Thinkpads Forum

I recently disassembled my 390E to replace the bottom of the chassis, as the left hinge securements basically cracked off.

With the new bottom on and every component seemingly in place, I move to turn on the machine and...a power LED. That's all I get...

I'll be honest here -- I didn't put a screw in every hole because as careful as I was in this process, I somehow let a couple get away from me. I don't know if this would cause a problem or not -- do some screws complete circuits or anything like that? Are there any screws whatsoever that would essentially keep the device from working?

My main question is what could be wrong to prevent the device from booting up properly. I've tried reseating the memory and the processor with no success, although I must admit that I hadn't followed all the static discharge rules that should be followed when handling things. Is there any way at all to tell if any of these items were perhaps fried?

Any guidance on this would be appreciated, but keep my main question in mind

I can offer a few things to check:

1. If you have an MMC-2 processor card (I don't know the 390's, myself), check to see if you bent a few of the pins either on the card or the mounting. I did that to a 770 and it also wouldn't boot up.

2. If you are replacing an MMC card, make sure that the screw near the connection is there and tight, even if you fail to install the screws at the other end.

3. Make sure you didn't tear any of the flexible connections from the display and keyboard. Also, make sure these are inserted properly. The connectors that slide into a locking socket can easily be under-inserted so they seem to be connected but aren't.

4. Did you remember to reinstall the BIOS battery?

Hope this helps.

know what,

I dropped mine the other day, lol, took a hard beating too. when i tried to turn it back on, all i got was the power indicator as well.

took the keyboard off, looked around, and what did i see? the pcmcia card holder had jared itself slightly loose from it's seat. since it was the only thing i could find out of place, gently pushed it back in, replaced keyboard....

and voila...

works again now..

could try that i guess...

hope you get it up and runn'n again..

Chris