEM wrote:Have you tried stripping everything out of the machine and booting into EZSetup?

Is there something else I could remove beyond the DVD, HD, add-on Memory, PCMCIA Cards. (I haven't done any major disassemlby yet). I just again tried powering up via AC supply with the four above items removed + holding down F!, and got the same result as in my first post.

Thanks, I appreciate all respones.
JC

Hi JC,

i am so happy to find someone with the same problem.
Did u fix the problem?

Thanks
PS: My TP turns off when i plug in the AC.

My 600E won't start either. Tried reset button nothing. LEDs come on for a second then off. This is while plugged into AC. Is this thing worth replacing the CPU?
Thanks

I know this may sound stupid or insulting, but try sliding the power switch and holding it in place for a second or so.

I have found that sometimes the system takes a little longer to realize you have turned it on as it ages. This seems to be my problem on a couple of my 770's. Could be that the slide is not pushing the switch contact in very well. Perhaps a problem with the switch or the actuator. The actuator (sliding part) is not easily available, but the switch is part of the DC/DC card. Either way, it's a lot more expensive than just holding the switch a little longer.

Hope this helps.

have you tried discharging the capacitors by taking both the battery & the ac adapter, press the power buton 15 times then hold it for 15 secs, then put theac adapter back in w/out the battery & see if it would turn on. would try that b4 reseating the cpu.

Hello, perversely i'm glad to see that some other people are suffering the same problem as me.

When switching on my 600E all the LED's flash, the fan spins up and the speakers click, then it dies.

I've taken the whole thing apart, checked and double checked connections and played with the batteries.

I'm going to try and get a new "bottom half" from Ebay and see if swapping parts can fix anything. I'll update here if it works.


In the meantime, has anyone else solved their problems?

My 760E, when I first upgraded the cpu to a 133, would sometimes give me a blank screen and the lcd status bar would show all the icons, but there would be no screen, this would happen about once every ten or so times I turned the unit on. The cultprit on my ThinkPad turned out being a board that needed to be reseated.